US loses to Italy in 1st round of Fed Cup

Italy's Sara Errani, left, and Roberta Vinci celebrate at the end of a Fed Cup World group first round tennis double match against United States' Varvara Lepchenko and Liezel Huber, at the 105 stadium in Rimini, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. Italy beat the USA to progress to the Fed Cup semifinals after Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci cruised to victory over Varvara Lepchenko and Liezel Huber in the decisive doubles rubber on Sunday. Errani and Vinci proved again just why they are the top doubles pairing as they won 6-2, 6-2 in one hour and 11 minutes. (AP Photo/Felice Calabro')

Italy's Sara Errani, left, and Roberta Vinci celebrate at the end of a Fed Cup World group first round tennis double match against United States' Varvara Lepchenko and Liezel Huber, at the 105 stadium in Rimini, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. Italy beat the USA to progress to the Fed Cup semifinals after Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci cruised to victory over Varvara Lepchenko and Liezel Huber in the decisive doubles rubber on Sunday. Errani and Vinci proved again just why they are the top doubles pairing as they won 6-2, 6-2 in one hour and 11 minutes. (AP Photo/Felice Calabro')

Italy's team captain Corrado Barazzutti, top, hugs Sara Errani at the end of a Fed Cup World group tennis double match against United States' Varvara Lepchenko and Liezel Huber at the 105 stadium in Rimini, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. Errani and Vinci won 6-2, 6-2. (AP Photo/Felice Calabro')

United States' Varvara Lepchenko, top, and Liezel Huber play Italy's Sara Errani, left, and Roberta Vinci during a Fed Cup tennis double match at the 105 stadium in Rimini, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. (AP Photo/Felice Calabro')

United States' Varvara Lepchenko left, is congratulated by her team captain Marie Joe Fernandez after defeating Italy's Sara Errani in a World Group first round Fed Cup tennis match at the 105 stadium in Rimini, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. Lepchenko won 7-5, 6-2. (AP Photo/Felice Calabro'))

RIMINI, Italy (AP) ? The United States was eliminated in the first round of the Fed Cup, losing to Italy 3-2 Sunday when Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci defeated Varvara Lepchenko and Liezel Huber in the decisive doubles match.

Errani and Vinci, the top-ranked doubles team, won 6-2, 6-2 against an understrength American team. The U.S. was without Serena and Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens because of injuries.

"I'm really proud of the team, they played their hearts out every single match," U.S. captain Mary Joe Fernandez said. "We knew it was going to be an uphill battle."

The U.S. led 2-1 after Lepchenko beat Errani 7-5, 6-2 in Sunday's first reverse singles. But Vinci stopped Jamie Hampton 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to set up the crucial doubles for Errani and Vinci, who ended the best-of-five World Group series.

"They both played a great match and Roberta did a couple of really exceptional shots at the net," Italy captain Corrado Barazzutti said. "I don't really say much to them when they play, they're the best, what can you say? I try not to bother them when they play, they know each other so well."

Italy will host defending champion Czech Republic in the semifinals, a rematch of last year's semis. The Czech Republic defeated visiting Australia 4-0.

In the other semifinal, it's Slovakia at Russia. Slovakia topped host Serbia 3-2, and host Russia downed Japan 3-2.

Italy was a big favorite to earn a third straight victory over the U.S. after beating the Americans in the Fed Cup finals in 2009 and '10.

Excellent play from Lepchenko, however, put the U.S. ahead after an error-strewn performance from Errani.

Lepchenko raced ahead 4-2 before Errani rallied to lead 5-4 and was serving for the set. But the 21st-ranked American broke again and took the next two games, securing the opening set when Errani hit a shot into the net.

Lepchenko moved in front 4-1 in the second set to earn a second straight victory in her Fed Cup debut after beating Vinci in three sets on Saturday.

"It was a long match yesterday," Lepchenko said. "So I was up and down a bit, but once my body warmed up I started playing better and better, and then in the second set I got pumped and really got going. Clay is one of my favorite surfaces. I was born on clay, so I guess it comes to me naturally."

Vinci then kept Italy in the series, despite playing with a thigh injury from Saturday's loss. After inconsistent play in the first two sets, Vinci pulled ahead 5-0 in the third.

"It was an important third set that Jamie lost," Fernandez said. "We could have capitalized there but we didn't. But this is the closest we've come against the Italian team, and we were playing away.

"I'm really proud of everyone, how they handled the atmosphere. ... There were a lot of new experiences and overall I think it's a positive experience."

Vinci played even better in doubles and was particularly sharp at the net as she improved her record to 18-0 in Fed Cup doubles? the best in the competition's history.

