On Tuesday, “Frontline” investigated why the leaders of Wall Street had escaped prosecution for their role in the country’s financial crisis.
Peter Eavis of DealBook is moderating a conversation beginning at 2 p.m. Eastern time with the show’s producer, Martin Smith. Watch the show above and submit your questions now.
When a hooded assailant flung acid in the face of Sergei Filin, the director of the Bolshoi Ballet, late on Thursday night in Moscow, the attack almost instantly made headlines worldwide.
Although doctors have now said that Mr. Filin will not lose his sight in both eyes, the extent of the damage to his vision and face is not yet known. The viciousness of the intention — blindness, disfigurement, pain — behind the attack has left the ballet world (and journalists) groping for explanations. Some have been quick to link the incident to the byzantine politics and history of infighting that has long characterized the Bolshoi theater.
The Bolshoi’s general director, Anatoly Iksanov, immediately said that he believed the attack was linked to the theater, and Mr. Filin, in an interview with the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, published Tuesday, said “he believed he was attacked because of his work at the ballet company,” wrote Ellen Barry, who has been covering the events from Moscow for The New York Times.
Reports in European and American news media have almost all mentioned the simmering hostility between the director and the flamboyant principal dancer, Nikolai Tsiskaridze, who has made no secret of his belief that he should head the company, nor of his criticism of Mr. Filin’s artistic policy. Mr. Tsiskaridze is said to inspire fanatical devotion in his fans, who sent a petition to President Vladimir V. Putin in November demanding that their hero replace Mr. Filin as head of the ballet company. But commentators have stopped short of suggesting that the dancer himself might have had something to do with the attack.
“As ruthless as the ballet world might be, it’s hard to imagine Tsiskaridze committing such a crime,” wrote Ariane Bavelier in Le Figaro.
That ruthlessness has been repeatedly alluded to, with, naturally, Darren Aronofsky’s 2010 film, “Black Swan,” and its lurid portrayal of the ballet world, repeatedly invoked. “An acid attack on the artistic director of the Bolshoi ballet has shone the spotlight on the fierce “Black Swan”-like competition for starring roles at the famed Russian dance company,” wrote Lynn Berry and Nataliya Vasileva on the Huffington Post Web site.
Hearing about the persecution that preceded the physical attack on Mr. Filin in previous months — his car tires were slashed, his phones, email and Facebook page hacked, and he received numerous threatening phone calls — makes the fictional events of the film “Black Swan” and Natalie Portman’s psychotic ballerina seem rather less far-fetched.
Many have placed the attack on Mr. Filin in the context of a long history of internecine war at the Bolshoi, linked to the polarizing figure of Yuri Grigorivich, who headed the ballet company for three mostly Soviet-era decades, until his dismissal in 1995.
“Just turned 86, he retains almost godlike status for his supporters, who include many veteran Bolshoi coaches as well as some celebrated dance stars such as Tsiskaridze, who share a suspicion of modernizers,” wrote Ismene Brown on the Artsdesk web site.
Grigorovich supporters criticize what they see as an overly Westernized approach on the part of subsequent directors. Several commentators have suggested that the departure of Alexei Ratmansky, who is widely seen as having revitalized the company during his 2004-2008 tenure, was due at least in part to pressure from this group.
Although Mr. Ratmansky has always been tactful about his reasons for leaving the Bolshoi, his feelings were clear in a Facebook post after the attack: “Many of the illnesses of the Bolshoi are one snowball,” he wrote, “that disgusting claque which is friendly with artists, ticket speculators and scalpers, half-crazy fans who are ready to slit the throats of their idol’s competitors, cynical hackers, lies in the press and scandalous interviews of people working there.”
And the departure of Gennady Yanin, who resigned in 2011 after sexually explicit photographs resembling him were posted on the Internet, has also been described by Mr. Yanin’s supporters as the result of a crude smear campaign.
