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Wednesday, November 30, 2011
OSU to issue release on Urban Meyer as coach (AP)
COLUMBUS, Ohio ? Urban Meyer is coming back to coaching, and he's taking over beleaguered Ohio State.
ESPN did not cite a source for its report early Monday saying the ex-Florida coach would be hired by the Buckeyes, but Meyer worked for the sports network the past year. There are unconfirmed reports he has agreed to a multiyear contract that will pay him almost $6 million a year.
Multiple sources are reporting that Ohio State is expected to issue a release regarding the Meyer hiring later this morning and likely to schedule a news conference for around 5 p.m. Monday.
Meyer won two national championships in six years as the coach at Florida. He left the Gators a year ago, citing health concerns and a desire to spend more time with his family. Now, the 47-year-old Ohioan will be returning to his roots by becoming coach of a Buckeyes team facing NCAA problems.
Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment. There are reports a team meeting set for Sunday night has been moved to Monday afternoon.
Meyer takes over a program that has been hit by several suspensions and the forced resignation of coach Jim Tressel. The Buckeyes completed a 6-6 season under interim Luke Fickell with a 40-34 loss to rival Michigan on Saturday.
In 10 seasons as a head coach ? two at Bowling Green, two at Utah and six at Florida ? Meyer has a 104-23 record, winning three national coach of the year awards. His teams are 7-1 in bowl games, including the Gators' 41-14 victory over unbeaten and top-ranked Ohio State in the 2007 Bowl Championship Series title game. They are also 4-0 in BCS bowl games.
Meyer had persistently denied all the talk surrounding him and Ohio State. Soon after Tressel was pressured to resign, Meyer said he wasn't interested in leaving ESPN, where he was a college football analyst.
"I am committed to ESPN and will not pursue any coaching opportunities this fall," he said in a statement released the day after Tressel lost his job. Just last week he said no job had been offered to him nor was he pursuing one.
His comments came amid weeks of speculation he was Ohio State's first choice to take over a program that has a glittering past but has faltered over a troublesome last 12 months.
He inherits a program still facing NCAA sanctions. But he also inherits a young team led by a freshman quarterback, Braxton Miller, who would seem to be a perfect fit for his spread offense.
A native of Ashtabula, Ohio, Meyer becomes the 24th head coach at Ohio State. He succeeds Fickell, who took over last spring when Tressel's 10-year reign came crashing down. Tressel was forced out for knowing but not telling his superiors that Buckeyes players had most likely broken NCAA rules by taking cash and free or discounted tattoos from the subject of a federal drug-trafficking investigation.
Tressel was forced to resign on May 30. Missing several top players because of NCAA suspensions stemming from the tattoo mess, the Buckeyes were hit with more suspensions when three players accepted $200 in cash for attending a charity event and others were forced to sit out or had their existing suspensions extended for being overpaid for summer jobs.
Ohio State's .500 record marked the most losses at Ohio State since John Cooper's 1999 team also went 6-6 overall and 3-5 in the Big Ten.
The Buckeyes had already lost their string of six Big Ten titles when the school was forced to vacate the 2010 season for the NCAA violations. The school has also self-imposed two years of NCAA probation, offered to return $339,000 in bowl revenue from 2010 and to give up five scholarships over the next three seasons.
Ohio State is awaiting final word from the NCAA's committee on infractions. The committee tagged Ohio State with a "failure to monitor" label ? second only to a lack of institutional control on the list of most egregious charges against a university. The school could still be hit with a bowl ban, a loss of more scholarships, or other penalties.
At the time of his retirement ? after being taken to a hospital, dehydrated and complaining of chest pains ? Meyer said, "After spending more than two decades motivating and celebrating the young men I've been so proud to coach, I relish the opportunity to cheer for my three terrific kids as they compete in their own respective sports. I know how fortunate I am to be in a position to make this choice."
He and his family ? wife Shelley, college-age daughters Nicki and Gigi and younger son Nate ? celebrated Thanksgiving at their Florida home.
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October home sales rise 1.3 percent but prices fall (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Sales of new homes rose in October and the supply of homes on the market fell to its lowest level since April of last year, showing some healing in the battered housing sector.
The Commerce Department on Monday said sales of new single-family homes edged up 1.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted 307,000-unit annual rate, which was the fastest pace in five months yet still below analysts' expectations.
The supply of new homes on the market would last 6.3 months at October's sales pace, down from 6.4 months in September.
The data fueled hopes the housing market could at least be bottoming out.
"This looks like a bottom. The market is stabilizing," said Gregory Miller, an economist at Suntrust Bank in Atlanta.
Financial markets largely dismissed the data, with investors focused on efforts in Europe to quell the region's debt crisis. Prices for U.S. stocks rose sharply on hopes fresh proposals could be emerging.
With euro zone policymakers staring into the abyss as bond investors question their ability bail out weaker members, Germany and France stepped up a drive for a fiscal union.
Europe's troubles are casting a pall over the economic outlook for the United States and the world.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based research center for governments of industrial economies, slashed its global growth forecast and warned that the euro zone could break up.
It also warned that the impact on the economy could be more grave than widely believed.
HOLIDAY CHEER
So far, the U.S. recovery, which has made strides since the summer thanks to strong factory output and improved consumer spending, seems to be holding its own.
Retail sales soared over the Thanksgiving weekend as shoppers scooped up discounted merchandise.
A survey conducted by the National Retail Federation found sales hit a record $52.4 billion, a 16.4 percent jump over the prior year, raising hopes consumer spending would be strong over the holiday season.
But falling home prices and tighter credit continue to be the bane of the recovery, which has progressed with fits and starts since the 2007-2009 recession.
The Commerce Department's report showed the median sales price dropped 0.5 percent in October to $212,300, the lowest in a year.
Falling prices could hamper the housing market by making buyers see homes as a bad investment. Still, compared to October last year, the median price was up 4.0 percent.
The housing market has been hurt by a glut of unsold properties and an unemployment rate that has been stuck around 9 percent.
"A proper, sustained recovery in (new home) sales is unlikely to emerge before payroll gains have accelerated substantially further," said Ian Shepherdson, an economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, New York.
The U.S. Federal Reserve has held short-term interest rates at nearly zero since 2008 and has expanded its balance sheet in a bid to get credit to businesses and households.
That has helped bring 30-year mortgage rates to record lows. The problem is that even with low rates, many would-be borrowers still cannot get a loan.
A report from the New York Federal Reserve Bank showed U.S. consumers continued to dig out from record debt loads taken on during the housing boom, with total consumer credit dropping 0.6 percent in the third quarter.
(Additional reporting by Richard Leong in New York; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
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Democratic Rep. Barney Frank announces retirement (AP)
NEWTON, Mass. ? Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts announced his retirement Monday effective at the end of next year, closing out a congressional career of more than three decades capped by passage of legislation imposing new regulations on Wall Street.
