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Malaysia included in Qantas' Asian strategy Posted: 03 Feb 2013 06:08 PM PST MELBOURNE: Qantas, which recently sealed an alliance with Emirates, plans to expand its network within Asia, working with Malaysia Airlines and other partners. Qantas on Monday outlined its new four-phase strategy for the Asian market with new destinations being considered including Beijing, Seoul, Mumbai, Delhi and Tokyo-Haneda. Qantas also plans to provide more frequent flights to Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as, reschedule the departure time of those flights and increase capacity on those routes. The airline said it hoped to expand its network within Asia by working with local partners such as Malaysia Airlines, Japan Airlines, China Eastern, Jet Airways and Cathay Pacific. Qantas said the improvements to its Asian services would begin on March 31 and be rolled out in four phases. Qantas International Chief Executive Simon Hickey said the changes meant Qantas' services to Asia were no longer tied to onward links to Europe. "The number of dedicated seats on Qantas services to Hong Kong and Singapore is increasing significantly because capacity previously set aside for customers going to Europe via these hubs can be freed up. "The joint Qantas-Emirates network into Asia gives our customers a fresh set of options, including double daily services to Singapore from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane," Hickey said in a statement. From March 31, Qantas will increase capacity on flights to Hong Kong and Singapore by between 10 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively. More flights would also be available on the Qantas-Emirates network. Qantas will also schedule earlier arrival times into Hong Kong, Bangkok and Singapore, with flights brought forward by up to three hours to increase the number of onward connections. Customers will also be able to fly to Kuala Lumpur on the combined Qantas-Emirates network. However, Qantas will reduce services between Perth and Singapore to one a day. It will also cancel its Adelaide-Singapore and Perth-Hong Kong services. However, flights between Brisbane and Hong Kong will rise to seven a week from four, and daily services between Sydney and Singapore will start in June. Qantas has also brought forward the end date for its loss-making Frankfurt services by six months to April 15.-- Bernama

MISC rises on Petronas buyout offer Posted: 03 Feb 2013 06:30 PM PST Shares of Malaysia's MISC Bhd rose as much as 17 per cent after the shipping firm's major shareholder Petroliam Nasional Bhd made an RM8.8 billion (US$2.8 billion) buyout offer, equal to RM5.30 per share. As of 0102 GMT, MISC was 17.3 per cent higher at RM5.22 per share, outperforming the country's benchmark stock index's 0.54 per cent rise. Trading in MISC has been suspended since the offer was made last Thursday. Petronas, Malaysia's state oil company, owns 62.7 per cent of the shipping firm. The deal is the latest in a slew of privatisation offers in Malaysia. Tycoon tycoon Syed Mokhtar Al Bukhary in December offered to buy out commodities firm Tradewinds Bhd in a deal worth RM1.5 billion or RM9.30 per share. Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, a Malaysian lender controlled by the country's sixth-richest man Quek Leng Chan, in January offered to take its 79 percent-owned investment banking arm Hong Leong Capital Bhd private. -- Reuters

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'American Sniper' Author Shot and Killed in Texas - New York Times Posted: 03 Feb 2013 09:01 AM PST By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ Published: February 3, 2013 Since retiring from the Navy SEALS, Chris Kyle, who was known as America's deadliest sniper, would occasionally take fellow veterans shooting as a kind of therapy to salve battlefield scars. Mr. Kyle, author of the best selling book "American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History," was with a struggling former soldier on just such an outing on Saturday, hoping a day at a shooting range would bring some relief, said a friend, Travis Cox. But Texas authorities said Sunday that for unknown reasons, the man turned on Mr. Kyle and a second man, Chad Littlefield, shooting and killing both before fleeing.   "Chad and Chris had taken a veteran out to shoot to try to help him," Mr. Cox said. "And they were killed." On Sunday, the police identified the shooter as Eddie Ray Routh, a 25-year-old veteran with a history of mental illness who had served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The police offered no information about a possible motive. Mr. Routh shot the men at about 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, at the Rough Creek Lodge, an exclusive shooting range near Glen Rose, about 50 miles southwest of Fort Worth, Sgt. Lonny Haschel, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety's Highway Patrol Division, said in a statement. Mr. Routh then fled in a pickup truck and was arrested on Saturday night at his home in Lancaster, a southern Dallas suburb. He has been charged with two counts of capital murder, Mr. Haschel said. Mr. Cox, the director of a foundation that Mr. Kyle created, said he was not acquainted with Mr. Routh, but said that Mr. Kyle had devoted his life since his military retirement to helping fellow soldiers overcome post-traumatic stress. In 2011, Mr. Kyle created the FITCO Cares Foundation, to provide veterans with exercise equipment and counseling. He believed that exercise coupled with the camaraderie of fellow veterans could help former soldiers ease back into civilian life.   "He served this country with extreme honor, but came home and was a servant leader in helping his brothers and sisters dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder," Mr. Cox, also a former military sniper, said by telephone. Mr. Kyle, who lived outside of Dallas, had his own difficulties adjusting after retiring from the SEALS in 2009. He was deployed in Iraq during the worst years of the insurgency, perched in or on top of bombed out apartment buildings with his .300 Winchester Magnum. He became proficient at his job, racking up more than 150 kills and becoming the scourge of Iraqi insurgents, who put a price on his head and reportedly nicknamed him the "Devil of Ramadi." He preferred to think of his job not as killing bad guys, but saving the good. "I feel pretty good because I am not just killing someone, I am also saving people," he said in a Jan. 2012 interview with The Dallas Morning News. "What keeps me up at night is not the people that I have killed. It is the people I wasn't able to save." Mr. Kyle was sued by the former governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, over a portion of the book that claims Mr. Kyle punched Mr. Ventura in a 2006 bar fight over unpatriotic remarks. Mr. Ventura says the punch never happened and that the claim by Kyle defamed him. Mr. Kyle had asked that Ventura's claims of invasion of privacy and "unjust enrichment" be dismissed, saying there was no legal basis for them. But a federal judge said the lawsuit should proceed. Both sides were told to be ready for trial by Aug. 1. Manny Fernandez contributed reporting.

Details emerge about man at center of Ala standoff - Seattle Post Intelligencer Posted: 03 Feb 2013 08:50 AM PST MIDLAND CITY, Ala. (AP) — As an Alabama standoff and hostage drama entered a sixth day Sunday, more details emerged about the suspect at the center, with neighbors and officials painting a picture of an isolated man with few friends and no close family. Authorities say Jim Lee Dykes, 65 — a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War known as Jimmy to neighbors — gunned down a school bus driver and then abducted a 5-year-old boy from the bus, taking him to an underground bunker on his rural property. The driver, 66-year-old Charles Albert Poland Jr., was to be buried Sunday. Dykes, described as a loner who railed against the government, lives up a dirt road outside this tiny hamlet north of Dothan in the southeast corner of the state. His home is just off the main road north to the state capital of Montgomery, about 80 miles away. The FBI said in a statement Sunday that authorities continue to have an open line of communication with Dykes and that they planned to deliver to the bunker additional comfort items such as food, toys and medicine. They also said Dykes was making the child as comfortable as possible. Government records and interviews with neighbors indicate that Dykes grew up in the Dothan area and joined the Navy in Midland City, serving on active duty from 1964 to 1969. His record shows several awards, including the Vietnam Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal. During his service, Dykes was trained in aviation maintenance. Later, Dykes lived in Florida, where he worked as a surveyor and a long-haul truck driver although it's unclear how long. He had some scrapes with the law there, including a 1995 arrest for improper exhibition of a weapon. The misdemeanor was dismissed. He also was arrested for marijuana possession in 2000. He returned to Alabama about two years ago, moving onto the rural tract about 100 yards from his nearest neighbors, Michael Creel and his father, Greg. Neighbors described Dykes as a man who once beat a dog to death with a lead pipe, threatened to shoot children for setting foot on his property, and patrolled his yard at night with a flashlight and a firearm. Michael Creel said Dykes had an adult daughter, but the two lost touch years ago. The Dykes property has a white trailer which, according to Creel, Dykes said he bought from FEMA after it was used to house evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. The property also has a steel shipping container — like those on container ships — in which Dykes stores tools and supplies. Next to the container is the underground bunker where authorities say Dykes is holed up with the 5-year-old. Neighbors say that the bunker has a pipe so Dykes could hear people coming near his driveway. Authorities have been using the ventilation pipe to communicate with him. The younger Creel, who said he helped Dykes with supplies to build the bunker and has been in it twice, said Dykes wanted protection from hurricanes. "He said he lived in Florida and had hurricanes hit. He wanted someplace he could go down in and be safe," Creel said. Authorities say the bunker is about 6 feet by 8 feet, and the only entrance is a trap door at the top. Such bunkers are not uncommon in rural Alabama because of the threat of tornadoes. Greg Creel was a friend of Dykes, but he said he would not comment for The Associated Press. "I will only talk to the police and the FBI," he said. Michael Creel said Dykes kept to himself and listened a lot to conservative talk radio. "He was very into what's going on with the nation and the politics and all the laws being made. The things he didn't agree with, he would ventilate," he said. James Arrington, police chief of the neighboring town of Pinckard, put it differently. "He's against the government, starting with Obama on down," he said. Morris Dees of Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, a group that tracks hate crimes, said Dykes was not on the group's radar. Although the fatal shootings in December at a school in Newtown, Conn., are still on everyone's mind, Dees said he doesn't think Dykes was trying to be a copycat. "Probably not. He had a whole bus load full of kids, and he could have walked up there and shot the whole crowd of them," he said. "I think he's just a really angry and bitter guy with some anger management issues," Dees said. "He is just against everything - the government and his neighbors." ______ Bruce Smith contributed to this report from Midland City, Ala.

