Stock futures flat on "fiscal cliff" caution; data on tap

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock futures were little changed on Friday, the final trading day of the month, amid a cautious mood as investors kept their focus firmly on U.S. budget talks.

Trading has been choppy lately, as investors buy on sporadic dips in the market and react to mixed headlines out of Washington regarding progress in talks on averting the "fiscal cliff," spending cuts and tax hikes that will come into effect in the new year.

U.S. President Barack Obama plans to travel to a factory in Pennsylvania to press his case on raising taxes on the wealthy to narrow the deficit.

"Washington brinkmanship and a delay in reaching an agreement on the fiscal cliff are likely to rattle markets. These risks and uncertainties are likely to keep markets volatile," said John Praveen, chief investment strategist at Prudential International Investments Advisers LLC.

"However, we expect an agreement in Washington preventing the U.S. economy plunging over the cliff, and further stabilization in euro zone," Praveen said. "This, combined with the liquidity and interest rate tailwinds, should fuel a relief rally into 2012 year-end."

After a close relationship for several years, Facebook Inc and Zynga Inc revised terms of a partnership agreement between the companies; under the new pact, Zynga will have limited ability to promote its site on Facebook. Zynga shares were down 6.9 percent at $2.43 in premarket trading. Facebook shares were up 0.8 percent at $27.55.

Whole Foods Market Inc announced a special cash dividend of $2.00 per share. In expectation of higher dividend tax rates in 2013, companies have been shifting dividends or announcing special payouts to shareholders.

The U.S. Commerce Dept releases October personal income and consumption data at 8:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT). Economists in a Reuters survey expect a 0.2 percent rise in income, and an unchanged reading for spending. In September, income grew 0.4 percent and spending was up 0.8 percent.

The Institute for Supply Management in Chicago releases November index of manufacturing activity at 9:45 a.m. (1445 GMT). A reading of 50.5 is expected, compared with 49.9 in October.

S&P 500 futures were flat and in line with fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures added 6 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 4.75 points.

Apple Inc's latest iPhone has received final clearance from Chinese regulators, paving the way for a December debut in a highly competitive market where the lack of a new model had severely eroded its share of product sales.

Japan's Nikkei average hit a seven-month closing high on Friday as a weaker yen, driven by expectations the Bank of Japan will act more boldly under a likely new government following December 16 elections, lifted the shares of exporters.

European shares were steady at 15-month highs as investors squared the books on the final trading day of the month, with all eyes on U.S. budget talks.

U.S. stocks finished higher on Thursday as investors bought on sporadic dips in a market roiled by conflicting comments from Washington on negotiations to avert the "fiscal cliff," automatic spending cuts and tax rises set to begin in 2013.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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U.S. Is Weighing Stronger Action in Syrian Conflict

Francisco Leong/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Rebels in northern Syria celebrated on Wednesday next to what was reported to be a government fighter jet.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, hoping that the conflict in Syria has reached a turning point, is considering deeper intervention to help push President Bashar al-Assad from power, according to government officials involved in the discussions.

While no decisions have been made, the administration is considering several alternatives, including directly providing arms to some opposition fighters.

The most urgent decision, likely to come next week, is whether NATO should deploy surface-to-air missiles in Turkey, ostensibly to protect that country from Syrian missiles that could carry chemical weapons. The State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, said Wednesday that the Patriot missile system would not be “for use beyond the Turkish border.”

But some strategists and administration officials believe that Syrian Air Force pilots might fear how else the missile batteries could be used. If so, they could be intimidated from bombing the northern Syrian border towns where the rebels control considerable territory. A NATO survey team is in Turkey, examining possible sites for the batteries.

Other, more distant options include directly providing arms to opposition fighters rather than only continuing to use other countries, especially Qatar, to do so. A riskier course would be to insert C.I.A. officers or allied intelligence services on the ground in Syria, to work more closely with opposition fighters in areas that they now largely control.

