Former Yankees manager Joe Torre wants focus on child abuse

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A government commission co-led by former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre said on Wednesday that the U.S. federal and local governments are not doing enough to identify and treat child victims of abuse and violence.
At a meeting with representatives from major federal departments, the commission of academics, law enforcement officials and others, issued 56 recommendations to help child victims, including expanded training for social workers.
Torre, whose own childhood with an abusive father led him to start a charitable foundation focusing on the issue of child abuse, said many social workers and law-enforcement officials simply did not know how to spot signs of domestic abuse.
"I don't think society knows how to react, even if they think something's going on," said Torre, who won four World Series championships with the Yankees and is now an executive in Major League Baseball.
The failure of Penn State University to report former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky for child abuse - charges Sandusky was convicted of this year - was one example, Torre said.
The commission, set up by the Justice Department and known as the Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence, has held hearings for the past year. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has made the issue a priority.
Banging his fist on a table for emphasis, Holder told the commission its ideas would not sit on a shelf gathering dust, and that he would push the White House for support.
"The Justice Department is a big organization with a lot of tentacles in a lot of places, and my hope is to use the time I have as attorney general to continue the effort," Holder said at a news conference after the meeting.
President Barack Obama has not said whether he wants Holder to serve into a second term, though Holder is expected to stay on as the chief U.S. law enforcement official at least into early 2013.
Holder said there was a moral imperative for the U.S. government to support child victims - whether they have witnessed violence at home, in gangs or elsewhere - and a financial incentive to do so if those children are kept off a path to crime.

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Korean closer Lim heading to Chicago Cubs

(Reuters) - South Korean closer Lim Chang-yong is set to sign a deal with Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, though the sidearm pitcher is unlikely to be able to take the mound again until late next season.
The 36-year-old righthander, who had elbow surgery earlier this year, told reporters at Incheon Airport on Thursday he had long dreamed of signing for a major league team.
Lim tallied 296 saves in his 18-year career in Korea and Japan and could wind up pitching against compatriot Choo Shin-soo, who was acquired by the Cubs' NL Central rivals Cincinnati on Tuesday.
"I want to play the kind of baseball that I'm known for, and give the fans enjoyment," said Lim, adding that the deal was worth up to $5 million over two years.
Lim, who spent the last five season in Japan with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows and is known for his scorching fastball, said the Cubs would give him enough time to recover from the surgery before putting him into the bullpen.
"After enough rehab I want to get back on the mound in the middle or towards the end of next season," said Lim, adding that the Cubs were placing more importance on 2014 for the former Japanese baseball All Star.
Lim made his professional debut with South Korea's Haitai Tigers in 1995 and also played with the Samsung Lions in Korea.
He earned a bronze medal at the Sydney Olympics and was part of the South Korean team that finished second at the 2009 World Baseball Classic.
"I'm happy that my dream has finally came true," said Lim.
"I'm not young any more and I wanted to do something that I've never experienced before."

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Angels land slugger Hamilton in $125 million deal: report

(Reuters) - Free agent slugger Josh Hamilton has agreed to a five-year, $125 million deal to join the Los Angeles Angels, Major League Baseball's (MLB) website reported on Thursday.
The five-time All-Star, who overcame drug and alcohol addictions to become one of MLB's most feared hitters, helped power the Texas Rangers to consecutive World Series appearances in 2010 and 2011.
The 31-year-old hard-hitting outfielder broke into the major leagues in 2007 with the Cincinnati Reds but spent the next five years with the Rangers and took home American League Most Valuable Player (MVP) honors in 2010.
Hamilton has a career .304 batting average, 553 runs batted in and 161 home runs, including a career-high 43 last season.
He joins an Angels team that already boasts three-time National League MVP Albert Pujols, a 32-year-old slugger who signed with the team last offseason.

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Northern Ireland police injured in sectarian clashes

BELFAST (Reuters) - At least 29 police officers were injured when pro-British and Irish nationalist youths clashed in the Northern Irish capital on Saturday following another protest against the removal of the British flag from Belfast City Hall.
Rioting started as the mainly Protestant protesters passed a Catholic area on their way home from a rally in central Belfast against the flag's removal. Police scrambled to separate crowds of youths who pelted each other with bricks and bottles.
The unrest over the past five weeks has been some of the most sustained in the British-ruled province since a 1998 peace deal ended 30 years of conflict between Catholic Irish nationalists seeking union with Ireland and Protestant loyalists determined to remain part of the United Kingdom.
Exposing a deep vein of discontent with the peace deal, loyalists have held nightly protests since councillors voted last month to end a century-old tradition of flying the British union flag every day over the city hall.
Loyalist politicians have joined their nationalist rivals in condemning the violence, but they have been unable to prevent groups of young men draped in British flags from clashing with police.
The protesters have complained that the removal of the flag was a step too far in the ebbing of loyalist dominance in the province, saying too many concessions had been given to Irish nationalists in a power-sharing government.
"The protests will continue until our concerns are met," said Fergus Ferguson, from south Belfast, who described the decision to take down the flag as "illegal".
At least 1,000 loyalists, some with Union Jack tops, balaclavas and "No Surrender" banners, gathered at City Hall on Saturday.
After police blocked their way towards East Belfast the loyalist protesters took a detour towards the nationalist Short Strand area, a traditional flash point for sectarian violence, where they clashed with local youths.
After the nationalists dispersed, police turned water cannon on loyalist protesters who pushed riot police back with metal fencing and ripped up paving stones to hurl at police lines.
Reinforcements including dozens of jeeps, a helicopter and at least three water cannon trucks were sent in to try to control the crowds. Police said they fired at least six plastic bullet rounds.
Chief Constable Matt Baggott said his officers acted with "exceptional courage" during the disturbances, which led to four officers being treated in hospital. But community leaders criticised the police for failing to stop the protest passing a well-known trouble spot.
"The police have a lot to answer for. We had women and children in this parade. It's a miracle nobody was killed," said Matthew Ferguson, who attended the protest with his 12-year-old son.
Train services in Belfast were disrupted on Saturday when a small explosive device was found near a rail line in the city, a police spokesman said.

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29 Belfast cops hurt in Catholic-Protestant clash

DUBLIN (AP) — Northern Ireland police fought day-and-night street battles with Protestant militants Saturday as a protest march to Belfast City Hall degenerated into riots when many marchers returned home to the Protestant east side.
The Protestants, who have blocked streets daily since Catholics on the council decided Dec. 3 to curtail the flying of the British flag, have frequently clashed with police in hopes of forcing politicians to overturn the decision. The street confrontations have stirred sectarian passions, particularly in Protestant east Belfast and its lone Catholic enclave, Short Strand, flashpoint for the most protracted rioting over the past six weeks.
Saturday's violence began as police donning helmets, shields and flame-retardent suits tried to shepherd the British flag-bedecked crowd past Short Strand, where masked and hooded Catholic men and youths waited by their doors armed with Gaelic hurling bats, golf clubs and other makeshift weapons. The two sides began throwing bottles, rocks and other missiles at each other and, as police on foot struggled to keep the two sides apart, Protestant anger turned against the police.
Police marched down the street with shields locked, backed by blasts from three massive mobile water cannons. Officers also fired at least a half-dozen baton rounds — blunt-nosed, inch (2.5-centimeter)-thick cylinders colloquially known as plastic bullets — at rioters.
After the initial two-hour clash subsided, police at nighttime confronted a renewed mob of Protestant youths on nearby Castlereagh Street, where a car was stolen and burned as a barricade. A police helicopter overhead shone its spotlight on the crowd, which chanted anti-police and anti-Catholic slogans.
Police commander Mark Baggott said 29 of his officers were injured in the two operations, bringing total police casualties above 100 since the first riots outside city hall on Dec. 3. The clashes have cost Northern Ireland an estimated 25 million pounds ($40 million) in lost trade and tourism and in police overtime bills.
Baggott described Saturday's police deployment as "a difficult operation dealing with a large number of people determined to cause disorder and violence." He credited his officers with "exceptional courage and professionalism."
The Protestant hard-liners, however, have accused police of pursuing heavy-handed tactics that have worsened the riots. Police have provided no casualty figures for civilians, who often avoid hospital treatment so that they are not identified as rioters and arrested. More than 100 rioters have been arrested since Dec. 3. The Associated Press photographer in Belfast, Peter Morrison, suffered serious injuries to his head and hand when clubbed by policemen on Dec. 3 outside city hall.
The Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party said 10 Short Strand homes were damaged during Saturday's clashes. Sinn Fein councilman Niall O Donnghaile, who represents Short Strand, said it was the 15th illegal Protestant march past the Catholic enclave since last month. He said the marchers clearly wanted to attack Short Strand residents.
"People do not come to 'peaceful protests' armed with bricks, bottles, golf balls and fireworks," O Donnghaile said of the Protestant marchers.
Belfast used to have a strong Protestant majority, but the Dec. 3 vote demonstrated that Catholics have gained the democratic upper hand, stoking Protestant anxiety that one day Northern Ireland could be merged with the Republic of Ireland as many Catholics want.
Sinn Fein council members had wanted to remove the British flag completely from city hall, where the Union Jack had flown continuously for more than a century. But they accepted a compromise motion that would allow the UK flag to be raised on 18 official days annually, the same rule already observed on many British government buildings throughout the United Kingdom.