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President Claims Shooting as a Hobby, and the White House Offers Proof - New York Times Posted: 02 Feb 2013 09:09 AM PST By PETER BAKER and MARK LANDLER Published: February 2, 2013 WASHINGTON — When President Obama mentioned last week that he had picked up a new hobby — skeet shooting at Camp David — it was a surprising disclosure by a president whose main identification with guns these days is his effort to ban assault rifles and high-capacity magazines. To some, Mr. Obama's newfound enthusiasm for shooting clay pigeons — he said in an interview that he did it "all the time" at his retreat in the Maryland mountains — also seemed a bit suspicious. So on Saturday, the White House tried to silence the skeptics by releasing a photo of Mr. Obama shooting on the range at Camp David in August. In the photo, the president, wearing protective glasses and ear-muffs, is squinting down the barrel of a gun, moments after pulling the trigger. Smoke shoots out of the front of the gun. The White House said the photo was taken on Aug. 4, which was Mr. Obama's 51st birthday. But it offered no further details on whether his target practice was a regular hobby or a one-time event. The notion of the president taking aim at targets flung into the air captivated some in the political and social media worlds at a time when he is pushing Congress to enact sweeping restrictions on high-capacity rifles and magazines. Conservatives scoffed, comics mocked, a congresswoman challenged him to a skeet-shooting contest, a fake picture of an armed Mr. Obama circulated on the Internet, and the White House tried to make the whole matter go away. "It was a surprise to a lot of people in the industry when we saw that and heard that," said Michael Hampton Jr., the executive director of the National Skeet Shooting Association, whose 35,000-member rolls do not include the president. Mr. Obama is hardly the first politician to draw scorn for boasting of experience with guns. In 2007, during his first presidential campaign, former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts was ridiculed when he said, "I've always been a rodent and rabbit hunter — small varmints, if you will." In 2004, John Kerry, then a presidential candidate and now secretary of state, was lampooned for showing up in camouflage to go hunting less than two weeks before the election. The latest commotion has its origins in the interview Mr. Obama gave to The New Republic, now owned by Chris Hughes, a Facebook co-founder and former Obama campaign aide. During the interview, Franklin Foer, the magazine's editor, referred to the fight over gun control and asked the president if he had ever fired a gun. "Yes, in fact, up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time," Mr. Obama said. "The whole family?" Mr. Foer asked. "Not the girls," he said, "but oftentimes guests of mine go up there. And I have a profound respect for the traditions of hunting that trace back in this country for generations. And I think those who dismiss that out of hand make a big mistake." Mr. Obama went on to say that the reality of guns in urban areas differs from that in rural areas. "So it's trying to bridge those gaps that I think is going to be part of the biggest task over the next several months," he said. "And that means that advocates of gun control have to do a little more listening than they do sometimes." The skeet-shooting comment caught many off guard because it is not something the president has talked about. While other presidents have used the skeet shooting range at Camp David, database searches of Mr. Obama's speeches and interviews turned up no prior mention of participating. No friend or guest has come forward in recent days to publicly describe shooting with the president. "I would refer you simply to his comments," Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, told reporters who asked after the interview was published how often the president shoots. "I don't know how often. He does go to Camp David with some regularity, but I'm not sure how often he's done that." Asked why no one had seen a picture or heard about it before, Mr. Carney said, "Because when he goes to Camp David, he goes to spend time with his family and friends and relax, not to produce photographs." That did not satisfy the skeptics. The Washington Post's "Fact Checker" column cast doubt on the claim, while Fox News quoted an unnamed person saying Mr. Obama had participated once during a Marine competition at Camp David but not "all the time." Representative Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, went on CNN to question the assertion. "I tell you what I do think," Ms. Blackburn said. "I think he should invite me to Camp David, and I'll go skeet shooting with him and I bet I'll beat him." Gun rights supporters said the president was evidently trying to reach out to gun owners to assuage their concerns about his legislative proposals. "He clearly doesn't get it," said Chris Cox, the chief lobbyist for the National Rifle Association. "But in his effort to pursue a political agenda, he apparently is willing to convince gun owners that he's one of us, that he's a Second Amendment supporter." Mr. Cox said no one was fooled. "Skeet shooting, whether you've done it or not, doesn't make you a defender of the Second Amendment," he said. While White House officials privately dismissed skeptics by comparing them to "truthers" who doubted that Mr. Obama was born in Hawaii, even some liberals found the skeet-shooting comment hard to believe. Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" made fun of Mr. Obama's statement as well as those who doubted it. He essentially agreed with Mr. Cox that it was pointless for the president to try to reach out to gun rights supporters who do not believe him. "The point is, Mr. President, what are you doing? Why try?" Mr. Stewart asked. "As far as most of your opponents go, no measure of detente, true or disingenuous, will ingratiate you to your opponents. It's a fool's errand."

