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.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.
Linux/Open Source News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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PEOPLE Remembers the American Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan

With the exit from Iraq and the draw-down of troops in Afghanistan, the numbers of Americans killed continues to drop.

Still, loved ones are mourning 311 lost, and as of Dec. 17, the wars' toll since 2001 now stands at 6,656.

Edward Joseph Acosta, 21
Trevor Brandon Adkins, 21
Ahmed Kousay al-Taie, 46 Erica Paige Alecksen, 21
Tobias Christoph Alexander, 30
Joseph James Altmann, 27
Mabry James Anders, 21
Joshua Ryan Ashley, 23
Bradley Wayne Atwell, 27

Daniel Benjamin Bartle, 27
Jon-Luke Bateman, 22
Jonathan Batista, 22
Rayvon Battle Jr., 25
Taylor John Baune, 21
Jordan Logan Bear, 25
Clayton Ross Beauchamp, 21
Genaro Bedoy, 20
Bryan Richard Bell, 23
Russell Ryan Bell, 37
Jose Oscar Belmontes, 28
Kenneth Wade Bennett, 26
Keith David Benson, 27
Richard Liam Berry, 27
Robert John Billings, 30
Christopher James Birdwell, 25
Jeremie Shane Border, 28
Christopher David Bordoni, 21
Joshua Alan Born, 25
Michael Cean Braden, 31
Mikayla Anne Bragg, 21
John R. Brainard III, 26
Sean Edward Brazas, 26
Andrew Trevor Britton-Mihalo, 25
Michael John Brodsky, 33
Christopher L. Brown, 26
Daniel Joseph Brown, 27
Milton W. Brown, 28
Gregory Thomas Buckley, 21
Antonio Carlos Burnside, 31
Thomas Jefferson Butler IV, 25
Brandon Lucas Buttry, 19

Gerardo Campos, 23
Shane William Cantu, 20
Daniel Lewis Carlson, 21
Sean Patrick Carson, 32
Roberto Cazarez, 24
Julian Clement Chase, 22
Nicolas D. Checque, 28
Gregory Lamont Childs, 38
Bruce Kevin Clark, 43
Junot M. L. Cochilus, 34
Kenneth Eldren Cochran, 20
Keaton Grant Coffey, 22
Julian Lee Colvin, 21
Timothy John Conrad Jr., 22
Gregory Todd Copes, 36
Cesar Cortez, 24
Niall William Cotisears, 23

Joseph D’Augustine, 29
Johnathon Frank Davis, 20
Nathan Tyler Davis, 20
Coater Bernard Debose, 55
Michael Robert Demarsico II, 20
Anthony Joseph Denier, 26
Leroy Deronde III, 22
Nicholas Michael Dickhut, 23
Scott Edward Dickinson, 29
Alex Frank Domion, 21
Curtis Joseph Duarte, 22
Michael Stephen Duskin, 42
James Evan Dutton, 25
Edward Joe Dycus, 22

Kevin Richard Ebbert, 32
Jason Kyle Edens, 22
Brandon Forrest Eggleston, 29
Vincent James Ellis, 22
Darrel Lynn Enos, 36
Richard Allen Essex, 23
Bobby Lee Estle, 38
Kyler Lavon Estrada, 21

Joseph Henry Fankhauser, 30
Aaron Matthew Faust, 22
Mathew Gregory Fazzari, 25
Patrick Delaney Feeks, 28
Arronn David Fields, 27
Krystal Marie Fitts, 26
Joseph Fitzmorris, 31
Thomas Kent Fogarty, 30
Nicholas Charles Fredsti, 30

Vilmar Galarza Hernandez, 21
Luis Antonio Oliver Galbreath, 41
Jonathan William Gifford, 34
Theodore Matthew Glende, 23
Jonathan Alan Gollnitz, 28
Moises Jesus Gonzalez, 29
Brandon Dwayne Goodine, 20
Brittany Bria Gordon, 24
Brett Edward Gornewicz, 27
Walter David Gray, 38
Kevin James Griffin, 45
Samuel Mark Griffith, 36
Jesse James Grindey, 30
Dustin Dean Gross, 19
Raul Madrigal Guerra, 37
Michael J. Guillory, 28

Ryan Preston Hall, 30
Carl Erik Hammar, 24
Shawn Thomas Hannon, 44
John Eric Hansen, 41
Justin Michael Hansen, 26
Jeremy Franklin Hardison, 23
Zachary Hayden Hargrove, 32
Aaron Arthur Henderson, 33
Alex Hernandez III, 21
Pernell Johnnie Herrera, 33
Channing Bo Hicks, 24
Darrion Terrell Hicks, 21
Tanner Stone Higgins, 23
Terence John Hildner, 49
Hunter Dalton Hogan, 21
Eric Scott Holman, 39
Patricia Lee Horne, 20
Brian Daniel Hornsby, 37
Justin Louis Horsley, 21
John Patrick Huling, 25

Francis Dee Imlay Jr., 31
Aaron Dale Istre, 37

Kedith Lamont Jacobs Jr., 21
Sean Robert Jacobs, 23
Jamie Darrell Jarboe, 27
Ryan Paul Jayne, 22
Ryan Jeschke, 31
David Andrew Johnson, 24
Donna Rae Johnson, 29
Nicholas Scott Johnson, 27
Payton Alexander Jones, 19
James Austin Justice, 21

Ramon Taisakan Kaipat, 22
Matthew Geoffrey Kantor, 22
Andrew James Keller, 22
Thomas Elliott Kennedy, 35
Kurt William Kern, 24
Richard James Kessler Jr., 47
Michael Joseph Knapp, 28
Jabraun Steven Knox, 23
Noah Mark Korte, 29
Suresh Niranjan Aba Krause, 29

Jarrod Allen Lallier, 20
Todd William Lambka, 25
Matthew John Leach, 29
Dick Alson Lee Jr., 31
Brian Jeffery Leonhardt, 21
Joseph Michael Lilly, 25
Darren M. Linde, 41
Daniel Lee Linnabary II, 23
Kevin E. Lipari, 39
Roberto Loeza Jr., 28
John Darin Loftis, 44
Joseph Daniel Logan, 22
Jesus Jonathan Lopez, 22
Conner Thomas Lowry, 24
Bryant Jordan Luxmore, 25

Bruce Andrew MacFarlane, 46
Thomas Raymond MacPherson, 26
Matthew Patrick Manoukian, 29
Robert Joseph Marchanti II, 48
Justin Cameron Marquez, 25
Chase Stone Marta, 24
Ethan Jacob Martin, 22
Alex Martinez, 21
Robert Anthony Massarelli, 32
Erik Nathaniel May, 26
Kyle Brenton McClain, 25
Philip Daine McGeath, 25
Nathan Ronald McHone, 29
Allen Robert McKenna Jr., 28
Barett Wambli McNabb, 33
Richard Lewis McNulty III, 22
John David Meador II, 36
Dale Wayne Means, 23
Kashif Mohammed Memon, 31
Michael Joseph Metcalf, 22
Daniel Thomas Metcalfe, 29
Jonathan Matthew Metzger, 32
Cale Clyde Miller, 23
Eugene Clifton Mills III, 21
Christopher Michael Monahan Jr., 25
Jose Luis Montenegro Jr., 31
Osbrany Montes De Oca, 20
Cody Otho Moosman, 24
Travis Alan Morgado, 25
Christopher E. Mosko, 28
Sky Russell Mote, 27
Christopher Lee Muniz, 24

Dustin Paul Napier, 20
Juan Pantoja Navarro, 23
Benjamin Harold Neal, 21
James Dominic Nehl, 37
Joshua Nathaniel Nelson, 22
Sapuro Brightley Nena, 25
David Paul Nowaczyk, 32
Israel Paul Nuanes, 38

Nicholas Henry Olivas, 20
Tyler J. Orgaard, 20
Kyle Bruce Osborn, 26
Jesse Aaron Ozbat, 28

Scott Patrick Pace, 39
Joshua Cole Pairsh, 29
Michael Jeremy Palacio, 23
Alejandro Jose Pardo, 21
Christopher Alexander Patterson, 20
Brandon Robert Pepper, 31
Sergio Eduardo Perez, 21
Trevor Adam Pinnick, 20
Benjamin Carlos Pleitez, 25
William Compton Poling Jr., 42
Paris Shawn Pough, 40
Alexander George Povilaitis Jr., 47
Stephen Chase Prasnicki, 24
John Castle Pratt, 51
Daniel Joseph Price, 27
Scott Eugene Pruitt, 38
Michael Wayne Pyron, 30

