More than 30,000 flee fighting in Sudan's Darfur: U.N.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - More than 30,000 people have fled during two weeks of fighting in Sudan's Darfur region, the United Nations said after some of the worst clashes between government troops, rebels and rival tribes reported there for months.
Conflict has raged in Darfur, a vast arid region in the west of Sudan, since 2003 when mainly non-Arab tribes took up arms against the Arab government in Khartoum, accusing it of political and economic marginalization.
Fighting between the army and rebels - and divisions among the insurgents - have scuppered years of international mediation and several rounds of peace talks.
Violence has ebbed from the peaks of 2003-4 but has picked up in recent weeks and banditry has also spread.
Around 30,000 people fled their homes in Golo and Guldo towns to escape two weeks of fighting that began on December 24 in Darfur's Jebel Marra area, prized for its fertile land, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report.
Some 2,800 people fled to a camp in Nertiti in central Darfur, already home to 42,000 displaced people, the report said late on Thursday, citing figures from the government and a community leader.
Rebels from the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) faction led by Abdel Wahed Mohamed al-Nur have seized the towns of Golo and Rockero, Darfur's international peacekeeping force UNAMID quoted a local leader as saying on Wednesday. The government denied losing the territory and said it had repelled a rebel attack.
Several thousand people also fled when fighting broke out this week between two Arab tribes over the use of a gold mine in the Jebel Amer area of North Darfur, UNAMID said on Friday.
"The fighting has ... resulted in a number of casualties, looting, burning of nearby villages, and the displacement of thousands of civilians forced to flee towards Kabkabiya, Saraf Omra and Al Sereif towns," UNAMID said in statement.
OIL STATE FIGHTING
On another front, Sudan's army told state news agency SUNA it had repelled an attack from SPLM-North rebels in the country's main oil-producing state of South Kordofan on Friday.
South Kordofan borders Darfur and rebels from both regions, who all complain of government discrimination, have formed a alliance vowing to topple Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
Armed forces spokesman al-Sawarmi Khalid said SPLM-North (Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North) forces had attacked the army in the area of al-Hamra. "Fifty of their forces were killed," he said.
Yasir Arman, one of the exiled leaders of the SPLM-North, declined to comment, telling Reuters he needed to check first with the military command on the ground.
Events in Darfur and South Kordofan are hard to verify as Sudan restricts travel by journalists and diplomats.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Bashir and other Sudanese officials to face charges of masterminding war crimes in Darfur. They deny the charges and refuse to recognise the court.
Human rights groups and the United Nations estimate hundreds of thousands of people have died in Darfur's decade-long conflict, although the toll is disputed by the government which says around 10,000 people have been killed.

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Berlusconi gains in Italy polls, leads in key region

ROME (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi's center-right coalition is gaining ground ahead of next month's elections, which could make it harder for Italy's left to form a stable parliamentary majority, polls showed on Sunday.
The center left still looked on course to get most seats after the February 24-25 vote and lead efforts to tackle recession and unemployment in the euro zone's third-largest economy.
But days after Berlusconi's appearance on a critic's television show attracted almost 9 million viewers, a survey by the Tecne research institute for SkyTG24 showed the former prime minister's alliance on 26 percent overall, up 1.6 percent compared to Saturday.
His center-left rivals, led by Pier Luigi Bersani, were still far ahead with 37.8 percent, though that was down 0.8 percentage points compared to the previous poll. The centrist grouping of outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti fell 1.3 points to 14.5 percent.
"I believe we are on a good path to get back all the people who voted for us in 2008 and also to convince some more. We sincerely think we have the possibility to win," Berlusconi told the Domenica Live program on his own Canale 5 TV channel.
His image will be under close scrutiny on Monday when the nightclub dancer who is the main witness in the sex case against him is due to testify in a Milan court.
One of his lawyers said on Saturday he was considering asking for the trial to be suspended until after the election.
On Sunday the media mogul's People of Freedom (PDL) party unveiled its logo for the vote, with the words "Berlusconi President," written in bold beneath stripes in the colors of the Italian flag.
The use of his name surprised some Italians as Berlusconi said last week that he would withdrew as candidate for prime minister as the price of a pact with the pro-devolution Northern League.
League leader Roberto Maroni said he was not concerned by the logo and that the words just reflected the fact that Berlusconi is the head of his own PDL party, rather than suggesting he would seek his fifth term as premier.
LEADING IN LOMBARDY
A separate survey in the Corriere della Sera on Sunday showed the center-right alliance was leading, with 35.7 percent support, in Lombardy, home to Italy's financial capital Milan.
If Berlusconi does win the northern region, that would make it more likely that Bersani's Democratic Party (PD) will be forced to seek a power-sharing deal with Monti's centrists.
The center-left bloc made up of the PD and its leftist allies had 32.3 percent support, the poll by the ISPO institute showed. Lombardy has more seats in the 315-member Senate than any other region so is one of the keys to control of the upper house.
The bitter experience of the last center-left government under Romano Prodi, which collapsed less than halfway through its term in 2008 because its wafer-thin Senate majority disappeared, underlines the importance of the race.
The PD is expected to win control of the lower house, helped by a complicated electoral system that guarantees the biggest party a 54 percent majority of seats, but the Senate make-up is decided by separate battles in each region.
The PD has pledged to stick to public finance targets that Monti has agreed with Italy's European partners and says it will maintain his broad reform course if it wins the election, but it also wants greater emphasis on social justice and growth.
Monti has criticized some elements of the left as hostile to reform, prompting increasingly acerbic responses from Bersani and other center-left leaders, but relations between the two sides have been much more cordial than those with Berlusconi.
Neither side has said openly that it would form an alliance if the center left cannot control the upper house and many on the left are deeply opposed to Monti's austerity policies.
But failure to gain outright control of the Senate would leave Bersani with little choice.

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Asia stocks higher on China recovery optimism

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets rose Monday on optimism that China's economic recovery is firmly taking root.
Many analysts expect China's fourth quarter and 2012 growth figures due Friday to show the world's No. 2 economy continuing to bounce back from its worst slump since the 2008 financial crisis.
Sentiment improved last week after Japan announced a $224 billion stimulus package to boost its recession- and deflation-mired economy. A strong economic recovery has eluded Japan for more than 20 years since the bursting of its financial bubble in the early 1990s.
China, meanwhile, reported improving exports and imports last week, a sign of higher demand both inside and outside the country. More signs of improvement are expected when China releases a slew of data on Friday, including factory output, investment and retail sales.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.7 percent to 23,421.25. South Korea's Kospi added 0.3 percent to 2,002.22 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.2 percent to 4,718.90.
Mainland China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 2.1 percent to 2,289.23 while the Shenzhen Composite Index for China's second, smaller stock market jumped 2.5 percent to 908.20.
Japan's financial markets were closed for a public holiday.
Dariusz Kowalczyk of Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong said China's growth likely picked up in the fourth quarter of 2012 to 7.9 percent from 7.4 percent in the three months ended in September. He expects first quarter growth in 2013 to hit 8.5 percent. He said such figures should put to rest worries that China's economy might be in for a hard landing.
"Risks have diminished both externally and domestically, and if they rebound, China has sufficient resources to manage them, so we are upbeat that a relapse will not occur," he said in an email.
Still, a bobble in trade could cause a reversal, while inflation pressure is rising because of poor winter harvests, which would make it harder for Beijing to embark on new stimulus measures without pushing prices up more.
Analysts at Societe Generale have not ruled out a hard landing, which they define as real GDP growth falling below 6 percent, partly because of China's vulnerability to trade shocks.
Among individual stocks, South Korea's SK Telecom soared 5.8 percent while Hyundai Heavy Industries fell 2.3 percent. In Shanghai, gold retailer Lao Feng Xiang Co. Ltd. jumped 6 percent. China AVIC Avionics Equipment soared 8.5 percent.
In the U.S., stock indexes were mixed Friday as company earnings reports started to come in. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dipped slightly below its highest close in five years, which it reached the day before.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.1 percent to 13,488.43. The S&P 500 fell marginally to 1,472.05. The Nasdaq composite index rose 0.1 percent to 3,125.63.
Benchmark oil for February delivery was up 59 cents to $94.15 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped 26 cents to finish at $93.56 a barrel in New York on Friday.
In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3391 from $1.3338 late Friday in New York. The dollar rose to 89.54 yen from 89.20 yen.

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Soccer-Zambia cancel friendly to rest before Nations Cup defence

Jan 11 (Reuters) - African Nations Cup holders Zambia have cancelled plans for a last friendly before the tournament starts next week in order to rest.
Zambia, who have had a steady diet of warm-up games in preparation for the defence of their title, called off a friendly with Namibia in Nelspruit on Tuesday.
"They have cited a strenuous schedule as the reason for the cancellation," Namibia Football Association president John Muinjo told reporters on Friday.
"Their coach wants the final week before the Nations Cup to be used as a winding down period."
Zambia have lost to both Tanzania and Angola and drawn with Morocco in three friendlies over the last three weeks. They play Norway at home in Ndola on Saturday.

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Soccer-West Ham fill boots with Wellington signing

LONDON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - West Ham United further swelled their attacking options on Friday by signing Brazilian striker Wellington Paulista on a six-month loan deal from Cruzeiro.
The mid-table Premier League side said in a statement that the 29-year-old holds a European Union passport and therefore does not require a work permit.
"I think I can do my best here and I am coming to England to prove to everyone that I am one of the best strikers in Brazil and to get better and better," the former Botafogo forward said.
"I am strong, I am a fighter and I can score with both feet. I run a lot on the pitch and I can play as either a first or second striker."
Wellington, who has netted 39 goals in 110 Brazilian Serie A and Copa Libertadores matches for Cruzeiro but has never played for his country, joins Marouane Chamakh and Joe Cole as attacking recruits at West Ham during the January transfer window.
Morocco striker Chamakh joined on loan after falling down the pecking order at Arsenal under Arsene Wenger while Cole returned to his boyhood club after a difficult spell at Liverpool.

