Wall Street rally fades after warnings on Europe (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? A rally in stocks fizzled, leaving major indexes with modest gains on Friday, as Wall Street was torn between hope that U.S. economic data signals better times ahead and fear Europe's debt crisis will engulf world economies.

About 8.9 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq, higher than this year's average of 7.9 billion.

Trading was choppy due to "quadruple-witching," the expiration of four types of futures contracts -- equity options, stock index futures, stock index options and single stock futures.

After an early rally, buying dried up when rating agency Fitch warned of risk of recession in Europe.

Major U.S. stock indexes, highly correlated to the performance of the euro, slipped in tandem with that currency after Fitch revised its outlook on France's AAA rating to negative, which means a downgrade is possible in 12 to 18 months.

"Investors are tired of headlines coming out of Europe and tired of the fact that there isn't a cohesive solution. But then, it's never one way or the other so they can't just ignore them," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer at Solaris Asset Management in Bedfor Hills, New York.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) was down 2.42 points, or 0.02 percent, at 11,866.39. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) was up 3.91 points, or 0.32 percent, at 1,219.66. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) was up 14.32 points, or 0.56 percent, at 2,555.33.

The Nasdaq performed relatively better as stocks tied to growth, including technology, gained. Shares of Adobe Systems Inc (ADBE.O) jumped 6.6 percent to $28.20 after results from the maker of Photoshop and Acrobat software beat Wall Street projections.

For the week, the Dow fell 2.7 percent, the S&P lost 2.9 percent and the Nasdaq was down 3.5 percent.

U.S. financials (.GSPF), which have underperformed the S&P 500 this week, were one of the strongest of the 10 top sectors in the benchmark index, up 0.5 percent. Credit card company Discover Financial (DFS.N) added 5 percent to $24.23 a day after posting strong results and raising its dividend.

Online game maker Zynga Inc (ZNGA.O) shares opened 10 percent above their initial public offering price of $10 per share but rolled back showing that investors were concerned about the Farmville maker's dependence on Facebook. Shares hit a session low of $9 and closed at $9.50.

U.S. consumer prices were flat in November as Americans paid less for cars and gasoline, while the 12-month inflation reading fell for the second straight month, which could give the Federal Reserve more room to help a still-weak economy.

Jim Paulsen, chief investment officer at Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis, said subdued inflation will be a long-term positive as consumers benefit from contained prices.

"That's one of the reasons you're seeing better consumer (confidence) of late," he said.

Research In Motion Ltd (RIM.TO)(RIMM.O) posted a sharp drop in profit on Thursday, offered a dismal outlook for BlackBerry shipments during the holidays and delayed an overhaul of its smartphones. The U.S.-traded stock dropped 11.1 percent to $13.44.

Data this week suggested a strengthening U.S. economic recovery, giving further support to equities.

Jobless claims fell to a 3-1/2-year low last week and factory activity in parts of the Northeast picked up in December, data showed on Thursday.

(Reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111216/bs_nm/us_markets_stocks

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NATO closes up training mission in Iraq (Reuters)

BAGHDAD (Reuters) ? NATO closed its seven-year training mission in Iraq on Saturday, at the same time as U.S. troops withdraw from the country after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The alliance said on Monday it would end its mission after talks with Iraqi officials to extend the programme failed, due to disagreements over legal framework covering NATO forces in Iraq.

"We respect the decisions of a sovereign Iraq and salute the fact that Iraqi is fully responsible for directing its own path," NATO training mission commander Lieutenant General Robert Caslen said at the closing ceremony.

The decision followed U.S. President Barack Obama's announcement in October that U.S. troops would go home at year-end after talks to keep thousands in Iraq as trainers fell apart over Washington's demand for legal immunity for troops.

American forces signed over their last military base to Iraqi officials on Friday following a formal ceremony to end nearly nine years of war in Iraq.

NATO started its training mission in Iraq in 2004, although unlike in Afghanistan, its Iraq operation has been small and largely under the radar.