Christopher Keith Raible, 40
Thalia Suzanne Ramirez, 28
Ryan Davis Rawl, 30
Clovis Tim Ray, 34
Jerry Don Reed II, 30
Chad Robert Regelin, 24
Nicholas J. Reid, 26
Kevin James Reinhard, 25
Jose Joel Reyes, 24
Jeffrey Leon Rice, 24
Joseph Alvin Richardson, 23
Travis William Riddick, 40
Jeffrey James Rieck, 46
Michael Eugene Ristau, 25
Richard Anthony Rivera Jr., 20
Daquane Demetris Rivers, 21
Dion Rashun Roberts, 25
Leonard Robinson, 29
Daniel Anthony Rodriguez, 28
Jose Rodriguez, 22
Kyle Robert Rookey, 23
Adam Corey Ross, 19
Nicholas Jan Rozanski, 36
Clinton Keith Ruiz, 22
David E. Rylander, 23

Brenden Neal Salazar, 20
Christian Riley Sannicolas, 20
Ryan James Savard, 29
Philip Channing Sipe Schiller, 21
Joseph Lee Schiro, 27
Jonathan Philip Schmidt, 28
Julian Seiji Scholten, 26
Jacob Michael Schwallie, 22
Matthew Scott Schwartz, 34
Matthew Ryan Seidler, 24
Ricardo Seija, 31
Anthony Ramon Servin, 22
Dean Russell Shaffer, 23
Christopher Greg Singer, 23
Matthew Steven Sitton, 26
James Lyn Skalberg Jr., 25
Tyler James Smith, 24
Orion Nelson Sparks, 29
William Chapman Stacey, 23
Cameron James Stambaugh, 20
Trevor Jovanne Stanley, 22
Camella Marchett Steedley, 31
Riley Gene Stephens, 39
Steven Prince Stevens II, 23
Matthew Henrick Stiltz, 26
Jesse Wade Stites, 23
Michael Joseph Strachota, 28
Sean Patrick Sullivan, 40
Billy Albert Sutton, 42
Steven Gene Sutton, 24
Jason Michael Swindle, 24

Abraham Tarwoe, 25
Robert Joseph Tauteris Jr., 44
Tofiga Joshua Tautolo, 23
David Wayne Taylor, 20
Nicholas Andrew Taylor, 20
Alec Robert Terwiske, 21
Matthew Bradford Thomas, 30
Alejo Rene Thompson, 30
Joel Del Mundo Tiu, 48
Louis Ramon Torres, 23
Jon Ross Townsend, 19
Gregory Ray Trent, 38
Nelson D. Trent, 37
Neil Isaac Turner, 21

Jalfred David Vaquerano, 20
Manuel Joseph Vasquez, 22
Jorge Luis Velasquez, 35
Dain Taylor Venne, 29
Don Cayetano Viray, 25
Paul Clarke Voelke, 36

Brian Lloyd Walker, 25
Jonathan Patrick Walsh, 28
Eric Dean Warren, 23
David John Warsen, 27
Samuel Thomas Watts, 20
Dennis Paul Weichel Jr., 29
Jeffrey Lee White Jr., 21
Nicholas Schade Whitlock, 29
Justin Michael Whitmire, 20
Ronald Herbert Wildrick Jr., 30
Justin James Wilkens, 26
Clarence Williams III, 23
David Vincent Williams, 24
Eric Edward Williams, 27
Wesley R. Williams, 25
Ryan James Wilson, 26
Shane Gregory Wilson, 20
Wade Daniel Wilson, 22
William Robert Wilson III, 27
Jessica Marie Wing, 42
Benjamin Brian Wise, 34
Joshua Eli Witsman, 23
Chris John Workman, 33
Sterling William Wyatt, 21

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Predicting who's at risk for violence isn't easy

CHICAGO (AP) — It happened after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colo., and now Sandy Hook: People figure there surely were signs of impending violence. But experts say predicting who will be the next mass shooter is virtually impossible — partly because as commonplace as these calamities seem, they are relatively rare crimes.

Still, a combination of risk factors in troubled kids or adults including drug use and easy access to guns can increase the likelihood of violence, experts say.

But warning signs "only become crystal clear in the aftermath, said James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University criminology professor who has studied and written about mass killings.

"They're yellow flags. They only become red flags once the blood is spilled," he said.

Whether 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who used his mother's guns to kill her and then 20 children and six adults at their Connecticut school, made any hints about his plans isn't publicly known.

Fox said that sometimes, in the days, weeks or months preceding their crimes, mass murderers voice threats, or hints, either verbally or in writing, things like "'don't come to school tomorrow,'" or "'they're going to be sorry for mistreating me.'" Some prepare by target practicing, and plan their clothing "as well as their arsenal." (Police said Lanza went to shooting ranges with his mother in the past but not in the last six months.)

Although words might indicate a grudge, they don't necessarily mean violence will follow. And, of course, most who threaten never act, Fox said.

Even so, experts say threats of violence from troubled teens and young adults should be taken seriously and parents should attempt to get them a mental health evaluation and treatment if needed.

"In general, the police are unlikely to be able to do anything unless and until a crime has been committed," said Dr. Paul Appelbaum, a Columbia University professor of psychiatry, medicine and law. "Calling the police to confront a troubled teen has often led to tragedy."

The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry says violent behavior should not be dismissed as "just a phase they're going through."

In a guidelines for families, the academy lists several risk factors for violence, including:

—Previous violent or aggressive behavior

—Being a victim of physical or sexual abuse

—Guns in the home

—Use of drugs or alcohol

—Brain damage from a head injury

Those with several of these risk factors should be evaluated by a mental health expert if they also show certain behaviors, including intense anger, frequent temper outbursts, extreme irritability or impulsiveness, the academy says. They may be more likely than others to become violent, although that doesn't mean they're at risk for the kind of violence that happened in Newtown, Conn.

Lanza, the Connecticut shooter, was socially withdrawn and awkward, and has been said to have had Asperger's disorder, a mild form of autism that has no clear connection with violence.

Autism experts and advocacy groups have complained that Asperger's is being unfairly blamed for the shootings, and say people with the disorder are much more likely to be victims of bullying and violence by others.

According to a research review published this year in Annals of General Psychiatry, most people with Asperger's who commit violent crimes have serious, often undiagnosed mental problems. That includes bipolar disorder, depression and personality disorders. It's not publicly known if Lanza had any of these, which in severe cases can include delusions and other psychotic symptoms.

Young adulthood is when psychotic illnesses typically emerge, and Appelbaum said there are several signs that a troubled teen or young adult might be heading in that direction: isolating themselves from friends and peers, spending long periods alone in their rooms, plummeting grades if they're still in school and expressing disturbing thoughts or fears that others are trying to hurt them.

Appelbaum said the most agonizing calls he gets are from parents whose children are descending into severe mental illness but who deny they are sick and refuse to go for treatment.

And in the case of adults, forcing them into treatment is difficult and dependent on laws that vary by state.

All states have laws that allow some form of court-ordered treatment, typically in a hospital for people considered a danger to themselves or others. Connecticut is among a handful with no option for court-ordered treatment in a less restrictive community setting, said Kristina Ragosta, an attorney with the Treatment Advocacy Center, a national group that advocates better access to mental health treatment.

Lanza's medical records haven't been publicly disclosed and authorities haven't said if it is known what type of treatment his family may have sought for him. Lanza killed himself at the school.

Jennifer Hoff of Mission Viejo, Calif. has a 19-year-old bipolar son who has had hallucinations, delusions and violent behavior for years. When he was younger and threatened to harm himself, she'd call 911 and leave the door unlocked for paramedics, who'd take him to a hospital for inpatient mental care.

Now that he's an adult, she said he has refused medication, left home, and authorities have indicated he can't be forced into treatment unless he harms himself — or commits a violent crime and is imprisoned. Hoff thinks prison is where he's headed — he's in jail, charged in an unarmed bank robbery.

___

Online:

American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry: http://www.aacap.org

___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

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Wall Street Week Ahead: A lump of coal for "Fiscal Cliff-mas"

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street traders are going to have to pack their tablets and work computers in their holiday luggage after all.

A traditionally quiet week could become hellish for traders as politicians in Washington are likely to fall short of an agreement to deal with $600 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts due to kick in early next year. Many economists forecast that this "fiscal cliff" will push the economy into recession.

Thursday's debacle in the U.S. House of Representatives, where Speaker John Boehner failed to secure passage of his own bill that was meant to pressure President Obama and Senate Democrats, only added to worry that the protracted budget talks will stretch into 2013.

Still, the market remains resilient. Friday's decline on Wall Street, triggered by Boehner's fiasco, was not enough to prevent the S&P 500 from posting its best week in four.

"The markets have been sort of taking this in stride," said Sandy Lincoln, chief market strategist at BMO Asset Management U.S. in Chicago, which has about $38 billion in assets under management.

"The markets still basically believe that something will be done," he said.

