NFL-Patriots use element of surprise in Super Bowl pursuit

Jan 14 (Reuters) - "Just win, baby" was the famed motto of late Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis during his team's heyday, but Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo thinks Tom Brady and the New England Patriots have gone too far.
Ayanbadejo believes the Patriots, one win away from a second consecutive Super Bowl berth, are hitting below the belt with the way they run their hurry-up offense.
"New England does some suspect stuff on offense. Can't really respect it. Comparable to a cheap shot b4 a fight," he tweeted during New England's 41-28 win over the Houston Texans on Sunday that sets up an AFC title rematch with the Ravens.
The hurry-up, or no-huddle offense, has been around for a while, but Ayanbadejo emphasized with a Houston defense caught out of position and in confusion when Brady quickly ran a play.
"Are you watching the game pats vs texans?" Ayanbadejo tweeted. "If so you see the hurry snap offense catch em b4 they set up. It's a gimmick."
But all is fair within the rules of the gridiron, however, and Ayanbadejo's complaint is akin to a tight end moaning about a disguised defense showing a blitz formation before dropping back into zone pass coverage.
Shame on Houston for not being ready and credit the Pats, who have cleverly retooled and thrived over a remarkable run that could bring them a sixth trip to the Super Bowl in the 12 years since the partnership of coach Belichick and Brady.
The big surprise of Sunday's contest was how the Patriots made up for injuries during the game to key offensive players Rob Gronkowski and Danny Woodhead as third-string running back Shane Vereen scored three touchdowns to tame the Texans.
The Patriots scraped by last year's AFC title game with a 23-20 victory over the Ravens, who had a potential game-winning touchdown pass dropped in the end zone and a 32-yard game-tying field goal missed.
New England then lost a close Super Bowl to the New York Giants, but returned this season with a revitalized running game and an improving defense to make another title run.
Drew Bledsoe, a four-time Pro Bowler who lost his starting job with the Patriots in 2001 to Brady after he went down with an injury, said adaptability is a key to New England's success.
"The thing that I noticed watching these guys over the years, and it was true again yesterday, more than any other team in the league the Patriots evolve and change and develop players through the course of a season," Bledsoe told ESPN Radio on Monday.
"You see guys go down, pivotal guys, and every team likes to say 'next man up, next man up,' but the Patriots are continuously developing players."
Against the Texans, third-string running back Shane Vereen stepped up after injuries to tight end Rob Gronkowski and running back Danny Woodhead to score three touchdowns.
"Their style of play evolves from game to game, and over the course of a year ... you're seeing them a lot more effective in the running game. Their defense has improved thoughout the course of the season," added the now retired Bledsoe.
"One of the many things that has allowed them to be successful for so long is just how well they evolve and how well they develop players during the course of a season. I think they do it better than anyone else."
Ayanbadejo also tweeted "Can't Wait!" about the Jan. 20 AFC road title rematch against the Patriots, who lost 31-30 to the Ravens in the regular season (Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Frank Pingue)

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Patriots use element of surprise in Super Bowl pursuit

(Reuters) - "Just win, baby" was the famed motto of late Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis during his team's heyday, but Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo thinks Tom Brady and the New England Patriots have gone too far.
Ayanbadejo believes the Patriots, one win away from a second consecutive Super Bowl berth, are hitting below the belt with the way they run their hurry-up offense.
"New England does some suspect stuff on offense. Can't really respect it. Comparable to a cheap shot b4 a fight," he tweeted during New England's 41-28 win over the Houston Texans on Sunday that sets up an AFC title rematch with the Ravens.
The hurry-up, or no-huddle offense, has been around for a while, but Ayanbadejo emphasized with a Houston defense caught out of position and in confusion when Brady quickly ran a play.
"Are you watching the game pats vs Texans?" Ayanbadejo tweeted. "If so you see the hurry snap offense catch em b4 they set up. It's a gimmick."
But all is fair within the rules of the gridiron, however, and Ayanbadejo's complaint is akin to a tight end moaning about a disguised defense showing a blitz formation before dropping back into zone pass coverage.
Shame on Houston for not being ready and credit the Pats, who have cleverly retooled and thrived over a remarkable run that could bring them a sixth trip to the Super Bowl in the 12 years since the partnership of coach Belichick and Brady.
The big surprise of Sunday's contest was how the Patriots made up for injuries during the game to key offensive players Rob Gronkowski and Danny Woodhead as third-string running back Shane Vereen scored three touchdowns to tame the Texans.
The Patriots scraped by last year's AFC title game with a 23-20 victory over the Ravens, who had a potential game-winning touchdown pass dropped in the end zone and a 32-yard game-tying field goal missed.
New England then lost a close Super Bowl to the New York Giants, but returned this season with a revitalized running game and an improving defense to make another title run.
Drew Bledsoe, a four-time Pro Bowler who lost his starting job with the Patriots in 2001 to Brady after he went down with an injury, said adaptability is a key to New England's success.
"The thing that I noticed watching these guys over the years, and it was true again yesterday, more than any other team in the league the Patriots evolve and change and develop players through the course of a season," Bledsoe told ESPN Radio on Monday.
"You see guys go down, pivotal guys, and every team likes to say 'next man up, next man up,' but the Patriots are continuously developing players."
Against the Texans, third-string running back Shane Vereen stepped up after injuries to tight end Rob Gronkowski and running back Danny Woodhead to score three touchdowns.
"Their style of play evolves from game to game, and over the course of a year ... you're seeing them a lot more effective in the running game. Their defense has improved throughout the course of the season," added the now retired Bledsoe.
"One of the many things that has allowed them to be successful for so long is just how well they evolve and how well they develop players during the course of a season. I think they do it better than anyone else."
Ayanbadejo also tweeted "Can't Wait!" about the January 20 AFC road title rematch against the Patriots, who lost 31-30 to the Ravens in the regular season

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Autopsy: Chiefs LB drunk at time of murder-suicide

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit when he shot his girlfriend nine times and then killed himself in front of his coach and general manager, an autopsy released Monday showed.
The Jackson County Medical Examiner report on Belcher, 25, raised new questions about whether police should have done more before the Dec. 1 murder-suicide. Officers found Belcher sleeping in his idling car about five hours earlier, but let him go inside a nearby apartment to sleep it off.
At the time of the autopsy, Belcher's BAC was 0.17, more than twice the limit of 0.08 percent for Missouri drivers, and it was likely higher when he shot girlfriend Kasandra Perkins, 22, at the couple's Kansas City home.
A police report released previously said Belcher had gone out the night before with a woman he was dating on the side while Perkins attended a concert with her friends.
Police who found Belcher sleeping in his Bentley outside the woman's apartment told him to turn off the ignition and he complied, the report said.
The report said Belcher "initially displayed possible signs of being under the influence (asleep and disoriented)." But the report added that after a few minutes of being awake his "demeanor and communication became more fluid and coherent." The report added that officers didn't smell alcohol on Belcher, and that there were no signs of him being "violent or emotionally unstable."
Under both city ordinance and state law, it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle while intoxicated, city prosecutor Lowell C. Gard said in an email. He said a vehicle doesn't need to be in motion for it to be determined that the person behind the wheel was operating it.
"Operation has been defined in Missouri courts to include a wide range of activity, including sitting behind the wheel of a parked car with the engine running, and sitting alone behind the wheel of a parked car with a warm, but shut off, engine," Gard wrote. "However, problems of proof arise when the arresting officer must provide evidence of that operation contemporaneous with intoxication."
Kansas City police Sgt. Marisa Barnes said in an email she wasn't aware of anyone being disciplined over the case. Even if they were, she said, she wouldn't be able to discuss it.
Belcher asked the officers who found him if he could stay inside the apartment for the night. Belcher tried to call his girlfriend, but she didn't discover the missed calls until the next morning. Two women who were up late invited Belcher to wait inside their nearby apartment after he explained his plight. They said Belcher "appeared to be intoxicated" but "seemed to be in good spirits," the police report said.
Belcher slept on their couch for a couple hours, leaving at 6:45 a.m. so he could make it to a team meeting planned for later that morning.
Upon arriving at the home he shared with Perkins, the couple began arguing. Belcher's mother, Cheryl Shepherd, who had moved in with them about two weeks earlier, heard multiple gunshots and ran to the bedroom, where she saw Belcher kneeling next to Perkins' body, saying he was sorry. The autopsy report says Perkins was shot in the neck, chest, abdomen, hip, back, leg and hand.
After kissing Perkins, his baby daughter and his mother, Belcher drove to Arrowhead Stadium. The autopsy said Belcher shot himself in the right temple as coach Romeo Crennel and general manager Scott Pioli looked on.
The infant, Zoe, is the subject of a custody fight between relatives of Belcher and Perkins.

