Wall Street edges higher, Amazon offsets GDP

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were flat on Wednesday as an unexpectedly weak read on fourth-quarter economic activity was offset by strong results at Boeing and Amazon.com.

Equities continued to shrug off negative news, with the S&P 500 staying above 1,500, a level that market technicians call an inflection point that will determine the overall direction in the near term.

The first read showed gross domestic product fell 0.1 percent, far below expectations for growth of 1.1 percent. However, private sector employment topped forecasts, with the ADP National Employment report showing 192,000 jobs added in January, higher than the 165,000 expectation.

"The GDP report is the only negative shock we've had in a while, and it isn't terrible since it showed increases in business and consumer spending, which is what everyone wants to drive growth from here," said Randy Frederick, managing director of active trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.

Deeper losses were prevented by a rise in both Boeing Co and Amazon.com Inc , which rallied after earnings beat expectations, continuing a trend this quarter of high-profile names advancing after results.

Amazon.com Inc rose 6.7 percent to $277.87 a day after reporting strong revenue growth. Boeing rose 0.5 percent to $74 after its results. The Dow component also said that while production continued on its Dreamliner jet, which has had technical problems recently, it was suspending delivery until clearance was granted by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Thomson Reuters data showed that of the 174 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings this season, 68.4 percent have been above analyst expectations, which is a higher proportion than over the past four quarters and above the average since 1994.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 5.50 points, or 0.04 percent, at 13,959.92. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 1.09 points, or 0.07 percent, at 1,508.93. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 5.73 points, or 0.18 percent, at 3,159.39.

The S&P 500 is on track to post its best monthly performance since October 2011 as investors poured $55 billion in new cash into stock mutual funds and exchange-traded funds in January, the biggest monthly inflow on record.

The Dow Jones industrial average has been flirting with 14,000, a level it hasn't seen since October 2007. Many analysts have said markets may need to take a pause.

"I'm neutral on markets at these levels, even though there aren't a lot of negatives out there," Frederick said. "At some point there will be a pullback, but the underlying trends remain strong and I think it is possible the S&P could hit a new all-time high sometime this quarter."

The all-time intraday high for the S&P 500 is 1,576.09, reached October 11, 2007.

The Federal Reserve concludes a two-day meeting on Wednesday, and while the central bank is expected to keep monetary policy on a steady path, intensive debates continue behind the scenes over when the controversial bond-buying program should be curtailed.

Chesapeake Energy Corp rose 11 percent to $21.11 as the S&P's biggest percentage gainer, a day after saying Aubrey McClendon would step down as chief executive after a year in which a series of Reuters investigations triggered civil and criminal probes of the second-largest U.S. natural gas producer.

(Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski)

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With Timbuktu Retaken, France Signals It Plans to Pull Back in Mali

Eric Feferberg/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A Malian soldier tried to disperse looters in the streets of Timbuktu on Tuesday.

SEGOU, Mali — French paratroopers arrived in the ancient desert oasis of Timbuktu on Monday, securing its airport and main roads as thousands of residents poured out of its narrow, mud-walled streets to greet French and Malian troops, waving the two countries’ flags, with whoops, cheers and shouts.

“Timbuktu has fallen,” said the city’s mayor, Halle Ousmane Cissé, in a telephone interview from the capital, Bamako, where he has been in exile since the Islamist militants took over the city 10 months ago. He said he planned to return to his city on Tuesday.

The rapid advance to Timbuktu, a day after French and African troops took firm control of the former rebel stronghold of Gao, may spell the beginning of the end of France’s major involvement in the conflict here.

The French defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, was a little more cautious than the mayor in his assessment of the situation in Timbuktu on Monday evening, saying on television station TF1: “French and Malian forces are liberating the city. It’s not completely finished, but it’s well on its way.”

The French president, François Hollande, suggested on Monday that French troops might soon stop their northward advance, leaving it to African soldiers to pursue the militants into their redoubts in the desert north. “We are winning this battle,” Mr. Hollande said in televised remarks. “When I say, ‘We,’ this is the Malian army, this is the Africans, supported by the French.”

He continued, “Now, the Africans can take over.”

 In a new move to support the French military effort, Britain said on Tuesday that it would send  another 240 military personnel to Mali and elsewhere in West Africa, in addition to the 90 already deployed there, to bolster the training of  Malian and other African troops involved in the campaign against the Islamist militants.