If something happens next week, it will come in a short time frame. Markets will be open for a half-day on Christmas Eve, when Congress will not be in session, and will close on Tuesday for Christmas. Wall Street will resume regular stock trading on Wednesday, but volume is expected to be light throughout the rest of the week with scores of market participants away on a holiday break.

For the week, the three major U.S. stock indexes posted gains, with the Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> up 0.4 percent, the S&P 500 <.spx> up 1.2 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> up 1.7 percent.

Stocks also have booked solid gains for the year so far, with just five trading sessions left in 2012: The Dow has advanced 8 percent, while the S&P 500 has climbed 13.7 percent and the Nasdaq has jumped 16 percent.

IT COULD GET A LITTLE CRAZY

Equity volumes are expected to fall sharply next week. Last year, daily volume on each of the last five trading days dropped on average by about 49 percent, compared with the rest of 2011 - to just over 4 billion shares a day exchanging hands on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and NYSE MKT in the final five sessions of the year from a 2011 daily average of 7.9 billion.

If the trend repeats, low volumes could generate a spike in volatility as traders keep track of any advance in the cliff talks in Washington.

"I'm guessing it's going to be a low volume week. There's not a whole lot other than the fiscal cliff that is going to continue to take the headlines," said Joe Bell, senior equity analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research, in Cincinnati.

"A lot of people already have a foot out the door, and with the possibility of some market-moving news, you get the possibility of increased volatility."

Economic data would have to be way off the mark to move markets next week. But if the recent trend of better-than-expected economic data holds, stocks will have strong fundamental support that could prevent selling from getting overextended even as the fiscal cliff negotiations grind along.

Small and mid-cap stocks have outperformed their larger peers in the last couple of months, indicating a shift in investor sentiment toward the U.S. economy. The S&P MidCap 400 Index <.mid> overcame a technical level by confirming its close above 1,000 for a second week.

"We view the outperformance of the mid-caps and the break of that level as a strong sign for the overall market," Schaeffer's Bell said.

"Whenever you have flight to risk, it shows investors are beginning to have more of a risk appetite."

Evidence of that shift could be a spike in shares in the defense sector, expected to take a hit as defense spending is a key component of the budget talks.

The PHLX defense sector index <.dfx> hit a historic high on Thursday, and far outperformed the market on Friday with a dip of just 0.26 percent, while the three major U.S. stock indexes finished the day down about 1 percent.

Following a half-day on Wall Street on Monday ahead of the Christmas holiday, Wednesday will bring the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. It is expected to show a ninth-straight month of gains.

U.S. jobless claims on Thursday are seen roughly in line with the previous week's level, with the forecast at 360,000 new filings for unemployment insurance, compared with the previous week's 361,000.

(Wall St Week Ahead runs every Friday. Questions or comments on this column can be emailed to: rodrigo.campos(at)thomsonreuters.com)

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jan Paschal)

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Syrian Resort Town Is Stronghold for Alawites

TARTUS, Syria — Loyalists who support the government of President Bashar al-Assad are flocking to the Mediterranean port of Tartus, creating an overflowing boomtown far removed from the tangled, scorched rubble that now mars most Syrian cities.

The New York Times

The port city of Tartus is sheltered by a mountain range.

There are no shellings or air raids to interrupt the daily calm. Families pack the cafes lining the town’s seaside corniche, usually abandoned in December to the salty winter winds. The real estate market is brisk. A small Russian naval base provides at least the impression that salvation, if needed, is near.

Many of the new residents are members of the Alawite minority, the same Shiite Muslim sect to which Mr. Assad belongs. The latest influx is fleeing from Damascus, people who have decided that summer villas, however chilly, are preferable to the looming battle for the capital.

“Going to Tartus is like going to a different country,” said a Syrian journalist who recently met residents here. “It feels totally unaffected and safe. The attitude is, ‘We are enjoying our lives while our army is fighting overseas.’ ”

Should Damascus fall to the opposition, Tartus could become the heart of an attempt to create a different country. Some expect Mr. Assad and the security elite will try to survive the collapse by establishing a rump Alawite state along the coast, with Tartus as their new capital.

There have been various signs of preparations.

This month, the governor of Tartus Province announced that experts were studying how to develop a tiny local airfield, now used mostly by crop-dusters, into a full-fledged civilian airport “to boost transportation, business, travel and tourism,” as the official Syrian news agency, SANA, reported. The announcement coincided with the first attacks on the airport in Damascus, forcing it to close temporarily to international traffic.

More important, security forces are continuously tightening an extensive ring of checkpoints around the potential borders of an Alawite canton. The mountain heartland of the Alawites rises steeply to the east of Tartus, separating it from much of Syria. Across the mountains, the Orontes River creates a rough line separating Alawite territory from central Syria. Rebel military commanders from adjoining Hama Province said government soldiers vigorously maintain checkpoints on routes leading up into the mountains.

“If we bomb a checkpoint, it is back in place sometimes within hours,” said Basil al-Hamwi, a rebel fighter, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of opposition military commanders in Turkey. “Once, in Hama Province, we destroyed five in one day and they were all back the next day. This area is even more important for them than Damascus.”

Mr. Hamwi and other commanders said there were about 40 government checkpoints along more than 60 miles in Homs and Hama Provinces alone. Many Alawite commanders of Mr. Assad’s army have sent their families to their home villages, so they are particularly aggressive in protecting the area, said Hassan M. al-Saloom, a rebel battalion commander. They have formed committees to guard the outskirts of their villages, he said, and often negotiate local truces.

“Nobody goes inside, and they don’t come out,” he said.

There are widespread suspicions within the opposition that the military is shipping weapons into the Alawite hinterland, or has already positioned them. “The mountains and the coast make it hard to raid,” Mr. Saloom said.

Castles left by the Crusaders dot the coastal range, a testament to its strategic value.

If Mr. Assad fled to Tartus, he could seek protection from the Russian naval base here, or flee aboard a Russian vessel. Russia announced Tuesday that it was sending a small flotilla toward Tartus, possibly to evacuate its citizens who live in Syria. But Tartus residents said that the Russian families from the naval base had already left, while the officers do not leave the base, which is little more than an enclosure near the civilian port.

An employee of The New York Times reported from Tartus, and Neil MacFarquhar from Antakya, Turkey. Hania Mourtada contributed reporting from Beirut, Lebanon, and Hala Droubi from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

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RIM shares dive as fee changes catch market off guard

(Reuters) – Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd dropped 20 percent on Friday on fears that a new fee structure for its high-margin services segment could put pressure on the business that has set the company apart from its competitors.

The shares were still more than 80 percent above the year’s low, which was hit in September. They started to rally in November as investors began to bet that RIM’s long-awaited new BlackBerry 10 phones, to be launched in January, would turn the company around.

The services segment has long been RIM’s most profitable and accounts for about a third of total revenue. Some analysts said there was a risk that the fee changes could endanger its service ecosystem and leave the Canadian company as just another handset maker.

The fee changes, which RIM announced on Thursday after the close, overshadowed stronger-than-expected quarterly results. The company said the new pricing structure would be introduced with the BlackBerry 10 launch, expected on January 30.

RIM said some subscribers would continue to pay for enhanced services such as advanced security. But under the new structure, some other services would account for less revenue, or even none at all.

Chief Executive Thorsten Heins tried to reassure investors in a television interview with CNBC on Friday, saying RIM’s “service revenue isn’t going away”.

He added: “We’re not stopping. We’re not halting. We’re transitioning.”

Since taking over at RIM in January, Heins has focused on shrinking the company and getting it ready to introduce its new BB10 devices, which RIM says will help it claw back ground it has lost to competitors such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics.

But the news of the new services pricing strategy came as a shock to markets, and some analysts cut their price targets on RIM stock.

RIM will not be able to sustain profitability by relying on its hardware business alone, said National Bank Financial analyst Kris Thompson, whom Thomson Reuters StarMine has rated the top RIM analyst based on the accuracy of his estimates of the company’s earnings.

Thompson downgraded RIM’s stock to “underperform” from “sector perform” and cut his price target to $ 10 from $ 15.

Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin said the move was likely about stabilizing market share: “At the moment, they need to stem the bleeding.”

He said the tiered pricing might line up better with RIM’s subscriber base as it expands in emerging economies.

RIM’s Nasdaq-listed shares were down 19.8 percent at $ 11.32 on Friday afternoon. The stock was down 19.6 percent to C$ 11.21 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

COUNTDOWN TO LAUNCH

The success of the BB10 will be crucial to the future of RIM, which on Thursday posted its first-ever decline in total subscribers. Heins said on CNBC that the company expected to ship millions of the new devices.

He cautioned that this will require heavy investment, which will reduce RIM’s cash position in its fourth and first quarters from $ 2.9 billion in its fiscal third quarter. He said, however, it would not go below $ 2 billion.