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Ray Lewis' last ride has at least 1 more stop

DENVER (AP) — Deflated and nearly defeated, Ray Lewis slumped on the heated bench on the sideline, the hood of his heavy jacket pulled over his head. The final seconds of his brilliant career were slipping away, just like Demaryius Thomas had escaped his grasp minutes earlier.
"I've never been a part of a game so crazy in my life," he said.
Thomas' go-ahead touchdown had given Denver a 35-28 lead and now the Ravens were out of timeouts, deep in their territory. Under a minute to go, the "last ride" about to make its final stop on a frozen field in the Rocky Mountains.
Joe Flacco was buying time in the pocket, about to throw the ball away and bring up fourth down at his 30. Peyton Manning was about to beat Baltimore for a 10th straight time, and Lewis was about to call it a career.
Then Lewis spotted Jacoby Jones sprinting past him along the Baltimore sideline. More importantly, so did Flacco, who lofted a high-arcing pass into both double coverage and the frigid Denver night.
Safety Rahim Moore leaped for the interception, only he was a tad too early and a bit too shallow. The football settled into Jones' arms and he pranced into the end zone, his 70-yard touchdown with 31 seconds left tying the game.
Baltimore (12-6) would win on Justin Tucker's field goal in the second overtime.
Lewis' retirement party will wait for another day.
"Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. He grew up today," Lewis said of Flacco. "He grew up today and in the tunnel I told him, 'You're the general now. Lead us to a victory. You lead us today. I'm just here to facilitate things.'
"And to look in his eyes, he has something different about him today and I just wanted to encourage him. To watch what he did today is probably one of the greatest things I'll always sit back and remember."
Reminiscing can wait for at least another week. Lewis gets to play again, against either at Houston or New England in the AFC championship game.
Flacco was the hero, but Lewis wasn't a bystander. He was right in the middle of things, providing his usual unyielding leadership.
Lewis made 17 tackles one week after he led the Ravens with 13 stops against Indianapolis while playing for the first time in three months after being sidelined with a torn right triceps.
"We wanted to get this win for Ray and I was going to do everything I could possibly do to get this win," said cornerback Corey Graham.
He did just that, picking off Manning twice, taking the first one back for a touchdown and setting up Tucker's winner in the game's 77th minute with his second interception.
Lewis had a fumble recovery in the third quarter that was negated by a questionable hands-to-the-face call on cornerback Cary Williams, but the Ravens, who were thumped at home by the Broncos 34-17 a month ago, shook it off.
The Broncos (13-4) became the ninth top-seeded team to lose at home in its first game in the playoffs, and to a team that was coming off a short week and playing at altitude, no less.
"When you look back at it and let the emotions calm down, it will probably be one of the greatest victories in Ravens history," Lewis said. "It's partly because of the way everything was stacked against us coming in."
It was even better than his emotion-filled farewell to Baltimore last week, when he did his famous dance coming out of the tunnel and then again after lining up at fullback in victory formation.
"One thing about the playoffs," Lewis said, "the only way to top it is to win the following week."
He said he spoke to his team last week about dismissing all those who said they had no chance.
"What if we do the impossible?" Lewis recounted saying.
It wasn't just the lead-up to the game that was so daunting. The Ravens allowed Trindon Holliday to become the first player in NFL playoff history to return a punt and a touchdown for scores, and both his 90-yard punt return and 104-yard kickoff return were the longest in league postseason history.
"For us to come in here and win, nine- to 10-point underdogs, that's the beautiful part about sports," Lewis said. "That's the thing that, if I miss anything about my career, it will be to listen to what people say you can't do and then to go do it.

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Ravens show their spirit with stunning win in Denver

(Reuters) - The Baltimore Ravens fell behind the Denver Broncos four times on Saturday and each time they battled back to level the game with the final rally paving the way for a stunning playoffs win which epitomizes the team's fighting spirit.
"This is a team of destiny," said running back Ray Rice, who rushed for 131 yards and a touchdown in the thrilling 38-35 double overtime AFC divisional playoff victory.
"Just look at the way we played today - it wasn't pretty, it wasn't perfect, but it was us," he added.
Baltimore were 31 seconds away from elimination when quarterback Joe Flacco hurled a 70-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jacoby Jones to silence the home fans and send the game into overtime.
Then, after Peyton Manning threw an interception, Justin Tucker's 47-yard field goal sent the Ravens into the AFC Championship game for the second successive year.
"This will probably go down as one of the greatest victories in Ravens history," said linebacker Ray Lewis, Baltimore's undisputed leader, who will retire whenever this season finally ends.
Last week's 24-9 win over the Indianapolis Colts was Lewis' final home game for the team he has played for since being drafted in 1996 but his farewell could yet be at the Super Bowl in New Orleans.
"It's his last ride, why not send him off the right way," said Rice, who feels that the Ravens, beaten by the New England Patriots in last year's AFC Championship game, have made a leap in quality.
"These are the games we used to lose and now we are finding ways to win them," he said.
GREW UP
The pressure was certainly on Flacco who, despite everything he has achieved, still faced questions over whether he had what it took to win in the post-season.
Three touchdowns, including that memorable pass late in the fourth, and 331 yards without an interception, were the perfect answer to the lingering doubters.
"He grew up today," Lewis said.
"I told him in the tunnel, 'lead us to victory'. To look in his eyes he had something different about him today. I've always been a Joe Flacco fan, but to watch what he did, this was one of his greatest days," he said.
The quarterback agreed.
"It was pretty incredible, we overcame some things today and we fought to the very end," Flacco said.
"When some of those things happened, none of us blinked, we just sat on the sideline and said ‘alright, it's our turn'. Slowly but surely we were able to score points when we needed to and our defense was able to stop them," he said.
In next week's AFC championship game, Baltimore will face either the Houston Texans or the Patriots, who extinguished their Super Bowl hopes last year.
"We feel it is going to take a lot for somebody to kick us off the field in the AFC Championship," Flacco added.
"We know what it felt like last year without the win, we know what we have put in this year so far to get back to this point so it is going to be a great game.

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Ravens stun Broncos in double overtime playoff thriller

(Reuters) - The Baltimore Ravens fought back for a 38-35 overtime win over the Denver Broncos on Saturday in a thrilling playoff encounter that puts them one win away from their first Super Bowl berth in 12 years.
The visiting Ravens, who entered the game as 9-1/2 point underdogs, grabbed victory when Justin Tucker kicked a 47-yard field goal in the second overtime, six plays after Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning was intercepted.
Tucker's ice-cool kick in the freezing Mile High stadium ended a pulsating back-and-forth game that included a 90-yard punt return and 104-yard kickoff return for touchdowns from Denver's Trindon Holliday.
"That football game did the game of football proud," said Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, "It was one of the greatest football games you are ever going to see."
Denver were heading for victory in regulation until Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco threw a 70-yard touchdown pass to Jacoby Jones with 31 seconds left that tied the score at 35-35.
Then, after both defenses came up strong in overtime, Manning, who threw for 290 yards and three touchdowns, was intercepted for a second time when Corey Graham superbly picked off a pass intended for Brandon Stokley.
"A bad throw and the decision probably wasn't great either," said Manning.
With the win, the Ravens advance to the American Football Conference championship game on January 20, where they will play the winner of Sunday's game between the New England Patriots and Houston Texans.
The game was incident packed from the outset with Holliday opening the scoring with a spectacular punt return less than three minutes in. But Baltimore responded with quick touchdowns as Flacco found Torrey Smith with a 59-yard pass before Corey Graham intercepted Manning and ran in a 39-yard score.
Manning found Stokley with a 15-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 14-14 after the first quarter.
BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT
The remaining three quarters followed the same pattern - a touchdown for Denver followed by a reply from Baltimore, ending with Jones's crowd-silencing score as he took advantage of some awful coverage from Denver safety Rahim Moore.
The Broncos had the ball with half a minute on the clock but chose to take the knee and go into overtime rather than try to make the ground needed for a field goal attempt.
Then came the overtime drama which will haunt Manning and the Broncos through the offseason.
The Ravens, with inspirational defensive leader Ray Lewis in his final season, were carried to victory by Flacco who completed 18-of-34 passes for 331 yards and three touchdowns.
"It puts Joe Flacco in the elite category where he deserves to be," said running back Ray Rice, who rushed for 131 yards and a touchdown from 30 carries while receiver Smith had two touchdowns and 98 yards.
The loss was be a bitter disappointment for Manning, who had been hoping for a Super Bowl appearance in his first season for Denver after missing last season with Indianapolis following several neck surgeries.
"We thought we were peaking at the right time but we played a good team," said Manning. "A stout defense with a lot of veteran players. Its very disappointing because of how much effort and hard work this team has put into this season."
Flacco acknowledged some good fortune, in the way that Jones was allowed to get open for the crucial game-tying touchdown.
"You have to get a bit lucky, it worked out and we were able to take a shot and everybody came through and when that opportunity arose, there is no way to explain it," he said.
"It was an awesome football game. It was just crazy."

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Strahan, Sapp, Ogden among Hall of Fame finalists

CANTON, Ohio (AP) — Single-season sacks leader Michael Strahan and two players who tried to block him are among 15 modern-era finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Strahan, who had 22½ sacks in 2001 and 141½ for his 15-year his career with the New York Giants, is joined by offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden of the Ravens and guard-tackle Larry Allen of the Cowboys and 49ers.
The fourth first-year eligible to make the cut is defensive tackle Warren Sapp of the Buccaneers and Raiders.
Strahan, Ogden and Sapp all won Super Bowls.
The hall announced Friday that the other finalists are running back Jerome Bettis; receivers Cris Carter, Tim Brown and Andre Reed; LB-DEs Charles Haley and Kevin Greene; guard Will Shields; defensive back Aeneas Williams; coach Bill Parcells; and former owners Edward DeBartolo Jr. of the 49ers and the late Art Modell of the Browns, who moved to Baltimore in 1996 to become the Ravens.
The two senior nominees are defensive tackle Curley Culp — who played for the Chiefs, Oilers and Lions — and linebacker Dave Robinson of the Packers and Redskins.
Between four and seven new members will be selected Feb. 2, the day before the Super Bowl, in New Orleans.
Bettis played for the Rams and Steelers — he won the 2006 Super Bowl in his final game, something Strahan did in 2008. He's in his third season of eligibility and was beaten out by fellow running backs Marshall Faulk in 2011 and Curtis Martin in 2012 for the hall.
Carter, Brown and Reed all were in the top 10 in receptions when they retired. Haley won five Super Bowls, two with San Francisco and three with Dallas.
Greene was one of the first hybrid linebacker-end defenders, which best suited his pass-rushing skills.
Shields was an ironman blocker for 14 seasons in Kansas City. Williams was a versatile defensive back who played on the corner and at safety. He had 55 career interceptions and 23 fumble recoveries.