Administration officials discussed all of these steps before the presidential election. But the combination of President Obama’s re-election, which has made the White House more willing to take risks, and a series of recent tactical successes by rebel forces, one senior administration official said, “has given this debate a new urgency, and a new focus.”

The outcome of the broader debate about how heavily America should intervene in another Middle Eastern conflict remains uncertain. Mr. Obama’s record in intervening in the Arab Spring has been cautious: While he joined in what began as a humanitarian effort in Libya, he refused to put American military forces on the ground and, with the exception of a C.I.A. and diplomatic presence, ended the American role as soon as Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi was toppled.

In the case of Syria, a far more complex conflict than Libya’s, some officials continue to worry that the risks of intervention — both in American lives and in setting off a broader conflict, potentially involving Turkey — are too great to justify action. Others argue that more aggressive steps are justified in Syria by the loss in life there, the risks that its chemical weapons could get loose, and the opportunity to deal a blow to Iran’s only ally in the region. The debate now coursing through the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department and the C.I.A. resembles a similar one among America’s main allies.

“Look, let’s be frank, what we’ve done over the last 18 months hasn’t been enough,” Britain’s prime minister, David Cameron, said three weeks ago after visiting a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan. “The slaughter continues, the bloodshed is appalling, the bad effects it’s having on the region, the radicalization, but also the humanitarian crisis that is engulfing Syria. So let’s work together on really pushing what more we can do.” Mr. Cameron has discussed those options directly with Mr. Obama, White House officials say.

France and Britain have recognized a newly formed coalition of opposition groups, which the United States helped piece together. So far, Washington has not done so.

American officials and independent specialists on Syria said that the administration was reviewing its Syria policy in part to gain credibility and sway with opposition fighters, who have seized key Syrian military bases in recent weeks.

“The administration has figured out that if they don’t start doing something, the war will be over and they won’t have any influence over the combat forces on the ground,” said Jeffrey White, a former Defense Intelligence Agency intelligence officer and specialist on the Syria military. “They may have some influence with various political groups and factions, but they won’t have influence with the fighters, and the fighters will control the territory.”

Jessica Brandt contributed reporting from Cambridge, Mass.

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Lindsay Lohan Arrested for Alleged Assault in Club

Update

By Stephen M. Silverman

UPDATED
11/29/2012 at 08:00 AM EST

• Originally published 11/29/2012 at 06:55 AM EST

Lindsay Lohan leaves the police precinct station in New York City

INF; Inset: Paul Morigi/WireImage

Lindsay Lohan was arrested and charged with third-degree assault at 4 a.m. Thursday in Manhattan' s Meatpacking District after an alleged altercation with a woman in a nightclub.

Det. Mark Nell of the NYPD told PEOPLE: "This morning at 4 a dispute broke out at Avenue located at 116 10th Avenue. A female 26-year-old assaulted a female 28-year old. Lindsay Lohan was arrested and charged with assault."

Asked what happened, Nell said, "She punched her in the face."

By 8 a.m., Nell said, Lohan "has now left the precinct and was given a desk appearance at a later date."

TMZ reports that Lohan, after telling the woman to give her some space, or words to the effect, reputedly punched the woman in the face.

New York's Daily News names the other woman as Tiffany Eve Mitchell, of West Palm Beach, Fla, who was at Avenue with her husband.

The paper also says she and Lohan were sitting in separate VIP sections when a scuffle erupted elsewhere in the club, and Mitchell possibly bumped into Lohan in order to avoid getting involved.

The other woman was not arrested or injured, according to WNBC News.

The alleged other woman, leaving the 10th Precinct

Splash News Online

There has been no comment from Lohan's publicist, but the New York Post quotes Lohan assistant Gavin Doyle, who apparently was at the club, as saying about the actress, "It's become a pastime to use her name and fame and blame things on her."

The Post also quotes a man believed to be Mitchell's husband. He reportedly said, "Lindsay Lohan got drunk and went crazy ... hit my wife."