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UPDATE 2-Soccer-Crowd favourite Sahin back at Dortmund on loan

* Sahin played in Dortmund from 2000-2011
* Turkey international had spells at Real Madrid, Liverpool (Updates with more details, quotes, Schmelzer contract extension)
BERLIN, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Playmaker and crowd favourite Nuri Sahin returned to Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund on a loan deal after unsuccessful spells at Real Madrid and Liverpool over the past 18 months.
Dortmund said in a hastily arranged news conference with the Turkish international that Sahin, who earlier passed a medical in the city, had signed a 1-1/2 season loan deal until 2014.
"I am happy to be home again. My contact with the club officials, players and coaches never stopped in the past year and a half. I hope I can quickly help the team," the 24-year-old told reporters.
German-born Sahin, who left Dortmund for Real in 2011 after helping them win the Bundesliga title, failed to earn a starting spot in Spain before joining Liverpool in August 2012 on loan.
Sahin, whose contract at Real runs to 2017, holds the records for the youngest player to appear in a Bundesliga game and the youngest to score a goal in Germany's top division.
It is unclear whether Dortmund have an option to buy him after 2014 although sports director Michael Zorc said the club was in a strong position.
"We have taken precautions and have the steering wheel in our own hands," Zorc told reporters.
The hugely gifted Turkey midfielder played for more than a decade at Dortmund, going through the youth ranks, before leaving in 2011. He had played 135 Bundesliga games for the club, scoring 13 goals.
"We had said during the title celebrations in 2011 that Nuri Sahin will always remain a special player for us and that the door would always be open if he had a deep wish to play for the BVB again," said beaming Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke.
"He expressed this wish to us a few days ago and we responded," he said.
There was more good news for Dortmund on Friday with Germany defender Marcel Schmelzer signing a three-year contract extension that will keep him at the Ruhr valley club until 2017.
Team mates Sven Bender and Neven Subotic extended their deals earlier this week.
Dortmund stand third in the Bundesliga, 12 points behind leaders Bayern Munich, and are through to the Champions League last 16 where they face Shakhtar Donetsk with Sahin eligible to play. They also take on Bayern in the German Cup next month. (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Pritha Sarkar and Ken Ferris)

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Why does Google build apps for its rival Apple's iPhone?

Why help a key competitor? Two words: Advertising and data
There isn't any other way to say it: Apple and Google really don't like each other. Apple CEO Steve Jobs vowed to destroy the Google geniuses behind the Android operating system for allegedly stealing the basic mechanics of the iPhone. Apple and Google-partner Samsung are constantly at one another's throats over patents. And most recently new Apple CEO Tim Cook gave two of Google's most popular products — Google Maps and YouTube — the boot from iOS 6.
Then the unthinkable happened: Fans started turning on Apple. Even the most gushy tech critic had to admit that Apple's replacement for Google Maps was a train wreck, a rare blight on the company's otherwise stainless track record (a failure, notes Zara Kessler at Bloomberg, which ironically might ultimately benefit Apple).
Why, then, would Google throw its chief rival a life preserver this week and deliver Google Maps to iOS — as well as handing over Chrome and an awesome new Gmail app in recent weeks? Two main reasons:
1. Potential advertising: "Google doesn't make money off of Android which is open source; they make money when people use Google services," Joel Spolsky, CEO of Stack Overflow, tells Wired. Google Maps on the iPhone doesn't have ads yet, although the Android version does. In the end, Google's primary concern is to get its services in front of as many eyeballs as possible — even if those eyeballs are peering into an iPhone.
SEE MORE: Steve Jobs' mysterious iMac-controlled yacht
2. More data with which to make its products better: Google Maps is every marketer's dream. Mapping software gives them invaluable consumer data to work with, like the city you live in, the stores you shop at, the restaurants you frequent, where you get your coffee, and much, much more. "Google needs the traffic that iOS users bring," says Casey Newton at CNET. Those millions of iPhone owners unknowingly feed Google the analytics it needs to make Google Maps the superior, celebrated product it's become. The same goes for Chrome. And Gmail.
And "Google is hardly the first company to aggressively support a rival platform for selfish reasons," says Ryan Tate at Wired.
Microsoft was a strong backer of Apple's Macintosh for decades because its core business was selling applications [Word, Excel, etc.], not Microsoft's competing operating system Windows… Google's willingness to ship iOS apps could look smarter as time goes on. The company trounces Apple when it comes to all things cloud, not just maps and e-mail; its social network, search engine, and highly optimized data centers could give its iOS apps an even bigger edge in the coming years.

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Samsung Smart TVs: The next frontier for data theft and hacking [video]

Smart TVs, particularly Samsung’s (005930) last few generations of flat screens, can be hacked to give attackers remote access according to a security startup called ReVuln. The company says it discovered a “zero-day exploit” that hackers could potentially use to perform malicious activities that range from stealing accounts linked through apps to using built-in webcams and microphones to spy on unsuspecting couch potatoes. Don’t panic just yet, though. In order for the exploit to be activated, a hacker needs to plug a USB drive loaded with malicious software into the actual TV to bypass the Linux-based OS/firmware on Samsung’s Smart TVs. But, if a hacker were to pull that off, every piece of data stored on a Smart TV could theoretically be retrieved.
[More from BGR: Has the iPhone peaked? Apple’s iPhone 4S seen outselling iPhone 5]
[More from BGR: Dell confirms it will exit smartphone business, drop Android]
As if the possibility of someone stealing your information and spying on you isn’t scary enough, according to ComputerWorld, “it is also possible to copy the configuration of a TV’s remote control, which would allow a hacker to copy the remote control’s settings, and remotely change the channel.”
ReVuln told The Register it hasn’t informed Samsung of the vulnerability and plans to sell the details of in hopes of “speeding up” development of a fix. A video of the exploit as proof from ReVuln follows below.

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Huge Wave of Google App Updates Hits iOS, Android

Google just brought iPhone and Android phone users a holiday gift. Google Maps has returned to the iPhone, this time in the form of its own separate app, while Google Currents -- the company's Flipboard-style online magazine app for Android -- received a substantial update as well.
Besides the two big updates, about a half-dozen other apps for Android and Google TV received bug fixes and new features, according to Android Police blogger Ryan Whitwam. Here's a look at what to expect, and where the rough edges still lay.
Google Maps is back
It was technically never there to begin with; the iPhone simply had a "Maps" app included, which used Google Maps' data. But a few months ago, Apple switched from using Google's map data to its own, which caused no end of problems as Apple's data was incorrect much more often. These problems were sometimes hilarious, but in at least one case they were dangerous, as several motorists had to be rescued after becoming stranded inside an Australian national park (where Apple's maps said the town they were trying to get to was).
Google Maps has also received a thumbs-down from the Victoria police in Australia, but is regarded as more reliable overall. It's a completely new app this time, and while it has at least one "Android-ism" according to tech expert John Gruber (an Ice Cream Sandwich-style menu button), it's reported to work well and doesn't show ads like the YouTube app does.
It does, however, keep asking you to log in to your Google account so that it can track your location data.
Google Currents has a new look and new features
The update to digital magazine app Google Currents brings its features more in line with Google Reader, the tech giant's online newsreader app which can monitor almost any website for updates. Like Google Reader, Currents can now "star" stories to put them in a separate list, can show which stories you've already read, and has a widget to put on your Android home screen. Other added features include new ways to scan editions and stories, and filter out sections you aren't interested in.
Bugfixes and updates for other Google apps
Google Earth and Google Drive received miscellaneous bugfixes "and other improvements," while Google Offers (a Groupon competitor) now features a "Greatly improved purchase experience."
The Google Search app received a slew of additions to its Siri-like Google Now feature, including new cards to help while you are out and about and new voice actions (like asking it to tell you what song is playing nearby). The Field Trip augmented reality app now uses less battery life, and lets you "save cards" and favorite places you visit, as well as report incorrect data to Google. Finally, Google TV Search and PrimeTime for Google TV both received performance and stability updates.

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Is the Christmas card dead?

Author Nina Burleigh says the holiday photo is dead — and the internet killed it
Every year around the holidays, countless Americans sit down at their dining room tables to thoughtfully scribble pen-and-paper updates about how they are and what they've been doing with their lives to a select number of friends. These messages are usually written on the back of a recent family photograph (sometimes with Santa hats), before they're sealed, stamped, and mailed around the country, where they're displayed like a trophy over someone else's fireplace.
Could that all be changing? This year, especially, there seems to be a dearth of dead-tree holiday cheer filling up mailboxes across the country. In a recent column for TIME, author Nina Burleigh says the spirit once distilled inside the Christmas card is dying, and a familiar, if fairly obvious perpetrator killed it: The internet. "There's little point to writing a Christmas update now, with boasts about grades and athletic prowess, hospitalizations and holidays, and the dog's mishaps, when we have already posted these events and so much more of our minutiae all year long," she writes. "The urge to share has already been well sated."
[Now] we already have real-time windows into the lives of people thousands of miles away. We already know exactly how they've fared in the past year, much more than could possibly be conveyed by any single Christmas card. If a child or grandchild has been born to a former colleague or high school chum living across the continent, not only did I see it within hours on Shutterfly or Instagram or Facebook, I might have seen him or her take his or her first steps on YouTube. If a job was gotten or lost, a marriage made or ended, we have already witnessed the woe and joy of it on Facebook, email and Twitter.
Burleigh says the demise of the Christmas card is deeply saddening. "It portends the end of the U.S. Postal Service," she writes. "It signals the day is near when writing on paper is non-existent." It's true, says Tony Seifart at Memeburn — "my mantle is empty this year. In fact I haven't received one Christmas card yet."
SEE ALSO: The perks and perils of our newly indexed society
Let's not get too nostalgic just yet, says Alexis Madrigal at The Atlantic. Research firm IBISWorld anticipates that purchases of cards and postage will be the highest it has been in five years — $3.17 billion total. And Hallmark, the industry's biggest player, has seen revenue hold steady since the early 2000s despite the financial crisis. We could also think about this another way: That desire to share, the willingness to inform, could just be extending itself beyond the physical form of the holiday photo.
No matter what time of the year, people now write contemplative letters with weird formatting to an ill-defined audience of "friends"; these are Christmas letters, whether Santa is coming down the chimney or not. There are reindeer horns on pugs in July. And humblebrags about promotions in April. There are dating updates in November. And you can disclose that you were voted mother of the year any damn day you please... For good or for ill, perhaps we're seeing not the death of the holiday card and letter, but its rebirth as a rhetorical mode. Confessional, self-promotional, hokey, charming, earnest, technically honest, introspective, hopey-changey: Oh, Christmas Card, you have gone open-source and conquered us all.
The spirit of the Christmas card is indeed alive and well. It's just not necessarily in a Christmas card.

