Yandex puts mobile app blocked by Facebook on hold






MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian internet company Yandex has put an experimental application that allows users to search social networking sites from mobile devices on hold after it was blocked by Facebook.


Facebook, which launched its own search tool earlier this month, blocked the Wonder app three hours after its launch on January 24 for U.S. users.






The application allows users to look for recommendations on, for example, music or restaurants based on information from their friends on social network sites.


Facebook believes Wonder violates its policies, which state that no data obtained from Facebook can be used in any search engine without the company’s written permission, Yandex said on Wednesday, adding access to Facebook would not be restored.


“Since this access was revoked, we decided to put our application on hold for the time being,” the Russian firm said, adding it would consider partnership with other social networks and services.


Existing Wonder users are still able to search in Instagram, Foursquare and Twitter, a Yandex spokeswoman said, but marketing and further development of the application is on hold.


(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Mark Potter)


Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Jim Nabors, TV's Gomer Pyle, Marries Longtime Male Partner















01/30/2013 at 09:45 AM EST



Jim Nabors, forever known as the star of 1964-69's Gomer Pyle, USMC, married his male partner of nearly 40 years, Stan Cadwallader, on Jan. 15, the retired performer and Hawaii resident told Hawaii News Now this week.

"I'm 82 and he's in his 60s, and so we've been together for 38 years and I'm not ashamed of people knowing," Nabors told the news service. "It's just that it was such a personal thing, I didn't tell anybody."

The ceremony took place before a judge and some neighbors from Hawaii, inside the couple's room at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle. Same-sex marriage was approved in Washington State during last November's general election and took effect Dec. 6.

"I'm very happy that I've had a partner of 38 years and I feel very blessed," said Nabors. "And, what can I tell you, I'm just very happy."

Before they legally tied the knot, "It's pretty obvious that we had no rights as a couple, yet when you've been together 38 years," said Nabors, who in 1994 underwent a liver transplant, "I think something's got to happen there, you've got to solidify something. And at my age, it's probably the best thing to do."

The two met in 1975, when Cadwallader, now 64, was a Honolulu fire fighter, said Nabors.

Despite his recent nuptials, Nabors insists he's not one to take up the issue of gay marriage, saying: "I'm not a debater. And everybody has their own opinion about this, and actually I'm not an activist, so I've never gotten involved in any of this."

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Study says leafy greens top food poisoning source


NEW YORK (AP) — A government study has fingered leafy green vegetables as the leading source of food poisoning illnesses.


However, the most food-related deaths were from contaminated chicken and other poultry.


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the study Tuesday. It's based on an analysis of food poisoning cases from 1998 through 2008. It's the agency's most comprehensive attempt to identify which foods most often carry germs that make us sick.


The CDC estimates roughly 1 in 6 Americans — or 48 million people— gets sick from food poisoning each year. That includes 128,000 hospitalization and 3,000 deaths.


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Online:


CDC journal: http://www.cdc.gov/eid/


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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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Army warning: unrest pushing Egypt to brink


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)



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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.


FREE PROMOTION


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)


Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Miranda Lambert: Dog Betty Is a Daddy's Girl















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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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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Violent protests greet Egypt emergency decree


CAIRO (Reuters) - A man was shot dead on Monday in a fifth day of violence in Egypt that has killed 50 people and prompted the Islamist president to declare a state of emergency in an attempt to end a wave of unrest sweeping the Arab world's biggest nation.


Under emergency powers announced by President Mohamed Mursi for the cities of Port Said, Ismailia and Suez on Sunday, the army will have the right to arrest civilians and to help police restore order.


A cabinet source told Reuters any trials would be before civilian courts, but the step is likely to anger protesters who accuse Mursi of using high-handed security tactics of the kind they fought against to oust president Hosni Mubarak.


Egypt's politics have become deeply polarized since those heady days two years ago, when protesters were making most of the running in the Arab Spring revolutions that sent shockwaves through the region.


Although Islamists have won parliamentary and presidential elections, the disparate opposition has since united against Mursi. Late last year he moved to expand his powers and push a constitution with Islamist leanings through a referendum punctuated by violent street protests.


Mursi's opponents accuse him of hijacking the revolution, listening only to his Islamist allies and breaking a promise to be a president for all Egyptians. They say too many hold-outs from the Mubarak era remain in their posts.