Officials said about 40 would be based in Mali, and another 200 elsewhere in west Africa, possibly in Ghana or Nigeria. They said precise numbers and other details of the deployment in Mali would depend on a meeting in Brussels later on Tuesday to develop plans for a European Union-led training mission inside Mali.

The officials said the additional troops would be deployed rapidly, joining 20 British air force personnel already supporting the deployment of a C-17 Globemaster military transport ferrying French troops and equipment to Bamako, the Malian capital, and another 70 needed to operate a British Sentinel surveillance aircraft that Britain dedicated to the French mission last week.

The announcement of the new troop commitment by 10 Downing Street raised immediate concerns in Parliament, where lawmakers voiced fears that Britain could be dragged deeper into the conflict and find itself unable to avoid a combat role, as Prime Minister David Cameron has promised.

Defense Secretary Philip Hammond sought to soothe the disquiet by saying that the government in London remained committed to avoiding any combat role for British troops. France, he said, had “made it clear that it envisages a short-term intervention” to stabilize Mali. “It is not our intention to deploy combat troops,” he said. “We are very aware of the dangers of mission creep.”

In Paris on Monday, President Hollande said that the difficult task of flushing militants from the vast empty stretches of Mali’s arid northern countryside was the job of African troops. “They’re the ones who will go into the area of the north, which we know is the most difficult because the terrorists are hidden there and can still lead operations that are extremely dangerous for neighboring countries and for Mali,” he said.

Finding these fighters, who have long been accustomed to hiding out in remote areas, has been tough for French troops, who have sophisticated tracking equipment and surveillance drones, said Col. Thierry Burkhard, a French military spokesman, noting that the fighters often travel in civilian vehicles.

African troops have been trickling into Mali over the last few days from neighboring states, part of what is expected to be a 5,000-member force intended to restore the northern half of the country to government control.

A European Union mission to train several thousand Malian soldiers has yet to begin, however, and any extensive combat operations led by African troops are not expected until August or September, after the brief rainy season.

Television footage from Timbuktu captured scenes of jubilation as thousands of people drove cars, trucks and motorbikes through the streets, honking their horns.

Lydia Polgreen reported from Segou, Mali, and Scott Sayare from Paris. John F. Burns contributed reporting from London, Steven Erlanger from Paris, and Elisabeth Bumiller from Washington..

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Children’s magazine promotes adult video games

LONDON (Reuters) – A British magazine distributed by a joint venture of Conde Nast and Hearst Corporation and aimed at primary school children has been featuring images of adult-rated video games.

The most recent issue of Cool Kidz, which is published by privately-owned LCD Publishing, contained images of five games that carried age ratings of 18 years, under the European gaming industry’s PEGI rating scheme.

Screenshots appeared as double-page spreads, for use as posters, and were reproduced in spot-the-difference and other puzzles. Earlier issues also had images from 18- and 16-rated games.

Children’s campaigners said the images reflected a growing problem of young children being exposed to violent video games, thereby increasing the chance they start playing them earlier.

It also highlighted what some critics describe as an apparent gap in regulation of children’s magazines since LCD does not appear to have broken any law or industry rule.

LCD Publishing, which is based in Exeter, southwest England, said it took its responsibilities to young readers seriously.

“We censor the images we use to ensure that there is no blood or apparent body damage,” owner Allen Trump said in an emailed statement.

He said the images used were suitable for children 12 or older, although he added the magazine was targeted at children up to 12 years.

The pictures printed depicted life-like computer generated images of men carrying weapons including assault rifles, Bowie knives, an axe, an anti-tank weapon and pistols.

The images showed explosions but not the visceral, bloody combat or scenes of a sexual nature for which the games are frequently criticized by parents’ groups and women’s rights advocates.

Cool Kidz is distributed by Comag, which is controlled by privately-owned U.S. magazine publishers Conde Nast, owners of Vogue magazine, and the Hearst Corporation, owner of Cosmopolitan magazine.

All three groups declined repeated requests for comment.

London-based Comag is one of the largest magazine distributors in the UK with annual turnover of around 230 million pounds ($ 360 million), according to its most recent accounts.

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Trump said LCD downloaded the game images from the Internet although he was also occasionally approached by public relations firms seeking coverage of their clients’ games.

Games publishers regularly post images on their websites, for use by online and print publishers, thus helping create awareness of their game.