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Massive PC, Console Game Discounts Ring in Holiday Season

Black Friday, the day right after Thanksgiving, is normally the day associated with electronics sales. And while the proponents of "Cyber Monday" and "Small Business Saturday" have tried to get in on the action, it's still common knowledge that Thanksgiving weekend is the best time to upgrade your PC or console game arsenal. Right?
Not according to online game retailers. Discounts of up to 80 percent off a game's retail price are taking place across the web, especially in online stores which offer games in the form of digital downloads (which cost nothing to make extra copies of). Here's a look at just a few of the sales going on right now, for Windows and Linux PCs, Macs, game consoles, and mobile devices.
Steam (Windows, Linux, Mac)
The annual Steam Holiday Sale is under way, and it's not just blowing hot air. Complete collections of every Steam game from publishers including Valve are on sale for around the price of one retail title, and individual games can be bought from each bundle for only a few dollars. Each day new sales are available, and most of them are massive, percentage-wise. They're tied to a personal Steam account (which will always be linked to the original name they were created with), but can be bought as gifts for others.
Also check out: Amazon.com's PC download sales, many of which are fulfilled through Steam and are discounted about as much. Amazon's lineup also includes many casual games, of the "$10 store discount rack" variety.
Humble Indie Bundle 7 (Windows, Linux, Mac)
The Humble Bundle crew has been offering cross-platform, name-your-own-price bundles of indie games for several years now, and their seventh numbered offering is timed right for the holiday season. Bundles are giftable, the games can be played on Steam, and you can choose how much of your purchase price goes to game developers and how much goes to select charities.
PlayStation Network (PS3, PSP, Vita)
Console gamers aren't being left out. The PSN Holiday Essentials sale is putting "more than 40 titles" on sale over the next three weeks, with a new selection available every week and even lower prices available to PlayStation Plus members.
Also check out: The Xbox Live Countdown to 2013 sale, with a "Daily Deal" every day until the end of the year.
Other sales
Game publishers SEGA and Square-Enix are discounting many of their most popular titles. SEGA's holiday sale includes PSN, Xbox Live, Android and iOS titles, with most of its mobile games selling for $0.99. Meanwhile, the Square-Enix Winter of Mobile sale page lists huge discounts on iPhone and iPad games, while Android Police blogger Jeremiah Rice has put together a list of which Square-Enix Android games are on sale.

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Iraqi officials say car bomb near bus stop kills 5

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

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Three Kurdish women found shot dead in Paris: police

PARIS (Reuters) - Three Kurdish women said to include a founding member of the PKK militant group were shot dead overnight in Paris in killings that appeared politically motivated, police and other sources said on Thursday.
The bodies of the women were found early on Thursday at the Information Centre of Kurdistan in the city centre, a police source said.
An employee of the centre, which has close links to Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), told French broadcaster i
The Firat news agency, which is close to the PKK, said another victim was the Paris representative of the Brussels-based Kurdistan National Congress political group.
"There is no doubt this was politically motivated," Berivan Akyol, the centre employee, told i
Police launched a murder investigation after discovering the bodies, along with three shell casings, in a room of the Centre in central Paris, the source said, adding that their nationality was Turkish.
The PKK has waged a 28-year insurgency against the Turkish state in which more than 40,000 people are estimated to have been killed.
The Turkish government has recently acknowledged holding talks with the organization's jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan.
They have agreed a framework for a peace plan, according to Turkish media reports.
Firat said two of those killed were shot in the head and one in the stomach, and that the murder weapon was believed to have been fitted with a silencer.
"A couple of colleagues saw blood stains at the door. When they broke the door open and entered they saw the three women had been executed," French Kurdish Associations Federation Chairman Mehmet Ulker was reported as saying by Firat.
Turkish broadcasters reported police as saying the women had links to the PKK and could have been the victims of executions conducted within the group.
The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union.

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KFC's parent apologizes to China customers over handling of food scare

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Fast-food chain KFC's parent Yum Brands Inc apologized to customers in China over its handling of a recent food scare that has hit the company's sales in its biggest market.
"We regret shortcomings in our self-checking process, a lack of internal communication," Su Jingshi, chairman and chief executive of Yum China, wrote on the company's Weibo microblog.
Yum, which gets more than half of its revenue and operating profit from China, warned on Monday that bad publicity from the safety review of its chicken suppliers had hit sales in China harder than expected in the fourth quarter.
Subsequent findings by the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration found the levels of antibiotics and steroids in Yum's current batch of KFC chicken supply were safe, though the watchdog found a suspicious level of an antiviral drug in one of the eight samples tested.
The scandal erupted when the official China Central Television reported in late December that some of the chicken supplied to KFC and McDonald's Corp contained excess amounts of antiviral drugs and hormones used to accelerate growth.
A spokesman for Yum told Reuters on Tuesday that the firm had stopped using the two suppliers before the official probe was announced, after its own random tests showed they were not meeting Yum's own standards.
LACK OF TRANSPARENCY
Yum's Su also apologized for the company's failure to actively report test results to the government and a lack of transparency and speed in its external communication.
Nonetheless, the bad publicity has hurt KFC's image in China, where Western brands are often regarded as safer and higher quality than Chinese peers, an important factor as food safety is often near the top of the list of consumer concerns.
"They do finally apologize now, but it's too late. I don't know if other people will forgive them or not, but I certainly won't!" wrote Jackson_Dong on popular microblog site Sina Weibo.
Yum, which has more than 5,100 restaurants in China and is the largest Western restaurant operator in China, pulled some products in 2005 because they contained "Sudan Red" dye, which was banned from use in food due to concerns it could lead to an increased risk of cancer.

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NHL owners to vote on contract Wednesday

NEW YORK (AP) — NHL owners will vote Wednesday on the tentative labor agreement reached with the players' union.
If a majority approves, as expected, the NHL will move one step closer toward the official end of the long lockout that began Sept. 16.
As of Tuesday afternoon, a memorandum of understanding of the deal hadn't been completed, so the union has yet to schedule a vote for its more than 700 members. A majority of players also must approve the deal for hockey to return to the ice.
"We continue to document the agreement," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press in an email Tuesday.
If there are no snags, ratification could be finished by Saturday and training camps can open Sunday if approval is reached on both sides. A 48-game regular season would then be expected to begin on Jan. 19.
"(We) don't need a signed document to complete ratification process," Daly wrote, "but we do need a signed agreement to open camps. The goal is to get that done by Saturday so that we can open camps on Sunday."
The NHL has yet to release a new schedule. The regular season was supposed to begin on Oct. 11.
The deal was reached Sunday on the 113th day of the lockout and seemingly saved the season that was delayed for three months and cut nearly in half. It took a 16-hour final bargaining session in a New York hotel for the agreement to finally be completed at about 5 a.m.
The lockout led to the cancellation of at least 480 games. That brings the total of lost regular-season games to a minimum 2,178 during three lockouts under Commissioner Gary Bettman.
The damage is significant. Perhaps $1 billion in revenue could be lost this season, given about 40 percent of the regular-season schedule won't be played. Players will also lose a large part of their salaries, not to mention time lost in their careers.
Hockey's first labor dispute was an 11-day strike in 1992 that led to the postponement of 30 games. Bettman became the commissioner in February 1993. He presided over a 103-day lockout in 1994-95 that ended with a deal on Jan. 11, then a 301-day lockout in 2004-05 that made the NHL the only major North American professional sports league to lose an entire season. The NHL obtained a salary cap in the agreement that followed that dispute and now wanted more gains.
The NHL's revenue of $3.3 billion last season lagged well behind the NFL ($9 billion), Major League Baseball ($7.5 billion) and the NBA ($5 billion), and the deal will lower the hockey players' percentage from 57 to 50 — owners originally had proposed 46 percent.
This was the third lockout among the major U.S. sports in a period of just more than a year. A four-month NFL lockout ended in July 2011 with the loss of only one exhibition game, and an NBA lockout caused each team's schedule to be cut from 82 games to 66 last season.

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NHL owners, players move closer to votes

NEW YORK (AP) — All that is left of the NHL lockout are a pair of votes by owners and players.
If both sides approve the tentative deal reached over the weekend — as expected — training camps will be open by Sunday.
The league's board of governors will meet on Wednesday in New York, and the 30 club owners will vote on the agreement that was reached in the early morning hours of Sunday after a 16-hour negotiating session.
If a majority approves, the NHL will move one step closer toward the official end of the lockout that began Sept. 16.
The league and the players' association were still working on one more key piece of business on Tuesday night that must be settled before hockey is truly back.
"We are trying to finalize a summary document, and we are very close on that," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press in an email. "That will be turned into a (memorandum of understanding) with more detailed language that won't be signed until this coming weekend."
The union was waiting for that initial document before it scheduled a vote for its more than 700 members. A majority of players also must approve the deal before the lockout can end.
If there are no snags, ratification could be finished by Saturday and training camps could open Sunday. A 48-game regular season would then be expected to begin on Jan. 19.
"(We) don't need a signed document to complete ratification process," Daly wrote, "but we do need a signed agreement to open camps. The goal is to get that done by Saturday so that we can open camps on Sunday."
The NHL has yet to release a new schedule. The regular season was supposed to begin on Oct. 11.
The deal was reached Sunday, the 113th day of the lockout, and seemingly saved a season that was delayed for three months and cut nearly in half. It took a marathon final bargaining session in a New York hotel for the agreement to finally be completed at about 5 a.m.
The lockout led to the cancellation of at least 480 games, depending on the length of the upcoming season. That brings the total of lost regular-season games to a minimum of 2,178 during three lockouts under Commissioner Gary Bettman.
The damage is significant. Perhaps $1 billion in revenue could be lost this season, given about 40 percent of the regular-season schedule won't be played. Players also will lose a large part of their salaries, not to mention time from their careers.
Hockey's first labor dispute was an 11-day strike in 1992 that led to the postponement of 30 games. Bettman became the commissioner in February 1993. He presided over a 103-day lockout in 1994-95 that ended with a deal on Jan. 11, then a 301-day lockout in 2004-05 that made the NHL the only major North American professional sports league to lose an entire season. The NHL obtained a salary cap in the agreement that followed that dispute and now wanted more gains.
The NHL's revenue of $3.3 billion last season lagged well behind the NFL ($9 billion), Major League Baseball ($7.5 billion) and the NBA ($5 billion), and the deal will lower the hockey players' percentage from 57 to 50 — owners originally had proposed 46 percent.
This was the third lockout among the major U.S. sports in a period of just more than a year. A four-month NFL lockout ended in July 2011 with the loss of only one exhibition game, and an NBA lockout caused each team's schedule to be cut from 82 games to 66 last season.

