Dollar, euro ease against yen on G7 policy doubts

LONDON (Reuters) - The yen rose against the dollar and the euro on Wednesday as investors reconsidered a G7 statement on exchange rates aimed at soothing concerns of a currency war but instead provoked a fresh bout of volatility.


The G7 reaffirmed its commitment to market-determined exchange rates and said that fiscal and monetary policies must not be directed at devaluing currencies in its statement which was interpreted as condoning the recent weakness in the yen.


However, an official from the group later said Tuesday's statement was meant to signal concerns about excessive yen moves, prompting a vicious reversal in the currency.


"It appears there is a lack of consensus at the G7 level in tackling the unintended weakening of currencies, due to the adoption of expansionary domestic monetary policies," analysts at Barclays said in a note clients.


In early European trading the dollar and the euro had both fallen by 0.3 percent against the yen to 93.20 yen and 125.42 yen respectively.


At the center of the debate is Japan, where Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government has made it clear that it will push for aggressive policies to beat deflation through drastic monetary expansion. Anticipation of a bolder Bank of Japan policy has sent the yen down nearly 20 percent against the dollar since November.


Dealers said the market was likely to trade cautiously ahead of the outcome of a Bank of Japan meeting ending on Thursday and before a meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers in Moscow on Friday and Saturday.


Markets are also awaiting the Bank of England's quarterly inflation report which should show whether there's any realistic chance of further asset purchases in coming months which would add to pressure on sterling.


The euro zone will publish industrial production data for December at 1000 GMT, seen as likely to confirm that output in final quarter was very weak.


The data comes out a day ahead of flash estimates of fourth quarter GDP for the whole euro area which is forecast to show growth contracted by around 0.4 percent in the final three months of the year - the steepest quarter-on-quarter decline since the first quarter of 2009.


Ahead of the data Europe's share markets were little changed with the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index <.fteu3> of top companies opening flat but near the top of a six-day trading range, with the focus on corporate earnings reports.


London's FTSE 100 <.ftse>, Paris's CAC-40 <.fchi> and Frankfurt's DAX <.gdaxi> were between 0.1 percent higher and 0.2 percent down.


Debt markets were also little changed as investors await the results of an auction of long-term Italian debt which is seen as a test of demand before elections later this month.


Italian debt has been under pressure in recent weeks as a comeback in the opinion polls by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's party has raised the prospect of a fragmented parliament that could hamper the next government's reform efforts.


Germany also plans to sell 5 billion euros of two-year bonds.


(Editing by Anna Willard)



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No. 8 Michigan State routs No. 4 Michigan 75-52


EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State has muddled through much of its season, finding ways to win games short on style with gritty substance.


The eighth-ranked Spartans, though, showed their potential in an impressive 75-52 win over No. 4 Michigan on Tuesday night in the rivalry's first matchup of top 10 teams.


"The sky is the limit," guard Keith Appling said.


If Michigan State can play anything like it did against the Wolverines, Appling might be right.


The Spartans (21-4, 10-2 Big Ten) broke a first-place tie in the conference with No. 1 Indiana, which plays at Michigan State next Tuesday after the Spartans try to avoid a letdown Saturday night at Nebraska.


Appling acknowledged he was a little bit surprised by the lopsided victory — the school's largest since beating Michigan by 27 points in 2002 — but shrugged off the significance of it with much of the regular season remaining.


"We just have to take it for what it is and prepare for our next game," Appling said.


The Wolverines (21-4, 8-4) have lost three of four, but the closely contested setbacks on the road against the Hoosiers and at Wisconsin were nothing like the latest when they were held to a season-low points total.


"They bullied us — point blank," said Tim Hardaway Jr., who matched a career low with two points.


Michigan State didn't trail once, led by as many as 16 points in the first half and enjoyed 30-point leads in the second.


"We probably played our best game in three years," Spartans coach Tom Izzo said. "And, they probably played one of their worst."


Michigan coach John Beilein agreed.


"That was the worst we've played in a long, long time and credit Michigan State for that," he said.


Burke scored 18 points for the Wolverines and didn't get much help from his teammate offensively, or defensively.


"It was an embarrassing loss," Burke said.


Hardaway Jr. was held scoreless until making a layup in the opening minute of the second half — after turning down Beilein's suggestion to work on his shot during halftime warmups — and didn't score again. Hardaway was 1 of 11 from the field.


"He's been playing as good as any player in the country," Beilein said. "He had a bad night, credit Michigan State's defense. Tim had a bad night and Tim Hardaway will bounce back like he always has."


Glen Robinson III was 1 of 4 and scored two points to match his season low.