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Hundreds of French troops drive back Mali rebels

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — The battle to retake Mali's north from the al-Qaida-linked groups controlling it began in earnest Saturday, after hundreds of French forces deployed to the country and began aerial bombardments to drive back the Islamic extremists.
At the same time, nations in West Africa authorized the immediate deployment of troops to Mali, fast-forwarding a military intervention that was not due to start until September.
The decision to begin the military operation was taken after the fighters, who seized the northern half of Mali nine months ago, decided earlier this week to push even further south to the town of Konna, coming within 50 kilometers (30 miles) of Mopti, the first town held by the government and a major base for the Malian military.
Many believe that if Mopti were to fall, the Islamists could potentially seize the rest of the country, dramatically raising the stakes. The potential outcome was "a terrorist state at the doorstep of France and Europe," French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Saturday.
France scrambled Mirage fighter jets from a base in neighboring Chad, as well as combat helicopters beginning the aerial assault on Friday. They have also sent in hundreds of troops to the front line, as well as to secure the capital. In just 24 hours, French forces succeeded in dispersing the Islamists from Konna, the town the fighters had seized in a bold advance earlier in the week, Le Drian said.
Malian military officials said they were now conducting sweeps, looking for snipers.
"A halting blow has been delivered, and heavy losses have been inflicted on our adversaries, but our mission is not complete," French President Francois Hollande said after a three-hour meeting with his defense chiefs in Paris. "I reiterate that it consists of preparing the deployment of an African intervention force to allow Mali to recover its territorial integrity."
However, in a sign of how hard the battle ahead may be, the extremists succeeded in shooting down a French helicopter, the defense minister confirmed. The pilot died of his wounds while he was being evacuated. The Islamists are using arms stolen from ex-Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's arsenal, as well as the weapons abandoned by Mali's military when they fled their posts in the face of the rebel advance.
They have outfitted SUVs with high-caliber machine guns, and have released videos displaying their collection of anti-aircraft weapons.
The Islamists have vowed to retaliate against French interests, and they claim to have sleeper cells in all of the capitals of the West African nations who are sending troops. Hollande announced that he had raised France's domestic terror threat level.
Online in jihadist forums, participants called for fighters to attack French interests in retaliation for the air raids. They discussed possible targets, including the French Embassy in neighboring Niger, one of the countries donating troops, according to a transcript provided by Washington-based SITE Intelligence.
The sudden military operation is a reversal of months of debate over whether or not Western powers should get involved in a military bid to oust the militants, who took advantage of a coup in Mali's capital in March to capture the north. As recently as December, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon cautioned against a quick military operation. Diplomats said that September would be the earliest the operation could take place.
All of that went out the window this week when the fighters pushed south from the town of Douentza, which demarcated their line of control, located 900 kilometers (540 miles) from the capital. By Thursday, they had succeeded in advancing another 120 kilometers (72 miles) south, bringing them nearly face-to-face with the ill-equipped and ill-trained Malian military in a showdown that couldn't be ignored by the international community.
In a statement released Saturday, the bloc representing nations in West Africa, ECOWAS, said they had authorized the immediate deployment of troops to Mali. ECOWAS Commission President Kadre Desire Ouedraogo said they made the decision "in light of the urgency of the situation."
In Washington, a U.S. official confirmed that the country has offered to send drones to Mali. He could not be named because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. After a telephone conversation with Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed to send aircrafts to help transport troops, according to a statement.
who offered troop transport aircraft. Neither official could be named because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly
Lt. Col. Diarran Kone, a spokesman for Mali's defense minister, said on Saturday that he was at the Bamako airport to receive a contingent of French special forces from one of their tactical units. Residents in the town of Sevare, near the line of control, said they had seen planes of white people arriving, whom they assume were French soldiers.
Hundreds of French troops were involved in the operation, code-named "Serval" after a sub-Saharan wildcat, officials in Paris said.
"The situation in Mali is serious," Le Drian said in Paris. "It has rapidly worsened in the last few days ... We had to react before it was too late," he added.
French intelligence services had detected preparations for what they described as a "major offensive" organized and coordinated by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb. After a large convoy of vehicles were spotted heading toward the strategic town of Mopti on Thursday, France sent in its first unit to the Central Malian town to support the Malian combat forces, Le Drian said.
Then on Friday, Hollande authorized the use of French air power following an appeal from Mali's president. French pilots targeted a column of jihadist fighters travelling in pickup trucks, who were heading down toward Mopti from Konna. He said that the helicopter raid led to the destruction of several units of fighters and stopped their advance toward the city.
Overnight Saturday, air strikes began in the areas where the fighters operate, Le Drian said, led by French forces in Chad, where France has Mirage 2000 and Mirage F1 fighter jets stationed. Residents in the town of Lere, near the Mauritanian border, confirmed that it had been bombed.
Al-Qaida's affiliate in Africa has been a shadowy presence for nearly a decade, operating out of Mali's lawless northern desert. They did not come out into the open until this April, when a coup by disgruntled soldiers in Bamako caused the country to tip into chaos. The extremists took advantage of the power vacuum, pushing into the main towns in the north, and seizing more than half of Mali's territory, an area larger than Afghanistan.
Turbaned fighters now control all the major northern cities, carrying out beatings, floggings and amputations in public squares just as the Taliban did.

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RPT-Baseball-MLB, players agree to expand drug testing

Jan 10 (Reuters) - Major League Baseball and the players' union have agreed to expand their drug program to include random in-season blood testing for human growth hormone and a new test for testosterone, they said on Thursday.
The testing will start this season.
MLB has been conducting random blood testing for the detection of HGH among minor league players since July 2010.
Starting this season, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited Montreal laboratory will establish a program in which a player's baseline testosterone/epitestosterone (T/E) ratio and other data will be maintained in order to enhance its ability to detect use of testosterone and other prohibited substances.

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UPDATE 1-Baseball-MLB, players agree to expand drug testing

* HGH and testosterone testing to be used this season
* WADA-accredited lab hails toughness of new MLB testing (Adds details, quotes)
Jan 10 (Reuters) - Major League Baseball and the players' union have agreed to expand their drug program to include random in-season blood testing for human growth hormone and a new test for testosterone, they said on Thursday.
The advanced testing will start this season, in what will be the sternest doping program in major North American professional sports.
"This agreement addresses critical drug issues and symbolizes Major League Baseball's continued vigilance against synthetic human growth hormone, testosterone and other performance-enhancing substances," MLB commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement.
The new steps moved baseball well ahead of the National Football League, which does not test for HGH or testosterone.
"Players want a program that is tough, scientifically accurate, backed by the latest proven scientific methods, and fair," said Michael Weiner, MLB Players' Association executive director in a statement.
"I believe these changes firmly support the players' desires while protecting their legal rights."
The announcement came one day after the players' union criticized results of the balloting for the Baseball Hall of Fame, in which no one received enough votes for enshrinement in what appeared to be a referendum on widespread doping during what has become known as the game's 'Steroids Era'.
All-time home run king Barry Bonds and seven-time Cy Young winning pitcher Roger Clemens, have resumes that would have ordinarily made them certain Hall of Famers.
But both players have been linked to performance enhancing drugs and punished by voters, receiving about half the ballots votes required for election.
Major League Baseball, striving to remove the taint of doping, was the first major sport in the United States to test for HGH in an agreement with the union in November 2011.
MLB has been conducting random blood testing for the detection of HGH among minor league players since July 2010 and had previously been testing major leaguers during spring training and off-season.
To detect testosterone use, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited Montreal laboratory will establish a program in which a player's baseline testosterone/epitestosterone (T/E) ratio and other data will be maintained in order to enhance its ability to detect use of the drug and other banned substances.
Christiane Ayotte, the Director of the Montreal Laboratory, praised the steps baseball has taken.
"The addition of random blood testing and a longitudinal profiling program makes baseball's program second to none in detecting and deterring the use of synthetic HGH and testosterone," she said in a statement.
Doping in baseball has not disappeared.
In the last year, Melky Cabrera of the San Francisco Giants, who was leading the league in batting average, and Oakland A's pitcher Bartolo Colon tested positive for testosterone and were suspended.
"I am proud that our system allows us to adapt to the many evolving issues associated with the science and technology of drug testing," Selig said. "We will continue to do everything we can to maintain a leadership stature in anti-doping efforts in the years ahead."

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MLB to expand blood testing for HGH

PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. (AP) — Major League Baseball will test for human growth hormone throughout the regular season and increase efforts to detect abnormal levels of testosterone, a decision the NFL used to pressure its players.
Baseball players were subject to blood testing for HGH during spring training last year, and Thursday's agreement between management and the Major League Baseball Players Association expands that throughout the season. Those are in addition to urine tests for other performance-enhancing drugs.
Under the changes to baseball's drug agreement, the World Anti-Doping Agency laboratory in Laval, Quebec, will keep records of each player, including his baseline ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone, and will conduct Carbon Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) tests of any urine specimens that "vary materially."
"This is a proud and a great day for baseball," commissioner Bud Selig said following two days of owners' meetings. "We'll continue to be a leader in this field and do what we have to do."
The announcement came one day after steroid-tainted stars Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa failed to gain election to the Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility.
Commenting on the timing, Selig noted the drug program changes had long been in the works "but it wasn't too bad, was it?"
Selig reflected on how far baseball had come on performance enhancing drug issues.
"This is remarkable when you think of where we were 10, 12, 15 years ago and where we are today," he said. "Nobody could have dreamed it."
Baseball began random drug testing in 2003, testing with penalties the following year and suspensions for first offenders in 2005. Initial penalties were lengthened from 10 days to 50 games in 2006, when illegal amphetamines were banned. The number of tests has gradually increased over the past decade.
Selig called the latest change a "yet another indication how far this sport has come."
Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for economics and league affairs, said each player will be tested at least once.
"Players want a program that is tough, scientifically accurate, backed by the latest proven scientific methods, and fair," union head Michael Weiner said in a statement. "I believe these changes firmly support the players' desires while protecting their legal rights."
Selig praised the cooperation of the players association, once a staunch opponent of drug testing, in agreeing to the expansion.
"Michael Weiner and the union deserve credit," Selig said. "Way back when they were having a lot of problems I didn't give them credit, but they do."
Christiane Ayotte, director of the Canadian laboratory, said that the addition of random blood testing and a "longitudinal profiling program makes baseball's program second to none in detecting and deterring the use of synthetic HGH and testosterone."
She said the program compares favorably with any program conducted by WADA.
HGH testing remains a contentious issue in the National Football League. At a hearing last month, U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, accused the NFL players' union of trying to back out of HGH testing.
"Other professional sports leagues, including the National Football League, must also implement their own robust testing regimes," Cummings and committee chairman Darrel Issa said in a statement Thursday. "Major League Baseball's announcement increases the pressure on the NFL and its players to deliver on pledges to conduct HGH testing made in their collective bargaining agreement that was signed two years ago."
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Thursday "we hope the MLB players' union will inspire the NFLPA to stop its stalling tactics and fulfill its commitment to begin testing for HGH. If the NFLPA stands for player health and safety, it should follow the lead of the MLB players' union and end the delay."
NFLPA spokesman George Atallah says the union is not backing out of anything but was looking to resolve scientific issues surrounding the tests. HGH testing is part of the 10-year labor agreement reached in 2011 but protocols must be agreed to by both sides.
"If the league had held up their commitment to population study, we could have been first," Atallah said.
At the time of last month's congressional hearing, NFL senior vice president Adolpho Birch called the union's insistence on a population study to determine whether current HGH tests are appropriate a delay tactic that threatened that league's leadership in drug testing matters.
"Major League Baseball and the players' union have moved a long way from the inadequate policies that were in place when Congress first addressed ballplayers' use of steroids." said Henry Waxman, ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
NOTES: Owners approved the transfer of control of the Cleveland Indians to Paul Dolan, son of owner Larry Dolan. Paul Dolan is the team's chief executive officer.

