Tuesday, 25 February 2014

Airbus posts higher 2013 profit


European jetmaker Airbus Group said Wednesday record demand for its civilian jetliners from airlines around the world drove higher sales and profits last year.


The Boeing Co. rival, known until this year as EADS, said net profit rose 22 percent to 1.47 billion euros ($2 billion) in 2013, up from 1.2 billion euros the previous year.


The company, which competes fiercely with Boeing in the multi-billion-dollar market for large civilian aircraft, forecast jet deliveries to remain at about the same level this year as last year when it sold 626 aircraft.


It also forecast orders to remain higher than deliveries. Last year Airbus took in a record 1,619 new orders.


In a statement, Airbus also announced plans to ramp up production of its single-aisle jets to 46 a month by 2016, from 42 now.


The A320 single aisle family of jets competes with Boeing's 737, and has seen exceptional demand in recent years alongside exceptional growth in the air travel market in developing countries in Asia and the Middle East.


Airbus' earnings came in below the 1.97 billion-euro consensus forecast of analysts surveyed by Factset. The 2013 accounts were dented by higher costs connected to Airbus' new A350 twin-aisle jet, which Airbus hopes to start delivering to customers by the end of this year.


Airbus has received over 820 orders so far for the widebody A350, with around 30 percent coming from Asian airlines. The region is a crucial market for plane makers because its economic growth is driving rapid expansion of jet fleets.


Airbus says the A350 program "remains challenging," after it took a 434 million-euro charge against the program in the fourth quarter last year. Development of the jet, an intended rival to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, has cost around 10 billion euros over the last decade. Qatar Airways expects to take delivery of the first A350 in the fourth quarter of this year.


Airbus is in the midst of a corporate restructuring that will see it cut 5,800 jobs over two years. A failed merger with British defense firm BAE Systems scuttled Airbus' plans to grow its own defense business, which now accounts for about 30 percent of the group's total sales.


A slowdown in U.S. and European military spending has forced Airbus and Boeing to overall their defense businesses.



Days after Asiana plane crash, families neglected


When anguished family members first called for information about their loved ones aboard a wrecked Asiana Airlines plane, instead of getting answers they had to navigate an automated reservation system.


Even once Asiana finally set up a proper hotline, it would be five days before the South Korean airline connected with the families of all 291 passengers.


Asiana's response to the deadly crash last summer near San Francisco earned quick criticism for its disarray. On Tuesday, it also earned a $500,000 penalty from the U.S. Department of Transportation.


It's the first time federal officials have concluded that an airline broke laws requiring prompt and generous assistance for the loved ones of crash victims.


Three people died and dozens were injured July 6 when Asiana Flight 214 clipped a seawall while landing at San Francisco International Airport. One of the victims, a 16-year-old girl, apparently survived being ejected onto the tarmac, only to be run over by a fire truck.


Many families live in South Korea or China, meaning the airline was their main source of information on the crash half a world away.


"The last thing families and passengers should have to worry about at such a stressful time is how to get information from their carrier," U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a prepared statement.


Under a consent order the airline signed with the department, Asiana will pay a $400,000 fine and get a $100,000 credit for sponsoring conferences and training sessions through 2015 to discuss lessons learned from the situation.


In a statement emailed to The Associated Press, Asiana spokeswoman Hyomin Lee said the airline "provided extensive support to the passengers and their families following the accident and will continue to do so."


Asiana said in the consent order that its response was slowed because the crash occurred on a holiday weekend when staffing was short. The airline said it was not alone among foreign airlines with "few trained employees to attend to post-accident responsibilities."


Asiana argued that it recovered quickly, noting that within a few days of the crash it had assigned a special representative to each passenger and family, flown in family members from overseas and provided professional crisis counseling.


The consent order also laid out findings from the Department of Transportation's investigation. Among them:


— Asiana generally "failed to commit sufficient resources" to help families; it wasn't until five days after the crash that its employees were meeting all responsibilities under U.S. law. The airline lacked translators and personnel trained in crash response.


— It took Asiana more than 18 hours to staff a reliable toll-free hotline.


— The law requires family notification as soon as practical, but Asiana had contacted just three-quarters of families within two days. It would take five days to contact every family.


Congress required carriers to dedicate significant resources to families of passengers in the late 1990s, after airlines were roundly criticized for ignoring desperate requests for information after crashes.


Last fall, the AP reviewed plans filed by two dozen foreign airlines and found cases in which carriers had not updated their family assistance plans as required.


Since AP's story, several airlines have updated their plans with the Department of Transportation. Among them is Asiana's bigger rival, Korean Air.


Many airlines invest in crash preparedness and family assistance planning, but a minority are "using lip service and euphemisms in their plans," said Robert A. Jensen, whose company has contracts with hundreds of airlines to help after an accident.


"It's time that some of the airlines that have been flying under the radar be held accountable," said Jensen, CEO of Kenyon International Emergency Services. "Somebody finally got caught."


The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the cause of the crash. Family members of some passengers have sued the airline in federal court.



Contact Justin Pritchard at http://bit.ly/OBimq4 .


Asian stock trading muffled by Wall Street fade


Subdued trading reigned in Asian stocks Wednesday after the S&P 500's failure to punch through its recent record high for a second day instilled caution into markets.


There was little economic or corporate news for regional markets to trade on, which put Wall Street's lack of momentum into focus.


For two straight days the S&P 500 has approached its record closing high of 1,848.38 set Jan. 15 but faded on both occasions. That has boosted the confidence of "bears," investors who are betting that markets will enter a correction because they think current valuations aren't justified.


"The prospect of a pullback seems to be growing," said Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG in Melbourne, Australia.


"Given we are coming to the tail end of earnings season, the question is what will be the catalyst for which the bulls will cling to from here?"


Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average was down 0.4 percent at 14,998.05 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was little changed at 22,315.24.


Seoul's Kospi added 0.4 percent to 1,972.44 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 inched up 0.1 percent to 5,347. Markets in Southeast Asia were mostly lower.


On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 27.48 points, or 0.2 percent, to 16,179.66 on Tuesday. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 2.49 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,845.12 and the Nasdaq composite fell 5.38 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,287.59.


Benchmark U.S. crude for April delivery was down 15 cents at $101.68 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.


In currencies, the euro was unchanged at $1.3740 late Tuesday. The dollar rose to 102.27 yen from 102.24 yen.



HK economy forecast to grow up to 4 pct in 2014


Hong Kong's finance chief forecasts that the economy of the Asian financial center could grow up to 4 percent this year after expanding 2.9 percent in 2013.


Financial Secretary John Tsang said Wednesday that he predicts 3-4 percent growth in 2014 for the semiautonomous southern Chinese city. That's lower than the 4.5 percent average annual growth rate over the past decade.


Tsang said Hong Kong's economy expanded 2.9 percent in 2013, nearly double the 1.5 percent rate in the previous year.


Mainland China helped underpin Hong Kong's growth as a tepid recovery in the major export markets of U.S and Europe dragged down its trade.


Tsang warned of volatile markets and capital flows as the Fed scales back its economic stimulus.



Fingerprint security convenient, but not flawless


Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S5 smartphone will be at least the third to have a fingerprint sensor for security but it's alone in letting you use that for general shopping, thanks to a partnership with PayPal.


The sensor brings convenience for entering passcodes and could encourage more people to lock their phones. But fingerprint security isn't foolproof.


Here's what to know as you consider whether to place your trust in it:


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How does it work?


The S5 has a sensor on the home button, just like Apple's iPhone 5s. On the S5, you train the phone to recognize your finger by swiping on it seven times. You also enter a passcode as a backup, so you're not locked out if the device doesn't recognize your print. On the iPhone, that can happen if your hand is greasy or wet, for instance.


The phone then converts the fingerprint information into a mathematical representation, known as a hash, and stores that in a secured location on the device. Samsung says that information stays on the device and is never shared.


When you want to unlock your phone, you simply swipe on the home button. A hash is again created and must match the one the phone already has. Otherwise, the phone stays locked.


You can do this with up to three fingers on the S5, compared with five on the iPhone. On the S5, you must swipe down. On the iPhone, you simply hold your finger on the home button, and you can do that sideways or upside down as well.


The HTC One Max also has a fingerprint sensor, though tests by The Associated Press have shown it to be inconsistent in recognizing prints.


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What can you do with the fingerprint?


All three devices let you skip the passcode and unlock the phone.


You can also train the HTC phone to open a particular app automatically depending on the finger used. Apple lets you use the finger to authenticate purchases through its iTunes store, but it's keeping the system off-limits to outside parties. Samsung lets you make PayPal payments.


If you're at a retail store that accepts mobile payments through PayPal's app, for instance, you can use the fingerprint instead of your usual password. That's also the case with online transactions using PayPal on the phone. The hash doesn't get sent to PayPal. Rather, the phone verifies for PayPal that the fingerprint has been verified.