The Wolverines, who pride themselves on taking care of the basketball, had a season-high 16 turnovers and didn't have much success getting the ball away from the turnover-prone Spartans. Michigan made fewer than 40 percent of its shots and scored one fewer point than it did in a three-point loss at Ohio State.


"Maybe we got exactly what we deserve and it's medicine for the future," Beilein said.


Everything went right for Michigan State, which had just eight turnovers and made 48-plus percent of its shots.


Gary Harris scored 17 points, making five 3-pointers, and Derrick Nix had his way on the inside, scoring 14 points as part of a balanced offense.


Appling had 11 points and Branden Dawson scored 10 before leaving the court late in the game because Michigan's Mitch McGary hit him in the face inadvertently with his right arm.


Izzo said Dawson got hit in the nose and had a cut on his lip.


"I do think he's going to be OK," Izzo said.


Matt Costello scored a season-high eight points and fellow freshman Denzel Valentine had seven points to help Michigan State win its second straight in the series after losing three in a row following a run of dominance for the Spartans.


White-clad fans in the stands were fired up before the game even started and they stayed enthusiastic, standing for much of the game, because the home team gave them plenty of reasons to cheer from start to finish.


"The crowd was just awesome," Izzo said. "It kind of reminded me of back in the day."


In the first matchup of 20-win teams in Division I basketball this season, Michigan State showed it might not be a rebuilding this season.


Michigan, meanwhile, has been humbled since being ranked No. 1 last month for the first time since the 1992-92 season.


"It was a big step for us, but don't think that's the real Michigan team because it's not," Izzo said.


___


Follow Larry Lage on Twitter: http://twitter.com/larrylage


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Emu heist baffles Australian wildlife park






SYDNEY (Reuters) – The theft of a fully-grown emu from an Australian wildlife park this week has left only a pile of feathers at the scene of the crime, and questions about the motive for snatching an ungainly bird with practically no cash value.


Operating under cover of darkness, robbers are believed to have lifted the flightless bird – second only to the ostrich in size and known for its speed, powerful legs and clawed feet – over electrified barbed wire atop a two-meter fence, eluding a guard and a security camera.






Police evidence suggests a getaway vehicle was parked about 1 km (0.6 miles) away near a train line adjacent to the park, said Chad Staples, senior curator at Featherdale Wildlife Park in Doonside, west of Sydney.


“It would have had to be carried the whole way and lifted over the fences twice,” he said. A grown emu can be as much as 2 meters (6.6 feet) tall and weigh roughly 37 kg, or a little more than an adult Labrador dog.


All that remained in the enclosure was a heap of feathers. A second emu was also in the area, but it escaped the thieves with minor feather loss.


Staples said he was mystified by the theft, the first of its kind.


“Emus don’t really have a monetary value because of how common they are,” said Staples. “It (the theft) was extremely targeted and it seems fairly well executed.”


The last break-in at the park was on Christmas Day in 2012, when 10 macaw parrots were stolen but recovered shortly after.


“We are hoping the same thing will happen with the emu,” Staples said.


(Reporting by Michael Sin, editing by Elaine Lies)


Animal and Pets News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Obama's chance to lead?






STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • John Avlon: President Barack Obama is well-positioned to help solve debt problem

  • He says Obama should avoid temptation favored by some Democrats to put off action

  • Relatively modest changes in entitlements could help ensure their survival, Avlon says

  • Avlon: Obama can rally his party behind deficit cuts that won't hurt economy




Editor's note: John Avlon is a CNN contributor and senior political columnist for Newsweek and The Daily Beast. He is co-editor of the book "Deadline Artists: America's Greatest Newspaper Columns." He is a regular contributor to "Erin Burnett OutFront" and is a member of the OutFront Political Strike Team. For more political analysis, tune in to "Erin Burnett OutFront" at 7 ET weeknights.


(CNN) -- "What we have done is kicked this can down the road. We are now at the end of the road and are not in a position to kick it any further. ... We have to signal seriousness in this by making sure some of the hard decisions are made under my watch, not someone else's."


So said President-elect Barack Obama at a Washington Post editorial board meeting in January 2009, just days before taking his first oath of office. He was talking about the importance of dealing with the long-term deficit and debt.


The rhetoric hasn't met the record -- debt has exploded under Obama's watch. Reasonable people can forgive the president for expenses incurred while confronting the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression -- and, let's be honest, alternative paths of austerity have not worked that well across the Atlantic. But now is the time to get serious about reigning in our long-term debt, which now exceeds an unsustainable 70% of gross domestic product.


At this moment of maximum political capital, Obama is perfectly positioned to act on his original impulse in the State of the Union on Tuesday night.


But there is a dangerous bit of hubris sweeping the Democratic Party, which says that dealing with deficits and debt is a sucker's bet, best left to the next Republican president.


