Germany and France seek relaxation of bank capital rules: report (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? France and Germany will call on Monday for a relaxation of global bank capital rules to prevent lending to the real economy being choked off, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble and his French counterpart Francois Baroin will urge special treatment for banks that own insurance companies, according to a joint paper seen by the newspaper.

The pair will also urge important elements of the Basel III guidelines on capital requirements to be watered down to mitigate any "negative effect" on growth, according to the article.

The FT said the paper calls for a three-year delay to the mandatory deadline to disclose leverage ratios, a measure of bank borrowing and risk.

Banks across the world will have to follow Basel III accords for disclosing the size and quality of their capital safety buffers from 2013 to help reassure investors they are stable.

(Reporting by Stephen Mangan; Editing by Kim Coghill)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/bs_nm/us_france_germany_regulation

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Obama to tout natural gas benefits in State of Union (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama will encourage the country's booming natural gas output in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, while defending his administration's energy record, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Obama was expected to devote a significant portion of his speech slated for 9 p.m. EST Tuesday calling for a "new era for American energy," which will include promoting domestic natural gas production, according to documents provided to Democratic party sources.

U.S. natural gas output has grown sharply in recent years thanks to advances in drilling techniques that have unlocked massive shale reserves.

Obama has repeatedly stressed the importance of domestic natural gas output, pointing to natural gas as a possible area of compromise for Democrats and Republicans.

But, the administration has also raised the ire of the oil and gas industry by moving forward with new regulations of the drilling that companies argue could hamper future development. He has also twice delayed the Canada-to-Texas Keystone oil sands pipeline.

Environmentalists and some landowners near shale gas wells argue that the recent shale boom is polluting air and water and needs greater federal oversight.

Obama administration officials have said that while natural gas production is important to the U.S. energy future, it must be done safely.

The White House is weighing including a natural gas production goal the speech, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

Obama's address will also focus on the importance of not sacrificing environmental protections and investments in clean energy during this time of budget constraints and concerns about job creation, said Elgie Holstein, senior director for strategic planning at the Environmental Defense Fund.

"We're anticipating that the president will make a pointed defense of the fact that taking care of our environment and building clean energy future is another form of investment in America's economic future," Holstein said.

Transforming the U.S. economy by investing in clean energy innovation has been a central theme for the administration since Obama took office in 2009.

Republicans have blasted Obama for focusing on clean energy sources, such as wind and solar, to the detriment of fossil fuels, which they argue are still needed to fuel the U.S. economy.

The high profile collapse of Solyndra, the solar panel maker, after receiving more than $500 million in loan aid from the Obama administration also provided ammunition to critics who say the government should not be in the business of picking winners and losers in the energy sector.

Still, Obama officials contend that the United States can not afford to fall behind developing nations such as China and India when it comes to green energy.

Facing an election in November, Obama will likely tout his commitment to energy independence.

"President Obama can tell a very positive story about his energy policies," said Daniel Weiss, a senior fellow at the liberal think tank, Center for American Progress.

Heather Zichal, a White House adviser on energy and climate change, released an editorial last week highlighting rising domestic oil and natural gas production, as well as falling oil imports under Obama.

Zichal highlighted proposed fuel economy standards that would push average fuel efficiency to 54.5 miles per gallon across U.S. fleets in the coming decade, cutting oil consumption by an estimated 2.2 million barrels a day by 2025.

(Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120124/ts_nm/us_obama_energy_address

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Seal, Heidi Klum announce separation (AP)

NEW YORK ? Seal and Heidi Klum have announced that their storybook marriage is coming to the end of the runway.

In a statement Sunday night, the power couple announced their separation after rumors swirled over the weekend that a divorce was imminent.

"While we have enjoyed seven very loving, loyal and happy years of marriage, after much soul searching we have decided to separate," the joint statement read. "We have had the deepest respect for one another throughout our relationship and continue to love each other very much, but we have grown apart. This is an amicable process and protecting the well-being of our children remains our top priority, especially during this time of transition. We thank our family, friends, and fans for their kind words of support. And for our children's sake, we appreciate you respecting our privacy."

The couple married in 2005 and has four children together, including the supermodel's daughter from a previous relationship.

