7.5 Percent

April Jobs Report: U.S. Economy adds 165,000 jobs; Unemployment rate dips to 7.5%

The U.S. economy added 165,000 jobs in April, as the national unemployment rate fell to 7.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Economists had predicted roughly 148,000 non-farm jobs would be created, according to CNBC.

Read more at Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/03/april-jobs-report-unemployment-rate_n_3207647.html

The ACN Morning Report Wednesday March 20, 2013

GOOD MORNING! TODAY IS WEDNESDAY MARCH 20, 2013. HERE ARE TODAY'S TOP AND MOST INTERESTING HEADLINES FROM ACN:

55 Killed In Iraq On Anniversary -- Ohio Gunman Mocks Victims' Families -- Senate Dems Drop Assault Weapons -- Cyprus Uncertainty Puts EU In Jeopardy -- Pentagon Bans 60MM Mortars After Deaths -- Contingency Plans Underway For Syria

ATTACK CLAIMS 55 LIVES ON IRAQ ANNIVERSARY

Baghdad (CNN) -- At least 55 people were killed and scores more wounded when bombs exploded across Iraq on Tuesday, a stark reminder of the violence and instability that grips the country 10 years after the start of the U.S.-led war.

The attacks -- 17 car bombs, seven roadside bombs, and two shootings -- ripped mostly through Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, but also struck Sunni communities in other towns. At least 187 people were wounded.

TEENAGE GUNMAN IN OHIO MOCKS VICTIMS' FAMILY 

Thomas Lane wore a T-shirt with KILLER scrawled in black ink during his sentencing Tuesday in an Ohio courtroom for shooting and killing three students in a high school cafeteria and wounding two others last year.

Mr. Lane, 18, was sentenced to three life sentences without parole. He pleaded guilty last month to opening fire on the morning of Feb. 27, 2012, with a .22-caliber Ruger semiautomatic pistol at Chardon High School while waiting for a bus to attend an alternative high school.

SENATE LEADERS DROP ASSAULT WEAPONS FROM GUN SAFETY BILL

Three months after the mass shooting of 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school outraged the nation, Senate Democratic leaders are dropping an assault-weapon ban from gun legislation.

While public opinion polls show most Americans support an assault-weapon ban, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday the proposal has fewer than 40 votes in the 100-member chamber. Its sponsor, California Democrat Dianne Feinstein, will be given a chance to offer the measure as an amendment to gun legislation that Democrats will introduce, second-ranking Democrat Dick Durbin told reporters.

EURO ON DEFENSIVE AS CYPRUS PARLIAMENT DISREGARDS BANK TAX, MARKETS EYE BERNANKE

(Reuters) - The euro was pinned near four-month lows against the U.S. dollar in Asia on Wednesday after Cyprus' rejection of bailout terms seemed to threaten default or even expulsion from the euro zone.

The general assumption in markets is that the European Union, as so often before, will hash out a last minute deal that keeps Cyprus in the single currency.

PENTAGON BANS 60 MM MORTAR ROUNDS 

HAWTHORNE, Nev. (AP) - A mortar shell explosion killed at least seven Marines and injured several more during mountain warfare training in Nevada's high desert, prompting the Pentagon to immediately halt the use of the weapons until an investigation can determine their safety, officials said Tuesday. The explosion occurred Monday night at the Hawthorne Army Depot, a sprawling facility used by troops heading overseas, during an exercise involving the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force from Camp Lejeune, N.C. Several Marines from the unit were injured in the blast, authorities said.

COMMANDER: CONTINGENCY PLANS UNDERWAY FOR SYRIA

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The top U.S. military commander in Europe said Tuesday that several NATO countries are working on contingency plans for possible military action to end the two-year civil war in Syria as President Bashar Assad's regime accused U.S.-backed Syrian rebels of using chemical weapons.

The ACN Morning Report Tuesday March 19 2013

GOOD MORNING! TODAY IS TUESDAY MARCH 19TH 2013. HERE ARE TODAY'S MOST INTERESTING AND TOP STORIES FROM ACN:

Pope Francis Inauguration Mass -- Chemical Weapons In Syria? -- 10th Anniversary Of Iraq War -- Fl. Student Plotted Attack -- Hillary Clinton Comes Out On Gay Marriage -- Cyprus To Vote On Taxing Deposits -- The Bernanke Buzzkill -- NASA Curiosity Rover Suffers Glitch -- NYC Plan To "Hide" Tobacco 

Pope Francis Pleas For Poor At Inaugural Mass

Pope Francis has inaugurated his papacy at a Mass in Rome, calling on global leaders and all the people of the world to defend the poor and the weak.