Marxist Group Claims Attack on US Embassy in Turkey - New York Times Posted: 02 Feb 2013 09:18 AM PST By TIM ARANGO Published: February 2, 2013 ISTANBUL — In a statement that called the United States "the murderer of the peoples of the world," a Marxist group, with a history of political violence in Turkey, claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at the American Embassy in Ankara. The statement, which also denounced American foreign policy, was reportedly released by the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party, and a translation was distributed by the Site Intelligence Group, which monitors the communications of extremist groups. The message, which was released on a Web site that has previously carried statements from the group, condemned Turkey's policy of supporting Syria's rebels against the government of Bashar al-Assad. The statement included details that were similar to those released so far by the Turkish authorities, although the group's message had a different first name for the bomber than the one given by Turkish officials and reported in the local news media. The Turkish authorities said Saturday that the man who detonated himself at the American Embassy in Ankara on Friday, killing himself and one other, was a convicted terrorist who had twice attacked government facilities in Istanbul but was released from prison in 2002 under an amnesty program. Officials in Ankara said Saturday they were awaiting the results of a DNA test before releasing the bomber's name, but officials in the Black Sea coastal town of Ordu identified him as Ecevit Sanli, 40, and said he was a registered citizen of their town. Authorities in Ordu said the bomber was identified by relatives through photographs. The statement by the militant group included two photographs of the bomber (in one, he is holding an assault rifle, and a banner bearing the hammer-and-sickle communist symbol is behind him) that appeared to be the same person seen in photographs published by the news media. The group identified the bomber with the first name "Alisan." The attack, coming in the wake of the assault on an American diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, by Islamic extremists, raised fears that it was the work of jihadists. That the bomber appears to have ties to a relatively minor Marxist group, which was responsible for political violence in the 1970s, is likely to challenge assumptions about the nature of international terrorism and the risks to American interests abroad. American officials, however, have not confirmed the identity of the attacker, nor a motive, and the United States plans to conduct an investigation. The statement from officials in Ordu said on Saturday that Mr. Sanli spent five years in prison after being arrested in 1997 for attacking a military hostel and police station in Istanbul. He was then released in 2002 under an amnesty program for inmates with medical conditions, the statement said. The authorities said Mr. Sanli lobbed a hand grenade during Friday's attack just before detonating himself, suggesting there were actually two explosions. As the investigation continues, the authorities are trying to determine whether Mr. Sanli had any collaborators. The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported that Mr. Sanli had fled to Germany after being released from prison, and had returned to Turkey only a few days before the attack. The group has struck American and western targets in Turkey before, including during the gulf war in the early 1990s, and in its statement Saturday, the group condemned the recent deployment by NATO of Patriot missile batteries in southern Turkey. In a report published several days before the bombing, Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish research program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, warned that Turkey's support of Syrian rebels in their fight against the government of Mr. al-Assad, as well as the deployment by NATO of Patriot missile batteries, was rallying Turkey's extreme left. "The country's political landscape still bears vestiges of violent leftist movements from the 1970s, as well as deeply anti-American ultranationalism," he wrote. Mr. Cagaptay noted that some militant left-wing groups organized protests against the Patriot missile deployment in the southern port city of Iskenderun, where protesters have fired smoke grenades at NATO troops and burned American flags. Sebnem Arsu contributed reporting.