Frank, 71 and a lifelong liberal, won a House seat in 1980 and was one of the first lawmakers to announce that he is gay.
At a news conference, Frank said he had originally intended to seek one more term but changed his mind in part because the state's new redistricting map will move 325,000 new constituents into his district.
He said he intends to remain active in public policy issues, including defending the so-called Dodd-Frank bill that he co-authored in the wake of the financial collapse of 2008.
"I think I will find my motives less impugned and I will be able to talk more about the merits," he said.
In a written statement, President Barack Obama paid tribute to Frank's "passion and quick wit." He praised the Massachusetts lawmaker's efforts to expand affordable housing, defend the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens and work to enact the "most sweeping financial reform in history."
Sixteen other Democrats have announced plans not to seek new House terms in 2012, compared with six Republicans.
As chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Frank was instrumental in passage of the Dodd-Frank bill, which contained the stiffest restrictions on banks and Wall Street since the Great Depression. The measure clamped down on lending practices and expanded consumer protections to prevent a repeat of the 2008 meltdown that knocked the economy to its knees.
Some Republicans have vowed to seek its repeal, although they are unlikely to succeed.
Over the years, Frank consistently came down on the liberal side of public issues, opposing the war in Iraq and bills to cover its expenses.
At his news conference, he acknowledged one error, his vote against President George H.W. Bush's request for support for a military campaign to force Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's withdrawal from oil-rich Kuwait.
The mission "worked well," Frank said in retrospect, saying he would have voted in favor had he known.
More than two decades ago, Frank was reprimanded by the House for using his congressional status on behalf of a male prostitute whom he had employed as a personal aide, including seeking dismissal of 33 parking tickets.
"I should have known better. I do now, but it's a little too late," Frank said at the time.
Democrats rebuffed Republican calls for Frank's expulsion, and instead, the Massachusetts Democrat resumed a career that far outlasted many of those who had sought his ouster.
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Climate change stunting growth of century-old Antarctic moss shoots
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 29-Nov-2011[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Sharon Robinson
sharonr@uow.edu.au
61-024-221-5753
Wiley-Blackwell
Radiocarbon bomb pulse revelations
One hundred years ago, two teams of explorers raced to be the first to reach the South Pole. Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen reached the South Pole on December 14, 1911.
Thirty-three days later on 17 January 1912 the Terra Nova Expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott arrived at the Pole in second place. At the same time in East Antarctica, the Australasian Antarctic Expedition led by Douglas Mawson was searching for the South Magnetic Pole.
On their expeditions for King and country, Scott and Mawson carried out some of the first scientific studies in Antarctica. Scott's ill-fated expedition found fossils of Gondwanaland trees showing that Antarctica was once covered in lush forests.
Even today, we tend to think of Antarctica as the last untouched wilderness preserved from human impact by International Treaty. However, despite its remoteness and vastness it is still affected by anthropogenic climate change.
A paper to appear in the January issue of Global Change Biology shows how the dominant plants in Antarctica have been affected by modern climate change. In a handful of coastal Antarctic 'oases' void of permanent ice cover, lush moss beds grow during the short summer season from December to February using melt water from streams and lakes. Up until now, measuring the seasonal growth rate of these plants has been extremely difficult and hence it was impossible to assess the impact of our changing climate.
This research, conducted by a team of environmental scientists from the University of Wollongong (UOW) and nuclear physicists from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), shows how the increased concentration of radiocarbon in the atmosphere resulting from nuclear weapons testing (mostly in the late 1950s and early 1960s, called the 'the bomb spike') can be used to accurately date the age of the moss shoots along their stems in a similar way to tree-rings.
Professor Sharon Robinson from UOW's Institute for Conservation Biology and Environmental Management (School of Biological Sciences) said the team found that that most of the plants were growing 50 years ago when nuclear testing was at its peak.
In some species the peak of the radiocarbon bomb spike was found just 15 mm from the top of the 50 mm shoot suggesting that these plants may be more than 100 years old.
'Accurate dating along the moss stem allows us to determine the very slow growth rates of these mosses (ranging from 0.2 to 3.5 mm per year). Remarkably, these plants were already growing during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. In terms of age these mosses are effectively the old growth forests of Antarctica -- in miniature," Professor Robinson said.
Although increased temperature and precipitation in the polar regions due to climate change are predicted to increase growth rates, the scientists found that at some sites growth rates have declined since the 1980s. They suggest that this is likely due to moss beds drying out, which appears to be caused by increased wind speeds around Antarctica that are linked to the Antarctic ozone hole.
In the 100 years since the start of scientific research in Antarctica, contamination of Earth's atmosphere with increased radioactivity due to nuclear weapons testing has led to radiocarbon labelling of Antarctic plants.
"This has allowed scientists to show that climate change has made the driest continent on Earth an even harsher environment for plant life," Professor Robinson said.
###
The paper is published in Global Change Biology by: Clarke, L. J., Robinson, S. A., Hua, Q., Ayre, D. J. and Fink, D. (2011), "Radiocarbon bomb spike reveals biological effects of Antarctic climate change". Global Change Biology. Wiley-Blackwell, October 2011, DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02560.x
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02560.x/abstract
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 29-Nov-2011[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Sharon Robinson
sharonr@uow.edu.au
61-024-221-5753
Wiley-Blackwell
Radiocarbon bomb pulse revelations
One hundred years ago, two teams of explorers raced to be the first to reach the South Pole. Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen reached the South Pole on December 14, 1911.
Thirty-three days later on 17 January 1912 the Terra Nova Expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott arrived at the Pole in second place. At the same time in East Antarctica, the Australasian Antarctic Expedition led by Douglas Mawson was searching for the South Magnetic Pole.
On their expeditions for King and country, Scott and Mawson carried out some of the first scientific studies in Antarctica. Scott's ill-fated expedition found fossils of Gondwanaland trees showing that Antarctica was once covered in lush forests.
Even today, we tend to think of Antarctica as the last untouched wilderness preserved from human impact by International Treaty. However, despite its remoteness and vastness it is still affected by anthropogenic climate change.
A paper to appear in the January issue of Global Change Biology shows how the dominant plants in Antarctica have been affected by modern climate change. In a handful of coastal Antarctic 'oases' void of permanent ice cover, lush moss beds grow during the short summer season from December to February using melt water from streams and lakes. Up until now, measuring the seasonal growth rate of these plants has been extremely difficult and hence it was impossible to assess the impact of our changing climate.
This research, conducted by a team of environmental scientists from the University of Wollongong (UOW) and nuclear physicists from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), shows how the increased concentration of radiocarbon in the atmosphere resulting from nuclear weapons testing (mostly in the late 1950s and early 1960s, called the 'the bomb spike') can be used to accurately date the age of the moss shoots along their stems in a similar way to tree-rings.