Up to 200,000 people attended the Mass in St Peter's Square.

His homily focused on protection - of the environment, children, the elderly and those in need, who he said were "often the last we think about".

Francis was elected by a conclave of cardinals last week to take over from Benedict XVI.

Syria Says Rebel "Chemical Weapon" Attack Kills 6

www.chron.com

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria's information minister says a chemical weapon fired by rebels on a village in the north of the country is the "first act" by the opposition interim government announced in Istanbul.

Omran al-Zoubi says the missile containing "poisonous gases" was fired from Nairab district in Aleppo into Khan al-Assal village on Tuesday.

He says 16 people were killed and 86 wounded in the attack. He spoke to the pro-government Al-Ikhbariya TV station.

On 10th Anniversary Of Iraq War 20 Killed, 96 Injured

BAGHDAD, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Up to 20 people were killed and more than 97 wounded in a series of bombings and shootings in central Iraq on Tuesday morning, the police said.

In Baghdad, eight car bombs ripped through crowded areas mainly in Shiite districts across the capital, killing a total of 15 people and wounding 73 others, an interior ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Also in the capital, two people were killed when two sticky bombs attached to their cars detonated in western and eastern Baghdad, while a third shot dead by gunmen in the southern part of Baghdad, the source said.

Meanwhile, a suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden truck into the entrance of an Iraqi army base in the town of Iskandariyah, some 50 km south of Baghdad, killing at least two people and wounding more than 10 others, a local police source anonymously told Xinhua.

Central Florida Student Plotted Attack On Other Students

FSU

Authorities say a University of Central Florida student who pulled a dorm fire alarm in the middle of the night had a more sinister plan than sending students scurrying out into the night.

Campus police said Monday that 30-year-old James Oliver Seevakumaran was armed with two guns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a backpack filled with explosives and a plan to attack other students as they fled the seven-story dorm where he lived.

His plans were thrown off by campus police officers' quick response to the fire alarm and a 911 call from Seevakumaran's roommate who had holed himself in a bathroom after Seevakumaran pointed a gun at him.

Hillary Clinton Comes Out On Gay Marriage

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may not have declared whether she’s running for president in 2016, but her public declaration supporting gay marriage on Monday puts her on the same page with other potential Democratic candidates should she decide to run.

Clinton made the announcement in an online video released by the Human Rights Campaign. “LGBT Americans are our colleagues, our teachers, our soldiers, our friends, our loved ones, and they are full and equal citizens and deserve the rights of citizenship. That includes marriage. That’s why I support marriage for lesbian and gay couples. I support it personally and as a matter of policy and law,” she said. Clinton acknowledged her evolving position on the issue. “Like so many others, my views have been shaped over time by people I have known and loved, by my experience representing our nation on the world stage, my devotion to law and human rights, and the guiding principles of my faith.”

Cyprus Parliament Says Bank Levy Unlikely

A number of members of Cyprus's parliament have told CNBC that the legislation to tax bank deposits is unlikely to pass, a move that could potentially put the country into default.

Parliament is due to convene at 4 p.m. London time on Tuesday and despite the ruling party saying they will approve the proposal, several parties have said they will reject the levy. No single party has a majority in the 56-member chamber to push through the vote.

Fed Meeting: Bracing For Bernanke Buzzkill

Stocks are rallying, job growth is strengthening and a housing recovery is well underway -- but don't expect the Federal Reserve to back away from its stimulative policies just yet.

If anything, the Fed is likely to deliver a buzzkill after its two-day meeting wraps up Wednesday. Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will also address the state of the economy in a press conference following the release of the Fed's latest statement on interest rates and new economic forecasts.

Second Computer Glitch Stalls NASA's Mars Rover

NASA.Gov

Computerworld - After a computer glitch sidelined NASA's Mars rover Curiosity late last month, another problem has it down again.

NASA reported that Curiosity put itself into safe mode on Saturday after a software bug caused a command file to fail a size-check.

"This is a very straightforward matter to deal with," said Richard Cook, Curiosity's project manager. "We can just delete that file, which we don't need any more, and we know how to keep this from occurring in the future."

NASA said late on Monday that bringing Curiosity out of safe mode is expected to take a couple of days.