It was announced Tuesday that Galina Stepanenko, a former principal dancer and the first woman to hold a senior position at the Bolshoi, will run the company during Mr. Filin’s absence.
What is clear from the media coverage is that ballet has a political status in Russia that is very different from that in the west.
“Shocking as it might seem to western observers, politics in the Bolshoi and other Russian companies are often just as turbulent and murky as those in the outside world – and no less locked in a struggle between cold war-style conservatives and liberal modernisers than Russia itself,” Judith Mackrell wrote in The Guardian.
It’s not impossible to imagine that artistic directors in London or Paris or Berlin might be subject to threats or intimidation, as might be the case for any powerful head of a large organization. But it’s harder to envisage a culture in which ballet is as powerful a symbol of political prestige and national brand as government itself.
“Ballet in Russia is more politics than art,” wrote the New York-based impresario Sergei Danilian, who represents a number of major Russian ballet dancers, in an email message.
“Would that ballet ignited such passion here,” wrote a New York resident on Twitter.
Well, not really, but you know what she means.
Kantar Worldpanel’s December smartphone market share numbers are out. And they are as fascinating as ever. Kantar pegs the BlackBerry market share in America as 1.1% last month, down from 1.4% in November. Surprisingly, Windows Phone’s market share also ticked down to 2.6% in December from 2.7% in November. That might be a statistical artifact, but it is surprising not to see a substantial boost in Windows share considering the marketing support and new devices from AT&T (T).
[More from BGR: BlackBerry 10 OS walkthrough, BlackBerry Z10 pricing]
In Europe, Windows Phone is rapidly picking up steam. Its market share soared to 13.9% in Italy from 11.8% in November. In the UK, Windows Phone’s share moved to 5.9% from 5.1% in a month.The EU average share of Windows Phone bloomed to 5.4% from 4.7% between November and December.
[More from BGR: Verizon Q4 loss doubles to nearly $ 2 billion despite record subscriber adds]
At the same time, BlackBerry dipped to 4.0% from 4.4%. The stage is set for the spring battle between Windows Phone and BlackBerry camps.
Interestingly, Apple’s (AAPL) share in the UK slipped to 32.4% in December from 36.1% in November. The massive popularity of Samsung (005930) models in the British market was undoubtedly the main reason; Android’s share hit 54.4% in the UK.
This is the latest sign that Apple’s market share problems outside the U.S. market are not limited to emerging markets and Southern Europe. The UK has traditionally been the second most loyal market to the Apple brand, right after the United States. According to Kantar, Apple slipped 2.1 percentage points in America between November and December, ending up with 51.2% share of the smartphone market.
This article was originally published on BGR.com
Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News
NEW YORK (AP) — The woman whose photo was used as the "face" of the Twitter account of Manti Te'o's supposed girlfriend says the man allegedly behind the hoax confessed and apologized to her.
Diane O'Meara told NBC's "Today" show Tuesday that Ronaiah Tuiasosopo used pictures of her without her knowledge in creating a fake woman called Lennay Kekua. Te'o asserts he was tricked into an online romance with Kekua and, until last week, believed she died of leukemia in September.
O'Meara went to high school in California with Tuiasosopo, but she says they're not close. He called to apologize Jan. 16, the day Deadspin.com broke the hoax story, she said.
"I don't think there's anything he could say to me that would fix this," said O'Meara, a 23-year-old marketing executive in Los Angeles.
O'Meara said she had never had any contact with Te'o, and that for five years, Tuiasosopo "has literally been stalking my Facebook and stealing my photos."
Tuiasosopo has not spoken publicly since the news broke. His family has said they may speak out this week.
Nobody knows how it happened: an indoor house cat who got lost on a family excursion managing, after two months and about 200 miles, to return to her hometown.