Anuj Nayar, senior director for global initiatives with eBay Inc.'s PayPal business, says there's usually a trade-off between security and convenience. Beef up security, and it's tough to use. Make it convenient, and open up windows for breaches. With fingerprint IDs, he says, you can have both.


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Are you really getting security?


That depends.


It's more secure than not locking your phone with a passcode at all. It's also more secure than using a four-digit passcode, as there's a greater chance of guessing that than the particular hash used. But there's never a guarantee.


Shortly after Apple started selling the iPhone 5s, a German hacking group said it managed to bypass the fingerprint system by using a household printer and some wood glue to create an artificial copy of a genuine fingerprint.


The group said the fingerprint ID system was easy to trick, though it's not something easily pulled off in the real world. You need to have that specific phone and the fingerprint, for one thing. And then you compromise only that one phone.


Security experts point out that once a finger's compromised, you can't replace it the way you can a passcode. That doesn't mean someone can use an S5 breach to unlock an iPhone, though, as the hash formulas used are typically proprietary and kept secret.


But it's not a threat to take lightly, either.


"Biometrics work very well for identifying something, but whether you can use it for authentication or not depends on the implementation," says Jeremy Bennett, chief mobile architect for Intel Corp.'s security business, McAfee.


He prefers dual security — using the fingerprint with something else, such as a passcode.


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Should you use it?


PayPal officials point out that behind the scenes, it's still performing the usual anti-fraud checks. If the account is used to buy a television in California just five minutes after you buy coffee in New York, it'll suspect something is up.


If the phone is lost or stolen, or your fingerprint is somehow compromised, you can contact PayPal to de-register that device from future use.


Drew Blackard, director of U.S. product planning at Samsung Electronics Co., says other forms of authentication have their flaws, too. Android phones let you swipe a pattern on the screen in lieu of a passcode, but Blackard points out it's possible to guess the pattern by examining the screen for smudges.


It's not bulletproof security, but it's more secure than existing methods, he says.


Despite the risks, Bennett says he sees potential.


"If it results in more people locking their phone," he says, "it improves security."



Home Depot 4Q results mixed, boosts dividend


Home Depot's fiscal fourth-quarter net income dipped 1 percent, hampered by bad winter weather and one less week in the period than a year ago.


Still, cost cuts helped earnings top Wall Street's view, and the No. 1 home improvement retailer raised its quarterly dividend by 21 percent. Its shares rose more than 2 percent in morning trading.


The U.S. housing market has emerged from a deep slump, aided by rising home prices, steady job growth and fewer troubled loans dating back to the housing-bubble days. That has spurred customers to spend more to renovate their homes.


But housing demand this year could slow in 2014 and that in turn might slow down spending on homes.


Home Depot's results come as new data showed U.S. home prices fell for the second straight month in December as cold weather, tight supply and higher costs slowed sales. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index declined 0.1 percent from November to December. And other reports have showed that home sales and construction have slowed after strong gains last year. Most economists expect the housing recovery will continue this year, though likely at a slower pace.


In a call with investors, CEO Frank Blake said that housing metrics won't sustain their 2013 growth pace this year.


"But we do expect the housing recovery to continue; expect that home prices will increase, even though at a lower rate; and expect that affordability will support growth in the home improvement market," he said.


Home Depot Inc. earned $1.01 billion, or 73 cents per share, for the three months ended Feb. 2. That compares with $1.02 billion, or 68 cents per share, a year earlier. There were fewer shares outstanding in the latest quarter.


Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of 71 cents per share.


Revenue for the Atlanta company fell 3 percent to $17.7 million from $18.25 billion, hurt by one less week in the latest quarter and winter storms. Stripping out the extra week from the prior-year period, revenue rose 3.9 percent.


Wall Street predicted revenue of $17.92 billion.


"We don't like to use weather as an excuse but we think we probably lost $100 million in the month of January," said Chief Financial Officer Carol Tome. "Atlanta was frozen, for example. It was a tough here."


Full-year net income rose to $5.39 billion, or $3.76 per share, from $4.54 billion, or $3 per share, in the previous year.


Annual revenue climbed 5 percent to $78.81 billion from $74.75 billion.


Home Depot also announced Tuesday that it is increasing its quarterly dividend to 47 cents per share from 39 cents per share. The dividend will be paid on March 27 to shareholders of record on March 13.


Looking ahead, the retailer anticipates fiscal 2014 earnings of $4.38 per share. Revenue is expected to rise by about 4.8 percent. Based on 2013's revenue of $78.81 billion, this implies approximately $82.6 billion.


Analysts forecast full-year earnings of $4.42 per share on revenue of $82.85 billion.


Home Depot's smaller rival Lowe's Cos. reports its quarterly results on Wednesday.


Shares of Home Depot rose $1.84, or 2.4 percent, to $79.71 in morning trading. Its shares have risen almost 25 percent over the past year.



McConnell sees no hope for tax overhaul this year


Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell says he sees no hope for enactment of tax overhaul legislation this year, and blames the Democrats for trying to use the issue to raise revenue by $1 trillion.


The Kentucky Republican said Tuesday the object of overhauling the tax code should be making the nation more competitive, not raising more money for the government.


McConnell's comments undercut the Republican chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan. He is expected to outline his plan for overhauling the tax code on Wednesday.


The senator's remarks also marked the second time recently that McConnell has effectively pronounced major legislation dead for the year. Earlier this winter, he said he didn't see how Congress would be able to approve an immigration bill.



Minnesota House approves $20M in heating aid


The Minnesota House quickly passed a bill Tuesday to send emergency heating aid to people suffering through the brutal winter, setting a rapid pace on the first day of what could be a quick legislative session.


The House, which convened at noon, immediately took up a bill to pump an additional $20 million into a state fund that helps low-income residents pay heating bills. The bill passed unanimously, with Democrats and Republicans alike calling it a necessary step as subzero temperatures linger and propane prices stay high.


"It's important the state do everything it can to make sure every Minnesotan can keep their homes warm, keep their families warm," said Rep. Joe Radinovich, DFL-Crosby, who sponsored the House bill.


The state's energy assistance program got a $115 million federal infusion in recent months, but Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman told a House committee Tuesday morning that the money is due to run out by early March. Meanwhile, he said, while the propane supply has stabilized compared with earlier this month, prices remain above $3 a gallon.


"This is very important to our rural districts. I have heard from a lot of people who are very concerned," said Rep. Deb Kiel, R-Crookston. About 250,000 Minnesota homes are heated by propane, though they will have to compete with users of other forms of energy who also are eligible for state heating assistance.


Earlier this month, Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton expanded the state's income eligibility for heating assistance, for any fuel, from 50 percent to 60 percent of the state's median income. Rothman said that added financial pressure on the fund.


Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk said the earliest the Senate would vote on the bill is Monday. He also said he thinks $17 million, rather than $20 million, might be all that's necessary.


Still, if the Senate dispatches quickly with the issue, it would give lawmakers an early accomplishment in a session that many hope is short and sweet as the election season looms. Lawmakers can't raise re-election funds from lobbyists and political action committees during session.


"Get going, get 'er done and get out," said Sen. Lyle Koenen, DFL-Clara City. "I know the nature of the place — the longer you're here, the more trouble you make."


With Dayton and the House's Democratic majority both on the ballot, many Democrats are keen to avoid issues that could split the party. An early test of the party's unity will be the proposal to raise the minimum wage, with House Democrats and Dayton backing $9.50 per hour, up from current $7.25 per hour.


Bakk has said some Senate Democrats are uncomfortable with a jump to a rate that high by next year, fearing it could hurt small businesses. Still, at a Capitol rotunda rally Tuesday afternoon where several hundred people chanted and cheered for a minimum wage hike, Bakk seemed more open to the $9.50 hourly rate.


"I believe we can get to $9.50, but I'm not sure it will be by 2015," Bakk said. Still, he said he believed lawmakers could have a bill to Dayton by the middle of March.


Other top priorities are likely to be a bonding bill that funds state construction projects; and a debate over whether a surplus expected to exceed $1 billion should be spent, saved or returned to taxpayers.


There is brewing tension over the extent and speed of tax changes that Republicans, House Democrats and Dayton all want. Senate Democrats haven't gotten on board yet.


The supportive political coalition hopes to write federal tax credits into Minnesota's code — cast as a middle-class tax cut —and to repeal new taxes on warehousing companies, telecommunications firms and equipment repair services. Their goal is to do it quickly, in part to give people clear guidance when filing their 2013 tax returns by the April 15 deadline.


"If you wait until later, they are going to have to pay people like me to fix it," said certified public accountant Todd Koch told the House Tax Committee, which heard about two dozen tax-cut bills Tuesday afternoon.


Even though Republicans are aligned in the tax cut push, they sensed a political motive. The business taxes targeted for repeal were adopted just last spring.


"In the non-election year Democrats were acting like Democrats — raising every tax they could think of," said House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Crown. "In an election year, we'll see if they act more like Republicans."