NYC Plan Would Keep Tobacco Products Hidden

AP

NEW YORK (AP) — Cigarettes would have to be kept out of sight in New York City stores under a first-in-the-nation plan unveiled by Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Monday, igniting complaints from retailers and smokers who said they've had enough with the city’s crackdowns.

Shops from corner stores to supermarkets would have to keep tobacco products in cabinets, drawers, under the counter, behind a curtain or in other concealed spots. Officials also want to stop shops from taking cigarette coupons and honoring discounts, and are proposing a minimum price for cigarettes, below what the going rate is in much of the city now, to discourage black market sales.

The ACN Morning Report Friday March 15, 2013

Good Morning! Today is Friday March 15th, 2013. Here are today's top and most interesting headlines from ACN: 

HIV Cure Progress -- VW Shares The Wealth -- The Growing Consensus On Banks -- Nuclear Power: The Future Lies In The Past -- Bill Gates: 'Capitalism Means..." -- "47%" Bartender Speaks Out -- Cable News' Coverage Of Cuts To Poor? -- Higgs Boson Discovered -- Scientists Grow New Teeth -- Samsung's Runaway Train -- A Subway To Carry Nukes? -- Chavez's Role In New Pope -- "Spring Is Coming" Obama, Netanyahu And The Red Line -- The Carnival Dream?

MORE HIVE IS CURED: FIRST A BABY, NOW 14 ADULTS

(Image: Bruce Forster/Getty)

Two weeks after the revelation that a baby has been "cured" of HIV, reports suggest that a similar treatment can cure some adults too. Early treatment seems crucial, but does not guarantee success.

Asier Sáez-Cirión of the Pasteur Institute's unit for regulation of retroviral infections in Paris analysed 70 people with HIV who had been treated with antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) between 35 days and 10 weeks after infection – much sooner than people are normally treated.

VW SHARES MORE THAN $1.1 BILLION IN PROFITS WITH WORKERS

Reuters

Volkswagen is coughing up a massive NZ$1.1 billion in bonuses to workers after a record year.

The company sold 9.3 million vehicles, up nearly 12 per cent, in boosting revenues by more than 20 per cent to NZ$305 billion during 2012.

That pushed its pre-tax profit to an asonishing NZ$40 billion. Net profits came in at NZ$10.1 billion.

VW's success, however, doesn't just go to shareholders with the company's German workforce sharing some of the record profits.

VW says it will pay German workers a bonus of around €7200 or a little over NZ$11,000 at the current exchange rates. The bonus is being given to around 100,000 employees in Germany.

''The Volkswagen team has done an excellent job in 2012, and this team effort pays off for everyone.''

BIG BANKS HAVE A BIG PROBLEM

The largest banks in the United States face a serious political problem. There has been an outbreak of clear thinking among officials and politicians who increasingly agree that too-big-to-fail is not a good arrangement for the financial sector.

Six banks face the prospect of meaningful constraints on their size: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. They are fighting back with lobbying dollars in the usual fashion – but in the last electoral cycle they went heavily for Mitt Romney (not elected) and against Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown for the Senate (both elected), so this element of their strategy is hardly prospering

THE FUTURE OF NUCLEAR POWER RUNS ON THE WASTE OF OUR NUCLEAR PAST

Image Credit: Justin Randall

America alone produces about 2,000 metric tons of nuclear waste annually and our best solution for disposing of it: bury it deep in the Earth. However, a pair of MIT scientists believe they've found not only a better way of eliminating nuclear waste but recycling the deadly detritus into enough clean electricity to power the entire world until 2083. Win, meet win.

BILL GATES: CAPITALISM MEANS MORE BALDNESS RESEARCH GETS MORE FUNDING THAN MALARIA

Capitalism means that there is much more research into male baldness than there is into diseases such as malaria, which mostly affect poor people, said Bill Gates, speaking at the Royal Academy of Engineering's Global Grand Challenges Summit.

"Our priorities are tilted by marketplace imperatives," he said. "The malaria vaccine in humanist terms is the biggest need. But it gets virtually no funding. But if you are working on male baldness or other things you get an order of magnitude more research funding because of the voice in the marketplace than something like malaria."

WORLD'S MOST INFLUENTIAL BARTENDER GOES PUBLIC

"You shouldn't have to be able to afford $50,000 to hear what a candidate actually thinks." -Scott Prouty, the bartender who secretly taped Mitt Romney's "47%" remarks, on why he felt obligated to come forward.