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Golf-Late long-range birdie putts put Oosthuizen on top

DURBAN, Jan 11 (Reuters) - World number six Louis Oosthuizen ended the second round with a real flourish to complete a bogey-free 64 and seize a one-stroke lead in the Volvo Golf Champions on Friday.
Britain's Scott Jamieson, who also recorded a 64, was one behind on 11-under 133 alongside overnight leader Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand (68).
Six shots adrift in a share of fourth place on 139 were British pair Paul Lawrie (70) and Danny Willett (70), Frenchman Julien Quesne (67), Ireland's Shane Lowry (69), Dane Thomas Bjorn (70) and Jeev Milkha Singh of India (70).
Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion, got his round going by holing a 15-foot putt for birdie at the third.
The South African picked up another shot at the fourth before he rattled off three consecutive birdies from the seventh to go out in 31.
The 30-year-old Oosthuizen then missed a short birdie chance at the 16th before sinking birdie putts of 45 and 25 feet at the 17th and 18th.
"Today was much better in terms of ball-striking," he told reporters. "I hit the ball really well and I putted beautifully.
"I missed a few short ones when I didn't have the right line but I generally seemed to have the speed of the greens and so I was able to make longer putts than usual. It's always nice when you know the putter is working."
Oosthuizen said he took a pragmatic approach to his eight-under round at the Durban Country Club.
"My main goal was to hit as many greens as I could," he explained. "A lot of times I didn't even go close to the pins - I just decided to hit the centre of the greens and it worked.
"You get those days when the putts won't go in and you shoot one or two-under but today the putts went in."
The second round offered something a little different, the professionals competing in a pro-am alongside the main event.
Oosthuizen and playing partner Thongchai were victorious and the sponsors agreed to exchange the South African's prize of a car for the mechanical digger he has coveted for the last two years.
"I'm walking away with a nice gift for my farm. It's going to be a lot of fun to be playing around with it," said Oosthuizen.
Jamieson, who clinched his maiden European Tour victory in Durban at the Nelson Mandela Championship last month, propelled himself into contention with five birdies on the front nine.

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Late long-range birdie putts put Oosthuizen on top

DURBAN (Reuters) - World number six Louis Oosthuizen ended the second round with a real flourish to complete a bogey-free 64 and seize a one-stroke lead in the Volvo Golf Champions on Friday.
Britain's Scott Jamieson, who also recorded a 64, was one behind on 11-under 133 alongside overnight leader Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand (68).
Six shots adrift in a share of fourth place on 139 were British pair Paul Lawrie (70) and Danny Willett (70), Frenchman Julien Quesne (67), Ireland's Shane Lowry (69), Dane Thomas Bjorn (70) and Jeev Milkha Singh of India (70).
Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion, got his round going by holing a 15-foot putt for birdie at the third.
The South African picked up another shot at the fourth before he rattled off three consecutive birdies from the seventh to go out in 31.
The 30-year-old Oosthuizen then missed a short birdie chance at the 16th before sinking birdie putts of 45 and 25 feet at the 17th and 18th.
"Today was much better in terms of ball-striking," he told reporters. "I hit the ball really well and I putted beautifully.
"I missed a few short ones when I didn't have the right line but I generally seemed to have the speed of the greens and so I was able to make longer putts than usual. It's always nice when you know the putter is working."
Oosthuizen said he took a pragmatic approach to his eight-under round at the Durban Country Club.
"My main goal was to hit as many greens as I could," he explained. "A lot of times I didn't even go close to the pins - I just decided to hit the centre of the greens and it worked.
"You get those days when the putts won't go in and you shoot one or two-under but today the putts went in."
The second round offered something a little different, the professionals competing in a pro-am alongside the main event.
Oosthuizen and playing partner Thongchai were victorious and the sponsors agreed to exchange the South African's prize of a car for the mechanical digger he has coveted for the last two years.
"I'm walking away with a nice gift for my farm. It's going to be a lot of fun to be playing around with it," said Oosthuizen.
Jamieson, who clinched his maiden European Tour victory in Durban at the Nelson Mandela Championship last month, propelled himself into contention with five birdies on the front nine.
Ernie Els, Nicolas Colsaerts and Francesco Molinari were eight strokes off the lead while Padraig Harrington was a further shot adrift on 141.

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Microsoft taps Krikorian to help run its Xbox business

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it hired technology entrepreneur Blake Krikorian to help run its Interactive Entertainment Business as the world's largest software company plans bigger things for its Xbox gaming console.
Krikorian will be corporate vice president for the Interactive Entertainment Business, reporting to Marc Whitten, chief product officer for the division, Microsoft added.
The appointment follows Microsoft's recent acquisition of Krikorian's company, id8 Group R2 Studios, which had developed an application that allows users to control home heating and lighting systems from smartphones.
Microsoft is trying to transform Xbox from a gaming device into a broader service that controls most aspects of home entertainment, including music, movies, TV and sports.
"We look forward to his contribution to our team as Xbox continues to evolve and transform the games and entertainment landscape," Whitten said in a statement.
Krikorian's Sling Media - which was sold to EchoStar Communications in 2007 - made the Slingbox device for watching TV over the Internet.
Krikorian resigned from Amazon.com Inc's board in late December after about a year and a half as a director at the company, the Internet's largest retailer.

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FireEye raises $50 million as it prepares for possible 2013 IPO

BOSTON (Reuters) - Cyber security firm FireEye Inc, which named former McAfee Chief Executive Dave DeWalt as its CEO in November, said it has raised $50 million in new financing as it prepares for a possible initial public offering this year.
FireEye sells technology that helps businesses protect themselves against malicious software that gets past traditional anti-virus programs sold by companies including Symantec Corp and McAfee.
The firm said on Thursday that it had raised an additional $50 million in venture funding from new and existing investors including Sequoia Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Goldman Sachs , Juniper Networks Inc and Silicon Valley Bank.
FireEye had raised $51 million in prior financing rounds, according to a company spokesman.
The company also named six new executives on Thursday.
In November, when DeWalt was named CEO, he told Reuters that FireEye had "a high chance" of going public in 2013.
DeWalt resigned as president of McAfee in 2011 after engineering the sale of the company to chipmaker Intel Corp for $7.7 billion.

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T-Mobile’s CEO trashes AT&T’s ‘crap’ service, analyzes mobile porn consumption

When you’re CEO of America’s No.4 wireless carrier, you can afford to be a little colorful. Per PCMag, T-Mobile CEO John Legere decided to bring some much-needed spice to the Consumer Electronics Show this week by speaking candidly about his company’s rivals and the state of the mobile industry as a whole. Legere said that AT&T’s (T) mobile data service in New York is “crap” before backtracking and saying that he didn’t mean to ”say the network’s crap, it’s just not as good as ours.”
[More from BGR: ‘Apple is done’ and Surface tablet is cool, according to teens]
On Verizon (VZ), Legere praised the company’s “beautiful network” and said that it deserves credit for “the way they covered those dust bowl states with LTE.” However, Legere also dinged Verizon for its decision to go with shared data plans and questioned whether such plans would be economically feasible for both users and carriers going forward.
[More from BGR: Is BlackBerry back? Strong early BlackBerry 10 demand could signal RIM comeback]
“Shared data plans are a thing of the past,” he said. “A 10-gigabyte, 5-device shared data plan, when Joe Schmoe Junior starts to watch porn on his phone, isn’t going to work.”
And finally, Legere defended his company’s decision to ditch smartphone subsidies all together and suggested that people who believe smartphone subsidies save them money are just suckers.
“You are not getting a $99 phone,” he said. “Anyone who thinks they are, come with me into the back. While you’re handcuffed, they go into your pockets and they take your money.

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Exclusive: BlackRock to buy Credit Suisse's European ETFs - source

NEW YORK (Reuters) - BlackRock Inc has won the bidding for Credit Suisse Group AG's European exchange-traded fund business, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The deal is expected to be announced shortly, said the source, who declined to be identified because the deal is not yet public. The value of the deal could not be determined.
A BlackRock spokeswoman and a Credit Suisse spokeswoman declined to comment.
Credit Suisse put its $17.6 billion ETF unit up for sale in October, sources told Reuters at the time.
In November, Credit Suisse said it was integrating its private banking and asset management divisions into a new wealth management unit.
BlackRock and State Street Global Advisors, the asset management arm of State Street Corp, were among the companies bidding for the business, but State Street dropped out of the bidding in December.
Credit Suisse is the fourth largest ETF provider in Europe, with 58 ETFs and a 5.3 percent market share as of December 31, according to ETFGI, a London-based ETF research firm.
BlackRock is the largest ETF provider in Europe, with more than 42 percent of the $331 billion European ETF market. Its 202 European iShares ETFs had $139.6 billion in assets as of December 31, the research firm said.
Credit Suisse's ETF business would be the second international ETF business BlackRock has acquired in the past several months.
BlackRock bought Toronto-based Claymore Investments, a Canadian ETF operation, from Guggenheim Partners LLC, in March.
"This acquisition shows BlackRock's further commitment to being the dominant player in ETFs in every market they are in," said Dave Nadig, director of research at IndexUniverse LLC, a San Francisco-based firm that tracks ETFs.
In October, BlackRock Chief Executive Laurence Fink told Reuters it was looking at a "fill-in ETF acquisition in another country.

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Chrysler 2012 Jeep sales topped 700,000 worldwide for first time

DETROIT (Reuters) - Chrysler Group LLC's Jeep brand sold more than 700,000 vehicles worldwide for the first time in 2012, an increase of 19 percent from the previous year, Chrysler said on Wednesday.
Mike Manley, head of the Jeep brand, said he expects 2013 sales to continue to climb as upgraded versions of Jeep's biggest seller Grand Cherokee, as well as a new midsize Jeep SUV, are introduced.
Jeep's 2012 sales of 701,626 topped the previous global high sales mark of 675,494 set in 1999.
Among Chrysler's four main brands, Jeep is the one that has the most global reach.
The Grand Cherokee full-sized SUV, the compact SUV Compass, and the Wrangler, are the three nameplates of Jeep that are most aggressively marketed outside Jeep's North American base.
Sales of the Grand Cherokee rose 26 percent at 223,196 worldwide. Compass sales rose 20 percent at 103,321, and Wrangler sales rose 16 percent at 194,142.
Sales in Asia in 2012 rose 94 percent, were up 29 percent in Europe and up 18 percent in Latin America. Jeep's sales were up 13 percent in the United States at 474,131.
The new midsize Jeep SUV will replace the Jeep Liberty in the brand's lineup.
In the United States, Chrysler's top-selling brand last year was Dodge, which sold 825,917 vehicles, up 16.5 percent.
Chrysler Group is majority-owned by Italy's Fiat SpA .