Lohan currently is on informal probation for removing a necklace from a California jewelry store last year, and could face potential jail time if she is re-arrested.

• With reporting by LIZ McNEIL

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Simple measures cut infections caught in hospitals

CHICAGO (AP) — Preventing surgery-linked infections is a major concern for hospitals and it turns out some simple measures can make a big difference.

A project at seven big hospitals reduced infections after colorectal surgeries by nearly one-third. It prevented an estimated 135 infections, saving almost $4 million, the Joint Commission hospital regulating group and the American College of Surgeons announced Wednesday. The two groups directed the 2 1/2-year project.

Solutions included having patients shower with special germ-fighting soap before surgery, and having surgery teams change gowns, gloves and instruments during operations to prevent spreading germs picked up during the procedures.

Some hospitals used special wound-protecting devices on surgery openings to keep intestine germs from reaching the skin.

The average rate of infections linked with colorectal operations at the seven hospitals dropped from about 16 percent of patients during a 10-month phase when hospitals started adopting changes to almost 11 percent once all the changes had been made.

Hospital stays for patients who got infections dropped from an average of 15 days to 13 days, which helped cut costs.

"The improvements translate into safer patient care," said Dr. Mark Chassin, president of the Joint Commission. "Now it's our job to spread these effective interventions to all hospitals."

Almost 2 million health care-related infections occur each year nationwide; more than 90,000 of these are fatal.

Besides wanting to keep patients healthy, hospitals have a monetary incentive to prevent these infections. Medicare cuts payments to hospitals that have lots of certain health care-related infections, and those cuts are expected to increase under the new health care law.

The project involved surgeries for cancer and other colorectal problems. Infections linked with colorectal surgery are particularly common because intestinal tract bacteria are so abundant.

To succeed at reducing infection rates requires hospitals to commit to changing habits, "to really look in the mirror and identify these things," said Dr. Clifford Ko of the American College of Surgeons.

The hospitals involved were Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles; Cleveland Clinic in Ohio; Mayo Clinic-Rochester Methodist Hospital in Rochester, Minn.; North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in Great Neck, NY; Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago; OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, Ill.; and Stanford Hospital & Clinics in Palo Alto, Calif.

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Online:

Joint Commission: http://www.jointcommission.org

American College of Surgeons: http://www.facs.org

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AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

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Stock futures hold gains after claims, GDP data

DEAR ABBY: My wife and I have been married for five years. I recently discovered that she made between 10 and 20 porn videos when she was 19. We got married when she was 27. We have four kids from two previous marriages.I am devastated. When I confronted her about it, she cried harder than I had ever seen. She said she was lost, and it's the biggest regret of her entire life.I understand how hard it can be to tell someone you have done something like this. I haven't led a perfect life either, and I have my own skeletons and things that I would never mention. But still, I can't get over this. ...

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News Analysis: Sunni Leaders Gaining Clout in Mideast

Mohammed Saber/European Pressphoto Agency

A Palestinian woman in Gaza City on Tuesday walked amid the rubble left from eight days of fighting that ended in a cease-fire.

RAMALLAH, West Bank — For years, the United States and its Middle East allies were challenged by the rising might of the so-called Shiite crescent, a political and ideological alliance backed by Iran that linked regional actors deeply hostile to Israel and the West.

But uprising, wars and economics have altered the landscape of the region, paving the way for a new axis to emerge, one led by a Sunni Muslim alliance of Egypt, Qatar and Turkey. That triumvirate played a leading role in helping end the eight-day conflict between Israel and Gaza, in large part by embracing Hamas and luring it further away from the Iran-Syria-Hezbollah fold, offering diplomatic clout and promises of hefty aid.

For the United States and Israel, the shifting dynamics offer a chance to isolate a resurgent Iran, limit its access to the Arab world and make it harder for Tehran to arm its agents on Israel’s border. But the gains are also tempered, because while these Sunni leaders are willing to work with Washington, unlike the mullahs in Tehran, they also promote a radical religious-based ideology that has fueled anti-Western sentiment around the region.