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Bruins on ice at BU as they wait for NHL season

BOSTON (AP) — Boston Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg drove by the TD Garden on Tuesday morning on his way to Boston University, where a handful of his teammates have been skating to keep in shape while waiting for the NHL season to start.
"I got a really good feeling imagining going out on the ice and getting excited about being able to play again," he said. "I'm so excited to be here."
After spending much of the NHL lockout playing in his native Germany, Seidenberg flew back to Boston on Monday after hearing that NHL players and owners had reached agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement that would end the lockout after almost four months. The NHL players association must still vote to ratify the deal; both sides are hoping to officially open training camps later this week to prepare for a 48- or 50-game season that would start Jan. 19.
"Every day I was sitting on my computer, looking at the news, looking at the rumors," Seidenberg said. "I was hoping for something to happen."
Seidenberg joined about a dozen NHL players on the ice in a practice run by former BU star Mike Grier. Among the Bruins taking part on Tuesday in the two-hour workout were goaltender Tuukka Rask, defenseman Johnny Boychuk, and forwards Shawn Thornton and Brad Marchand.
Lucic said he opted not to sign with a foreign team, choosing instead to recover from the last two, long seasons.
Now, he said, he knows he has some catching up to do.
"It was rest that I feel I needed," he said. "I've built up a lot of nagging injuries that I've been trying to take care of. Hopefully, I'll feel better this season."
The Bruins, who won the Stanley Cup in 2011, lost in the first round to Washington last season.

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"Fiscal cliff" turmoil could hit 100 million taxpayers: U.S. IRS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. tax authorities warned on Wednesday that as many as 100 million taxpayers - far more than previously estimated - could face refund delays if lawmakers' "fiscal cliff" negotiations fail to fix the alternative minimum tax (AMT) before year-end.
The Internal Revenue Service said in a letter to lawmakers that it was raising its estimate on AMT impact from 60 million.
"It is becoming apparent that an even larger number of taxpayers - 80 to 100 million of the 150 million total returns expected to be filed - may be unable to file," IRS Acting Commissioner Steven Miller wrote.
The AMT is a levy designed to ensure that high-income taxpayers pay a minimum tax. Democrats and Republican typically agree to adjust the tax for inflation to prevent unintended taxpayers from being hit by it.
This year, however, its fate is tied to heated negotiations - primarily between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner - over future taxes and federal spending as they try to avoid the automatic tax increases and spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff.
The AMT fix for calculating 2012 income tax has broad bipartisan support, but so far been drowned out by the larger federal budget questions.
Without action soon to fix the AMT, there could be "lengthy delays of tax refunds and unexpectedly higher taxes for many taxpayers," Miller said.
The IRS needs congressional authority to update tax-filing software and forms so that Americans can start their tax returns next year. Inaction by Congress on the AMT has left IRS unsure which taxpayers will need to pay the AMT tax.
An IRS spokesman declined to comment on the agency's AMT preparations to date.
"Failure to act on the fiscal cliff will throw the 2013 tax filing season into chaos," Representative Sander Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said in a statement.
About 4 million taxpayers pay the AMT now because Congress routinely "patches" it for inflation to keep it from reaching down into middle-income tax brackets.
Without a patch for 2012, up to 33 million taxpayers will have to pay the AMT, according to IRS.
Obama's most recent offer to Republicans included a permanent AMT patch.
House Republicans plan to vote Thursday on a bill to address the fiscal cliff that also includes an AMT patch.

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What's on the table now in 'fiscal cliff' talks

An update on the latest offers on the table in negotiations to avert a year-end avalanche of federal tax increases and spending cuts known as the "fiscal cliff":
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INCOME TAXES
House Speaker John Boehner would allow income tax rates to rise for people making more than $1 million per year and would hold rates where they are for everyone making less. The top rate on income exceeding $1 million would go from 35 percent to 39.6 percent.
President Barack Obama would freeze income tax rates for taxpayers making $400,000 or less and raise them for people making more.
The two sides are moving closer together. Previously, the Republican House leader opposed allowing any tax rates to go up; Obama wanted higher taxes for individual income above $200,000, or $250,000 for couples.
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PAYROLL TAX
Obama has dropped his proposal to extend a temporary cut in Social Security payroll taxes paid by 163 million workers. Republicans want that tax to go back up.
Raising the payroll tax by 2 percentage points to its old level would cost a worker making $50,000 a year another $1,000 — or a little more than $19 per week — during 2013.
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SOCIAL SECURITY
Obama is offering to reduce cost-of-living increases for Social Security recipients. Republicans have been seeking this as a key to long-term deficit reduction. But many congressional Democrats oppose it.
Government pensions and veterans' benefits would also get smaller cost-of-living increases.
In addition, taxpayers, especially low- and middle-income families, would pay more because of changes in the way that tax brackets are adjusted for inflation.
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MEDICARE
Obama continues to reject Republicans' plan to raise the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67. Boehner now says raising the eligibility age is not essential to a deal.
Obama wants to limit cuts in Medicare and other health care programs to about $400 billion over 10 years; Republicans want to overhaul Medicare to save even more money.
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DEBT LIMIT
Obama wants a deal that would raise the amount the government is allowed to borrow to cover the next two years, to avoid another debt showdown with Congress until after the 2014 midterm elections.
Previously, Obama had demanded permanent authority to increase the debt ceiling without congressional approval. Republicans want Congress to be part of the decision-making process so they can demand budget-cutting in exchange for additional borrowing.
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OTHER TAXES
Obama and Boehner both propose raising taxes on dividends and capital gains from 15 percent to 20 percent.
Both sides would reduce the number of deductions and exemptions that wealthy taxpayers can claim.
Obama would also let estate taxes revert to a 45 percent rate, after the first $3.5 million of an estate is exempted. Boehner backs a plan for a 35 percent rate and $5 million exemption.

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Swiss lender ZKB says three charged by U.S. authorities

Swiss lender Zuercher Kantonalbank (ZKB) said two of its bankers and one former employee had been charged by U.S. authorities, which had accused them of helping U.S. clients avoid taxes.
The three were indicted over changes of conspiring with American clients to hide more than $420 million from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan had said on Wednesday.
The indictment did not identify the bank concerned but named Stephan Fellmann, Otto Hueppi and Christof Reist, who it said were all former client advisers for the unnamed institution.
None of the bankers had been arrested, authorities said.
Banking secrecy is enshrined in Swiss law and tradition but has recently come under pressure as the United States and other nations have moved aggressively to tighten tax law enforcement and demand more openness and cooperation.
U.S. authorities are investigating at least 11 banks, including Julius Baer , Credit Suisse and other Swiss regional banks, along with UK-based HSBC Holdings and Israel's Hapoalim, Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank Ltd and Bank Leumi .
In February, Wegelin & Co, Switzerland's oldest private bank, was indicted.
UBS AG , the largest Swiss bank, in 2009 paid a $780 million fine as part of a settlement with U.S. authorities who charged the bank helped thousands of wealthy Americans hide billions of dollars in assets in secret Swiss accounts.
ZKB said in a statement it was cooperating with U.S. authorities. The bank said it could give no details about the employees due to the ongoing investigation and did not confirm what they had been changed with.
ZKB bankers Fellmann and Reist could not be reached for comment. Hueppi declined to comment.

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Wilson emerges from Griffin's shadow in Seattle win

LANDOVER, Maryland (Reuters) - Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson left Washington in nobody's shadow after securing a huge road playoff win for the Seahawks on Sunday after the shakiest of starts.
Wilson won the battle of the rookie sensations when his team and its stifling defense stormed back to beat the Washington Redskins and quarterback Robert Griffin III, 24-14, after allowing two touchdowns in the first quarter.
"I don't think you worry about the first quarter. You focus on the next play you have. You stay in the now," a composed Wilson, 24, told reporters.
The Seahawks racked up 380 yards of total offense while holding the fast-starting Redskins to 203 yards - of which only 74 yards were logged in the final three quarters.
Griffin and Wilson took different paths to Sunday night's showdown, arguably the most anticipated of the National Football League's quartet of first-round playoff games.
The 2011 Heisman Trophy winner from Baylor University in Texas, Griffin was the second pick in the 2012 NFL draft and joined the Redskins with high expectations that he fulfilled by leading their run of seven straight wins to reach the playoffs.
Wilson joined Seattle as the 12th pick in the third round of the draft from the University of Wisconsin - the 75th most sought-after recruit - after being written off by some teams as not tall enough at a shade under 5-foot-11 (1.80 metre).
"People always ask me if I have a chip on my shoulder because I was a third-round draft pick. If I was first pick overall or picked in the third round, where I was, I'm blessed to be a Seattle Seahawk," Wilson said.
The Seahawks like the underdog role, and play each week with a chip on their shoulder, Wilson added. "We have an energy that makes us want to prove ourselves each week. We can play with anyone, any time and any place."
Seattle tight end Anthony McCoy praised the young quarterback. "He's just very poised. It doesn't matter if we're down by 21 or if we're up by 21 or something, he's always going to be into the game. He's always in the huddle encouraging us to be patient," McCoy said.
For Griffin, Sunday's loss - especially after the team's rousing start - was made more painful by a knee injury suffered in the team's second touchdown drive that visibly limited his mobility.
"I didn't get hit, I just planted it wrong," Griffin explained. "My knee kind of buckled on me and scared me a little bit, so I want to the sideline and got a tape job done on the knee.
The quarterback finally left the field with about six minutes to go after spending much of the game trying to assure head coach Mike Shanahan that he was fit to play.
"I talked to Robert and he said to me, 'Coach, there's a difference between being injured and being hurt,'" Shanahan said. "It's always a tough decision when to pull a guy and when not to."
Griffin, 22, became the first quarterback born in the 1990s to start an NFL playoff game.
"We know the future is very bright. I also know what I need to work on in the off-season. Part of that is just getting healthy. The sky's the limit for this team with the talent we have," Griffin said.