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Amazon and Samsung are running away with the Android tablet market

Following the successful launch of Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet, Android vendors saw a beacon of hope in a market that had been dominated by Apple’s (AAPL) iPad since 2010. The Android tablet space has since become flooded with hundreds of products from a wide-range of companies, but there are only two companies that matter.
[More from BGR: ‘Apple is done’ and Surface tablet is cool, according to teens]
According to data from app analytics and ad service Datalytics, Samsung (005930) and Amazon (AMZN) are starting to run away with the Android tablet market, Venture Beat reported.
[More from BGR: Is BlackBerry back? Strong early BlackBerry 10 demand could signal RIM comeback]
Ad impressions on the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD grew 322% from November to the end of December, while impressions on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Tab 7.7 increased a combined total of 150%. Google’s (GOOG) Nexus 7 and Barnes & Noble’s (BKS) Nook Tablet were the next closest with 70% and 62% growth in December, respectively.
The firm’s data also confirms Samsung’s dominant smartphone share, which saw a combined total of 214% growth in the past month.
The data also revealed that the iPhone 4S is still the most popular Apple smartphone with 40% of the market, compared to the iPhone 4′s 36% share and iPhone 5′s 18% share. On the iOS tablet side of things, the iPad mini is apparently selling a little slower than the iPad 4. The fourth-generation tablet had an 8% share of the iPad market, slightly higher than the mini’s 6% share.
Datalytics’ information comes from tens of thousands of apps installed on more than 60 million devices.

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Academy Launches Oscar App on Android, Amazon

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The Academy launched its official Oscars app on Android and Amazon on Thursday, expanding its initiative to direct fans' attention from the television to the second screen.
The app, already available on the iPad and iPhone, was made available for free on the Google Play store and the Amazon app store, the Academy said. According to iTunes, the iPad app was updated earlier on Wednesday.
Developed by the Academy and Disney/ABC Television Group's digital media arm, the app allows users to see behind-the-scenes videos and stories with host Seth MacFarlane and search information about the nominees. It also features a "My Picks" ballot on which users can organize their dream-team of winners.
On Oscar night on February 24, the app will feature "Backstage Pass," a live telecast from more than a dozen cameras placed on the Red Carpet and throughout the Dolby Theatre - in the press room, the control room, backstage and elsewhere.
And a ticker on the app will notify when a users' favorite actor and actress arrives on stage.
"We're always looking for ways to bring fans closer to the show and this app provides a unique and fun way to do that," Josh Spector, the managing director of digital media and marketing for the Academy, said in a statement. "More fans than ever will be able to enjoy the full Oscar experience now that our app is available to Droid users.

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Report links drug agents to Secret Service prostitute scandal: NBC

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two drug enforcement agents "facilitated a sexual encounter" between a prostitute and a Secret Service agent before an international summit in Colombia last April, NBC News reported on Thursday, citing a Justice Department investigation.
The two Drug Enforcement Administration agents also admitted paying for the sexual services of a prostitute, and used their government-issued BlackBerry devices to arrange the encounters, NBC reported.
A summary of the Justice Department's findings said the agents tried to destroy incriminating information or initially lied to investigators about the incidents, according to the report.
But the summary concluded that the agents' actions did not warrant criminal prosecution, and said the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to start any legal proceedings, referring the case to the DEA for "action it determines to be appropriate."
The Justice Department's office of the inspector general had no comment on Thursday evening.
It was the latest turn in the Colombia prostitution scandal, in which a dozen Secret Service employees were accused of misconduct for bringing women, some of them prostitutes, to their hotel rooms in Cartagena, Colombia, before President Barack Obama's visit there in April.
The Department of Homeland Security found that their actions did not compromise the president's safety. At least seven of the employees have left the agency since the scandal broke.

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Canadian dollar overlooks U.S. results in rangebound trade

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's dollar ended slightly lower against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, shrugging off a modest rally in other riskier assets after Alcoa opened the U.S. earnings season with an optimistic outlook.
Global equities staged a modest recovery after two days of losses. Even with the encouraging Alcoa report, investors lacked a clear view of how U.S. corporations fared in the fourth-quarter and the Canadian currency was rangebound.
Adam Cole, global head of FX strategy at RBC Capital Markets in London, expected more reaction to U.S. earnings once they picked up steam.
"If that's where stocks take their direction then it's difficult to get away from that, being a fairly major barometer of pressure on CAD," he said.
There was caution a day ahead of European and British central bank policy meetings, as well as a Spanish auction that will test appetite for peripheral euro zone debt, and Chinese trade data.
On the home front, the next major event of interest is a speech on Thursday by Tiff Macklem, a senior Bank of Canada official widely tipped to replace the departing Governor Mark Carney.
"Investors are looking toward Tiff Macklem's speech to see if there are any hints of his policy takes, if they're any different from Carney's, which is highly unlikely I think," said John Curran, senior vice president at CanadianForex.
"If anything, the Canadian dollar is remaining in positive territory recently speaking due to last week's (jobs) numbers and expectations that frontrunner Macklem is going to be towing the line so to speak with previous BoC sentiment."
The Bank of Canada stands apart from other major central banks in that it avoided large bouts of quantitative easing and now insists the next move in interest rates is likely to be up.
The Canadian dollar ended the North American session at C$0.9877 versus the greenback, or $1.0125, slightly weaker than Tuesday's close at C$0.9867, or $1.0135. It traded in a tight 26-point range between C$0.9855-C$0.9881.
U.S. profits were expected to beat the previous quarter's lackluster results, but analyst estimates were down sharply from October. Quarterly earnings were expected to grow by 2.7 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.
RBC noted near-term U.S. dollar resistance versus the Canadian dollar around C$0.9947 and support near C$0.9826.
Analysts noted that the looming U.S. debt ceiling talks also kept investors on the sidelines.
Still, the Canadian dollar was outperforming some other major currencies such as the yen, as renewed expectations of easier Bank of Japan monetary policy led some investors to sell the Japanese currency.
Canadian bond prices were also little changed across the curve. The two-year bond was off nearly 1 Canadian cent to yield 1.168 percent, while the benchmark 10-year bond was down 2 Canadian cents to yield 1.910 percent.

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Wall Street rises after Alcoa reports earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Wednesday, rebounding from two days of losses, as investors turned their focus to the first prominent results of the earnings season.
Stocks had retreated at the start of the week from the S&P 500's highest point in five years, hit last Friday, on worries about possible earnings weakness.
Shares of Alcoa Inc were down 0.5 percent to $9.08 after early gains, following the company's earnings release after the bell on Tuesday. The largest U.S. aluminum producer said it expects global demand for aluminum to grow in 2013.
Herbalife Ltd stock rose 4.2 percent to $39.95 in its most active day of trading in the company's history after hedge fund manager Dan Loeb took a large stake in the nutritional supplements seller. Prominent short-seller Bill Ackman had previously accused the company of being a "pyramid scheme," which Herbalife has denied.
Traders have been cautious as the current quarter shaped up like the previous one, with companies recently lowering expectations, said James Dailey, portfolio manager of Team Asset Strategy Fund in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Lower expectations leave room for companies to surprise investors even if their results are not particularly strong.
"The big question and focus is on revenue, and Alcoa had better-than-expected revenue," which calmed the market a little, Dailey said.
Overall, corporate profits were expected to beat the previous quarter's meager 0.1 percent rise. Both earnings and revenues in the fourth quarter are expected to have grown by 1.9 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 61.66 points, or 0.46 percent, to 13,390.51. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> rose 3.87 points, or 0.27 percent, to 1,461.02. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> gained 14.00 points, or 0.45 percent, to 3,105.81.
Facebook Inc shares rose above $30 for the first time since July 2012, trading up 5.3 percent at $30.59. Facebook, which has been tight-lipped about its plans after its botched IPO in May, invited the media to its headquarters next week.
Clearwire Corp shares jumped 7.2 percent to $3.13 after Dish Network bid $2.28 billion for the company, beating out a previous Sprint offer and setting the stage for a takeover battle for the wireless service provider that owns crucial mobile spectrum.
Apollo Group Inc slid after heavier early losses, a day after it reported lower student sign-ups for the third straight quarter and cut its operating profit outlook for 2013. Apollo's shares were last off 7.8 percent at $19.32.
Volume was below the 2012 average of 6.42 billion shares traded per day, as 6.10 billion were traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE MKT and Nasdaq.
Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 2,014 to 963, while on the Nasdaq advancers beat decliners 1,603 to 859.