Even scientists are baffled by how Holly, a 4-year-old tortoiseshell who in early November became separated from Jacob and Bonnie Richter at an R.V. rally in Daytona Beach, Fla., appeared on New Year’s Eve — staggering, weak and emaciated — in a backyard about a mile from the Richters’ house in West Palm Beach.
“Are you sure it’s the same cat?” wondered John Bradshaw, director of the University of Bristol’s Anthrozoology Institute. In other cases, he has suspected, “the cats are just strays, and the people have got kind of a mental justification for expecting it to be the same cat.”
But Holly not only had distinctive black-and-brown harlequin patterns on her fur, but also an implanted microchip to identify her.
“I really believe these stories, but they’re just hard to explain,” said Marc Bekoff, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Colorado. “Maybe being street-smart, maybe reading animal cues, maybe being able to read cars, maybe being a good hunter. I have no data for this.”
There is, in fact, little scientific dogma on cat navigation. Migratory animals like birds, turtles and insects have been studied more closely, and use magnetic fields, olfactory cues, or orientation by the sun.
Scientists say it is more common, although still rare, to hear of dogs returning home, perhaps suggesting, Dr. Bradshaw said, that they have inherited wolves’ ability to navigate using magnetic clues. But it’s also possible that dogs get taken on more family trips, and that lost dogs are more easily noticed or helped by people along the way.
Cats navigate well around familiar landscapes, memorizing locations by sight and smell, and easily figuring out shortcuts, Dr. Bradshaw said.
Strange, faraway locations would seem problematic, although he and Patrick Bateson, a behavioral biologist at Cambridge University, say that cats can sense smells across long distances. “Let’s say they associate the smell of pine with wind coming from the north, so they move in a southerly direction,” Dr. Bateson said.
Peter Borchelt, a New York animal behaviorist, wondered if Holly followed the Florida coast by sight or sound, tracking Interstate 95 and deciding to “keep that to the right and keep the ocean to the left.”
But, he said, “nobody’s going to do an experiment and take a bunch of cats in different directions and see which ones get home.”
The closest, said Roger Tabor, a British cat biologist, may have been a 1954 study in Germany in which cats placed in a covered circular maze with exits every 15 degrees most often exited in the direction of their homes, but more reliably if their homes were less than five kilometers away.
New research by the National Geographic and University of Georgia’s Kitty Cams Project, using video footage from 55 pet cats wearing video cameras on their collars, suggests cat behavior is exceedingly complex.
For example, the Kitty Cams study found that four of the cats were two-timing their owners, visiting other homes for food and affection. Not every cat, it seems, shares Holly’s loyalty.
KittyCams also showed most of the cats engaging in risky behavior, including crossing roads and “eating and drinking substances away from home,” risks Holly undoubtedly experienced and seems lucky to have survived.
But there have been other cats who made unexpected comebacks.
“It’s actually happened to me,” said Jackson Galaxy, a cat behaviorist who hosts “My Cat From Hell” on Animal Planet. While living in Boulder, Colo., he moved across town, whereupon his indoor cat, Rabbi, fled and appeared 10 days later at the previous house, “walking five miles through an area he had never been before,” Mr. Galaxy said.
Professor Tabor cited longer-distance reports he considered credible: Murka, a tortoiseshell in Russia, traveling about 325 miles home to Moscow from her owner’s mother’s house in Voronezh in 1989; Ninja, who returned to Farmington, Utah, in 1997, a year after her family moved from there to Mill Creek, Wash.; and Howie, an indoor Persian cat in Australia who in 1978 ran away from relatives his vacationing family left him with and eventually traveled 1,000 miles to his family’s home.
Professor Tabor also said a Siamese in the English village of Black Notley repeatedly hopped a train, disembarked at White Notley, and walked several miles back to Black Notley.
Still, explaining such journeys is not black and white.
In the Florida case, one glimpse through the factual fog comes on the little cat’s feet. While Dr. Bradshaw speculated Holly might have gotten a lift, perhaps sneaking under the hood of a truck heading down I-95, her paws suggest she was not driven all the way, nor did Holly go lightly.
