Russian Protest Leader Put Under House Arrest

MOSCOW — A Moscow district court ordered Sergei Udaltsov, a prominent opposition leader, to be placed under house arrest on Saturday, in one of the most assertive legal measures to date against a leader of the anti-Kremlin protests that began more than a year ago.

Mr. Udaltsov, the leader of the radical socialist Left Front movement, faces a charge of conspiracy to incite mass disorder, under a statute that can bring a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. According to Saturday’s ruling, he may not leave his house, use the Internet, receive letters or communicate with anyone outside his family and legal team until April 6, the current date for the end of the investigation of his case.

The ruling seemed to signal a new stage in the government’s effort to bring criminal cases against well-known critics of President Vladimir V. Putin. Though most of the well-known protest leaders have served short sentences for administrative violations, and several are the subject of criminal inquiries, none had yet been held on criminal charges.

Mr. Udaltsov, a passionate public speaker and the great-grandson of a prominent Bolshevik, has stood out among the Moscow protesters, many of them middle-class Russians who distance themselves from calls for revolution. He was also one of the few to focus early on economic issues relevant to Russians outside large cities.

Speaking with journalists outside the courtroom, Mr. Udaltsov said he had broken no laws and called the decision “a political order against me because my public actions anger the government.”

“All the reasons being offered as evidence were already perfectly clear to them in October, when I was first placed under a travel ban,” Mr. Udaltsov said. “Nothing has changed.”

During Saturday’s hearing, prosecutors also claimed that Mr. Udaltsov had threatened to attack his wife, Anastasia, and that she at one point had fled to Ukraine with their children. A judge refused to allow Ms. Udaltsova to testify in court on Saturday, but she told the Novaya Gazeta daily newspaper that the accusation was “a total lie.”

Mr. Udaltsov has been accused of attacking the police and rioting at an anti-Putin demonstration that ended in clashes last May, and of attempting to organize anti-government riots in cities across Russia.

He has been under a travel ban since October, but prosecutors said that he had gone outside Moscow and continued to lead public rallies while under investigation. A statement from investigators charged that Mr. Udaltsov “has not lived at his registered address for a long time, his mobile telephone is often switched off, making it difficult to summon the accused to investigators.”

The statement also said Mr. Udaltsov “does not inform the investigation of his factual location.”

Saturday’s ruling came at the request of Russia’s powerful Investigative Committee, which has recently revived several stalled criminal investigations against Russian opposition leaders including Aleksei Navalny, a popular blogger and corruption whistle-blower accused in December of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in a business swindle.

Mr. Udaltsov, in his closing arguments, told the judge that if he was placed under house arrest, he would like the state to afford him a 13-room apartment, a cook and a maid — a reference to the house-arrest conditions reportedly granted to a Defense Ministry official currently facing corruption charges.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: February 9, 2013

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Sergei Udaltsov’s family ties. He is the great-grandson of a prominent Bolshevik, not the grandson.

Read More..

Mama June's Weight Loss Wows Readers, While Kate's Baby Bump Draws Love

By Andrea Billups

02/09/2013 at 01:35 PM EST

Mama June (left) and mama-to-be Kate

Pacific Coast News; TOP STAR PICTURES

What's on the minds of PEOPLE readers this week? We love seeing your responses, and as always, you weighed in with plenty of angry, sad and LOL feedback to all of our stories.

From Here Comes Honey Boo Boo's Mama June, who lost 100 lbs. by simply running around filming her show, she says, to Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville's admission that she charged her vaginal reconstruction surgery to her ex-husband's credit card, readers responded.

Check out the articles with the top reactions on the site this week, and keep clicking on the emoticons at the bottom of every story to tell us what you think!

Yes, a royal baby is indeed on the way, and the world watched this week as photos emerged of pregnant Kate stepping out with a small bump. Although the stylish Duchess of Cambridge covered up with a Tartan-print cape over black leggings and riding boots, it was clear that her figure was changing as her pregnancy continued after early weeks of severe morning sickness that had sent her to the hospital. She is due in July.