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Nike wins trademark case in Supreme Court

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nike Inc won a victory at the U.S. Supreme Court barring a smaller rival from suing to void the company's trademark for its top-selling Air Force 1 sneakers.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for a unanimous court on Wednesday that Nike's promise not to pursue an infringement lawsuit against Already LLC, maker of Yums sneakers, meant that the Texas company could not pursue its own trademark challenge.
"Already's arguments boil down to a basic policy objection that dismissing this case allows Nike to bully small innovators lawfully operating in the public domain," Roberts wrote. But the argument did not justify letting its lawsuit proceed, he wrote.
Wednesday's decision upheld a November 2011 ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.
James Dabney, a lawyer for Already, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nor did Nike.
Wednesday's decision may help companies such as Nike rival Adidas SE and luxury goods makers Coach Inc and LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA , which often sue to prevent alleged imitators from interfering with their revenue streams and customer goodwill.
The case began in 2009, when Nike claimed in a lawsuit that Already's Sugar and Soulja Boy shoes infringed Nike's trademark on the stitching, eyelet panels and other features of Air Force 1. Nike, based in Beaverton, Oregon, launched the low-cut Air Force 1 sneaker in 1982 and sells millions of them each year.
After Already countersued to void the trademark, Nike dropped its lawsuit, believing Yums was not a commercial threat, and gave a promise in the form of a covenant not to sue Already.
But Already, based in Arlington, Texas, refused to drop its own case and accused Nike of dropping the original lawsuit to deprive courts of jurisdiction.
DOROTHY'S RUBY SLIPPERS
Roberts, however, said that allowing Already's lawsuit to continue would encourage large and small companies to use litigation as a "weapon" rather than as a last resort to settle disputes, which could discourage innovation.
"Accepting Already's theory may benefit the small competitor in this case," he said. "But lowering the gates for one party lowers the gates for all. As a result, larger companies with more resources will have standing to challenge the intellectual property portfolios of their more humble rivals - not because they are threatened by any particular patent or trademark, but simply because they are competitors in the same market."
Roberts also agreed with Nike that Already was unlikely to produce any shoe that would not be protected.
"If such a shoe exists, the parties have not pointed to it, there is no evidence that Already has dreamt of it, and we cannot conceive of it," Roberts wrote. "It sits, as far as we can tell, on a shelf between Dorothy's ruby slippers and Perseus' winged sandals."
Justice Anthony Kennedy concurred in the decision, saying that other companies should not assume they can automatically end rivals' trademark cases with covenants similar to Nike's.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor joined Kennedy's concurrence.
Two companies with well-known trademarks, clothing maker Levi Strauss & Co and automaker Volkswagen AG , filed briefs supporting Nike.
The case is Already LLC v. Nike Inc, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 11-982.

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Italy's real election battle is Monti vs Berlusconi

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's election campaign is shaping up as a bitter contest not between right and left but between Silvio Berlusconi and outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti to win the balance of power after the February poll.
The final lines were drawn on Monday when Berlusconi sacrificed his own candidacy for prime minister as the price for winning a crucial new alliance with his estranged allies in the devolutionist Northern League.
This alliance is aimed at blocking control of parliament by the center-left, which opinion polls show as virtually certain to win the February 24-25 elections.
But if Berlusconi succeeds, Italy is likely to face renewed instability and legislative paralysis which could make it once again the biggest concern in the euro zone.
Italy narrowly avoided a Greek-style meltdown in November 2011 when Berlusconi, weakened by a sex scandal, was forced out as prime minister and replaced by Monti.
If Berlusconi gains the balance of power he could frustrate center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani in fulfilling his promise to stick to Monti's austerity and pro-European policies, which have brought Italy relative stability in the past year.
The billionaire media owner's biggest problem in implementing his strategy is Monti, whose centrist alliance has the same aim as Berlusconi: winning enough seats in the Senate to give it influence way beyond its likely share of the poll.
While the center-left is almost certain to win the lower house, the real battleground will be in the much less certain Senate contest.
The battle for this prize explains why Berlusconi and Monti have made almost daily personal attacks on each other in a blitz of television interviews that have drawn accusations they are making unfair use of the airwaves.
Bersani has remained largely above the fray, cultivating his colorless but reassuring image of calm dependability while Monti and Berlusconi try to hurt each other.
However the launching of Monti's centrist front, the sealing of Berlusconi's broader center-right alliance and the emergence of a smaller leftist group are all bad news for Bersani because they could dilute his share of the vote.
TOO CLOSE TO CALL
A new Ipsos poll published in the financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore on Tuesday showed the Senate vote too close to call in three big regions which could be decisive in the February vote.
"In Lombardy, Campania and Sicily the outcome of the vote is absolutely unpredictable," said Roberto D'Alimonte, one of Italy's foremost experts on voting trends.
Italy's much maligned electoral law awards Senate seat bonuses to the coalition that wins in each individual region. Bersani would therefore only have to lose in populous Lombardy and Veneto to forgo a majority in the upper house, even if he won all of Italy's remaining regions, said D'Alimonte.
In another paradox caused by the law, he said Monti should hope Berlusconi robs Bersani of enough Senate votes in key regions to hand the former European Commissioner the balance of power as a buttress for the future center-left government.
Despite largely refusing to join the mudslinging, Bersani is clearly worried about the way things have panned out since Monti announced in December that he would join forces with other centrist forces in the election.
In a television interview on Monday, Bersani said Monti's candidacy was "not good news for Italy". However, he saw Berlusconi as his real enemy and Monti only as a "competitor", adding that he was open to a post-election alliance with the centrists.
This idea has been espoused for months by moderates in Bersani's Democratic Party, including his deputy Enrico Letta. They argue this would reassure European partners that the left will not throw away Monti's achievements, while still trying to stimulate economic growth and reducing the burden on pensioners and workers who have suffered most from the deficit-cutting policies of the past year.
Although Monti sharply reduced the pressure on Italy and brought down the government's borrowing costs to more affordable levels, the recession has worsened. Data on Tuesday showed youth unemployment had risen to an all time high above 37 percent in November.
D'Alimonte said that if Bersani failed to win the battleground regions in the Senate vote, he could face a situation similar to or worse than former center-left Prime Minister Romano Prodi in 2006.
NIGHTMARE FOR LEFT
In a situation which is a recurring nightmare for Italy's left, Prodi's government collapsed and was replaced by Berlusconi within two years because it lacked a viable Senate majority. That election was fought under the same electoral law as this time.
An alliance between Bersani and Monti after the election would probably produce a stable government that could last and consolidate progress in implementing economic reform. But there is one big problem. Monti insists he would enter a government only if he were prime minister, and Bersani has ruled this out.
"The idea that the one who wins less votes should be in charge is an old theory unknown in the rest of western Europe," he said in his television interview.
Analysts say that if an agreement between Monti and Bersani was impossible, then the euro zone's third largest economy would be likely to face a short-lived center-left government and a period of political turmoil dangerous for the whole region.
A Tecne opinion poll on Tuesday showed the center-left comfortably ahead at nearly 40 percent, with Berlusconi's center-right on 24.6 and Monti's centrists on just over 15 percent. However the numbers that count will be in regional votes for the Senate and voter intentions are not known in all of those.
The poll in Il Sole 24 Ore, however, showed a surge in the region of Campania - which returns the second largest number of senators after Lombardy - of a new leftist grouping led by anti-mafia magistrate Antonio Ingroia. This group was polling at more than 11 percent and could gift a regional victory to Berlusconi rather than Bersani if the trends do not change.

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APNewsBreak: $5M paid to Iraqis over Abu Ghraib