“Her pads on her feet were bleeding,” Ms. Richter said. “Her claws are worn weird. The front ones are really sharp, the back ones worn down to nothing.”
Scientists say that is consistent with a long walk, since back feet provide propulsion, while front claws engage in activities like tearing. The Richters also said Holly had gone from 13.5 to 7 pounds.
Holly hardly seemed an adventurous wanderer, though her background might have given her a genetic advantage. Her mother was a feral cat roaming the Richters’ mobile home park, and Holly was born inside somebody’s air-conditioner, Ms. Richter said. When, at about six weeks old, Holly padded into their carport and jumped into the lap of Mr. Richter’s mother, there were “scars on her belly from when the air conditioner was turned on,” Ms. Richter said.
Scientists say that such early experience was too brief to explain how Holly might have been comfortable in the wild — after all, she spent most of her life as an indoor cat, except for occasionally running outside to chase lizards. But it might imply innate personality traits like nimbleness or toughness.
“You’ve got these real variations in temperament,” Dr. Bekoff said. “Fish can be shy or bold; there seem to be shy and bold spiders. This cat, it could be she has the personality of a survivor.”
He said being an indoor cat would not extinguish survivalist behaviors, like hunting mice or being aware of the sun’s orientation.
The Richters — Bonnie, 63, a retired nurse, and Jacob, 70, a retired airline mechanics’ supervisor and accomplished bowler — began traveling with Holly only last year, and she easily tolerated a hotel, a cabin or the R.V.
But during the Good Sam R.V. Rally in Daytona, when they were camping near the speedway with 3,000 other motor homes, Holly bolted when Ms. Richter’s mother opened the door one night. Fireworks the next day may have further spooked her, and, after searching for days, alerting animal agencies and posting fliers, the Richters returned home catless.
Two weeks later, an animal rescue worker called the Richters to say a cat resembling Holly had been spotted eating behind the Daytona franchise of Hooters, where employees put out food for feral cats.
Then, on New Year’s Eve, Barb Mazzola, a 52-year-old university executive assistant, noticed a cat “barely standing” in her backyard in West Palm Beach, struggling even to meow. Over six days, Ms. Mazzola and her children cared for the cat, putting out food, including special milk for cats, and eventually the cat came inside.
They named her Cosette after the orphan in Les Misérables, and took her to a veterinarian, Dr. Sara Beg at Paws2Help. Dr. Beg said the cat was underweight and dehydrated, had “back claws and nail beds worn down, probably from all that walking on pavement,” but was “bright and alert” and had no parasites, heartworm or viruses. “She was hesitant and scared around people she didn’t know, so I don’t think she went up to people and got a lift,” Dr. Beg said. “I think she made the journey on her own.”
At Paws2Help, Ms. Mazzola said, “I almost didn’t want to ask, because I wanted to keep her, but I said, ‘Just check and make sure she doesn’t have a microchip.’” When told the cat did, “I just cried.”
The Richters cried, too upon seeing Holly, who instantly relaxed when placed on Mr. Richter’s shoulder. Re-entry is proceeding well, but the mystery persists.
“We haven’t the slightest idea how they do this,” Mr. Galaxy said. “Anybody who says they do is lying, and, if you find it, please God, tell me what it is.”
HOUSTON (AP) — The star prosecution witness at the fraud trial of Texas financier R. Allen Stanford expressed remorse Tuesday before being sentenced to five years in prison for helping to bilk investors out of more than $7 billion in one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in U.S. history.
James M. Davis had faced up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2009 to three fraud and conspiracy charges. At Stanford's trial last year, Davis testified that as chief financial officer of Stanford's companies he helped the financier to fake his bank's profits and fabricate documents to hide the fraud.
In a brief statement, Davis said he will feel remorse and regret for the rest of his life.