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Asia stocks rise on positive start to US earnings

BANGKOK (AP) — A positive start to U.S. corporate earnings season helped boost Asian stock markets Thursday.
Major regional benchmarks rose on the heels of a handful of better-than-expected results that also lifted Wall Street.
Consumer products maker Helen of Troy, whose brands include Dr. Scholl's and Vidal Sassoon, reported a 15 percent profit increase. Electronic payments processor Global Payments said its fiscal second-quarter earnings rose nearly 15 percent, beating Wall Street expectations.
After markets closed Tuesday, Alcoa Inc. predicted rising demand for its aluminum this year and topped revenue expectations for the fourth quarter. Earlier in the day, agricultural products giant Monsanto said its profit tripled and raised its guidance for 2013.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.9 percent to 10,677.74. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1 percent to 23,439.46. South Korea's Kospi added 0.7 percent to 2,005.39 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.4 percent to 4,725.80.
The European Central Bank will meet later Thursday to set monetary policy for the 17 countries that use the euro. It is expected to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at the record low of 0.75 percent even though the eurozone economy as a whole is back in recession. Investors are also awaiting the release in the U.S. of weekly jobless claims.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.5 percent to close at 13,390.51 on Wednesday. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 0.3 percent to 1,461.02. The Nasdaq composite index rose 0.5 percent to 3,105.81.
Benchmark crude oil contract for February delivery was up 33 cents to $93.44 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 5 cents to close at $93.10 per barrel on the Nymex on Wednesday.
In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3047 from $1.3053 while the dollar rose to 88.05 yen from 87.75 yen.

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Golf-Goosen returns after "totally disintegrated" disc

Jan 8 (Reuters) - Twice U.S. Open winner Retief Goosen will play his first tournament for nearly five months at this week's Volvo Golf Champions in South Africa after having surgery on a "totally disintegrated" disc in his back.
The 43-year-old South African, who rated his health as "about five out of 10" at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in August in his penultimate event before an extensive break to repair his back, is itching to play tournament golf again.
"I'm very excited about the New Year," said Goosen who is making his comeback about six weeks ahead of schedule. "Obviously the last three years have been pretty bad.
"Last year I tried a bit of everything... injections, loads of physio, anything you could think of but nothing really helped. In the end we had no choice but to have the operation," he told the European Tour website (www.europeantour.com).
"It's been great. It's been almost five months now. I've been off painkillers and that cleans the system out a little bit. I started hitting balls, or half shots, about three weeks ago and I felt pretty good."
Goosen, who has 14 European Tour wins to his name but has not triumphed on the circuit since 2007, said he entered this week's event in Durban just before the deadline.
The 2001 and 2004 U.S. Open winner lost to compatriot Branden Grace in a playoff, which also featured Ernie Els, at the same event last year and said 2013 could be his season such is the unpredictability of golf.

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Goosen returns after "totally disintegrated" disc

Twice U.S. Open winner Retief Goosen will play his first tournament for nearly five months at this week's Volvo Golf Champions in South Africa after having surgery on a "totally disintegrated" disc in his back.
The 43-year-old South African, who rated his health as "about five out of 10" at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in August in his penultimate event before an extensive break to repair his back, is itching to play tournament golf again.
"I'm very excited about the New Year," said Goosen who is making his comeback about six weeks ahead of schedule. "Obviously the last three years have been pretty bad.
"Last year I tried a bit of everything... injections, loads of physio, anything you could think of but nothing really helped. In the end we had no choice but to have the operation," he told the European Tour website (www.europeantour.com).
"It's been great. It's been almost five months now. I've been off painkillers and that cleans the system out a little bit. I started hitting balls, or half shots, about three weeks ago and I felt pretty good."
Goosen, who has 14 European Tour wins to his name but has not triumphed on the circuit since 2007, said he entered this week's event in Durban just before the deadline.
The 2001 and 2004 U.S. Open winner lost to compatriot Branden Grace in a playoff, which also featured Ernie Els, at the same event last year and said 2013 could be his season such is the unpredictability of golf.
"Hopefully the back will stay as good as it feels now. I just need to really work on my swing a little bit and find a bit of game. I'm not really sitting here expecting to win but you never know in this game.

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Jets fire offensive coordinator Tony Sparano

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Tony Sparano has been fired as the New York Jets' offensive coordinator after one season in which the offense ranked among the league's worst.
Sparano was hired last March to replace Brian Schottenheimer and take over an offense that struggled mightily. Instead, the former Miami Dolphins head coach wasn't able to jumpstart the running game or figure out a way to use Tim Tebow consistently as the Jets finished 30th in the NFL in total offense.
Sparano was expected to use Tebow as a major part of the Jets' wildcat-style offense, but the popular backup quarterback was mostly a non-factor — failing to get into the end zone during his first and likely only season in New York.
The contract of quarterbacks coach Matt Cavanaugh also was not renewed.

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Asian shares slip, Basel ruling supports banks

 Asian stocks drifted down on Monday as investors booked profits from a New Year rally that had pushed markets to multi-month highs, although financial stocks gained after global regulators decided to relax draft plans for tough new bank liquidity rules.
Commodity prices mostly held steady, supported by data showing the U.S. economy continuing on a path of slow but steady recovery that propelled Wall Street stocks to a five-year high.
Financial bookmakers called Europe's main share indexes to open flat or slightly lower, while S&P 500 index futures traded in Asia eased 0.2 percent, pointing to a weaker start in New York.
"It just seems like markets are entering a consolidation phase after recent gains and with most markets trading at fresh 12-month highs," said Stan Shamu, market strategist at financial spreadbetting firm IG in Melbourne.
The dollar fell against the yen, coming off a two-and-a-half year peak it had logged against the Japanese currency as investors adjusted to the possibility of more monetary stimulus in 2013 from the Bank of Japan and less from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan, which had reached its highest level since August 2011 on Thursday, eased 0.1 percent, while Tokyo's Nikkei share average retreated after touching a 23-month high in early trade to close down 0.8 percent.
CASH BUFFERS
The MSCI benchmark's financial sector sub-index firmed after the Basel Committee of banking supervisors agreed on Sunday to give banks four more years and greater flexibility to build up cash buffers so they can use some of their reserves to help struggling economies.
HSBC Holdings Hong Kong shares rose 1 percent, while Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd gained 0.6 percent.
Shares in Japanese exporters were supported by the trend of a weakening yen, which traded around 87.85 to the dollar, up 0.3 percent on the day, after the U.S. currency rose as far as 88.40 yen, its highest in nearly two-and-a-half years, on Friday.
The dollar posted a gain of around 2.7 percent against the yen last week, its biggest weekly rise in more than a year. Its gains had accelerated after minutes from the Federal Reserve's December meeting showed some policymakers had considered ending the Fed's bond-buying programme as early as this year.
By contrast, many investors are now betting that Japan's new government, led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, will push to weaken the yen and drive through aggressive fiscal stimulus, and pressure the Bank of Japan to do the same on the monetary side.
Although the dollar may pull back against the yen given the speed of its rise over the past month, its uptrend seems likely to remain intact, said Hiroshi Maeba, head of FX trading Japan for UBS in Tokyo.
"My sense is that the market could still head much higher," Maeba said. "I think 90 yen might be reached pretty soon."
The dollar firmed against the euro, which traded around $1.3035.
The U.S. stock benchmark S&P 500 index closed at its highest level since December 2007 on Friday after data showed a steady pace of jobs growth and brisk expansion of the services sector in the world's biggest economy.
That offered support to growth-sensitive commodities, with copper little changed just below $8,100 a tonne, while Brent crude oil eased a little to around $111.20.
Spot gold firmed 0.3 percent to around $1,660 an ounce.

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Burundi coffee earnings fall 63 pct in December

 Burundi's earnings from coffee exports fell 63 percent in December from the previous month due to lower volumes sold, the country's industry regulator said on Monday.
"Low quantities of coffee were exported in December as most buyers in western countries were off for the holidays," said regulator ARFIC in its monthly report.
Earnings dropped to $2.1 million from $5.7 million in November, as the amount of coffee sold tumbled to 896,547 kg from 1,671,638 kg in the previous month.
ARFIC expects the central African nation to earn a total of$61.4 million from coffee exports during the 2012/2013 (April-March) crop year, slightly up from $61.2 million earned in the 2011/2012 season.
Projected high output from the world's top producers like Brazil, Vietnam and Colombia could lower coffee prices in global markets, ARFIC said.
Coffee is the country's top hard currency earner and the sector employs some 800,000 smallholder farmers in a population of eight million.

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Maruti shares hit four-year high; earnings seen improving

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Maruti Suzuki shares rose to a four-year high on Monday on hopes earnings would improve due to rising sales for passenger vehicles, while margins were also seen increasing due to the depreciation in the Japanese yen.
CLSA's upgrade of Maruti Suzuki Ltd to 'buy' from 'sell' also helped boost the stock, traders said.
At 2:31 p.m., Maruti shares were up 3 percent to 1,591.5 rupees after earlier touching their highest since December 15, 2009.