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Dow tops 14,000 for 1st time since 2007 Posted: 01 Feb 2013 04:22 PM PST NEW YORK: US stocks rallied sharply Friday, with the Dow industrials closing above 14,000 for the first time since October 2007 following a positive US jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 14,009.79, up 149.21 points (1.08 per cent). The broad-based S&P 500 finished at 1,513.17, up 15.06 (1.01 per cent), while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 36.97 points (1.18 per cent) to 3,179.10. The Dow's breakthrough of the psychological 14,000 barrier followed a January US monthly jobs report that catalysed markets. The report showed employers added 157,000 jobs in January, fewer than expected, and the jobless rate inched up to 7.9 per cent. But revised data for all of 2012 heartened markets, with net job growth at an average of 181,000 a month, up from a prior estimate of 153,000. The all-time Dow closing high was 14,164.53 on October 9, 2007. The revisions to the 2012 jobs data "highlight even more how remarkably resilient the US labour market has been over the last two quarters," said Harm Bandholz of UniCredit. The rally also came on the heels of corporate earnings reports that for the most part have either met or exceeded expectations. All but two of the Dow's 30 blue-chip stocks rose: pharmaceutical giant Merck and computer maker Hewlett-Packard. Among the Dow's biggest gainers were Bank of America (up 3.5 per cent), United Technologies (up 2.6 per cent), as well as telecoms AT&T (up 2.1 per cent) and Verizon Communications (up 2.2 per cent). Oil company Chevron gained 1.2 per cent on encouraging earnings and a modest rise in year-over-year output. ExxonMobil edged up 0.1 per cent. Despite reporting its best annual profits since 2008, fourth-quarter output fell below the year-ago level. Merck fell 3.3 per cent after pushing back the time-frame for seeking approval for a much-anticipated osteoporosis drug. Hewlett-Packard slipped 0.3 per cent after announcing it was closing a 1,100-employee site in Germany. Anheuser-Busch InBev picked up 4.2 per cent one day after the Department of Justice sued to block the company's takeover of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo. Computer company Dell jumped 3 per cent amid talk that its plan to take itself private could be announced next week. Pfizer's animal-health unit Zoetis soared 19.27 per cent to US$31.01 in its market debut, the biggest since Facebook's May 2012 initial public offering. The Zoetis IPO raised US$2.24 billion. -- AFP

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Deadly explosion at US Embassy in Turkey - CBS News Posted: 01 Feb 2013 09:23 AM PST Updated at 12:04 p.m. Eastern ANKARA, Turkey A suicide bomber detonated an explosive device at an entrance to the U.S. Embassy in the Turkish capital on Friday, killing himself and one other person, officials said. Play Video Deadly explosion at U.S. Embassy in Turkey 16 Photos Suicide bomber hits U.S. Embassy in Turkey U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardione told reporters that a guard at the gate was killed in the 1:15 p.m. blast, and a Turkish citizen was wounded. Reuters quoted Ricciardione as saying the slain guard was a Turkish national. U.S. Embassies are usually guarded by a combination of local security personnel and American diplomatic security forces. The bomb appeared to have exploded inside the security checkpoint at the side entrance of the embassy, but did not do damage inside the embassy itself. Footage showed that the door had been blown off its hinges and debris littered the ground and across the road. An Associated Press journalist saw a body in the street in front of an embassy side entrance. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that it had been a suicide attack. White House spokesman Jay Carney called the attack "an act of terror." There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Interior Minister Muammer Guler told reporters "preliminary information" obtained by police indicated that the bomber was likely connected to a domestic left-wing militant group. He did not elaborate. A police official, meanwhile, told The Associated Press that the bomber is most likely a suspected member of the outlawed Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to the press. The group has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States but had been relatively quiet in recent years. A source familiar with security at the embassy in Turkey told CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan that, in their view, the security measures taken at the compound seemed to have worked, in that the attacker was unable to gain access to the main embassy building. The source said the U.S. Embassy in Ankara is considered a high-security post, and there are Turkish police present at all times. All gates leading into the compound are manned by armed Turkish security guards, according to the source. Police swarmed the area and several ambulances were dispatched. An AP journalist saw one woman who appeared to be seriously injured being carried into an ambulance. The embassy building is heavily protected. It is near an area where several other embassies are located, including that of Germany and France. Police sealed off the area and journalists were being kept away. Homegrown Islamic militants tied to al Qaeda have carried out suicide bombings in Istanbul, killing 58, in 2003. The targets were the British consulate, a British bank and two synagogues. In 2008, an attack blamed on al Qaeda-affiliated militants outside the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul left three assailants and three policemen dead. In the November 2003 attack on the British consulate, a suspected Islamic militant rammed an explosive-laden pickup truck into the main gate, killing British Consul-General, Roger Short, and his assistant, Lisa Hallworth. CBS News senior correspondent John Miller, a former deputy director in the National Intelligence Director's office, noted on "CBS This Morning" the possibility of a connection to the recent Israeli airstrike in Syria, for which Damascus and its staunch ally Iran vowed to retaliate. Iran, Miller says, has extensive intelligence operations in Turkey, and its Islamic militant group ally, Hezbollah, also has significant assets there. "Iran, in terms of retribution, would stack Israel and the U.S. together," says Miller. Turkey has become a harsh critic of the regime in Syria, where a vicious civil war has left at least 60,000 people dead. The first of six Patriot missile batteries being deployed to Turkey to protect against attack from Syria was declared operational and placed under NATO command on Saturday and others were expected to be operational in the coming days.

