TOKYO - An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.9 struck off Japan's Hokkaido island late on Saturday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported.
The quake hit at a depth of 103 kilometres (64 miles) at 23:17pm (1417 GMT), about 109 kilometres west of Kushiro, Hokkaido, the USGS said.
A side-by-side test of Apple and Samsung ads.
WALTHAM, Mass.--The makers of Wheat Thins cereal may have a hit Super Bowl commercial on their hands.
I believe this because I watched the ad on my computer while another computer watched me watching it over the Internet. The ad combined a box of Wheat Thins, night vision goggles, fear of Bigfoot when there should have been fear of the Yeti, and a thieving neighbor. It seems my "emotional valence" score -- which can be roughly translated to mean my overall emotional reaction -- while watching all this was unusually high, at least once the Yeti and the the thieving neighbor made their appearance.
I had no idea a Yeti and Wheat Thins were a powerful combination, but after running the ad through a Web demonstration by the 3-year-old company Affectiva, I'm forced to conclude that's the case.>
Welcome to the future of advertising, where the wisdom of spending a reported $4 million for a 30-second spot in the Super Bowl doesn't have to be left to the imagination of an ad agency's creative team and the honesty of focus groups.
When you turn on the the Super Bowl tomorrow and watch that game within the game -- no, not Beyonce's performance, I mean the ads -- there's a good chance that at least several of those pieces have been tested using Affectiva's tools, which are being used by both Coca-Cola and Unilever, which owns brands ranging from Dove soap to Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Using a Web camera and with a user's permission (usually commissioned by an ad agency or research firm), Affectiva monitors a person's expressions while watching an ad.
Affectiva provides a topline measurement on a scale from 1 to 10 on something the company calls an Affdex score. That's a combination of involvement, a "feel good" index, and a "minus metric." Behind that, reaction over the length of the ad is monitored and charted. When did someone smile during the ad? When did they frown? When did they drift? It's all tracked and produced on tables.
There's deep science behind that report. Affectiva was founded in 2009 and is based on technology created at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab. The technology was originally intended to work with people who have autism. Because people with autism may have difficulty displaying emotional reactions, co-founders Rana el Kaliouby and Rosalind Picard created a mathematical model for monitoring hard-to-perceive changes in their expressions.
"I personally think it could be a standard for advertising," said Stephanie Tilenius, an executive-in-residence at the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins. Kleiner was part of a $12 million Series C funding round announced in August. The company was also a big attention-grabber at last month's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
If you have a Webcam on your computer, you can run through the Affectiva demonstration yourself right here. You can also test a goat-related ad from Doritos (really, it kind of works), a Hyundai ad with a "don't tell mom" theme, and an already somewhat controversial ad from Volkswagen in which lots of people whom you wouldn't expect to have Jamaican accents sound a lot like Jimmy Cliff.
The first, most viable application for the Affectiva technology was in advertising, of course. But it could one day find its way into everything from medical devices to smartphones. Imagine, for example, if your phone could sense by your expression, pulse, and tone of voice how urgently you need an app or to make a phone call?
Affectiva made a splash after last year's Super Bowl with a public analysis of many of the ads shown during the Giants-Patriots nail-biter. Perhaps their most interesting conclusion was that the follow-up ad to 2011's hit "Vader kid" ad from Volkswagen did not test well among 400 participants. The ad involved a dog trying to lose weight and finally chasing a new, red Volkswagen. But when the ad transitions to a scene from Star Wars' cantina scene (a nod to the Vader kid), interest fell off the map and didn't recover.
An explanation of Affectiva's score.
Most likely, the ad testing technology will be used in addition to traditional ad testing, rather than replacing focus groups, said Graham Page, an executive at the market research firm Millward Brown. Last year, Millward Brown tested over 400 ads using the Affectiva technology and should use it for more than "several thousand" ads around the world this year.
A tour of Affectiva's technology is a bit of a tour of your own instincts. In seconds, you can see quantified what you already suspected about an ad. In a face-to-face test of Apple and Samsung pieces, for example, neither ad exactly floated my boat. (You can see my overly stern expression while watching them in the screenshot above this article.)
So what else did I learn about my advertising tastes? It appears I really hate commercials in which grown men act like children but I am a hopeless sucker for ads with real children. I've always sort of known this. But thanks to a demonstration of facial-tracking technology here at the offices of a young company called Affectiva I can say, with certainty, that, yes, Verizon, I was seriously annoyed by that dopey ad with the dopey guys playing basketball. But the kids in the AT&T ad? Adorable.
"Your negative reaction to that," said Avril England, vice president of product management and marketing at Affectiva, "was about as negative as it can get."
(CBS News) After four years as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton was officially replaced by Sen. John Kerry Friday. An improbable pick after a tough primary battle with Barack Obama back in 2008, Clinton has used her celebrity status around the world to make changes both at home and abroad.
John Kerry sworn in as secretary of state
In a heartfelt goodbye to thousands of State Department employees Friday, Clinton said, "I am proud to have been secretary of state. I leave this department confident, confident about the direction we have set."
Friends and colleagues say there's a side to Clinton many people don't know. CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan talked to those people about Clinton and the legacy she's leaving behind.
She's not a typical Secretary of State saying goodbye. Anne Marie Slaughter, a former Clinton adviser said, "The first trip I took with her was like traveling with Madonna."
At times, Clinton's celebrity has overshadowed her diplomacy. But Slaughter said it shouldn't. "She elevated the roll of development. She's elevated social media, all sorts of new ways to reach people, ways of engaging youth, women, entrepreneurs."
Those tools are what Clinton calls "smart power" - finding ways to connect with people so that they then are able to influence their governments. She's said her extensive travel to 112 countries helped to build goodwill.
Others dismiss it as a vanity project. Critics also complain that she did not craft a clear policy to stop the war in Syria and point to security failures at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
However, longtime aide Philippe Reines disagrees. "For the last four years she has been, you know, working, literally killing herself for her country," he said.
He said her outreach made it possible to levy sanctions on Iran, North Korea, and to broker the November cease fire in Gaza. Reines has been aboard Clinton's plane for nearly every one of the almost one million miles she flew as secretary of state.
He told CBS News that most people don't know that how normal Clinton is. "I mean, she likes and dislikes a lot of the same things that you and I don't like or do like," he said.
He also said that she's not caught up on her future. "She does not sit around and do that as much as people think she does. It's more sitting around thinking, I saw 'Argo' and that's a great movie, did you see 'Argo?'"
Clinton is reluctant to make any decision yet about running for president in 2016. At a global town hall for students at the Newseum in Washington, Clinton talked about a bid for the presidency.
"I am not thinking about anything like that right now. I am looking forward to finishing up my tenure as secretary of state and then catching up on about 20 years of sleep deprivation," she said.
But few believe she'll stop working, and if you want to know what she'll do, aides say, look at what she's done.
A brother and sister who escaped the school bus where a 5-year-old autistic boy was taken hostage by a retired Alabama trucker are speaking out about the standoff and the man who threatened the lives of the children on board.
"I look up and he's talking about threatening to kill us all or something," 14-year-old Terrica Singletary told ABC's "Good Morning America." "He's like, 'I'll kill all y'all, I'll kill y'all, I just want two kids.'"
Singletary and her brother, Tristian, 12, said Jimmy Lee Dykes boarded the bus on Tuesday and offered the driver what appeared to be broccoli and a note, before demanding two children.
"The bus driver kept saying, 'Just please get off the bus,' and [Dykes] said, 'Ah alright, I'll get off the bus," said Terrica Singletary, "He just tried to back up and reverse and [Dykes] pulled out the gun and he just shot him, and he just took Ethan."
PHOTOS: Worst Hostage Situations
School bus driver Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, was fatally shot several times by Dykes.
The siblings and the rest of the students on board were able to get away unharmed, but were shocked by what had transpired just five days ago.
"I never thought I would have to go through a shootout," Singletary said.
They said they had seen Dykes, 65, working on his fence, and described him as a menacing figure.
"He was very protective of his stuff," Tristian Singletary said. "Whenever he stares at you, he looks kinda crazy."