Still, doubts remain about whether RIM can pull off the transformation. Needham analyst Charlie Wolf said the BB10 would have to look meaningfully superior to its competitors for RIM to stage a comeback.

Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley said it was highly unlikely that the market would support RIM’s new mobile computing ecosystem, and he remained skeptical about the company’s ability to survive on its own.

“We believe RIM will eventually need to sell the company,” said Walkley, who cut his price target on RIM shares to $ 9 from $ 10.

Baird Equity Research analysts said BB10 faced a daunting uphill battle against products from Apple, as well as those using Google Inc’s Android operating system, and, increasingly, phones with Microsoft Corp’s Windows 8 operating system.

Baird maintained its “underperform” rating on the stock, while Paradigm Capital downgraded the shares to “hold” from “buy” on uncertainty around the services revenue model.

“RIM has gone from having one major aspect of uncertainty – BlackBerry 10 adoption – to two, given an uncertain floor on services revenue,” William Blair analyst Anil Doradla said.

RIM will have to discount BB10 devices significantly to maintain demand, Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu said.

The BlackBerry, however, still offers the security features that helped it build its reputation with big business and government, a selling point with some key customers.

Credit Suisse maintained its “neutral” rating on the stock, but not because it expected BB10 to be a big success.

“Only the potential for an outright sale of the company or a breakup keeps us at a neutral,” Credit Suisse analysts said.

Separately on Friday, ailing Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia said it had settled its patent dispute with RIM in return for payments. Nokia did not disclose detailed terms, but said the deal included a one-time payment to be booked in the fourth quarter, as well as ongoing fees, all to be paid by RIM. [ID:nL5E8NL22K]

($ 1=$ 0.98 Canadian)

(Reporting by Chandni Doulatramani in Bangalore and Allison Martell in Toronto. Additional reporting by Sinead Carew in New York; Editing by Ted Kerr, Dale Hudson, Janet Guttsman,; Lisa Von Ahn and Peter Galloway)

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: RIM shares dive as fee changes catch market off guard
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Ashton Kutcher Files for Divorce from Demi Moore

People Exclusive

By Ken Lee

12/21/2012 at 03:55 PM EST

Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore

Amanda Edwards/WireImage

After more than a year with their marriage in legal limbo, Ashton Kutcher has filed for divorce from Demi Moore.

The papers were filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court. Kutcher, 34, citing irreconcilable differences, isn't seeking any spousal support nor is he asking the court to deny Moore any. The documents also show that because the couple had no children together, child support and visitation are not an issue.

Back in Nov. 2011, the couple announced they were ending their 6-year marriage.

"As a woman, a mother and a wife there are certain values and vows that I hold sacred, and it is in this spirit that I have chosen to move forward with my life," Moore, 50, said at the time, following reports of Kutcher's infidelity.

Added Kutcher: "I will forever cherish the time I spent with Demi. Marriage is one of the most difficult things in the world and unfortunately sometimes they fail."

The actor has been dating That '70s Show costar Mila Kunis.

The documents reveal that Kutcher has hired A-list divorce attorney Laura Wasser to represent him, whose past or current clients include Britney Spears, Kim Kardashian, Heidi Klum and Angelina Jolie, among others.

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AP IMPACT: Big Pharma cashes in on HGH abuse

A federal crackdown on illicit foreign supplies of human growth hormone has failed to stop rampant misuse, and instead has driven record sales of the drug by some of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies, an Associated Press investigation shows.

The crackdown, which began in 2006, reduced the illegal flow of unregulated supplies from China, India and Mexico.

But since then, Big Pharma has been satisfying the steady desires of U.S. users and abusers, including many who take the drug in the false hope of delaying the effects of aging.

From 2005 to 2011, inflation-adjusted sales of HGH were up 69 percent, according to an AP analysis of pharmaceutical company data collected by the research firm IMS Health. Sales of the average prescription drug rose just 12 percent in that same period.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE — Whether for athletics or age, Americans from teenagers to baby boomers are trying to get an edge by illegally using anabolic steroids and human growth hormone, despite well-documented risks. This is the second of a two-part series.

___

Unlike other prescription drugs, HGH may be prescribed only for specific uses. U.S. sales are limited by law to treat a rare growth defect in children and a handful of uncommon conditions like short bowel syndrome or Prader-Willi syndrome, a congenital disease that causes reduced muscle tone and a lack of hormones in sex glands.

The AP analysis, supplemented by interviews with experts, shows too many sales and too many prescriptions for the number of people known to be suffering from those ailments. At least half of last year's sales likely went to patients not legally allowed to get the drug. And U.S. pharmacies processed nearly double the expected number of prescriptions.

Peddled as an elixir of life capable of turning middle-aged bodies into lean machines, HGH — a synthesized form of the growth hormone made naturally by the human pituitary gland — winds up in the eager hands of affluent, aging users who hope to slow or even reverse the aging process.

Experts say these folks don't need the drug, and may be harmed by it. The supposed fountain-of-youth medicine can cause enlargement of breast tissue, carpal tunnel syndrome and swelling of hands and feet. Ironically, it also can contribute to aging ailments like heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

Others in the medical establishment also are taking a fat piece of the profits — doctors who fudge prescriptions, as well as pharmacists and distributors who are content to look the other way. HGH also is sold directly without prescriptions, as new-age snake oil, to patients at anti-aging clinics that operate more like automated drug mills.

Years of raids, sports scandals and media attention haven't stopped major drugmakers from selling a whopping $1.4 billion worth of HGH in the U.S. last year. That's more than industry-wide annual gross sales for penicillin or prescription allergy medicine. Anti-aging HGH regimens vary greatly, with a yearly cost typically ranging from $6,000 to $12,000 for three to six self-injections per week.

Across the U.S., the medication is often dispensed through prescriptions based on improper diagnoses, carefully crafted to exploit wiggle room in the law restricting use of HGH, the AP found.

HGH is often promoted on the Internet with the same kind of before-and-after photos found in miracle diet ads, along with wildly hyped claims of rapid muscle growth, loss of fat, greater vigor, and other exaggerated benefits to adults far beyond their physical prime. Sales also are driven by the personal endorsement of celebrities such as actress Suzanne Somers.

Pharmacies that once risked prosecution for using unauthorized, foreign HGH — improperly labeled as raw pharmaceutical ingredients and smuggled across the border — now simply dispense name brands, often for the same banned uses. And usually with impunity.

Eight companies have been granted permission to market HGH by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which reviews the benefits and risks of new drug products. By contrast, three companies are approved for the diabetes drug insulin.

The No. 1 maker, Roche subsidiary Genentech, had nearly $400 million in HGH sales in the U.S. last year, up an inflation-adjusted two-thirds from 2005. Pfizer and Eli Lilly were second and third with $300 million and $220 million in sales, respectively, according to IMS Health. Pfizer now gets more revenue from its HGH brand, Genotropin, than from Zoloft, its well-known depression medicine that lost patent protection.

On their face, the numbers make no sense to the recognized hormone doctors known as endocrinologists who provide legitimate HGH treatment to a small number of patients.

Endocrinologists estimate there are fewer than 45,000 U.S. patients who might legitimately take HGH. They would be expected to use roughly 180,000 prescriptions or refills each year, given that typical patients get three months' worth of HGH at a time, according to doctors and distributors.

Yet U.S. pharmacies last year supplied almost twice that much HGH — 340,000 orders — according to AP's analysis of IMS Health data.

While doctors say more than 90 percent of legitimate patients are children with stunted growth, 40 percent of 442 U.S. side-effect cases tied to HGH over the last year involved people age 18 or older, according to an AP analysis of FDA data. The average adult's age in those cases was 53, far beyond the prime age for sports. The oldest patients were in their 80s.

Some of these medical records even give explicit hints of use to combat aging, justifying treatment with reasons like fatigue, bone thinning and "off-label," which means treatment of an unapproved condition

Even Medicare, the government health program for older Americans, allowed 22,169 HGH prescriptions in 2010, a five-year increase of 78 percent, according to data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in response to an AP public records request.

"There's no question: a lot gets out," said hormone specialist Dr. Mark Molitch of Northwestern University, who helped write medical standards meant to limit HGH treatment to legitimate patients.

And those figures don't include HGH sold directly by doctors without prescriptions at scores of anti-aging medical practices and clinics around the country. Those numbers could only be tallied by drug makers, who have declined to say how many patients they supply and for what conditions.

First marketed in 1985 for children with stunted growth, HGH was soon misappropriated by adults intent on exploiting its modest muscle- and bone-building qualities. Congress limited HGH distribution to the handful of rare conditions in an extraordinary 1990 law, overriding the generally unrestricted right of doctors to prescribe medicines as they see fit.