Professor Sharon Robinson from UOW's Institute for Conservation Biology and Environmental Management (School of Biological Sciences) said the team found that that most of the plants were growing 50 years ago when nuclear testing was at its peak.
In some species the peak of the radiocarbon bomb spike was found just 15 mm from the top of the 50 mm shoot suggesting that these plants may be more than 100 years old.
'Accurate dating along the moss stem allows us to determine the very slow growth rates of these mosses (ranging from 0.2 to 3.5 mm per year). Remarkably, these plants were already growing during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. In terms of age these mosses are effectively the old growth forests of Antarctica -- in miniature," Professor Robinson said.
Although increased temperature and precipitation in the polar regions due to climate change are predicted to increase growth rates, the scientists found that at some sites growth rates have declined since the 1980s. They suggest that this is likely due to moss beds drying out, which appears to be caused by increased wind speeds around Antarctica that are linked to the Antarctic ozone hole.
In the 100 years since the start of scientific research in Antarctica, contamination of Earth's atmosphere with increased radioactivity due to nuclear weapons testing has led to radiocarbon labelling of Antarctic plants.
"This has allowed scientists to show that climate change has made the driest continent on Earth an even harsher environment for plant life," Professor Robinson said.
###
The paper is published in Global Change Biology by: Clarke, L. J., Robinson, S. A., Hua, Q., Ayre, D. J. and Fink, D. (2011), "Radiocarbon bomb spike reveals biological effects of Antarctic climate change". Global Change Biology. Wiley-Blackwell, October 2011, DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02560.x
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02560.x/abstract
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/w-ccs112911.php
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Occupy LA campers face midnight eviction deadline (Reuters)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Hundreds of anti-Wall Street protesters who have camped outside Los Angeles City Hall for weeks faced a midnight eviction deadline on Sunday with plans to throw a party they hoped might forestall a raid.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said on Friday that the Occupy LA protesters would be given until 12:01 a.m. on Monday to dismantle their tents, pack up their belongings and clear out -- or face forcible removal.
The Los Angeles encampment is among the oldest and largest on the West Coast, aligned with a two-month-old national Occupy Wall Street movement protesting economic inequality, high unemployment and excesses of the U.S. financial system.
"We're assuming they're going to raid us Monday morning," said Tim Trepanier, 43, of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, volunteering at the Los Angeles camp's welcome tent.
Staking its place since October 1 on the grounds surrounding City Hall, the compound has grown to roughly 400 tents and 700 to 800 people, organizers and municipal officials said. At least a third are believed to be homeless people.
An activity sign posted at the entrance to the camp's media tent listed a final round of workshops on Saturday, with sessions titled: "Know your rights," "LAPD spying and surveillance" and "Nonviolent tactical training."
For Sunday, in large, red lettering, the sign read: "EVICTION CONCERT," above the words, "Party until the power gives out!"
Los Angeles has been relatively accommodating to its Occupy group compared to other major cities, with Villaraigosa at one point providing rain ponchos to campers during bad weather.
But after the collapse of negotiations aimed at persuading protesters to relocate, the mayor said it was time "to close the park and repair the grounds so that we can restore public access."
Villaraigosa has ordered police to enforce an eviction if necessary but said he hoped to avoid violence that has erupted in other cities when officers used night sticks and tear gas to drive protesters from camps or to keep them from returning.
Former U.S. Marine Scott Olsen was critically injured in one such confrontation last month in Oakland, California, a clash that helped rally supporters of the Occupy protests nationwide.
Occupy LA campers spent much of the weekend removing and placing into storage their more valuable equipment to keep it from being damaged or confiscated, including an array of solar panels, power generators, computers and a makeshift library.
Organizers said they also had been seeking alternate sites where protesters could relocate, at least temporarily.
Diana Vance, 55, said protesters hoped to attract enough outside supporters to the site to forestall eviction.
Vance said members of the group were "committed to nonviolence," but she added, "I'm thinking the general mood is, 'come get us.'"
(Editing by Cynthia Johnston)
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NY judge rejects $285M SEC-Citigroup agreement
FILE - In this Nov. 23, 2010 file photo, the corporate logo for Citigroup is shown, in New York. A federal judge on Monday, Nov. 28, 2011, struck down a $285 million settlement that Citigroup reached with the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying he couldn't tell whether the deal was fair and criticizing regulators for shielding the public from the details of what the firm did wrong. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
FILE - In this Nov. 23, 2010 file photo, the corporate logo for Citigroup is shown, in New York. A federal judge on Monday, Nov. 28, 2011, struck down a $285 million settlement that Citigroup reached with the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying he couldn't tell whether the deal was fair and criticizing regulators for shielding the public from the details of what the firm did wrong. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
NEW YORK (AP) ? A judge on Monday used unusually harsh language to strike down a $285 million settlement between Citigroup and the Securities and Exchange Commission over toxic mortgage securities, saying he couldn't tell whether the deal was fair and criticizing regulators for shielding the public from details of the firm's wrongdoing.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff said the public has a right to know what happens in cases that touch on "the transparency of financial markets whose gyrations have so depressed our economy and debilitated our lives." In such cases, the SEC has a responsibility to ensure that the truth emerges, he wrote.
Rakoff said he had spent hours trying to assess the settlement but concluded that he had not been given "any proven or admitted facts upon which to exercise even a modest degree of independent judgment."
He called the settlement "neither fair, nor reasonable, nor adequate, nor in the public interest."
The SEC shot back in a statement issued by Enforcement Director Robert Khuzami, saying the deal was all four of those things and "reasonably reflects the scope of relief that would be obtained after a successful trial."
The SEC had accused the bank of betting against a complex mortgage investment in 2007 ? making $160 million in the process ? while investors lost millions. The settlement would have imposed penalties on Citigroup but allowed it to deny allegations that it misled investors.
Citigroup said in a statement that it disagreed with Rakoff because the proposed settlement was "a fair and reasonable resolution to the SEC's allegation of negligence" and was consistent with long-established legal standards.
"In the event the case is tried, we would present substantial factual and legal defenses to the charges," it added.
This wasn't the first time that the judge struck down an SEC settlement with a bank, and Rakoff has made no secret of his disdain for settlements between the government agency and banks for paltry sums and no admission of guilt.
"The SEC's longstanding policy ? hallowed by history, but not by reason ? of allowing defendants to enter into consent judgments without admitting or denying the underlying allegations, deprives the court of even the most minimal assurance that the substantial injunctive relief it is being asked to impose has any basis in fact," he wrote in Monday's decision.
Adam Pritchard, a professor of securities law at the University of Michigan Law School, said courts could become clogged with cases that would normally be settled if other judges adopt Rakoff's reasoning and deprive companies of their incentive to avoid trial.