Back in St. Paul, Rep. Clark Johnson, DFL-St. Peter, is already thinking about the general election. He's one of the House's newest members, having won a 2013 special election. But Johnson said lawmakers need to keep more than just speed in mind.


"Let the process work itself through," Johnson said. "I assume we'll finish at a reasonable pace. Let's take the time to get the job done and do it right."



Health insurer reaches milestone ahead of schedule


A West Des Moines nonprofit insurance provider set up to sell insurance under nation's new health care overhaul plan says it has surpassed 50,000 individual and group members, a milestone that wasn't expected for at least two years.


CoOportunity Health sells health care insurance in Iowa and Nebraska. It is one of 23 Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans set up nationwide. The cooperatives were designed to assure competition in insurance plans and provide consumers choices.


The company says as of Feb. 24 it has already exceeded enrollment projections not expected to be met until 2016.


Nearly 1,000 employer groups and more than 30,000 individuals in Nebraska and Iowa have purchased coverage from CoOportunity Health for January, February and March effective dates.


Enrollment is open for individuals through March 31.



Consumer Reports names Tesla Model S its top pick


The Tesla Model S electric sedan is Consumer Reports' top pick in this year's automotive rankings.


The magazine cited the Model S's sporty performance and technological innovations, including its 225-mile range. But it acknowledged that the car is expensive. Consumer Reports paid $89,650 for the Model S it tested.


For less than a third of that price, the Toyota Prius hybrid got the nod as Consumer Reports' top green car. The magazine also cited strong fuel economy in naming the Honda Accord as the top midsize car and the BMW328i as the best sports sedan.


The rankings, now in their 18th year, pick Consumer Reports' favorites among the 260 vehicles its team has recently tested. The rankings are closely watched in the auto industry, since shoppers consistently cite Consumer Reports as a main source of car-buying advice.


Consumer Reports buys vehicles anonymously and performs more than 50 tests on them, including evaluations of braking, handling and comfort. The magazine's testing team drives each vehicle for roughly 6,000 miles.


Winners must earn high marks on government and insurance industry crash tests and get at least average reliability ratings from Consumer Reports' subscribers, who are surveyed each year about problems they're having with their vehicles.


The Model S, which went on sale in 2012, got the highest score ever recorded in Consumer Reports' automotive testing last spring. But at the time, the magazine didn't have enough data from subscribers to rank its reliability.


Spokesman Doug Love said Tuesday that the magazine now has enough data to give the Model S a "good" reliability rating. More than 600 Model S owners submitted responses in the magazine's latest reliability survey.


Subaru was the top pick for both the small car category, with the Impreza, and the small SUV category, with the redesigned Forester. The Hyundai Santa Fe was the top large SUV, while the Audi A6 was the top luxury sedan. The Honda Odyssey was the top minivan.


For the first time in 16 years, Chrysler earned a spot in the magazine's top ten picks. Its Ram 1500 was named best pickup truck.


Lexus, Acura and Audi were the top brands in this year's survey. Jeep and Ford got the lowest scores. Consumer Reports said Jeep vehicles did poorly on road tests, while Ford's MyFord Touch touchscreen dashboard system has had reliability problems.


Consumer Reports said Japanese brands have historically dominated its top picks, but their hold is slipping. This year, Japanese vehicles were top picks in five of the 10 categories, the fewest ever.


"The competition in the marketplace has grown fierce. There was a time when a handful of brands dominated our top picks list, but in recent years we've seen a more diverse group make the cut," Rik Paul, Consumer Reports' automotive editor, said in a statement.


The magazine's annual automotive issue goes on sale next month.



Hancock Medical Center sues management company


Hancock Medical Center's Board of Trustees has filed a federal lawsuit against its former management company, claiming it lost millions of dollars from its contract with Tennessee-based Quorum Health Resources.


The lawsuit was filed this past week in U.S. District Court in Gulfport.


The hospital is owned by Hancock County and the board of supervisors appoints the hospital board that oversees its operation. Quorum managed the day-to-day operations at the hospital more than 20 years.


Supervisors replaced Quorum last year with New Orleans-based Oschner Health System.


The lawsuit argues Quorum allowed the hospital and doctors contracted by the hospital to be severely overstaffed, did not collect $8 million for services that were provided and that hospital administrators hired doctors and handed out contracts without permission of the hospital board.



Business Highlights


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Collapse of exchange spells trouble for bitcoin


TOKYO (AP) — The sudden disappearance of one of the largest bitcoin exchanges only adds to the mystery and mistrust surrounding the virtual currency, which was just beginning to gain legitimacy beyond the technology enthusiasts and adventurous investors who created it.


Prominent bitcoin supporters said the apparent collapse of the Tokyo-based Mt. Gox exchange was an isolated case of mismanagement that will weed out "bad actors." But the setback raised serious questions about bitcoin's tenuous status and even more tenuous future.


At least one supporter said the blow could be fatal to bitcoin's quest for acceptance by the public.


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Phone makers look to emerging markets for growth


BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Companies from Facebook to Firefox are looking to emerging markets for the next few billion customers they can tap for growth.


They are not only targeting the obvious high-population countries such as India and China, but also see potential in Latin America, Africa and beyond.


So there's been a push, reiterated again and again at the Mobile World Congress wireless show in Spain, to get mobile devices cheap enough to reach emerging markets without sacrificing so much performance that first-time smartphone owners will give up on the Internet and forgo a second smartphone down the road.


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Panel faults US gov't over offshore tax evasion


WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate investigation has found that billions of dollars in U.S. taxes are going unpaid because Americans are exploiting Swiss bank accounts and the U.S. government has failed to aggressively pursue Switzerland's second-largest bank.


The bank, Credit Suisse, has provided accounts in Switzerland for more than 22,000 U.S. clients, according to a report issued Tuesday. For five years, the Senate panel has been examining Swiss banks' use of secrecy laws to enable tax evasion by Americans. The main focus of its latest report was Credit Suisse.


Credit Suisse had no immediate comment on the Senate report.


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JPMorgan to cut 8,000 jobs this year


JPMorgan Chase plans to eliminate a total of 8,000 jobs this year as its mortgage business shrinks and as the giant bank aims to control costs at its branches.


About half of those job cuts had already been announced.


JPMorgan Chase now plans to cut more jobs as it tries to reduce $2 billion in consumer banking expenses by the end of 2016. The new job cuts announced Tuesday include reductions in the bank's mortgage and retail banking businesses.


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Consumer Reports names Tesla Model S its top pick


DETROIT (AP) — The Tesla Model S electric sedan is Consumer Reports' top pick in this year's automotive rankings.


The magazine cited the Model S's sporty performance and technological innovations, including its 225-mile range. But it acknowledged that the car is expensive. Consumer Reports paid $89,650 for the Model S it tested.


The rankings, now in their 18th year, pick Consumer Reports' favorites among the 260 vehicles its team has recently tested. The rankings are closely watched in the auto industry, since shoppers consistently cite Consumer Reports as a main source of car-buying advice.


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Macy's 4Q profit up 11 pct; sales miss forecasts


NEW YORK (AP) — Macy's Inc.'s fourth-quarter profit rose 11 percent, but the department store chain suffered a sales shortfall because a string of winter storms chilled business in January.


The results, released Tuesday, come on the heels of a solid but fiercely competitive holiday shopping season for the Cincinnati-based company, which also operates Bloomingdale's stores.


The chain has been a standout among its peers throughout the economic recovery as it has benefited from its moves to tailor merchandise to local markets. But like other retailers, severe winter storms caused Macy's to close stores and kept shoppers at home.


The company stuck with its annual profit and sales forecast on hopes that business will bounce back in the spring.


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Home Depot 4Q results mixed, boosts dividend


ATLANTA (AP) — Home Depot's fiscal fourth-quarter net income dipped 1 percent, hampered by bad winter weather and one less week in the period than a year ago.


Still, cost cuts helped earnings top Wall Street's view, and the No. 1 home improvement retailer raised its quarterly dividend by 21 percent.


The U.S. housing market has emerged from a deep slump, aided by rising home prices, steady job growth and fewer troubled loans dating back to the housing-bubble days. That has spurred customers to spend more to renovate their homes. But housing demand this year could slow in 2014 and that in turn might slow down spending on homes.


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US home prices dip for second straight month


WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices fell for the second straight month in December as brutally cold weather, tight supply and higher costs slowed sales.


The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index declined 0.1 percent from November to December, matching the previous month's decline.


The figures come after other reports show that home sales and construction have slowed after strong gains last year. Most economists expect the housing recovery will continue this year, though likely at a slower pace.


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US consumer confidence dips slightly in February


WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence fell slightly in February over concerns about the near-term outlook for business conditions and jobs.


The Conference Board said Tuesday that its confidence index dipped to 78.1 this month, down from 79.4 in January.