Dykes has been holed up in his underground bunker with his 5-year-old hostage named Ethan near Midland City, Ala. for five days now. Neighbors told ABCNews.com that Dykes has been known to retreat underground for up to eight days.
READ: Alabama Hostage Suspect Jimmy Dykes 'Has No Regard for Human Life'
While Dykes, who was described as having "no regard for human life," has allowed negotiators to send Ethan's medicine, as well as coloring books, into the bunker for the boy through a ventilation pipe that leads into the 6 by 8 foot subterranean hideout 4 feet underground, authorities are staying quiet about their conversations with Dykes.
While negotiations continue and it was reported that Ethan is physically unharmed, an official told the Associated Press that the boy has been crying for his parents.
Meanwhile, his peers are steadfast that he will return home soon.
"Ethan will make it out there, Ethan will make it out there," said Tristian Singletary.
ABC News' Kevin Dolak and Gio Benitez contributed to this report.
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish leftist group DHKP-C claimed responsibility on Saturday for a suicide bomb attack on the U.S. embassy in Ankara, according to a statement on a website close to the group.
"Our warrior Alisan Sanli carried out an act of self-sacrifice on Feb 1, 2013, by entering the Ankara embassy of the United States, murderer of the peoples of the world," the statement on "The People's Cry" website said.
The statement was posted next to what it said was a picture of the bomber, dressed in a black beret and military-style clothes with what appeared to be an explosives belt strapped around his waist.
The attacker detonated explosives strapped to his body, as well as a hand grenade, inside an embassy gatehouse, killing himself and a Turkish security guard and critically wounding a journalist on her way to visit the ambassador.
(Reporting by Seltem Iyigun; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
LONDON: Force India unveiled their new car for the forthcoming Formula One season at Silverstone on Friday, but they are still to confirm the identity of British driver Paul di Resta's teammate.
The vacancy next to Di Resta is one of only three across the grid for the 2013 season, which begins with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 17.
French driver Jules Bianchi, the team's third driver in 2012, was expected to be announced as Di Resta's teammate.
However, he was present at the launch of Ferrari's new F1 car on Friday as he is a member of the Italian team's academy.
Former driver Adrian Sutil and ex-Sauber man Kamui Kobayashi have also been linked with the role.
Force India team principal Robert Fearnley refused to be drawn on the identity of the new driver at the launch, telling reporters: "We do not want to confuse the two stories."
The VJM06 is the third of four cars unveiled so far for the 2013 season that have jettisoned the stepped nose design that featured widely in last year's world championship.
The Indian team finished seventh in last season's constructor championship, but saw German driver Nico Hulkenburg leave to join rivals Sauber at the end of the year.
- AFP/de
The BlackBerry Z10 with the UK flag Photoshopped onto its screen
Two days ago, the company formerly known as RIM pulled out all the stops at a super-swanky event in New York to launch two new phones that will either kill or cure the company.
But despite the global launch happening in the US, America is the last of the first batch of countries to see the Z10, BlackBerry's first phone to ship with its new OS, BB10. Americans have to wait until March to buy the phone, but it was available to buy in the UK yesterday. That's six days ahead even of BlackBerry's home market in Canada. On the face of it, this seems like a strange decision -- why release the Z10 in a relatively small country first?
The overriding reason, according to Francisco Jeronimo, Research Manager for European Mobile Devices at IDC, is that the UK is the biggest BlackBerry market in the world. Contrast his figures: in the third quarter of 2012, BlackBerry had a 12% market share in the UK, with Apple at 25%. In the US, BlackBerry accounted for just 2% to Apple's 25%.
Speaking at the UK launch to CNET's Luke Westaway, BlackBerry's Andrew Bocking echoed this point: "the UK has been a key market for us for so long. We have over 8 million BlackBerry users today in the UK and we are very excited for them to be on the leading edge getting access to BB10 on the Z10".
Some of the biggest buyers of BlackBerry phones in Britain are teenagers, partly because the phones are very cheap, partly because of the appeal of BBM, the free instant messenger program. So popular has BBM become in Britain that the 2011 riots in London were blamed on the service by some politicians and members of the police, although its role was likely exaggerated.
Jeronimo argues that it's not just teenagers with BlackBerry phones: "Most companies have their corporate emails running on BlackBerry servers. To change the entire mobile infrastructure is not cheap or something that can be done overnight... when we ask if companies want to move to another platform, it is very clear that the majority don't".
Leaving the size of the UK market aside, market watchers have a few other ideas about why Britain is first up with the Z10. Ian Fogg, analyst for IHS made the point to me that a successful launch in the UK could have more global impact than a US launch, as the owners of UK carriers are present in other countries, whereas the US carriers are more self-contained.
Several analysts made the point to me that they have been impressed with the speed BlackBerry has shipped its phones. Jeronimo says: "I don't remember the last time a major vendor launched a flagship device and made it available in stores the day after. BlackBerry probably didn't get the same support in the USA and therefore decided to launch it later."
Now that the Z10 is shipping, what's BlackBerry's game plan from here? Over to Ben Wood, Chief of Research at CCS Insight:
"Its first concern will be the long-time older BlackBerry owners who initially had a BlackBerry for business and have continued to tough it out in recent years. It must also convince former BlackBerry users, [although] many of these guys will be locked into a contract so it could be some time before they can even consider going back to BlackBerry."
"The final group It needs to nail are the teenagers and 20-somethings who are still hooked on a BlackBerry because of BBM and Facebook. This group is unlikely to be able to afford the Z10 or Q10, so the next milestone in the UK market will be getting some cheaper products available."
(MoneyWatch) The Labor Department said 157,000 jobs were created in January and the unemployment rate edged up to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent. There were positive revisions to November and December, which amounted to an extra 127,000 jobs. Those revisions are consistent with recent data that showed firming throughout the month: Weekly claims dropped to the lowest level since 2008; manufacturing reports have been improving; and the National Federation of Independent Business showed small business hiring edged up.
The Labor Department also released its annual benchmark revisions: From April 2011 to March 2012, the economy added about 422,000 more jobs than previously reported and for 2012, the economy added an average of 181,000 jobs a month, an improvement from the 153,000 pace originally reported. Additionally, there was real progress in the average duration of unemployment, which dropped to 35.3 weeks, the lowest level since January 2011.
But there is still a long way to go after the deepest recession since the Great Depression: 8 million jobs were lost in 2008 and 2009, before the recovery created 5 million over the last three years. Additionally, 12.3 million Americans out of work and of those, 38 percent have been without work for over six months.
Businesses complain that it's tough to make hiring decisions when the economy is only growing by 2 to 2.5 percent annually. 80 percent of small owners surveyed said they made no changes in their employment levels in recent months, due to caution about the economy. Whether that caution can be attributed to political uncertainty surrounding the fiscal cliff, the debt ceiling and other Washington battles, is tough to know. What is certain is that as the nation prepares for $110 billion worth of across the board spending cuts in March ("sequestration"), there is little expectation for a growth surge that would help create jobs.
Many have brushed aside the lousy fourth quarter GDP (the economy shrank by 0.1 percent) report as a one-off event, driven lower by a drop in defense spending and inventories. At the Fed's policy meeting this week, the central bankers noted the recent "pause" in economic activity is temporary. It could be that Q3 and Q4 were both anomalies. When averaged, the numbers are fairly consistent with the first half of the year. What's more important is that even if the preliminary fourth quarter GDP is revised higher from the initial reading of -0.1 percent annualized growth, 2013 is unlikely to produce the number of jobs needed to move the needle on the unemployment rate.
Maybe we should be thankful that the numbers are slowly improving. But with so many still out of work, it's hard to get out the pom-poms. Without a real jobs initiative (it's hard to count the president's recently-disbanded jobs council as a significant effort), it's hard to see how the jobs situation will dramatically improve any time soon. As a result, the long slog continues.