Games firms contacted by Reuters said they were unaware Cool Kidz, which has been published for seven years, had been using their images.

The adult games Cool Kidz featured included Hitman: Absolution, Call of Duty Black Ops II, Assassins Creed III, Farcry 3 and Dishonored.

Representatives for Japan’s Square Enix, publisher of the Hitman series, privately-owned Bethesda Softworks, publisher of Dishonored, and Ubisoft Entertainment, publisher of Assassins Creed III and Farcry 3, said they opposed the use but declined to say whether they would take any legal action against LCD.

Call of Duty publisher Activision declined to comment.

Alison Sherratt, senior vice-president of teachers union ATL, said publishers and government needed to do more to limit children’s’ exposure to games.

“It puts peer pressure on children .. If they see these images, it gives them the idea it’s ok, it’s all right to play these games,” she added.

A spokeswoman for the Advertising Standards Authority said games companies could not advertise 18 rated games in children’s magazines and a spokesman for the Video Standards Council (VSC), the UK affiliate of PEGI, said its rules also prohibited this.

However, since the images were not paid-for advertising, or supplied to Cool Kidz by the games publishers, these rules do not apply.

The Press Complaints Commission can adjudicate on complaints against magazines but only in respect of its members. LCD is not one.

The Office of Fair Trade and the Professional Publishers Association, trade group for magazine publishers, said they were unaware of any bodies that had regulatory powers over the content of children’s magazines.

(Reporting by Tom Bergin; Editing by Jon Boyle)

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Miranda Lambert: Dog Betty Is a Daddy's Girl

People Pets

By Jessica Herndon

01/29/2013 at 09:05 AM EST

As a busy mom of six – to pooches, that is! – Miranda Lambert often makes time for her furry brood by bringing some of her and husband Blake Shelton's pets on the road.

"I have two small dogs, Delta and Cher, so they are usually the ones who go on tour," she told PEOPLE.

Though sometimes, it's not always her the dogs want to be with.

"Betty is one of our dogs that we take on tour with us as well, but she's kind of a daddy's girl," Lambert said, "so she hangs out with Blake a lot."

But while the couple's pooches tend to play favorites, the Grammy nominee says she has no such preferences, referring to her home as a "full-on farm." "I have a huge passion for rescuing animals," she notes.

That attitude is part of why on Jan. 23 in Glendale, Calif., the singer helped launch The Pedigree Feeding Project, a new initiative by the company to supply one pet shelter in a worthy community with a year's supply of dog food. And having rescued a shelter pup herself, Lambert personally understands the campaign's importance.

"I have a Chihuahua that I got at a shelter at 4 weeks old and I have to remind her of her roots," she said. "I tell her that she did not grow up in Bel Air. She came from a shelter in east Texas. I have to keep her humble."

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Soldier talks about his new arms after transplant

BALTIMORE (AP) — A soldier who lost all four limbs in an Iraq roadside bombing has two new arms following a double transplant at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Twenty-six-year-old Brendan Marrocco along with the surgeons who treated him will be at the Baltimore hospital on Tuesday to discuss the new limbs.

The transplants are only the seventh double-hand or double-arm transplant ever conducted in the United States.

The infantryman was injured by a roadside bomb in 2009. The New York City man also received bone marrow from the same dead donor. The approach is aimed at helping his body accept the new arms with minimal medication to prevent rejection.

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

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Wall Street little changed ahead of data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed at the open on Tuesday as investors were cautious following a recent rally and before consumer confidence data.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 10.09 points or 0.07 percent, to 13,892.02, the S&P 500 <.spx> gained 0.05 point to 1,500.23 and the Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> dropped 8.27 points or 0.26 percent, to 3,146.03.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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Toyota Returns to No. 1 in Global Auto Sales

TOKYO — Toyota Motor sold a record 9.75 million vehicles last year, according to an official tally released Monday, roaring past General Motors and Volkswagen to reclaim its title as the world’s top automaker in 2012.

General Motors, which held the top spot in 2011, mustered 9.29 million vehicles in global sales last year. The U.S. company had been the top-selling automaker for decades before losing its lead to Toyota in 2008.

Volkswagen sold 9.1 million vehicles last year, a record for the German automaker, which has expanded its presence in emerging markets. VW also outsold Toyota in 2011.