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Browns moving on from Oregon's Kelly

CLEVELAND (AP) — Chip Kelly wouldn't jump. So the Browns bailed.
Oregon's visor-wearing coach isn't coming to Cleveland — or the NFL.
A person familiar with Cleveland's coaching search said the team passed on Kelly after he was indecisive about making the leap to the pros. The Browns nearly had a deal with Kelly two days ago, but they've moved on to other candidates, said the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Sunday because of the sensitivity of the search.
The Browns questioned whether Kelly "was committed to coming to the NFL," said the person. And because of his hesitation, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Joe Banner returned from Arizona to Cleveland to continue looking for the club's sixth fulltime coach since 1999.
As it turns out, Kelly is staying at Oregon, a person with direct knowledge of his choice told the AP late Sunday night.
Kelly's decision was first reported by ESPN.
Following Thursday night's Fiesta Bowl win over Kansas State, Kelly said he hoped to have the interview process "wrapped up quickly." He spent two days interviewing with Cleveland, Buffalo and Philadelphia before deciding to remain at Oregon.
It's the second straight year Kelly has entertained overtures from NFL teams only to reject them. He turned down Tampa Bay's job deep into negotiations last season. Kelly will go back to Oregon, where he has built the fast-flying Ducks into a national powerhouse. Oregon is 46-7 the past four seasons with four BCS bowl games under the offensive innovator.
With Kelly no longer in play, the Browns will consider some of the candidates they've already met with or maybe begin a second wave of interviews. Haslam and Banner spent most of last week in Arizona and are known to have spoken to former Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt, Cardinals defensive coordinator Ray Horton, Syracuse's Doug Marrone and Penn State's Bill O'Brien.
Marrone accepted Buffalo's coaching job Sunday, three people familiar with the negotiations told The AP. O'Brien decided to stay with the Nittany Lions.
The Browns aren't confirming any of their interviews or commenting on any candidates.
Haslam could still make a run at Alabama coach Nick Saban following Monday night's BCS title game. Saban has not given any indication he wants to take another stab at coaching in the NFL, but it's possible the 61-year-old could be persuaded by Haslam with the promise of power and a monstrous contract.
A former NFL player, Whisenhunt, who went 45-51 in six seasons and led the Cardinals to a Super Bowl, spent one year as a special teams coordinator with Cleveland. The 50-year-old coach served as Pittsburgh's offensive coordinator from 2004-06, and that connection could serve him well with Haslam, who had a minority share in the Steelers before he bought the Browns.
Horton spent seven seasons on Pittsburgh's staff before joining the Cardinals in 2011.
Haslam and Banner fired Pat Shurmur last week, one day after the Browns finished a 5-11 season with a loss in Pittsburgh. Shurmur went 9-23 in two seasons for the Browns, who have lost at least 11 games in each of the past five seasons and have changed coaches four times since 2002.
Before embarking with Banner on the coaching search, Haslam said there was no set time frame on finding a coach. He promised to wait as long as necessary to "bring the right person to Cleveland."
"Our goal is to get the best person and if we happen to find that person within a week, that's great and if it takes a month, that's great also," Haslam said.
Haslam and Banner are focused on hiring a coach first before turning their attention to a personnel executive. Tom Heckert, who overhauled Cleveland's roster in the past three years, also was fired last week. It's not known if the Browns have interviewed any GM candidates.
Cleveland's courtship of Kelly turned into a two-day fling with no shortage of drama.
After Kelly met with the Browns for seven hours Friday, it appeared he was headed to Cleveland. The Philadelphia Eagles left Arizona after they were informed a deal between the Browns and Kelly was imminent. Kelly, though, kept his commitment for an interview with the Eagles and reportedly spent nine hours with him on Saturday, preventing the Browns from a second meeting
Kelly also met Friday with the Bills, but that was nothing more than a cursory interview for both sides.
The pursuit of Kelly created an interesting subplot between the Browns and Eagles. Banner spent 19 seasons in Philadelphia before leaving the team last year amid a power struggle. Banner is longtime friends with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, and the two of them potentially squaring off in a bidding war for Kelly was straight out of a screenplay.
It's not known what kind of offer the Browns made for Kelly, who earned a base salary of $2.8 million last season at Oregon and has five years left on his contract.
Kelly's high-octane, hurry-up offense has raised his profile and made the Ducks, with their splashy array of colorful Nike uniforms, more than a curiosity. Several NFL teams, including New England and Washington, are using elements of Kelly's schemes.
The Browns were intrigued enough to see if they could work something out with Kelly.
But in the end, they detected he wasn't ready.
They were right.

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Ravens top Colts 24-9 in AFC wild card

BALTIMORE (AP) — The Baltimore Ravens wanted one long final ride for Ray Lewis.
They also wanted Denver. They got it.
Having disposed of Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts, they now face a far more imposing challenge — Peyton Manning and the streaking Broncos.
Anquan Boldin set a franchise record with 145 yards receiving, including the clinching touchdown in the Ravens' 24-9 victory Sunday over the Colts in an AFC wild-card game. The win delays star linebacker Lewis' retirement for at least another week as Baltimore (11-6) heads to top-seeded Denver (13-3) next Saturday.
The Broncos beat the Ravens 34-17 three weeks ago.
"I wanted Denver," Boldin said, "because they beat us.
"We'll make it different."
And he wanted the Broncos because it prolongs the Ravens' pursuit of their first NFL title since the 2000 season, when Lewis won the first of two Defensive Player of the Year awards.
"I came to Baltimore to win a championship," Boldin added. "We all did."
Lewis, who made 13 tackles Sunday, ended his last home game in Baltimore at fullback, of all things, for the final kneel-down. He then went into a short version of his trademark dance before being mobbed by teammates.
He followed with a victory lap, his right arm, covered by a brace, held high in salute to the fans after playing for the first time since tearing his right triceps on Oct. 14 against Dallas.
"My only focus was to come in and get my team a win. Nothing else was planned," the 37-year-old Lewis said. "It's one of those things, when you recap it all and try to say what is one of your greatest moments.
"I knew how it started but I never knew how it would end here in Baltimore. To go the way it did today, I wouldn't change nothing."
He would like nothing more than to change past results against Manning, who was 2-0 in the postseason against Baltimore while with the Colts.
"It's on to the next one," the 17-year veteran said. "We saw them earlier in the year and now we get them back again, but with all of our guns back."
The loss ended the Colts' turnaround season in which they went from 2-14 to the playoffs in coach Chuck Pagano's first year in Indianapolis (11-6). Pagano missed 12 weeks while undergoing treatment for leukemia and returned last week.
He was upbeat following the defeat to the team he served as an assistant coach for four years.
"The foundation is set, and we said we were going to build one on rock and not on sand," Pagano said. "You weather storms like this and you learn from times like this."
Offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, who went 9-3 as interim coach, was absent Sunday after being hospitalized with an undisclosed illness. Pagano said Arians "is fine" and would stay overnight for observation before rejoining the Colts on Monday.
Quarterback coach Clyde Christensen called the plays, but Baltimore's suddenly revitalized defense — inspired by Lewis' pending retirement, no doubt — never let standout rookie QB Luck get comfortable.
"It's great making the playoffs, but you can't make mistakes and expect to beat a playoff team like we did," said Luck, who was sacked three times, Paul Kruger getting 2½ of those. "We'll have to look back at those and hopefully fix them."
Sunday's victory enhanced the Ravens' success rate in opening playoff games. Flacco now has won at least one postseason game in all five of his pro seasons, the only quarterback to do it in the Super Bowl era.
His main target Sunday was Boldin, who had receptions of 50 and 46 yards, plus his 18-yard TD on a floater from Flacco in the corner of the end zone with 9:14 to go.
"I told (Flacco) before the game I was going to get 200 yards," Boldin said with a chuckle.
"It's huge for us. It's huge for this city, they've supported us this entire year and they expect a lot from us. In return, we want to give it to them."
Baltimore overcame the first two lost fumbles of the season by Ray Rice, too, as John Harbaugh became the only head coach in the Super Bowl era with wins in his first five playoff campaigns.
Backup halfback Bernard Pierce rescued Rice with a 43-yard burst that led to Boldin's touchdown, and ran for 103 yards.
Flacco also connected with Dennis Pitta for a 20-yard TD and rookie Justin Tucker made a 23-yard field goal.
Indy's only points came on three field goals by Adam Vinatieri, from 47, 52 and 26 yards. Luck completed 28 of 54 passes for 288 yards. It was the most attempts by a rookie in a playoff game.
Reggie Wayne had 114 yards on nine receptions and moved into second in career playoff catches with 92 — 59 behind leader Jerry Rice. But the Colts, who moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis in 1984 — they still are despised here — became the second NFL team to improve to 11 wins following a two-win season and then lose in the opening round of the playoffs.
The Ravens also beat the 2008 Dolphins in a similar scenario.
Both teams were sloppy early on, with Rice losing a fumble, Lewis dropping a potential interception, and Luck being stripped of the ball on a sack.
But Rice atoned with a 47-yard gain on a screen pass, leading to Vonta Leach's 2-yard touchdown.
That Pro Bowl backfield was bolstered by the kick returns of another Pro Bowl player, Jacoby Jones. He gained 60 yards on kickoff runbacks and 57 on punt returns.
Vinatieri, familiar with big kicks in the playoffs after winning two Super Bowls for New England with field goals, made a 47-yarder in the second quarter, a 52-yarder as the first half expired, and a 26-yarder near the end of the third period. But he also missed a 40-yarder wide right, his first miss against Baltimore after 18 successes.
NOTES: Ravens LB Dannell Ellerbe sprained an ankle late in the game. The Ravens didn't specify which ankle. ... Harbaugh is 6-4 in playoff games, as is Flacco. ... Rice finished with 70 yards rushing and Flacco threw for 282. ... Rookie Vick Ballard rushed for 91 yards for Indy. ... Colts T Winston Justice injured his arm.