January jobs report
-- Jobs created: +157K (Revisions from Nov and Dec: +127K)
-- Private jobs created: +166K
-- Government jobs lost: -9K
-- Unemployment rate: 7.9 percent (from 7.8 percent; rate has been 7.7 - 7.9 percent since September, 2012)
-- Broad unemployment rate: 14.4 percent (includes the official rate plus "marginally attached workers," those who are neither working nor looking for work, but say they want a job and have looked for work recently; and people who are employed part-time for economic reasons, meaning they want full-time work but took a part-time schedule instead because that's all they could find)
-- Total unemployed: 12.3 million
-- Long-term unemployed: 4.7 million, representing 38.1 percent of the total unemployed
-- Average duration of unemployment: 35.3 weeks, lowest since January 2011.
-- Participation rate: 63.6 (below the 66 to 67 percent rate that was normal over the last 20 years; 2/3 of recent decline is due to demographics)
-- Average work week: 34.4 hours
-- Hourly earnings: $23.78 (Over the past 12 months, up 2.1 percent)
-- Retail: +33K
-- Construction: +28K (since Jan 2011 lows, up 296K; still 2 million fewer jobs from April 2006 peak)
-- Health services: +23K
-- Manufacturing: unchanged
Editor's note: CBS MoneyWatch initially published an Associated Press story on the unemployment report, which we have since replaced with this staff-written article. You can find the initial AP report and reader comments here.
At least one person was killed in what the State Department called a "terrorist blast" outside the U.S. Embassy in Turkey today.
The explosion, which occurred at a checkpoint to the embassy in Ankara in the early afternoon local time, claimed the life of an embassy guard and wounded a Turkish citizen, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardione told reporters.
A Turkish provincial governor said the blast was the work of a suicide bomber, according to a report by the BBC.
Television footage from the scene showed damage to a part of an outer gatehouse, which is adjacent to the main building.
U.S. officials said that Turkish police are investigating the incident.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
ANKARA (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed a Turkish security guard at the U.S. embassy in Ankara on Friday, blowing the door off a side entrance and sending smoke and debris flying into the street.
Ankara Governor Alaaddin Yuksel said the attacker was inside U.S. property when the explosives were detonated. The blast sent masonry spewing out of the wall of the side entrance, but there did not appear to be any more significant structural damage.
The bomber was also killed.
U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardone emerged through the main gate of the building, which is surrounded by high walls, shortly after the explosion to address reporters, flanked by a security detail as a Turkish police helicopter hovered overhead.
"We are very sad of course that we lost one of our Turkish guards at the gate," Ricciardone he said, thanking the Turkish authorities for a prompt response.
A Reuters witness saw one wounded person being lifted into an ambulance as police armed with assault rifles cordoned off the area.
"It was a huge explosion. I was sitting in my shop when it happened. I saw what looked like a body part on the ground," said travel agent Kamiyar Barnos whose shop window was shattered around 100 meters away from the blast.
One witness said the blast was audible a mile away.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The British Consulate-General to Turkey said the blast a "suspected terrorist attack".
Islamist radicals, far-left groups, far-right groups and Kurdish separatist militants have all carried out attacks in Turkey in the past.
The main domestic security threat comes from the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), deemed a terrorist group by the United States, European Union and Turkey, but the PKK has focused its campaign largely on domestic targets.
Turkey has led calls for international intervention in neighboring Syria and is hosting hundreds of NATO soldiers from the United States, Germany and the Netherlands who are operating a Patriot missile defense system along its border with Syria, hundreds of kilometers away from the capital.
The U.S. Patriots were expected to go active in the coming days.
The most serious attacks of this kind in Turkey occurred in November 2003, when car bombs shattered two synagogues, killing 30 people and wounding 146. Authorities said the attack bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda.
Part of the HSBC Bank headquarters was destroyed and the British consulate was damaged in two more explosions that killed a further 32 people a week later.
(Writing by Nick Tattersall and Daren Butler; Editing by Jon Hemming)
WASHINGTON: US consumers held tight to their wallets in December, the key holiday shopping season, despite a rise in incomes, according to Commerce Department data released on Thursday.
Household spending edged up 0.2 percent from November, only half the growth of the prior month and slightly below the consensus estimate of 0.3 percent.
Consumer spending, the main driver of the US economy, slowed in late 2012 amid the government's looming fiscal cliff of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts set for January 1, which was partly avoided in a last-minute political deal.
Meanwhile, personal incomes rose for the eighth straight month in December, rising a much stronger-than-expected 2.6 percent from the prior month.
The income increase was boosted by accelerated payments of bonuses and other forms of "irregular" pay in anticipation of changes in individual income tax rates, as well as lump-sum payments of social security benefits, the department said.
In the partial fiscal cliff deal, political leaders allowed Bush-era payroll tax cuts on social security benefits to expire and lifted taxes in other areas.
With inflation weak in a tepid economy, the December price index for consumer spending was essentially flat, while so-called real disposable income - excluding price changes - rose 2.8 percent.
- AFP/de
The Wii U's troubles attracting gamers won't be solved by a price cut, Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata argues.
Speaking to reporters in Tokyo yesterday, Iwata acknowledged that
Wii U sales disappointed last year, but he didn't necessarily feel that dropping the price of the $300 Basic Set or the $350 Deluxe Set would do the company much good.
"We are already offering it at a good price," Iwata said, according to the Associated Press, which was at the reporter briefing.
Nintendo yesterday announced its earnings for the nine-month period ended December 31. Although it was able to turn a slight profit, the company's revenue was down 2.4 percent. The
Wii U, which was expected to significantly boost Nintendo revenue during the period, was only able to muster 3 million unit sales. The earnings release didn't directly discuss Wii U demand, but Nintendo indicated that some new games for the console, like a Mario Kart and Legend of Zelda, should "help Nintendo regain momentum for Wii U."
In his discussion with reporters, Iwata said that the Wii U needs more and better games to drive console sales, and so far, that issue "has not been solved."
"I feel a deep sense of responsibility for not being able to produce results for our year-end business," Iwata said.
The Wii U's performance was more than a little disconcerting. Although Wii sales during the same point in its lifecycle were only 3.2 million units, they would have been much higher if not for Nintendo's inability to meet its massive demand. For years after the Wii's launch, the device was hard to find on store shelves, and consumers would line up each week in the hopes of scoring one of the few units available at their local retailer.
The Wii U's situation is much different. Nintendo's console is easy to find on store shelves. The trouble is, demand for the console -- especially in the U.S. -- is weak.
Nintendo dealt with a similar issue when it launched its 3DS in 2011. However, the company was able to boost demand and increase sales with a price cut. It appears that, for now, Nintendo won't follow that plan with the Wii U.
Still, Nintendo's console isn't cheap, compared to other hardware it has launched. The Wii, for example, launched for $249.99 -- $50 less than the cheaper Wii U option. Another popular Nintendo launch, the Nintendo 64, was made available for $199.99.
Iwata's argument was bolstered by famed developer and Mario creator, Shigeru Miyamoto. Speaking to reporters, Miyamoto said that Wii U demand will be jumpstarted once people try it out and "see it is fun."
Updated at 8:02 a.m. ET
MIDLAND CITY, Ala. A standoff that started when a man boarded a school bus full of children near his home in a rural Alabama neighborhood, killed the driver and took one 5-year-old boy hostage entered its third day Thursday.
The suspect and the child hostage have not been identified by police.
People who live along the rutted red clay road said the suspect is a retired truck driver with a reputation, CBS News correspondent Manuel Bojorquez reports. They said he allegedly beat a dog to death and threatened to shoot kids who trespass on his property. He was reportedly due in court this week on a weapons charge.
Neighbor Ronda Wilbur described the suspect to CBS News as "very anti-social, very anti-government" and that he "hates everybody."
"My granddaughter who just turned 7, when I have her visiting me this next weekend, I won't have to worry about 'mean man,'" Wilbur told CBS News. "One way or another he's not gonna be there. He will either be locked up, or he'll be dead."
Wilbur told The Associated Press that the suspect beat her 120-pound dog with a lead pipe for coming onto his side of the dirt road. The dog died a week later.
"He said his only regret was he didn't beat him to death all the way," Wilbur told the AP. "If a man can kill a dog, and beat it with a lead pipe and brag about it, it's nothing until it's going to be people."