Instead, the Keynesians are riding high and arguing that deficit and debt is not a primary concern to most voters and irrelevant to economic growth. And so the pregame expectation setting comes: White House minions told The Washington Post not to expect the president to present "an ambitious new plan to rein in the debt" in the State of the Union.


Opinion: Obama needs to lay out a plan on climate crisis


This would be a major mistake and a costly lost opportunity.



With an eye toward his legacy, Obama should follow his original instincts and put the power of presidency behind a balanced long-term plan to deal with deficits and debt -- including spending cuts, tax reform and, most importantly, entitlement reform.


This is the time for Obama to pull a Nixon in China.


Just as only a committed anti-communist such as Nixon could establish relations with communist China, Obama is perfectly positioned to do what he knows is necessary to preserve the long-term strength and solvency of the social safety net: Medicare and Social Security.


This does not mean draconian cuts or a voucherization of the existing system as imagined by Rep. Paul Ryan and many House Republicans. But it does mean following through on the president's previous negotiated offers to consider "chained CPI," which would lower inflation-related increases in Social Security benefits, and to raise the eligibility age for Medicare.








Formula adjustments such as these can save billions of dollars over the next 10 years, keeping these popular programs solvent. Other solutions, such as raising the Social Security payroll tax cap to more than the current income cutoff of $110,000, are worth consideration as part of a package. This is an idea that liberals love because it extends the progressivity of the tax code to the wealthiest Americans.


Alternatively, we could means-test Social Security to make sure it serves primarily as a safety net -- or (gasp!) raise the retirement age. When the Bowles-Simpson commission suggested raising the retirement age to 69 in 2075, it was met with howls of outrage from unions in particular. This makes no sense, especially if common-sense exemptions are made for manual labor.


Beltway cynics say that the bipartisan deficit and debt reduction plans that are often cited have no chance of passing Congress. When you look at the pathetic support for Bowles-Simpson when it was actually put to a vote in the House last March -- 16 Republicans and 22 Democrats supported it -- you see why cynicism is always a safe bet in Washington.


But take a step back, and you'll see much broader support among the American people. The Pew Research Center found that the top three issues are "strengthening the economy" (at 86%), "improving the jobs situation" (79%) and "reducing the budget deficit" (at 72%). Crucially, the deficit has shown the biggest increase as an issue over the past four years -- up 19 percentage points from 2009. This is evidence of a pent-up demand for action -- but it will require presidential leadership.


Of course the devil is in the details, and politicos will point out that when confronted with tough medicine to deal with deficits and debt, even alleged tea party supporters balk (hence the classic "Government Get Your Hands Off My Medicare!" sign that I saw at one 2009 rally).


But strengthening America to remain competitive in the 21st century will require getting our long-term debt under control along with other important but less poll-prioritized policies such as comprehensive immigration reform and a public-private infrastructure bank to fund nation-building "here at home."


The State of the Union is a chance for the president to put forward a balanced bipartisan solution that contrasts with radical conservatives who believe that increased tax revenues from closed tax loopholes can't be part of a big deal to bring down our debt. Wall Street lawyers will fight to protect every loophole they embedded in our tax code, but their argument doesn't begin to make sense to people on Main Street.


Obama will probably point out Tuesday night that economic growth is the essential X Factor to reducing long-term deficits and debt. On this point at least, he and some conservatives might agree. But dumb meat cleaver cuts such as the looming sequestration could push our economy back into recession.


That's why a smart balanced alternative plan is necessary. But it will require presidential leadership and putting some Democratic sacred cows on the table.


This doesn't just make practical sense in a divided government (a reality some Democrats seem to forget) -- it makes compelling political sense as well. By seizing the mantle of fiscal responsibility -- in contrast to fiscal conservatism -- Obama will build on his post-election bump among centrists and some independents.


The more Machiavellian Democrats might argue that this outreach could only serve to isolate Republicans more. Nonpartisan strategists might argue that this approach would drive a wedge between reasonable Republicans and the House radicals.


But the real reason for Obama to address the need to reduce long-term deficits and debt directly is because it's the right thing to do for our country -- and he is uniquely positioned to achieve it. Just as Nixon could go to China, a Southern Democrat such as Lyndon Johnson was needed to pass civil rights legislation and Bill Clinton was able to sign welfare reform after decades of Republicans talking about it, Obama can put our country on a balanced path of long-term economic growth and fiscal responsibility.


Bottom line: Obama has the political opportunity, but does he have the political will? We'll all find out in real time if he decides to lead on this issue or just be the latest in a long line to kick the can further down the road.


Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.


Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.


The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John Avlon.






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Dorner case: Human remains found in debris of burned cabin









Charred human remains have been found in the debris of the burned-out Big Bear area cabin where police believe fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner was holed up, authorities said.