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Tennis-Sharapova looks back on banner year

BRISBANE, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Maria Sharapova said 2012 had been the most memorable year of her career after her victory at the French Open and carrying Russia's flag at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.
"A lot of things came together," she said in Brisbane on Monday. "It was the grand slam that was going to take a little bit longer than the others for me.
"I knew that physically I needed a few extra years to get stronger to move more efficiently on that surface," she said of her win on the French clay.
"The Olympic experience was one that I'll never forget because it was my first time being an Olympian. I was the first Russian female athlete to carry the flag for my country, so it was very emotional. It was such an incredible experience."
Sharapova, competing in this week's Brisbane International tournament, said there was more depth in women's tennis than at any stage of her 12-year career.
"It's much more physical than it has been," she said.
"Maybe five years ago you go into a tournament and you would treat the first couple of rounds as, you know, not as a warm-up, but you don't have to go into the first round thinking, okay, this is where I really have to play my best tennis.
"Now it's certainly much different because you can be facing an opponent that's had good results, beaten top players, hasn't been consistent enough but is a really tough, tough player.
"The inconsistency obviously shows that their ranking is not high enough, therefore you're facing them in the first few rounds.
"It is a much stronger sport. And also with technology and racquets and improvements of all the things we have. There are so many things in tennis that in other sports you don't consider: the balls, the racquets, the strings. That changes yearly."
World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, who will defend her Australian Open title in Melbourne, labelled this the toughest era in the history of the women's game.
"I truly believe women's tennis is the highest competition right now," she said. "We have a lot of girls who any given day can win a title and beat each other.
"That's very exciting for the public to see and it's exciting for us, the players.
"It gives an extra motivation to know that I have to work hard because if I don't, there is somebody that's going to take my spot. For me personally, I have a lot of excitement for women's competition because I know that I always have to be there.

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Tennis-Early Auckland exits for Zheng, Kuznetsova

Dec 31 (Reuters) - Defending champion Zheng Jie and former world number two Svetlana Kuznetsova were knocked out of the Auckland Classic in the first round on Monday.
Zheng raced to a 3-0 lead before losing 13 of the next 16 games to go down 7-5 6-1 to American Jamie Hampton.
The Chinese fourth seed followed in the footsteps of Hungarian Greta Arn, who crashed out in the first round last year after winning the previous edition.
Kuznetsova, returning from a knee injury, lost 6-7(5) 6-2 7-5 to unseeded Dutch player Kiki Bertens.
The Russian, twice a grand slam winner, prevailed in a tense tie-break to win the first set, then took an extended break for a foot injury after losing the second before Bertens won the deciding set.

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Tennis-No magic answer for Stosur's problem on home courts

BRISBANE, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Former U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur conceded there was no magic solution to her problems on home courts after a shock loss to Sofia Arvidsson in the opening round of the Brisbane International on Monday.
The world number nine, who has failed to match expectations in Australian tournaments, lost 7-6 7-5 to the Swede five weeks after ankle surgery and only a fortnight before the Australian Open.
"Just really disappointed again, leaving Brisbane so early," Stosur told reporters. "I think it was some good tennis and some pretty average tennis at times."
Stosur said the surgery and the subsequent shortage of training had not played a part in her defeat.
"I wasn't going into the match thinking 'Oh my God, I haven't done this or that'," she said.
"I gave myself every opportunity to try and play as well as I could but for sure, I have not practised enough.
"I guess going into the match you want to think that that's going to be enough, but I think tonight it probably showed that it certainly wasn't enough.
"I have a fair bit of work to do ahead of me. You could put it down to being a bit rusty and it's the first match."
Saturation media coverage and public expectation is again accompanying Stosur's attempt to add the Australian Open to the U.S. Open title she secured by upsetting Serena Williams in 2011.
"I don't know how much of that really played into it," she said. "I've said it before, it's great playing out on a court where you've got the crowd behind you and trying to cheer you on and all that."
Stosur's last tournament before the Australian Open starts in Sydney on Sunday.
"I know that panicking doesn't help anyone get a good result or feel better," she said. "There is no magic dust that's going to make anything go away or fix it overnight or anything. I'm not the first player to have their home grand slam and not perform.
""There has been a few Australian and French players, you name it. It's a tough thing.
"Again, would I rather have a grand slam in my country than not? I would.
"All you can do is try and play your best. I know that people believe in me and what I'm trying to do are the right things. You just really want to perform right here, right now. That's what I'm going to keep trying to do.

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Gay marriage supporters look to next session

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — With a vote to legalize same-sex marriage in Illinois looking less likely to happen in the next few days, supporters of marriage equality are looking ahead to the following legislative session as their next best hope.
A Senate committee voted 8-5 late Thursday in favor of a bill that would allow gay marriage. But with key supporters absent, Senate Democrats delayed a full floor vote. The Senate then canceled its Friday schedule, and President John Cullerton said lawmakers are unlikely to return to Springfield before the session ends Jan. 9. New lawmakers will be sworn in that day.
Sen. Heather Steans, the bill's sponsor, said it was a matter of "when, not if" the measure will pass. She said people across Illinois and state lawmakers are changing their minds every day and supporting gay marriage.
"This is never going to be an easy one, but it's only going to get easier," Steans said.
Cullerton said it might be weeks before the bill gets a full Senate vote. His spokeswoman conceded that "the bill needs work," and even Steans suggested working with recalcitrant Republicans to get a bipartisan agreement.
"What's important when we reconvene is that we work to protect and strengthen all Illinois families, and that's what this legislation does," Cullerton said in a statement released by a coalition of supporters.
Hopes were high for a productive end to the 97th General Assembly, with legislation not only on gay marriage but on assault-weapons restrictions and a solution to the $96 billion hole in state retirement-benefit accounts.
Gun curbs advanced, and a pension fix has been proposed in the House, which isn't scheduled to return to Springfield until Sunday, giving Gov. Pat Quinn reason to stay optimistic that his top priority will still get attention.
Democrats hold a 35-24 majority in the Senate, but party members outside Chicago don't always toe the line. Not all are on board with extending marriage rights to same-sex couples, and some key supporters did not attend Thursday's session.
Hoping to ride momentum from the November elections and public encouragement from President Barack Obama, backers were jolted by the postponement.
A gay actor who stars in a popular TV comedy campaigned for the measure in Illinois while religious leaders — including 1,700 clergy, from Catholic to Muslim — united in writing to exhort lawmakers to oppose it.
Ralph Rivera, a lobbyist for the Illinois Family Institute, told lawmakers the bill was "an attack on our particular religious beliefs" and that it would force churches and other religious institutions to allow their facilities to be used for same-sex marriages.
Steans said that wouldn't be the case, and that she planned to work with Republicans to address some of those concerns.
Supporters said they pressed the matter in the waning days of the General Assembly's session to take advantage of soaring support in the state and nationally. And lame-duck lawmakers theoretically have more freedom to vote without fear of voter backlash.
Even though Democrats will claim a 40-19 advantage in the new session, newcomers will bring more diverse views in a state where southern Illinoisans live closer to Birmingham, Ala., than to Chicago.
The plan comes just 18 months after Illinois recognized civil unions.
If Illinois approves gay marriage, it would become the 10th state in the nation to do so.

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Richardson: NKorea trip is private, humanitarian

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson says the State Department should not be nervous about a visit he's making to North Korea with Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt.
The State Department has advised against his making the trip. But Richardson says he doesn't work for the U.S. government.
Richardson said Friday he's concerned about an American citizen detained in North Korea, Kenneth Bae, and has spoken to Bae's son. The former U.N. ambassador and U.S. energy secretary points out he has helped negotiate the release of American service members and hostages in the past. Richardson says he's also concerned about what the U.S. believes is covert nuclear testing.
Richardson tells CBS "This Morning" it's a private, humanitarian mission and says the State Department shouldn't be so worried.

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Some push secret lottery wins, but not lotteries