The neighborhood near Midland City, population 2,300, remained under siege after the Tuesday shooting, with the suspect and child holed up in a bunker-type shelter on the man's property that was equipped with electricity, food and TV.
On Thursday, dozens of police cars and rental cars that had brought FBI agents to the site were parked about the state highway at the clay road's entrance. A large law enforcement truck also pulled up before dawn to a staging area for law enforcement agents that was lit by bright lights overnight.
At least one ambulance was parked nearby and numerous television news satellite trucks also lined up across the rural highway.
Homes on the road had been evacuated earlier after authorities found what they believed to be a bomb on the property. SWAT teams earlier had taken up positions around the gunman's property and police negotiators tried to win the kindergartener's safe release.
The situation remained unchanged for hours as negotiators continued talking to the suspect, Alabama State Trooper Charles Dysart told a news conference late Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Sheriff Wally Olson said that authorities had "no reason to believe that the child has been harmed."
Local TV station WDHN obtained a police dispatch recording of the moment officers first arrived at the site. On it, the officers are heard saying that they were trying to communicate with the suspect through a PVC pipe leading into the shelter.
Authorities gave no details of the standoff, and it was unclear if the suspect made any demands from the bunker, which resembled a tornado shelter.
State Rep. Steve Clouse, who met with authorities and visited the boy's family, said the bunker had food and electricity, and the youngster was watching TV.
At one point, authorities lowered medicine into the bunker for the boy after his captor agreed to it, Clouse said.
Bus driver Charles Albert Poland Jr. is seen in this undated picture released by the Dale County Board of Education.
The standoff began after school Tuesday afternoon. Olson said the man shot the bus driver several times when he refused to hand over the child. The gunman then took the boy away.
"As far as we know there is no relation at all. He just wanted a child for a hostage situation," said Michael Senn, a pastor who helped comfort other traumatized children after the attack.
The bus driver, Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, was hailed by locals as a hero who gave his life to protect the 21 students aboard the bus. Authorities say most of the students scrambled to the back of the bus when the gunman boarded and said he wanted two boys 6 to 8 years old.
But when the gunman went down the aisle, authorities said, Poland put his arm out to grab a pole near the front steps of the vehicle, trying to block the suspect. That's when authorities say the driver was shot four times before the gunman grabbed the child at random and fled.
Mike and Patricia Smith, who live across the street from the suspect and whose two children were on the bus, said their youngsters had a run-in with him about 10 months ago.
"My bulldogs got loose and went over there," Patricia Smith said. "The children went to get them. He threatened to shoot them if they came back."
"He's very paranoid," her husband said. "He goes around in his yard at night with a flashlight and shotgun."
The suspect had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday to face a charge of menacing some neighbors as they drove by his house weeks ago. Claudia Davis said he yelled and fired shots at her, her son and her baby grandson over damage the suspect claimed their pickup truck did to a makeshift speed bump in the dirt road. No one was hurt.
"Before this happened, I would see him at several places and he would just stare a hole through me," Davis said. "On Monday I saw him at a laundromat and he seen me when I was getting in my truck, and he just stared and stared and stared at me."
Jan 31, 2013 6:00am
(Image Credit: John Gurzinski/Getty Images)
President Obama has apparently had enough of leading from behind.
During the health-care push, Obama left Congress to its own devices. On immigration, he’s doing just the opposite, attempting to prod Republican legislators to the middle by demanding a vote on his own plan.
Obama Confident Immigration Overhaul Passes This Year
The president insisted Tuesday that Congress vote on his plan as soon as possible, barring agreement on something else.
“It’s important for us to recognize that the foundation for bipartisan action is already in place,” Obama said, referring to a bipartisan Senate bill offered up by the so-called Gang of Eight senators, which looks much more palatable to Republicans than Obama’s own plan. “And if Congress is unable to move forward in a timely fashion, I will send up a bill based on my proposal and insist that they vote on it right away.”
In doing so, Obama dared Congress to say “no” to something specific.
A Glossary for Immigration Overhaul
It’s the same strategy Obama used in the “fiscal-cliff” talks. With a year-end deadline approaching, he pushed Congress to vote on his own plan: to let higher income tax hikes go into effect if lawmakers couldn’t cut a deal themselves. Obama asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada to call “an up-or-down vote” on that plan, the president announced in a Dec. 28 appearance before cameras at the White House.
“If members of the House or the Senate want to vote ‘no,’ they can, but we should let everybody vote,” Obama said then.
Republicans hate such a negotiation tactic. Throughout Obama’s White House tenure, GOP aides have griped that the president and congressional Democrats have sought political gain while refusing to negotiate in good faith. On immigration, it’s the same.
The Obama plan includes a faster path to citizenship and nothing to trigger border-security enforcement. It would also clear an easier path for same-sex couples.
Before Obama rolled out his immigration plan in Nevada Tuesday, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida raised concerns that the president would launch a “bidding war.”
In a radio interview with Rush Limbaugh, Rubio dismissed the notion of an up-or-down vote: “It’s going to have to go through committees and people are going to have their input. There’s going to be public hearings. I don’t want to be part of a process that comes up with some bill in secret and brings it to the floor and gives people a take it or leave it.
“I want this place to work the way it’s supposed to work, with every senator having input and the public having input,” Rubio said.
A Senate Republican aide jabbed, “The president’s been gone from the Senate a long time and perhaps he has forgotten that it’s a lot easier to pass legislation if he works with Congress.”
Obama has presented Republicans with a plan they will like much less than what’s been crafted by the bipartisan Senate group. The group plan includes triggers to enforce border-security measures, more unmanned drones and no provisions making it easier for same-sex couples seeking to immigrate or naturalize.
Unless other Republicans come up with a plan of their own, the president has given Republicans a choice between the left and the middle. It’s not hard to tell which they’d prefer.
AMMAN (Reuters) - The revolt against President Bashar al-Assad first flared in Deraa, but the southern border city now epitomizes the bloody stalemate gripping Syria after 22 months of violence and 60,000 dead.
Jordan next door has little sympathy with Assad, but is wary of spillover from the upheaval in its bigger neighbor. It has tightened control of its 370-km (230-mile) border with Syria, partly to stop Islamist fighters or weapons from crossing.
That makes things tough for Assad's enemies in the Hawran plain, traditionally one of Syria's most heavily militarized regions, where the army has long been deployed to defend the southern approaches to Damascus from any Israeli threat.
The mostly Sunni Muslim rebels, loosely grouped in tribal and local "brigades", are united by a hatred of Assad and range from secular-minded fighters to al Qaeda-aligned Islamists.
"Nothing comes from Jordan," complained Moaz al-Zubi, an officer in the rebel Free Syrian Army, contacted via Skype from the Jordanian capital Amman. "If every village had weapons, we would not be afraid, but the lack of them is sapping morale."
Insurgents in Syria say weapons occasionally do seep through from Jordan but that they rely more on arsenals they seize from Assad's troops and arms that reach them from distant Turkey.
This month a Syrian pro-government television channel showed footage of what it said was an intercepted shipment of anti-tank weapons in Deraa, without specifying where it had come from.
Assad's troops man dozens of checkpoints in Deraa, a Sunni city that was home to 180,000 people before the uprising there in March 2011. They have imposed a stranglehold which insurgents rarely penetrate, apart from sporadic suicide bombings by Islamist militants, say residents and dissidents.
Rebel activity is minimal west of Deraa, where military bases proliferate near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Insurgents have captured some towns and villages in a 25-km (17-mile) wedge of territory east of Deraa, but intensifying army shelling and air strikes have reduced many of these to ruin, forcing their residents to join a rapidly expanding refugee exodus to Jordan, which now hosts 320,000 Syrians.
However, despite more than a month of fighting, Assad's forces have failed to winkle rebels out of strongholds in the rugged volcanic terrain that stretches from Busra al-Harir, 37 km (23 miles) northeast of Deraa, to the outskirts of Damascus.