Hamas — which received missiles from Iran that reached Israel’s northern cities — broke with the Iranian axis last winter, openly backing the rebellion against the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. But its affinity with the Egypt-Qatar-Turkey axis came to fruition this fall.

“That camp has more assets that it can share than Iran — politically, diplomatically, materially,” said Robert Malley, the Middle East program director for the International Crisis Group. “The Muslim Brotherhood is their world much more so than Iran.”

The Gaza conflict helps illustrate how Middle Eastern alliances have evolved since the Islamist wave that toppled one government after another beginning in January 2011. Iran had no interest in a cease-fire, while Egypt, Qatar and Turkey did.

But it is the fight for Syria that is the defining struggle in this revived Sunni-Shiite duel. The winner gains a prized strategic crossroads.

For now, it appears that that tide is shifting against Iran, there too, and that it might well lose its main Arab partner, Syria. The Sunni-led opposition appears in recent days to have made significant inroads against the government, threatening the Assad family’s dynastic rule of 40 years and its long alliance with Iran. If Mr. Assad falls, that would render Iran and Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon, isolated as a Shiite Muslim alliance in an ever more sectarian Middle East, no longer enjoying a special street credibility as what Damascus always tried to sell as “the beating heart of Arab resistance.”

If the shifts seem to leave the United States somewhat dazed, it is because what will emerge from all the ferment remains obscure.

Clearly the old leaders Washington relied on to enforce its will, like President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, are gone or at least eclipsed. But otherwise confusion reigns in terms of knowing how to deal with this new paradigm, one that could well create societies infused with religious ideology that Americans find difficult to accept. The new reality could be a weaker Iran, but a far more religiously conservative Middle East that is less beholden to the United States.

Already, Islamists have been empowered in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, while Syria’s opposition is being led by Sunni insurgents, including a growing number identified as jihadists, some identified as sympathizing with Al Qaeda. Qatar, which hosts a major United States military base, also helps finance Islamists all around the region.

In Egypt, President Mohamed Morsi resigned as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood only when he became head of state, but he still remains closely linked with the movement. Turkey, the model for many of them, has kept strong relations with Washington while diminishing the authority of generals who were longstanding American allies.

“The United States is part of a landscape that has shifted so dramatically,” said Mr. Malley of the International Crisis Group. “It is caught between the displacement of the old moderate-radical divide by one that is defined by confessional and sectarian loyalty.”

The emerging Sunni axis has put not only Shiites at a disadvantage, but also the old school leaders who once allied themselves with Washington.

The old guard members in the Palestinian Authority are struggling to remain relevant at a time when their failed 20-year quest to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands makes them seem both anachronistic and obsolete.

“Hamas has always argued that it is the future of the changes in the region because of its revolutionary nature, that it is part of the religious political groups who have been winning the revolutions,” said Ghassan Khatib, an official at Birzeit University and former government spokesman.

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U.S. for-profit colleges spend big on marketing while slashing other costs

(Reuters) – Google‘s biggest advertiser is neither a bank nor a retailer.

It’s the for-profit University of Phoenix, which has recently been spending nearly $ 400,000 a day on ads, more than any financial firm or retailer, the traditional big spenders on online advertising, according to search analytics firm SpyFu.

That kind of spending may seem surprising coming from a college, but marketing has become vital for the university and its for-profit rivals as enrollments plummet and they fight back against a host of criticisms, including low job-placement rates.

Colleges such as University of Phoenix, the industry leader owned by Apollo Group Inc, will not only have to boost enrollments to reverse their fortunes, analysts say. They will also need to consider cutting tuition fees as well as continue to slash costs and take market share from rivals.

“I have witnessed several versions of this cycle but none as extreme as this,” said Trace Urdan, an analyst with Wells Fargo Securities, who has been covering the U.S. for-profit education industry for about 15 years.

“We are going to see more pointed efforts at marketing and more price competition in an effort to try to capture more market share both from each other as well as from traditional schools,” Urdan said.