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UK police charge Nepalese man with torture

LONDON (AP) — British police said Friday they have charged a serving colonel in the Nepalese army with two counts of torture allegedly committed during the Himalayan nation's civil war. The case has touched off a diplomatic spat, with the Nepalese government summoning the U.K. ambassador in Kathmandu to protest.
Kumar Lama, 46, was arrested Thursday at a residential address in the English town of St. Leonards-on-Sea, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) southeast of London. Lama was charged Friday with intentionally "inflicting severe pain or suffering" on two separate individuals as a public official — or person acting in official capacity.
Britain's Metropolitan Police said the charges relate to one incident that allegedly occurred between April 15 and May 1, 2005 and another that allegedly occurred between April 15 and Oct. 31, 2005 at the Gorusinghe Army Barracks in Nepal. Lama is due to appear at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court on Saturday, police added.
British authorities claim "universal jurisdiction" over serious offenses such as war crimes, torture, and hostage-taking, meaning such crimes can be prosecuted in Britain regardless of where they occurred.
Scotland Yard has said that the arrest did not take place at the request of Nepalese authorities. Britain's Press Association reported that Nepalese officials said Lama is serving as a military observer under the United Nations Mission in southern Sudan and was on vacation in London.
Britain's Foreign Office confirmed that Nepal's government summoned the U.K. ambassador in Kathmandu because it was upset over the arrest, but declined to comment further.
Thousands died and thousands more were injured or tortured during Nepal's civil war, a decade-long conflict that ended in 2006.

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UK police charge Nepali colonel accused of torture

LONDON/KATHMANDU (Reuters) - British police charged a Nepali army colonel on Friday with two counts of torture during the Himalayan nation's decade-long civil war, despite the Nepali government's demanding his immediate release.
Nepal summoned the British ambassador earlier on Friday to express its "strong objection" to Kumar Lama's detention.
Rights groups accuse both the security forces and former Maoist rebels of committing abuses including torture during the conflict that killed more than 16,000 people.
The Maoists ended the conflict in 2006 under a peace deal with the government, won elections four years ago and are now heading a coalition ruling the young Himalayan republic.
London's Metropolitan Police said it had arrested Lama, 46, in the southern town of St. Leonards-on-Sea and charged him with committing acts of torture in 2005.
Media reports said he was detained while on vacation from a U.N. mission in Sudan.
The police statement accused Lama of intentionally inflicting "severe pain or suffering" on Janak Bahadur Raut between April 15 and May 1, 2005, and on Karam Hussain between April 15 and October 31, 2005.
Lama is due to appear in court in London on Saturday.
"We express strong objection to this mistake and urge that it be corrected ... and Lama be released," Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha told reporters in Kathmandu after the colonel's arrest.
Human Rights Watch said the arrest sent a warning to those accused of serious crimes that they cannot hide from the law.
"The UK's move to arrest a Nepali army officer for torture during Nepal's brutal civil war is an important step in enforcing the U.N. Convention against Torture," Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

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Northern Irish fighting rages on as rioters branded a disgrace

BELFAST (Reuters) - Northern Irish police came under attack by pro-British loyalists on Friday as the province's first minister branded rioters a disgrace and said they were playing into the hands of rival militant nationalists.
Rioting began a month ago after a vote by mostly nationalist pro-Irish councillors to end the century-old tradition of flying the British flag from Belfast City Hall every day unleashed the most sustained period of violence in the city for years.
On Friday, police came under attack in the east of the city by masked mobs hurling petrol bombs, rocks and fireworks. Police said one of its officers was injured and that it deployed water cannon to control the crowd of some 400 protesters.
More than 40 police officers were injured in the initial wave of fighting, which stopped over Christmas, only to resume on Thursday when a further 10 police officers were hurt as the community divisions were exposed once more.
At least 3,600 people were killed during Northern Ireland's darkest period as Catholic nationalists seeking union with Ireland fought British security forces and mainly Protestant loyalists determined to remain part of the United Kingdom.
First Minister Peter Robinson, leader of the pre-eminent Protestant group - the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) - called the decision to take down the flag "ill-considered and provocative" but said the attacks must end.
"The violence visited on (police) is a disgrace, criminally wrong and cannot be justified," said Robinson, whose party shares power with deputy first minister and ex-Irish Republican Army (IRA) commander Martin McGuinness' Sinn Fein Party
"Those responsible are doing a grave disservice to the cause they claim to espouse and are playing into the hands of those dissident groups who would seek to exploit every opportunity to further their terror aims."
Anti-British Catholic dissident groups, responsible for the killing of three police officers and two soldiers since 2009, have so far not reacted violently to the flag protests, limiting the threat to Northern Ireland's 15-year-old peace.
Another demonstration calling for the reinstation of the Union Flag will be held outside City Hall on Saturday afternoon while some loyalists have pledged to hold a protest in Dublin the following Saturday.

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Wal-Mart defends low-price ads after rivals' objection

(Reuters) - Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc has gone on the defensive against charges by competitors that a recent ad campaign is using inaccurate information, leading the competitors to file complaints with state legal officials.
A Wal-Mart Stores spokesman defended the retailer's ad campaign that claims to offer better prices on some products than competitors, after the Wall Street Journal reported rivals have complained to attorneys general in more than half a dozen states.
In documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, rivals have claimed that Wal-Mart's advertisements cross a line by making misleading comparisons or promoting products the company does not have in ample supply.
Wal-Mart ads have targeted retailers including Toys "R" Us Inc and Best Buy Co Inc , as well as several regional supermarket chains. Best Buy complained about a Wal-Mart ad to the Florida attorney general's office, while Toys "R" Us complained to Michigan officials, the Journal said.
"We know competitors don't like it when we tell customers to compare prices and see for themselves," Wal-Mart spokesperson Steven Restivo told the Wall Street Journal. "We are confident on the legal, ethical and methodological standards associated with our price comparison advertisements," he added.
Restivo confirmed to Reuters the accuracy of his comments published by the Journal.
Wal-Mart, which launched the radio and television ads last spring, said the initial ads spurred a 1.2 percent boost in sales at stores open at least a year and a 1.1 percent rise in store visits in areas where those ads were aired, compared with similar regions where they did not run.
Wal-Mart told the paper it responded to attorneys general in Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Missouri over complaints from regional supermarket chains and Toys "R" Us. (http://link.reuters.com/dan94t)
The company said it has not received complaints from Best Buy. The attorneys general offices in Florida and New Jersey said they were reviewing similar complaints, according to the paper.
Toys "R" Us and Best Buy officials could not immediately be reached for comment by Reuters after regular U.S. business hours.

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Asian shares drop on Fed minutes, dollar extends gains

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares fell on Friday, as investors booked profits from a recent sharp climb after senior Federal Reserve officials expressed concerns about continuing to expand stimulative bond buying, but the dollar extended gains as U.S. debt yields rose.
European shares were seen tracking Asian peers lower, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100, Paris's CAC-40 and Frankfurt's DAX would open down as much as 0.3 percent. A 0.1 percent drop in U.S. stock futures suggested a soft Wall Street start.
Minutes from the Fed's December policy meeting released on Thursday showed concerns among some members of the Federal Open Markets Committee about the potential risks of the Fed's asset purchases on financial markets, even if it looked set to continue an open-ended stimulus program for now.
The Fed's asset-buying policy has been pivotal in underpinning investor risk appetite, so the more hawkish Fed minutes unnerved financial markets.
Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields continued their climb, hitting an eight-month high around 1.93 percent in Asia on Friday, while key 10-year Japanese government bond yields touched a 3-1/2-month high of 0.83 percent.
The dollar also rose on data showing U.S. private-sector hiring improved in December, raising hopes for a strong monthly payrolls report due later in the day, a key gauge to the U.S. economy and the Fed's future policy course.
The dollar's rise makes dollar-based assets more expensive for non-dollar investors, hitting precious metals and oil.
The Fed's minutes spurred consolidation from broad-based buying which took place after U.S. lawmakers earlier this week narrowly avoided falling off the "fiscal cliff" of automatic taxes rises and spending cuts, which risked derailing the economy.
"Market moves largely reflect positioning after the recent rallies and before the nonfarm payrolls, which could tip the markets either way," said Yuji Saito, director of foreign exchange at Credit Agricole in Tokyo, adding that markets may be dictated by interest rates this year, rather than risk-on, risk-off sentiment as was last year.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slid 0.7 percent, after scaling its highest since August 2011 on Thursday. But the pan-Asian index was set to end the first week of 2013 up 1.8 percent, thanks to the New Year's rally.
"After the big relief rally we had on the fiscal cliff decision and compromise, I would expect the market to consolidate a little bit," Martin Lakos division director at Macquarie Private Wealth, said of Australian shares which slipped 0.4 percent, retreating from Thursday's 19-month highs. Hong Kong shares eased from a 19-month highs, falling 0.6 percent, but Shanghai rose 0.5 percent.
The dollar hit its highest since July 2010 against the yen at 87.835 while the euro fell to a three-week low of $1.3019. The U.S. dollar also touched a six-week high against a basket of major currencies on Friday.
"Dollar-positive momentum is solid as the fiscal cliff was averted, the overnight data was good and yields were rising. I won't be surprised to see the dollar rise to 90 yen soon," said Hiroshi Maeba, head of FX trading Japan for UBS in Tokyo.
"Despite repeated Japanese intervention, the dollar had refused to strengthen in the past, but now, it's advancing without any action, suggesting the direction has completely changed to support continued dollar buying," Maeba said.
The yen's tumble pushed Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock average briefly up more than 3 percent to its highest since March 2011, outshining the Asian regional bourses. The Nikkei closed up 2.8 percent.
FISCAL CLIFF VS DATA
U.S. President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans face tough talks on spending cuts and an increase in the nation's debt limit as the hard-fought fiscal deal delayed decisions on expenditures until March 1.
Investor sentiment was supported by recent solid data from the world's two largest economies, the United States and China.
China's services sector saw its slowest rate of expansion in nearly a year and a half in December, a private sector survey showed on Friday, but underlying growth revival remained intact, even if it were modest.
"We are coming off overbought levels today. This cyclical-led rally in offshore Chinese shares should continue in the next few weeks, China's improving economic data will help," said Wang Ao-chao, UOB-Kay Hian's Shanghai-based head of China research.
The U.S. economy likely added 150,000 jobs in December, according to a Reuters survey, up from 146,000 in November. The unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 7.7 percent.
Resolution of the U.S. fiscal cliff crisis could weigh on some Asian assets as investors could start to shift some money out of overpriced Asian investments in favour of the U.S. on brightening prospects for American stocks.
U.S. crude fell 0.7 percent to $92.26 a barrel while Brent shed 0.6 percent to $111.47.
Spot gold fell 1 percent to around $1,645, dragging silver down more than 2 percent to $29.48.
Despite the decline in equities markets, sentiment in Asian credit markets remained upbeat, with the spread on the iTraxx Asia ex-Japan investment-grade index narrowing by two basis points.