Further east lies Sweida, home to minority Druze who have mostly sat out the Sunni-led revolt against security forces dominated by Assad's minority, Shi'ite-rooted Alawite sect.
"KEY TO DAMASCUS"
As long as Assad's forces control southwestern Syria, with its fertile, rain-fed Hawran plain, his foes will find it hard to make a concerted assault on Damascus, the capital and seat of his power, from suburbs where they already have footholds.
"If this area is liberated, the supply routes from the south to Damascus would be cut," said Abu Hamza, a commander in the rebel Ababeel Hawran Brigade. "Deraa is the key to the capital."
Fighters in the north, where Turkey provides a rear base and at least some supply lines, have fared somewhat better than their counterparts in the south, grabbing control of swathes of territory and seizing half of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city.
They have also captured some towns in the east, across the border from Iraq's Sunni heartland of Anbar province, and in central Syria near the mostly Sunni cities of Homs and Hama.
But even where they gain ground, Assad's mostly Russian-supplied army and air force can still pound rebels from afar, prompting a Saudi prince to call for outsiders to "level the playing field" by providing anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons.
"What is needed are sophisticated, high-level weapons that can bring down planes, can take out tanks at a distance," Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former intelligence chief and brother of the Saudi foreign minister, said last week at a meeting in Davos.
Saudi Arabia and its fellow Gulf state Qatar have long backed Assad's opponents and advocate arming them, but for now the rebels are still far outgunned by the Syrian military.
"They are not heavily armed, properly trained or equipped," said Ali Shukri, a retired Jordanian general, who argued also that rebels would need extensive training to use Western anti-tank or anti-aircraft weapons effectively even if they had them.
He said two powerful armored divisions were among Syrian forces in the south, where the rebels are "not that strong".
It is easier for insurgents elsewhere in Syria to get support via Turkey or Lebanon than in the south where the only borders are with Israel and Jordan, Shukri said.
Jordan, which has urged Assad to go, but seeks a political solution to the crisis, is unlikely to ramp up support for the rebels, even if its cautious policy risks irritating Saudi Arabia and Qatar, financial donors to the cash-strapped kingdom.
ISLAMIST STRENGTH
"I'm confident the opposition would like to be sourcing arms regularly from the Jordanian border, not least because I guess it would be easier for the Saudis to get stuff up there on the scale you'd be talking about," said a Western diplomat in Amman.
A scarcity of arms and ammunition is the main complaint of the armed opposition, a disparate array of local factions in which Islamist militants, especially the al Qaeda-endorsed Nusra Front, have come to play an increasing role in recent months.
The Nusra Front, better armed than many groups, emerged months after the anti-Assad revolt began in Deraa with peaceful protests that drew a violent response from the security forces.
It has flourished as the conflict has turned ever more bitterly sectarian, pitting majority Sunnis against Alawites.
Since October, the Front, deemed a terrorist group by the United States, has carried out at least three high-profile suicide bombings in Deraa, attacking the officers' club, the governor's residence and an army checkpoint in the city centre.
Such exploits have won prestige for the Islamist group, which has gained a reputation for military prowess, piety and respect for local communities, in contrast to some other rebel outfits tainted by looting and other unpopular behavior.
"So far no misdeeds have come from the Nusra Front to make us fear them," said Daya al-Deen al-Hawrani, a fighter from the rebel al-Omari Brigade. "Their goal and our goal is one."
Abu Ibrahim, a non-Islamist rebel commander operating near Deraa, said the Nusra Front fought better and behaved better than units active under the banner of the Free Syrian Army.
"Their influence has grown," he acknowledged, describing them as dedicated and disciplined. Nor were their fighters imposing their austere Islamic ideology on others, at least for now. "I sit with them and smoke and they don't mind," he said.
The Nusra Front may be trying to avoid the mistakes made by a kindred group, Al Qaeda in Iraq, which fought U.S. troops and the rise of Shi'ite factions empowered by the 2003 invasion.
The Iraqi group's suicide attacks on civilians, hostage beheadings and attempts to enforce a harsh version of Islamic law eventually alienated fellow Sunni tribesmen who switched sides and joined U.S. forces in combating the militants.
Despite the Nusra Front's growing prominence and its occasional spectacular suicide bombings in Deraa, there are few signs that its fighters or other rebels are on the verge of dislodging the Syrian military from its southern bastions.
Abu Hamza, the commander in the Ababeel Hawran Brigade, was among many rebels and opposition figures to lament the toughness of the task facing Assad's enemies in the south: "What is killing us is that all of Hawran is a military area," he said.
"And every village has five army compounds around it."
(Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
SINGAPORE: Around 135,000 spectators caught all the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) matches live last season.
And new measures are being introduced this season to help increase viewership both on and off the court for the six teams including the Singapore Slingers.
The ABL was launched in 2009 and it has raised the profile of the game of basketball.
However, there is still a huge market to tap and ABL hopes to achieve that with greater television coverage and live streaming this year.
Anthony Macri, chief executive officer of ABL, said: "Each one of our teams this year will have a local television broadcast partner. Last year, only half of our teams had one. With technology willing, we are streaming every one of our games live this year through the region."
There will be more play-off matches and the quality of is expected to be high despite the reduction from eight teams last season to six teams this year.
"The quality of play will increase. We have seen an increase (in quality) over the last three seasons and I think this year will be no different," Mr Macri assured.
Improving fan experience is another area that is a big concern.
The Singapore Slingers has one of the best venues among the six teams but its sheer size affects the game atmosphere.
That could soon change once the Sports Hub is completed.
Singapore Slingers' general manager Michael Johnson said: "Once the Sports Hub is up, there will be a multi-purpose facility and there is some talk there might be a situation where we could move there. That would be a 3,000-seater ring.
"At this stage, that would be the ideal size for us. When we have some games, for example against the San Miguel Beers, it would be sold out as we get over 3,000 (spectators)."
The ABL has definitely impacted Singapore basketball in a positive way.
All the 10 local players in the Slingers are part of the national squad and playing in the league provides the critical competition as they gear up for the 2013 and 2015 SEA Games.
- CNA/fa
Explore one of the 3,000 buildings in the King's Landing area within the WesterosCraft Minecraft server.
Do you love "Game of Thrones"? Do you eat, sleep, and breathe to the tune of the epic HBO television series based on George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" novels?
I know times are tough, especially since the new season doesn't start until March 31. But we might have something to tide you over until then.
Why not spend some time in a virtual recreation of King's Landing as seen on WesterosCraft -- a Minecraft server dedicated to recreating the world of Westeros as seen in "Thrones." In our gallery below, we take a look at the stunning collaborative work done by over 100 builders who assembled a behemoth tribute to the capital city. We even break down some of the major landmarks for those who adore "Thrones" lore.
A gunman shot and killed a school bus driver in Midland City, Ala., Tuesday afternoon and escaped the scene with a 6-year-old passenger, which has prompted a hostage situation that is still going on this morning.
The suspected gunman is identified as Jimmy Lee Dykes, a 60-something military veteran, a police source told ABC News. Dykes and the child are in an underground bunker behind his home.
Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said Tuesday night that the police had information that the little boy "is OK right now." The boy was delivered some needed medication, police told ABC News.
The police have not identified the child or the dead bus driver.
"Extremely sensitive situation. ... Our agents are working very hard with the locals for the best possible outcome to this situation," a federal law enforcement source told ABC News this morning.
Danny Tindell/Dothan Eagle
Some people in the area were evacuated Tuesday evening, and everyone in the immediate area was notified of the situation, according to Olson.
"Stay at home and pray," Olson told homeowners living in the area.
Olson said multiple agencies have responded to the hostage situation. The FBI has assumed the lead in the investigation, and SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) teams were surrounding the bunker as of Tuesday night.
The incident began a little after 3:30 p.m. local time Tuesday. An unidentified girl, who was on the bus, told ABC News Radio the bus driver had stopped to drop off some children. The alleged gunman boarded the bus and handed the driver a note, she said.
"And then I don't know what happened after that but he started telling them he needed a kid because of the law coming after him," she said.