Consumer sentiment is closely watched for indications about how it will impact consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of economic activity.


Views about current conditions increased for the fourth consecutive month and now stand at the highest level in almost six years. But the index that tracks consumer expectations dipped slightly, pulling the overall reading down.


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GM adds 842,000 vehicles to ignition switch recall


DETROIT (AP) — General Motors on Tuesday doubled to 1.6 million the number of small cars it is recalling to fix faulty ignition switches linked to multiple fatal crashes.


Just two weeks ago, GM announced the recall of more than 780,000 Chevrolet Cobalts and Pontiac G5s. It's now adding 842,000 Saturn Ion compacts, Chevrolet HHR SUVs and Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky sports cars.


The company was immediately lambasted by a well-known safety advocate who says GM knew of the problem for years and waited too long to recall the cars even though people were killed because of the problem.


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By The Associated Press=


The Dow Jones industrial average lost 27.48 points, or 0.2 percent, to 16,179.66. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 2.49 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,845.12 and the Nasdaq composite fell 5.38 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,287.59.


Benchmark U.S. crude for April delivery dropped 99 cents to close at $101.83 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, which is used to set prices for international varieties of crude, fell $1.13 to $109.51 on the ICE Futures exchange in London. Wholesale gasoline fell 4 cents to $2.80 per gallon. Heating oil rose 2 cents to $3.10 a gallon. Natural gas futures fell 35 cents to $5.10 per 1,000 cubic feet.



Sallie Mae coins name Navient for loan servicer


Sallie Mae has coined the name Navient for the new loan management and servicing company it plans to split off this spring.


Known formally as SLM Corp., Sallie Mae, the largest U.S. student lender, said the name is a step toward completing its plan to split into two publicly traded companies: the loan management company and a consumer banking business.


The consumer banking company, which will keep the Sallie Mae name, will make student loans, offer savings accounts and sell insurance.


The Newark, Del., company announced the plan to break into two last May. Sallie Mae used to act as an intermediary and earn fees making student loans backed by the federal government, in addition to making private student loans. But a 2010 law consolidated the federal loan program to save costs and cut private lenders out of the process.


Sallie Mae said last year that the breakup will let each company be a leader in its respective business.


Navient is expected to service about $300 billion in student loans, the company said Tuesday.


Both companies will trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange.


Student loan debt in the U.S. totals more than $1 trillion and is growing faster than credit card debt. Student debt has been a drag on the economy as recent graduates are forced to choose between paying down their loans and buying a house or a car.



Body of woman found in Metn shop


BEIRUT: A body of a woman was found in a money exchange shop in the Metn town of Jal al-Dib Tuesday, a security source told The Daily Star.


The woman, identified as Nadine Suwayed, was found in the bathroom of the Maroun Exchange shop located in the town’s square, the source added.


Authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding her death.



Man confesses to killing 21-year-old in east Lebanon


BEIRUT: A Syrian man in custody confessed to killing a 21-year-old woman nearly two months ago in east Lebanon, the Internal Security Forces said in a statement Tuesday.


The body of a woman was found on Dec. 27, 2013 in a Baalbek swamp without any identification. Police conducted DNA tests and identified the woman by her initials, G.H.


After thorough investigation, police arrested a Syrian man identified as S.M.,43, who lived nearby the house of the woman’s father.


During interrogation, the man confessed to stabbing the woman and throwing her body in the swamp. He also told investigators he waited 10 minutes until he was sure she died.


The statement did not specify the motive behind the killing.



Case-Shiller: Miami area home prices up 16.5 percent in December


Home prices in the Miami area rose 16.5 percent in December 2013 from a year earlier, according to the Case-Shiller index.


The Case-Shiller Miami index covers Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.


Nationwide home prices were up 11.3% for the year 2013, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index.


The closely watched indices use resales of properties that have sold at least twice, in a bid to show accurate increases and decreases in value.


The S&P/Case-Shiller index reports lags the market by two months. Experts widely expect price gains to moderate in 2014.



TiVo founders try to reprogram Internet video


The founders of DVR pioneer TiVo are shifting their focus from broadcast TV to broadband Internet as they introduce a new device designed to make it easier for people to find and manage video.


The sequel gets underway Tuesday with the release of the Qplay, a box that sorts and streams video clips compiled from all over the Internet. It's on sale for $49 exclusively at http://www.qplay.co .


The Qplay is controlled through an application that can be installed on an iPad or iPhone to select video separated into categories, or "Qs." All the video is stored in remote data centers so the line-up remains in sync even when a user switches from watching on a TV screen to viewing on an iPad or another device.


The Qplay's debut comes more than 15 years after former TiVo Inc. CEO Mike Ramsay and fellow company founder James Barton unveiled the first digital video recorder at a consumer electronics show.


TiVo proved to be more versatile and convenient than video cassette recorders, encouraging millions of viewers to store TV shows so they could be watch the programs at their discretion instead of having the times dictated to them. TiVo's DVRs also made it even quicker to skip through commercials.


One of TiVo's first rivals in the DVR industry, ReplayTV, was founded by Anthony Wood, who now runs a Silicon Valley company that makes the Roku box — a popular choice for streaming Internet video on television. The Qplay also will be competing against Apple TV, another streaming box, and Google Inc.'s Chromecast, a dongle-like device that sells for just $35.


After spending the past 18 months working on the Qplay, Ramsay and Barton are convinced they have figured out how to bring order to the jumble of video on the Internet.


"If you look at the state of Internet video today, it's a mess," Ramsay said. "It used to be you had 500 channels on TV and nothing to watch. Now it seems like you have 500 apps on your tablet and you go from one app to the next as you search for something to watch."


The Qplay aims to become a vital video hub by offering its users a constantly changing mix of clips from dozens of websites. The device, which is about the size of an energy bar, does this by working with an app that asks users for access to their accounts on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Qplay then compiles all the video featured in links posted within their user feeds on Facebook and Twitter, as well as designated channels on YouTube.


Those clips are then sorted into "Qs," such as news or extreme sports. Qplay users can also create their own specialty channels, such as curling if they've become enamored with the sport in the aftermath of the Winter Olympics in Russia.


The Qplay plugs into a TV's HDMI port and relies on WiFi so an iPad can serve as a remote control to pick videos to show on a big screen. The videos will continue showing on a TV even when the iPad is in sleep mode to conserve the battery power. Users can also choose to watch the video on their tablets or phones. For now, Qplay is only compatible with Apple Inc.'s iOS software, but an application for Google's Android software is also in the works. The Qplay is also planning to add Netflix and other Internet video subscription services to the mix later this year.


Ramsay stepped down as TiVo's CEO in 2005 as the company struggled to grow after cable and satellite TV providers began making their own DVRs. TiVo sued many of the copycats for patent infringement and ended up winning lucrative licensing agreements after Ramsay's departure.


Barton left his long-time job as TiVo's chief technology officer in 2012, and reunited with Ramsay shortly after that departure. The two men launched InVisioneer, a San Jose, Calif. startup that is changing its name to Qplay. The company has raised an undisclosed amount of money from two of Silicon Valley's top venture capital firms, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Redpoint Ventures.


"We believe all video in the future ultimately will be delivered over the Internet, and we believe we have come up with something that is even easier to use than TiVo," Ramsay said.



Poll: Most in NY back locally set minimum wages


A new poll shows 73 percent of New York voters support giving municipalities the authority to raise the minimum wage locally, something Gov. Andrew Cuomo opposes and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio advocates for his city.


The Siena College poll released Tuesday shows 85 percent support among Democrats, 48 percent among Republicans and 74 percent among independents.


The governor and state Legislature last year raised the statewide minimum from $7.25 an hour to $8 this year.


Cuomo says letting each city set its own rate could lead to destructive competition.


De Blasio says it would help address "the unique crisis" working families face in New York City.


The poll of 802 registered voters last week has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.



Global stocks mostly lower as China jitters linger


Global stocks were mostly lower Tuesday amid jitters about China's housing market and weakness in the country's currency.


China's Shanghai Composite Index dropped 2.1 percent to 2,034.62. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.3 percent to 22,317.81. Singapore and Sydney also declined. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index gained 1.4 percent to 15,051.60,.


Futures for the Standard & Poor's 500 and Dow Jones industrial average both were down 0.1 percent. In Europe, Germany's DAX's declined 0.4 percent to 9,671.29 and France's CAC-40 shed 0.5 percent to 4,399.48. Britain's FTSE 100 shed 0.6 percent to 6,825.54.


Asian markets were rattled by a deceleration in the rise of Chinese housing prices in January and weakness in China's currency, which has long been a one-way bet on slow steady appreciation.


Last week's decline in the tightly controlled yuan prompted suggestions Beijing might be trying to support exporters and help offset weakening domestic demand. That came after an HSBC Corp. survey showed Chinese manufacturing activity in February tumbled to a seven-month low.


"We believe that the central bank will be accepting of some more weakness in coming days," said Credit Agricole CIB in a report.