The most influential bartender in history came forward Wednesday night to reveal himself as Scott Prouty, the source behind Mitt Romney’s infamous “47%” video. His answer to why he felt obligated to publish the video was one of the best of the interview.

CABLE NEWS COVERS CUTS TO WHITE HOUSE TOURS, IGNORES CUTS TO PROGRAMS FOR THE POOR

Thanks to Congressional gridlock, automatic budget cuts took effect 14 days ago, threatening 700,000 jobs and gutting fundsfor vital programs in housing assistance, early childhood education, disaster relief, and national security. Secret Service staffing was also impacted, prompting the cancellation of White House tours last week. Republicans immediately attacked the decision as a political move designed to turn the public against the sequester and 14 Republican senators signed a letter demanding information.

The media has also latched on to preserve the White House tours, while largely ignoring other much more devastating sequester cuts. As Ari Melber of The Nation pointed out on Wednesday, there are 12,000 news stories concerning White House tours and less than 1,000 about the sequester’s impact on housing assistance programs, which disproportionately affect low-income Americans.

EVIDENCE THAT PARTICLE DISCOVERED AT CERN IS HIGGS BOSON

Geneva, 14 March 2013. At the Moriond Conference today, the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) presented preliminary new results that further elucidate the particle discovered last year. Having analysed two and a half times more data than was available for the discovery announcement in July, they find that the new particle is looking more and more like a Higgs boson, the particle linked to the mechanism that gives mass to elementary particles. It remains an open question, however, whether this is the Higgs boson of the Standard Model of particle physics, or possibly the lightest of several bosons predicted in some theories that go beyond the Standard Model. Finding the answer to this question will take time.

Whether or not it is a Higgs boson is demonstrated by how it interacts with other particles, and its quantum properties. For example, a Higgs boson is postulated to have no spin, and in the Standard Model its parity – a measure of how its mirror image behaves – should be positive. CMS and ATLAS have compared a number of options for the spin-parity of this particle, and these all prefer no spin and positive parity. This, coupled with the measured interactions of the new particle with other particles, strongly indicates that it is a Higgs boson.

TESTING OUT NEW TEETH

Cells taken from adult human gums can be combined with cells from the molars of fetal mice to form teeth with viable roots, according to research published this week in the Journal of Dental Research. The method remains a long way from clinical use, but the findings represent a step toward the goal of growing bioengineered replacements for lost teeth.

Teeth develop when embryonic epithelial cells in the mouth combine with mesenchymal cells derived from the neural crest. Previous studies have shown that these cells can be combined in the lab to formal normal teeth, but the challenge was to find non-embryonic source of the cells that could be used in the clinic.

SAMSUNG HAS AN UNSTOPPABLE HIT IN S4

No, it's not too early to declare the Galaxy S4 a roaring success.

So what if the latest flagship smartphone from Samsung Electronics won't be out for another month (at least)? Or that Samsung hasn't yet released any pricing information? Or that all of its key features had already been leaked in advance? Or that it's not even that different from theGalaxy S3?

The fact is, Samsung will sell boatloads of this phone, and the foundation for its success was laid down awhile ago.

As I explained earlier, Samsung has been relentless when it came to marketing the Galaxy S franchise and building out its brand, which broke out with the Galaxy S2 and truly hit mainstream awareness with the Galaxy S3.

THAT'S NO TRAIN! AIRFORCE EYES SUBWAY FOR NUCLEAR MISSILES

The Air Force wants to upgrade its aging nuclear missiles and the hundreds of underground silos that hold them. One idea it’s exploring: the construction of a sprawling network of underground subway tunnels to shuttle the missiles around like a mobile doomsday train. As one does.

As first reported by Inside Defense, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center will award several study contracts next month worth up to $3 million each to research the idea. A broad agency announcementfrom the Air Force describes the hair-raising concept, intended to keep the weapons secure through 2075, as a system of tunnels where nuclear missiles are shuttled around on rails or some undefined “trackless” system.

The advantage of the world’s deadliest subway: During an atomic holocaust, mobile missiles are harder for an adversary to target than a static silo. Missiles could be positioned at launch holes placed at “regular intervals” along the length of the tunnels.

DID VENEZUELA'S CHAVEZ NUDGE CHRIST IN PICK OF SOUTH AMERICAN POPE

(Reuters) - Late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez's influence may have stretched into the afterlife and had a hand in Christ's decision to opt for a Latin American Pope, acting President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday.