Dykes got on the bus and originally demanded that he get two children as hostages. All the children on the bus managed to escape except the 6-year-old boy, a police source told ABC News affiliate WDNH.
"He shot the bus driver, and the driver's foot was on the gas and we went backwards. And everybody started screaming. And then the bus driver was still there and we all got off the bus and went to a neighbor's house," the girl said.
Dykes was scheduled to be in court today for a trial related to charges of menacing, according to court records obtained by WDNH.
CAIRO/BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Egypt's Islamist president on Wednesday to open a dialogue with all political forces in the crisis-ridden Arab country after a week of violence that has killed more than 50 people.
President Mohamed Mursi flew to Germany to try to convince Europe of his democratic credentials, but in a sign of the political tensions back home, he restricted his trip to a few hours and canceled a planned Paris leg.
"One thing that is important for us is that the line for dialogue is always open to all political forces in Egypt, that the different political forces can make their contribution, that human rights are adhered to in Egypt and that of course religious freedom can be experienced," Merkel told Mursi at a joint news conference.
The Egyptian leader, who has faced months of protests by liberal and youth groups opposed to a new Islamic constitution, replied that dialogue was possible and that Egypt would be a state based on the rule of law, not run by the military.
But he refused to give a commitment sought by the opposition to form a national unity government, saying that would be for the new parliament to decide after elections expected in April.
Two more protesters were shot dead before dawn near Cairo's central Tahrir Square on the seventh day of what has become the deadliest wave of unrest since Mursi took power in June.
The army chief warned on Tuesday that the state was on the brink of collapse if Mursi's opponents and supporters did not end street battles that have marked the two-year anniversary of the revolt that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Mursi is due to return to Cairo later in the day.
Near Tahrir Square on Wednesday morning, dozens of protesters threw stones at police who fired back teargas, although the scuffles were brief.
"Our demand is simply that Mursi goes, and leaves the country alone. He is just like Mubarak and his crowd who are now in prison," said Ahmed Mustafa, 28, a youth who had goggles on his head to protect his eyes from teargas.
Opposition politician Mohamed ElBaradei called for a meeting of the president, ministers, the ruling party and the opposition to halt the violence. But he also restated the opposition's precondition that Mursi first commit to seeking a national unity government.
Mursi's critics accuse him of betraying the spirit of the revolution by keeping too much power in his own hands and those of his Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement banned under Mubarak which won repeated elections since the 2011 uprising.
Mursi's supporters say the protesters want to overthrow Egypt's first democratically elected leader. The unrest has prevented a return to stability ahead of parliamentary elections due within months, and worsened an economic crisis that has seen the pound currency tumble in recent weeks.
The worst violence has been in the Suez Canal city of Port Said, where rage was fuelled by death sentences passed against soccer fans for deadly riots last year. Mursi responded by announcing on Sunday a month-long state of emergency and curfew in Port Said and two other Suez Canal cities.
Protesters have ignored the curfew and returned to the streets. Human Rights Watch called for Mursi to lift the decree.
Mursi was keen to allay the West's fears over the future of the most populous Arab country in his meetings with Merkel and powerful industry groups in Berlin.
"DISTURBING IMAGES"
"We have seen worrying images in recent days, images of violence and destruction, and I appeal to both sides to engage in dialogue," German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a radio interview on Wednesday ahead of Mursi's arrival.
Germany's "offer to help with Egypt's transformation clearly depends on it sticking to democratic reforms", he added.
Germany has praised Mursi's efforts in mediating a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza after a conflict last year, but became concerned at Mursi's efforts to expand his powers and fast-track a constitution last year.
Berlin was also alarmed by video that emerged in recent weeks showing Mursi making vitriolic remarks against Jews and Zionists in 2010 when he was a senior Brotherhood official. Germany's Nazi past and strong support of Israel make it highly sensitive to anti-Semitism.
Mursi's past anti-Jewish remarks were "unacceptable", Westerwelle said. "But at the same time President Mursi has played a very constructive role mediating in the Gaza conflict."
Asked about those remarks at the news conference with Merkel, Mursi said they had been taken out of context and he was not against the Jewish faith.
Egypt's main liberal and secularist bloc, the National Salvation Front, has so far refused talks with Mursi unless he promises a unity government including opposition figures.
"Stopping the violence is the priority, and starting a serious dialogue requires committing to guarantees demanded by the National Salvation Front, at the forefront of which are a national salvation government and a committee to amend the constitution," ElBaradei said on Twitter.
Those calls have also been backed by the hardline Islamist Nour party - rivals of Mursi's Brotherhood. Nour and the Front were due to meet on Wednesday, signaling an unlikely alliance of Mursi's critics from opposite ends of the political spectrum.
Brotherhood leader Mohamed El-Beltagy dismissed the unity government proposal as a ploy for the Front to take power despite having lost elections. On his Facebook page he ridiculed "the leaders of the Salvation Front, who seem to know more about the people's interests than the people themselves".
German industry leaders see potential in Egypt but are concerned about political instability.
"At the moment many firms are waiting on political developments and are cautious on any big investments," said Hans Heinrich Driftmann, head of Germany's Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
Mursi's supporters blame the opposition for preventing an economic recovery by halting efforts to restore stability. The opposition says an inclusive government is needed to bring calm.
(Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh and Marwa Awad in Cairo, Stephen Brown and Gernot Heller in Berlin and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Giles Elgood and Paul Taylor)
SINGAPORE: MP for Tampines GRC Baey Yam Keng says authorities will review the junction of Tampines Avenue 9 and Tampines Street 45, following a fatal accident there.
Two brothers, aged seven and 13, died after their bicycle collided with a cement truck on Monday evening.
The brothers Nigel and Donovan cycled around the Tampines estate frequently.
The tragic accident came as a rude shock to their distraught parents who said their sons were usually very careful on the roads.
Mr Francis Yap, the father of the boys, said: "It's very sad. As a father, I have lost two kids. I hope that those people driving on the roads think about other people's families also. For those small roads, it's better to travel within the speed limits and don't go so fast, especially if you drive a big vehicle. It's very dangerous. So you must take extra caution to safeguard other people's lives."
Authorities are also assessing if the routes for heavy-duty vehicles can be reviewed.
Tampines GRC MP Baey Yam Keng said: "Given that this incident involved a cement truck and because of the various projects that are happening in the area, (such as) public housing projects (and) MRT lines (construction), there will be more heavy vehicles in the precinct.
"So, I've asked the authorities to review the routes taken by these vehicles to see if there is any way we could re-route them so that they avoid areas which are near schools or where there are many pedestrians."
Monday's accident is the second fatal one at that road junction in the last 13 months. In December 2011, a 22-year-old unlicensed driver killed a pedestrian while rashly making a right turn from Tampines Street 45 onto Tampines Avenue 9.
Residents Channel NewsAsia spoke to also said that the particular road junction is accident-prone and hope more can be done to beef up the safety in the area, especially with schools nearby.
To equip riders with bike handling competencies, the Singapore Cycling Federation has rolled out two cycling certification programmes.
The first is the BMX certification programme that provides riders with an assessment on their level of competency in bike handling.
The other, which is the Bronze certification programme, is somewhat similar to the Highway Code and practical motorbike-riding lessons. It also aims to educate riders on what to do when faced with dangerous situations while riding on the road.
Education Minister Heng Swee Keat meanwhile said schools will step up road safety education and work with the police and the Land Transport Authority on further measures to enhance safety.
Separately, the principal of Tampines North Primary School, Madam Neo Lay Wah, said Donovan was a cheerful student who was well-liked for his pleasant personality. He was helpful towards his classmates and was always well-behaved.
The older boy, Nigel, was an ex-student from the school. He was a friendly and outgoing boy who was always willing to lend a helping hand to his classmates.
The school is in contact with the family and the priority is to support them during this difficult time. The school will closely monitor the well-being of the staff and students and extend counselling support to the affected teachers and students.
- CNA/ir
Research In Motion will finally formally unveil its BlackBerry 10 operating system and the first BlackBerrys running on the platform on Wednesday.