WASHINGTON (AP) — A defense contractor whose subsidiary was accused in a lawsuit of conspiring to torture detainees at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq has paid $5.28 million to 71 former inmates held there and at other U.S.-run detention sites between 2003 and 2007.
The settlement in the case involving Engility Holdings Inc. of Chantilly, Va., marks the first successful effort by lawyers for former prisoners at Abu Ghraib and other detention centers to collect money from a U.S. defense contractor in lawsuits alleging torture. Another contractor, CACI, is expected to go to trial over similar allegations this summer.
The payments were disclosed in a document that Engility filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission two months ago but which has gone essentially unnoticed.
The defendant in the lawsuit, L-3 Services Inc., now an Engility subsidiary, provided translators to the U.S. military in Iraq. In 2006, L-3 Services had more than 6,000 translators in Iraq under a $450 million-a-year contract, an L-3 executive told an investors conference at the time.
On Tuesday, a lawyer for the ex-detainees, Baher Azmy, said that each of the 71 Iraqis received a portion of the settlement. Azmy declined to say how the money was distributed among them. He said there was an agreement to keep details of the settlement confidential.
"Private military contractors played a serious but often under-reported role in the worst abuses at Abu Ghraib," said Azmy, the legal director at the Center for Constitutional Rights. "We are pleased that this settlement provides some accountability for one of those contractors and offers some measure of justice for the victims."
Jennifer Barton, a spokeswoman for L-3 Communications, the former parent company of L-3 Services, said the company does not comment on legal matters.
Eric Ruff, Engility's director of corporate communications, said the company does not comment on matters involving litigation.
The ex-detainees filed the lawsuit in federal court in Greenbelt, Md., in 2008.
L-3 Services "permitted scores of its employees to participate in torturing and abusing prisoners over an extended period of time throughout Iraq," the lawsuit stated. The company "willfully failed to report L-3 employees' repeated assaults and other criminal conduct by its employees to the United States or Iraq authorities."
One inmate alleged he was subjected to mock executions by having a gun aimed at his head and the trigger pulled. Another inmate said he was slammed into a wall until he became unconscious. A third was allegedly stripped naked and threatened with rape while his hands and legs were chained and a hood was placed on his head. Another said he was forced to consume so much water that he began to vomit blood. Several of the inmates said they were raped and many of the inmates said they were beaten and kept naked for extended periods of time.
In its defense four years ago against the lawsuit, L-3 Services said lawyers for the Iraqis alleged no facts to support the conspiracy accusation. Sixty-eight of the Iraqis "do not even attempt to allege the identity of their alleged abuser" and two others provide only "vague assertions," the company said then.
A military investigation in 2004 identified 44 alleged incidents of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib. No employee from L-3 Services was charged with a crime in investigations by the U.S. Justice Department. Nor did the U.S. military stop the company from working for the government.
Fifty-two of the 71 Iraqis alleged that they were imprisoned at Abu Ghraib and at other detention facilities. The other 19 Iraqis allege they were detained at detention facilities other than Abu Ghraib.
The Abu Ghraib prison scandal erupted during President George W. Bush's re-election campaign in 2004 when graphic photographs taken by soldiers at the scene were leaked to the news media. They showed naked inmates piled on top of each other in a prison cell block, inmates handcuffed to their cell bars and hooded and wired for electric shock, among other shocking scenes.
In the ensuing international uproar, Bush said the practices that had taken place at Abu Ghraib in late 2003 were "abhorrent." Some Democrats demanded that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld resign. Eventually, 11 U.S. soldiers were convicted of crimes including aggravated assault and taking pictures of naked Iraqi prisoners being humiliated.
Rumsfeld told Congress in 2004 that he had found a way to compensate Iraqi detainees who suffered "grievous and brutal abuse and cruelty at the hands of a few members of the United States armed forces." But the U.S. Army subsequently has been unable to document a single U.S. government payment for prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib.
This week, the U.S. Army Claims Service said it has 36 claims from former detainees in Iraq, none of them related to alleged physical abuse. From the budget years 2003 to 2006, the Defense Department paid $30.9 million to Iraqi and Afghan civilians who were killed, injured, or incurred property damage due to U.S. or coalition forces' actions during combat.
In the aftermath of Abu Ghraib, lawyers for the Iraqis filed a number of lawsuits against L-3 Services and another company, CACI International Inc. of Arlington, Va., but the cases were quickly hung up on an underlying question: whether defense contractors working side by side with the U.S. military can be sued for claims arising in a war zone. The U.S. government is immune from suits stemming from combatant activities of the military in time of war.
Courts are still sorting out whether contractors in a war zone should be accorded legal immunity from being sued, just as the government is immune.
But a turning point in the cases involving L-3 and CACI came last May. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., ruled 11-3 that more facts must be developed before the appeals court could consider the defense contractor's request to dismiss the lawsuit.
In the case against CACI, four Iraqis who say they were tortured are seeking compensation from the company, which provided interrogators to the U.S. military during the war. CACI has chosen to continue its fight against the lawsuit. Azmy said a trial is expected this summer.
In its defense four years ago against the lawsuit, L-3 said the fact that the claims in the case "cannot be brought against the government means that they also cannot be brought against L-3."
"No court in the United States has allowed aliens — detained on the battlefield or in the course of postwar occupation and military operations by the U.S. military — to seek damages for their detention," the company told the federal court four years ago. "Yet these plaintiffs bring claims seeking money damages for their detention and treatment while in the custody of the U.S. military in the midst of a belligerent occupation in Iraq."
Allowing the case to proceed "would require a wholly unprecedented injection of the judiciary into wartime military operations and occupation conduct against the local population, in particular the conditions of confinement and interrogation for intelligence gathering," L-3 added.

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Supreme Court narrows avenue for death row appeals

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two death row inmates were not entitled to a delay of their federal appeals on the grounds that they were incompetent to assist their lawyers, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday.
In a unanimous ruling against inmates Ernest Valencia Gonzales and Sean Carter, the court also said federal judges cannot indefinitely delay appeals of state criminal convictions in the hope that the defendants might eventually become competent enough to help out.
Justice Clarence Thomas said defense lawyers are "quite capable" of reviewing cases without their clients' help and can identify arguments or state court errors that can be raised on appeal.
He said a district judge who believes an incompetent defendant could substantially aid in his defense should examine the likelihood that the defendant will regain competence.
In contrast, "where there is no reasonable hope of competence, a stay merely frustrates the state's attempts to defend its presumptively valid judgment," Thomas wrote.
Gonzales was convicted by an Arizona jury in the stabbings of two people in front of their seven-year-old son during a burglary. One of the victims died.
Carter was found guilty by an Ohio jury of the rape and stabbing death of his adoptive grandmother.
Dale Baich, who works in the federal public defender's office that represented Gonzales, noted that Supreme Court decision left room for federal courts to put some appeals on hold. A prisoner's competency to assist counsel is an issue in roughly one dozen capital cases pending nationwide, he said.
A lawyer for Carter was not immediately available to comment.
Thomas said the federal appeals courts that put both cases on hold erred in relying on two federal statutes to find that defendants must be competent.
A requirement of competency also does not flow from a defendant's right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, he wrote.
The court also said it was "unwarranted" to extrapolate a definitive rule based on a 1960s case involving an incompetent death row inmate that it put on hold for nearly three decades. That case ended when the prisoner died.
The cases are Ryan v. Gonzales, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 10-930; and Tibbals v. Carter, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 11-218.

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Wall Street edges off five-year high, awaits earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks lost ground on Monday, as investors drew back from recent gains that lifted the S&P 500 to a five-year high, in anticipation of sluggish growth in corporate profits.
Shares of financial companies dipped after a group of major U.S. banks agreed to pay a total of $8.5 billion to end a government inquiry into faulty mortgage foreclosures. The KBW bank index <.bkx>, a gauge of U.S. bank stocks, was down 0.3 percent.
Other sectors were hit as well, most notably energy and utilities. The S&P 500 energy sector index <.gspe> fell 0.8 percent and the utilities sector <.gspu> was off 1.1 percent.
The day's decline came a session after the S&P 500 finished at a five-year high, boosted by a budget deal and strong economic data. The S&P 500 rose 4.6 percent last week, the best weekly gain in more than a year.
"It's a little bit of taking some risk off the table ahead of profit season, you're not going to see anything all that great" on earnings, said Larry Peruzzi, senior equity trader at Cabrera Capital Markets Inc in Boston.
Earnings are expected to be only slightly better than the third-quarter's lackluster results, and analysts' current estimates are down sharply from where they were in October. Fourth-quarter earnings growth is expected to come in at 2.8 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Aluminum company Alcoa Inc begins the reporting season by announcing its results after Tuesday's market close. Alcoa shares fell 1.7 percent at $9.10.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> dropped 50.92 points, or 0.38 percent, to 13,384.29. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> fell 4.58 points, or 0.31 percent, to 1,461.89. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> lost 2.84 points, or 0.09 percent, to 3,098.81.
Ten mortgage servicers - including Bank of America , Citigroup , JPMorgan , and Wells Fargo - agreed on Monday to pay $8.5 billion to end a case-by-case review of foreclosures required by U.S. regulators.
In a separate case, Bank of America also announced roughly $11.6 billion of settlements with mortgage finance company Fannie Mae and a $1.8 billion sale of collection rights on home loans.
The bank also entered into agreements with Nationstar Mortgage Holdings and Walter Investment Management to sell about $306 billion of residential mortgage servicing rights.
Bank of America shares lost 0.2 percent at $12.09 while Nationstar Mortgage Holdings jumped 16.8 percent to $38.83.
Citigroup shares were up 0.09 percent to $42.47, and Wells Fargo shares fell 0.5 percent to $34.77.
"The financials probably have the wind behind them now with a lot of the regulations coming out ... the market has to absorb a lot of the gains, and for that reason there's a pullback from this level," said Warren West, principal at Greentree Brokerage Services in Philadelphia.
Shares of U.S. jet maker Boeing Co dropped 2 percent after a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft with no passengers on board caught fire at Boston's Logan International Airport on Monday morning.
Amazon.com shares hit their highest price ever at $269.22 after Morgan Stanley raised is rating on the stock. Shares were up 3.6 percent at $268.46.
Video-streaming service Netflix Inc shares gained 3.4 percent to $99.20 after it said it will carry previous seasons of some popular shows produced by Time Warner's Warner Bros Television.
Walt Disney Co stock fell 2.3 percent to $50.97. The company started an internal cost-cutting review several weeks ago that may include layoffs at its studio and other units, three people with knowledge of the effort told Reuters.
Volume was lower than average, as 4.78 billion shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE MKT and Nasdaq. This is well below the 2012 average of 6.42 billion per session.
Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,629 to 1,363, while on the Nasdaq decliners beat advancers 1,438 to 1,066.

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Libyan cop in Benghazi kidnapped

Abdelsalam al-Mahdawi, the head of Benghazi's criminal investigation department, was kidnapped on his way to work today by gunmen at an intersection in Libya's second largest city.
Benghazi was the heart of the uprising against Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, and since then it has failed to bring the militias that fought on the side of the revolution – some Islamist, some not – under any kind of government control. They remain armed and often a law unto themselves in the city. Criminal gangs, spawned from militias, are also at work.
The list of potential suspects is long, particularly since Mr. Mahdawi's personal background isn't immediately clear. Was he someone who served Mr. Qaddafi's regime at one point, and is being targeted for revenge? Could it be a personal or family dispute? Could his investigations of militias and/or criminals be the reason for his kidnapping? A simple matter of kidnap-for-ransom? All are possible.
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But what's likely is that sorting out what's happened to him will be confusing, subject to completing claims, and difficult for any neutral observer trying to get at the truth to figure out. That's been the pattern in violent incidents in Benghazi not just since the war ended, but before.
The attack on the US facility in Benghazi in September that left Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead is still not fully understood. Meanwhile, today's assault is the second attack on a senior police official in Benghazi since November, when Benghazi police chief Farraj al-Dursi was assassinated outside his house. Mr. Dursi, who served under Qaddafi's government, was appointed police chief during a shuffle of security in the city after the attack on the Americans in September.
One long-standing murder in Benghazi is taking a troubling turn.
Abdel Fateh Younes, a commander of rebel forces, was abducted and murdered in the city in July 2011. Gen. Younes defected from his long-standing stalwart support of Qaddafi that February and was abducted after being called back from the front of that civil war. What happened next remains uncertain.
Shortly after his murder, Mustapha Abdel Jalil, then head of Libya's Transitional National Council and himself a former minister in Qaddafi's government, insisted Younes was killed by agents of Qaddafi. Others in the rebel government in Benghazi said Younes' arrest had been sought on suspicion he was working as a double agent for Qaddafi. In the immediate aftermath, a civil war within a civil war in Benghazi looked possible, with angry loyalists of Younes demanding justice.
Mr. Jalil was a hero of the revolution for being one of the earliest defectors from Qaddafi's regime and for successfully navigating international intrigue and competing agendas domestically in winning NATO support for the rebellion. In December, he was threatened with a military trial for allegedly ordering the murder of Younes. Among the charges against Jalil were "undermining national unity."
Is there good reason to suspect him? It's unclear, as with so much else in Libya these days. The proposal to try Jalil in a military court, however, was clearly worrying. On Dec. 19, the military tribunal organized to try Jalil resigned and the case was thrown back to prosecutors. To top it all, one of the judges investigating Jalil was murdered in Benghazi last year.
What does all this mean? Hard to say. But the ongoing chaos and bloodshed, at high political levels in Libya, is not a positive sign.