He called it a powerful SEC tool to encourage settlements "and Judge Rakoff is taking that away from them."
The SEC's consent judgment settling the case was filed the same day as its lawsuit against Citigroup, the judge noted.
"It is harder to discern from the limited information before the court what the SEC is getting from this settlement other than a quick headline," the judge wrote.
"In much of the world, propaganda reigns, and truth is confined to secretive, fearful whispers," Rakoff said. "Even in our nation, apologists for suppressing or obscuring the truth may always be found. But the SEC, of all agencies, has a duty, inherent in its statutory mission, to see that the truth emerges; and if it fails to do so, this court must not, in the name of deference or convenience, grant judicial enforcement to the agency's contrivances."
He set a July 16 trial date for the case.
Khuzami said in the SEC statement that Rakoff made too much out of the fact that Citigroup did not have to admit wrongdoing. He said forcing Citigroup to give up profits, pay fines and face mandatory business reforms outweigh the absence of an admission "when that relief is obtained promptly and without the risks, delay and resources required at trial."
Khuzami added: "Refusing an otherwise advantageous settlement solely because of the absence of an admission also would divert resources away from the investigation of other frauds and the recovery of losses suffered by other investors not before the court."
Rakoff said the power of the judiciary was "not a free-roving remedy to be invoked at the whim of a regulatory agency, even with the consent of the regulated."
He added: "If its deployment does not rest on facts ? cold, hard, solid facts, established either by admissions or by trials ? it serves no lawful or moral purpose and is simply an engine of oppression."
In the civil lawsuit filed last month, the SEC said Citigroup Inc. traders discussed the possibility of buying financial instruments to essentially bet on the failure of the mortgage assets. Rating agencies downgraded most of the investments just as many troubled homeowners stopped paying their mortgages in late 2007. That pushed the investment into default and cost its buyers' ? hedge funds and investment managers ? several hundred million dollars in losses.
Earlier this month, Rakoff staged a hearing in which he asked lawyers on both sides to defend the settlement.
At the hearing, Rakoff questioned whether freeing Citigroup of any admission of liability could undermine private claims by investors who stand to recover only $95 million in penalties on total losses of $700 million.
In his decision, he called the penalties "pocket change" to a company the size of Citigroup and said that, if the SEC allegations are true, then Citigroup got a "very good deal." If they are untrue, the settlement would be "a mild and modest cost of doing business," he said.
In 2009, Rakoff rejected a $33 million settlement between the SEC and Bank of America Corp. calling it a breach of "justice and morality." The deal was over civil charges accusing the bank of misleading shareholders when it acquired Merrill Lynch during the height of the financial crisis in 2008 by failing to disclose it was paying up to $5.8 billion in bonuses to employees even as it recorded a $27.6 billion yearly loss.
In February 2010, he approved an amended settlement for over four times the original amount, but was caustic in his comments about the $150 million pact, calling it "half-baked justice at best." He said the court approved it "while shaking its head."
Citigroup's $285 million would represent the largest amount to be paid by a Wall Street firm accused of misleading investors since Goldman Sachs & Co. agreed to pay $550 million to settle similar charges last year. JPMorgan Chase & Co. resolved similar charges in June and paid $153.6 million.
All the cases have involved complex investments called collateralized debt obligations. Those are securities that are backed by pools of other assets, such as mortgages.
Rakoff's ruling Monday was the latest in a series of setbacks for the SEC under the leadership of Chairman Mary Schapiro. Rakoff has said he doesn't believe the agency has been sufficiently tough in its enforcement deals with Wall Street banks over their conduct prior to the financial crisis.
The SEC told Rakoff recently that $285 million was a fair penalty, which will go to investors harmed by Citigroup's conduct, and that it was close to what the agency would have won in a trial.
___
AP business writers Pallavi Gogoi in New York and Marcy Gordon in Washington contributed to this report.
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011
RIM to offer security features for iPhone, Androids (Reuters)
TORONTO (Reuters) ? Research In Motion is introducing a software tool giving corporate customers the option of linking employees' personal iPhones to the BlackBerry network without compromising security.
The move, announced on Tuesday, acknowledges the deep inroads made by Apple and Google's Android devices in the global smartphone market, especially among younger users.
It is also a first, tentative step by RIM to offer its network services independently of BlackBerry devices, which have been losing ground to sleeker rivals.
Success with the strategy would likely help RIM defend its turf as the primary handler of mobile devices in the workplace.
"It's not an admission of guilt - it's a necessary evil," Suquehanna analyst Jeff Fidacaro said.
RIM's often-volatile stock jumped more than 8 percent to $17.82 in morning trade on the Nasdaq.
Even so, the shares are still down more than 70 percent this year following a string of delayed or botched product launches and disappointing quarterly results.
RIM's BlackBerry was for years the preferred device for businesses and government agencies, who treasured its encrypted data and distributed the device to millions of workers needing secure, round-the-clock email access.
But many workers now prefer using their own Apple and Android-powered devices to access corporate emails, raising security questions for corporations that RIM hopes to address with the new software.
"While a positive step, the larger challenges remain RIM's need to narrow competitive gaps in its handsets," RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky wrote in a note to clients, pointing out RIM's software deficiencies and limited content and applications available on its devices.
RIM's slice of the lucrative U.S. smartphone market fell to 9 percent in the third quarter, down from 24 percent a year earlier, according to research firm Canalys. Globally, the report placed RIM in fifth place, with 10 percent market share, compared with 15 percent a year earlier.
DUE BY LATE MARCH
In Tuesday's announcement, the Canadian company said it would launch its new Mobile Fusion device management software by late March. It will allow corporate information technology staff to set and monitor rules for passwords, apps and software on a range of devices, including Apple's iPad and iPhone, and smartphones using Google's Android operating system.
A company can remotely lock or wipe a lost or stolen device, a key selling point for security-conscious corporations that may have been wary of shifting away from the BlackBerry.
"What our enterprise customers are looking for, and the opportunity for us, is to become the de facto platform," Alan Panezic, RIM's vice-president for enterprise product management, said in an interview ahead of the announcement.
"We will take full advantage of whatever security capabilities are provided by the core operating system. We're not going to hold that back in any way, shape or form."
Mobile Fusion will sit next to existing BlackBerry Enterprise Servers, or BES, behind corporate firewalls.
Panezic said the software will manage RIM's PlayBook independently from a BlackBerry after the tablet - which has yet to gain traction with either businesses or consumers - receives a long-awaited software upgrade, due in February.
He declined to give any pricing details for the Fusion service, but said it would be competitive with rivals.
"It will help stem the tide of those companies that may have considered eliminating their BES but it won't help sell more phones," said Gartner analyst Phillip Redman. "That's what they really need to do."