Seoul's Kospi gained 0.8 percent to 1,964.86. Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.1 percent to 5,433.8 and New Zealand declined 0.2 percent to 5,322.05.


Benchmark U.S. oil for April delivery was down 55 cents to $102.27 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 62 cents on Monday to close at $102.82.


In currency markets, the euro was little changed at $1.3749 from $1.3736 late Monday. The dollar fell to 102.38 yen from 102.50 yen.



Oil falls below $102 a barrel amid rising supplies


The price of oil slipped Tuesday as expectations of a buildup in U.S. crude inventories dampened sentiment.


Benchmark U.S. crude for April delivery was down 49 cents to $102.33 a barrel at 0755 GMT in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 62 cents to $102.82 on Monday.


Oil rose Monday as another cold spell for the U.S. Midwest and Northeast was expected to boost demand for heating oil at a time when many refineries are undergoing seasonal maintenance.


Supplies, however, also appeared to be robust with weekly crude stocks on a rising trend. Investors are waiting for a weekly U.S. stockpile report due later this week that is likely to show further gains.


Some analysts expect oil prices to drop in the spring, when many refineries will be carrying out maintenance work, which is temporarily accompanied by lower oil demand.


Jitters over a slowdown in China also added to fears that global economic growth could weaken, which would reduce demand for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.


Brent crude, which is used to set prices for international varieties of crude, fell 45 cents to $110.19 on the ICE exchange in London.


In other energy futures trading in New York:


— Wholesale gasoline fell 0.6 cent to $3.001 per gallon.


— Heating oil was up 0.5 cent at $3.046 a gallon.


— Natural gas lost 11.4 cents to $5.331 per 1,000 cubic feet.



Ill. mine closure draws lawsuit over health care


A group of former workers at a now-closed central Illinois coal mine allege in a federal lawsuit they're owed a year of health insurance under a collective-bargaining deal.


The (Springfield) State Journal-Register (http://bit.ly/1jwM1Li ) reports the laid-off workers at the Crown III mine in Macoupin County filed the lawsuit this month in U.S. District Court in Springfield.


The suit names Springfield Coal Co. and Tri-County Coal, which was hired in 2009 to run the nearly 190-worker underground mine near Girard.


Attorneys for Springfield Coal and Tri-County have asked a judge to dismiss the case. The companies say they were never signatories to the collective-bargaining agreement. And they say the National Labor Relations Board should handle the dispute, not a court.


The mine closed late last year.



Office Depot's 4Q loss grows to $144 million


Office Depot Inc.'s fourth-quarter loss grew as expenses jumped for the office supply retailer while it worked to integrate OfficeMax Inc., an acquisition it completed in the quarter.


Its shares fell in premarket trading as the results missed Wall Street expectations.


The Boca Raton, Fla., company said Tuesday that it lost $144 million, or 34 cents per share, in the three months that ended Dec. 28, versus a loss of $17 million, or 6 cents per share, a year earlier.


Its adjusted loss, which excludes some expenses from the OfficeMax deal, totaled 3 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected, on average, earnings of 3 cents per share.


Revenue jumped 33 percent to $3.49 billion. Analysts expected $4.07 billion in revenue.


Office Depot and OfficeMax completed their $1.2 billion deal last November. The combined company then named Roland Smith, a former supermarket executive, as CEO.


Office Depot said the addition of OfficeMax helped its revenue grow, but the company also added $111 million in merger, restructuring and other operating expenses in the quarter. That's up from only $12 million in the previous year's quarter.


Company shares fell 65 cents, or 12.2 percent, to $4.70 in premarket trading about 90 minutes ahead of the market opening.



Spain's Rajoy offers job plans as growth improves


Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has revised Spain's economy growth for 2014 upward to 1 percent and announced tax reduction reforms and job creation incentives to give the country a boost after punishing years of recession.


Rajoy told a parliamentary state-of-the-nation debate Tuesday that Spain had turned the corner thanks to his conservative government reforms and sacrifices made by Spaniards.


He said jobs would be created in 2014 but he would not be satisfied until the 26 percent unemployment rate is reduced substantially.


Spain had previously predicted 0.7 percent economic growth in 2014. Rajoy said it would grow again by 1.5 percent in 2015.


Spain's economy began to crumble in 2008 with the collapse of its bloated real-estate sector. It emerged from a two-year recession late last year.



No easy bailout plan for Ukraine


Ukraine needs money, and fast — in weeks, not months. But bailing out the country of 46 million people will not be as easy as simply writing a big check.


For one, Ukraine has already burned the main global financial rescuer, the International Monetary Fund, by failing to keep to the terms of earlier bailouts from 2008 and 2010.


Now it needs help again, and its economic and financial problems are worse than before.


The currency is sliding, raising concerns that companies that owe money in foreign currency could go bust. Banks are fragile. A rescue with outside lenders can't be agreed until there's a government. And Russia could make things worse by demanding payment of money owed for natural gas supplies.


Even with a bailout, the country would face testing times. It would likely be asked to make painful reforms — including a potential doubling in the price of gas — that would hurt standards of living as the economy recovers.


HOW MUCH?


Analysts estimate the country will need between $20 billion and $25 billion for 2014 and 2015, perhaps $15 billion this year and $10 billion the next. The money would help pay salaries and pensions and maturing bonds. Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov says the treasury account used to pay bills is almost empty.


Ukraine's acting finance minister, Yuri Kobolov, says the country needs $35 billion to cover this year and next and expressed hope that Europe or the United States would help, hopefully within the next two weeks. Ukraine has major debt repayments coming up in June but analysts indicate it probably won't make it that far without help.


The Institute of International Finance, a Washington-based association of banks and financial companies, warned that Ukraine's finances "are on the verge of collapse."


"It's crunch time for the economy," said Lilit Gevorgyan, an analyst with IHS Global Insight in London. "All those issues they have swept under the rug are re-emerging."


FROM WHERE?


The main rescue lender would be the IMF, but it could take time for it to formally agree on the bailout conditions. Until then, it is likely to get temporary support from individual countries in Europe or the U.S.


EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Tuesday that the EU and its member nations are ready to help bridge Ukraine's short-term financing needs until a new government can negotiate a full-fledged assistance package with the IMF.


"Bills have to be paid," she said, adding that it is important that Russia also help out.


Ukraine had a promise of $15 billion in help from Russia — but that's on hold after parliament voted Saturday to remove pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych. The country only got $3 billion of the money before President Viktor Yanukovych was voted out.


EXISTING PROBLEMS


Ukraine is battling to keep its currency, the hryvnia, from collapsing, which would bring down banks and companies that owe money in foreign currencies.


The central bank spent some $2.8 billion of its reserves since the start of the start of the year and has only about $16 billion left. Still the hryvnia has fallen a sharp 12 percent during that period.


The government also spends way more than it takes in, largely because the state-owned gas company Naftogaz charges customers as little as one-fifth the cost of gas imported from Russia. The IMF halted payouts under earlier bailouts because the government refused to halt that practice.


The economy is estimated to be in a deepening recession, with industrial production, consumer spending and exports all dropping.


BAILOUT CONDITIONS


Yet a bailout involving the IMF would involve cutbacks and reforms that could quickly douse any euphoria over the country's political changes.


To begin with, the IMF would probably insist on letting the currency fall, by as much as 30 percent, according to the IIF, the global banks' association. That would be painful upfront — some banks may need bailouts as their foreign debts balloon. And quality of life would drop as imports soar in price.


Eventually, the currency drop would help exports and make Ukraine a cheaper place for foreigners to invest, particularly if they see that the government is committed to reforming the economy by cutting bureaucracy and fighting corruption.


The government would also have to sharply raise the price of natural gas, which it is subsidizing heavily. The IIF estimates natural gas prices may have to be doubled, which would be a heavy blow to consumers and businesses.


CAVEATS


There remain several stumbling blocks.


The IMF, for one, might be reluctant to sign on for a large loan, given Ukraine's track record of not holding to agreements. Instead, it might prefer to give smaller loans of $3 billion to $5 billion at intervals, according Gevorgyan, the analyst. One now, one after the presidential election, and so on, "to make sure they remain on the path of reform."


Also, Russia, Ukraine's larger neighbor, could intensify the country's troubles by getting tough on its supplies of natural gas.


Russia almost halved the price of its gas supplies to Ukraine in December as it sought to woo the country away from closer ties with the EU. That price cut is up for review every three months. Russia could also stop letting Ukraine delay monthly payments that are as large as $1.8 billion.


Russian officials have reacted with angry statements to the vote to remove Yanukovych. Yet it's not clear what Russia will do. Past behavior suggests they have been willing to take it easy on Ukraine — a major trading partner who now owes them money — when it's in their interest.



Baetz reported from Brussels.


Stock futures flat ahead of data; Home Depot rises


Stock futures were pointing to a mixed open on Wall Street as investors waited for a consumer-related economic report out later this morning.