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Fed becoming worried about stimulus side effects

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve officials are increasingly concerned about the potential risks of the U.S. central bank's asset purchases on financial markets, even if they look set to continue an open-ended stimulus program for now.
In a surprise to Wall Street, minutes from the Fed's December policy meeting, published on Thursday, showed a growing reticence about further increases in the central bank's $2.9 trillion balance sheet, which it expanded sharply in response to the financial crisis and recession of 2007-2009.
"Several (officials) thought that it would probably be appropriate to slow or to stop purchases well before the end of 2013, citing concerns about financial stability or the size of the balance sheet," the minutes said, referring to the narrower group of voting Fed members.
Investors picked up on the report's hawkish tone, with stock prices drifting lower after the announcement, while the U.S. dollar extended gains against the euro. Yields on the 30-year Treasury bond hit 3.12 percent, their highest levels since May.
"The minutes of the Federal Reserve's December monetary policy meeting revealed a somewhat surprising level of concern among the ranks of central bankers regarding the long-term impact of the bank's asset purchase program, or quantitative easing," said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington D.C.
Still, the Fed appeared likely to continue buying assets for the foreseeable future, having announced in December it was extending monthly purchases of $40 billion in mortgage securities and also buying $45 billion in Treasuries each month.
A few of the voting members on the central bank's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee thought asset buying would be warranted until about the end of 2013. A few others highlighted the need for further large-scale stimulus but did not specify an amount or time frame.
Fed officials generally agreed that the labour market outlook was not likely to improve without further nudging from the monetary authorities.
QE "HEEBIE-JEEBIES"
The U.S. economy expanded a respectable 3.1 percent in the third quarter on an annualized basis, but growth is believed to have slowed sharply to barely above 1.0 percent in the last three months of the year.
Data on Thursday showed a solid gain of 215,000 new private sector jobs for December, while analysts polled by Reuters last week were looking for a rise of 150,000 new jobs in the Labor Department's official survey, due out on Friday.
Still, the minutes indicated worries about quantitative easing policies were spreading beyond the usual regional Fed hawks who, like Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker, have opposed additional Fed easing.
"What's clear from these minutes is that there is little consensus among the members of the FOMC on how long asset purchases should carry on," said Jason Conibear, trading director at Cambridge Mercantile.
"Some members want more accommodation for as long as it takes, some want more but to start winding it down while others have got the heebie-jeebies about the size of the balance sheet."
In the December meeting, the Fed also launched a new framework of policy thresholds, numerical guideposts that are supposed to give markets and the public a clearer idea of how policymakers will react to incoming economic data.
Officials say they will keep interest rates near zero until the unemployment rate falls to 6.5 percent for as long as estimates of medium-run inflation do not exceed 2.5 percent.
The minutes suggested it took officials some time to build a consensus around the idea.
"A few participants expressed a preference for using a qualitative description of the economic indicators influencing the Committee's thinking," the minutes said.
U.S. unemployment has come down steadily after hitting a peak of 10 percent in late 2009, but remains elevated at 7.7 percent.
Fed officials noted worries about the looming "fiscal cliff," which was dealt with only partly in an agreement earlier this week, were hurting the confidence of businesses and households.

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Report: Israeli ex-spy chief criticizes PM on Iran

A recently retired Israeli spy chief says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acted irresponsibly regarding Iran's nuclear program and accuses him of prioritizing personal concerns over national interests.
Yuval Diskin, chief of Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency from 2005 to 2011, has voiced similar criticisms before.
Diskin says Netanyahu tried to convince him and his colleagues to approve what he called an "illegal" decision to attack Iran. He describes attending a "bizarre" meeting with Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and then-foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, in which they discussed the Iranian nuclear threat over cigars and liquor.
Diskin spoke in an interview to a filmmaker who made a documentary about Israeli spymasters. The interview appeared Friday in Israel's daily Yediot Ahronot.
Netanyahu's office in a text-messaged statement called Diskin's comments "baseless.

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Sadr visits Baghdad church, site of 2010 attack

Firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr visited a Baghdad church that was the scene of a deadly 2010 attack as well as one of the Iraqi capital's main Sunni mosques on Friday, an apparent overture to other religious groups as opposition mounts against his rival, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
The cleric's stops at the holy sites — a rare public appearance by Al-Sadr outside predominantly Shiite parts of Iraq — came as tens of thousands of protesters angry over perceived second-class treatment gathered in Sunni-dominated areas to maintain pressure against al-Maliki's Shiite-led government.
Al-Sadr, wearing his signature black cloak and turban, said he visited the Our Lady of Salvation church to express sorrow at the attack and send a message of peace to Iraq's Christian community.
The visit comes amid rising sectarian tensions a year after the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. Al-Sadr grudgingly backed fellow Shiite al-Maliki following elections in 2010. But last year he joined Iraq's minority Sunni Arabs and Kurds in calling for al-Maliki to resign.
Al-Sadr, since coming to prominence following the U.S.-led 2003 invasion, has frequently made overtures to Sunnis and others. But militias loyal to him were some of the worst perpetrators of sectarian violence last decade, and he is still viewed with hostility or suspicion by many Sunnis, Kurds and others.
At the church, al-Sadr sat quietly in the front pew, listening and nodding as Father Ayssar al-Yas welcomed him. The priest then gave al-Sadr a tour of the recently renovated church, pointing out places where attackers in 2010 killed priests and worshippers during a church service ambush. Over 50 were killed in the attack, blamed on Sunni extremists.
Al-Maliki himself attended a ceremony to officially reopen the church last month.
Al-Sadr's heavily protected convoy then made its way to the al-Gailani mosque, one of Baghdad's most prominent Sunni places of worship, shortly before midday Friday prayers.
As he entered the mosque, one worshipper called out that he is "the unifier of Sunnis and Shiites." Another hailed him as "the patriot, the patriot."
Al-Sadr this week spoke up for the Sunni protesters, and echoed that sentiment again Friday.
"We support the demands of the people, but I urge them to safeguard Iraq's unity," he said in brief comments inside the mosque following the Sunni imam's speech and midday prayers.
As he left, women in the courtyard ululated and showered him with candy.
Protesters, meanwhile, massed in several Sunni areas around the country.
The demonstrations appeared to be some of the largest in a wave of rallies over the past two weeks that erupted following the arrest of bodyguards assigned to Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi, one of the central government's most senior Sunni officials.
The detention of female prisoners has been a focus of the demonstrations, though the protests tap into deeper Sunni feelings of perceived discrimination and unfair application of laws against their sect by al-Maliki's government.
Iraqi authorities this week ordered the release of 11 women facing criminal charges and pledged to transfer other women prisoners to jails in their home provinces in a nod to protesters' demands.
But demonstrators Friday continued to press for more prisoners to be released.
Several thousand people took to the streets amid tight security outside Baghdad's Abu Hanifa mosque after the midday prayers. They demanded the release of detainees, and held banners with slogans against the politicization of the judiciary and calling for an end to corruption.
Their chants included: "Iran out!" — a reference to what many Iraqis see as their neighbor's influence over the government — and "Nouri al-Maliki is a liar."
Local TV broadcast what appeared to be tens of thousands of protesters massed along a highway near the western city of Ramadi, which has been the focus of demonstrations and sit-ins in recent weeks.
About 3,000 people gathered in the northern city of Mosul, where they called for the release of female prisoners and to end to what they say are random arrests of Sunnis. Among their chants were: "Down, down with al-Maliki" and "No to sectarianism."
In the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk, about 1,000 protested to demand the release of Sunni detainees.
Protests were also reported in the Sunni strongholds of Fallujah and Tikrit.