They were one of Hollywood's most high-profile couples, and seemed to have the relationship everyone should envy. They two starred together in the music video "Secret," they renewed their wedding vows each anniversary, boasted of their love in the media, and threw Halloween bashes together where they dressed in outrageous outfits, most recently last year in New York City, where the two engaged in their typical public display of affection for the cameras.

In an interview with The Associated Press in 2007, the "Kiss from A Rose" singer described his wife, who has a tattoo of his name on her arm, as his best friend.

"It is really important that we have that understanding because apart from anything else it is really healthy," he said of the "Project Runway" host. "People often talk about the most important thing in a relationship. They say it is really important that you are turned on by your partner and you love each other, which is all really true.I often think that the most important thing or certainly up there with love is respect."

TMZ first reported on Saturday that the two planned to divorce this week.

His announcement comes as he releases his new album, "Soul 2," on Tuesday, which has songs like "Love T.K.O," "Let's Stay Together" and "Love Don't Live Here Anymore."

___

AP Entertainment Writer Alicia Quarles contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_en_ce/us_people_seal_heidi_klum

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Islamist insurgents kill over 178 in Nigeria's Kano (Reuters)

KANO (Reuters) ? Gun and bomb attacks by Islamist insurgents in the northern Nigerian city of Kano last week killed at least 178 people, a hospital doctor said on Sunday, underscoring the challenge President Goodluck Jonathan faces to prevent his country sliding further into chaos.

A coordinated series of bomb blasts and shooting sprees mostly targeting police stations Friday sent panicked residents of Nigeria's second biggest city of more than 10 million people running for cover.

The scale of the carnage makes this by far the deadliest strike claimed by Boko Haram, a shadowy Islamist sect that started out as a clerical movement opposed to western education but has become the biggest security menace facing Africa's top oil producer.

"We have 178 people killed in the two main hospitals," the senior doctor in Kano's Murtala Mohammed hospital said following Friday's attacks, citing records from his own and the other main hospital of Nasarawa.

"There could be more, because some bodies have not yet come in and others were collected early."

The streets were quiet Sunday in Kano, a vast metropolis of wide paved highways, normally buzzing with motorbikes, and sandy alleyways where hawkers sell grilled meat and donkeys pull carts heaped with fruit and vegetables.

Churches, which would usually be filled with worshippers in the religiously mixed city, were largely empty.

Jonathan, a Christian from the south, travelled to Kano on Sunday, visiting hospitals to speak to victims.

"Our coming today is to express our condolence to the good people of Kano over the dastardly acts," Jonathan said at the palace of the Emir, the city's Muslim figurehead.

"Those causing havoc will never succeed ... The federal government will not rest until the perpetrators are brought to book. We will not rest until these terrorist are wiped out," said Jonathan, wearing a traditional northern Nigerian kaftan and hat.

Boko Haram has been blamed for killing hundreds of people in increasingly sophisticated bombings and shootings, mostly targeting security forces, establishment figures and more recently Christians, in the country of 160 million people split roughly evenly between them and Muslims.

MORE ATTACKS ON SUNDAY

Apart from a handful of forays into the capital Abuja, the sect's energies have been concentrated in the majority Muslim north, far from the oil producing facilities along the southern coast that keep Africa's second biggest economy afloat.

A further 10 people were killed Sunday in Bauchi state, which neighbors Kano, when police fought gunmen attempting to rob a bank, the police said. Boko Haram robbed several banks last year to fund its insurgency.

"In the early hours of today gunmen killed 10 people at a military checkpoint and a nearby hotel at Tafawa Balewa local government area," police commissioner Ikechukwu Aduba told Reuters.

"One police officer, an army corporal and eight civilians (were killed) after gunmen were earlier repelled from robbing a bank."

Explosions also struck two churches in Bauchi Sunday, witnesses said, destroying one of them completely, although there were no immediate reports of casualties.

The government has announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Kano, an ancient city that was once part of an Islamic caliphate trading riches on caravan routes connecting sub-Saharan Africa with the Mediterranean.

Jonathan, who helped broker a deal that largely ended an insurgency by militants in the oil-rich southeast in 2009, has been criticized for failing to grasp the gravity of the crisis unfolding in the north, and of treating it as a pure security issue that will fizzle out by itself.

Worsening insecurity has led some to question whether Nigeria isn't sliding into civil war, 40 years after the secessionist Biafra conflict killed over a million people, though few think an all-out war splitting the country into two or more pieces is a likely outcome.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attacks and called for "swift and transparent investigations" into the killings. European powers and the African Union have also condemned the attacks.