KEEPING SCORE: Dow Jones industrial average futures were down 11 points at 16,175 as of 9:05 a.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor's 500 index futures lost two points to 1,844.30 and the Nasdaq futures were unchanged at 3,688.


HOME DEPOT: The nation's largest home improvement chain was up 2 percent in pre-market trading. While Home Depot reported a decline in profits from a year earlier, the results still beat analysts' expectations. The company also raised its quarterly dividend.


DATA ON TAP: Investors will get a report on consumer confidence for February at 10 a.m. Eastern. Economists polled by FactSet expect a reading of 80.1, down from January's reading of 80.7. Consumer confidence is important because consumer spending makes up roughly two thirds of all U.S. economic activity.


PUSHING BACK TO RECORD TERRITORY: The S&P 500 barely missed hitting a record on Monday. It closed at 1,847.61, less than a point from its all-time record close of 1,848.38 it set on Jan. 15. Both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 are in positive territory for 2014, while the Dow is still down around 2 percent for the year.



Officials seek cause of Motiva refinery fire


Shell Oil Co. officials say workers battled a fire at Motiva Enterprises' Convent crude oil refinery in St. James Parish for 45 minutes before extinguishing the blaze.


The fire broke out in an unidentified processing unit at about 3:40 p.m. Monday inside the Mississippi River oil complex between La. Highway 70 and River Road along the Ascension Parish line.


Convent refinery spokesman Kevin Hardy Jr. tells The Advocate (http://bit.ly/1liBFBM ) internal refinery firefighters put out the fire by 4:25 p.m.


He said the fire resulted in no injuries and no off-site impact as detected by fence line monitors.


Hardy said the cause of the fire is unknown and under investigation.



State moving to limit phone service regulation


Colorado regulators are proposing to eliminate rate and service quality supervision of basic land-line telephone service along the Front Range as part of efforts to cut a $50 million subsidy program.


Colorado Public Utilities Commission Chairman Joshua Epel wants to designate areas served by dozens of CenturyLink wire centers as competitive because other providers offer phone service at rates comparable to CenturyLink in those areas.


CenturyLink is currently required to offer bare-bones phone service for $17 a month and meet service quality benchmarks to those areas.


The Denver Post reports (http://tinyurl.com/mamncor ) the commission would continue to regulate emergency services and CenturyLink would still be required to serve as the provider of last resort in remote areas.



Feds moved on tank car safety only after Quebec disaster


The rail industry asked the Department of Transportation three years ago to write new regulations for railroad tank cars that were carrying the country’s nascent oil boom.


In the two years that followed, state and local officials and the National Transportation Safety Board also urged the department to take action.


But the DOT did not begin the rulemaking process until last September, two months after 47 people were killed in a violent inferno when a trainload of North Dakota crude oil left the tracks in Quebec and exploded.


The department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is working on the new regulations, and its sister agency, the Federal Railroad Administration, last week announced a series of voluntary measures to improve the safety of crude oil shipments. However, it might be another year before the tank car rules take effect.


It wouldn’t be the first time that rail safety regulations were delayed until tragedy struck. Four decades ago, the DOT required tougher standards for certain types of tank cars carrying flammable gases such as propane. Regulators gave the industry a three-year deadline, but did little to enforce it.


On Feb. 24, 1978, two months after that deadline passed, 16 people were killed in Waverly, Tenn., when a derailed tank car of propane blew up. The accident claimed the lives of the small town’s police chief, fire chief and half its fire department. Many others were badly burned. Only then were the improvements made.


“Washington’s very reactive,” said Mary Schiavo, a DOT inspector general in the Clinton administration. “Most reactive of all is DOT.”


Cynthia Quarterman, the head of the pipeline safety agency, which is writing the new rules on tank cars, probably will face tough questions from lawmakers in a hearing rail on rail safety oversight Wednesday in the House of Representatives. A key question likely will be why the agency took so long to act.


Jeannie Shiffer, a spokeswoman for the pipeline safety administration, said the DOT was “working aggressively across multiple fronts” on safety issues related to transporting crude oil.


“These are very technical and complex issues that require extensive review,” she said. “As the rule-making progresses, if we observe an imminent hazard, we will continue taking action and notifying the public.”


But officials across the country, from mayors to members of Congress, wonder why the agency failed to act with more urgency to protect their communities.


“It’s kind of inexplicable to me why it would take so long,” said Karen Darch, the village president of Barrington, Ill., a Chicago suburb that’s in the path of an increasing volume of crude oil shipments from western Canada to the Gulf Coast.


Darch asked the DOT for new regulations in April 2012.


In a statement, Meghan Keck, a spokeswoman for Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, said safety was the department’s top priority “and will continue to be our guiding principle as we work to strengthen safety measures regarding the transportation of crude oil and all forms of transportation.”


The delay could threaten the safety of the communities through which the trains pass, as well as economic growth fueled by the energy boom. States, which have little power to regulate rail transportation, are counting on the federal government.


Railroads aren’t waiting. BNSF Railway is buying 5,000 new tank cars, which is unusual because railroads generally don’t own them. Canada’s two largest railroads will attempt to discourage shippers from using less-safe tank cars by imposing a 5 percent surcharge. At least two refiners are planning to ship crude only in the better cars.


Rail and petroleum industry officials say they want regulatory certainty but won’t openly criticize Quarterman’s agency. However, they’ve been waiting longer than anyone else for an answer.


After it petitioned the agency in March 2011, the rail industry voluntarily adopted tougher safety standards for tank cars later that year. While tank car manufacturers struggled to keep up with the demand for new cars as oil production increased in North Dakota’s Bakken shale region, tens of thousands of older, less-protected tank cars filled the void.


The NTSB had been warning for more than two decades that the general-purpose DOT-111A tank car was vulnerable to punctures and ruptures in derailments involving flammable and toxic materials.


Those warnings intensified after railroads began hauling large quantities of ethanol in the DOT-111A cars. In several incidents from 2006 to 2012, large fires accompanied derailments of ethanol cars. Most caused no injuries or fatalities. However, one did, near Cherry Valley, Ill., in June 2009.


In a March 2012 letter to Quarterman, NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman cited the “inadequacy” of the tank cars. The cars’ design, Hersman wrote, made them “subject to damage and catastrophic loss of hazardous materials” during a derailment.


In her May 2012 reply, Quarterman wrote that the issue was more complex than improving tank cars. Retrofitting or replacing the DOT-111A cars “will no doubt be a very costly endeavor,” she said.


Meanwhile, rail shipments of crude oil from North Dakota continued to grow as production outpaced available pipeline capacity.


“I don’t think in their wildest dreams they thought about a catastrophe,” Darch said.


Then it struck. On July 6, 2013, an unattended 72-car train of Bakken crude oil rolled down a hill and derailed in the lakeside town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec.


On Sept. 6, Quarterman’s agency announced that it would begin the rule-making process. The agency has received tens of thousands of comments from industry and environmental groups, local governments and citizen activists.


On Nov. 8, another Bakken crude oil train derailed near Aliceville, Ala., with a fire as large and intense as the one in Quebec. No one was injured or killed, but the accident spilled 748,000 gallons of crude oil into a wetland.


On Dec. 30, a train derailed near Casselton, N.D. The accident spilled 475,000 gallons of crude oil, some of which burned, sending a column of smoke and fire hundreds of feet into the air. No one was killed, but two-thirds of the nearby town’s residents evacuated.


Federal regulators concluded last month that Bakken crude was more flammable than conventional kinds.


“I think the volume caught DOT off guard,” said Schiavo, the former inspector general. “I don’t think they were on top of what that really meant.”


Keck, the DOT spokeswoman, defended Quarterman’s record leading the pipeline safety administration and noted that it had levied record fines against pipeline companies. That included a record $3.7 million penalty against Enbridge for a 2010 pipeline accident near Marshall, Mich., that spilled 843,000 gallons of crude.


“Under the leadership of Administrator Quarterman,” Keck said, “PHMSA has compiled the most aggressive record of enforcement in the agency’s history.”


Quarterman kept her distance from the Enbridge case, because the company was one of her clients at the law firm where she worked for a decade. The ethics pledge she signed required her to refrain from involvement in matters related to her former employer for two years.


Keck said Quarterman had followed the pledge.


“The Department of Transportation takes its ethics requirements very seriously and has never faced a violation of the ethics pledge that political appointees sign when they join DOT,” Keck said. “Administrator Quarterman has without a doubt abided by both the spirit and the language of the ethics pledge that governs all DOT appointees, which is also overseen independently by our ethics office.”


Before the Senate confirmed her in November 2009 to lead the 400-employee agency, Quarterman was an attorney at Steptoe & Johnson, a Washington law firm known for representing energy and transportation companies in regulatory cases.


BNSF, now the nation’s largest hauler of crude oil in trains, was also her client.