Despite the law, illicit HGH spread around the sports world in the 1990s, making deep inroads into bodybuilding, college athletics, and professional leagues from baseball to cycling. The even larger banned market among older adults has flourished more recently.

FDA regulations ban the sale of HGH as an anti-aging drug. In fact, since 1990, prescribing it for things like weight loss and strength conditioning has been punishable by 5 to 10 years in prison.

Steve Kleppe, of Scottsdale, Ariz., a restaurant entrepreneur who has taken HGH for almost 15 years to keep feeling young, said he noticed a price jump of about 25 percent after the block on imports. He now buys HGH directly from a doctor at an annual cost of about $8,000 for himself and the same amount for his wife.

Many older patients go for HGH treatment to scores of anti-aging practices and clinics heavily concentrated in retirement states like Florida, Nevada, Arizona and California.

These sites are affiliated with hundreds of doctors who are rarely endocrinologists. Instead, many tout certification by the American Board of Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine, though the medical establishment does not recognize the group's bona fides.

The clinics offer personalized programs of "age management" to business executives, affluent retirees, and other patients of means, sometimes coupled with the amenities of a vacation resort. The operations insist there are few, if any, side effects from HGH. Mainstream medical authorities say otherwise.

A 2007 review of 31 medical studies showed swelling in half of HGH patients, with joint pain or diabetes in more than a fifth. A French study of about 7,000 people who took HGH as children found a 30 percent higher risk of death from causes like bone tumors and stroke, stirring a health advisory from U.S. authorities.

For proof that the drug works, marketers turn to images like the memorable one of pot-bellied septuagenarian Dr. Jeffry Life, supposedly transformed into a ripped hulk of himself by his own program available at the upscale Las Vegas-based Cenegenics Elite Health. (He declined to be interviewed.)

These promoters of HGH say there is a connection between the drop-off in growth hormone levels through adulthood and the physical decline that begins in late middle age. Replace the hormone, they say, and the aging process slows.

"It's an easy ruse. People equate hormones with youth," said Dr. Tom Perls, a leading industry critic who does aging research at Boston University. "It's a marketing dream come true."

___

Associated Press Writer David B. Caruso reported from New York and AP National Writer Jeff Donn reported from Plymouth, Mass. AP Writer Troy Thibodeaux provided data analysis assistance from New Orleans.

___

AP's interactive on the HGH investigation: http://hosted.ap.org/interactives/2012/hgh

___

The AP National Investigative Team can be reached at investigate(at)ap.org

EDITOR'S NOTE _ Whether for athletics or age, Americans from teenagers to baby boomers are trying to get an edge by illegally using anabolic steroids and human growth hormone, despite well-documented risks. This is the second of a two-part series.

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Wall Street sinks as "fiscal cliff" fears escalate

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks slid on Friday after a Republican plan to avoid the "fiscal cliff" failed to gain support on Thursday night, shrinking hopes that a deal would be reached before the new year.

Trading was volatile as investors lost confidence in the prospect of a deal between the White House and Republicans. Lower volume ahead of the Christmas and New Year's holidays exaggerated market swings. The CBOE Volatility Index <.vix> or VIX, the market's favored anxiety measure, rose 5 percent to 18.56, but was off the day's high.

Republican House Speaker John Boehner failed to garner enough votes even from his own party to pass his "Plan B" tax bill late on Thursday. This was the latest setback in negotiations to avoid $600 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts that some say could tip the U.S. economy into recession.

"The failure with Plan B was disappointing, if not terribly surprising, but now there's a real lack of clarity about what will happen, and markets hate that," said Mike Hennessy, managing director of investments for Morgan Creek in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

The day's biggest loser on the New York Stock Exchange was Herbalife , which dropped for an eighth straight session. Investor Bill Ackman recently ramped up his campaign against the company. Herbalife skidded 19 percent to $27.25 and has lost more than 35 percent this week.

Plan B, which called for tax increases on those who earn $1 million or more a year, was not going to pass the Democratic-led Senate or win acceptance from the White House anyway. But it exposed the reality that it will be difficult to get Republican support for the more expansive tax increases that President Barack Obama has urged.

Still, the declines of about 1 percent in the three major U.S. stock indexes suggest that investors do not believe the economy will be unduly damaged by the absence of a deal, said Mark Lehmann, president of JMP Securities, in San Francisco.

"You could have easily woken up today and seen the market down 300 or 400 points, and everyone would have said, 'That's telling you this is really dire,'" Lehmann said.

"I think if you get into mid-January and (the talks) keep going like this, you get worried, but I don't think we're going to get there."

Banking shares, which outperform in times of economic expansion and have led the market on signs of progress with resolving the fiscal impasse, led declines. Citigroup Inc fell 2 percent to $39.35, while Bank of America slid 2.3 percent to $11.25. The KBW Banks index <.bkx> lost 1.4 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> dropped 142.29 points, or 1.07 percent, to 13,169.43. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> dropped 15.69 points, or 1.09 percent, to 1,428.00. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> dropped 39.23 points, or 1.29 percent, to 3,011.15.

Even with the day's declines, the S&P 500 is up nearly 1 percent for the week and about 13 percent for the year.

The day's round of data indicated the economy was surprisingly resilient in November; consumer spending rose by the most in three years and a gauge of business investment jumped.

But separate data showed consumer sentiment slumped in December. The S&P Retail Index <.spxrt> fell 1.4 percent.

U.S.-listed shares of Research in Motion sank 21 percent to $11.09 after the Canadian company, known as the BlackBerry maker, reported its first-ever decline in its subscriber numbers on Thursday alongside a new fee structure for its high-margin services segment.

(Additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica and Leah Schnurr; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Jan Paschal)

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Monti Resigns in Italy, but May Run Again

ROME — Prime Minister Mario Monti resigned on Friday evening following Parliament’s approval of the 2013 budget, but he is still expected to play a major role in early elections, possibly as a candidate, analysts said.

At a news conference scheduled for Sunday, Mr. Monti is expected to present a political agenda — pro-Europe, pro-reform, pro-fiscal rigor — and call on all parties to endorse it, aides said Friday.

Mr. Monti, an economist who has helped restore Italy’s international credibility but has suffered politically for championing a series of tax increases and budget cuts, has steadfastly refused to say whether he will run as a candidate or present an agenda that he hopes parties will endorse. Whether he does run or not, however, he has already radically shifted Italy’s political landscape.

With Italy facing economic uncertainty and sluggish growth, Mr. Monti has emerged as a centrist force in a field previously divided between the center-left Democratic Party of Pier Luigi Bersani, which opinion polls place first, and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has risen in polls since taking to the airwaves with a vocal populist message critical of Mr. Monti’s tax increases.

“He’s de facto a candidate. He is the head politician of this coalition,” said Stefano Folli, a columnist for the business daily Il Sole 24 Ore, referring to a centrist grouping that has been courting Mr. Monti.

On Friday evening, Mr. Monti handed in his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano, who in a tough speech to lawmakers last week lamented the “brusque” end of the government and Parliament’s failure to carry out significant structural changes in Italy’s encrusted economy.

Mr. Napolitano is soon expected to dissolve Parliament, opening a chaotic, hard-fought campaign amid rising unemployment, taxes and populism. Mr. Monti will stay on as caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed. During that time, he is expected to retain the power to pass emergency legislation.

“He’s already a senator for life, so he doesn’t have to become a candidate in the technical way,” Mr. Folli added.

After losing the support of Mr. Berlusconi’s People of Liberty party earlier this month, Mr. Monti said that he would step down after the budget was passed. On Friday, lawmakers voted 373 in favor and 67 against with 15 abstentions for the budget, which stipulates spending cuts of $4.8 billion through 2015.

Mr. Monti could run as a candidate or endorse a centrist alliance that includes a veteran political party, the Union of Christian Democrats, and Toward the Third Republic, a fledgling civic movement led by the chairman of Ferrari, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo. If Mr. Monti lends his name to the centrists, he is expected to draw moderates from Mr. Berlusconi’s party.

Mr. Monti also has the implicit support of the Catholic Church, which is crucial to the survival of any Italian government.

After weeks of wavering, Mr. Monti seems to have decided to stay involved in Italian politics at the urging of other European leaders, analysts say. Concerned about the prospect of an increasingly populist Mr. Berlusconi, they have urged him to stay in the picture.

Last week, members of the European People’s Party, a group of center-right parties across Europe, asked the unelected Mr. Monti to attend a summit in Brussels, which Mr. Berlusconi attended as the head of Italy’s largest center-right party. “I can say that there was massive support from E.P.P. members that Monti should remain at the helm of Italy,” said Kostas Sasmatzoglou, the group’s spokesman.