"It's maybe the best day of my career," Vinci said. "We really wanted it. We were very tired but today we managed to show a lot of heart, a lot of personality. We are a great team. I had to have various treatments and physiotherapy, massages almost until midnight. Yesterday was a horrible day and I'm glad I managed to come back today. "

Errani and Vinci won the doubles title at the Australian Open last month, their third victory in the last four Grand Slams, and they were in command against Lepchenko and Huber.

"Of course, it's very disappointing today not to win, disappointing to lose again to them, that's what hurts the most," Huber said. "They (Vinci and Errani) are the weapon. They're like sisters and best friends. They can read each other's body language. That's why they're No. 1 and think they'll be that for many years to come. They both have different styles and they stick to that. I really enjoy watching them play, but not against me."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-02-10-TEN-Fed-Cup-US-Italy/id-1eceb683be6d41ecb2b62cfbe5620b10

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'This is it': Mammoth winter storm hits Northeast

By Erin McClam and Kari Huus, NBC News

Updated at 3:15 a.m. ET: A powerful winter storm pounded the Northeast Saturday, with gusting winds and heavy snow causing power failures for hundreds of thousands of people, dozens of accidents and fuel shortages at gas stations.?

At least one death was confirmed, a snow-related car accident in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

By midnight ET, 19 inches of snow had fallen at Mount Sinai on New York's Long Island and 18.5 inches at Manchester, Conn., weather.com reported.

In Massachusetts, gusts over 50 mph were reported in Boston and over 60 mph on Nantucket Island. Winds up to 75 mph were possible in Provincetown, forecasters said.

Police said hundreds of cars were stuck on the Long Island Expressway, NBC weatherman Al Roker said in a message on Twitter.

The winter storm gathered strength as two weather systems ? a so-called clipper pattern sweeping across the Midwest and a band of rain from the South ? converged over the Northeast early Friday.

By late Friday, the storm had arrived in earnest and was expected to pummel New England through Saturday and last as long as Sunday farther north.

Governors of New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island?declared states of emergency.?

More than 800 National Guard soldiers and airmen were activated in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York to provide roadway support, emergency transportation and back-up for first responders, the Department of Defense said Friday evening, while governors in the region warned people to get home and be prepared?for power outages.

Airlines canceled more than 3,000 flights on Friday, Boston closed its subway, Amtrak suspended some service, and cities across the Northeast prepared to deploy an armada of snowplows and salt-spreading trucks.

More than half a million people were without power, including a whopping 389,000 customers in Massachusetts, 177,000 in Rhode Island?and?35,000 in Connecticut, and more power failures were expected overnight.?

For people in the blizzard?s path, forecasters and authorities had a clear message: Stay home.

Driving bans
Governors in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts announced restrictions on driving.

In the most sweeping ban, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick ordered?all non-essential vehicles off the roads by 4 p.m. and said people should brace to be snowed in for two days. He said the storm was "profoundly different" from others?the state?has endured in recent years.

Gov. Dannel Malloy?of Connecticut banned car traffic on limited-access highways starting at 4 p.m. State police reported nearly 100 minor accidents across the state by Friday afternoon.

"If you don't currently have a reason to be on the road, if you're not an emergency personnel that's required to report to work somewhere, stay home," Malloy said at a state armory news conference. "This is it. Things are starting to accumulate."

In the Poughkeepsie, N.Y. crash, a car driven by an 18-year-old female went out of control in the snow and struck Muril M. Hancock, 74, who was walking near the shoulder, police said. Hancock died from his injuries at the hospital.

The eastern part of Connecticut was experiencing white-out conditions late into the evening, the state's emergency operations center reported, and even snowplows were immobilized because of the weather.

Several motorists were reported stranded on snowed-in highways and interstates, but no injuries had been reported. Still, emergency crews were unable to respond due to the severe conditions.

A 19-car pileup on Interstate 295 in Falmouth, Maine, was blamed on the storm. Police said there were minor injuries.

Forecasters said they expected Massachusetts to get the most snowfall,?with an?accumulation of up to 3 feet in some spots. The worst snowfall on record in Boston was a 27.5-inch blast a decade ago.

Near-hurricane force winds
The Weather Channel said forecast as much as 2 feet of snow in Hartford, Conn., and as much as 15 inches in New York.

Coastal residents were warned that the winds could top 70 mph.

Those living on north- and east-facing shorelines from Boston south to Cape Cod Bay were told to prepare for tides 2 to 4 feet above normal.

"Coastal flooding is expected on the Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts coastlines," the National Weather Service said.