"RATTLE SOME CAGES"
RIM has recently launched touchscreen devices using its legacy BlackBerry operating system as it works to put the QNX software powering the PlayBook on to a new generation of phones from early next year.
The new software follows on from RIM's acquisition of device management company Ubitexx, which RIM announced in May.
Smaller companies such as Good Technology, MobileIron and BoxTone already offer device management as companies fret about leakage of sensitive commercial information via their workers' personal, non-BlackBerry devices.
"This will definitely rattle some cages" among smaller companies that filled a niche by securing and managing iPhones and other non-BlackBerry devices for corporations, Forrester analyst Christian Kane said.
Panezic said customers had requested a solution to handle Apple and Android devices, but RIM would consider adding support for other systems, such as Microsoft's Windows Phone, if there was enough demand.
(Reporting by Alastair Sharp; editing by Frank McGurty)
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Britain blames euro crisis for lower growth (AP)
LONDON ? The British government blamed the euro crisis for a big downgrade of the country's growth projections and warned that it will only achieve its deficit-reduction goals if European leaders deliver a big, bold solution soon.
Britain's Treasury chief George Osborne said Tuesday that Europe's third-largest economy was being buffeted by the slowdown in the eurozone. Though Britain retains the pound, having opted out of joining the euro, around 50 percent of the country's exports go to the 17-nation eurozone.
"If the rest of Europe heads into recession, it may prove hard to avoid one here in the U.K.," Osborne told the House of Commons.
A number of economic indicators have shown that the eurozone is heading for recession in the wake of a crippling debt crisis that's shown alarming signs of spreading from the relatively small economies of Greece and Ireland to much-bigger Italy and Spain.
Given the sharp deterioration in the eurozone, Osborne said the government was "undertaking extensive contingency planning to deal with all potential outcomes of the euro crisis."
Osborne told lawmakers that the independent Office for Budget Responsibility now expects Britain's GDP to grow by 0.9 percent this year, around half the 1.7 percent rate predicted in March. For next year, the OBR predicts growth of 0.7 percent, sharply down from the 2.5 percent prediction in March.
Its forecasts are in line with the Bank of England though slightly better than Monday's projection by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that showed Britain already slipping into a mild recession.
"Even though we believe there is an equal chance that growth will come in above or below our central forecast, the probability of a much worse outcome than the central forecast is greater than the probability of a much better one," the budget office warned.
Nevertheless the lower growth forecasts mean that government tax revenues will likely be lower than anticipated and that spending on such things as unemployment benefits will be higher.
Osborne argued that the independent analysis of the OBR found the debt challenge was "even greater than we thought because the boom was even bigger, the bust even deeper and the effects will last even longer."
As a result, he said the structural deficit ? the bit that doesn't go away when the economy improves ? won't be eliminated until 2016-17, later than previously thought.
He also said the debt-to-GDP ratio at 67.5 percent this fiscal year would increase to 78 percent in 2014/15 before falling. Though rising, Britain's debt burden is below many euro countries' equivalent rates, including Germany's.
In response, Osborne outlined a series of fresh spending cuts to keep the government on track. He also risked a fresh clash with the unions, who are preparing a big walkout Wednesday, by announcing that public sector pay rises will be capped at 1 percent for two years.
Job losses in the public sector are also expected to be way more than anticipated. The budget office said it anticipates 710,000 by early 2017, a big rise from the previous forecast of 400,000 by the first quarter of 2016.
Osborne became Britain's finance chief in May 2010 after an inconclusive election that saw the Conservative Party govern only in coalition with the Liberal Democrats. Deficit reduction has been the main economic purpose of the government after the banking crisis of 2008 pushed the British economy into recession and took a big swipe at the country's public finances.
Markets have so far given the government the benefit of the doubt, and the country's borrowing rates in the markets remain very low, especially in contrast to a number of the euro countries. Its ten-year yield stands at 2.06 percent, even lower than Germany's 2.33 percent.
The opposition Labour Party said the latest growth projections exposed the "truly colossal failure " of Osborne's focus on cutting spending.
"With prices rising, with unemployment soaring, families, pensioners and businesses already know it's hurting," said Labour's economic spokesman Ed Balls. "With billions of pounds more in borrowing to pay for rising unemployment, today we find out the truth: it's just not working."
Even after Tuesday's downgrades, many analysts think that the new growth projections are too rosy and that more spending reductions may have to be considered in the years ahead.
"Looking ahead, we expect further growth downgrades to push the borrowing forecasts even higher in future budgets and statements, deepening concerns about the U.K.'s fiscal position and testing Mr. Osborne's commitment to his own rules," said Jonathan Loynes, chief economist at Capital Economics.
Osborne offered a few treats for taxpayers: he canceled a rise in petrol tax due in January, curbed rises in rail fares and found more money for early education, infrastructure construction, state pensions and some benefits. As previously announced, he promised a 20 billion pounds ($31 billion) program to underwrite loans to small and medium-sized businesses.
He also raised the bank levy ? charged against the balance sheets of major banks ? from 0.075 percent to 0.088 percent ? but he repeated his opposition to a tax on financial transactions, calling that "a tax on pensions."
Osborne appealed to unions representing two million public sector workers to cancel a one-day strike set for Wednesday.
"Call off the strikes tomorrow. Come back to the table," Osborne appealed to the unions, which are angry about proposed changes to pensions.
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This Week's Top Downloads [Download Roundup]
Nov 26, 2011 5:00 PM 16,686 
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0 - Get the Ice Cream Sandwich Keyboard on Any Android Phone (Android) Ice Cream Sandwich is bringing a lot of awesome new features to Android, one of which is a new and improved keyboard. If you can't wait to get your hands on it, you can download the Ice Cream Sandwich keyboard in the Android Market right now, no root required.
- Simplify and Automate Private Browsing Mode with These Browser Extensions (Chrome/Firefox) If you're sick of manually opening links in private browsing mode, Firefox and Chrome extensions will get you in with some quick shortcuts.
- CenterIM is a Linux Command Line Chat Program (Linux) Many Linux users love to accomplish as much as they can utilizing only the command line structure in Terminal. CenterIM lets you chat with your friends on GTalk, Jabber, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Chat, or AIM. Aside from the novelty, it is extremely resource-light and makes it easy to chat via SSH.
- Swackett is a Weather App that Tells You What to Wear (Mac/iPhone) Swackett is a portmanteau of "sweater, jacket, or coat" and is slang for times when it's cold enough that you should wear an extra layer. The app that bears the name not only gives you all the routine weather data, but it also displays avatars (Peeps) that display what types of clothing you should be wearing in the current weather.
- Better Pop Up Blocker Stops Javascript Pop-Ups in Chrome (Chrome) Google Chrome's built in pop up blocker is very good, but on occasion a pop up gets through, mostly Javascript pop ups from photo and video hosting sites or online poker sites. The free extension Better Pop Up Blocker stops these easily.