Our readers expressed anger over Kim Kardashian's ongoing divorce fight with estranged husband Kris Humphries as she pleaded with a judge to declare her marriage over because she is pregnant with another man's baby and doesn't want to be wed when her child arrives. She also told the judge she feared financial entanglement if the case lingered, including purchase of a new residence. Humphries is seeking an annulment of their 72-day marriage based on claims of fraud.

Readers were wowed by a much-smaller Mama June. The Here Comes Honey Boo Boo matriarch says she's dropped more than 100 lbs., as she dashes from place to place shooting her popular TV show – and not through diet or exercise. "They have me running around and going different places ... I guess it's paying off," she told TMZ of her weight-loss strategy.

Oh no she didn't! Her husband Eddie Cibrian may have cheated on her and left her for another woman, but outspoken The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville, 40, opened up in her new book, Drinking & Tweeting that she got him back in an usual way: using his credit card to charge a $12,000 vaginal rejuvenation surgery. Readers laughed out loud at Glanville, who dishes plenty of other family dirt in her book. She and Cibrian have two children, Mason, 9 and Jake, 5. He is now married to country star LeAnn Rimes.

Readers felt sadness for Emma Bunton, who lost her beloved chocolate Labrador Phoebe after the dog went missing on a daily walk. The Spice Girl, 37, Tweeted that she and fiancé Jade Jones were "devastated," by the loss of their pet, who had been microchipped. "To all the amazing people who supported us at this horrible time, our precious Phoebe has been found and it's terrible news," Bunton Tweeted Wednesday. Bunton and Jones, who are parents to two sons, also thanked those who helped them in their search, including Dog Lost, a database for lost and found dogs in the U.K.

Check back next week for another must-read roundup, and see what readers are reacting to every day here.

Read More..

After early start, worst of flu season may be over

NEW YORK (AP) — The worst of the flu season appears to be over.

The number of states reporting intense or widespread illnesses dropped again last week, and in a few states there was very little flu going around, U.S. health officials said Friday.

The season started earlier than normal, first in the Southeast and then spreading. But now, by some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four weeks in much of the country. Flu and pneumonia deaths also dropped the last two weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

"It's likely that the worst of the current flu season is over," CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said.

But flu is hard to predict, he and others stressed, and there have been spikes late in the season in the past.

For now, states like Georgia and New York — where doctor's offices were jammed a few weeks ago — are reporting low flu activity. The hot spots are now the West Coast and the Southwest.

Among the places that have seen a drop: Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown, Pa., which put up a tent outside its emergency room last month to help deal with the steady stream of patients. There were about 100 patients each day back then. Now it's down to 25 and the hospital may pack up its tent next week, said Terry Burger, director of infection control and prevention for the hospital.

"There's no question that we're seeing a decline," she said.

In early December, CDC officials announced flu season had arrived, a month earlier than usual. They were worried, saying it had been nine years since a winter flu season started like this one. That was 2003-04 — one of the deadliest seasons in the past 35 years, with more than 48,000 deaths.

Like this year, the major flu strain was one that tends to make people sicker, especially the elderly, who are most vulnerable to flu and its complications

But back then, that year's flu vaccine wasn't made to protect against that bug, and fewer people got flu shots. The vaccine is reformulated almost every year, and the CDC has said this year's vaccine is a good match to the types that are circulating. A preliminary CDC study showed it is about 60 percent effective, which is close to the average.

So far, the season has been labeled moderately severe.

Like others, Lehigh Valley's Burger was cautious about making predictions. "I'm not certain we're completely out of the woods," with more wintry weather ahead and people likely to be packed indoors where flu can spread around, she said.