“It was Europe pushing him to continue,” Mr. Folli, the columnist, said. “Germany already has Hollande,” he said, referring to France’s Socialist prime minister, François Hollande. “It doesn’t want another country to go to the left, to go back on fiscal rigor.”

He added: “It can have Bersani, but Bersani ‘corrected’ and supported by Monti.”

Indeed, Mr. Monti and the centrist groupings are not expected to get more than 15 percent of the vote. Mr. Bersani’s Democratic Party is expected to place first, but without enough votes to govern in both houses even if it allies with the smaller Left Ecology and Freedom party, a far from certain pairing. It remains to be seen if the center will take votes away from Mr. Berlusconi or Mr. Bersani.

On Thursday, Mr. Monti was widely perceived to have begun his campaign with a politically calculated speech at a Fiat automotive plant in southern Italy. With Fiat chairman Sergio Marchionne by his side, he said that Italy needed to stay the course on structural changes. The speech effectively challenged Mr. Bersani, a moderate who will most likely have to tack further left.

Mr. Monti came to power in November 2011, replacing Mr. Berlusconi amid global financial panic. He helped burnish Italy’s image abroad, but effectively raised taxes, worsening Italy’s recession. Although populists have depicted Mr. Monti and his government as a puppet of Europe and the banks, many Italians support him as a needed change from politics as usual.

“I prefer Monti to Berlusconi or any other politician, even if he left us in our underwear,” said Annalisa di Piero, 50, a costume designer and stylist, referring to the tax increases that have left Italians with less in their pockets in the holiday shopping season. “I just paid my property tax, but I still prefer him to these other clowns.”

Gaia Pianigiani contributed reporting.

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Acer will beat Google to market with its own $99 tablet

Title Post: Acer will beat Google to market with its own $99 tablet
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Shiri Appleby Expecting Her First Child

Mom & Babies
Celebrity Baby Blog

12/20/2012 at 03:00 PM ET

Charley Gallay/Getty

Shiri Appleby is going to be a mom.

The actress and fiancé Jon Shook are expecting their first child this spring, PEOPLE confirms.

“Thank you for all the well wishes,” Appleby, 34, says. “We can’t wait to meet our little Baby Shook!”

Shook, a chef and owner at Los Angeles restaurant Animal, proposed to the actress in Italy in July.

Appleby, who recently had guest-starring roles on Chicago Fire and Franklin & Bash, is best known for playing Liz on Roswell.

She’ll next appear on the second season of Girls as a new love interest for Adam.

– Sarah Michaud

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AP IMPACT: Steroids loom in major-college football

WASHINGTON (AP) — With steroids easy to buy, testing weak and punishments inconsistent, college football players are packing on significant weight — 30 pounds or more in a single year, sometimes — without drawing much attention from their schools or the NCAA in a sport that earns tens of billions of dollars for teams.

Rules vary so widely that, on any given game day, a team with a strict no-steroid policy can face a team whose players have repeatedly tested positive.

An investigation by The Associated Press — based on interviews with players, testers, dealers and experts and an analysis of weight records for more than 61,000 players — revealed that while those running the multibillion-dollar sport say they believe the problem is under control, that control is hardly evident.

The sport's near-zero rate of positive steroids tests isn't an accurate gauge among college athletes. Random tests provide weak deterrence and, by design, fail to catch every player using steroids. Colleges also are reluctant to spend money on expensive steroid testing when cheaper ones for drugs like marijuana allow them to say they're doing everything they can to keep drugs out of football.

"It's nothing like what's going on in reality," said Don Catlin, an anti-doping pioneer who spent years conducting the NCAA's laboratory tests at UCLA. He became so frustrated with the college system that it was part of the reason he left the testing industry to focus on anti-doping research.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE — Whether for athletics or age, Americans from teenagers to baby boomers are trying to get an edge by illegally using anabolic steroids and human growth hormone, despite well-documented risks. This is the first of a two-part series.

___

While other major sports have been beset by revelations of steroid use, college football has operated with barely a whiff of scandal. Between 1996 and 2010 — the era of Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Marion Jones and Lance Armstrong — the failure rate for NCAA steroid tests fell even closer to zero from an already low rate of less than 1 percent.

The AP's investigation, drawing upon more than a decade of official rosters from all 120 Football Bowl Subdivision teams, found thousands of players quickly putting on significant weight, even more than their fellow players. The information compiled by the AP included players who appeared for multiple years on the same teams.

For decades, scientific studies have shown that anabolic steroid use leads to an increase in body weight. Weight gain alone doesn't prove steroid use, but very rapid weight gain is one factor that would be deemed suspicious, said Kathy Turpin, senior director of sport drug testing for the National Center for Drug Free Sport, which conducts tests for the NCAA and more than 300 schools.

Yet the NCAA has never studied weight gain or considered it in regard to its steroid testing policies, said Mary Wilfert, the NCAA's associate director of health and safety.

The NCAA attributes the decline in positive tests to its year-round drug testing program, combined with anti-drug education and testing conducted by schools.

The AP's analysis found that, regardless of school, conference and won-loss record, many players gained weight at exceptional rates compared with their fellow athletes and while accounting for their heights.

Adding more than 20 or 25 pounds of lean muscle in a year is nearly impossible through diet and exercise alone, said Dan Benardot, director of the Laboratory for Elite Athlete Performance at Georgia State University.

In nearly all the rarest cases of weight gain in the AP study, players were offensive or defensive linemen, hulking giants who tower above 6-foot-3 and weigh 300 pounds or more. Four of those players interviewed by the AP said that they never used steroids and gained weight through dramatic increases in eating, up to six meals a day. Two said they were aware of other players using steroids.

"I ate 5-6 times a day," said Clint Oldenburg, who played for Colorado State starting in 2002 and for five years in the NFL. Oldenburg's weight increased over four years from 212 to 290.

Oldenburg told the AP he was surprised at the scope of steroid use in college football, even in Colorado State's locker room. "There were a lot of guys even on my team that were using." He declined to identify any of them.

The AP found more than 4,700 players — or about 7 percent of all players — who gained more than 20 pounds overall in a single year. It was common for the athletes to gain 10, 15 and up to 20 pounds in their first year under a rigorous regimen of weightlifting and diet. Others gained 25, 35 and 40 pounds in a season. In roughly 100 cases, players packed on as much 80 pounds in a single year.

In at least 11 instances, players that AP identified as packing on significant weight in college went on to fail NFL drug tests. But pro football's confidentiality rules make it impossible to know for certain which drugs were used and how many others failed tests that never became public.

Even though testers consider rapid weight gain suspicious, in practice it doesn't result in testing. Ben Lamaak, who arrived at Iowa State in 2006, said he weighed 225 pounds in high school. He graduated as a 320-pound offensive lineman and said he did it all naturally.

"I was just a young kid at that time, and I was still growing into my body," he said. "It really wasn't that hard for me to gain the weight. I love to eat."

In addition to random drug testing, Iowa State is one of many schools that have "reasonable suspicion" testing. That means players can be tested when their behavior or physical symptoms suggest drug use. Despite gaining 81 pounds in a year, Lamaak said he was never singled out for testing.

The associate athletics director for athletic training at Iowa State, Mark Coberley, said coaches and trainers use body composition, strength data and other factors to spot suspected cheaters. Lamaak, he said, was not suspicious because he gained a lot of "non-lean" weight.

But looking solely at the most significant weight gainers also ignores players like Bryan Maneafaiga.

In the summer of 2004, Bryan Maneafaiga was an undersized 180-pound running back trying to make the University of Hawaii football team. Twice — once in pre-season and once in the fall — he failed school drug tests, showing up positive for marijuana use but not steroids.

He'd started injecting stanozolol, a steroid, in the summer to help bulk up to a roster weight of 200 pounds. Once on the team, he'd occasionally inject the milky liquid into his buttocks the day before games.

"Food and good training will only get you so far," he told the AP recently.

Maneafaiga's former coach, June Jones, said it was news to him that one of his players had used steroids. Jones, who now coaches at Southern Methodist University, believes the NCAA does a good job rooting out steroid use.

On paper, college football has a strong drug policy. The NCAA conducts random, unannounced drug testing and the penalties for failure are severe. Players lose an entire year of eligibility after a first positive test. A second offense means permanent ineligibility for sports.

In practice, though, the NCAA's roughly 11,000 annual tests amount to a fraction of all athletes in Division I and II schools. Exactly how many tests are conducted each year on football players is unclear because the NCAA hasn't published its data for two years. And when it did, it periodically changed the formats, making it impossible to compare one year of football to the next.

Even when players are tested by the NCAA, experts like Catlin say it's easy enough to anticipate the test and develop a doping routine that results in a clean test by the time it occurs. NCAA rules say players can be notified up to two days in advance of a test, which Catlin says is plenty of time to beat a test if players have designed the right doping regimen. By comparison, Olympic athletes are given no notice.