- CloudShot is a Screenshot Capture Tool that Automatically Uploads to Dropbox (Windows) We've covered a lot of screenshot apps in the past. If you use Dropbox for most of your working documents it may make a lot of sense to use CloudShot, the screenshot app that automatically uploads to a specified folder on your system, including Dropbox folders.
- Tic Toc for Mac Puts Your To-Do List in the Menu Bar, Shows You One To-Do At a Time (Mac) If you've decided to swear off of multitasking and want to focus on one thing at a time, Tic Toc is a handy to-do manager for Mac that lives in the menubar and only shows you one item at a time. The app can keep track of as many to-dos as you like, and adding more is easy, but you'll only ever see one to-do when you look up at the menubar, so you can single-task on that one thing until it's finished.
- Google Search for iPad Receives an Interface Overhaul, Instant Search, and More (iPad) Google's Search app just received a nice update for iPad, bringing some nice interface enhancements. This includes Google Instant, which is better late than never, but you'll probably find the other stuff more exciting.
- Blip.me Records Voice Notes on Any Phone for Easy Sharing and Playback Later (iOS/Android) If you like recording audio messages for yourself to help you remember important details, or you just want to send your friends something more personal than a text message, Blip.me allows you to record short voice messages and send them to anyone in your contacts list instantly. Alternatively, just record notes for yourself as personal reminders.
- Periscope Adds Context to News Stories in Your Browser (Firefox/Chrome/Safari) News aggregation service News360's new browser extension, Periscope, offers up likeminded stories related to the news articles you're reading to the top of your screen.
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/B8j5QgVlKz8/this-weeks-top-downloads
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Dec. 1: Eat a Red Apple Day, Basketball Anniversary, World AIDS Day, Marie Tussaud 250th Birth Anniversary (ContributorNetwork)
Eat a Red Apple Day
"The taste for apples is one of the earliest and most natural of inclinations," according to Botanical.com. You've had them sliced, coated in cinnamon and nutmeg and baked in a flaky crust for Thanksgiving. Maybe you ate a caramel-covered one on Thanksgiving. On Dec. 1 enjoy the natural goodness of a plain, red apple. Eating red apples boosts your vitamin C, reduces belly fat and cholesterol and protects against cardiovascular disease. Munch on a fresh Macintosh, Macoun or Red Delicious.
Basketball Anniversary
Combine an understandable need for indoor physical education with a couple of peach baskets and soccer balls and you have a new sport: basketball. James Naismith is credited with creating basketball on Dec. 1, 1891, when he set up a new indoor game at the International YMCA Training School at Springfield, Mass. for students. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame honors the sports, its history and its inventor.
* Grab some friends, head outdoors (weather permitting) or find an indoor gym where you can shoot some hoops.
* Support local high school basketball teams by attending their games.
* Start counting down the days until the delayed start of the 2011-12 NBA season.
World AIDS Day
The World Health Organization first declared Dec. 1 as World AIDS Day in 1988. The annual observance is "an international day of awareness and education about AIDS," according to World AIDS Day. How to get involved:
* Participate in a Bake Aware -- download the Bake Aware fundraising pack.
* Host a local event to observe the HIV/AIDS Awareness Days.
* Take individual action by getting tested for HIV or practice safer methods to prevent HIV advises the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
* Attend an Observe Day With(Out) Art, increasing public awareness through visual arts, because "AIDS is forever" according to Visual AIDS.
Marie Tussaud 250th Birth Anniversary
If you've always been equally fascinated and disturbed by wax figures, there's good reason. Wax artist Marie Grosholtz Tussaud, born Dec. 1, 1761, made a living during the French Revolution by giving the people what they wanted. She created death masks using corpses of those executed. She took her waxworks on a traveling show and eventually settled in London where she displayed her waxworks.
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Anne Hathaway gets engaged (omg!)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) Actress Anne Hathaway, known for roles in "The Princess Diaries" and "The Devil Wears Prada," is engaged to boyfriend Adam Shulman, her spokesman said on Monday.
The spokesman provided no details beyond confirming the engagement.
Oscar-nominated Hathaway, 29, has been dating Shulman, an actor and jewelry designer, since 2008.
Their engagement comes after the actress went through a public break-up with ex-boyfriend Raffaello Follieri in 2008, when Follieri was arrested and pleaded guilty on fraud charges.
Hathaway stars in upcoming superhero film "The Dark Knight Rises," playing Catwoman opposite Christian Bale's Batman, set for release in 2012.
(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
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Video: First Read Minute
NBC?s Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro discuss the latest news in the GOP presidential race, including Newt Gingrich?s rise following the New Hampshire Union Leader?s endorsement.
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Syracuse fires assistant basketball coach Fine
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) ? Syracuse University fired associate head basketball coach Bernie Fine on Sunday in the wake of an investigation of child molestation allegations against him.
"At the direction of Chancellor Cantor, Bernie Fine's employment with Syracuse University has been terminated, effective immediately," Kevin Quinn, the school's senior vice president for public affairs, said in a statement.
The 65-year-old Fine was in his 36th season at his alma mater. He had the longest active streak of consecutive seasons at one school among assistant coaches in Division I.
Fine's firing comes in the wake of new revelations Sunday, including a third accuser. Syracuse had placed Fine on paid administrative leave when accusations first surfaced.
Two former Syracuse ball boys were the first to accuse Fine, who has called the allegations "patently false."
Zach Tomaselli, 23, of Lewiston, Maine, said Sunday that he told police that Fine molested him in 2002 in a Pittsburgh hotel room. He said Fine touched him "multiple" times in that one incident.
Tomaselli, who faces sexual assault charges in Maine involving a 14-year-old boy, said during a telephone interview with The Associated Press that he signed an affidavit accusing Fine following a meeting with Syracuse police last week in Albany.
Tomaselli's father, meanwhile, maintains his son is lying.
Two former Syracuse ball boys were the first to accuse Fine, who has called the allegations "patently false."
Bobby Davis, now 39, told ESPN that Fine molested him beginning in 1984 and that the sexual contact continued until he was around 27. A ball boy for six years, Davis told ESPN that the abuse occurred at Fine's home, at Syracuse basketball facilities and on team road trips, including the 1987 Final Four.
Davis' stepbrother, Mike Lang, 45, who also was a ball boy, told ESPN that Fine began molesting him while he was in fifth or sixth grade.
No one answered the door at the Fine home Sunday. Earlier in the day, his attorneys released a statement saying Fine would not comment beyond his initial statement.
"Any comment from him would only invite and perpetuate ancient and suspect claims," attorneys Donald Martin and Karl Sleight said. "Mr. Fine remains hopeful of a credible and expeditious review of the relevant issues by law enforcement authorities."