"We know that our commander ascended to the heights and is face-to-face with Christ," Maduro said at a Caracas book fair. "Something influenced the choice of a South American pope, someone new arrived at Christ's side and said to him: 'Well, it seems to us South America's time has come.'"

Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected in a surprise choice to be the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church on Wednesday, the first non-European pope in nearly 1,300 years.

OBAMA WON'T TRIP OVER NETANYAHU'S IRAN "RED LINE"

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama visits Israel next week at the onset of spring - the "red line" previously drawn by his host, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to trigger an attack on Iran's nuclear sites.

But an Israeli-Iranian war, Washington's nightmare as it tries to scale back defense commitments abroad and avoid a draining Gulf oil crisis, does not appear trip-wire imminent.

Officials and analysts say Iran has warded off the Israeli threat by calibrating its mid-level uranium enrichment so that it does not accrue enough fuel for a potential first bomb - the threshold Netanyahu warned about in a United Nations speech in September.

CARNIVAL CRUISE HAS PROBLEMS....AGAIN

(CNN) -- Another Carnival cruise ship is having problems. This time the Carnival Legend is having technical difficulties that are affecting its sailing speed, the travel company said Thursday.

The Legend is on the last leg of a seven-day Caribbean cruise that departed Tampa on Sunday, March 10, according to a statement from the cruise company.

The news comes after the Carnival Dream became a nightmare for some passengers Wednesday when power went off, some toilets stopped working and no one was allowed to get off the vessel -- despite the fact that the ship was docked at Philipsburg, St. Maarten, in the eastern Caribbean.

House Freezes Pay For Federal Workers

In 2010 the federal government had enacted a two year freeze on cost of living adjustments for federal employees, an austerity measure championed by President Obama. More recently democrats had lifted that freeze and sought small increases for federal workers.

However on Friday House Republicans voted to extend the pay freeze for another nine months. In doing so they argue that federal workers should not get pay increases while many Americans in the private sector are not getting them.

But while both Congress and the President have championed pay freezes for federal employees at some point over the past two years, one group has gotten away with earning enormous salaries at taxpayer expense: defense contractors.

Defense contractor pay is currently capped at $763,000 which is almost twice what President Obama's salary is. Last December, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) inserted a measure into the defense authorization bill that would've capped these salaries to $230,700 -- the salary of the Vice President.

Unfortunately this measure did not make it into the final bill which simply promised to study the contractor pay cap.

Essentially the House Republicans are saying that hard working employees at the Environmental Protection Agency or Federal Bureau of Investigation should have their salaries frozen, but if you work for Lockheed Martin or Halliburton, you can continue to fleece the American taxpayers. 

The Morning Report -- Thursday February 14, 2013

Kerry Says 'Strong World' Will Work -- Christopher Dorner's Downfall -- Hagel Vote Coming -- New Cyber Bill -- Carnival Cancels 12 Cruises -- Republicans: 'Old Liberal Ideas' -- USPS Could Need More Money -- America/US Airways Merge -- Activists Protest Keystone XL Pipeline -- Apple's Latest Venture

KERRY SAYS 'STRONG WORLD'  WILL SEND MESSAGE TO IRAN, NORTH KOREA

Fox News Video

WASHINGTON –  The world must show its resolve in the face of North Korea's nuclear provocations or risk emboldening Iran, which is under scrutiny over its uranium enrichment program, Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday.

Kerry said nations must agree on a "swift, clear, strong and credible response" to Pyongyang's third nuclear test and the authoritarian regime's "continued flaunting of its obligations."

CHRISTOPHER DORNER: SPARING HOUSEKEEPERS LED TO UNDOING 

Associated Press

There was no question. The man standing before Rick Heltebrake on a rural mountain road was Christopher Dorner.

Clad in camouflage from head to toe and wearing a bulletproof vest packed with ammunition, the most wanted man in America over the last week was just a few feet away, having emerged from a grove of trees holding a large, assault-style rifle.

As teams of officers who had sought the fugitive ex-Los Angeles police officer since last week were closing in, Dorner pointed the gun at Heltebrake and ordered him to get out of his truck.

SENATE DEMOCRATS TRY TO FORCE HAGEL VOTE

New York Times

WASHINGTON — Accusing Republicans of a new level of obstruction, Senate Democrats moved on Wednesday to force a vote on President Obama’s nomination of Chuck Hagel to be secretary of defense.