January Jobs Report: Unemployment Rate Up to 7.9 Percent, 157000 Jobs ... - ABC News Posted: 01 Feb 2013 09:01 AM PST The U.S. economy added 157,000 jobs in January as the unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent, according to data from the U.S. Labor Department. "This jobs figure today indicates that the engine of the economy is revving, but the car isn't going anywhere," said Tom di Galoma, managing director at financial services firm Navigate Advisors LLC. Employment numbers for November were revised higher to 247,000 from 161,000. For December, they were also revised higher to 196,000 from 155,000. "The uncertainty will be around what happens with government jobs, because the uncertain impact of the fiscal cliff in December may have led to some layoffs in January," said Kevin Dunning, global economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit. Although the fiscal cliff was ultimately resolved Jan. 1, Dunning said he expected layoffs for federal government workers. Still, Dunning said hiring had "been quite resilient despite all the fiscal uncertainty." Both state and local governments cut 9,000 jobs in January, while the private sector created 166,000 jobs for the month. Dunning said the "strong" jobs growth in the fourth quarter of last year was at odds with the mild contraction in GDP announced Wednesday. "This suggests that fourth-quarter GDP growth may yet be revised upwards," he said. The Commerce Department announced Wednesday that U.S. GDP decreased by an annual rate of 0.1 percent in the last three months of 2012, the first time the economy has contracted since the second quarter of 2009. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report, for the week ending Jan. 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 368,000, an increase of 38,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 330,000. The four-week moving average was 352,000, an increase of 250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 351,750. Stephen Bronars, a senior economist with Welch Consulting in Washington D.C., cautions people not to "overreact" to January's jobs report. "Careful observers examine the size of the seasonal adjustment. January is a very difficult month for the BLS to forecast," he said. Typically, payroll falls by 2.8 million between December and January because of seasonal workers' leaving jobs after the holidays, he said. But a report released Thursday by payroll provider ADP noted that private-sector employment increased by 192,000 for January 2013, on a seasonally adjusted basis. This report, which does not include government or public jobs data, noted that goods-producing employment increased by 15,000 jobs in January, primarily fueled by a 15,000 increase in construction jobs. Manufacturing jobs, however, were down by 3,000. Service jobs, including restaurant workers, health care workers, housekeepers, teachers and retail sales positions, increased by 177,000, with professional/business services adding 40,000 jobs for the month, the ADP report said. Trade/transportation/utilities added 33,000 jobs, and financial services added 12,000 jobs. Businesses with 49 or fewer employees added 115,000 jobs in January, according to the ADP report. Employment levels among medium-size companies, that is, those with 50 to 499 employees, rose by 79,000, while employment at companies with 500 or more employees fell by 2,000.