Pete Moore, director of athletic communications at the university, said head coach Jim Boeheim "is not commenting further on the subject at this time."
When a reporter called Boeheim after Fine was fired, he hung up.
During his long career with Syracuse, Fine tutored the likes of Derrick Coleman, LeRon Ellis and John Wallace in his role of working with post players. Coleman was the top pick in the 1990 NBA draft, Ellis was the Clippers' 22nd overall choice in 1991, and Wallace was picked 18th in 1996 by the New York Knicks.
Boeheim and Fine met at Syracuse University in 1963, when Fine was student manager of the basketball team. Fine graduated in 1967 with a degree in personal and industrial relations and went into business for himself.
In 1970, Fine was named basketball and football coach at Lincoln Junior High in Syracuse and went to Henninger High School the next year as the junior varsity basketball coach. He became varsity basketball coach in 1975. When Boeheim was chosen to succeed Roy Danforth at Syracuse in 1976 Boeheim offered Fine a job as an assistant.
Fine was an integral part of the staff that guided Syracuse to the national championship in 2003. During his tenure the Orange also made two other appearances in the NCAA title game, losing in 1987 to Indiana and in 1996 to Kentucky. He also guided the U.S. Maccabiah team to a silver medal at the 1993 World Maccabiah Games in Israel and has served as director of a successful basketball camp in the Northeast.
Tomaselli said the scandal at Penn State involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky prompted him to come forward. Sandusky is accused in a grand jury indictment of sexually abusing eight boys over a 15-year period.
"It was the Sandusky stuff that came out that really made me think about it," Tomaselli said in the phone interview. "A lot of people were slamming ESPN and Bobby for saying anything. I wanted to come out. ... It made me sick to see all that support for Fine at that point. I was positive he was guilty."
Tomaselli told the Post-Standard that he didn't ask Syracuse police or federal authorities for help in getting the criminal charges dismissed against him in Maine.
Tomaselli was arrested in April on 11 warrants charging gross sexual assault, tampering with a victim, two counts of unlawful sexual contact, five counts of visual sexual aggression against a child and unlawful sexual touching and unlawful sexual contact, Lewiston police said Sunday. They did not say what led to the charges. He has pleaded not guilty.
Tomaselli told the Post-Standard he met Fine after he and his father, Fred, attended a Syracuse autograph session on campus in late 2001.
The newspaper reported that Fine later called Tomaselli's parents to arrange for Tomaselli to go to Pittsburgh with the athletic department staff on a chartered bus, spend the night in Fine's hotel room and attend the team's game on Jan. 22, 2002.
Tomaselli told the Post-Standard that he had dinner with the team, then returned to the hotel room where he accused Fine of putting porn on the TV and fondling him in bed.
Tomaselli attended the basketball game the next day, sitting several rows behind the bench, and rode the chartered bus back to Syracuse, the newspaper reported.
"The one time there was multiple incidents in that one night, but there was only one night that he ever sexually abused me," Tomaselli told the AP.
However, during a phone interview with the AP, Fred Tomaselli said: "I'm 100 percent sure that Bernie Fine was never in contact with Zach. He never went to Pittsburgh to a game, never been to that arena."
"I brought him to a couple of games in Syracuse. We always sat in the nosebleed section and left after the game. He never stayed for any overnighters and never even got within shouting distance of Bernie."
The Post-Standard also reported that Zach Tomaselli was invited by Fine to a party at his home after the Syracuse-Pitt game on Feb. 1, 2003 ? a game where Zach Tomaselli said Fine arranged seats for him and his father several rows behind the bench.
Tomaselli told the newspaper his father, who was unable to attend the party, allowed him to go to Fine's house and stay the night.
While there, Tomaselli told the AP, Fine asked him to get into bed and that Fine's wife, Laurie, was there when it happened.
"I told them (police) that Laurie was standing right there when Bernie asked me to sleep in a bed. Laurie knew all about it," he said during the phone interview.
On Sunday, ESPN played an audiotape, obtained and recorded by Davis, of an October 2002 telephone conversation between him and Laurie Fine.
Davis told ESPN he made the recording, which also has been given to Syracuse police, without her knowledge because he knew he needed proof for the police to believe his accusations. ESPN said it hired a voice recognition expert to verify the voice on the tape and the network said it was determined to be that of Laurie Fine.
Davis also acknowledged in an interview with ESPN that he and Laurie Fine had a sexual relationship when he was 18, and that he eventually told Bernie Fine about it.
"I thought he was going to kill me, but I had to tell him," Davis said. "It didn't faze him one bit."
During the call to the woman, Davis repeatedly asks her what she knew about the alleged molestation.
"Do you think I'm the only one that he's ever done that to?" Davis asked.
"No ... I think there might have been others but it was geared to ... there was something about you," the woman on the tape said.
On the tape, she also says she knew "everything that went on."
"Bernie has issues, maybe that he's not aware of, but he has issues. ... And you trusted somebody you shouldn't have trusted ... "
During the call, Davis tells her he asked her husband in the late 1990s for $5,000 to help pay off his student loans.
"When he gave you the money, what does he want for that?" she asked.
He tells her that Fine wanted to engage in sexual activity in several ways.
"... And I'd try to go away, and he'd put his arm on top of my chest. He goes, 'If you want this money, you'll stay right here,'" Davis said.
"Right. Right," she said. "He just has a nasty attitude, because he didn't get his money, nor did he get what he wanted."
On Friday, federal authorities carried out a search at his Fine's suburban Syracuse home but declined to comment on what they were looking for.
New York State Police spokesman Jack Keller said troopers were called to assist the U.S. attorney's office at the search. At least six police vehicles were parked on the street during the search, which lasted around nine hours. Officers carted away three file cabinets and a computer for further examination.
___
Associated Press writers Glenn Adams in Augusta, Maine and Amy Fiscus in Philadelphia contributed to this report.
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Monday, November 28, 2011
NBA owners, players reach tentative deal
FILE - In this Nov. 10, 2011 file photo, NBA commissioner David Stern speaks during a news conference in New York. The NBA is entering a season Stern calls "nuclear winter." The players have rejected the league's latest proposal and begun disbanding their union in preparation for going to court. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 10, 2011 file photo, NBA commissioner David Stern speaks during a news conference in New York. The NBA is entering a season Stern calls "nuclear winter." The players have rejected the league's latest proposal and begun disbanding their union in preparation for going to court. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
San Antonio Spurs owner Peter Holt, left, and NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver converse in front of a midtown office building where NBA labor negotiations are taking place in New York, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)
NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver left, and San Antonio Spurs owner Peter Holt, right, converse in front of a midtown office building where NBA labor negotiations are taking place, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011, in New York. (AP Photo/Louis Lanzano)
San Antonio Spurs owner Peter Holt looks on in front of a midtown office building where NBA labor negotiations are taking place in New York, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)
The Players Association president Derek Fisher leaves after a news conference early Saturday morning Nov. 26, 2011 in New York regarding the NBA and the Players Association reaching a tentative agreement to end the five-month old lockout and start the league's 2011-12 season on Dec. 25. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)
NEW YORK (AP) ? After nearly two years of bickering, NBA players and owners are back on the same side.