Most schools that use Drug Free Sport do not test for anabolic steroids, Turpin said. Some are worried about the cost. Others don't think they have a problem. And others believe that since the NCAA tests for steroids their money is best spent testing for street drugs, she said.

Doping is a bigger deal at some schools than others.

At Notre Dame and Alabama, the teams that will soon compete for the national championship, players don't automatically miss games for testing positive for steroids. At Alabama, coaches have wide discretion. Notre Dame's student-athlete handbook says a player who fails a test can return to the field once the steroids are out of his system.

The University of North Carolina kicks players off the team after a single positive test for steroids. Auburn's student-athlete handbook calls for a half-season suspension for any athlete caught using performance-enhancing drugs.

At UCLA, home of the laboratory that for years set the standard for cutting-edge steroid testing, athletes can fail three drug tests before being suspended. At Bowling Green, testing is voluntary.

At the University of Maryland, students must get counseling after testing positive, but school officials are prohibited from disciplining first-time steroid users.

Only about half the student athletes in a 2009 NCAA survey said they believed school testing deterred drug use. As an association of colleges and universities, the NCAA could not unilaterally force schools to institute uniform testing policies and sanctions, Wilfert said.

"We can't tell them what to do, but if went through a membership process where they determined that this is what should be done, then it could happen," she said.

___

Associated Press writers Ryan Foley in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; David Brandt in Jackson, Miss.; David Skretta in Lawrence, Kan.; Don Thompson in Sacramento, Calif., and Alexa Olesen in Shanghai, China, and researchers Susan James in New York and Monika Mathur in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Contact the Washington investigative team at DCinvestigations (at) ap.org.

Whether for athletics or age, Americans from teenagers to baby boomers are trying to get an edge by illegally using anabolic steroids and human growth hormone, despite well-documented risks. This is the first of a two-part series.

Read More..

Wall Street advances on 'fiscal cliff' talks

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks edged up in a thinly traded session on Thursday after Republican House Speaker John Boehner pledged to keep working on a solution to the "fiscal cliff" while still criticizing President Barack Obama's approach to budget talks.

NYSE Euronext was the day's biggest gainer, surging 33.5 percent to $32.12 as the S&P 500's top percentage gainer, after IntercontinentalExchange Inc said it would buy the operator of the New York Stock Exchange for $8.2 billion.

ICE shares were last down 0.7 percent at $127.40.

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives pushed ahead with their own fiscal plan, complicating negotiations with the White House over a way to avoid a series of steep tax hikes and spending cuts due in early 2013. Obama has vowed to veto the plan.

Investors have hoped for an agreement soon between policymakers, but progress has been slow. Boehner said he expected to continue to work with Obama to find a solution, but repeated his charge that Obama and the Democrats were trying to "slow walk" the country over the fiscal cliff.

"Speaker Boehner went on the air and basically told us he doesn't like what the president's doing or not doing, and the markets rallied on that, which was kind of weird. But we have very light volume," said Stephen Guilfoyle, a trader at Meridian Equity Partners in New York.

About 4 billion shares had changed hands on major U.S. exchanges, a typically light day of trading for late December.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> advanced 27.94 points, or 0.21 percent, to 13,279.91. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> gained 5.51 points, or 0.38 percent, to 1,441.32. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> rose 5.44 points, or 0.18 percent, to 3,049.80.

Stocks rallied earlier in the week on signs of progress in the fiscal cliff negotiations, but with the S&P 500 up 14.6 percent so far this year, investors are taking the opportunity to engage in some hedging as 2012 comes to a close.

Herbalife lost 10.2 percent to $33.54 following news that hedge fund manager Bill Ackman was betting against the company as part of his big end-of-the-year short.

The S&P Financial Index <.gspf> gained 1.04 percent.

The U.S. economy grew 3.1 percent in the third quarter, faster than previously estimated, while the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits rose more than expected in the latest week.

Existing home sales jumped 5.9 percent in November, more than expected, and by the fastest monthly pace in three years. An index of housing shares <.hgx> gained 0.43 percent.

But KB Home slid 7 percent to $15.49 as the company reported higher homebuilding costs and expenses in the fourth quarter.

(Additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica and Leah Schnurr; Editing by Bernadette Baum, Nick Zieminski and Jan Paschal)

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At Benghazi Hearing, State Dept. Concedes Errors

WASHINGTON — State Department officials promised on Thursday to carry out quickly the recommendations of a review board to beef up security for the foreign service and urged Congress to provide more money to protect American diplomats.

The promises came during a Senate hearing into the handling of diplomatic security in Benghazi, Libya, before a deadly attack on a diplomatic outpost there that led to the deaths of four Americans, including the American ambassador.

“We have to do better,” Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns said in prepared testimony to the Foreign Relations Committee. On Tuesday, one department official resigned and three others were relieved of their duties after a scathing report was released by an inquiry panel led by Thomas R. Pickering, a retired diplomat.

In an opening statement, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the committee’s chairman, said that Congress “also bears some responsibility” to provide adequate financing for diplomatic security. He noted that the board’s report called for spending $2.3 billion a year in the coming decade to protect American Embassies and offices abroad.

Mr. Kerry and Mr. Burns said it was important to find ways for diplomats to get out among the people, even in dangerous countries.

“We do not want to concertina-wire America off from the world,” Mr. Kerry said.

Mr. Burns said that “diplomacy, by its very nature, must sometimes be practiced in dangerous places.”

“Chris Stevens understood that as well as anyone,” he said, referring to the ambassador to Libya who was killed along with the three others in the Sept. 11 attack. “Chris also knew that every chief of mission has the responsibility to ensure the best possible security and support for our people.”

Mr. Burns and Thomas R. Nides, another deputy secretary of state, told the committee in prepared testimony that the department had “already begun to fix” the “serious, systemic problems” identified in the Pickering report. The two men testified in place of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is recovering from a concussion.

Mr. Nides said the department accepted “every one” of the report’s 29 specific recommendations. He mentioned, for example, the addition of hundreds of Marines to protect foreign missions. His office is leading an effort to put them into effect “quickly and completely — and to pursue steps above and beyond the board’s report,” he said.

Dozens of specific actions are already under way, several will be completed within weeks, and all will be in motion “by the time the next secretary of state takes office,” he said.

Mr. Kerry is the leading candidate to be replace Mrs. Clinton as secretary of state, after the withdrawal from consideration of Susan E. Rice, the ambassador to the United Nations, after criticisms of statements she made following the attack on the Benghazi outpost.

Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, was skeptical about claims of progress, saying that rarely are the recommendations of review boards like the Pickering panel fully implemented.

“The culture of the State Department is one that needs to be reformed,” he said.

But Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat of New Jersey, said one reason for weak security was that Congress had not provided as much money as the administration has sought and the Pickering panel recommended.

Pleas for more money come as Congress and the administration face broad spending cuts next year, whether or not a resolution is reached soon in the continuing fiscal impasse.

At a second hearing on Thursday afternoon, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, the chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, scoffed at the calls for additional spending, saying that poor decisions rather than a lack of money were the problem in Benghazi.

“If the State Department intends to blame its long string of failures on inadequate funding, then perhaps it should take a closer look at the money that is being lavished on global climate change, culinary diplomacy programs and other favored projects,” she said. “This money could have been used for providing diplomatic security, including hiring additional personnel and providing them with adequate equipment and training.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: December 20, 2012

An earlier version of this article misstated the number of State Department officials who resigned after the release of a report investigating the attacks in Benghazi, Libya. One official resigned, not three.

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Wii U finally gets Nintendo’s TVii service on December 20th

After a month-long delay, Nintendo (NTDOY) will launch its Nintendo TVii service for the Wii U on December 20th in the U.S. and Canada. Nintendo TVii is the company’s take on organizing all of the various video streaming and DVR services a user might subscribe to and then displaying them in an easy-to-navigate touchscreen-based interface on the Wii U GamePad. With Nintendo TVii, Nintendo hopes to make content discovery an easier task, rather than a chore. At the same time, Nintendo TVii will offer new “second-screen” experiences (similar to Xbox SmartGlass) with built-in social sharing options to Facebook (FB), Twitter and the Wii U console’s Miiverse.

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[More from BGR: LG’s woeful comeback attempt]

Nintendo TVii will support Amazon (AMZN) Instant Video, Hulu Plus and cable and satellite providers on Thursday, but Netflix (NFLX) and TiVo (TIVO) support won’t hit the U.S. until “early 2013.” Nintendo didn’t state when TVii support for the latter two will hit Canada.

For the consumer’s sake, we hope the download for Nintendo TVii doesn’t take as long as past system updates.

Nintendo’s press release follows below.