The government does not keep a running tally of flu-related deaths in adults, but has received reports of 59 deaths in children. The most — nine — were in Texas, where flu activity was still high last week. Roughly 100 children die in an average flu season, the CDC says

On average, about 24,000 Americans die each flu season, according to the CDC.

According to the CDC report, the number of states with intense activity is down to 19, from 24 the previous week, and flu is widespread in 38 states, down from 42.

Flu is now minimal in Florida, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

___

Online:

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

Read More..

Stocks end higher for sixth straight week, tech leads

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Nasdaq composite stock index closed at a 12-year high and the S&P 500 index at a five-year high, boosted by gains in technology shares and stronger overseas trade figures.

The S&P 500 also posted a sixth straight week of gains for the first time since August.

The technology sector led the day's gains, with the S&P 500 technology index <.splrct> up 1.0 percent. Gains in professional network platform LinkedIn Corp and AOL Inc after they reported quarterly results helped the sector.

Shares of LinkedIn jumped 21.3 percent to $150.48 after the social networking site announced strong quarterly profits and gave a bullish forecast for the year.

AOL Inc shares rose 7.4 percent to $33.72 after the online company reported higher quarterly profit, boosted by a 13 percent rise in advertising sales.

Data showed Chinese exports grew more than expected, a positive sign for the global economy. The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in December, suggesting the U.S. economy likely grew in the fourth quarter instead of contracting slightly as originally reported by the U.S. government.

"That may have sent a ray of optimism," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

Trading volume on Friday was below average for the week as a blizzard swept into the northeastern United States.

The U.S. stock market has posted strong gains since the start of the year, with the S&P 500 up 6.4 percent since December 31. The advance has slowed in recent days, with fourth-quarter earnings winding down and few incentives to continue the rally on the horizon.

"I think we're in the middle of a trading range and I'd put plus or minus 5.0 percent around it. Fundamental factors are best described as neutral," Dickson said.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> ended up 48.92 points, or 0.35 percent, at 13,992.97. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 8.54 points, or 0.57 percent, at 1,517.93. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 28.74 points, or 0.91 percent, at 3,193.87, its highest closing level since November 2000.

For the week, the Dow was down 0.1 percent, the S&P 500 was up 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq up 0.5 percent.

Shares of Dell closed at $13.63, up 0.7 percent, after briefly trading above a buyout offering price of $13.65 during the session.

Dell's largest independent shareholder, Southeastern Asset Management, said it plans to oppose the buyout of the personal computer maker, setting up a battle for founder Michael Dell.

Signs of economic strength overseas buoyed sentiment on Wall Street. Chinese exports grew more than expected in January, while imports climbed 28.8 percent, highlighting robust domestic demand. German data showed a 2012 surplus that was the nation's second highest in more than 60 years, an indication of the underlying strength of Europe's biggest economy.

Separately, U.S. economic data showed the trade deficit shrank in December to $38.5 billion, its narrowest in nearly three years, indicating the economy did much better in the fourth quarter than initially estimated.

Earnings have mostly come in stronger than expected since the start of the reporting period. Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies now are estimated up 5.2 percent versus a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters data. That contrasts with a 1.9 percent growth forecast at the start of the earnings season.

Molina Healthcare Inc surged 10.4 percent to $31.88 as the biggest boost to the index after posting fourth-quarter earnings.

The CBOE Volatility index <.vix>, Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, was down 3.6 percent at 13.02. The gauge, a key measure of market expectations of short-term volatility, generally moves inversely to the S&P 500.

"I'm watching the 14 level closely" on the CBOE Volatility index, said Bryan Sapp, senior trading analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research. "The break below it at the beginning of the year signaled the sharp rally in January, and a rally back above it could be a sign to exercise some caution."

Volume was roughly 5.6 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, compared with the 2012 average daily closing volume of about 6.45 billion.

Advancers outpaced decliners on the NYSE by nearly 2 to 1 and on the Nasdaq by almost 5 to 3.