Investigators will attempt to identify the remains through forensic means, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.







Dorner, whose alleged crimes have kept Southern California on edge for days, is wanted for the slayings of an engaged couple and two law enforcement officers. He was believed to have shot at pursuing law enforcement officials, then fled into a cabin shortly before it ignited Tuesday afternoon near ski resorts in the San Bernardino Mountains.

Authorities had lost track of Dorner since late last week. Then, on Tuesday, two maids stumbled upon a man resembling Dorner as they arrived to clean a vacant cabin.


The suspect was found close to where law enforcement officials had held news conferences over the weekend concerning their search for Dorner, 33, and near where Dorner’s car was set aflame last week.


The suspect tied the two maids up, took a car from the residence and left, according to a law enforcement official. One of the maids was eventually able to break free at the residence in the 1200 block of Club View Drive, close to Snow Summit and Bear Mountain Resort, and called 911 at 12:20 p.m.


Then, at 12:45 p.m., according to state Fish and Wildlife officials, the suspect was allegedly driving a purple Nissan on California 38 when he passed a marked vehicle driven by the agency’s law enforcement officers.


The officers recognized the suspect as he passed and swung their vehicle around in pursuit.


The suspect attempted to evade them by turning off onto Glass Road, and at some point crashed and abandoned the small car.


With officers still in pursuit, the suspect then stopped a truck driven by another resident and ordered him out of the vehicle.


Behind the wheel of the stolen truck, the suspect was once again careening down Glass Road, and once again he passed a Fish and Wildlife vehicle coming from the opposite direction. Again an officer recognized the suspect. That driver radioed his colleagues traveling behind him that the suspect was heading in their direction in a silver pickup.


When the suspect saw the second Fish and Wildlife truck approaching, he rolled down his window and took aim. The suspect opened fire into the cab as the vehicles passed just two feet apart, shattering the driver's side window and strafing the state truck with a handgun.


The badly damaged truck skidded to a halt and a game warden, a 35-year-old former Marine, fired 20 rounds from a high-powered rifle as the suspect fled in the hijacked truck.


The suspect subsequently crashed that truck and ran into the woods. He ended up in the cabin. A firefight ensued. Two San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies were shot; one was pronounced dead at a hospital, while another is undergoing surgery. Hundreds of rounds were fired in the firefight.


For days, multiple law enforcement agencies from across Southern California laid out a dragnet for the man accused of going on a revenge-fueled rampage following his termination from the LAPD in 2008. In addition to the San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy who was fatally wounded Tuesday, Dorner allegedly killed the 28-year-old daughter of a former LAPD captain, her fiance and a Riverside police officer.






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U.S. says to take lead to contain North Korea


SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said North Korea's third nuclear test, in defiance of U.N. resolutions, was a threat and a provocation and that the United States would lead the world in responding.


North Korea has said Tuesday's test was an act of self-defense against "U.S. hostility" and threatened stronger steps if necessary.


"Provocations of the sort we saw last night will only isolate them further, as we stand by our allies, strengthen our own missile defense, and lead the world in taking firm action in response to these threats," Obama said in his State of the Union address, delivered 24 hours after the North's test.


North Korea tested nuclear devices in 2006 and 2009. But despite the three tests and a long-range rocket launch, it is not believed to be close to manufacturing a nuclear missile capable of targeting the United States.


But Washington believes the isolated state's ultimate aim is to design an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead that could reach the continental United States. North Korea says its rocket program is aimed at putting satellites in space.


The latest test has drawn condemnation from around the world, including from China which for years has been the North's only major ally.


The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting at which its members, including China, "strongly condemned" the test and vowed to start work on appropriate measures in response, the president of the council said.


North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the third member of his family to rule, has presided over two long-range rocket launches and a nuclear test during his first year in power, pursuing policies that have propelled his impoverished and malnourished country closer to becoming a nuclear weapons power.


North Korea said the test had "greater explosive force" than those in 2006 and 2009. Its KCNA news agency said it had used a "miniaturised" and lighter nuclear device, indicating it had again used plutonium, which is suitable for use as a missile warhead.


EXASPERATED


China, which has shown signs of increasing exasperation with the recent bellicose tone of its reclusive neighbor, summoned the North Korean ambassador in Beijing and protested sternly, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.


Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said China was "strongly dissatisfied and resolutely opposed" to the test and urged North Korea to "stop any rhetoric or acts that could worsen situations and return to the right course of dialogue and consultation as soon as possible".


Analysts said the test was a major embarrassment to China, which is a permanent member of the Security Council and North Korea's sole major economic and diplomatic ally.


Obama said the test would be a setback for North Korea's economic development.