"I am ashamed and I'm embarrassed," Davis, 64, said at the sentencing hearing in Houston federal court. "I've perverted what was right and I hurt thousands of investors. I betrayed their trust and also associates and neighbors and friends and my family."
Many of the dramatic details at Stanford's trial — including testimony about bribes and blood oaths — came from Davis, who portrayed his ex-boss as the leader of the fraud who burned through billions of CD deposits. Stanford, a one-time billionaire, was convicted in March on 13 fraud-related counts and sentenced to 110 years in prison.
Prosecutor Jason Varnado had asked for Davis to get a 10-year prison term. He told U.S. District Court Judge David Hittner that while Davis' cooperation in the case was outstanding, he only came to authorities after Stanford's business empire was shut down and he had no other options. Davis' sentence should reflect the severity of his crimes, Varnado said.
"Mr. Davis for 20 years lied and deceived thousands of investors, employees and the public, and helped Allen Stanford commit one of the largest frauds in American history," he said.
Defense attorney, David Finn, said Davis' cooperation contributed greatly to the government's efforts to locate and secure funds for investors.
"I'm not here to tell your honor my client was a saint," Finn said. "He was remorseful, contrite and tried to make amends for the injuries he's inflicted."
Prosecutors say Stanford persuaded investors to buy certificates of deposit from his bank in Antigua, then used that money to bankroll a string of failed businesses and his lavish lifestyle, including a fleet of private jets and yachts.
Stanford's defense attorneys accused Davis of being behind the fraud and tried to discredit him by calling him a liar and tax cheat and telling jurors of his extra marital affairs.
On Tuesday, Hittner ordered Davis to report to federal prison within 60 days, allowing him time to meet with investors who have filed lawsuits against banks, law firms and others accused in the fraud.
Angela Shaw, a Dallas-area woman, founded the Stanford Victims Coalition after three generations of her family lost $4.5 million in the fraud.
Shaw said that Davis' sentence was "a little light" but she was grateful that Davis was willing to provide more details about how the fraud worked to help her group with their lawsuits.
"Hopefully his cooperation will lead to substantial recovery," Shaw said.
A receiver appointed by a federal judge in Dallas to oversee the recovery of funds from Stanford's business empire earlier this month announced a plan to make an initial distribution of $55 million to investors who lost money in the scheme. Shaw's group has been critical of the proposed distribution, saying it represents a recovery of one cent on the dollar for investors and that a majority of money recovered has been spent on expenses. The plan has yet to be approved.
Another top executive in Stanford's now-defunct empire — former chief investment officer Laura Pendergest-Holt — was sentenced to three years in prison in September after pleading guilty to one count of obstruction of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proceeding.
Gilbert Lopez, the ex-chief accounting officer, and Mark Kuhrt, the ex-global controller, were convicted in November of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud. They are set to be sentenced Feb. 14.
A former Antiguan financial regulator was also indicted and awaits extradition to the U.S.
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BEIRUT, Lebanon — Opponents of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria once again failed to form a transitional government in exile on Monday, deciding instead to postpone the step while new proposals are drawn up. The development at a conference in Istanbul was apparently a setback to the opposition’s plans to fill the power vacuum created by nearly two years of ever bloodier civil war.
The National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, the main exile opposition group, gathered in Istanbul on Saturday specifically to try to assemble a transitional government. The organization has won recognition by a number of foreign countries as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people, but it has not yet solidified support among rebels fighting on the ground, nor has it begun planning for a post-Assad future.
The Western and Arab nations that pressed Mr. Assad’s adversaries into a reorganization last year have been urging the coalition to select a prime minister, but no candidate has won a consensus.
A statement by the National Coalition on Monday said that it had formed a five-member committee to “lead consultations” with rebel commanders, foreign backers and others seeking Mr. Assad’s ouster, and to draw up proposals for a transitional government within 10 days. After the coalition tried and failed to form a government at a meeting in Cairo last month, it made a similar announcement about creating a committee to work on the idea.