(Additional reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Bernadette Baum, Nick Zieminski, Kenneth Barry and Andrew Hay)

Read More..

China Denies Directing Radar at Japanese Military

HONG KONG — China on Friday denied Japanese accusations that its ships directed a radar capable of aiding weapon strikes at a Japanese naval vessel and helicopter near disputed islands recently, then lobbed its own accusation: that Japan was trying to fan tensions. The latest exchange underscored the depth of a festering discord between the two countries, and trading partners, over the territorial dispute.

The tit-for-tat accusations started on Tuesday, when Japan’s Ministry of Defense announced that a Chinese military vessel had trained a radar on a Japanese naval destroyer near the islands in the East China Sea on Jan. 30. The ministry said a Chinese frigate had directed the same kind of radar at one of its military helicopters on Jan. 19.

Because using such “fire-control” radar can precede an attack, the Japanese defense minister, Itsunori Onodera, said that a misstep “could have pushed things into a dangerous situation.”

China did not respond at the time, but on Friday the Defense Ministry Web site said that the naval vessels’ radar had “maintained normal observational alertness, and there was no use of fire-control radar.” It did not explain what it meant by “normal observational alertness,” though the ministry added that the Japanese claims were “out of step with the facts.”

For all China’s vehemence, the statement by its defense ministry suggested that senior officials in Beijing want to avoid an escalating quarrel, said Denny Roy, a senior fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu who researches security issues.

“I think it’s a positive development that the Chinese would deny doing this, as opposed to saying, ‘Yes we did it, and we’ll do it again,’ ” said Mr. Roy. “For the Chinese to not want to be portrayed as an aggressor, I think, is a good sign.”

By contrast, when Japan complained in early January that Chinese ships had entered Japanese-controlled waters near the islands for 13 hours the ambassador responded that the islands belong to China and the Japanese ships that had no right to be there, according to Japanese officials. That incursion was particularly long, but it came amid weeks of cat-and-mouse games between ships and occasionally planes from both countries.

This time, the Chinese defense ministry accompanied its denial with accusations that Japan was to blame for any unnervingly close encounters between their ships and aircraft near the islands known as the Diaoyu in China and the Senkaku in Japan, which has controlled them for decades.

Japan was “deliberately creating a tense atmosphere and misleading international opinion,” the defense ministry said.

Later on Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry also dismissed Japan’s assertions as “spun out of thin air.”

“We have no choice but to stay highly vigilant about Japan’s true intentions,” Hua Chunying, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, told reporters.

Long-standing tensions over the islands flared in September, when the Japanese government bought three of the five islands from a private owner in what it said was an effort to keep them out of the hands of a Japanese nationalist. China, however, said the purchase amounted to a provocative denial of its territorial claims, and sometimes violent protests broke out in dozens of Chinese cities.

In the months since, the Chinese government has underscored its claim to the islands by sending government vessels and military ships and aircraft to the waters near the islands which are patrolled by Japanese Coast Guard ships.

In Tokyo, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga responded Friday to China’s denial about the radar, saying, “We cannot accept China’s explanation.”

“We urge China to take sincere measures to prevent dangerous actions which could cause a contingency situation,” he said.

Japan earlier said that Russian fighter planes had briefly entered its airspace on Thursday, raising tensions in a separate dispute between those two countries over another set of islands. Russia denied any incursion.

Bree Feng and Patrick Zuo contributed research from Beijing.

Read More..

Britney Spears Gets Another Dog

People Pets

02/08/2013 at 01:40 PM EST

Britney Spears and her new dog

Courtesy Britney Spears

It's a furbaby one more time for Britney Spears.

After bringing home pooch Hannah in November, Spears introduced her newest furry family member on her Facebook page Friday.

"Say good morning to my new baby people," she wrote, sharing an adorable photo of her and the little white pup snuggling.