PHOENIX (AP) — When two winning tickets for a record $588 million Powerball jackpot were claimed from the Nov. 28 drawing, the world focused on the winners.
A Missouri couple appeared at a press conference and held up the traditional giant-sized check. The Arizona winner, however, skipped the press conference where lottery officials announced last month that someone had claimed the second half of the prize.
The differing approach to releasing information on the winners reflects a broader debate that is playing out in state Legislatures and lottery offices nationwide: Should the winners' names be secret?
Lawmakers in Michigan and New Jersey think so, proposing bills to allow anonymity because winners are prone to falling victim to scams, shady businesses, greedy distant family members and violent criminals looking to shake them down.
Lotteries object, arguing that publicizing the winners' names drives sales and that having their names released ensures that people know there isn't something fishy afoot, like a game rigged so a lottery insider wins.
When players see that an actual person won, "it has a much greater impact than when they might read that the lottery paid a big prize to an anonymous player," said Andi Brancato, director of public relations for the Michigan state lottery.
Most states require the names of lottery winners be disclosed, albeit in different ways. Some states require the winner to appear at a press conference, like Missouri winners Mark and Cindy Hill did on Nov. 30.
Arizona and other states allow winners not to appear in public, but their names can be obtained through public records laws. The Arizona winner, Matthew Good, was not identified at the news conference a week after the Hills' came forward, and has not given interviews or appeared in public.
When news media learned of his name through records requests, TV crews and reporters flocked to Good's neighborhood to get reaction from the winner of a lottery that captivated the nation.
Jeff Hatch-Miller, executive director of the Arizona Lottery, said he understands winners' desire for privacy, but he argues they are essentially entering into a large contract with the government that is public. Others argue that appearing at a news conference helps defuse media interest because the winner is available to answer questions that satisfy the media's interest in telling their stories.
In Michigan, Republican state Sen. Tory Rocca pushed a lottery bill that allows winners to remain anonymous. It didn't pass, but in arguing for it, he cited cases where lottery winners were shot and killed because of their newfound wealth.
A Florida woman was convicted last month of first-degree murder after she befriended a man who won a $30 million jackpot in 2006. Prosecutors said she took control of his assets, killed him, buried him in her yard and poured a concrete slab above the grave.
An effort in New Jersey by Democratic Sen. Jim Whelan took a middle ground between public release and privacy, calling for a one-year delay in releasing winners' names. It also didn't make it out of the Legislature last year, but he said he'll keep pressing to get it passed.
Whelan said a one-year delay would give winners a chance to adjust while still keeping the public disclosure lotteries say they need. However, Whelan said he doesn't really buy the agencies' arguments for public disclosure.
"I'm not sure how many people are spurred to buy a lottery ticket because they see a picture of someone in the paper holding up a big check - and I don't think people don't buy a ticket because they think the whole thing's fixed," Whelan said.
Of 44 states participating in Powerball and 33 in Mega-Millions, only Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, North Dakota and Ohio allow blanket anonymity, said Chuck Strutt, executive director of the Multi-State Lottery Association, which oversees the games.
"Obviously, it is a law that is designed to ensure an open and transparent process, so that the public can be ensured that insiders are not winners," Strutt said. "But in today's world, most of us can understand the wish to remain anonymous."
The most famous modern lottery fraud case happened in 1980 when Pennsylvania Lottery district manager Edward Plevel and TV announcer Nick Perry were convicted of fixing the result of the Daily Number drawing.
Authorities found that some of the ping pong balls used in the game were injected with paint to make them too heavy to float up the winning slots. The result paid $3.8 million, a record at the time, and eight people involved in the fix won a total of about $1.2 million.
Former Missouri child services worker Sandra Hayes shared a $224 million Powerball jackpot with a dozen co-workers in 2006 and said she understands the push for anonymity.
Hayes said she received many requests for money or to make investments, both at work (she kept her job another month) and at home, where she'd find people waiting on her porch. Her lump sum payout after taxes was more than $6 million.
Even if people are allowed to remain anonymous, it's often inevitable that their identities will become known.
Steve Thornton, a lawyer in Bowling Green, Ky., has helped two big lottery winners shield their names through corporations despite rules in his state that require disclosure of winners. Even though they were kept out of the public eye, one winner couldn't stay hidden.
"It was not many months later that lots of people knew who won, even though it was not released, because of their gifts and their spending." Thornton said.

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Correction: Obit-Schwarzkopf story

WASHINGTON - WASHINGTON (AP) — In a story Dec. 28 about the death of U.S. Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, The Associated Press reported erroneously the date of Schwarzkopf's birth. He was born on Aug. 22, 1934, not Aug. 24.
A corrected version of the story is below:
Desert Storm commander Norman Schwarzkopf dies
His days of stormin' behind him, retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf chose charities over politics
By MITCH STACY and LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press
Truth is, retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf didn't care much for his popular "Stormin' Norman" nickname.
The seemingly no-nonsense Desert Storm commander's reputed temper with aides and subordinates supposedly earned him that rough-and-ready moniker. But others around the general, who died Thursday in Tampa, Florida, at age 78 of complications from pneumonia, knew him as a friendly, talkative and even jovial figure who preferred the somewhat milder sobriquet given by his troops: "The Bear."
That one perhaps suited him better later in his life, when he supported various national causes and children's charities while eschewing the spotlight and resisting efforts to draft him to run for political office.
He lived out a quiet retirement in Tampa, where he had served his last military assignment and where an elementary school bearing his name is testament to his standing in the community.
Schwarzkopf capped an illustrious military career by commanding the U.S.-led international coalition that drove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait in 1991 — but he'd managed to keep a low profile in the public debate over the second Gulf War against Iraq, saying at one point that he doubted victory would be as easy as the White House and the Pentagon predicted.
Schwarzkopf was named commander in chief of U.S. Central Command at Tampa's MacDill Air Force Base in 1988, overseeing the headquarters for U.S. military and security concerns in nearly two dozen countries stretching across the Middle East to Afghanistan and the rest of central Asia, plus Pakistan.
When Saddam invaded Kuwait two years later to punish it for allegedly stealing Iraqi oil reserves, Schwarzkopf commanded Operation Desert Storm, the coalition of some 30 countries organized by President George H.W. Bush that succeeded in driving the Iraqis out.
At the peak of his postwar national celebrity, Schwarzkopf — a self-proclaimed political independent — rejected suggestions that he run for office, and remained far more private than other generals, although he did serve briefly as a military commentator for NBC.
While focused primarily on charitable enterprises in his later years, he campaigned for President George W. Bush in 2000, but was ambivalent about the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In early 2003 he told The Washington Post that the outcome was an unknown: "What is postwar Iraq going to look like, with the Kurds and the Sunnis and the Shiites? That's a huge question, to my mind. It really should be part of the overall campaign plan."
Initially Schwarzkopf had endorsed the invasion, saying he was convinced that Secretary of State Colin Powell had given the United Nations powerful evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. After that proved false, he said decisions to go to war should depend on what U.N. weapons inspectors found.
He seldom spoke up during the conflict, but in late 2004 he sharply criticized Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the Pentagon for mistakes that included erroneous judgments about Iraq and inadequate training for Army reservists sent there.
"In the final analysis I think we are behind schedule. ... I don't think we counted on it turning into jihad (holy war)," he said in an NBC interview.
Schwarzkopf was born Aug. 22, 1934, in Trenton, New Jersey, where his father, Col. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, founder and commander of the New Jersey State Police, was then leading the investigation of the Lindbergh kidnap case. That investigation ended with the arrest and 1936 execution of German-born carpenter Richard Hauptmann for murdering famed aviator Charles Lindbergh's infant son.
The elder Schwarzkopf was named Herbert, but when the son was asked what his "H'' stood for, he would reply, "H."
As a teenager Norman accompanied his father to Iran, where the elder Schwarzkopf trained Iran's national police force and was an adviser to Reza Pahlavi, the young Shah of Iran.
Young Norman studied there and in Switzerland, Germany and Italy, then followed in his father's footsteps to West Point, graduating in 1956 with an engineering degree. After stints in the U.S. and abroad, he earned a master's degree in engineering at the University of Southern California and later taught missile engineering at West Point.
In 1966 he volunteered for Vietnam and served two tours, first as a U.S. adviser to South Vietnamese paratroops and later as a battalion commander in the U.S. Army's Americal Division. He earned three Silver Stars for valour — including one for saving troops from a minefield — plus a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and three Distinguished Service Medals.
While many career officers left military service embittered by Vietnam, Schwarzkopf was among those who opted to stay and help rebuild the tattered Army into a potent, modernized all-volunteer force.
After Saddam invaded Kuwait in August 1990, Schwarzkopf played a key diplomatic role by helping persuade Saudi Arabia's King Fahd to allow U.S. and other foreign troops to deploy on Saudi territory as a staging area for the war to come.
On Jan. 17, 1991, a five-month buildup called Desert Shield became Operation Desert Storm as allied aircraft attacked Iraqi bases and Baghdad government facilities. The six-week aerial campaign climaxed with a massive ground offensive on Feb. 24-28, routing the Iraqis from Kuwait in 100 hours before U.S. officials called a halt.
Schwarzkopf said afterward he agreed with Bush's decision to stop the war rather than drive to Baghdad to capture Saddam, as his mission had been only to oust the Iraqis from Kuwait.
But in a desert tent meeting with vanquished Iraqi generals, he allowed a key concession on Iraq's use of helicopters, which later backfired by enabling Saddam to crack down more easily on rebellious Shiites and Kurds.
While he later avoided the public second-guessing by academics and think-tank experts over the ambiguous outcome of the first Gulf War and its impact on the second Gulf War, he told The Washington Post in 2003, "You can't help but ... with 20/20 hindsight, go back and say, 'Look, had we done something different, we probably wouldn't be facing what we are facing today.'"
After retiring from the Army in 1992, Schwarzkopf wrote a bestselling autobiography, "It Doesn't Take A Hero." Of his Gulf War role, he said: "I like to say I'm not a hero. I was lucky enough to lead a very successful war." He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and honoured with decorations from France, Britain, Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain.
Schwarzkopf and his wife, Brenda, had three children: Cynthia, Jessica and Christian.
___
Stacy was the AP's Tampa, Fla., correspondent when he prepared this report on Schwarzkopf's life; he now reports from the AP bureau in Columbus, Ohio. Associated Press writers Richard Pyle in New York and Jay Lindsay in Boston contributed to this report.

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Appeals court faults EPA for soot regulation

WASHINGTON (AP) — An appeals court is siding with environmental groups that had challenged Environmental Protection Agency regulations on soot as too weak.
The three-judge panel ruled Friday that the EPA regulated soot of a certain size under weaker cleanup requirements than it should have.
The environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, had challenged two rules dating back to the George W. Bush administration. The court sent the rules back to the EPA with instructions to strengthen them.
Soot, or fine particulate matter, is microscopic pollution released from smokestacks, diesel trucks and other sources. Breathing it can cause lung and heart problems, contributing to heart attacks, strokes and asthma attacks.
Two of the three judges were appointed by Republican presidents, the third by a Democrat.

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Business Systems Integrators’ EDI Suite Announces General Release of Integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013

BSI provides EDI integration with newly released Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 to broaden capabilities and support for Dynamics GP users.

Lawson, MO (PRWEB) December 27, 2012
Business Systems Integrators, LLC, (BSI) a best-of-breed EDI solutions provider for the Microsoft GP, AX and NAV marketplace, today announced the general release of integration of its BSI EDI Suite with Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013. BSI’s EDI Suite provides Electronic Data Interchange capabilities for multiple versions of Microsoft Dynamics GP, and now also for GP 2013. This integration provides the same user-friendly capabilities and support for numerous industries and usage scenarios, including 3PL, retail/grocery and supplier onboarding, with one of the deepest, most robust integrations in the market. The additional integration that BSI has with Microsoft Dynamics GP 9.0, 10.0, 2010 and AX 3.0, 4.0, 2009, 2012 and NAV shows the company’s parallel positioning with Microsoft’s history of providing cutting-edge, agile and easy-to-use solutions for the Microsoft Dynamics user community.
“This general release broadens our support for our Dynamics GP users--for our on-premise EDI users as well as our SaaS users with our partner, SPS Commerce,” said Larry Knoch, CEO and founder of BSI.
About Business Systems Integrators
Business Systems Integrators, LLC. is a Microsoft-Certified software and service provider who has been involved in ERP and EDI for nearly 24 years. BSI provides on-premise EDI as well as SaaS EDI in conjunction with SPS Commerce. BSI, LLC prides itself on quality solutions and service that meets customers’ needs and exceeds expectations - whether it's implementing one of BSI’s software products or for custom integration development.