The conflict continued to rage in Syria on Monday, where the government accused rebels of attacking an important power line, blacking out Damascus, the capital, as well as areas to the north and a swath of territory reaching south to the Jordanian border. Power failures have been frequent reminders of the conflict that has engulfed Syria, but the latest one appeared to be the first to affect the entire capital, where Mr. Assad’s forces are still largely in control. The Associated Press reported that power was restored in parts of Damascus on Monday.
The talks over a transitional government were bogged down by a heated debate over a provision in the coalition’s bylaws banning its members from assuming ministerial posts in any future interim government, in an effort to protect the coalition from accusations that its members are merely seeking personal power. Some opposition leaders want to scrap that provision, arguing that it will deny the interim government the benefit of including experienced and respected senior figures, but they met with strong resistance.
“The idea faced an immediate storm of objections and criticism,” said Samir Nachar, a member of the Syrian National Coalition. “We saw that during the meeting, and decided not to change anything.”
Mr. Nachar said the main reason the opposition has failed to shape a transitional government so far is that it is not sure such a government would receive the international recognition and support it would need to function.
“Falling into the trap of forming a paralyzed government will not just be useless, it will be a huge disappointment to Syrians,” he said. “The coalition was promised a lot when it was formed, and none of that materialized.”
Hania Mourtada reported from Beirut, Lebanon, and Alan Cowell from London. Hala Droubi contributed reporting from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Console gamers frustrated that their Xbox isn’t holding up well compared to high-end gaming PCs can relax a bit, because it looks like the next-generation Xbox is going to be a monster. It seems that website VGleaks has gotten ahold of leaked specifications for the Xbox 720, which it says will include an 8-core 1.6GHz processor, 8GB of RAM, an 800MHz graphics processor, a 50GB 6x Blu-ray Disc drive, and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity. The leaked specifications are in line with previous rumors that also gave the next-generation Xbox an 8-core processor and 8GB of RAM, so there’s nothing overly surprising about VGleaks‘ report. The Xbox 720 will likely be announced at the E3 gaming convention this June and will be released in the fall.
[More from BGR: BlackBerry 10 OS walkthrough, BlackBerry Z10 pricing]
This article was originally published on BGR.com
Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News
This Super Bowl will be filled with firsts — and one significant last.
The Harbaughs, San Francisco's Jim and Baltimore's John, will be the first pair of brothers to coach against each other in the NFL title game.
Quarterbacks Colin Kaepernick of the 49ers and Joe Flacco of the Ravens each will be playing in his first Super Bowl — where success is the ultimate measure of elite QBs.
It'll be Baltimore's first crack at a championship in a dozen years, San Francisco's first in 18. They are a combined 6-0 in Super Bowls (the 49ers own five of those victories), so one club will lose the big game for the first time.
And middle linebacker Ray Lewis, Baltimore's emotional leader and top tackler, will be playing in the final game of his 17-year career before heading into retirement.
"This is our time," Lewis pronounced.
For all of those story lines, none is expected to command as much attention as Harbaugh vs. Harbaugh. The game in New Orleans on Feb. 3 was quickly given all manner of nicknames: The Brother Bowl. The Harbaugh Bowl. The Har-Bowl. The Super-Baugh.
The Harbaughs' sister, Joani Crean, wrote in a text to The Associated Press: "Overwhelmed with pride for John, Jim and their families! They deserve all that has come their way! Team Harbaugh!"
As John prepared to coach the Ravens in the AFC championship game Sunday night, he watched on the stadium's big video screen as Jim's 49ers wrapped up the NFC championship.
John looked into a nearby TV camera, smiled broadly and said: "Hey, Jim, congratulations. You did it. You're a great coach. Love you."
Less than four hours later, the Ravens won, too. Some siblings try to beat each other in backyard games. These guys will do it in the biggest game of all.