Mr. Hagel’s nomination was endorsed by the Senate Armed Services Committee along party lines on Tuesday. But with Republicans demanding more information before allowing a vote on Mr. Hagel by the full Senate, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, took procedural steps to limit floor debate on his nomination and bring the partisan clash to a head by Saturday.

A NEW FIGHT AGAINST US CYBER BILL

WASHINGTON — U.S. privacy and technology activists are preparing for a new round of fighting against an information-sharing bill they say will let private companies help the government spy on the American public.

 

They’re troubled by the Cyber Intelligence Security Protection Act (CISPA), which passed the House of Representatives last year but failed to get through the Senate. House members Mike Rogers and Dutch Ruppersberg are hoping to have more success passing it this year. They re-introduced the legislation at a cyber security talk in Washington Wednesday.

CARNIVAL CANCELS 12 CRUISES ABOARD SHIP PLAGUED BY MECHANICAL FAILURES

Associated Press

HOUSTON — Carnival Cruise Lines has canceled a dozen more planned voyages aboard the Triumph and acknowledged that the crippled ship had been plagued by other mechanical problems in the weeks before it was left powerless in the Gulf of Mexico by an engine-room fire.

The company’s announcement on Wednesday came as the Triumph was being towed to a port in Mobile, Ala., with more than 4,000 people on board, some of whom have complained to relatives that conditions on the ship are dismal and that they have limited access to food and bathrooms.

BOEHNER SHOWS LITTLE SUPPORT FOR OBAMA'S IDEAS

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner expressed doubts Wednesday that the Republican-led House and Democratic-controlled Senate could reach agreement on a budget and avoid automatic spending cuts that could jeopardize economic growth.

In a post-State of the Union interview with The Associated Press, Boehner was also skeptical about President Barack Obama’s new proposal for federally supported universal pre-school. And he showed little support for Obama’s core proposals on immigration reform and gun control, including universal background checks.

USPS COULD NEED $45 BILLION BY 2017

U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said his agency is on a path to need a $45 billion taxpayer bailout within five years if Congress fails to take action to reverse growing financial losses for the Postal Service.

The Postal Service recorded a nearly $16 billion loss during its last fiscal year. Mr. Donahoe said Wednesday the shortfall is likely to grow worse without the ability to make significant cost cuts, including ending Saturday delivery and placing postal workers on a private health-care plan.

AMERICAN AND US AIRWAYS MERGER APPROVED BY BOARDS

Reuters

Ending a yearlong courtship by US Airways, American Airlines agreed on Wednesday to merge with the smaller carrier, paving the way for the creation of the nation’s largest airline.

The boards of the companies met separately to approve the combination, according to two people with knowledge of the vote. A merger would bolster American’s domestic footprint, strengthen its presence in the Northeast and give it a bigger network to attract business travelers and corporate accounts.

ACTIVISTS ARRESTED AT WHITE HOUSE PROTESTING KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE

European Press Photo Agency

When President Obama spoke about climate change in the State of the Union address Tuesday night, he failed to mention the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which aims to transport heavy crude oil from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast and which needs his approval for a construction permit.

But that controversial project — which ranks as one of the top climate decisions the president will have to make this year — took center stage Wednesday as 48 activists engaged in civil disobedience at the gates of the White House.

APPLE'S ENTRY INTO WEARABLE TECH

(CNN) -- In the last week, the Apple iWatch has made the jump from unlikely rumor to a real product that's probably in development, thanks to well-placed leaks that have been showing up in various publications.

The latest is a report from Bloomberg that says Apple already has a team of 100 employees working on a wearable device.

The clues, and resulting flurry of speculation, are planting the seeds of an Apple watch in consumers' minds. The general public has not been crying out for a better watch. Apple dream-product rumors have mostly focused on an elusive Apple TV over the past year.

The Morning Report -- Saturday February 9, 2013

Boeing To Get Flight Test -- Stocks Soar On Optimism -- Mass. Nuclear Power Plant Loses Power -- Panetta Retires, Hagel Waits -- White House Warns Of Sequestration -- Asteroid Approaches Earth -- Hunt For LAPD Cop Hindered By Snow --  Nemo Strikes Northeast United States

BOEING 787 DREAMLINER  FLIGHT TEST TODAY

Boeing will begin flight tests of its 787 Dreamliner on Saturday morning to gather data on the battery system that has caused the in-service 787 fleet to be grounded, according to an inside source.