And if this new addition is anything like its big sister, the dog will surely become as famous as its Mom soon. Hannah Spears (@HannahSpears) is already a Twitter phenomenon, with close to 40,000 followers and a devoted fan base that loves her quirky Tweets.

The start of the New Year has been an eventful one for Spears, who in addition to expanding her pet family, also split with fiancé Jason Trawick and left her post as a judge on The X Factor. She is currently mulling over a deal to set up a residency in Las Vegas.

Read More..

Health officials: Worst of flu season may be over

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials say the worst of the flu season appears to be over.

The number of states reporting intense or widespread flu dropped again last week. By some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four weeks. Deaths from the flu or pneumonia have been dropping for two weeks.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the latest flu numbers on Friday.

This flu season started about a month earlier than normal. Outbreaks began in the late fall, and the dominant flu strain is one that tends to make people sicker.

It's been nine years since a flu season started like this one, and that proved to be one of the deadliest. So far, this season has been labeled moderately severe.

Read More..

Equities climb in wake of positive data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks edged higher on Friday, with the benchmark S&P index hitting a five-year high, in the wake of a batch of encouraging domestic and international economic reports.

Data showing stronger international trade in China and Germany, and a report indicating the U.S. trade deficit had narrowed in December, pointed to improving global demand.

The U.S. technology sector rose, boosted by gains in LinkedIn Corp and AOL Inc following their quarterly results, and in turn, lifting the Nasdaq.

Shares of LinkedIn jumped 22 percent to $151.81 after announcing quarterly profits and giving a bullish forecast for the year.

AOL Inc shares rose 7.1 percent to $33.62 after the online company reported higher quarterly profit, boosted by a 13 percent rise in advertising sales.

The benchmark S&P 500 <.spx>, up more than 6 percent for the year, is on track for six straight weeks of gains for the first time since August 2012.

But an advance has been tougher in recent days as investors await strong trading incentives to drive the index further upward.

"The rally is definitely slowing down. We might see a record high this year but we do need a bit of correction before going there," said Randy Frederick, director of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab.

"We've been in this 1,516 level (for the S&P 500) for the sixth straight session and need break above to really move higher."

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 44.79 points, or 0.32 percent, at 13,988.84. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 7.13 points, or 0.47 percent, at 1,516.52. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 29.51 points, or 0.93 percent, at 3,194.64.

The CBOE Volatility index <.vix>, Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, was down 4.2 percent at 12.94. The gauge, a key measure of market expectations of short-term volatility, generally moves inversely to the S&P 500.

Some analysts wondered if the market would convincingly stride higher.

"I'm watching the 14 level closely" on the CBOE Volatility index, said Bryan Sapp, senior trading analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research. "The break below it at the beginning of the year signaled the sharp rally in January, and a rally back above it could be a sign to exercise some caution."

Healthcare stocks climbed, with the Morgan Stanley healthcare payor index <.hmo> up 2.3 percent. Molina Healthcare Inc surged 9.7 percent to $31.67 as the biggest boost to the index after posting fourth-quarter earnings.

McDonald's Corp said January sales at established hamburger restaurants around the world fell 1.9 percent, a steeper decline than analysts had expected. Still, shares edged up 0.7 percent to $95.33.

Data showed Chinese exports grew more than expected in January, while imports climbed 28.8 percent, highlighting robust domestic demand, while German data showed a 2012 surplus that was the nation's second highest in more than 60 years, an indication of the underlying strength of Europe's biggest economy.

Separately, U.S. economic data showed the trade deficit shrank in December to $38.5 billion, its narrowest in nearly three years, indicating the economy did much better in the fourth quarter than initially estimated.

"The reason why this is so important is because the trade deficit was a major contributor to the negative GDP report we had in Q4. With today's number, we could see a reversal of this in the next GDP report, going from negative to positive," Frederick said.

On the earnings front, many companies beat estimates as their profits grew.