"The regime in North Korea must know that they will only achieve security and prosperity by meeting their international obligations," he said.


U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said Washington and its allies intended to "augment the sanctions regime" already in place due to Pyongyang's previous atomic tests. North Korea is already one of the most heavily sanctioned states in the world and has few external economic links that can be targeted.


Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the test was a "grave threat" that could not be tolerated.


Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged North Korea to abandon its nuclear arms program and return to talks. NATO condemned the test as an "irresponsible act."


South Korea, still technically at war with North Korea after a 1950-53 civil war ended in a truce, also denounced the test. Obama spoke to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday and told him the United States "remains steadfast in its defense commitments" to South Korea, the White House said.


MAXIMUM RESTRAINT


North Korea's Foreign Ministry said the test was "only the first response we took with maximum restraint".


"If the United States continues to come out with hostility and complicates the situation, we will be forced to take stronger, second and third responses in consecutive steps," it said in a statement carried by the KCNA news agency.


North Korea - which gave the U.S. State Department advance warning of the test - often threatens the United States and its "puppet", South Korea, with destruction in colourful terms.


North Korea told the U.N. disarmament forum in Geneva that it would never bow to resolutions on its nuclear program and that prospects were "gloomy" for the denuclearization of the divided Korean peninsula because of a "hostile" U.S. policy.


The magnitude of the explosion was roughly twice that of the 2009 test, according to the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty Organization.


U.S. intelligence agencies were analyzing the event and found that North Korea probably conducted an underground nuclear explosion with a yield of "approximately several kilotons", the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said.


Nuclear experts have described the previous two tests as puny by international standards. The yield of the 2006 test has been estimated at less than 1 kiloton (1,000 tons of TNT equivalent) and the second at some 2-7 kilotons, compared with 20 kilotons for a Nagasaki-type bomb.


Initial indications are that the test involved the latest version of a plutonium-based prototype weapon, according to one current and one former U.S. national security official. Both previous tests involved plutonium. If it turns out the test was of a new uranium-based weapon, it would show that North Korea had made more progress on uranium enrichment than previously thought.


"VICIOUS CYCLE"


When Kim Jong-un, who is 30, took power after his father's death in December 2011, there were hopes that he would bring reforms and end Kim Jong-il's "military first" policies.


Instead, North Korea, whose economy is smaller than it was 20 years ago and where a third of children are believed to be malnourished, appears to be trapped in a cycle of sanctions followed by further defiance.


"The more North Korea shoots missiles, launches satellites or conducts nuclear tests, the more the U.N. Security Council will impose new and more severe sanctions," said Shen Dingli, a professor at Shanghai's Fudan University.


"It is an endless, vicious cycle."


Options for a response from the international community appear to be few. Diplomats at the United Nations said negotiations on new sanctions could take weeks since China is likely to resist tough new measures for fear they could lead to further retaliation by the North Korean leadership.


Significantly, the test comes at a time of political transition in China, Japan and South Korea, and as Obama begins his second term.


The North's longer-term game plan may be to restart international talks aimed at winning food and financial aid. China urged it to return to the stalled "six-party" talks on its nuclear programme, hosted by China and including the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia.


(Additional reporting by Jack Kim, Christine Kim and Jumin Park in SEOUL; Linda Sieg in TOKYO; Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols at the UNITED NATIONS; Fredrik Dahl in VIENNA; Michael Martina and Chen Aizhu in BEIJING; Mette Fraende in COPENHAGEN; Adrian Croft, Charlie Dunmore and Justyna Pawlak in BRUSSELS; Mark Hosenball, Paul Eckert, Roberta Rampton, Tabassum Zakaria and Jeff Mason in WASHINGTON; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)



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Yen near lows vs dollar, Asian shares ease in subdued trade

TOKYO (Reuters) - The yen hovered near its lows against the dollar and Tokyo stocks jumped closer to a 33-month high on Tuesday after markets took comments from a U.S. official as approval for Japan to pursue anti-deflation policies that weaken the yen.


U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Lael Brainard said on Monday the United States supports Japanese efforts to end deflation, but she noted that the G7 has long been committed to exchange rates determined by market forces, "except in rare circumstances where excess volatility or disorderly movements might warrant cooperation.


"Her (Brainard's) comments gave confidence to the market. It was surprising, and was taken as the Obama administration giving a green light to 'Abenomics'," said Takuya Takahashi, a market analyst at Daiwa Securities.


Japan has faced some overseas criticism that it is intentionally trying to weaken the yen with monetary easing, but talk of a so-called currency war was dialled back ahead of a Group of 20 meeting in Moscow on Friday and Saturday.


G20 officials said on Monday the Group of Seven nations are considering a statement this week reaffirming their commitment to "market-determined" exchange rates.