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Research in Motion leads US stocks lower Posted: 31 Jan 2013 04:16 PM PST NEW YORK: US stocks finished lower Thursday, with BlackBerry maker Research in Motion losing 5.8 per cent after launching a new operating system and Dow Chemical sagging nearly 7 per cent on a quarterly loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 49.84 points (0.36 per cent) to 13,860.58. The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 3.85 points (0.26 per cent) to 1,498.11. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.18 (0.01 per cent) to 3,142.13. Facebook, which reported disappointing earnings after the close Wednesday, pulled back from an early sharp fall to end down just 1.1 per cent. The Justice Department's filing of a suit to block the US$20 billion takeover of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo by the world's largest beer group, Anheuser-Busch InBev, sent their shares tumbling. US anti-trust authorities said the merger would give ABI control of nearly 50 per cent of the US beer market. ABI shares lost 5.9 per cent, and on Mexico's Bolsa, Grupo Modelo lost 6.7 per cent. The biggest casualty of the Justice Department's move was Constellation Brands, which was expected to gain control of the US importer of Modelo products -- which include Corona -- in the deal. Constellation shares finished down 17.4 per cent. Other companies reporting earnings whose shares fell included ConocoPhillips (-5.1 per cent) and Time Warner Cable (-11.3 per cent). Among key gainers, chipmaker Qualcomm's shares added 3.9 per cent after several brokers gave it an upgrade following its strong quarterly results. Casino operators Las Vegas Sands added 7.2 per cent after beating revenue growth forecasts helped by a new China operation, despite missing expectations on the bottom line. -- AFP

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Hagel on defense during confirmation hearing grilling - CBS News Posted: 31 Jan 2013 09:06 AM PST Play Video Hagel defends his record Updated: 12:00 p.m. ET Amid stubborn resistance from Senate Republicans, former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., launched a strong defense of both his values and his record during his defense secretary confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee today, arguing that despite some controversial former positions on Israel, Iran, and gay rights, "no one individual vote, no one individual quote, no one individual statement defines me, my beliefs, or my record." Hagel, who must gain the support of a majority of the 26 members of the committee in order to face a full Senate confirmation vote, pledged his commitment President Obama's positions on "all issues of national security, specifically decisions that the Department of Defense is in the process of implementing now." "Our nation's security is the highest priority of our leaders and our government," Hagel said in his opening remarks. "We cannot allow the work of confronting the great threats we face today to be held hostage to partisanship on either side of the aisle." Hagel's nomination has been controversial from the get-go: Of particular concern to Republicans and many Democrats is his past opposition of some sanctions for Iran; for his having taken stances on Hezbollah and Hamas that critics have decried as overly lenient; and for criticism of what he called "the Jewish lobby," which invoked the ire of pro-Israel advocates. Additionally, Hagel came out as a vocal critic of former President George W. Bush's policies in Iraq. Democrats, meanwhile, have had their own, added gripes with the pick: In addition to being a Republican, Hagel was targeted for making anti-gay comments about an ambassadorial nominee in 1998, whose nomination he opposed for being "openly, aggressively gay." He also voted on multiple occasions to limit abortion access for American servicewomen abroad. Despite the ongoing controversy surrounding his record, Hagel today expressed pride in it -- not because, he said, "of any accomplishments I may have achieved, or certainly because of an absence of mistakes, but rather because I've tried to build that record based on living my life and fulfilling my responsibilities as honestly as I knew how and with hard work." "My overall worldview has never changed: That America has and must maintain the strongest military in the world; that we must lead the international community to confront threats and challenges together; and that we must use all tools of American power to protect our citizens and our interests," he said. Republicans were less charitable in their characterization of Hagel's record. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, called it "deeply troubling and out of the mainstream." Of Hagel's worldview, Inhofe said it was "predicated on appeasing our adversaries while shunning our friends." Play Video Hagel, McCain tussle over Iraq surge Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a onetime friend of Hagel's who has not committed to vote for him, went after the former senator for his past opposition to the surge in Iraq, and asked him repeatedly whether or not his past assessment was a mistake. "I'm not going to give you a yes or no answer," Hagel said, when pressed over whether he still believes the surge was, as McCain quoted him having once said, "the greatest foreign policy blunder since the Vietnam War." He said he thought the issue was more complicated than could be expressed in a one-word answer, and later explained his reasons for opposing the surge. He said he still wasn't sure whether or not it was necessary. "I always ask the question is this going to be worth the sacrifice? Because there will be sacrifice," Hagel said.  McCain, in contrast, essentially argued that the surge has been proven categorically and historically effective. "I think history has already made a judgment about the surge and you're on the wrong side of it," McCain argued. Even the committee's chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said he and his colleagues would be interested in hearing Hagel's explanation of "troubling statements" he has made on a handful of foreign policy issues. "There's much to be explored at this hearing," Levin said. But Levin also signaled hedged support for Hagel's nomination, on the grounds that Mr. Obama "needs to have a Secretary of Defense in whom he has trust, who will give him unvarnished advice, a person of integrity and one who has a personal understanding of the consequences of decisions relative to the use of military force." Hagel's confirmation is not a sure bet, but the numbers, for the time being, are on his side. Most Democratic senators appear to have ironed out their issues with the candidate in private, one-on-one meetings, and barring a congressional hold or a filibuster, he can squeak through the confirmation process without the support of his fellow Republicans. Still, Hagel has virtually no margin of error in his path to confirmation: While no Democrats are promising to vote against him, a number have not pledged to vote in his favor, either. And so far, only one Republican, Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, has said he will vote in favor of the president's pick, according to MSNBC. In his opening remarks today, Hagel attempted to alleviate concerns about his controversial past statements, strongly emphasizing his commitment to preventing a nuclear Iran, and promising to stay supportive of "our friend and ally Israel." "I am fully committed to the president's goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and - as I've said in the past - all options must be on the table to achieve that goal," he said. "My policy is one of prevention, and not one of containment - and the President has made clear that is the policy of our government. As Secretary of Defense, I will make sure the Department is prepared for any contingency."