The alliance has provided expertise in areas like logistics and policing for Iraqi security forces, with around 100 troops training more than 5,000 military and 10,000 police in Iraq.

(Writing by Rania El Gamal)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111217/wl_nm/us_iraq_withdrawal_nato

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Wild monkeys to detect radiation from Japan earthquake

By msnbc.com staff

Wild monkeys fitted with collars containing detectors?and GPS transmitters will help researchers at Fukushima University measure radiation in the forests surrounding a nuclear power plant crippled last March by a?powerful earthquake and tsunami.

The monkeys will wear the collars for a month and they will be?remotely detached, says?a team of scientists led by Professor Takayuki Takahashi.

"We decided to use monkeys for this project because the territory they cover is very well known to us," Professor Takahashi told the Telegraph of London. "It's the first time such an experiment has been carried out with monkeys."

The collars will contain a dosimeter, which measures radiation levels, as well as an altimeter to measure height above the ground, and a GPS tracking device, Takahashi said, according to a report in Life's Little Mysteries. ?As soon as February, the collars will be fitted on as many as three wild monkeys living in a forest in the Fukushima Prefecture.

Analyzing the data collected by the collars will reveal the impact of radioactive material that spewed into the environment since the March 11?magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami knocked out the cooling system at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant, leading to the meltdowns of three of its nuclear reactors.

Scientists have relied on air samples, mostly taken by helicopter above the?Fukushima forests.

The?monkeys?will allow?scientists to?discover?radiation levels from the forest floor to the treetops.

The project will launch in Minamisoma, around 16 miles north of the?power plant.

As many as 14 groups of monkeys are believed to reside in the mountains forests to the west of Minamisoma city, which is where the study will focus.

In April, scientists estimated that the total amount of radioactivity released was approximately one-tenth the amount released during the Chernobyl disaster. In the months since, scientists have continued to monitor radiation levels from the air, but they say using monkeys as "research assistants" will clarify the conditions on the ground.

"We would like to know how much impact (the radiation has) on the natural world, such as forest, river, underground water and ocean," Takahashi told reporters. "We will draw the map to show the movement of radioactivity."

Read more content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/14/9453896-wild-monkeys-to-help-detect-radiation-from-crippled-fukushima-nuclear-plant

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China vows crackdown on leaders of village revolt (AP)

BEIJING ? China's government has vowed to crack down on the leaders of a revolt in a southern village and investigate local officials over land seizures at the heart of the residents' unhappiness.

China News Agency says the acting mayor of Shanwei city told reporters Wednesday that strong measures would be taken against villagers in Wukan who instigated others to create trouble and damage public property.

Thursday's report also says the mayor promised to investigate village officials for wrongdoing and to impose a temporary freeze on the development of the village's farmland.

Problems in Wukan date back to September, when hundreds of villagers angered by the land dispute smashed buildings and clashed with police.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_re_as/as_china_village_riot

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Captain America co-creator Joe Simon dies in NYC (AP)

PHILADELPHIA ? Joe Simon, who along with Jack Kirby co-created Captain America and was one of the comic book industry's most revered writers, artists and editors, has died at age 98.

Simon's family relayed word of his death Thursday, posting a short statement on Facebook and telling The Associated Press through a spokesman that Simon died Wednesday night in New York City after a brief illness.

"Joe was one of a kind," said Steve Saffel, of Titan Books, a Simon friend who worked with him on his recent autobiography, "Joe Simon, My Life In Comics."

Saffel said that Simon, born in Rochester, N.Y., in 1913, "lived life on his terms and created incredible things in the process. It was a privilege to know him and to call him my friend."

Among Simon's creations was a partnership with Kirby, a comic book artist and illustrator. The duo worked hand-in-glove for years and from their fertile imaginations sprang a trove of characters, heroes, villains and misfits for several comic book companies in their Golden Age of the 1940s, including Timely, the forerunner of today's Marvel Comics; National Periodicals, the forerunner of DC; and Fawcett, among others.

The characters the two created included the Newsboy Legion, the Boy Commandos and others, like Blue Bolt.