European Central Bank council member Jens Weidmann also said the euro was not overvalued at current levels.


The dollar slipped 0.3 percent to 94.185 yen after marking its highest level since May 2010 of 94.465 on Monday. The euro eased 0.3 percent to 126.12 yen after rising more than 2 percent on Monday. It hit its highest since April 2010 of 127.71 yen last week.


"I think the yen's weakening is a function of (playing)catch-up," and not Japan resorting to deliberate devaluation of its currency, said Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. in New York. "It's the market's way of saying: 'We're convinced there is a movement afoot to reinflate Japan.'"


The yen is pressured by anticipation that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will endorse a far more dovish Bank of Japan regime when the current leadership's term ends next month, although the BOJ is expected to refrain from taking fresh easing steps when it meets this week.


Share trading was subdued with many regional bourses shut for holidays. Encouraging trade data from China late last week was lending support to sentiment but non-Japan markets lacked momentum as investors awaited key events such as the U.S. president's State of the Union address for trading cues.


European markets are seen inching lower, with the Euro STOXX 50 index futures down 0.1 percent. A 0.2 percent drop in U.S. stock futures also suggested a soft Wall Street start. <.l><.eu><.n/>


The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> fell 0.1 percent, with Australian shares closing flat ahead of corporate earnings due this week.


The weaker yen in turn hoisted the Nikkei stock average <.n225> to close 1.9 percent higher on improving earnings prospects for exporters. <.t/>


Trading resumed in Japan and South Korea but markets in Singapore, Hong Kong, mainland China, Malaysia and Taiwan remained closed.


STATE OF UNION ADDRESS


Currency and equities markets were also looking ahead to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address later on Tuesday night, for any signs of a deal to avert automatic spending cuts due to take effect March 1.


"We believe that the G20's take on currency wars, Mr. Obama's upcoming state of the union address, and data on the current condition of the U.S. economy should help markets assess where the global recovery stands and where we are heading," Barclays Capital said in a research report.


U.S. and Chinese data last week lifted the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> to a 12-year closing high and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> to a five-year peak on Friday.


Financial markets showed a muted reaction to the news that North Korea has conducted a nuclear test.


"The test was not something that makes your heart pound as much as a pressing situation between Iran and Israel," said Kaname Gokon, research manager at brokerage Okato Shoji, referring to the threat of possible military action to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.


U.S. crude futures edged down 0.1 percent to $96.90 a barrel while Brent steadied around $118.


Spot gold stayed near a one-month low.


(Additional reporting by Ayai Tomisawa, Lisa Twaronite and Osamu Tsukimori in Tokyo; Editing by Chris Gallagher)



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Jayhawks back to winning ways with rout of K-State


LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Bill Self was the first to acknowledge that folks around Kansas had grown spoiled.


It's only natural when one of the marquee programs in college basketball, one built upon iconic names such as James Naismith and Phog Allen, rattles off eight consecutive conference championships and throws in another national title along the way.


So when the Jayhawks scuffled to three straight losses, including an embarrassing defeat at TCU, it seemed as if the world was collapsing around the walls of Allen Fieldhouse.


"I think we just got spoiled, just like everyone around here does, that this can't happen to us," Self said matter-of-factly, "and we just let it happen."


On Monday night, they finally put an end to it.


Ben McLemore scored 30 points on his 20th birthday, Jeff Withey dominated in the paint and the No. 14 Jayhawks routed No. 10 Kansas State 83-62 to forge a tie for first place in the Big 12 between the bitter in-state rivals.


"I think it'll help us down the road, which is obviously the most important," Self said of the morass, which in reality had extended all the way back to the start of conference play. "We still control our own destiny, even though it will be difficult, without question."


One thing the Jayhawks (20-4, 8-3) have to their advantage is two wins over the Wildcats (19-5, 8-3), who had used a four-game winning streak to take over first place.


Rodney McGruder had 20 points and Angel Rodriguez added 17 for the Wildcats on Monday night, but they never seemed to be in the game despite entering the Phog as the higher-ranked team for the first time since Feb. 20, 1982.


The Jayhawks used two big runs in the first half to take a 47-29 lead at the break, and then thwarted every rally that the veteran Wildcats tried to muster down the stretch.


The result has become predictable: Kansas won for the 11th time in the last 12 games between the rivals, and for the 46th time in their last 49 meetings, prompting the student section to chant "This is our state!" once again in the closing minutes.


"Last week is over. We're going to learn from that," Withey said. "We met so many times and we talked about that so many times, and it's not going to happen again."


Most of the Jayhawks' struggles the past two weeks have centered on their offense, which had produced just 13 points in the first half in that loss to TCU last Wednesday night.


That wasn't much of a problem against the Wildcats.