Before joining Steptoe, Quarterman spent four years as the director of the Minerals Management Service in the Clinton administration.


Such arrangements are not unusual in Washington. Industry representatives often have the kind of experience and expertise that presidents seek in their appointees.


Bizunesh Scott, the former chief counsel at Quarterman’s agency – she also worked as a special assistant to President Barack Obama – is now a partner at Quarterman’s former law firm. Scott’s specialty is pipeline and hazardous materials transportation, and some of Quarterman’s former clients are now hers.


“It’s something that’s endemic to Washington,” said Bill Allison, editorial director at the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan government-watchdog group. “It’s hard to find qualified people who know the issues.”


However, such relationships can cast doubt on regulators’ independence, said former Rep. Jim Oberstar, a Minnesota Democrat who chaired the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee from 2007 to 2011.


He said Quarterman would be better advised to limit her involvement, even if the law allowed it.


“If the administrator of the agency with responsibility for rule-making has a past that includes a law firm that represented railroads,” Oberstar said, “she needs to step back.”



Wisconsin touts mobile app for tax refund status


The Wisconsin Department of Revenue is touting its mobile app that allows taxpayers to track the status of their tax refund.


The department is also encouraging college students to file their taxes electronically soon so they can get their refund before spring break.


The department's website has step-by-step instructions for filling out the Wisconsin tax return online.


The department predicts that about 80 percent of the 3 million tax returns filed this year in Wisconsin will come in electronically.


In addition to the mobile app, taxpayers can also check the status of their refund through the department's automated refund line and website.



German exports drive Q4 growth


Exports helped propel the German economy to 0.4 percent growth in the fourth quarter while domestic demand dropped, underlining concerns that Europe's largest economy is relying too heavily on foreign trade.


The Federal Statistical Office said Tuesday that exports accounted for 1.1 percentage points of fourth-quarter 2013 gross domestic product, while domestic demand subtracted 0.7 percentage points.


In the same report the office confirmed its preliminary report from earlier in February that the economy grew a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter and also 0.4 percent overall in 2013.


Germany's trade surplus hit a record high in 2013, underscoring criticism from the U.S., the International Monetary Fund and others that it's relying too heavily on exports and not doing enough to encourage domestic demand.



Army seeks information on "dangerous" criminal


The Army released a photograph Tuesday of a man "wanted for dangerous crimes," urging anyone with information to call 1701, use the LAF shield mobile application or contact the nearest military base.



Sleiman hopes policy statement gets approved by next week


BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman voiced hope Tuesday that the new government’s policy statement will be finalized and approved before the International Support Group for Lebanon's meeting in Paris set for next week , according to a statement from his office.


“Finalizing the ministerial statement and winning a vote of confidence before the Paris conference would make the implementation of the conference’s resolutions easier, especially since two other conferences will be held by the support group in Italy and Germany,” he said.


A ministerial committee has been holding meetings since last week to draft the controversial policy statement of the new government.


The president’s remarks came during a meeting with a delegation of ambassadors of support group member countries.


“The Paris meeting is aimed at assessing what was achieved by the support group meeting in New York [in September],” Sleiman said.


The president added that the conference should also outline “the necessary measures to support Lebanon on the political, economic, and military levels.”


“It should also address the issue of Syrian refugees in Lebanon,” Sleiman said.


The support group was inaugurated in New York in September 2013, on the sidelines of the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly. It aims to mobilize support for Lebanon and its institutions, and to help the country address the influx of Syrian refugees.


The March 5 conference in Paris is scheduled to be followed by a conference in Rome to support the Army with military aid at the end of March. The date for a third conference, set to take place in Germany, has not yet been announced.



Hinds County eyes Metrocenter mall property


Hinds County supervisors are looking at the possibility of purchasing or leasing a portion of south Jackson's Metrocenter mall for relocation of some county offices.


The Clarion-Ledger reports (http://on.thec-l.com/1mEEAWU) county officials voted to borrow up to $8 million to finance the transaction.


It would become another governmental entity occupying space at the mall constructed in 1978, joining the city of Jackson, the state Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Army.


All of the mall's property except the four anchor store properties is available for sale or lease with the selling price being $6 million.


If a transaction were to take place, Hinds County Board of Supervisors attorney Pieter Teeuwissen said the intent would be for lease payments from retailers in the mall to be used to pay back the bonds.



Utah lawmakers to consider limits on drones

The Associated Press



Utah lawmakers are sending mixed signals this year with pushes to attract the unmanned aerial-systems industry to the state while also working to protect privacy as more police agencies use drones.


A Senate committee is scheduled to hear a bill Tuesday morning that would require law enforcement to get a warrant to use the devices and limit what data can be collected. Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, is sponsoring the bill and says drone technology is so new that there are no privacy protections in place.


But Stephenson's bill comes on the heels of a legislative resolution expressing support for the development of drone technology and the jobs it will generate in Utah. Lawmakers earlier this month only signed off on the message once it included a nod to preserving privacy.


The push-pull on drones is playing out in many states hoping to land the burgeoning industry while satisfying citizens' concerns that it opens the door to Big Brother surveillance. In 2013, at least nine states passed laws restricting the use of drones, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.


Five of those nine states also submitted bids to serve as drone-testing sites for the Federal Aviation Administration, which local officials have said they hope will be a financial boon for their states. Idaho also passed a resolution recognizing drone technology as a flourishing industry that would benefit the state.


This year, more than 130 measures dealing with the devices are pending in 35 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.


While unmanned aircraft have mainly been used by the military, governments, businesses and hobbyists are itching to use the devices for everything from mapping out new roads and surveying agricultural fields to monitoring wildfires.


The devices often look like radio-controlled aircraft and helicopters. They can be as small as the remote-controlled toys or as large as a small to mid-size jet airliner.


The FAA does not allow the commercial use of drones, but it's working to set up guidelines by the end of 2015.


Utah applied to serve as an FAA commercial-drone test site last year, but it was not one of the six sites selected.


Officials with the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development said late last year that they would still like to see the industry develop in the state.


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Online:


SB 167: http://1.usa.gov/1fIMWay



A Tip For Being Polite, from Edgar Allen Poe


It's not hard to fake politeness—at least with your mouth shut. Especially if you go through the token actions—the well codified, timeless mannerisms that show you know your place, even if you secretly despise those who keep you there. Like bowing to someone. Anyone can bow at a man they hate without revealing their hatred. That's the beauty of it.


But being polite in conversation? Harder. Which is useful, actually, if you're a truly polite person. It becomes easy to ferret out impolite pricks if they just talk long enough. There are revealing words, like this one that Edgar Allen Poe wrote about in his very funny essay "A Few Words on Etiquette" (Open Culture has a collection of more excerpts):



Never use the term genteel — it is only to be found in the mouths of those who have it nowhere else.



Yes, that is the most polite way to call a man an uppity asshole that we've seen in a long while.



LinkedIn to launch site in Chinese


LinkedIn is launching a Chinese-language site for the world's most populous Internet market and says it will comply with the communist government's censorship rules.


The professional networking service will compete with established Chinese-language services Tianji, owned by France's Viadeo SA, and homegrown rivals Ruolin and Dajie. LinkedIn says it has 4 million users in China but until now its service was in English.


Professional networking services see fast-developing economies such as China and India as important sources of growth. In China, LinkedIn says it sees a potential market of 140 million professionals. Unlike Facebook, Twitter and other sites, LinkedIn has always been allowed to operate in China.


LinkedIn Corp., headquartered in Mountain View, California, acknowledged that expanding in China raises "difficult questions" because it will be required to censor content.


Such restrictions have hampered some other Internet services. Google Inc. closed its mainland search engine in 2010 after a dispute over censorship. Chinese authorities block access to Twitter and Facebook but have allowed LinkedIn to operate.


LinkedIn promised to make clear how it conducts business in China and to undertake "extensive measures" to protect members' rights and data.


"Government restrictions on content will be implemented only when and to the extent required," said CEO Jeff Weiner in a statement Tuesday. "LinkedIn will be transparent about how it conducts business in China and will use multiple avenues to notify members about our practices."


Two-thirds of LinkedIn's 277 million users are outside of the U.S.


China had 618 million Internet users as of the end of 2013, according to an industry group, the China Internet Network Information Center. That included 277 million users of social media sites, though no details of those targeting professionals were reported.


LinkedIn's model based on fees from users and online recruitment might face difficulty in China, said analyst Dong Xu of Analysys International, a research firm in Beijing. He said Chinese users are reluctant to pay and most executive hiring is done through personal contacts.


"The foreign model will be hard to copy to China," said Dong in a report.



Agency urging leniency with high heating bills


The Kentucky Public Service Commission is asking electric and natural gas utilities to work with customers who are having difficulty paying higher heating bills in the wake of a harsh winter.


The agency that regulates the state's utilities sent a letter to chief executives of the utilities. It urges the electric and natural gas providers to "be as flexible as possible . in avoiding disconnections and in allowing customers to make arrangements to extend their payments."