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Amid bloodshed and chaos, Syrian wages a war for neutral reporting

While Syria's state-run news outlets run a steady stream of reports about "terrorists" and international conspiracies against President Bashar al-Assad, opposition activists roll out their own endless barrage of footage highlighting atrocities and destruction by regime forces, with little in the way of context.
With media access difficult or impossible in most of the country and no tradition of balanced journalism, reliable, objective coverage of Syria is scarce. Cairo-based Syrian activist and media entrepreneur Rami Jarrah, on the cusp of launching a radio station inside Syria, is trying to fix that – but he is starting from scratch. By providing Syrians with rational, fair reporting, he hopes to help them avoid the worst of the uncertainty in the aftermath of this conflict – now in its 22nd month – when it ends.
"When someone comes in and wants to work with us, and wants to do it to help Syria, you have to convince them that the way you do that is by being neutral," says Mr. Jarrah during an interview at the Cairo headquarters of New Media Association (ANA), which he co-directs.
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One of the major problems with Syrian troops, he insists, is not that most of them are "criminals," but that they simply "don’t know what’s going on" – and the same could be said of many of those in the extreme opposition.
Meanwhile, the international community is foundering amid attempts to understand what is happening on the ground. Because reporters have an easier time accessing opposition sources and visiting opposition-controlled areas, international coverage of Syria has been skewed, Jarrah argues.
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"You aren’t seeing any media coverage of Damascus and Latakia," where the government is still strong, both because reporters are not granted access and because "those who support Assad think they should not speak to journalists, that the media is trying to weaken the country," he says.
And coverage of the opposition isn't very fair either, he says, claiming that Western reporters "are only going in with the extreme opposition," such as Al Qaeda-linked groups like Jabhat al-Nusra, which the US recently designated a terrorist organization. Jarrah says reports about the prevalence of such groups are "over-exaggerated" because they sell more copy.
PRISON, PSEUDONYMS, AND FLIGHT
Born in Cyprus to Syrian dissident parents and raised in London, Jarrah was working toward a degree in journalism in Dubai when he visited Syria for the first time in 2004. He was arrested upon landing, accused of espionage, slapped with a three-year travel ban, and forced to remain in a country where he was initially unable even to read the language, although he spoke it fluently.
During the initial protests in early 2011, he was beaten, tortured, and released only after admitting to being a "terrorist." Left jobless after refusing to attend a pro-government rally, he became well known in the dissident community under the pseudonym Alexander Page for getting information to Western media outlets through his blog. His fluent English, training in journalism, anti-regime stance, and contacts all led to frequent requests for interviews in Western media. He granted them, but never revealed his real name.
In October 2011, Jarrah was tipped off that the pseudonym had been traced to him and fled the country with his wife and young daughter through Jordan to Cairo, where he has been since, working to get media equipment into Syria and get reliable information out. Last month, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression awarded him the 2012 International Press Freedom Award for his work supporting a network of independent journalists in Syria.
Now he is in Cairo, getting a media organization off the ground that he hopes will serve as a source for balanced reporting by Syrians and for Syrians. Much bloodshed could have been avoided, but much can still be saved, if appeals are made to Syrians’ critical thinking abilities, not their fears or sectarian and religious affiliations, he says – and objective reporting can do that.
NO AGENDA OTHER THAN OBJECTIVITY
Jarrah has high hopes for Radio ANA. A trial version is already available online and it will be available on satellite in late January, although the official launch isn't until June 10. The station will broadcast out of Aleppo’s Bustan Al Qasr district and eastern Damascus.
Radio ANA has 16 reporters inside Syria, all of whom his organization has worked with over the past year and trained in technical skills – six in Damascus and one or more in other major cities. It also has a wider network of hundreds of citizen journalists it can tap for further information and on-the-ground coverage of events in cities other than those where staff reporters live.
The Cairo staff of the organization, who come from all across Syria, make every possible effort to verify the information from the citizen journalists by cross-checking information and paying close attention to location identifiers like dialects and landmarks spotted in videos, Jarrah says.
Although ANA intends to continue providing reporting on Syria to the international community, Radio ANA is setting out to be the first Syrian non-regime radio station broadcasting from within Syria without a particular agenda – other than objectivity. The ultimate aim, as Jattah stressed throughout the interview, is to produce an informed Syrian population, necessary if the country is to be rebuilt with the freedoms for which the opposition is fighting.

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Good Taliban, Bad Taliban? Pakistani commander's killing exposes blurry lines

The US drone killing of Pakistani Taliban commander Maulvi Nazir threatens to unleash new anti-government violence against the country’s weak government or civilian targets, and expose fractures in the country’s military and security forces, analysts say.
Mr. Nazir was traveling in a car in troubled South Waziristan, bordering Afghanistan, Thursday, when his vehicle was hit by a missile, according to media reports. He and six other Pakistanis believed to be militants were killed.
The attacks highlight the convoluted interconnections among insurgent factions in Pakistan, some of whom are focused on fighting US forces in Afghanistan, others of whom seek to topple Pakistan’s government. Still other groups target Indian forces. Many of the factions are backed or financed by military and intelligence agencies in Pakistan, who have differing agendas themselves.
The killing was confirmed by Pakistani intelligence officials in the nearby city of Peshawar who spoke on condition of anonymity since they were not authorized to speak to the press.
Mr. Nazir, who survived a suicide attack in November reputedly organized by rival Taliban commanders, was considered to be pro-government, a rare stance among Pakistani Taliban. He had agreed in the past to restrain his fighters from targeting Pakistani government forces, instead focusing efforts on the Taliban-led anti-US insurgency in Afghanistan. That had led some to label him a “good" Taliban.
With his killing, however, some analysts say his successor and followers may now turn their guns on civilian and military targets within Pakistan.
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“Such [drone] attacks are not the first ones to have occurred and they have definitely created rifts between the Pakistani military and the likes of Maulvi Nazir-led Taliban,” says Mehreen Zahra Malik, an Islamabad-based columnist who recently visited Wana, the town in South Waziristan where Nazir was based.
Adding to the problem is widespread outrage among most Pakistanis toward US drone strikes. The government and military have harnessed that anger to pressure Washington. The “Good Taliban” forces increasingly suspect these attacks are being carried out with the consent of the Pakistani security establishment, Ms. Malik says.
“There is nothing to say the 'Good Taliban' won't also turn their guns on the Pakistani state in the coming days, which is definitely something the Pakistan Army would like to avoid,” Malik adds.
Other experts believe targeting Nazir could be part of a larger strategic alliance between Pakistan and the US, a relationship that has been strained by the 2011 secret US raid that killed Osama bin Laden without the knowledge of the government. The 2011 “Salala Incident” in which NATO aircraft killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at a post on the Afghan border also prompted anger toward Washington.
“By taking out the leadership of those Taliban based in Pakistan and fighting in Afghanistan like Maulvi Nazir, both countries can increase the pressure on the Taliban for talks because they will be in a stronger position,” says Ayesha Siddiqa, a defense analyst who has authored two books on the Pakistani military.
Some fear the drone attacks may end up backfiring.
“This drone attack belies the conventional wisdom... Why will the US target a militant close to the Afghan Taliban and antagonize those it wants to bring on the table for peace talks in?” says Fahd Husain, a noted columnist for the several leading Islamabad newspapers.

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Judge asks Hostess to mediate with union

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) -- Twinkies won't die that easily after all.
Hostess Brands Inc. and its second largest union will go into mediation to try and resolve their differences, meaning the company won't go out of business just yet. The news came Monday after Hostess moved to liquidate and sell off its assets in bankruptcy court citing a crippling strike last week.
The bankruptcy judge hearing the case said Monday that the parties haven't gone through the critical step of mediation and asked the lawyer for the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, which has been on strike since Nov. 9, to ask his client, who wasn't present, if the union would agree to participate. The judge noted that the bakery union, which represents about 30 percent of Hostess workers, went on strike after rejecting the company's latest contract offer, even though it never filed an objection to it.
"Many people, myself included, have serious questions as to the logic behind this strike," said Judge Robert Drain, who heard the case in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York in White Plains, N.Y. "Not to have gone through that step leaves a huge question mark in this case."
Hostess and the union agreed to mediation talks, which are expected to begin the process on Tuesday.
In an interview after the hearing on Monday, CEO Gregory Rayburn said that the two parties will have to agree to contract terms within 24 hours of the Tuesday since it is costing $1 million a day in overhead costs to wind down operations. But even if a contract agreement is reached, it is not clear if all 33 Hostess plants will go back to being operational.
"We didn't think we had a runway, but the judge just created a 24-hour runway," for the two parties to come to an agreement, Rayburn said.
Hostess, weighed down by debt, management turmoil, rising labor costs and the changing tastes of America, decided on Friday that it no longer could make it through a conventional Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring. Instead, the company, which is based in Irving, Texas, asked the court for permission to sell assets and go out of business.
It's not the sequence of events that the maker of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Ho Ho's envisioned when it filed for bankruptcy in January, its second Chapter 11 filing in less than a decade. The company, who said that it was saddled with costs related to its unionized workforce, had hoped to emerge with stronger financials. It brought on Rayburn as a restructuring expert and was working to renegotiate its contract with labor unions.
But Rayburn wasn't able to reach a deal with the bakery union. The company, which had been contributing $100 million a year in pension costs for workers, offered workers a new contract that would've slashed that to $25 million a year, in addition to wage cuts and a 17 percent reduction in health benefits. But the bakery union decided to strike.
By that time, the company had reached a contract agreement with its largest union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which urged the bakery union to hold a secret ballot on whether to continue striking. Although many bakery workers decided to cross picket lines this week, Hostess said it wasn't enough to keep operations at normal levels.
Rayburn said that Hostess was already operating on razor thin margins and that the strike was the final blow. The company's announcement on Friday that it would move to liquidate prompted people across the country to rush to stores and stock up on their favorite Hostess treats. Many businesses reported selling out of Twinkies within hours and the spongy yellow cakes turned up for sale online for hundreds of dollars.
Even if Hostess goes out of business, its popular brands will likely find a second life after being snapped up by buyers. The company says several potential buyers have expressed interest in the brands. Although Hostess' sales have been declining in recent years, the company still does about $2.5 billion in business each year. Twinkies along brought in $68 million so far this year.