McLemore, Kansas' star freshman, was 9 of 13 from the field and 6 of 10 from 3. Withey had 17 points, 10 boards and five blocked shots. Kevin Young had 13 points and Travis Releford 10.


Even backup guard Naadir Tharpe got into the act with seven points, eight assists and only one turnover, putting an exclamation mark on the quintessential get-right kind of game for Kansas.


"In the game of basketball, or any sport, it's not always who you're playing but when you're playing them," Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said. "They had a very tough week. They probably hung their head for a while. They got their head up. It's always a good remedy to come home."


Young got the Jayhawks off to a fast start with a dunk off a nifty feed from Tharpe, one of six assists he had in the first half. Withey was the recipient of Young's feed on the next trip, and McLemore's 3-pointer from the wing forced the Wildcats to call time out.


It didn't do much to ebb the tide.


Kansas used a 14-3 run to gain control, and then a 12-3 charge fueled by Tharpe and McLemore to take a 40-19 lead with 3:26 remaining in the first half.


Kansas ended up shooting 58.6 percent from the field, and 5 of 10 from beyond the arc, in building a 47-29 halftime advantage. It was the most points the offensively troubled Jayhawks had scored in a half since putting up 53 in the first half against American on Dec. 29.


"We just played as a team," McLemore said. "Went out there and gave it our all. It started on the defensive end. We got some stops and created on the offensive end."


Kansas State drew within 58-43 with 14:04 left, but Withey snuffed out the comeback.


The reigning Big 12 defensive player of the year swatted away a shot by McGruder and, moments later, threw down a massive dunk over Jordan Henriquez — a fellow 7-footer — before finishing off the three-point play. Withey then rejected McGruder at the other end, and Travis Releford had the putback that restored the Jayhawks' 20-point lead at 63-43 with 11:59 to go.


The Jayhawks put the game on cruise control down the stretch, giving Weber — who once followed Self as the man in charge at Illinois — his third loss in three tries against Kansas, and the Wildcats their sixth straight defeat in Lawrence.


Talk about things getting back to normal.


"First of all, losing three in a row is not — I understand it's not forgivable. It's a terrible, terrible deal. But what we're going through is what 99 percent of teams in America go through," Self said. "There's only 1 percent that doesn't go through this kind of stretch. And we're spoiled because it's been a long time since we went through one of these stretches."


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NASA Launching Powerful Landsat Earth-Observation Satellite Today






NASA‘s latest Earth-observation satellite is set to blast off today (Feb. 11), continuing a venerable program that has been monitoring environmental change and resource use for more than four decades.


The Landsat Data Continuity Mission is scheduled to launch today at 1:02 p.m. EST (1802 GMT/10:02 a.m. PST) atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The LDCM spacecraft will track changes in forest cover, agricultural output and urban sprawl, among other things, adding to a Earth-observation record that has been growing continuously since Landsat 1 lifted off in July 1972.






“LDCM will be the best Landsat spacecraft yet, in terms of improved capabilities and the amount of data returned,” mission program executive David Jarrett, of NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., told reporters Friday (Feb. 8) in a prelaunch press briefing. “LDCM will continue the Landsat legacy well into the future.”


The $ 855 million LDCM spacecraft is the eighth satellite in the history of the Landsat program, which is jointly run by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. USGS will take over operation of the craft after launch and some on-orbit checkouts, at which point it will be renamed Landsat 8. [Photos: The Next Landsat Earth-Observing Spacecraft]


Landsat 8 will double the number of functional Landsat spacecraft, joining Landsat 7, which launched in April 1999. (Landsat 5 recently retired after scrutinizing Earth’s surface for nearly 29 years.)


The SUV-size Landsat 8 will zip around Earth at an altitude of 438 miles (705 kilometers), staring down from a polar orbit with two sensitive instruments. The Operational Land Imager (OLI) will collect data in visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared wavelengths, while the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) will measure surface temperatures.


By tracking forest destruction, water use, urban expansion, glacial retreat and other fast-accelerating phenomena, Landsat 8 will help scientists and policymakers better understand how Earth’s seven billion people are affecting the planet, researchers said.


“All of these changes are currently occurring at rates unprecedented in human history, due to an increasing population, advancing technology and climate change,” said mission project scientist Jim Irons, of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “We will be able to monitor these changes — to continue to observe these changes — from LDCM, from the best Landsat satellite ever launched.”


Landsat 7 has enough fuel to stay in an operational orbit through 2016, Irons said. The Landsat 8 spacecraft and the OLI instrument have design lives of five years, and the TIRS sensor was built to last at least three years, he added. The satellite has enough fuel to stay in its desired orbit for at least a decade.