Toyota estimated last month that it sold 9.7 million vehicles for the year, and final figures released Monday were slightly higher.

By confirming its No. 1 title, Toyota cements a strong comeback from several years of tumbles.

A sharp slowdown in exports during the global economic crisis led to the automaker’s biggest loss in decades, while controversy over its handling of recalls greatly tarnished its image for quality and reliability.

In 2011, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, as well as widespread flooding in Thailand later that year, severely disrupted production, weighing on sales in important markets like the United States and pushing Toyota to No. 3 in global sales.

Toyota had a bumper year in 2012, however, as production rebounded and the automaker went on an offensive to win back market share. Toyota sales in the United States surged 27 percent, to 2.08 million vehicles. In Japan, sales rose 35 percent, to 2.41 million units, helped by government incentives for fuel-efficient cars.

Those increases were enough to offset a decline in sales in China, where Japanese businesses have been hurt by consumer boycotts amid a bitter territorial dispute between the two countries. In Europe, sales of Toyota cars rose by 2 percent. Toyota’s sales figures include deliveries from its subsidiaries Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motor.

The other automakers among Japan’s big three also sold more cars in 2012 and are set for even higher sales this year on the back of a weaker yen, which makes Japanese-made cars and parts more price competitive. Honda Motor said global sales jumped 19 percent to 3.82 million vehicles, while Nissan Motor logged a 5.8 percent sales growth to 4.94 million vehicles.

This year, Toyota aims to improve on its record for this year to sell 9.91 million cars worldwide.

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CDC: Flu seems to level off except in the West

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

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

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

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

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

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Wall Street flat after rally, Caterpillar advances

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were flat on Monday, with investors reluctant to make big bets following an extended equity rally, though strong data and results from Caterpillar kept a positive tone in markets.

The S&P 500 is coming off a streak of eight sessions of gains, the longest winning streak for the index in eight years. On Friday, it closed above 1,500 for the first time in more than five years.

Caterpillar Inc rose 1.8 percent to $97.24 after the Dow component reported adjusted fourth-quarter earnings that beat expectations, though revenue was slightly below forecasts. The heavy machinery maker also said it expects China's economy to improve, though not at the rates of 2010 and 2011.

The results continued the trend of major firms posting strong quarters, contributing to major averages rising for four straight weeks.

"You can't find more of a global bellwether than Cat, and people are pleased with the number, which suggests there could be less concern about slowing growth in China after this," said Wayne Kaufman, chief market analyst at John Thomas Financial in New York.

Thomson Reuters data through Friday showed that of the 147 S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far, 68 percent exceeded expectations. Since 1994, 62 percent of companies have topped expectations, while the average over the past four quarters stands at 65 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 18.07 points, or 0.13 percent, at 13,914.05. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 0.07 points, or 0.00 percent, at 1,502.89. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 7.25 points, or 0.23 percent, at 3,156.97.

The S&P 500 on Friday closed at its highest since December 10, 2007, and the Dow ended at its highest since October 31, 2007. Over the past four weeks, the S&P has jumped 7.2 percent, suggesting markets may be vulnerable to a pullback if news disappoints.

Durable goods jumped 4.6 percent in December, a pace that far outstripped expectations for a rise of 1.8 percent.

"We continue to have a parade of better-than-expected economic reports. All-in-all it's a good picture. I think there's a good chance we've reached a point of recognition where people don't think the economy will crater," Kaufman said.

In addition to earnings, equities have also risen on an agreement in Washington to extend the government's borrowing power. On Monday, Fitch Ratings said that agreement removed the near-term risk to the country's 'AAA' rating.

Previously, the agency said the lack of an agreement would prompt a review of the sovereign rating.

In company news, Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc said a late-stage trial of its experimental kidney disease drug met the main study goal of reducing phosphate levels in blood, sending shares up 43 percent to $4.91.

Bargain hunters may look to Apple Inc in the first session after the tech giant lost its coveted title as the largest U.S. company by market capitalization to Exxon Mobil Corp . Apple rose 0.7 percent to $443.06.

On Friday, Apple's market cap fell to $413 billion, down roughly $250 billion from its September peak. Apple's fall is about equal to the entire value of Google Inc .

"Apple is pretty attractive right now, so you may see an opportunity here," said Chris Bertelsen, who helps oversee $1.5 billion as chief investment officer of Global Financial Private Capital in Sarasota, Florida. "Those who think the stock is dead have made a big mistake."