SECT CHANGING

Boko Haram became active around 2003 in the remote, northeastern state of Borno, on the threshold of the Sahara, but its attacks have spread into other northern states, including Yobe, Kano, Bauchi and Gombe.

Boko Haram, a Hausa term meaning "Western education is sinful," is loosely modeled on Afghanistan's Taliban, but analysts say the anger it channels reflects a perception that the north has been marginalized from oil riches concentrated in the south.

The sect originally said it wanted sharia, Islamic law, to be applied more widely across Nigeria but its aims appear to have changed. Recent messages from its leaders have said it is attacking anyone who opposes it, at present mainly police, the government and Christian groups.

"Since 2009 it is an insurgency that has gathered pace almost in slow motion, incrementally - apparently absorbed and accommodated with no clear evidence that government has the capacity, competence or will to turn the tide," said Antony Goldman, head of Nigeria-focused PM Consulting.

"Boko Haram was a work in progress when (former President) Obasanjo, who had a deserved 'no nonsense' reputation, was in power; and it was Yar'Adua, a Muslim President, who ordered a bloody crackdown in 2009. It was a difficult inheritance for Jonathan but the problems have only grown more complex."

Boko Haram's attacks have become increasingly deadly in the last few months.

At least 65 people were killed in the northeast Nigerian city of Damaturu, Yobe state, in a spate of gun and bomb attacks in November.

A bomb attack on a Catholic church just outside the capital Abuja on Christmas Day, claimed by Boko Haram, killed 37 people and wounded 57.

In a Reuters interview in late December, National Security Adviser General Owoye Andrew Azazi said officials are considering making contact with moderate members of shadowy sect via "back channels," even though explicit talks are officially ruled out.

(Additional reporting by Joe Brock in Abuja; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120122/wl_nm/us_nigeria_violence

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Analysts: New software won't save Blackberry maker (AP)

NEW YORK ? In the trend-setting North American market, BlackBerry phones have gone from must-have messaging toys to outdated clunkers _all in the space of a few years. The new CEO of Research In Motion Ltd., the company behind the phones, says it can claw its way back to the top with new software, but analysts are deeply doubtful.

The two co-CEOs of the Canadian company resigned Sunday. The new CEO is Thorsten Heins, who was the company's chief operating officer.

Even though the company is in deep trouble and has seen its stock price fall 89 percent from the all-time high it hit in 2008, Heins said Monday that his appointment means "no seismic change" for the company. He's confident in the course laid out by his predecessors, which hinges on the software revamp.

The new software is called BlackBerry 10, and it's due in new smartphones late this year. For BlackBerry fans, it should be a welcome upgrade. It's based on QNX, an industrial-grade operating system that runs devices that need to be very reliable, like core Internet routers and anesthesia monitoring devices.

That means it's a stable platform that can give BlackBerrys a new look and new capabilities. BlackBerry 10 will have a completely new user interface, built from the ground up for touchscreen input and "very fluid," Heins said in an interview.

But it amounts to BlackBerry tossing out its own quirky, outdated software, first introduced in 1999, and adopting a slick, touch-oriented operating system, much like Android, Google Inc.'s popular smartphone software, and the software on the iPhone.

Heins said BlackBerry 10 is "extremely competitive" and insisted that RIM is "not in a catch-up race" with the makers other mobile operating systems. He emphasizes that BlackBerry 10 will offer "multitasking," or the ability to run several applications at the same time. This is something Google Inc.'s Android software and the iPhone operating system offer in a limited fashion.

Phone software developers generally stay away from full multitasking because it can shorten battery life considerably. Improved multitasking was one of the hallmarks of Palm Inc.'s webOS when it launched in 2009, but that didn't save it from obscurity.

One thing that could entice buyers: the new software will expand the choice of applications greatly, by running ones written for Android. There are hundreds of thousands of such apps, but it's unclear how many of them will run on BlackBerry 10 without modification.

The PlayBook, RIM's tablet computer, already runs an early version of BlackBerry 10. RIM had huge hopes for the device when it put it on sale in April, but quickly had to slash the price. In December, the tablets that originally cost $500 were selling for $200, below the cost of making them. RIM wrote off $485 million worth of inventory.