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Just Explain It: What is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?

Eliminating America's dependency on foreign oil has been a policy goal for at least the last two U.S. Presidents.  According to the International Energy Agency, by 2020,  the U.S. will overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's number one oil producer.
However, there's still some work to do.  The United States Energy Information Administration reported that 45% of the petroleum consumed by the U.S. in 2011 was from foreign countries.   Even though the country is well on its way to becoming self reliant, there's always a chance we could hit a major bump in the road.  The good thing is we have protection.  It's called the Strategic Petroleum Reserve or S.P.R.
So here's how the S.P.R. works:
The reserve was created after the 1973 energy crisis when an Arab oil embargo halted exports to the United States.  As a result, fuel shortages caused disruptions in the U.S. economy.
The reserves are located underground in four man-made salt domes in Texas and Louisiana.  All four locations combined hold a total of 727 million barrels of oil.  The inventory is currently at 695 million barrels.  That's around 80 days of import protection.  It's the largest emergency oil supply in the world -- it's worth about $63 billion.
Only the President has the ability to tap the reserves in case of severe energy supply interruption.  It's happened three times.  Twice within the last decade.  In 2005, President Bush ordered the emergency sale of 11 million barrels when Hurricane Katrina shutdown 25 percent of domestic production.  In 2011, President Obama ordered the release of 30 million barrels to help offset disruptions caused by political upheaval in the Middle East.
Following the release order, the reserve issues a notice of sale to solicit competitive offers.  In the most recent sale involving the Obama administration, the offers resulted in contracts with 15 companies for delivery of 30.6 million barrels of oil.  To put that in context, last year the U.S. consumed almost seven billion barrels of oil — that's 19 million per day -- or about 22% of the world's consumption.
Related Link: Using the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Like a Spigot
The release in 2011 had little effect on the price of gas at the pump.  Consumers paid about 2% less for a week before the prices began to climb again.
Related link: Just Explain It: Why Social Security is Running Out of Money
Did you learn something? Do you have a topic you'd like explained?  Give us your feedback in the comments below or on Twitter using #justexplainit.

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Apple to produce line of Macs in the US next year

NEW YORK (AP) -- Apple CEO Tim Cook says the company will move production of one of its existing lines of Mac computers from China to the United States next year.
Industry watchers said the announcement is both a cunning public-relations move and a harbinger of more manufacturing jobs moving back to the U.S. as wages rise in China.
Cook made the comments in part of an interview taped for NBC's "Rock Center," but aired Thursday morning on "Today" and posted on the network's website.
In a separate interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, he said that the company will spend $100 million in 2013 to move production of the line to the U.S. from China.
"This doesn't mean that Apple will do it ourselves, but we'll be working with people and we'll be investing our money," Cook told Bloomberg.
That suggests the company could be helping one of its Taiwanese manufacturing partners, which run factories in China, to set up production lines in the U.S. devoted to Apple products. Research firm IHS iSuppli noted that both Foxconn Technology Group, which assembles iPhones, and Quanta Computer Inc., which does the same for MacBooks, already have small operations in the U.S.
Apple representatives had no comment Thursday beyond Cook's remarks.
Like most consumer electronics companies, Apple forges agreements with contract manufacturers to assemble its products overseas. However, the assembly accounts for a fraction of the cost of making a PC or smartphone. Most of the cost lies in buying chips, and many of those are made in the U.S., Cook noted in his interview with NBC.
The company and Foxconn have faced significant criticism this year over working conditions at the Chinese facilities where Apple products are assembled. The attention prompted Foxconn to raise salaries.
Cook didn't say which line of computers would be produced in the U.S. or where in the country they would be made. But he told Bloomberg that the production would include more than just final assembly. That suggests that machining of cases and printing of circuit boards could take place in the U.S.
The simplest Macs to assemble are the Mac Pro and Mac Mini desktop computers. Since they lack the built-in screens of the MacBooks and iMacs, they would likely be easier to separate from the Asian display supply chain.
Analyst Jeffrey Wu at IHS iSuppli said it's not uncommon for PC makers to build their bulkier products close to their customers to cut down on delivery times and shipping costs.
Regardless, the U.S. manufacturing line is expected to represent just a tiny piece of Apple's overall production, with sales of iPhones and iPads now dwarfing those of its computers.
Apple is latching on to a trend that could see many jobs move back to the U.S., said Hal Sirkin, a partner with The Boston Consulting Group. He noted that Lenovo Group, the Chinese company that's neck-and-neck with Hewlett-Packard Co. for the title of world's largest PC maker, announced in October that it will start making PCs and tablets in the U.S.
Chinese wages are raising 15 to 20 percent per year, Sirkin said. U.S. wages are rising much more slowly, and the country is a cheap place to hire compared to other developed countries like Germany, France and Japan, he said.
"Across a lot of industries, companies are rethinking their strategy of where the manufacturing takes place," Sirkin said.
Carl Howe, an analyst with Yankee Group, likened Apple's move to Henry Ford's famous 1914 decision to double his workers' pay, helping to build a middle class that could afford to buy cars. But Cook's goal is probably more limited: to buy goodwill from U.S. consumers, Howe said.
"Say it's State of the Union 2014. President Obama wants to talk about manufacturing. Who is he going to point to in the audience? Tim Cook, the guy who brought manufacturing back from China. And that scene is going replay over and over," Howe said. "And yeah, it may be only (public relations), but it's a lot of high-value PR."
Cook said in his interview with NBC that companies like Apple chose to produce their products in places like China, not because of the lower costs associated with it, but because the manufacturing skills required just aren't present in the U.S. anymore.
He added that the consumer electronics world has never really had a big production presence in the U.S. As a result, it's really more about starting production in the U.S. than bringing it back, he said.
But for nearly three decades Apple made its computers in the U.S. It started outsourcing production in the mid-90s, first by selling some plants to contract manufacturers, then by hiring manufacturers overseas. It assembled iMacs in Elk Grove, Calif., until 2004.
Some Macs already say they're "Assembled in USA." That's because Apple has for years performed final assembly of some units in the U.S. Those machines are usually the product of special orders placed at its online store. The last step of production may consist of mounting hard drives, memory chips and graphics cards into computer cases that are manufactured elsewhere. With Cook's announcement Thursday, the company is set to go much further in the amount of work done in the U.S.
The news comes a day after Apple posted its worst stock drop in four years, erasing $35 billion in market capitalization. Apple's stock rose $8.45, or 1.6 percent, to close at $547.24 Thursday.

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Acer and Asus to Stop Making Netbooks

The last two major netbook manufacturers, Acer and Asus, are closing the doors on these mini-laptops. According to Digitimes' Monica Chen and Joseph Tsai, Acer "has no plans to release more netbook products" such as its Aspire One, while Asus has already ended its Eee PC line.
Other netbook manufacturers, such as Samsung, have long since abandoned the market.
Why netbooks failed to catch on
Netbooks were "still enjoying strong sales" as late as 2010, according to an optimistic report by ABI Research. But the growth trend which it predicted flattened out and declined, thanks to four factors pointed out by the Guardian's Charles Arthur.
Not worth it for many, compared to notebooks
One is that the original, Linux-based netbooks failed to catch on, as they had trouble running Windows PC software. But Microsoft charged between $30 and $50 for each netbook's Windows license, and insisted that the new crop of Windows netbooks be larger and more expensive than the original Linux-based models. This placed them in close competition with low-end laptops, the prices of which were going down instead of up.
The rise of the iPad
The other biggest factor is that the iPad and Android tablets took the place of netbooks for many buyers. While Apple's iPad was the price of a full-sized laptop, the company soon introduced discounted or refurbished versions ... as well as the smaller, $329 iPad Mini, which doesn't cost much more than most netbooks. Besides that, the whole iPad line was even lighter than netbooks and had longer battery life, besides being more responsive and having more popular apps.
Meanwhile, companies like Amazon and Barnes and Noble made $199 Kindle and Nook tablets, which beat out even the original $249 Linux-based Asus Eee's price tag.
A little bit bigger, a lot better
During the netbook's heyday, many called for Apple to make one of its own. As Apple tech expert John Gruber pointed out, however, netbooks were "cheaper, not better," which contradicted Apple's business model of selling high-margin, premium products.
When Apple did release a small laptop computer, it was the $999 11-inch MacBook Air, which went on to be a best-seller. Other PC manufacturers tried to follow in Apple's footsteps with Intel's "Ultrabook" specification, which is basically a recipe for MacBook Air clones that run Windows, but so far have failed to make a dent in the market.
Taking the place of netbooks
Besides Ultrabooks, the other notable netbook-like computers on the market right now are Chromebooks, ultralight laptops which start at $199 and run a slimmed-down OS based on Google's Chrome web browser. Former netbook manufacturers Samsung and Acer are both making Chromebooks, while Asus manufactured Google's popular Nexus 7 tablet.
Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