Nintendo Makes TV Smart and Social – Nintendo TVii Launches Dec. 20

New Wii U Service Gives Every Member of the Family His or Her Own Personalized, Easy-to-Use Second-Screen Viewing Experience

REDMOND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The company that changed how we play is about to change how we watch. On Dec. 20, Nintendo will introduce Nintendo TVii, a free, integrated service for the recently launched Wii U console that combines what you watch and how you watch into one seamless, second-screen experience on the revolutionary new Wii U GamePad controller.

The rapid increase in both the quality and availability of video entertainment content – hundreds of satellite and cable channels, a seemingly endless amount of video-on-demand options – has made finding something to watch a complex and occasionally frustrating process. The solution to this problem is coming from perhaps an unexpected place: a video game console.

“After Dec. 20, you’ll never look at your TV the same way again,” said Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime. “Wii U owners have already experienced the transformative effect that the GamePad has on game play and social interaction. Nintendo TVii shows how the integrated second screen of the GamePad can also transform and enhance the TV viewing experience. Welcome to the new world of TVii.”

Nintendo TVii maximizes Wii U owners’ current cable, satellite and video-on-demand services by pulling all of their available content sources – such as a Comcast cable package or Hulu Plus subscription – into one place. This empowers Wii U owners to focus on whatthey want to watch and not how they want to watch. And once users find the show, sporting event or movie they want, they press an icon and Nintendo TVii does the rest.

In addition to greatly simplifying finding and watching video content, Nintendo TVii also includes a series of social features that enable Wii U owners to share experiences and exciting moments with friends as they are happening on live TV. People can engage with others by commenting and sharing on Miiverse, Facebook and Twitter. Or they can comment, post or tweet about an incredible touchdown, a remarkable performance or a shocking plot twist, all using the personal screen of the Wii U GamePad.

Nintendo TVii requires no additional equipment and can be enjoyed with very little setup, demonstrating what’s possible when the second screen is truly integrated with the TV. Wii U owners can also discover more information about what they’re watching by easily accessing information on the GamePad via an Internet connection, including cast details, movie reviews from Rotten Tomatoes and sports data such as live stats and scores.

Nintendo TVii launches in the United States and Canada on Dec. 20. At launch, the service will support cable and satellite providers in both regions, as well as direct integration with Amazon Instant Video and Hulu Plus subscriptions in the United States. Further integration with Netflix subscriptions and TiVo are expected in early 2013 in the United States. Wii U owners with a Netflix subscription can still access the Netflix application from the Wii U system’s main menu and enjoy their favorite content accordingly.

All elements of the Nintendo TVii service are included in the purchase price of the Wii U system. Users will define which services they currently subscribe to – including the channel lineup in their cable package and video-on-demand service subscriptions – as part of the setup process.

Nintendo TVii observes the Wii U system parental controls, and additional options specific to the Nintendo TVii features can be chosen in the Nintendo TVii settings. Every member of the family can create a different viewing profile. For more information about this and other features, visit http://www.nintendo.com/wiiu.

This article was originally published by BGR

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Snooki Says Her Wild Past Isn't 'Really a Big Deal'

TV Watch

Jersey Shore

By Dahvi Shira

12/19/2012 at 04:00 PM EST

Snooki and Lorenzo

Courtesy of Nicole 'Snooki' Polizzi

Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi has traded in dance clubs for diaper duty, but that doesn't mean she's ashamed of her hard-partying ways.

"[My wild days] aren't really a big deal," the Jersey Shore star and new mom to son Lorenzo told PEOPLE on Tuesday. "Everyone thinks, 'Oh my God, what are you going to tell Lorenzo?' "

Explains the 25-year-old, "I was 21 years old and I did what everybody else did, but it was just on camera. [I'll tell him], 'Learn from my mistakes and once you go through them, you're going to know how to deal with them.' "

Polizzi, who plans to have "the talk" with her son sometime between ages 13-15, just wants to tell him, "This is what happens when you're 21. You're going to go through this. Just be careful."

As for life as mom to her little meatball, 3½ months, the Snooki Couture jewelry designer calls it "amazing," adding, "Lorenzo has made me a better person. I'm so much more mature. He's just my life."

Although she and fiancé Jionni LaValle wish their son were old enough to play with, Polizzi tells reporters at least "he's starting to coo now. He's holding his head up really [well], so hopefully he can start sitting on his own. I just can't wait until he crawls."

With the holidays around the corner, the pint-sized princess says to the reaction of laughter, "I would love to have traditions, because we don't have any yet. I'm just looking for stuff – you know, Googling."

But even the festive season hasn't interrupted Polizzi's post-baby workout regimen.

"I started a trainer on Halloween," she explains. "I go four times a week and he kicks my butt. I've always eaten healthy – chicken and vegetables. The drinking made me heavy. It's hard to drink when you're taking care of a child, so I don't really drink. When I'm [out of town without family], that's when I drink wine."

The series finale of MTV's hit show airs Thursday at 10 p.m.

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Experts: Kids are resilient in coping with trauma

WASHINGTON (AP) — They might not want to talk about the gunshots or the screams. But their toys might start getting into imaginary shootouts.

Last week's school shooting in Connecticut raises the question: What will be the psychological fallout for the children who survived?

For people of any age, regaining a sense of security after surviving violence can take a long time. They're at risk for lingering anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder.

But after the grief and fear fades, psychiatrists say most of Newtown's young survivors probably will cope without long-term emotional problems.

"Kids do tend to be highly resilient," said Dr. Matthew Biel, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.

And one way that younger children try to make sense of trauma is through play. Youngsters may pull out action figures or stuffed animals and re-enact what they witnessed, perhaps multiple times.

"That's the way they gain mastery over a situation that's overwhelming," Biel explained, saying it becomes a concern only if the child is clearly distressed while playing.

Nor is it unusual for children to chase each other playing cops-and-robbers, but now parents might see some also pretending they're dead, added Dr. Melissa Brymer of the UCLA-Duke National Center for Child Traumatic Stress.

Among the challenges will be spotting which children are struggling enough that they may need professional help.

Newtown's tragedy is particularly heart-wrenching because of what such young children grappled with — like the six first-graders who apparently had to run past their teacher's body to escape to safety.

There's little scientific research specifically on PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, in children exposed to a burst of violence, and even less to tell if a younger child will have a harder time healing than an older one.

Overall, scientists say studies of natural disasters and wars suggest most children eventually recover from traumatic experiences while a smaller proportion develop long-term disorders such as PTSD. Brymer says in her studies of school shootings, that fraction can range from 10 percent to a quarter of survivors, depending on what they actually experienced. A broader 2007 study found 13 percent of U.S. children exposed to different types of trauma reported some symptoms of PTSD, although less than 1 percent had enough for an official diagnosis.

Violence isn't all that rare in childhood. In many parts of the world — and in inner-city neighborhoods in the U.S., too — children witness it repeatedly. They don't become inured to it, Biel said, and more exposure means a greater chance of lasting psychological harm.

In Newtown, most at risk for longer-term problems are those who saw someone killed, said Dr. Carol North of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who has researched survivors of mass shootings.

Friday's shootings were mostly in two classrooms of Sandy Hook Elementary School, which has about 450 students through fourth-grade.

But those who weren't as close to the danger may be at extra risk, too, if this wasn't their first trauma or they already had problems such as anxiety disorders that increase their vulnerability, she said.

Right after a traumatic event, it's normal to have nightmares or trouble sleeping, to stick close to loved ones, and to be nervous or moody, Biel said.

To help, parents will have to follow their child's lead. Grilling a child about a traumatic experience isn't good, he stressed. Some children will ask a lot of questions, seeking reassurance, he said. Others will be quiet, thinking about the experience and maybe drawing or writing about it, or acting it out at playtime. Younger children may regress, becoming clingy or having tantrums.

Before second grade, their brains also are at a developmental stage some refer to as magical thinking, when it's difficult to distinguish reality and fantasy. Parents may have to help them understand that a friend who died isn't in pain or lonely but also isn't coming back, Brymer said.

When problem behaviors or signs of distress continue for several weeks, Brymer says it's time for an evaluation by a counselor or pediatrician.

Besides a supportive family, what helps? North advises getting children back into routines, together with their friends, and easing them back into a school setting. Studies of survivors of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks found "the power of the support of the people who went through it with you is huge," she said.

Children as young as first-graders can benefit from cognitive-behavioral therapy, Georgetown's Biel said. They can calm themselves with breathing techniques. They also can learn to identify and label their feelings — anger, frustration, worry — and how to balance, say, a worried thought with a brave one.

Finally, avoid watching TV coverage of the shooting, as children may think it's happening all over again, Biel added. He found that children who watched the 9/11 clips of planes hitting the World Trade Center thought they were seeing dozens of separate attacks.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE — Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.

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