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Israel ex-spy chief blasts PM ahead of election

JERUSALEM (AP) — A prominent Israeli ex-intelligence chief sought to sway Israelis against Benjamin Netanyahu in upcoming elections, saying in an interview published Friday that the prime minister has mismanaged Israel's response to Iran's nuclear program and missed opportunities to make inroads on a peace agreement with the Palestinians.
The interview by Yuval Diskin was an unusually strong and overt assault on a prime minister by a figure formerly from the security establishment, coming less than three weeks before the Jan. 22 election, in which polls predict Netanyahu will be reelected. The election campaign has hardly touched on security issues like the conflict with Iran or the stalled peace process with the Palestinians, focusing almost entirely on domestic issues.
Diskin, who ran Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency from 2005 to 2011, has been a vocal critic of Netanyahu. But his front-page interview to the daily Yediot Ahronot included his sharpest comments yet. He accused Netanyahu of acting illegally by ordering the security apparatus to prepare for an attack on Iran before gaining former approval by the Cabinet of ministers. He also said Netanyahu squandered the gains made by Israel's security forces by not using a period of relative quiet over the past few years to move toward peace with the Palestinians.
"I am convinced we deserve a better leadership that's braver and more moral, and that sets a better personal example," Diskin said. "If I cause the Israeli voter to think twice before choosing parties and leaders that are not worthy, because they are actually not leading us where we should be going, I've done my part."
He said he formed his opinion "based on dozens of discussions with many people more or less of my rank" who feel "a lack of security, lack of trust and lack of appreciation" for the current administration.
Netanyahu's office in a text-messaged statement called Diskin's comments "baseless" and accused him of personal frustration over not being selected to head the prestigious Mossad spy agency.
Though Diskin oversaw Israel's domestic security in his role as Shin Bet chief, he was also involved in key security decisions affecting the country including deliberations over a possible strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Diskin said that in 2010 Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak tried to convince him, the army chief and the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency to prepare the security apparatus for an attack on Iran before gaining approval from the necessary government forums, a move Diskin called "illegal."
The army chief and Mossad chief from the time — Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and Meir Dagan — both spoke similarly about the meeting to Israeli television in November.
Diskin also described attending a meeting with Netanyahu, Barak and then-foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, in which they discussed the Iranian nuclear threat over cigars and liquor. He called the atmosphere "bizarre," saying leaders discussing such a serious subject with Israeli security officials should show more gravity.
Diskin said Netanyahu acted irresponsibly regarding Iran's nuclear program and accused him of prioritizing personal concerns over national interests.
"I have a very strong feeling that with the Iranian issue Netanyahu is 'haunted' by (former Israeli prime minister) Menachem Begin, who attacked the reactor in Iraq, and by (former Israeli prime minister Ehud) Olmert, who, as it is claimed in many places, attacked the reactor in Syria," Diskin said. Netanyahu "wants to go down in history as someone who did something of the same proportions."
Netanyahu and Barak have both repeatedly hinted that Israel would carry out military action to stop Iran's nuclear program if necessary. Israel says Iran's nuclear program is aimed at weapons development. Iran denies this and says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
On the Palestinian issue, Diskin criticized Netanyahu's lack of movement on peace talks and said there is a chance another Palestinian uprising could break out.
"The role of the security forces is to create conditions so the political echelon will know what to do with them, and the quiet which was achieved in the last few years is an opportunity that the political echelon should not have missed," Diskin said.
Asked about the response by Netanyahu's office to his comments, Diskin replied only "Have a good Sabbath" in a text message to The Associated Press.

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Syrian warplanes bomb suburbs of the capital

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian ground and air forces bombarded rebel strongholds on the outskirts of Damascus and other areas around the country Friday while anti-government forces targeted a military post near the capital with a car bomb, activists said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said warplanes targeted neighborhoods around the capital including Douma, which troops have been trying to recapture for weeks. Two air raids there Thursday killed 12 people and caused heavy damage.
The Observatory added that a car bomb blew up outside a military intelligence building in the northern Damascus suburb of Nabk but had no immediate word on casualties.
An amateur video posted online showed a strong explosion with black smoke billowing from Nabk and the narrator said the blast targeted the military intelligence facility. The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting on the events depicted.
The violence came two days after the U.N. said that more than 60,000 people have been killed since Syria's crisis began in March 2011 — a figure much higher than previous opposition estimates.
Damascus-based activist Maath al-Shami said government troops were firing rockets and mortars from the Qasioun mountains overlooking the capital down at orchards near the southern suburbs of Daraya and Kfar Sousseh. The Observatory says troops were also fighting rebels in Aqraba and Beit Saham, also south of Damascus, near the capital's international airport.
The army command said in a statement Thursday night that troops carried out operations in suburbs of the capital including Douma and Daraya.
"Regime forces are facing very strong resistance in Daraya," said al-Shami via Skype, but said that government forces had been able to advance down the main street in the suburb.
The government capture of Daraya would provide a boost to the regime's defense of Damascus. It is close to a military air base as well as the government's headquarters and one of President Bashar Assad's palaces.
In the north, rebels resumed a week-old offensive against regime-held airbases. The government's air power poses the biggest obstacle to advances by opposition fighters.
Activists said there were battles around the military air base of Taftanaz in the northern province of Idlib close to the Turkish border and near the international airport of Aleppo, Syria's largest city and commercial center.
Fadi al-Yassin, an activist based in Idlib, said the rebels killed on Thursday the commander of Taftanaz air base, a brigadier general.
"The battles now are at the gates of the airport," al-Yassin said via Skype. He added that it has become very difficult for the regime helicopters to take off and land at the base.
He said warplanes taking off from airfields in the central province of Hama and the coastal region of Latakia are participating in attacking rebels around Taftanaz.
The Syrian Army General Command said troops directed "painful strikes" against the "armed terrorist groups" of Jabhat al-Nusra, a group the U.S. claims is linked to al-Qaida-linked organization. The Syrian military says the extremist group is carrying out the Taftanaz attack, and that dozens of fighters were killed.
Aleppo airport has been closed since Monday. A government official in Damascus said the situation is relatively quiet around the facility, adding that it is up to civil aviation authorities to resume flights.
A man who answered the telephone at the information office at the Damascus International Airport said, "God willing, flights will resume to Aleppo very soon."
Syrian rebels are fighting a 21-month-old revolt against the Assad regime. The crisis began with pro-democracy protests but has morphed into a civil war.

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Fatah party stages first rally in Gaza since 2007

 Leaders of the Palestinian Fatah party led tens of thousands of supporters Friday in a mass rally in the Gaza Strip, the first such gathering for the largely secular party in the territory since the rival Islamist Hamas seized power there in 2007.
The demonstration, which was condoned by Hamas, showed how the long-bitter relations between the rival Palestinian factions have improved since an Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip in November.
While Friday's rally pointed to the improving ties between Hamas and Fatah, it also served as a reminder of the conflicts within Fatah that continue to dog the movement: Officials cancelled the event halfway through after 20 people were injured due to overcrowding, and shoving matches erupted between separate Fatah factions.
Yahiya Rabah, a top Fatah official in Gaza, said the rally was cancelled "due to the huge number of participants and logistical failures."
But witnesses said one pushing match was between supporters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and partisans of former Fatah's former Gaza security commander Mohammed Dahlan, who was expelled from the party because of conflicts with Abbas.
Another Fatah official, who spoke anonymously because he did not want to embarrass the party, said the rally was cancelled because hundreds of Dahlan supporters jumped up on the stage and clashed with Abbas supporters.
Fatah spokesman Fayez Abu Etta attributed the injuries to overcrowding and the excitement of the rally.
Overnight, throngs had camped out in a downtown Gaza square to ensure themselves a spot for the anniversary commemoration of Fatah's 1965 founding, and tens of thousands marched early Friday carrying Fatah banners. When the rally began, people stampeded to the stage to try to shake leaders' hands.
Hamas was not directly involved in the event but allowed it to take place. Top Fatah officials arrived in Gaza for the first time since they were ousted from Gaza by Hamas in 2007.
Abbas, who rules in the West Bank, did not attend the event, but spoke to the crowd via a televised address, telling them that "there is no substitute for national unity."
Organizers then ended the rally, cancelling the other planned speeches and musical performances.
Hamas has gained new support among Palestinians following eight days of fighting with Israel in November, during which Israel pounded the seaside strip from the air and sea, while Palestinians militants lobbed rockets toward the Israeli cities of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for the first time.
Following the fighting, relations have thawed somewhat between Hamas and Fatah. Hamas was allowed to hold its first West Bank rallies since the 2007 split in which Hamas seized Gaza and Fatah was left in control of the West Bank. Hamas returned the favor Friday by allowing the Fatah rally.
Senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath said the party received a congratulatory message from Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who expressed hope that the two factions could reconcile their differences and work together as joint representatives of the Palestinian people.
"This festival will be like a wedding celebration for Palestine, Jerusalem, the prisoners, the refugees and all the Palestinians," Shaath said.
Reconciliation between the two factions, however, is still far from a done deal. Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal, considered more pragmatic than Hamas' Gaza-based hardline leaders, forged a reconciliation agreement with Abbas in 2011.
But the Gaza-based leadership, unsupportive of the deal, has held up implementing it. Fatah enjoys Western support and has been pressured not to forge a unity agreement with the militant Hamas - facing a potential cutback in foreign aid if it does. Hamas has carried out hundreds of deadly attacks against Israeli citizens and is regarded by the U.S. and Israel as a terrorist organization.
Fadwa Taleb, 46, who worked as a police officer during the previous rule of Fatah, gathered at the rally with her family. "We feel like birds freed from our cage today," Taleb said. "We are happy and feel powerful again."
A Gaza security official said a Fatah-linked former aide to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died of a heart attack in the square overnight, saying he was shocked by the large crowd that was allowed to gather.
In the West Bank, Palestinian President Abbas signed a presidential decree changing the name of the Palestinian Authority to the "State of Palestine," following the Palestinians' upgraded status at the United Nations as a non-member observer state.
According to the decree, reported by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa Thursday night, all stamps, signs, and official letterhead will be changed to bear the new name.
It is the first concrete, albeit symbolic, step the Palestinians have taken following the November decision by the United Nations. Abbas has hesitated to take more dramatic steps, like filing war crimes indictments against Israel at the International Criminal Court, a tactic that only a recognized state can carry out.