PSC Chairman David Armstrong says the higher monthly bills could come as a shock to many customers.


The PSC says assistance is available from the state through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. A number of utilities have also announced increased corporate contributions to their assistance programs.



Twitch live game broadcasting coming to Xbox One

The Associated Press



Xbox One will soon be Twitchier than the PlayStation 4.


The popular video game broadcasting service Twitch is bringing a slew of fresh features to Microsoft's newest console. An update next month will add the ability to live stream video games, join in on games with broadcasters, initiate game broadcasts with voice commands, archive game clips and watch Twitch streams broadcast from any device, including the PS4.


Previously, Xbox One users could only spectate Twitch streams and record game clips with the system's Upload app.


"It's complete integration," said Emmett Shear, co-founder and CEO of Twitch. "It's exciting because we've never had the ability to broadcast from a console like this with such a deep level of integration. The concept of being able to join a broadcasters' party is really cool, and it's another step in the direction of interacting more closely with broadcasters."


The updated Twitch app will also include Twitch's chat features and the ability for users to broadcast from their living rooms with Xbox One's camera-based Kinect system. It's scheduled to launch alongside the March 11 debut of "Titanfall," the much-anticipated man-versus-machine shooter being released exclusively for Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC.


It's good news for Xbox One players, but what took so long?


The update is coming months after Microsoft Corp. rival Sony Corp. included Twitch streaming capabilities when it launched its PlayStation 4 ahead of the Xbox One last November. However, the PS4 version of Twitch — which Shear noted was crafted by Sony, not Twitch — only permits PS4 users to spectate other PS4s and doesn't allow them to easily connect.


"That's a very certain type of experience," said Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's vice president of marketing and strategy for Xbox. "For us, we thought that was too limiting for what our fans would want. Our fans really want the full next-gen service, so that's why we decided to take our time, do it right and have it come out in this fashion."


Twitch, which features one million live broadcasters and 45 million viewers a month, has become an ESPN for gamers. The service's live and recorded broadcasts include such content as comically narrated clips of games, matches from seasoned e-sports athletes, "speed runs" — clips of players plowing through games — and streams of everyday gamers playing online.


"This will open up the social aspect of Xbox One in a new way," Mehdi said. "The community of Twitch is huge, and this allows us to type into that, and frankly do something that's never been done before on consoles. You'll be able to broadcast to any device and consume anyone's broadcast from any device. It's a console experience unique to the Xbox One."


Microsoft and Sony have both billed their latest consoles as more social and interactive machines with no technological barriers to sharing live game footage because the PS4 and Xbox One, which respectively sold 4.2 and 3 million units worldwide last year, don't require additional technology like video capture hardware to stream content. It's built in.


Twitch said last month that 20 percent of its broadcasts between Dec. 23 and Jan. 3 were from PS4 owners and that more than 1.7 million streams have been broadcast through PS4 since the console's Nov. 15 launch. Shear said he hopes the new capabilities of Twitch's app Xbox One will eventually come to other devices, including the PS4.


---


Online:


http://www.xbox.com


http://bit.ly/1eeE1xE



Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://bit.ly/M4KQ9i .


Suspect detained in Tyre for making bombs


BEIRUT: A suspect was detained in south Lebanon Tuesday for making bombs and transporting weapons and ammunition, security sources told The Daily Star.


The suspect, a 54-year-old Lebanese national, was identified by the initials M.R.


He was arrested by the Internal Security Forces’ Information Branch in the southern city of Tyre, the sources said.


The suspect was handed over to a police station in the sothern town of al-Abbasiyeh for investigation, they added.



Official: Iran has studied Israeli strike tactics


TEHRAN: A senior Iranian military official says the Islamic Republic has analyzed Israeli strikes during the 2006 war in Lebanon to boost its own defense capabilities against the U.S. and Israel.


Iran sees Israel as its arch-nemesis. The Jewish state fought a 2006 war against Iran's ally, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Israel and the U.S. have not ruled out a military option against Iranian nuclear facilities.


Gen. Gholam Reza Jalali, who heads a unit in charge of civil defense, said Iran sent a team to Lebanon and collected 5,000 photos of buildings destroyed in Israeli attacks during the 2006 war and changed its defense plans accordingly. His comments were published in the conservative daily Kayhan Tuesday.


He said Iran has built underground facilities and spread out its installations and forces.



After 58 Years Of Service, John Dingell To Vacate House Seat



Audio for this story from Morning Edition will be available at approximately 9:00 a.m. ET.





Michigan House Democrat John Dingell has served in Congress since six years before the birth of President Obama. Now he's announced that he will step down at the end of this term.



Panel Charged With Eliminating Child Abuse Deaths



Audio for this story from Morning Edition will be available at approximately 9:00 a.m. ET.





A congressional commission to prevent children's deaths from abuse and neglect held its first meeting Monday. Figuring out the extent of the problem is just one challenge facing a new commission.



BlackBerry announces new phones, services


BlackBerry says it will release a new phone in Indonesia in April, and it will make a phone that restores a beloved row of control keys with a trackpad.


The Indonesia phone will sell for less than $200 without subsidies. It will later expand to other markets in southeast Asia. BlackBerry Ltd. CEO John Chen says a version with faster, 4G connectivity is planned "sometime in the future before I die."


It's the first phone done under a new five-year partnership with Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that assembles products in vast factories in China.


Meanwhile, Chen says it will restore the keys in a phone to be called the Q20. He says it's a response to lackluster sales of the Q10, which has a physical keyboard but lacks the trackpad or keys for functions such as going back. He says customer feedback indicates people missed that. The Q20, which Chen terms the "Classic," will come by year's end.



GOP tax plan lowers rates, imposes surtax on rich


An election-year plan by House Republicans to simplify the tax code would cut income tax rates but impose a new surtax on some high-income families.


The plan, which is to be unveiled Wednesday, would lower the top income tax rate from 39.6 percent to 25 percent, said a GOP aide who spoke on condition of anonymity. However, the plan would impose a new 10 percent surtax on some earned income above about $450,000.


The aide was not authorized to speak publicly about the plan before its release.


The new surtax would not apply to capital gains or dividends, sparing many of the superrich who make the bulk of their money from investments.


The plan has no chance of becoming law without Democratic support. Instead, it could become a political document for House Republicans to show what they stand for, and for Democrats to attack, as the midterm elections approach in November.


Republicans have touted the upcoming plan as a major overhaul of the tax code that would dramatically lower tax rates for individuals and corporations, but recoup the revenue by eliminating or reducing popular tax breaks. Overall, the plan is designed to raise about the same amount of tax revenue as the current system, though the system would be much simpler.


It is an important political point for Republicans that the plan is not seen as a big giveaway to the rich. The new surtax on high-paid workers would help ensure that wealthy taxpayers as a group continue to pay about the same amount as they pay today, said the GOP aide.


The issue of whether to increase overall tax revenue is a major sticking point among Republicans and Democrats. Most Republicans in Congress adamantly oppose anything that looks like a tax increase, while Democratic leaders insist that any attempt to overhaul the tax code raise additional revenue. President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., have said they want to target tax breaks enjoyed by some corporations and the wealthy.


Obama has said he supports corporate tax reform, but he has shown little interest in overhauling the tax code for individuals.


Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., has been working to overhaul the entire tax code for about three years, ever since he became chairman of the powerful tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. Camp has steadfastly refused to say which tax breaks he would eliminate to pay for lower overall rates.


But Camp is expected to break that silence Wednesday, when he unveils his plan. Camp is betting that the promise of lower rates and a simpler tax system will shield House Republicans from attacks for proposing to cut popular deductions, credits and exemptions.


Democrats and tax experts question whether Camp can reduce the top income tax rate to 25 percent without touching some of the most popular tax breaks. Among the largest tax breaks for individuals: exemptions for retirement income and employer-sponsored health plans, and deductions for owning a home and paying a mortgage.


Camp's plan would reduce the number of income tax brackets from seven to two. A 10 percent tax rate would apply to taxable income up to about $75,000 for a married couple filing jointly, the GOP aide said. The 25 percent tax rate would apply to taxable income above $75,000, with the new 10 percent surtax kicking in at roughly $450,000.


Camp has worked with dozens of House Republicans to build support for his plan, though it is unclear if it will ever come before the full House for a vote. Camp wanted to unveil the plan last year and hold a committee vote. But House GOP leaders put on the brakes, not wanting to distract voters from the disastrous rollout of the president's health law.


Camp spent much of last summer touring the country, holding campaign-style events with Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, to drum up support for tax reform.


Camp, however, recently lost his Senate partner when Baucus was confirmed as ambassador to China.


Corporate America has been a big backer of tax reform, arguing that the 35 percent tax rate on most corporate income is the highest in the industrialized world. However, few corporations pay the top rate because the tax code is filled with tax breaks that many businesses are gearing up to defend.