Operators of other for-profit colleges, whose ranks include the Washington Post Co’s Kaplan business, DeVry Inc and ITT Educational Services Inc, are also boosting their spending on marketing and are among the 25 biggest advertisers on Google.

But no one is spending like the University of Phoenix, which doubled its spending on Google ads to about $ 380,000 per day on average between October 12 and November 12, compared with $ 170,000 a day in the previous month, according to SpyFu.

Increased marketing alone will not be enough to fatten fast-shrinking profit margins and increase enrollments, however. Lower tuition fees and increased specialization of the type of programs offered, along with further streamlining of operations, will also be necessary, analysts say.

Industry bellwether University of Phoenix, which offers courses at about 230 campuses as well as online, announced plans last month to shut about half its locations and cut 800 jobs in order to save about $ 300 million a year by 2014.

New enrollments in the Apollo system are down nearly 50 percent in the past two years. As of August 31, enrollment totaled about 328,000.

Career Education Corp, which owns American InterContinental University and the Le Cordon Bleu colleges, and Lincoln Educational Services Corp have also announced closures.

LOW-COST MODEL

The $ 25 billion industry, which typically serves adults looking for a career change or a program to enhance job skills, is reeling after government investigations revealed fraud related to financial aid, worryingly high student debt loads and low rates of graduation and job placement.

“Many for-profit colleges make decisions that prioritize their bottom line, even when those decisions limit their students’ opportunities for academic success,” a U.S. Senate report said earlier this year.

Tuition fees, and therefore profits, is one area under pressure as potential students need to be convinced to take out loans in an uncertain job market.

Apollo, whose stock has lost about 65 percent of its value this year, implemented a tuition freeze earlier this year and promised students it will not increase prices through the course of their programs.

Apollo is also looking at different cost models, with a view to serving segments of the population that it cannot serve with current University of Phoenix tuition prices.

“We have certainly seen a lot more competition at the lower end of the price scale, and that’s something we are focusing on,” Apollo spokesman Mark Brennar said, while declining to offer specifics.

Wells Fargo’s Urdan said it is likely that Apollo wants to compete in the low-cost end of the market by building a second brand, which it would likely do by acquiring another college rather than starting from scratch.

As colleges lower their revenue base by cutting tuition fees even as they spend more on marketing, lower margins could become the norm, analysts say. That has spooked investors already worried about sliding enrollments.

The S&P 1500 Education Services index has lost three-quarters of its value since April 2010, including a 50 percent decline in 2012.

Some for-profit colleges already differentiate themselves in the crowded higher-education market by offering programs in a particular field or by targeting students of a particular background, and that trend could accelerate.

American Public Education, for example, is known for enrolling those who work in the military and public services, while Universal Technical Institute offers programs related to the automotive industry.

For-profit colleges play up their links to employers to attract students who may otherwise opt for traditional or community colleges, said Rob Lytle, head of the education practice at advisory firm Parthenon Group.

“They are about getting people workforce employability skills, and I think they are going to be focusing tighter on that,” said Lytle.

(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi in Bangalore; Editing by Ted Kerr)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Angus T. Jones's Video Surprises Two and a Half Men Set

By Mike Fleeman

11/28/2012 at 08:35 AM EST

After the Charlie Sheen tiger blood debacle, it would seem that nothing could shock the cast and crew of Two and a Half Men anymore.

Then came the Angus T. Jones video.

"This came as a surprise to most people. This isn't who he grew up as," a source on the show tells PEOPLE. "He's always been a good kid and he's very well-liked by everyone at the show."

The 19-year-old has blasted the CBS sitcom that pays him a reported $350,000 an episode, saying in a video posted on a religious website: "Please stop watching it. Please stop filling your head with filth."

The comments came during an apparent religious awakening for the actor in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

“We are happy that Angus has joined the Seventh-Day Adventist family and has found a place in which he feels comfortable to worship and grow his faith,” says George Johnson, a church spokesman. “Recently, Angus made some statements concerning his spiritual journey and expressed his views concerning the television program
Two and a Half Men.