"Blue Bolt was the first strip Jack and I worked on together, beginning in 1940. He was a science fiction swashbuckler I created for Curtis Publishing, the company that put out the Saturday Evening Post," Simon told the AP earlier this year. "They had decided to jump on the comic book bandwagon. Jack joined me with the second issue. Like Captain America, Blue Bolt got his powers from an injection, long before the baseball players were doing it."

For Timely, the duo created Captain America, debuting on the cover of "Captain America Comics" No. 1 with the champion of liberty throwing a solid right-hook at Adolf Hitler in December 1940, a year before the United States entered World War II.

"Jack and I read the newspapers and knew what was going on over in Europe. And there he was ? Adolf Hitler, with his ridiculous moustache, high-pitched ranting and goose-stepping followers. He was the perfect bad guy, much better than anything we could have made up, so what we needed was to create his ultimate counterpart," Simon told the AP.

"Cap is one of the great comic book icons, and as dangerous as the world is today ? more than it was in the 1940s ? we need him around more than ever to act as our moral compass," Simon said.

Ed Brubaker, whose recent runs writing Captain America for Marvel have been heaped with critical acclaim, called Simon a "pioneer in comics, a mover-and-shaker and probably far ahead of his time."

He said in an email that he even revamped a Simon-created character for his first assignment at DC.

"I personally owe my career in a few ways to Joe Simon ? my first DC gig was a revamp of his `Prez,' the teenage president, and I've spent almost eight years writing Captain America for Marvel," Brubaker said. "It's a sad day."

Simon wrote "Prez: First Teen President" for DC in 1973-74 as a four-issue series.

Jim Lee, co-publisher of DC Entertainment Inc., the parent company of DC Comics, called Simon a "creative virtuoso" whose "many contributions to DC Comics, both as a writer and an editor, are legion and will continue to be cherished by longtime fans, this one included."

Mark Evanier, a comic industry historian and Kirby biographer, noted that Simon, besides being able to write and draw, also knew how to edit comics.

"Joe himself was the first great real editor who brought to comics skills he'd learned elsewhere and had some perception of how to put a magazine together and how to make a professional looking publication," Evanier said Thursday. "He had some business acumen. He knew how to talk to publishers, he knew how to make deals."

He also knew the market, Evanier said, noting that Simon, along with Kirby, plunged head first into creating horror, crime, humor and romance comics in the aftermath of World War II.

Simon said earlier this year that creating the romance comics was a high point for him and Kirby because they "negotiated to own half of the property," something that had been an uncertain prospect in the industry.

"I'd like to think that we showed today's comic book writers and artists how they can do more than just make a living producing comic books and hold onto the fruits of their labors," he said.

Simon is survived by two sons, three daughters and eight grandchildren.

___

Follow Matt Moore at http://twitter.com/MattMooreAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obits/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_en_ot/us_obit_joe_simon

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Don't Let The Holidays Make You A Fattie [Fitmodo]

I've been shuffling along on Fitmodo for several weeks now, trying to get my chunky butt in shape. Yet just as I'm starting to finally drop some body fat, here come the holidays. Parties and ham and pie! Oh no! More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Mdw25nyFfGk/dont-let-the-holidays-make-you-a-fattie

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Report on W.Va. mine explosion details violations

BEAVER, W.Va. (AP) ? A final federal report on a West Virginia coal mine blast that killed 29 men details 369 safety violations at the mine, including 12 that regulators say contributed to the blast.

The report by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration was released Tuesday, the same day as the announcement of a record $210 million settlement by the new owners of the mine where the disaster occurred in April 2010. The settlement includes $10.8 million in fines related to the Upper Big Branch mine.

The report labels nine of the violations "flagrant," the most serious designation. They include warning miners that inspectors were on site, failing to do proper safety inspections and other violations that it says could have prevented the deadly blast.

The agency also said it will conduct an internal review of MSHA's actions before and after the explosion. Relatives of the victims and union officials have rebuked MSHA for failing to prevent the disaster.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-06-Mine%20Explosion/id-012c8e89bac441699ba8be14414086fb

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