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Shares steady after rally, dollar jumps

 World stocks stalled on Thursday as traders were cautious after equities hit an 18-month high, while the U.S. dollar climbed to a three-week high against a basket of currencies on concerns about more budget wrangling in Washington.
Data suggesting some momentum in the U.S. economy as the year ended showed private-sector employers stepped up hiring in December, allowing for the upward tick in stocks and further supporting the greenback.
President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans face two more months of tough talks on spending cuts and an increase in the nation's debt limit as the hard-fought deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts covered only taxes and delayed decisions on expenditures until March 1.
"There's still some clouds over the horizon, with the fiscal issue of the government," said Jeff Meyerson, head of trading at Sunrise Securities in New York. "We don't know how they're going to pan out, but in all likelihood there's not going to be a calamity."
The MSCI world equity index <.miwd00000pus> advanced less than 0.1 percent, reversing a dip through most of the session after hitting an 18-month high on Wednesday.
A European equity benchmark <.fteu3> ended up 0.45 percent after hitting its highest intraday level since March 2011, boosted by a belated reaction in Swiss stocks due to a holiday.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 7.03 points, or 0.05 percent, at 13,419.58. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 1.57 points, or 0.11 percent, at 1,463.99. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 2.49 points, or 0.08 percent, at 3,114.75.
The euro tumbled against the dollar as investors grew worried about more budget fights ahead. Analysts say the market could be set up for volatility as Obama and congressional Republicans tussle over the next two months.
The dollar was up 0.4 percent against a basket of major currencies <.dxy> at a three-week high of 80.13, although it slipped 0.4 percent against the yen to 86.97.
"We really just kicked the can down the line and we're set up for another fight on the hill in the next month and a half or so," said John Doyle, currency strategist at Tempus Consulting in Washington.
The euro, which had touched an 8-1/2 month high against the dollar on Wednesday, was down 0.6 percent at $1.3110.
Investors will now turn their attention to Friday's December U.S. employment report. It is expected to show modest job growth of around 150,000, compared with 146,000 in November.
The ADP National Employment Report showed Thursday the U.S. private sector added 215,000 jobs in December, comfortably above economists' expectation of a 133,000 gain. Following the recent rally in equities, any disappointment in Friday's payrolls number could trigger a profit-taking sell-off.
DOLLAR JUMP HITS COMMODITIES
The dollar's strength and rising oil supplies pushed crude prices lower, with Brent down 0.1 percent to $112.31 a barrel. U.S. crude futures were down 0.1 percent at $93.15.
Analysts expect oil prices to drop in 2013 as supply outweighs demand, especially after U.S. crude production hit a 19-year high in 2012.
Gold futures followed commodities lower and were down about 0.6 percent at $1,676.41 an ounce.
Thursday's retreat across riskier asset markets might have been sharper but for data showing activity in China's services sector and at U.S. factories expanded in December, brightening the outlook for global growth.
China's official purchasing managers' index for the non-manufacturing sector rose to a four-month high in December, adding to signs of a revival in the world's second-largest economy.
U.S. Treasury debt prices eased, pushing yields to three-month highs after the U.S. private jobs data cut into the appeal of safe U.S. government issues. Treasuries had already sold off sharply on Wednesday following the U.S. government deal to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff."
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was down 7/32, the yield at 1.8618 percent, a 15-week high.

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Stocks edge lower as next fiscal showdown looms

Stock indexes turned lower Thursday afternoon after the Federal Reserve said its policymakers are split over how long to continue a bond-purchasing program intended to stimulate the economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index treaded water for much of the day, then dipped into the red after 2 p.m. Eastern, when the Fed released minutes from its December policy meeting.
As of 2:33 p.m. the Dow was off 27 points at 13,396. The Dow is coming off its biggest gain in more than a year and is still up 450 points this week.
The S&P 500 was down three points at 1,459 and the Nasdaq composite fell eight to 3,104.
At last month's meeting of the Federal Reserve's policymaking committee, the central bank said it would buy $85 billion of Treasury securities and mortgage-backed bonds on an open-ended basis, and also keep a benchmark interest rate near zero until the unemployment rates drops below 6.5 percent. The unemployment rate was 7.7 percent in November. The government reports the rate for December on Friday.
On Thursday, the Fed revealed a split among its members over how long to continue the bond purchases. Some of its 12 voting members thought they would continue through this year, while others thought they should be slowed or stopped before the end of 2013. Those governors were concerned that the continued bond purchases would destabilize the economy.
Prices of U.S. government bonds fell, sending their yields higher, after the minutes of the Fed's meeting were released. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.90 percent from 1.84 percent late Wednesday. That means investors are anticipating the Fed will slow its purchases of bonds.
The stock market opened on a weak note after retailers reported mixed holiday sales and as the prospect of a new budget battle in Congress loomed. UnitedHealth Group led the Dow lower. The stock fell $1.65 to $52.88 after analysts at Deutsche Bank and other firms cut their ratings on the stock.
"It's natural to relax a bit after such a huge day as yesterday," said Lawrence Creatura, who manages a small-company fund at Federated Investors.
The Dow soared 308 points Wednesday, its largest point gain since December 2011. The rally was ignited after lawmakers passed a bill to avoid a combination of government spending cuts and tax increases called the "fiscal cliff."
That deal gave the market a jump start into the new year. The Dow and the S&P 500 are already up more than 2 percent.
"We're off to a very strong start," Creatura said. "The dominant reason is the resolution of the fiscal cliff. But January is usually a strong month, as investors all shift money into the market at the same time. When the calendar flips, it's as if you're allowed to begin the race anew."
Economists had warned that the full force of the fiscal cliff could drag the country into a recession. The law passed late Tuesday night averted that outcome for now, but other fiscal squabbles are likely in the months ahead. Congress must raise the government's borrowing limit soon or be forced to choose between slashing spending or paying its debts.
Ross Stores surged 6 percent in early trading. The retailer said sales at stores open at least a year increased 11 percent during the holiday shopping season. Ross Stores rose $3.65 to $58.09.
Nordstom Inc. surged 2 percent after the department-store chain also reported strong holiday sales, especially in the South and Midwest. Nordstrom's stock was up $1.21 to $54.84.
Other retailers struggled during the holidays as shoppers held out for deep discounts.
Family Dollar Stores sank 12 percent after reporting earnings that fell short of analysts' projections. The company also forecast a weaker outlook for the current period and full year. Family Dollar's stock lost $7.25 to $56.75.
Among other stocks making big moves:
— Transocean jumped $3.33, or 7 percent, to $49.57. The owner of the oil rig that sank in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 after an explosion killed 11 workers reached a $1.4 billion settlement with the Justice Department.

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Fed split on stimulus plans nudges stocks lower

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are fading into the close of trading on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve revealed a split among its policymakers over how long to continue an economic stimulus program.
The market started on a weak note Thursday following mixed holiday sales reports from retailers and the prospect of another fiscal fight looming in Congress over the nation's borrowing limit.
The Dow Jones industrial average finished down 21 points at 13,391. The Dow surged 308 points the day before, its biggest gain in more than a year.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost three points to end at 1,459. The Nasdaq composite lost 11 to end at 3,100.
Rising stocks outnumbered falling ones on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was 3.8 billion shares, above the recent average.

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Private sector job gains offer hope for labor market

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Private-sector employers shrugged off a looming budget crisis and stepped up hiring in December, offering further evidence of underlying strength in the economy as 2012 ended.
While other data on Thursday showed an increase in the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits, the trend remained consistent with steady job growth.
"The underlying economy has momentum, and the employment data confirms that. The hope and prayer of the market is that our political leaders don't screw it up," said John Brady, managing director at R.J. O'Brien & Associates in Chicago.
Although Congress this week approved a deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, a combination of sharp government spending cuts and higher taxes that would have sucked about $600 billion from the economy, the budget problems are far from resolved.
The ADP National Employment Report showed the private sector added 215,000 jobs last month after increasing payrolls by 148,000 in November. The report is jointly developed with Moody's Analytics.
The job gains came even as companies worried the economy might fall off the fiscal cliff.
However, the ADP data tends to overstate job gains in December because of a year-end accounting quirk.
"While we are encouraged by the better tone in the ADP employment report, we are cautious about reading too much into it, particularly given its tendency to exaggerate the performance of the labor market in December," said Millan Mulraine, a senior economist at TD Securities in New York.
Still, the report added to other data ranging from consumer spending to manufacturing that have suggested the economy was in a much better shape than previously thought.
It was released ahead of the government's more comprehensive employment report on Friday, which is expected to show employers added 150,000 jobs to their payrolls in December, according to a Reuters survey of economists, up from 146,000 in November.
STEADY JOB GAINS
A separate report from the Labor Department showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 372,000 last week. However, claims data for nine states, including California and Virginia, was estimated because of the Christmas and New Year holidays.
The four-week moving average for new claims, a better measure of job market trends, was little changed at 360,000, a sign labor conditions continue to improve at a steady pace.
"The claims data are not always reliable labor market indicators around the holiday season because of issues seasonally adjusting the data, but it is still a somewhat encouraging sign to see the trend in the data remain relatively low," said Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan in New York.
Job gains in the first 11 months of last year averaged about 151,000 per month, not enough to significantly lower unemployment. The jobless rate dropped by 0.2 percentage point to 7.7 percent in November and is expected to have held at that level last month.
Labor market concerns prompted the Federal Reserve to aggressively ease monetary policy, but consensus is diminishing.
Minutes of the U.S. central bank's December 11-12 meeting released on Thursday showed some policymakers thought it would be prudent to slow or stop asset purchases well before the end of this year because of concerns about financial stability.
Stocks on Wall Street ended lower on the prospect of the Fed adopting a less accommodative stance. Prices for U.S. government debt fell, with the yield on the longer-dated 30-year bond touching its highest level since May.
The U.S. dollar rose against a basket of currencies.
The improving labor market tone was also captured by a third report showing planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell in December for the first time in four months, while the overall job-cut total in 2012 was the lowest since 1997.
"The key to job creation is the pace at which companies are willing to hire new workers since it appears they are already retaining existing employees at a high rate," said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics in New York.
Better job security is helping to support domestic demand. Auto sales rose 9.0 percent last month to a 1.36 million-unit annual rate last month.
Several major retailers reported better-than-expected sales in December. Sales at stores open at least a year rose 4.5 percent, beating analysts' estimates for 3.3 percent growth.

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