The PlayBook also illustrates the big challenge RIM is facing switching operating systems. It launched without an email program, apparently because it's very difficult to get QNX to work with the RIM servers that shunt emails around.

Application developers will also have to relearn their tools to write programs for BlackBerry 10, which could prove a big hurdle.

"The platform risks suffering from the same chicken and egg problem as many others_ users won't buy a device without any apps, and developers won't develop for a platform without any users," said Jan Dawson, an analyst with Ovum.

But the main problem analysts see with BlackBerry 10 is that the phones are set to come out so late. They were originally slated for early this year, but pushed to late this year. The company said that was because the right chips weren't available. When they come out, it will be more than five years since Apple released the first iPhone and set a new standard for phone software.

And even if BlackBerry 10 makes the phones more competitive, that doesn't mean it can reverse RIM's fortunes. Analyst Tavis McCourt noted that the history of phone makers who fall on hard times and try to turn things around is not encouraging.

"In fact, it is hard to think of a single successful case in the smartphone era," he wrote.

___

Associated Press writer Robert Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_rim_blackberry_challenges

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State of Union: Obama to take on economic anxiety (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Eager to command center stage in a year dominated by Republican infighting, President Barack Obama is polishing a State of the Union address that will go to the heart of Americans' economic anxiety and try to sway voters to give him four more years. He will speak Tuesday to a nation worried about daily struggles and unhappy with his handling of the economy.

Obama's 9 p.m. EST address before a politically divided Congress will be built around ideas meant to appeal to a squeezed middle class. He is expected to urge higher taxes on the wealthy, propose ways to make college more affordable, offer new steps to tackle a debilitating housing crisis and try to help U.S. manufacturers expand hiring.

Designed as a way for a president to update the nation and recommend ideas to Congress, the State of the Union address has become more than that, especially during that one window when the address falls during the re-election year of an incumbent. It is televised theater ? and Obama's biggest, best chance so far to offer a vision for a second term.

He will frame the campaign to come as a fight for fairness for those who are struggling to keep a job, a home or college savings and losing faith in how the county works.

The speech will be principally about the economy, featuring the themes of manufacturing, clean energy, education and American values.

No matter whom Obama faces in November, the election is likely to be driven by the economy, and determined by which candidate wins voters' trust on how to fix it. More people than not disapprove of Obama's handling of the economy.

The overarching political goal is to give voters a contrast between his vision of a government that tries to level the playing field and those office-seekers who, in his view, would leave people on their own. Without naming them, Obama has in his sights those after his job, including Republicans Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

The presidential campaign sets an unmistakable context for the speech, right down to the nation's income gap between haves and have-nots. Obama will speak on a few hours after Romney, a former governor and businessman whose wealth is the hundreds of millions of dollars, will release tax records for 2010 and 2011.

The lines of argument between Obama and his rivals are already stark, with America's economic insecurity and the role of government at the center.

The president has offered signals about his speech, telling campaign supporters he wants an economy "that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few." Gingrich, on the other hand, calls Obama "the most effective food stamp president in history." Romney says Obama "wants to turn America into a European-style entitlement society."

Obama's tone will be highly scrutinized given that his address falls smack in the middle of a fierce and frenzied Republican presidential nomination process. He will make bipartisan overtures to lawmakers but will leave little doubt he will act without opponents when it's necessary and possible, an approach his aides say has let him stay on offense.

The public is more concerned about domestic troubles over foreign policy than at other any time in the past 15 years, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center. Some 81 percent want Obama to focus his speech on domestic affairs, not foreign ones; just five years ago, the view was evenly split.

On the day before Obama's speech, his campaign released a short Web ad showing monthly job losses during the end of the Bush administration and the beginning of the Obama administration, with positive job growth for nearly two Obama years. Republicans assail him as failing to achieve a lot more.

House Speaker John Boehner, responding to reports of Obama's speech themes, said it was a rehash of unhelpful policies. "It's pathetic," he said.

Obama will offer economic proposals for this year, despite long odds against getting the help he would need from Republicans.

Presidential spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that Obama is not conceding the next 10 months to "campaigning alone" when people need economic help. On the goals of helping people get a fair shot, Carney said: "There's ample room within those boundaries for bipartisan cooperation and for getting this done."