Child believed unharmed as Ala. hostage ordeal drags on - Detroit Free Press Posted: 31 Jan 2013 09:27 AM PST MIDLAND CITY, Ala. - A hostage standoff continued into the third day Thursday in rural Alabama where a man who kidnapped a 5-year-old boy from a school bus after killing the driver kept the child hostage in an underground bunker at his home, which was surrounded by police and SWAT teams. Asked how long the standoff would last, Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson told reporters early Thursday, "We have no way of knowing that right now." Dale County authorities said the child appeared to be on good condition, despite the ordeal. "We have no reason to believe that the child has been harmed," Olson said. State Rep. Steve Clouse, who met with authorities and visited the boy's family, said that the bunker had food and electricity, and that the boy was watching TV. Authorities communicated with the suspect through a PVC pipe connected to the bunker, WSFA-TV reported, and were also able to pass some unidentified medicine for the boy. Local residents attended vigils at several churches Wednesday night, lighting candles and praying for the boy's safe release, according to WSFA-TV. A law enforcement official who is not authorized to speak to the media identified the man as Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, a retired truck driver and Navy veteran. "As far as we know there is no relation at all (between Dykes and the hostage). He just wanted a child for a hostage situation," said Michael Senn, a pastor who helped comfort traumatized children after the attack. Sheriff's deputies had arrested Dykes on Dec. 22 and charged him with menacing for a Dec. 10 complaint, court records show. He spent four days in jail before posting the $500 bail. His trial was to have begun Wednesday at 9 a.m. Instead, he is accused of grabbing a 5-year-old boy off a school bus Tuesday afternoon after killing the 66-year-old bus driver, Charles Poland, who had tried to block access to the vehicle. Patricia Smith, a neighbor whose two children were on the bus, said the gunman shot Poland four times and fled with the 5-year-old. The suspect then took the boy to a homemade bunker that he had apparently been constructing for years on his nearby property. Authorities said Dykes lives in a small trailer at the end of a red dirt road, but they gave few details about the hostage standoff or whether Dykes had made any demands. The Dale County Sheriff's Office reports Dykes is connected to the anti-government survivalist movement. In an interview Wednesday with The Dothan Eagle, the bus driver's wife, wife, Jan Poland, recalled their ritual of sitting in their enclosed porch after he returned from driving, having coffee and watching the sun set or listening to the rain. She said their favorite Bible verse was 2 Timothy 1:12, which she recited with their daughter, Lydia: "For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." "That is what I hold onto right now." she said, clutching her daughter's hand. "God knows. He is the one who is going to have to bring closure to my heart." Terry Howard, the interim pastor at First Assembly of God in Newton, Ala., described Poland as "a good guy" who "loved to help people." Protecting the children "would be in his nature," he said, noting that Poland's wife is a substitute teacher. Authorities communicated with the suspect through a PVC pipe connected to the bunker, WSFA-TV reported, and were also able to pass some unidentified medicine for the boy. Neighbors said Dykes had lived for about a year at the residence in Midland City, population 2,300. Before that he spent time in Texas and in Panama City, Fla., The Dothan Eagle reported. Florida Department of Law Enforcement records show he was arrested in Panama City in February 1995 and charged with improper exhibition of dangerous weapons or firearms, a misdemeanor. The charge was dismissed four months later. The Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch, which tracks radical hate groups, said Tim Byrd, chief investigator with the Dale County Sheriff's Office, described Dykes as having "anti-America" views and ties with the anti-government "survivalist" movement. "His friends and his neighbors stated that he did not trust the government, that he was a Vietnam vet, and that he had PTSD," Byrd said, according to Hatewatch. "He was standoffish, didn't socialize or have any contact with anybody. He was a survivalist type." Michael Creel, who lives nearby, told The Eagle that Dykes' bunker, similar to those used against tornadoes, was 4 feet wide, 6 feet long and about 8 feet deep, covered in sand. Neighbor Mike Smith said Dykes once threatened to shoot his children when the family's dogs entered his property. Neighbor Ronda Wilbur said Dykes was known to go out in the middle of the night to shoot birds and rabbits. She said Dykes had cut down nearly all the trees on his lot, erected a wire fence and "would go berserk" if a dog strayed onto his land. She said her dog died of injuries after Dykes beat it with a lead pipe. Scott Johnson reports for the Montgomery Advertiser. Contributing: The Associated Press Copyright 2012 USATODAY.com

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