Who's a parent to cheer for?
During the 2011 regular season, the Harbaughs became the only brothers to coach against each other in any NFL game (the Ravens beat the 49ers 16-6 on Thanksgiving Day that year).
The NFC West champion 49ers (13-4-1) opened as 5-point favorites, seeking a record-tying sixth Super Bowl title to add to those won by Hall of Fame quarterbacks Joe Montana and Steve Young.
Lewis was the MVP when the AFC North champion Ravens (13-6) beat the New York Giants in 2001.
With Kaepernick's terrific passing — he was 16 of 21 for 233 yards and a touchdown in only his ninth career NFL start — and two TD runs by Frank Gore, San Francisco erased a 17-point deficit to beat the Atlanta Falcons 28-24 Sunday.
Baltimore then fashioned a comeback of its own, scoring the last 21 points to defeat the New England Patriots 28-13, thanks in large part to Flacco's three second-half touchdown tosses, two to Anquan Boldin. Lewis and the rest of Baltimore's defense limited the high-scoring Patriots to one touchdown.
In the often risk-averse NFL, each Harbaugh made a critical change late in the regular season in a bid to boost his team's postseason chances. Clearly, both moves worked.
After 49ers quarterback Alex Smith, the starter in last season's overtime NFC title game loss to the Giants, got a concussion, Jim switched to Kaepernick for Week 11 — and never switched back. Now San Francisco has its first three-game winning streak of the season, at precisely the right time.
Baltimore, meanwhile, was in the midst of a three-game losing streak when John fired offensive coordinator Cam Cameron and promoted quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell to replace him.
The 50-year-old John is 15 months older than Jim and generally the less demonstrative of the pair, although John certainly did not lack intensity while making his case with officials a couple of times Sunday.
The ever-excitable Jim — who was treated for an irregular heartbeat in November — was up to his usual sideline antics in Atlanta.
He spun around and sent his headset flying when the original call stood after he threw his red challenge flag on a catch by the Falcons. He hopped and yelled at his defense to get off the field after their key fourth-down stop with less than 1½ minutes left. He made an emphatic-as-can-be timeout signal with 13 seconds remaining.
Expect CBS to fill plenty of time during its Super Bowl broadcast with shots of Jim, that trademark red pen dangling in front of his chest, and John, who usually wears a black Ravens hat. That is sure to be a focal point, right up until they meet for a postgame handshake in two weeks' time.
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AP Sports Writer Janie McCauley in San Francisco contributed to this report.
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Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich
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Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL
Anahad O’Connor tackles health myths.
THE FACTS
For many children, flu season means an increased risk of ear infections as well.
Although many people do not realize it, the middle ear has a direct link to the upper respiratory tract: the auditory, or Eustachian, tube. Infections in the nose or sinus cavities thus can spread to the ear.
Ear infections are a common scourge of childhood. Most children under the age of 8 will have at least one, and over a quarter will experience them chronically.
Although ear infections can strike at any time, they do show some seasonal variation. In a large study published in December, researchers looked at more than 270,000 cases of acute ear infections. They found that ear infections increased along with the flu and illnesses caused by two other respiratory viruses (though not the common cold).
So does that mean that vaccinating against the flu might prevent ear infections in children? Some researchers think so.
In a report published in 2011, scientists pooled data from eight randomized studies of 24,000 children between the ages of 6 months and 7 years. They found that those who received the FluMist vaccine, a nasal spray made with live but weakened flu virus, had a significantly lower risk of acute ear infections compared with children who received a placebo. Among children who ultimately got the flu, those who had been vaccinated had a 40 percent reduction in ear infections compared with children who were given a placebo.
A study published last year also found that the flu vaccine reduced the incidence of acute ear infections in children. FluMist appears to be more effective than the shot, but scientists say more research is needed.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The flu vaccine appears to reduce the likelihood of ear infections in children.
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