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Global Technology Transfer Group (GTT Group) Releases December Patent Market Outlook and Q3 2012 Patent Market Index (PMI)

Global Technology Transfer Group, Inc. (GTT Group), the world leader in patent transaction advisory and patent analysis services, releases the Q3 2012 Patent Market Index (PMI), an index tracking patent transaction activity and trends in the patent marketplace. The Q3 2012 PMI continues the steady growth trend set since Q3 2009, growing 13.1 points in Q3 2012 over the previous quarter.

Portland, OR (PRWEB) December 27, 2012
Global Technology Transfer Group, Inc. (GTT Group), the world leader in patent transaction advisory and patent analysis services, releases the Q3 2012 Patent Market Index (PMI), an index tracking patent transaction activity and trends in the patent marketplace.
The Patent Market Index grew 13.1 points in Q3 2012 over the previous quarter, from 96.5 to 109.6. The Q3 2012 PMI continues the steady growth trend set since Q3 2009.
“One important indicator of the current quarter PMI strength is the significant number of small and medium sized transactions,” explained Michael Lubitz, CEO and Chairman of GTT Group. “Our expectation when reporting the Q2 2012 PMI was for a significant uptick in Q3 and Q4, and it came through for Q3. We remain optimistic to report continued growth in Q4 through the first half of 2013. ”
The number of Patent Asset Transfers jumped in Q3 2012, but this was due to a large backlog at the USPTO. The PMI should maintain its 100-plus level into the first half of 2013 with secondary transfer returning to recent representative levels. Twelve transactions made the Notable Patent Transfers list this quarter, a reflection of the current activity in small and medium sized transaction. Most Active Dealmakers of Q3 2012 included Intel, Samsung, Microsoft, Cisco, and Facebook.
To obtain a complete copy of the Patent Transaction Market Report, subscribe to the Quarterly Patent Transaction Market Report and Patent Market Index by visiting the GTT Group website. GTT Group makes this information available as a courtesy to the community.
Additional research and analysis studies are listed in the Quarterly Patent Transaction Market Report. For access to any of these studies, or to inquire about developing a study for a specific company, please contact Dan Buri, Director Asset Services at GTT Group.
About Global Technology Transfer Group, Inc.

Global Technology Transfer Group, Inc. is a patent transaction advisory and consulting firm. GTT Group combines core competencies in patent valuation with its global network to deliver unparalleled results. GTT Group’s services include Patent Valuation, Patent Brokerage, Patent Acquisition, Patent Licensing Support, Patent Related Standards Analysis, Patent Research and Strategic Analysis. The company’s corporate headquarters are in Portland, Oregon, with representation in North America, Asia, and Europe.

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Whisky Marketplace Offering a Wide Range of Aged Whiskies

Online seller of whisky brands WhiskyMarketplace.co.uk is now offering an exciting range of aged whiskies. The seller offers different blends of whisky originating from distilleries around the world that are arranged in order of age between three years and fifty years.

(PRWEB) December 27, 2012
Going into 2013, Whisky Marketplace is now offering its customers a wide range of blends with varying ages. Ranging from three years to even sixty year old whiskies, the website’s extensive whisky collection is appreciated by whisky lovers in many parts of the world. For those keeping score, the age printed on a whisky label denotes the youngest possible age of the whisky and makes a perfect gift for any season, or even a way to kick off the new year.
Each bottle is a blend of whiskies from different casks, with each whisky at least as old as the label shows. Most people will be familiar with the range of popular 12 year old whiskies, which are reasonably priced and include popular brands such as Ballantines and Old Pulteney. In its 15 year old range, some of the most popular brands on Whisky Marketplace in 2012 included Ardbeg, Dalwhinnie, Glenfiddich, and Old Elgin among several others.
The website boasts an extensive collection of 18 year old whiskies such as the Glenfiddich, Glenlivet and Glenrothes. Beyond that, favourites in the 21 year range include brands such as Highland Park, Gordon & MacPhail, Mortlach, Benriach, and Bladnoch. The seller’s 25 year old whisky collection is an enviable set of fine blended and well aged brands like Glen Grant, Benromach, and Linkwood. Ideal for special occasions, the 25 year old whisky collection at Whisky Marketplace is a great place to find presents for all seasons.
For lovers of slightly rare, exclusive and expensive whiskies, there are 30 year old whisky blends from Carsebridge, Glentauchers, Strathclyde, and MacPhail. Forming some of the finest and more expensive whisky blends, the 40 year old whisky collection includes classics such as the Bunnahabhain 1972, Abbey Speyside and Linkwood 1970.
And it goes further back than that, with almost 30 different versions of 50 year old whisky. Some of the most popular blends with the 50 year old mark include North British 1962, Glenfarclas 1959 and 1961, MacPhail 1937, Pride of Strathspey 1937 and Glen Grant 1936.
How far back does it go? Three of Whisky Marketplace’s most prized whiskies include the Macallan 1949 priced at £15,000, the Macallan Lalique Crystal worth £17,500 and the Springbank 1919 priced at a whopping £50,000.

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CitizenShipper.com Members Find Delivery Jobs That Drive Them to the Moon and Back....Twice

CitizenShipper.com, an online marketplace of shipments that connect with drivers passed a major milestone this year, with drivers on the site clocking up over a million miles. For those looking to find delivery jobs and driving jobs, CitizenShipper.com offers a cosmic solution.

Denver, CO (PRWEB) December 27, 2012
Denver based startup company, CitizenShipper.com, is a new peer-to-peer marketplace that connects people who have shipping requirements with people who can actually do the driving. The site has been serving the US market since 2009, and recently expanded into Canada helping Americans and Canadians find driving jobs in a down economy.
Citizenshipper offers companies and individuals a better alternative to high priced, time-constrained and inflexible conventional delivery/courier services. CitizenShipper links people who want something delivered (the customer) with the people wish to do the delivering (the driver). It can be anything, a letter, a package, to something as large as a big-screen TV. Pets are also popular things that are transported on the site.
This year, CEO Richard Obousy announced a major milestone for the company. "We tallied the total number of miles drivers registered on our site have driven shipping stuff." Explains Obousy. "It turns out, you could get to the Moon and back...twice!" It's a nice metric when you think about it, and just goes to show how active the drivers are who are registered to the site.
CitizenShipper has grown quickly into a marketplace where drivers planning on making a trip somewhere anyway can leave quotes on thousands of online shipments. Payments for these completed shipments range from as low as $20 for local delivery jobs, to as much as $5,000 for heavy equipment and difficult to move items
"This is a great way for people to get stuff shipped, and also great for people looking to find driving jobs and delivery jobs." Closes Obousy.

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PSA/DNA Forgery Experts Warn: Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Babe Ruth Top 2012's "Most Dangerous Autographs"

The signatures of Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Neil Armstrong, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Mickey Mantle were among the most forged autographs in the collectibles marketplace the past year, according to PSA/DNA Authentication Services in their new report on the "most dangerous autographs" of 2012.

Newport Beach, California (PRWEB) December 28, 2012
There's probably less than a 50/50 chance autographs offered in the marketplace of Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Babe Ruth are genuine, according to a year-end report by PSA/DNA Authentication Services (http://www.psadna.com) of Newport Beach, California, the world's largest third-party autograph and memorabilia authentication service. The company has issued a consumer advisory about the "most dangerous autographs" of 2012 (http://www.psacard.com/MostDangerousAutographs/2012/), and the names on the list are familiar.
PSA/DNA officials caution there was a significant increase in forgeries submitted to them of Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong's autograph. His death this past July sparked renewed interest and demand for items he personally signed. According to PSA/DNA, a genuine autographed Armstrong photograph can sell for $5,000 or more, a contract or letter signed by Elvis might be worth $35,000 or more and a high-quality Ruth-signed baseball could be valued at $60,000 or more.
"Whether it's the signature of a famous sports hero, an entertainment star or an important historical figure, it's important that consumers buy from reputable sellers who use credible, expert third-party authentication," advises Joe Orlando, President of PSA/DNA.
"There are a lot so-called 'deals' for autographs that can be found online, at local flea markets and even at some collectibles conventions, but most of those 'deals' are simply too good to be true. Genuine autographs do not often sell for a huge discount," warns Orlando.
In 2012, PSA/DNA experts evaluated over 350,000 autographs submitted by collectors worldwide.
"Unfortunately, a large portion of them were forgeries. In fact, it's not uncommon for our experts to reject 50 percent or more of the signatures submitted to our company, especially when it comes to the more prominent names," said Orlando.
The company has issued an advisory entitled 2012 PSA/DNA Autograph Report: The Ten Most Dangerous Autographs. It is available free online at http://www.psacard.com/MostDangerousAutographs/2012/.
Among the most frequently submitted counterfeit signatures of historical and entertainment figures the past year were:
    1) Elvis Presley

    2) The Beatles

    3) Neil Armstrong

    4) John F. Kennedy

    5) Michael Jackson
The "most dangerous" autographs of sports stars' autographs in 2012 were:
    1) Babe Ruth

    2) Lou Gehrig

    3) Mickey Mantle

    4) Michael Jordan

    5) Muhammad Ali
"What is most startling about the number of fake autographs in the marketplace is that PSA/DNA does not often receive obvious forgeries for evaluation. So, if our rejection rate for a particular autograph approaches 50 percent, then you can only imagine how high that percentage of forgeries actually might be in the overall marketplace," cautioned Orlando.
The public can see and compare hundreds of genuine sports, historical and entertainment autographs free online at http://www.PSAAutographFacts.com, including examples of how a person's signature may change over the years.
"With the proper precautions and education, collectors can participate in a safe hobby environment and avoid becoming prey for unscrupulous sellers," said Orlando.

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