"We want to play basketball," Commissioner David Stern said.
Come Christmas Day, they should be.
The sides reached a tentative agreement early Saturday to end the 149-day lockout and hope to begin the delayed season with a marquee tripleheader Dec. 25. Most of a season that seemed in jeopardy of being lost entirely will be salvaged if both sides approve the handshake deal.
Barring a change in scheduling, the 2011-12 season will open with the Boston Celtics at New York Knicks, followed by Miami at Dallas in an NBA finals rematch before MVP Derrick Rose and Chicago visiting Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.
Neither side provided many specifics about the deal, and there are still legal hurdles that must be cleared before gymnasiums are open again.
"We thought it was in both of our interest to try to reach a resolution and save the game," union executive director Billy Hunter said.
After a secret meeting earlier this week that got the broken process back on track, the sides met for more than 15 hours Friday, working to save the season. Stern said the agreement was "subject to a variety of approvals and very complex machinations, but we're optimistic that will all come to pass and that the NBA season will begin Dec. 25."
President Barack Obama gave a thumbs-up when told about the tentative settlement after he finished playing basketball at Fort McNair in Washington on Saturday morning.
The league plans a 66-game season and aims to open training camps Dec. 9, with free agency opening at the same time. Stern has said it would take about 30 days from an agreement to playing the first game.
"All I feel right now is 'finally,'" Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade told The Associated Press.
Just 12 days after talks broke down and Stern declared the NBA could be headed to a "nuclear winter," he sat next to Hunter to announce the 10-year deal, with either side able to opt out after the sixth year.
"For myself, it's great to be a part of this particular moment in terms of giving our fans what they wanted and wanted to see," said Derek Fisher, the president of the players' association.
A majority on each side is needed to approve the agreement, first reported by CBSSports.com. The NBA needs votes from 15 of 29 owners. (The league owns the New Orleans Hornets.) Stern said the labor committee plans to discuss the agreement later Saturday and expects them to endorse it and recommend to the full board.
The union needs a simple majority of its 430-plus members. That process is a bit more complicated after the players dissolved the union Nov. 14. Now, they must drop their antitrust lawsuit in Minnesota and reform the union before voting on the deal.
Because the union disbanded, a new collective bargaining agreement can only be completed once the union has reformed. Drug testing and other issues still must be negotiated between the players and the league, which also must dismiss its lawsuit filed in New York.
"We're very pleased we've come this far," Stern said. "There's still a lot of work to be done."
The sides will quickly return to work later Saturday, speaking with attorneys and their own committees to keep the process moving.
When the NBA returns, owners hope to find the type of parity that exists in the NFL, where the small-market Green Bay Packers are the current champions. The NBA has been dominated in recent years by the biggest spenders, with Boston, Los Angeles and Dallas winning the last four titles.
"I think it will largely prevent the high-spending teams from competing in the free-agent market the way they've been able to in the past. It's not the system we sought out to get in terms of a harder cap, but the luxury tax is harsher than it was. We hope it's effective," deputy commissioner Adam Silver said.
"We feel ultimately it will give fans in every community hope that their team can compete for championships."
The league hopes fans come right back, despite their anger over a work stoppage that followed such a successful season. But owners wanted more of the league's $4 billion in annual revenues after players were guaranteed 57 percent of basketball-related income in the old deal.
Participating in the talks for the league were Stern, Silver, Spurs owner Peter Holt, the chairman of the labor relations committee, and attorneys Rick Buchanan and Dan Rube. The players were represented by executive director Billy Hunter, president Derek Fisher, vice president Maurice Evans, attorney Ron Klempner and economist Kevin Murphy.
Owners locked out the players July 1, and the sides spent most of the summer and fall battling over the division of revenues and other changes owners wanted in a new collective bargaining agreement. They said they lost hundreds of millions of dollars in each year of the former deal, ratified in 2005, and they wanted a system where the big-market teams wouldn't have the ability to outspend their smaller counterparts.
Players fought against those changes, not wanting to see any teams taken out of the market when they became free agents.
"This was not an easy agreement for anyone. The owners came in having suffered substantial losses and feeling the system wasn't working fairly across all teams," Silver said. "I certainly know the players had strong views about expectations in terms of what they should be getting from the system. It required a lot of compromise from both parties' part, and I think that's what we saw today."
Even the final day had turbulent patches. It required multiple calls with the owners' labor relations committee, all the while knowing another breakdown in talks would mean not only the loss of the Christmas schedule but possibly even the entire season.
"We resolved, despite some even bumps this evening, that the greater good required us to knock ourselves out and come to this tentative understanding," Stern said.
He denied the litigation was a factor in accelerating a deal, but things happened relatively quickly after the players filed a suit that could have won them some $6 billion in damages.
"For us the litigation is something that just has to be dealt with," Stern said. "It was not the reason for the settlement. The reason for the settlement was we've got fans, we've got players who would like to play and we've got others who are dependent on us. And it's always been our goal to reach a deal that was fair to both sides and get us playing as soon as possible, but that took a little time."
It finally yielded the second shortened season in NBA history, joining the 1998-99 lockout that reduced the schedule to 50 games. This time the league will miss 16 games off the normal schedule.
Though the deal's expected to be approved, it may not be unanimous as there are factions of hard-liners in both camps who will be unhappy with substantive portions of the deal.
"Let's all pray this turns out well," Pacers forward Danny Granger wrote on Twitter.
But getting what the owners wanted took a toll. Stern, after more than 27 years as the league's commissioner, hoped to close a deal much sooner but was committed for fighting for the owners' wishes even at the risk of damaging his legacy. Hunter dealt with anger from agents and even questions from his own players about his strategy, wondering why it could so long for the players to use the threat of litigation to give them leverage that had otherwise eluded them.
The sides met just twice in the first two months of the lockout before stepping up the pace in September, when it was already too late to open camps on time. The sides tried meeting in small groups, large groups and even mediation, but nothing sparked compromise.
Things changed this week with the entrance of Jim Quinn, a former NBPA counsel who had good relationships on both sides. The meeting Friday was held at the office of his law firm, though he did not take part.
Hunter said the terms of the deal would come out shortly, preferring to keep them private until they could be shared with the players. They might not like the deal, but it will be better than what many of them feared. Resigned to possibly missing the season, some had signed deals overseas so they would have some paycheck.
Instead, they're a step closer to returning home.
___
AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami and White House reporter Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
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