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What If Nothing or Nobody is to Blame for Lanza? Guns, Video Games, Autism or Authorities

What if there is nobody or nothing to blame for Adam Lanza's heinous acts? Other than Lanza, of course.
What if school security and the school psychiatrist kept an eye on Lanza since his freshman year? The Wall Street Journal has a compelling narrative about the red flags addressed.
What if he had a form of autism that has little or no link to violent behavior? Lanza may have had Asperger's syndrome but, even so, that is not a cause.
What if it's too simple to lay the massacre at the feet of the gun lobby? Reader Larry Kelly tweets that shaming Aspies "makes about as much sense at stigmatizing the NRA. Pick an enemy ... any enemy. Let outrage and fear rule."
What if Lanza wasn't provoked by video games? David Axelrod, a close friend an adviser of President Obama, tweeted last night: "In NFL post-game: an ad for shoot 'em up video game. All for curbing weapons of war. But shouldn't we also quit marketing murder as a game."
When I asked whether he was laying groundwork for a White House initiative, Axelrod said no: "Just one man's observation." A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonytmmity, said today that Axelrod was not a stalking horse for Obama on this issue.
What if Lanza's mother did everything she could, short of keeping her guns out her adult son's reach? What if he wasn't bullied?
What if there is nobody or nothing to blame? Would that make this inexplicable horror unbearable?
What if we didn't rush to judgement? What if we didn't waste our thoughts, prayers and actions on assigning blame for the sake of mere recrimination? What if we calmly and ruthlessly learned whatever lessons we can from the massacre -- and prevented the next one?
A parting thought: What if it wasn't one thing, but everything, that set off Lanza?

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What If Nothing or Nobody is to Blame for Adam Lanza? Guns, Video Games, Autism or Authorities

What if there is nobody or nothing to blame for Adam Lanza's heinous acts? Other than Lanza, of course.
What if school security and the school psychiatrist kept an eye on Lanza since his freshman year? The Wall Street Journal has a compelling narrative about the red flags addressed.
What if he had a form of autism that has little or no link to violent behavior? Lanza may have had Asperger's syndrome but, even so, that is not a cause.
(RELATED: How To Make Sense of America's Confusing Patchwork of Gun Control Laws)
What if it's too simple to lay the massacre at the feet of the gun lobby? Reader Larry Kelly tweets that shaming Aspies "makes about as much sense at stigmatizing the NRA. Pick an enemy ... any enemy. Let outrage and fear rule."
What if Lanza wasn't provoked by video games? David Axelrod, a close friend an adviser of President Obama, tweeted last night: "In NFL post-game: an ad for shoot 'em up video game. All for curbing weapons of war. But shouldn't we also quit marketing murder as a game."
When I asked whether he was laying groundwork for a White House initiative, Axelrod said no: "Just one man's observation." A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said today that Axelrod was not a stalking horse for Obama on this issue.
What if Lanza's mother did everything she could, short of keeping her guns out her adult son's reach? What if he wasn't bullied?
What if there is nobody or nothing to blame? Would that make this inexplicable horror unbearable?
What if we didn't rush to judgement? What if we didn't waste our thoughts, prayers and actions on assigning blame for the sake of mere recrimination? What if we calmly and ruthlessly learned whatever lessons we can from the massacre -- and prevented the next one?
What if it wasn't one thing, but everything, that set off Lanza?

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Xbox SmartGlass updated with second-screen ESPN and NBA Game Time app experiences

Little by little, Microsoft’s (MSFT) Xbox SmartGlass app is becoming more useful. Microsoft Director of Programming for Xbox LIVE Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb announced on Monday the release of the Sports Picks app, which allows users to “make picks, compete with your Xbox LIVE friends and fight for domination of the leaderboard.” Xbox SmartGlass also has new ESPN and NBA Game Time experiences that provide second-screen information and navigation to “thousands of live events, highlights and replays” during a game. Xbox SmartGlass is compatible with dozens of existing Android, iOS and Windows Phone 8 smartphones and tablets as well as Windows 8-compatible mobile devices. The new update to Xbox SmartGlass is the latest in Microsoft’s attempts to position the Xbox 360 as the ultimate living room device.

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What If There is Nobody or Nothing to Blame for Lanza? Guns, Video Games, Autism or Authorities

What if there is nobody or nothing to blame for Adam Lanza's heinous acts? Other than Lanza, of course.
What if school security and the school psychiatrist kept an eye on Lanza since his freshman year? The Wall Street Journal has a compelling narrative about the red flags addressed.
What if he had a form of autism that has little or no link to violent behavior? Lanza may have had Asperger's syndrome but, even so, that is not a cause.
What if it's too simple to lay the massacre at the feet of the gun lobby? Reader Larry Kelly tweets that shaming Aspies "makes about as much sense at stigmatizing the NRA. Pick an enemy ... any enemy. Let outrage and fear rule."
What if Lanza wasn't provoked by video games? David Axelrod, a close friend an adviser of President Obama, tweeted last night: "In NFL post-game: an ad for shoot 'em up video game. All for curbing weapons of war. But shouldn't we also quit marketing murder as a game."
When I asked whether he was laying groundwork for a White House initiative, Axelrod said no: "Just one man's observation." A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonytmmity, said today that Axelrod was not a stalking horse for Obama on this issue.
What if Lanza's mother did everything she could, short of keeping her guns out her adult son's reach?
What if there is nobody or nothing to blame? Would that make this inexplicable horror unbearable?
What if we didn't rush to judgement? What if we didn't waste our thoughts, prayers and actions on assigning blame for the sake of mere recrimination? What if we calmly and ruthlessly learned whatever lessons we can from the massacre -- and prevented the next one?

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Reid among 7 NFL coaches sacked in firing frenzy

Andy Reid is the winningest coach in the history of the Philadelphia Eagles. Lovie Smith led the Chicago Bears to the 2007 Super Bowl.
Now they're looking for work.
Seven coaches and five general managers were fired Monday in a flurry of pink slips that were delivered the day after the regular-season ended.
Ken Whisenhunt is out after helping Arizona reach the Super Bowl following the 2008 season. Also gone: Norv Turner in San Diego, Pat Shurmur in Cleveland, Romeo Crennel in Kansas City and Chan Gailey in Buffalo.
Three teams made it a clean sweep, saying goodbye to the GM along with the coach — San Diego, Cleveland, Arizona. General managers also were fired in Jacksonville and New York, where Rex Ryan held onto his coaching job with the Jets despite a losing record.
Reid was the longest tenured of the coaches, removed after 14 seasons and a Super Bowl appearance in 2005 — a loss to New England. Smith spent nine seasons with the Bears.
Turner has now been fired as head coach by three teams. San Diego won the AFC West from 2006-09, but didn't make the postseason the last three years under Turner and GM A.J. Smith.
"Both Norv and A.J. are consummate NFL professionals, and they understand that in this league, the bottom line is winning," Chargers President Dean Spanos said in a statement.
Whisenhunt was fired after six seasons. He had more wins than any other coach in Cardinals history, going 45-51, and has one year worth about $5.5 million left on his contract. GM Rod Graves had been with Arizona for 16 years, nine in his current position. A 5-11 record after a 4-0 start cost him and Whisenhunt their jobs.
Gailey was dumped after three seasons with the Bills; Shurmur after two; and Crennel had one full season with the Chiefs.
Reid took over a 3-13 Eagles team in 1999, drafted Donovan McNabb with the No. 2 overall pick and quickly turned the franchise into a title contender.
But the team hasn't won a playoff game since 2008 and after last season's 8-8 finish, owner Jeffrey Lurie said he was looking for improvement this year. Instead, it was even worse. The Eagles finished 4-12.
"When you have a season like that, it's embarrassing. It's personally crushing to me and it's terrible," Lurie said at a news conference. He said he respects Reid and plans to stay friends with him, "but, it is time for the Eagles to move in a new direction."
Shurmur went 9-23 in his two seasons with the Browns, who will embark on yet another offseason of change — the only constant in more than a decade of futility. Cleveland has lost at least 11 games in each of the past five seasons and made the playoffs just once since returning to the NFL as an expansion team in 1999.
"Ultimately our objective is to put together an organization that will be the best at everything we do," Browns CEO Joe Banner said. "On the field, our only goal is trying to win championships."
Crennel took over with three games left in the 2011 season after GM Scott Pioli fired Todd Haley. Kansas City will have the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft as a result of having one of the worst seasons in its 53-year history. The only other time the Chiefs finished 2-14 was 2008, the year before Pioli was hired.
"I am embarrassed by the poor product we gave our fans this season, and I believe we have no choice but to move the franchise in a different direction," Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said in a statement.
Gailey, the former Dallas Cowboys coach, compiled a 16-32 record in his three seasons in Buffalo, never doing better than 6-10.
"This will probably be, and I say probably, but I think it will be the first place that's ever fired me that I'll pull for," Gailey said.
Smith and the Bears went 10-6 this season and just missed a playoff spot. But Chicago started 7-1 and has struggled to put together a productive offense throughout Smith's tenure. His record was 81-63 with the Bears, and he took them to one Super Bowl loss and to one NFC championship game defeat.
Receiver and kick return standout Devin Hester was bitter about Smith's firing.
"The media, the false fans, you all got what you all wanted," Hester said as he cleared out his locker. "The majority of you all wanted him out. As players we wanted him in. I guess the fans — the false fans — outruled us. I thought he was a great coach, probably one of the best coaches I've ever been around."
The fired GMs included Mike Tannenbaum of the Jets; Gene Smith of the Jaguars; Tom Heckert of the Browns; Smith of the Chargers and Graves of Arizona.
"You hope that those guys that obviously were victims of black Monday land on their feet," Rams coach Jeff Fisher said. "You've got guys that have been to Super Bowls and won championship games and all of a sudden they've forgot how to coach, I guess."

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