The launch event, which comes after years of delays and half-starts, kicks off at 10 a.m. PT. CNET's Brian Bennett and I will be bringing you the news live from New York, while Sarah Tew will be capturing photos at the event.
You can tune into the live blog here:
CNET's live coverage of RIM's BlackBerrry 10 event on Wednesday
There's a lot riding on the success of BlackBerry 10, which represents a wholly different platform than the older BlackBerry operating system. The company is betting that the more advanced software and improved hardware will convinced its base of users to stick with BlackBerry, as well as lure in users tired of other platforms.
The company hasn't been standing still these past months. Beyond working out the kinks of BlackBerry 10, it has rallied the support of developers, drummed up some enthusiasm from carriers, and teased the new hardware.
Thanks to the developer test units RIM released early on, there have been several good looks at the operating system. But this will be the first time we get a full look at the hardware.
RIM is essentially starting over with a new platform, and is competing against another hungry operating system in Microsoft's Windows Phone.
Android and iOS, meanwhile, tower over both platforms.
As usual, we'll be using ScribbleLive to bring you live text and photos and to give you the blow-by-blow details as they come. We'll start the live blog about 15 minutes before the event officially kicks off.
CAIRO Egypt's army chief warned Tuesday of "the collapse of the state" if the political crisis roiling the nation for nearly a week continues.
The warning by Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, also the defense minister, comes as the country sinks deeper into chaos and lawlessness. Attempts by the Muslim Brotherhood-backed president to stem a wave of political violence appear to have made no headway.
Some 60 people have been killed in the unrest that began last Thursday.
El-Sissi's warning came in an address to military academy cadets. His comments were posted on the armed forces' official Facebook page.
"The continuation of the conflict between the different political forces and their differences over how the country should be run could lead to the collapse of the state and threaten future generations," he said.
President Mohammed Morsi, right, meets Lt. Abdul Fattah El-Sissi, Minister of Defense at the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Dec. 13, 2012.
It is unclear whether el-Sissi, the former head of military intelligence, meant to try and coax anti-government protesters off the streets with his dire warning, or whether he was himself questioning President Mohammed Morsi's ability to quell the unrest.
Protesters battled police for hours in Cairo on Monday and thousands marched through Egypt's three Suez Canal cities in direct defiance of a night-time curfew and state of emergency, handing a blow to the Morsi's attempts to contain five days of spiraling political violence.
Nearly 60 people have been killed in the wave of unrest, clashes, rioting and protests that have touched cities across the country but have hit the hardest in the canal cities, where residents have virtually risen up in outright revolt.
The latest death came on Monday in Cairo, where a protester died of gunshot wounds as youths hurling stones battled all day and into the night with police firing tear gas near Qasr el-Nil Bridge, a landmark over the Nile next to major hotels. In nearby Tahrir Square, protesters set fire to a police armored personnel carrier, celebrating as it burned in scenes reminiscent of the 2011 revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak.
CBS News' Alex Ortiz reports that the lobby and shops in the ground floor of Cairo's sprawling Intercontinental Hotel were smashed up and looted by a gang of people during the melee on Monday. It was unclear whether the looters were part of the opposition protest, or simply criminal elements taking advantage of the lack of security in the area. Nobody was injured at the hotel, which is frequented by Westerners.
"I will be coming back here every day until the blood of our martyrs is avenged," said 19-year-old carpenter Islam Nasser, who wore a Guy Fawkes mask as he battled police near Tahrir square.
Angry and at times screaming and wagging his finger, Morsi on Sunday declared a 30-day state of emergency and a nighttime curfew on the three Suez Canal cities of Suez, Ismailiya and Port Said and their provinces of the same names. He said he had instructed the police to deal "firmly and forcefully" with the unrest and threatened to do more if security was not restored.
But when the 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew began Monday evening, crowds marched through the streets of Port Said, beating drums and chanting, "Erhal, erhal," or "Leave, leave" — a chant that first rang out during the 18-day uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011 but is now directed at Morsi.
"We completely reject Morsi's measures. How can we have a curfew in a city whose livelihood depends on commerce and tourism?" said Ahmed Nabil, a schoolteacher in the Mediterranean coastal city.
In Suez and Ismailiya, thousands in the streets after curfew chanted against Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group from which he hails. In Suez, residents let off fireworks that lit the night sky.
"Oh Morsi, Suez has real men," they chanted.
In Ismailiya, residents organized street games of soccer to emphasize their contempt for the curfew and state of emergency.
On Morsi's orders over the weekend, army troops backed with tanks and armored vehicles have deployed in Port Said and Suez — the two cities worst hit by the violence — to restore security, but they did not intervene to enforce the curfew on Monday night.
The commander of the Third Field Army in charge of Suez, Maj. Gen. Osama Askar, said his troops would not use force to ensure compliance. Army troops in Port Said also stood by and watched as residents ignored the curfew.
Adding to Morsi's woes nearly seven months into his turbulent presidency, the main political opposition coalition on Monday rejected his invitation for a dialogue to resolve the crisis, one of the worst and deadliest to hit Egypt in the two years since Mubarak's ouster.
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The announcement of a proposal for immigration reform inspired renewed excitement for some involved in the fight Monday, but other players in the debate felt a sense of déjà vu.
Monday afternoon, senators introduced a framework of changes previewed over the weekend, with President Obama and a secret group from the House of Representatives expected soon to follow suit.
The press conference was held by Senators Chuck Schumer, John McCain, Dick Durbin, Lindsey Graham, Bob Menendez, Marco Rubio, Michael Bennet and Jeff Flake. Menendez called it "meaningful and comprehensive" immigration reform.
But former Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., who worked on this same issue under President George W. Bush in 2007, said this proposal "is a lot like what we did five years ago -- remarkably so."
Martinez said it puts "a little more emphasis" on dealing with legal immigrants who overstay their visas, shifts from framing the policies as reuniting families to rewarding skilled laborers, and the phrase "guest worker" -- which was a point of contention then -- is now absent.
But in terms of things like creating a path to citizenship and requiring an electronic verification system for employers to determine an applicant's legal status, "All of these things are exactly what we did before," Martinez said.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo| Susan Walsh/AP Photo
RELATED: Immigration Reform Plan Includes Pathway to Citizenship
To Martinez, this replay is a good thing. He said a "political evolution" and a new appreciation for Hispanic voters created a positive climate for reforms this time around.
But Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform said he is not impressed.
"It's essentially the same legislation that was offered and rejected in 2007," Mehlman told ABC News."It includes nothing for the primary constituency -- namely the American public. It's all based on what the immigrants and particularly the illegal immigrants want and what employers want."
The two plans focused on achieving bipartisan support, molding immigration law to meet the needs of the economy, and the condition that reform would only happen simultaneously with the strengthening of border security.
The difference, according to immigration lawyer Cori Alonso-Yoder of immigrant-focused non-profit Ayuda, is the messaging in this proposal.
"The message is very helpful to people who are used to hearing a not-welcoming tone towards immigrants," Alonso-Yoder said Monday. "I think that's sort of what distinguishes this from efforts that we saw in 2006, 2007 things that I think were more harsh on immigrants."
This time around the plan alludes to racial profiling and human trafficking, two issues Alonso-Yoder said her clients "confront on a daily basis and are dealing with on a daily basis."
Related: 'Dreamers' React to the New Immigration Reform Framework
She said she believes the intent in this legislation is good and that it will have some success -- at least outside of the House of Representatives.
"My concern is just seeing how this will all sort of play out in a system that is already filled with patchwork fixes, and how deep this reform will go, how broad it will sweep," Alonso-Yoder said.
The collapse of President George W. Bush's 2007 immigration bill may be a bad sign for Obama -- who is expected to announce his own plan today -- and others hoping to change the immigration system.
CAIRO, Egypt (Reuters) - Egypt's army chief said political strife was pushing the state to the brink of collapse - a stark warning from the institution that ran the country until last year as Cairo's first freely elected leader struggles to contain bloody street violence.
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a U.S.-trained general appointed by President Mohamed Mursi last year to head the armed forces, added in a statement on Tuesday that one of the primary goals of deploying troops in cities on the Suez Canal was to protect the waterway that is vital for Egypt's economy and world trade.