The plane that will fly Saturday is Dreamliner No. 5, one of six planes filled with measuring equipment that was used in the flight tests for the 787’s original Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification.

Ground tests were successfully completed on the jet Friday.

On Thursday, the FAA granted Boeing’s request to do test flights specifically to gather data on the battery performance in flight.

The FAA has imposed strict operating conditions on the test flights, requiring preflight inspections and in-flight monitoring of the battery system.

STOCKS END HIGH FOR SIXTH STRAIGHT WEEK

Reuters

(Reuters) - The Nasdaq composite stock index closed at a 12-year high and the S&P 500 index at a five-year high, boosted by gains in technology shares and stronger overseas trade figures.

The S&P 500 also posted a sixth straight week of gains for the first time since August.

The technology sector led the day's gains, with the S&P 500 technology index .SPLRCT up 1.0 percent. Gains in professional network platform LinkedIn Corp (LNKD.N) and AOL Inc (AOL.N) after they reported quarterly results helped the sector.

MASSACHUSETTS NUCLEAR POWER PLANT LOSES POWER

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says a power plant in Massachusetts has lost power and shut down during a massive snowstorm.

The NRC says the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth experienced an automatic shutdown at around 9:15 p.m. Friday after losing off-site power. Spokesman Neil Sheehan says the plant has declared an unusual event, which is the lowest level of emergency classification.

Sheehan says that the reactor shut down without any problems and that backup generators are powering plant equipment.

The NRC says there’s no threat to public safety.

The shutdown came as a major snowstorm began clobbering the New York-to-Boston corridor, knocking out power to more than 300,000 customers in Massachusetts.

PANETTA RETIRES WHILE SUCCESSOR AWAITS VOTE

Reuters

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama bade a fond farewell to retiring Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at a ceremony on Friday and voiced strong support for his nominated successor, Chuck Hagel, who was attacked by Republicans at a contentious Senate confirmation hearing last week.

Panetta, in his 19 months as Pentagon chief, ended the ban on women serving in front-line combat roles and oversaw the integration of gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. The Iraq war ended and the lastAfghanistan "surge" troops came home on his watch.

But he may be remembered most for his work before he came to the Pentagon in July 2011, as the CIA director who helped oversee the raid earlier that year that killed Osama bin Laden.

WHITE HOUSE WARNS OF "DAMAGING" SEQUESTRATION SPENDING CUTS

Reuters

(Reuters) - The White House said on Friday that government spending cuts due to take effect March 1 would have harsh consequences for ordinary Americans and the U.S. economy, seeking to turn up pressure on Congress to come up with a plan to avoid what Washington calls "sequestration."

President Barack Obama said the spending cuts could weaken U.S. military preparedness.

"There is no reason, no reason for that to happen," Obama said at a farewell ceremony for Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

"Putting our fiscal house in order calls for a balanced approach, not massive, indiscriminate cuts that could have a severe impact on our military preparedness," he said.

ASTEROID TO NARROWLY MISS EARTH

NASA

Astronomers are keeping a wary eye on a large asteroid expected to narrowly miss hitting Earth next Friday in the closest known approach of a dangerous cosmic object since NASA started tracking such debris.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration experts who plotted its trajectory are confident that the primordial rock, weighing an estimated 130,000 metric tons, will pass within "a remarkably close distance" of Earth, nearer than many orbiting communications satellites but far enough away to safely speed past the planet.

HUNT FOR LA COP LEADS TO SNOWY MOUNTAINS

BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. –  The hunt for Christopher Dorner in the snow-covered San Bernardino Mountains is expected to resume at daybreak Saturday, when authorities hope clearer skies will allow airplanes to help them in their search.

Relentless snowfall on Friday grounded helicopters with heat-sensing technology and hampered their effort to find the former Los Angeles police officer suspected of going on a deadly rampage to get back at those he blamed for ending his career.

NORTHEAST SNOWED IN AS 'NEMO' HITS

BuzzFeed

BOSTON — A massive storm packing hurricane-force winds and blizzard conditions is sweeping through the Northeast, dumping nearly 2 feet of snow on New England and knocking out power to more than a half a million customers.

More than 23 inches of snow had fallen in parts of central Connecticut by early Saturday, and more than 21 inches covered Randolph in southeastern Massachusetts.

The National Weather Service says up to 3 feet of snow is expected in Boston, threatening the city's 2003 record of 27.6 inches.