According to Thomson Reuters data through Friday morning, of 339 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings, 69.9 percent have exceeded analysts' expectations, above a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters.

Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies grew 5.2 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Read More..

The Lede: Video Broadcast on State Television Was Downloaded From U.S. Drone, Iran Says

As The Associated Press reports from Tehran, late Wednesday Iran’s state television broadcast what it described as video recorded by the American surveillance drone that crash-landed about 140 miles from the country’s border with Afghanistan in late 2011.

Video broadcast by Iranian state television Wednesday included what was described as footage recorded by an American surveillance drone that crash-landed in Iran in 2011.

The state television report includes aerial views of what the narration describes as the American air base in Kandahar, Afghanistan, mixed in with still photographs of an RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone at that base made public in 2011, and images of the craft being recovered in 2011 by Iran’s military.

The report features an interview with Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, identified as the head of the aerospace division of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, who denied that the drone had simply crashed because of a computer malfunction, as American officials have claimed. “We were able to definitively access the data of the drone, once we brought it down,” General Hajizadeh said.

More footage said to have been recorded by the drone can be seen in a copy of the 24-minute Iranian report posted on YouTube on Wednesday by Lenziran, a site that monitors Iranian media.

In an analysis of the footage for Foreign Policy, the national security reporter John Reed observes that in one segment of the Iranian report, “the camera on this aircraft is positioned behind a rather complex nose landing gear assembly — a layout that matches grainy Web images of the Sentinel that show what looks like a compartment that could contain a camera positioned on the bottom of the airplane, just behind the front landing gear.”

A copy of an Iranian television report on a captured United States drone posted on YouTube late Wednesday.

The report, Mr. Reed adds, also features what appear to be authentic images of an American air base, “right down to C-130s parked on the ramp,” and “what looks like an MQ-9 Reaper drone (or possibly two) parked in an enclosed ramp — a drone pen if you will — complete with a walled perimeter and those tent hangars that are seen at expeditionary drone bases around the world.”

As The A.P. notes, on Thursday Iran’s Fars News Agency, which is close to the Revolutionary Guards, claimed that Iran had also started to produce functional copies of the smaller, American ScanEagle surveillance drone it displayed on state television in December. The Fars report quoted Iran’s deputy defense minister, Mohammad Eslami, saying that the country had also established a “production line for the drones in foreign countries.”

Read More..

Shirley MacLaine's Only Daughter Pens a Shocking New Tell-All

Seeing her mom, Shirley MacLaine, play a saucy septuagenarian on Downton Abbey, Sachi Parker couldn't help but smile.

"She was true to form," Parker says of MacLaine, 78, whose zinger-slinging turn as Lady Grantham's American mom shook up the big house this season. "It certainly hit home."

Hearing about Parker's relationship with MacLaine makes it easy to understand why.

Raised mostly by her dad, Parker grew up feeling distanced from her movie-star mother. She yearned for MacLaine's attention – so much so that when Parker, 56, also an actress, became a mom herself (to Frank Jr., 16, and Arin, 14, her kids with ex-husband Frank Murray), "I overcompensated," she tells PEOPLE. "But being a great mom is healing for me."

In her memoir Lucky Me, excerpted below, she shares her painful story (a story her mother, in a statement to PEOPLE, calls "virtually all fiction. I'm sorry to see such a dishonest, opportunistic effort from my daughter").

For all their ups and downs, she and her mom "love each other dearly," Parker says. "I've accepted who she is."

At age 2, Sachi was sent to live in Japan with her dad, producer Steve Parker. In the summers she visited MacLaine. "My visits in L.A. started at the airport, with Mom rushing up and giving me an all-encompassing hug. Once we got into the car she'd say, 'Let's have fun!'

"Sometimes we'd head down to the Piggly Wiggly and eat cookies from the bakery. They weren't supposed to be free, but Mom had no qualms about grabbing one. No one stopped her; she was a celebrity, after all."

Read More..