Sisi's comments, published on an official army Facebook page, followed 52 deaths in the past week of disorder and highlighted the mounting sense of crisis facing Egypt and its Islamist head of state who is struggling to fix a teetering economy and needs to prepare Egypt for a parliamentary election in a few months that is meant to cement the new democracy.
Violence largely subsided on Tuesday, although some youths again hurled rocks at police lines in Cairo near Tahrir Square.
It seemed unlikely that Sisi was signaling the army wants to take back the power it held for six decades since the end of the colonial era and through an interim period after the overthrow of former air force chief Hosni Mubarak two years ago.
But it did send a powerful message that Egypt's biggest institution, with a huge economic as well as security role and a recipient of massive direct U.S. subsidies, is worried about the fate of the nation, after five days of turmoil in major cities.
"The continuation of the struggle of the different political forces ... over the management of state affairs could lead to the collapse of the state," said General Sisi, who is also defense minister in the government Mursi appointed.
He said the economic, political and social challenges facing the country represented "a real threat to the security of Egypt and the cohesiveness of the Egyptian state" and the army would remain "the solid and cohesive block" on which the state rests.
Sisi was picked by Mursi after the army handed over power to the new president in June once Mursi had sacked Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, in charge of Egypt during the transition and who had also been Mubarak's defense minister for 20 years.
DEEPLY POLARISED
The 58-year-old previously headed military intelligence and studied at the U.S. Army War College. Diplomats say he is well known to the United States, which donates $1.3 billion in military aid each year, helping reassure Washington that the last year's changes in the top brass would not upset ties.
One of Sisi's closest and longest serving associates, General Mohamed el-Assar, an assistant defense minister, is now in charge of the military's relations with the United States.
Almost seven months after Mursi took office, Egyptian politics have become even more deeply polarized.
Opponents spurned a call by Mursi for talks on Monday to try to end the violence. Instead, protesters have rallied in Cairo and Alexandria, and in the three Suez Canal cities - Port Said, Ismailia and Suez - where Mursi imposed emergency rule.
On Tuesday, thousands were again on the streets of Port Said to mourn the deaths of two people in the latest clashes there, taking the total toll in Mediterranean port alone to 42 people. Most were killed by gunshots in a city where weapons are rife.
Mohamed Ezz, a Port Said resident speaking by telephone, heard heavy gunfire through the night. "Gunshots damaged the balcony of my flat, so I went to stay with my brother," he said.
Residents in the three canal cities had taken to the streets in protest at a nightly curfew now in place there. The president's spokesman said on Tuesday that the 30-day state of emergency could be shortened, depending on circumstances.
In Cairo on Tuesday afternoon, police again fired teargas as stone-throwing youths in a street near Tahrir Square, the centre of the 2011 uprising. But the clashes were less intense than previous days and traffic was able to cross the area. Street cleaners swept up the remains of burnt tires and other debris.
Street flare-ups are a common occurrence in divided Egypt, frustrating many people desperate for order and economic growth.
Although the general's comments were notably blunt, Egypt's military has voiced similar concerns in the past, pledging to protect the nation. But it has refused to be drawn back into a direct political role after its reputation as a neutral party took a pounding during the 17 months after Mubarak fell.
WARY MILITARY
"Egyptians are really alarmed by what is going on," said Cairo-based analyst Elijah Zarwan, adding that the army was reflecting that broader concern among the wider public.
"But I don't think it should be taken as a sign that the military is on the verge of stepping in and taking back the reins of government," he said.
In December, Sisi offered to host a national dialogue when Mursi and the rivals were again at loggerheads and the streets were aflame. But the invitation was swiftly withdrawn before the meeting went ahead, apparently because the army was wary of becoming embroiled again in Egypt's polarized politics.
Protests initially flared during the second anniversary of the uprising which erupted on January 25, 2011 and toppled Mubarak 18 days later. They were exacerbated in Port Said when residents were angered after a court sentenced to death several people from the city over deadly soccer violence.
Since the 2011 revolt, Islamists who Mubarak spent his 30-year rule suppressing have won two referendums, two parliamentary elections and a presidential vote.
But that legitimacy has been challenged by an opposition that accuses Mursi of imposing a new form of authoritarianism. Mursi's supporters says protesters want to overthrow Egypt's first ever democratically elected leader by undemocratic means.
The army has already been deployed in Port Said and Suez and the government agreed a measure to let soldiers arrest civilians as part of the state of emergency. Sisi reiterated that the army's role would be support the police in restoring order.
The instability has provoked unease in Western capitals, where officials worry about the direction of a powerful regional player that has a peace deal with Israel. The United States condemned the bloodshed and called on Egyptian leaders to make clear violence was not acceptable.
Mursi's invitation to rivals to a national dialogue with Islamists on Monday was spurned by the main opposition National Salvation Front coalition, which described it as "cosmetic".
The only liberal politician who attended, Ayman Nour, told Egypt's al-Hayat channel after the meeting ended late on Monday that attendees agreed to meet again in a week.
He said Mursi had promised to look at changes to the constitution requested by the opposition but did not consider the opposition's request for a government of national unity. Mursi's pushing through last month of a new constitution which critics see as too Islamic remains a bone of contention.
(Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh and Omar Fahmy in Cairo, Yusri Mohamed in Ismailia and Abdelrahman Youssef in Alexandria; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
SINGAPORE: Prices of shop space rose 2.0 per cent in 2012, while rentals dropped marginally by 0.3 per cent according to the latest statistics from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
Yields of retail units have dropped last year, but most market experts Channel NewsAsia spoke to are optimistic about the demand for retail space in Singapore from both investors and retailers.
After just one week, some retail units at the newly-launched mixed commercial development Alexandra Central are reportedly put on the market again.
Such speculation raises the possibility of cooling measures being extended to the commercial property sector where prices of strata-titled retail units have jumped by some 56 per cent over the last two years while median rentals have gone up by up to 35 per cent, according to Savills Singapore.
Alan Cheong, research head at Savills Singapore, said: "Rentals are not keeping up with price increases, meaning there will be yield compression. We also noticed that strata title units sold was about 1,274 square feet (in 2010). Last year, it was only 430 square feet. There is shrinkage in the average size of retail units."
A smaller strata-titled unit could reduce the capital outlay for investors despite prices on a per square foot basis getting more expensive.
But market experts note that vacancy rates at 5.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2012 is at a 15-year low.
Unlike residential private property where an oversupply may be expected in the next few years, analysts believe demand for retail space is still strong.
Ku Swee Yong, CEO of International Property Advisor, said: "The future supply coming on stream will be spaced out for the next four to five years. And a large number of is concentrated in Jurong East where there will be creation of several thousand new jobs in two hospitals."
Prime rents like those on Orchard Road are expected to stay resilient. In the worst case scenario, analysts expect a mild correction of up to three per cent. This is because of the strengthening Sing dollar and a slower Singapore economy in 2013.
Analysts said URA data on shop space rentals are derived from a wide variety of commercial properties like strata-titled units, and those belonging to real estate investment trusts or REITS.
A decline in the rental index in shop space could be due to a higher number of leases from those in the heartlands, which are typically lower than those from the Orchard Road belt.
- CNA/fa
The current top result for "Editor's Pick" on Vine.
A pornographic video briefly made Vine's "Editor Pick" list, further raising the question of whether the video-clip-sharing app has a porn problem.
The clip showed up this morning, and was spotted by The Verge, before it was quickly taken down. A video featuring the "I love NY" logo is the current top editor's pick.
The Twitter app, which allows users to share six-second looping video clips, launched last week with a lot of buzz. But just a few days after its launch, videos not suitable for work began showing up on the app. Searches for #nsfw, #porn, and #sex brought up graphic results.
The pornographic clip was behind a NSFW filter, and users had to actively hit the screen to show the video.
Many wonder how long Vine will remain in Apple's store, given the company's strict policy over adult content and nudity. Apple reportedly removed app 500px because it allowed users to share nude photos with each other.
CNET contacted Twitter for additional details, and we'll update the story when the company responds.
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