For three days following his speech, Obama will promote his ideas in five states key to his re-election bid: Iowa, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Michigan. He speaks on Friday about college affordability at the University of Michigan.

Meanwhile, the Republican race is suddenly a race again, given Gingrich's resounding win in the South Carolina primary over the weekend. Romney, who appeared the strong front-runner coming into that primary, is now focusing on Gingrich more than Obama as the GOP contest unfolds in Florida.

Vice President Joe Biden, in an interview with radio host Ryan Seacrest, said Monday there is no ideological difference between any of the Republicans seeking to challenge Obama. He said the campaign will offer the clearest choice in which direction to take the country since the era of the Great Depression.

Polling shows Americans are divided about Obama's overall job approval but unsatisfied with his handling of the economy.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_state_of_the_union

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Apache buying Cordillera Energy in $2.85B deal

(AP) ? Oil and gas producer Apache Corp. is buying privately held Cordillera Energy Partners III LLC in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $2.85 billion.

Apache Chairman and CEO G. Steven Farris said the deal is "a unique bolt-on opportunity" that more than doubles Apache's acreage in the Anadarko Basin.

The acquisition gives Apache access to Cordillera's approximately 254,000 net acres in the Granite Wash, Tonkawa, Cleveland and Marmaton areas in western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle.

Estimated proved reserves are 71.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, with current net production at 18,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

The Granite Wash is said to have reservoir properties that are better than typical shale resource plays and responds well to horizontal drilling with multi-stage fracturing completions.

Apache has shifted to horizontal drilling. Its horizontal wells drilled in the last three years now make up about half of Apache's Central Region production, which totaled approximately 40,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day at 2011's end.

Apache said that Cordillera also has significant resource potential, including 14,000 potential drilling locations in the Anadarko Basin. Cordillera will continue to buy acreage on Apache's behalf through closing.

Cordillera's owners, including EnCap Investments, other institutional investors and Cordillera management, will receive about $600 million in Apache stock. It says the rest of the acquisition will be paid in cash.

Apache said Monday that the deal is expected to add to its earnings and cash flow starting this year.

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter.

Apache, which is based in Houston, has operations in the U.S., Canada, Egypt, the North Sea, Australia and Argentina.

Its shares finished at $96.80 on Friday. They are up 32 percent from their 52-week low of $73.04 in early October. They traded as high as $134.13 in late April.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-23-Apache-Acquisition/id-04bfcb492fda41338e16cdd662d37acd

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Factbox: A History of the South Carolina Primary (ContributorNetwork)

On Saturday South Carolinians will vote in their state's crucial primary to help decided who the Republican Party will nominate for the general election later this year. Let's take a look back at some of the key moments of this important early primary:

* Known as the "First in the South," the South Carolina primary began in 1980 thanks to the assistance of key Ronald Reagan aid and southerner Lee Atwater, who deployed a "Southern Strategy" to help Reagan achieve the Republican Party's nomination that year.

* Of the six contested Republican primaries since 1980 not a single G.O.P. candidate has won the nomination without first winning in the Palmetto State. Of those six who were nominated, three went on to win the general election and become president: Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush.

* While its record of picking presidential winners might sound impressive, South Carolina is actually one of 20 states that have backed the eventual Republican nominee in every primary that they have held over the last three decades. Still, South Carolina's placement as one of the earlier primaries in the nominating process helps to make this fact more notable.

* South Carolina's role as a turning point for Republican candidates has been well established. In 1980, Reagan's victory in South Carolina caused one of his main challengers, Texas governor John Connelly, to drop out of the race and helped propel Reagan to the nomination. In 1988 George H.W. Bush's victory in the state helped him surge past his rival Bob Dole and gain the nomination. In 2000, with the biggest turnout in the state's history, George W. Bush turned around his fortunes by defeating John McCain and eventually winning the nomination. And it was McCain's 2008 victory in South Carolina that helped him overcome Mike Huckabee's earlier win in Iowa.

* For the Democratic Party the South Carolina primary has been notable for its landslides. In 1988 the Democrats held a caucus rather than a primary in South Carolina with Jesse Jackson, a native South Carolinian, winning three-times the vote count of his closest competitor. In 1992 Bill Clinton won 69 percent of the vote. And in 2000 Al Gore won a whopping 92 percent of the vote.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120121/pl_ac/10860999_factbox_a_history_of_the_south_carolina_primary

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