"These comments are of a personal nature, reflecting his views after having undergone changes during his spiritual journey," Johnson continues. "We welcome him with open arms to the worldwide Seventh-Day Adventist Church family and are excited about his commitment to God through his recent baptism at his church."

Neither Jones nor reps for the show have spoken out.

The actor won't be on the set this week – which was previously planned because his character isn't involved in this episode.

"The cast was really surprised by the video," says a second source on set. "At first they didn't believe he'd say those things. ... He always has a great attitude, which is why everyone was surprised. He's friendly and talented and great at his job."

• Reporting by MONICA RIZZO, AILI NAHAS and MELODY CHIU

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CDC: HIV spread high in young gay males

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials say 1 in 5 new HIV infections occur in a tiny segment of the population — young men who are gay or bisexual.

The government on Tuesday released new numbers that spotlight how the spread of the AIDS virus is heavily concentrated in young males who have sex with other males. Only about a quarter of new infections in the 13-to-24 age group are from injecting drugs or heterosexual sex.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said blacks represented more than half of new infections in youths. The estimates are based on 2010 figures.

Overall, new U.S. HIV infections have held steady at around 50,000 annually. About 12,000 are in teens and young adults, and most youth with HIV haven't been tested.

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Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns

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Stock futures off as investors worry about "fiscal cliff"

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock futures fell on Wednesday as investors grew more concerned about the lack of progress in U.S. budget talks to avoid looming spending cuts and tax hikes, setting the S&P 500 up for a third consecutive day of decline this week.

* Chief executives from top U.S. corporations, including Goldman Sachs , Deloitte LLP, and Caterpillar Inc , will meet with President Barack Obama on Wednesday to discuss U.S. fiscal problems, the White House said.

* Obama's meeting with influential leaders from the corporate world is part of his push for Congress to extend tax cuts for middle income Americans, one flashpoint in a standoff with Congress over a series of tax hikes and spending cuts that will go into effect next year if lawmakers and the president cannot come up with a deal to stop them.

* U.S. stocks slid on Tuesday in a choppy session, losing ground in the last hour before the close after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid expressed disappointment that there has been "little progress" in dealing with the "fiscal cliff."

* S&P 500 futures were down 4.2 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 30 points, while Nasdaq 100 futures were up 6.25 points.

* Deep divisions at the Federal Reserve were on display on Tuesday, just two weeks before the U.S. central bank's next policy-setting meeting, with one top Fed official pushing for more easing, and another advocating limits. [ID:nL1E8MS0ZC] The Fed will release its Beige Book summary of regional economic conditions at 2 p.m. (1900 GMT).

* New home sales data is due at 10 a.m. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a reading of 390,000 for October versus the previous reading of 389,000.

* U.S. retailer Costco Wholesale Corp is to pay a special dividend of $7.00, worth a total $3.0 billion to investors, it said when posting monthly same-store sales that beat forecasts.

* Microsoft Corp has sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses in the month since the launch, according to one of the new co-heads of the Windows unit, setting a faster pace than Windows 7 three years ago.

* Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc forecast quarterly and full year earnings well above analysts' expectations, helped by an expanded lineup of single-serve coffee makers and drinks, sending its shares up 22 percent in after-hours trade.

* Advanced Micro Devices Inc plans to sell and lease back its campus in Austin, Texas, to raise cash and fund its chipmaking business as it diversifies beyond the struggling PC industry into new markets.

* Nokia said on Wednesday that an arbitrator has ruled in its favor in a patent dispute with BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion over use of Nokia's patents related to wireless local access network technology.

* The European Commission gave the go ahead for Spain to overhaul its stricken nationalized banks on Wednesday and opened the door for nearly 40 billion euros in euro zone aid to be disbursed, offering hope for an end to Spain's banking crisis.

(Reporting By Angela Moon; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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