"I'm really nervous," Kathy Niznansky, a 65-year-old teacher in coastal Fairfield, Conn. told The Associated Press. Niznansky is still recovering from flooding from Superstorm Sandy which arrived on her birthday and?knocked her out of her house near the beach for two months. "Now I'm really worried about this tide tonight. I just don't want any more flooding."

Elsewhere, Rhode Island police asked people for loaner snowmobiles, and out-of-state utility crews headed for Connecticut to help.

Full coverage from The Weather Channel
Watch live video of the Northeast blizzard
?Sandy survivors: It's like a repeat 'nightmare'??

Airline cancellations piled up all morning. Almost 3,000 flights were scrapped for Friday and more than 1,000 more for Saturday, according to FlightAware.com.

At the major airports in New York and New England, most major airlines said they would shut down completely Friday afternoon.

Schools were closed in Boston and for most of New England on Friday. Patrick ordered non-essential state workers to stay home Friday and encouraged private employers to do the same.

In New York, the transit agency added more than 20 afternoon trains on its Metro-North commuter line from Grand Central Terminal to get people out of the city before the worst hit.

The Metro-North suspended service Friday night due to the storm. The Long Island Rail Road shut down service east of Speonk about 9 p.m.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned people to stay in and to use public transportation if they had to go out, although even that carried the possibility of disruptions. The city had 250,000 tons of salt at the ready for the roads.

He encouraged New Yorkers to stay in and cook a meal or read a good book.

"This is a very serious storm, and we should treat it that way," said Tom Prendergast, president of the agency that runs New York subways and buses.

The weather service warned that the combination of heavy snow and high winds would limit visibility and cause whiteout conditions at times.

"Those venturing outdoors may become lost or disoriented," the weather service said in an advisory issued for the Boston area.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

The Weather Channel live stream

The Weather Channel live blog

State-by-state impact of the storm

Current conditions

Show us your storm photos by adding #NBCNewsPics to your tweet or Instagram post, or upload your pictures directly by clicking the box below.

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/08/16895255-whiteout-potentially-historic-winter-storm-closes-in-on-northeast?lite

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Cooliris Expands Again With Yandex Partnership, Hits 3 Million Downloads On iOS

Cooliris, the?Kleiner Perkins-backed photo browsing and sharing startup, is again expanding its footprint in key emerging markets, this time in Russia thanks to a new partnership with Yandex. The move follows the company's launch of a localized version in China in December, which also saw a partnership with Renren, aka "the Facebook of China."

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/8n1Wk16D6xI/

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France plays down report of ransom paid for Niger hostages

PARIS (Reuters) - France brushed off an allegation by a U.S. ex-diplomat that it paid a $17 million ransom, in vain, for the release of four hostages abducted in 2010 from Niger, a charge that contradicts the government's stated no-negotiation policy.

The U.S. ambassador to Mali from 2002 to 2005, Vicki Huddleston, told iTele in an interview broadcast on Friday that the ransom paid by France took a circuitous route before landing in the hands of al Qaeda's north African unit AQIM.

"Of course France didn't walk over to the Salafists and say 'Here's your 17 million,'" Huddleston said in the interview conducted on Thursday in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

"The ransoms, like all other ransoms paid, were paid indirectly and ended up in the hands of the Malian government and then they were turned over, at least part of it, to the Salafists."

The four French men were captured by AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) from a mining town in the north of Niger on September 16, 2010 and are now believed to be in northern Mali.

AQIM threatened to kill the hostages last year if France intervened militarily in Mali and has demanded a 90 million euro ($120.5 million) ransom for their release. It holds two other French hostages.

As many as eight French hostages are currently being held by Islamist militants in Africa's Sahel region.

The issue is sensitive in France, where President Francois Hollande in part justified military action in Mali in order to prevent the north from being used as a launchpad for terror attacks in Africa and in the West.

Hollande declined to comment on the specific allegation -- which would have occurred under his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy -- but reiterated that France does not pay to free its hostages.

"Today ... we are looking for contacts but the question of financing cannot be raised," he said during a news conference after an EU summit in Brussels.

In Paris, Foreign Ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said Huddleston's assertion was based on "rumors" and Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault similarly refused to confirm or deny it.

"Concerning our nationals currently held as hostages in the Sahel, we need a lot of sang-froid and a sense of responsibility because the government along with the president has only one objective, that's to obtain their freedom," he said.

The now-retired Huddleston said European governments paid about $89 million between 2004-2011 to secure hostages' freedom.

"Although governments deny that they're paying ransom, everyone is pretty much aware that money has passed hands, indirectly through different accounts and it ends up in the treasury, let us say, of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and allows them to buy weapons and recruit," said Huddleston.