(Editing by W Simon, Kenneth Barry and Nick Zieminski)

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IHT Rendezvous: 'Real' Life in North Korea

BEIJING — With North Korea in the headlines again amid concerns it could explode a third, more powerful nuclear device, many people around the world may be wondering: What are they like?

North Korea is “a real country with real people,” wrote John Everard, a former British ambassador to Pyongyang, in The Independent on Sunday.

“Above all, North Koreans are sharply differentiated human beings, with a good sense of humor and are often fun to be with,” wrote Mr. Everard, who lived in the North Korean capital from 2006 to 2008 and is the author of a recent book about his time there, titled, “Only Beautiful, Please.”

Their everyday concerns “are often not so very different from our own: their friends, how their children are doing at school, their jobs and making enough money to get by.”

Mr. Everard’s stay in Pyongyang took in the time of North Korea’s first nuclear test. This article on 38 North, a Web site that follows the country closely, shows how the rest of the world is watching to see whether another nuclear detonation is imminent.

Tensions have grown since North Korea launched a rocket in December, provoking a new U.N. Security Council resolution last week condemning the launching and calling for a tightening of sanctions against the country. In a sign it’s really serious, even China, the North’s longtime ally, voted for the resolution.

In response, North Korea “bluntly threatened the United States, saying North Korea had no interest in talks on denuclearizing itself and would forge ahead with its missile and weapons development, with the goal of attaining the capability to hit American territory,” my colleagues Choe Sang-hun and Rick Gladstone wrote.

Against this nasty background, Mr. Everard shows the human dimension of citizens living in Pyongyang, focusing on a group of people he says he got to know fairly well; not the inner circle of power, but not the poor of the countryside, either. “They were executives rather than leaders.”

As nknews.org wrote last year, “Foreigners are allowed within a 35 km radius of Pyongyang, and Everard took every opportunity to visit and document within this area.”

So what were they like?

Over all, “Their lives would seem very dull to most Westerners,” Mr. Everard wrote. “They revolved around daily rituals of carefully phased breakfasts in overcrowded flats, tedious journeys to work (often prolonged because Pyongyang’s rickety public transport so often broke down), and generally tedious work days.”

Tedious, maybe, but “relaxed.” Yet, working day done, getting home wasn’t always easy. “Some of my contacts refused to use the Pyongyang metro because of the risk of a power cut while they were in a tunnel.” Some chose to walk home.

They were curious about the world. “I once lent one a set of DVDs of ‘Desperate Housewives’ and met the same person the next day with big rings under their eyes. They had sat up all night and watched the entire series in one sitting,” he wrote.

More fun, perhaps, than a visit home: “My contacts spoke of their parents with respect rather than affection, and chafed at the Confucian authority that they exercised. Visits to their homes seemed to be a duty rather than a pleasure, particularly when they involved dressing children up in their best and crossing Pyongyang (especially in autumn, when the city gets muddy – a difficult time to deliver clean children to grandparents),” he wrote.

Intriguingly, “Alcoholism and prostitution were rampant within the capital,” nknews.org reported, from a talk Mr. Everard gave last year.

And, “Although they all had access to showers, none could remember when they had last had one with hot water. Taking a cold shower in the Pyongyang winter, when temperatures can fall to -20C, is not fun,” Mr. Everard wrote in The Independent.

Most people he mingled with had enough food – but it wasn’t varied or tasty. “These people did not eat well, but at least they ate regularly,” mostly rice and boiled vegetables. And kimchi.

“Evening life at home revolved around chatting with family members and watching TV,” he wrote. “Sometimes there would be a film on. Even though North Korea had hardly produced any new films for some years before my time there, so that my contacts had seen almost all the national repertoire several times, they would still sometimes watch repeats. But the best time was the half-hour of (heavily edited and slanted) international news on Sunday evenings. Everyone watched that, and questioned me about what they had seen.”

While the anti-American propaganda the state puts out is powerful, not everyone believed it, Mr. Everard wrote.

“They had been taught to hate Americans, but most of them did not. One of them told me that they had worked with Americans during one of the thaws in relations with that country, had liked them and hoped that they would return,” wrote Mr. Everard. Of course this all was based on experiences that ended in 2008, but it’s unlikely attitudes have changed fundamentally since then, despite the latest round of threats to target the United States.

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