Islamists say their rivals want to overthrow by undemocratic means Egypt's first freely elected leader.


Some opposition groups have called for more protests in Cairo and elsewhere on Monday to mark the second anniversary of one of the bloodiest days in the revolution that erupted on January 25, 2011, and ended Mubarak's iron rule 18 days later.


Hundreds of demonstrators in Port Said, Ismailia and Suez, cities which all lie on the economically vital Suez Canal, turned out against Mursi's decision on Sunday within moments of him speaking. Activists there pledged to defy a curfew that starts at 9 p.m. (1700 GMT).


Instability in Egypt has raised concerns in Western capitals, where officials worry about the direction of a key regional player that has signed a peace deal with Israel.


The political unrest has been exacerbated by street violence linked to death penalties imposed on soccer supporters convicted of involvement in stadium rioting a year ago.


In Cairo on Monday, police fired volleys of teargas at stone-throwing protesters in and around Tahrir Square, cauldron of the anti-Mubarak uprising.


KILLED BY A GUNSHOT


A 46-year-old bystander was killed by a gunshot, a security source at the Interior Ministry said. It was not clear who fired the shot.


"We want to bring down the regime and end the state that is run by the Muslim Brotherhood," said Ibrahim Eissa, a 26-year-old cook, protecting his face from teargas wafting towards him.


Mursi also called for a national dialogue with his rivals for later on Monday, but the early response from members of the main opposition coalition suggested they saw little point.


Propelled to the presidency in a June election by the Muslim Brotherhood, Mursi has lurched through a series of political crises and violent demonstrations, complicating his task of shoring up the economy and preparing for a parliamentary election to cement the new democracy in a few months.


"The protection of the nation is the responsibility of everyone. We will confront any threat to its security with force and firmness within the remit of the law," Mursi said, offering condolences to families of victims in the canal zone cities.


Appealing to his opponents, the president called for a dialogue on Monday at 6 p.m. (1600 GMT), inviting a range of Islamist allies as well as liberal, leftist and other opposition groups and individuals to discuss the crisis.


The main opposition National Salvation Front coalition said it would not attend.


Mursi's call to hold talks was "cosmetic and not substantive", a leading member of the coalition, Mohamed ElBaradei, told a news conference.


SECURITY MEASURES


The opposition Front has distanced itself from the latest flare-ups but said Mursi should have acted far sooner to impose security measures that would have ended the violence.


"Of course we feel the president is missing the real problem on the ground, which is his own policies," Front spokesman Khaled Dawoud said. "His call to implement emergency law was an expected move, given what is going on, namely thuggery and criminal activity."


But other activists said Mursi's measures to try to impose control on the turbulent streets could backfire.


"Martial law, state of emergency and army arrests of civilians are not a solution to the crisis," Ahmed Maher of the April 6 movement that helped galvanize the 2011 uprising said. "All this will do is further provoke the youth. The solution has to be a political one that addresses the roots of the problem."


Thousands of mourners joined funerals in Port Said for the latest victims in the Mediterranean port city. Seven people were killed there on Sunday when residents joined marches to bury 33 others who had been killed a day earlier, most by gunshot wounds in a city where arms are rife.


Protests erupted there on Saturday after a court sentenced to death several people from the city for their role in deadly soccer violence last year, a verdict residents saw as unfair. The anger swiftly turned against Mursi and his government.


Rights activists said Mursi's declaration was a backward step for Egypt, which was under emergency law for Mubarak's entire 30-year rule. His police used the sweeping arrest provisions to muzzle dissent and round up opponents, including members of the Brotherhood and even Mursi himself.


Heba Morayef of Human Rights Watch in Cairo said the police, still hated by many Egyptians for their heavy-handed tactics under Mubarak, would once again have the right to arrest people "purely because they look suspicious", undermining efforts to create a more efficient and respected police force.


"It is a classic knee-jerk reaction to think the emergency law will help bring security," she said. "It gives so much discretion to the Ministry of Interior that it ends up causing more abuse, which in turn causes more anger."


(Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh in Cairo and Yusri Mohamed in Ismailia; Editing by Will Waterman and Giles Elgood)



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