“We hope that the spacecraft and the instruments will last well beyond their design lives, and we can continue to collect data for at least 10 years,” Irons said.


Follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall or SPACE.com @Spacedotcom. We’re also onFacebook and Google+


Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Why pope will long be remembered




Tim Stanley says Pope Benedict will be seen as an important figure in church history.




STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Timothy Stanley: Benedict XVI's resignation is historic since popes usually serve for life

  • He says pope not so much conservative as asserting church's "living tradition"

  • He backed traditionalists, but a conflicted flock, scandal, culture wars a trial to papacy, he says

  • Stanley: Pope kept to principle, and if it's not what modern world wanted, that's world's problem




Editor's note: Timothy Stanley is a historian at Oxford University and blogs for Britain's The Daily Telegraph. He is the author of "The Crusader: The Life and Times of Pat Buchanan."


(CNN) -- Journalists have a habit of calling too many things "historic" -- but on this occasion, the word is appropriate. The Roman Catholic Church is run like an elected monarchy, and popes are supposed to rule until death; no pope has stepped down since 1415.


Therefore, it almost feels like a concession to the modern world to read that Benedict XVI is retiring on grounds of ill health, as if he were a CEO rather than God's man on Earth. That's highly ironic considering that Benedict will be remembered as perhaps the most "conservative" pope since the 1950s -- a leader who tried to assert theological principle over fashionable compromise.



Timothy Stanley

Timothy Stanley



The word "conservative" is actually misleading, and the monk who received me into the Catholic Church in 2006 -- roughly a year after Benedict began his pontificate -- would be appalled to read me using it. In Catholicism, there is no right or left but only orthodoxy and error. As such, Benedict would understand the more controversial stances that he took as pope not as "turning back the clock" but as asserting a living tradition that had become undervalued within the church. His success in this regard will be felt for generations to come.


He not only permitted but quietly encouraged traditionalists to say the old rite, reviving the use of Latin or receiving the communion wafer on the tongue. He issued a new translation of the Roman Missal that tried to make its language more precise. And, in the words of one priest, he encouraged the idea that "we ought to take care and time in preparing for the liturgy, and ensure we celebrate it with as much dignity as possible." His emphasis was upon reverence and reflection, which has been a healthy antidote to the 1960s style of Catholicism that encouraged feverish participation bordering on theatrics.


Nothing the pope proposed was new, but it could be called radical, trying to recapture some of the certainty and beauty that pervaded Catholicism before the reforming Vatican II. Inevitably, this upset some. Progressives felt that he was promoting a form of religion that belonged to a different century, that his firm belief in traditional moral theology threatened to distance the church from the people it was supposed to serve.



If that's true, it wasn't the pope's intent. Contrary to the general impression that he's favored a smaller, purer church, Benedict has actually done his best to expand its reach. The most visible sign was his engagement on Twitter. But he also reached out to the Eastern Orthodox Churches and spoke up for Christians persecuted in the Middle East.


In the United Kingdom, he encouraged married Anglican priests to defect. He has even opened up dialogue with Islam. During his tenure, we've also seen a new embrace of Catholicism in the realm of politics, from Paul Ryan's nomination to Tony Blair's high-profile conversion. And far from only talking about sex, Benedict expanded the number of sins to include things such as pollution. It's too often forgotten that in the 1960s he was considered a liberal who eschewed the clerical collar.


The divisions and controversies that occurred under Benedict's leadership had little to do with him personally and a lot more to do with the Catholic Church's difficult relationship with the modern world. As a Catholic convert, I've signed up to its positions on sexual ethics, but I appreciate that many millions have not. A balance has to be struck between the rights of believers and nonbelievers, between respect for tradition and the freedom to reject it.


As the world has struggled to strike that balance (consider the role that same-sex marriage and abortion played in the 2012 election) so the church has found itself forced to be a combatant in the great, ugly culture war. Benedict would rather it played the role of reconciler and healer of wounds, but at this moment in history that's not possible. Unfortunately, its alternative role as moral arbiter has been undermined by the pedophile scandal. Nothing has dogged this pontificate so much as the tragedy of child abuse, and it will continue to blot its reputation for decades to come.


For all these problems, my sense is that Benedict will be remembered as a thinker rather than a fighter. I have been so fortunate to become a Catholic at a moment of liturgical revival under a pope who can write a book as majestic and wise as his biography of Jesus. I've been lucky to know a pope with a sense of humor and a willingness to talk and engage.


If he wasn't what the modern world wanted -- if he wasn't prepared to bend every principle or rule to appease all the people all the time -- then that's the world's problem rather than his. Although he has attained one very modern distinction indeed. On Monday, he trended ahead of Justin Bieber on Twitter for at least an hour.


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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Timothy Stanley.






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