From June 2009 to December 2011, Huddleston was the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for African Affairs.

Sarkozy's chief of staff during the time of the hostage-taking, Claude Gueant, insisted ransoms had never been paid.

"I maintain that France, the French state, has never paid for the freedom of hostages," Gueant told iTele. "France never paid a ransom."

A rescue operation ordered by Hollande last month to free a French hostage held in Somalia since mid 2009 ended in failure.

Al-Qaeda-allied Somali militant group al Shabaab later said they had killed the hostage, Denis Allex. ($1 = 0.7469 euros)

(Writing by Alexandria Sage; Additional reporting by Catherine Lagrange; Editing by Leigh Thomas and Roger Atwood)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/france-plays-down-report-ransom-paid-niger-hostages-181559026.html

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Three UK launches 'Ultrafast' Galaxy S3 with DC-HSDPA support

Three UK is marketing its DC-HSDPA and upcoming LTE networks under the the consumer-friendly name "Ultrafast," and today sees the launch of a new Galaxy S3 variant intended to take advantage of this network. Three's Ultrafast Galaxy S3 is identical to the vanilla 3G version, except it'll run at full-speed DC-HSDPA, as opposed to maxing out at plain old HSPA+. Basically, that means you get up to double the download bandwidth wherever there's support for the faster network speeds. (If you want to get even more basic, it means your 3G will be twice as fast.)

It's not explicitly confirmed in today's press release, but it's likely that Three's Ultrafast S3 is actually the Galaxy S3 LTE (GT-i9305) -- that's the international LTE version that also includes DC-HSDPA support thanks to its Qualcomm radio chip. We've reached out to Three to clarify whether its "Ultrafast" model will indeed support the upcoming LTE service, and we'll update this post with any info they provide.

In any case, you can expect to pay £449.99 to buy the Ultrafast S3 on PAYG, or between £34 and £36 per month with a £29 up-front fee on Three's 24-month contracts. The phone launches online and in Three stores next Tuesday, Feb. 12.

Source: Three

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/K0MAupbwM5I/story01.htm

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Trade gap shrinks, hinting at stronger GDP growth

Reuters ? ? ? 4 hrs.

The U.S. trade deficit shrank in December to its narrowest in nearly three years, suggesting the economy did much better in the fourth quarter than initially estimated.

The country's trade gap narrowed to $38.5 billion during the month, the Commerce Department said on Friday. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a deficit of $46 billion.

That suggests the U.S. government will revise upward its advance reading for fourth-quarter gross domestic product, which showed the economy contracted at a 0.1 percent annual rate in part because of a decline in inflation-adjusted exports.

The government had released its estimate for fourth-quarter GDP before the December trade data was available. That GDP report suggested the government was projecting a wider trade deficit in December.

Friday's data showed U.S. exports surged by $8.6 billion during the month, boosted by sales of industrial supplies, including a $1.2 billion increase of non-monetary gold. In a reflection of a boom in oil output driven by hydraulic fracturing technologies, petroleum exports rose by nearly $1 billion during the month to a record high level.

A fall in petroleum imports led overall purchases from abroad to decline $4.6 billion in December. For the entire year, the country's imports of crude oil fell to their lowest levels since 1997 in terms of volume.

For all of 2012, the U.S. trade gap fell by 3.5 percent to $540.4 billion. Running trade deficits means the country bleeds dollars, so trade is still a drag on the U.S. economy. But rising exports are helping it to be less of a drag than in prior years.

Exports last year rose 4.4 percent.

While the overall trade deficit shrank, it grew with China during the year. That will be sure to raise hackles from American manufacturers who want the United States to pressure the Asian giant more to strengthen its currency.

But even the figures on China had a silver lining. While U.S. imports last year from China increased to a record high, so did America's exports to the country. America's December trade deficit with China for goods, which was not seasonally adjusted, narrowed by $4.5 billion on a drop in imports.

The U.S. trade deficit increased with the European Union last year but America's surplus with Brazil rose.

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/trade-gap-shrinks-hinting-stronger-economic-growth-1B8301378

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Hacked George W. Bush Paintings - Business Insider

A hacker named Guccifer apparently got access to private emails and photos from the Bush family, and has sent them along to The Smoking Gun.?

The cache includes several photos of paintings allegedly made by former President George W. Bush and sent to his family and friends. (It was reported late last year that the former president had picked up painting as a hobby.)

The Secret Service is investigating the hack, according to ABC News.?

Check out the Bush paintings below, courtesy of The Smoking Gun:

?

Now Watch: We Tried To Fly A Drone And We Failed Miserably

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Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/hacked-george-w-bush-paintings-2013-2

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