Another U.S. Republican steps into controversy over rape comments

WASHINGTON | Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:27am IST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Another Republican U.S. Senate candidate sparked a controversy on Monday with comments on rape, comparing his family member's decision to have a child outside marriage to a pregnancy caused by rape.

Tom Smith, who badly trails Democrat Bob Casey in polls in their U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania, stepped into political trouble after telling reporters that abortion should be banned without exceptions.

Asked how he would feel if his daughter or granddaughter bore a child produced by rape, Smith said he had experienced a similar situation when a member of his family had a baby out of wedlock.

"Put yourself in a father's position, yes, I mean it is similar," he said, according to audio of his comments posted on the Huffington Post.

Smith's comments came a week after Republican U.S. Representative Todd Akin said victims of "legitimate rape" rarely become pregnant -- a statement that national Republicans have rebuked him for.

(Editing by Christopher Wilson)

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Russian eco-warrior turns to politics to challenge Putin

Opposition activist Yevgeniya Chirikova talks to the media as she visits an election commission office in the town of Khimki outside Moscow August 27, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Maxim Shemetov

By Gabriela Baczynska

KHIMKI, Russia | Tue Aug 28, 2012 12:59pm IST

KHIMKI, Russia (Reuters) - Russian environmentalist and protest leader Yevgeniya Chirikova had not even made it to the local election headquarters to register as a candidate on Monday before opponents ran up and showered her with fake $100 bills as she spoke to reporters.

The aim was clear: to damage her campaign to become mayor of Khimki, a town just outside northwestern Moscow, by portraying her as a tool of the United States, which President Vladimir Putin has accused of fomenting opposition to his 12-year-rule.

Chirikova, one of the leading lights of protests this year against Putin, initially looked flustered as banknotes blew around her. But she soon regained her composure and laughed as her four hecklers unfurled a U.S. flag behind her and tried to push a small Stars and Stripes into her hand for the cameras.

Chirikova - who has been detained, treated roughly by police and received threats on her and her family because of her environmental work - is undaunted by the threat of harassment as she joins an opposition campaign to chip away at Putin's authority by challenging his party in local elections.

"The more they oppress us, the more it shows we are right to really cause them trouble," Chirikova, 35, told Reuters before registering her candidacy in Khimki, a town of 200,000 dominated by high-rise apartment blocs.

"I fear nothing. I really don't know what could stop me now," she said.

Chirikova, who became one of the Kremlin's most strident critics by organising protests against the construction of a road through a forest near Khimki, is the most prominent opposition politician running in local polls on October 14.

Success would make little dent in Putin's authority and that of the ruling United Russia party, but taking control of Khimki would signal that the opposition may be finally able to start building on the momentum gained in this year's protests.

The election will also test the Kremlin's willingness to tolerate an opposition challenge at the polls after a series of moves which the opposition has depicted as a crackdown on dissent since Putin returned to the presidency in May.

OPPOSITION TO HIGHWAY

Chirikova has burnished her opposition credentials in the past eight months, helping organise the anti-Putin protests that began last December over allegations of fraud in a parliamentary election, at times addressing the large crowds they attracted.

She sees her foray into politics partly as a continuation of her campaign to improve the environment.

"We have yellow water in our sinks, horrible traffic jams, no traffic lights," she said. "I would like my child to be able to go to school safely. I would like to turn this city into a place where all mothers will be free of those fears."

Her life changed when she noticed during a walk in the forest near her Khimki apartment five years ago that some of the trees had been marked for what she later learned was demolition to make way for a highway.

In what was then an unusual example of Russians taking matters into their own hands to challenge the authorities, she started protests in the forest that delayed, but did not halt, work on the road.

The number of protesters peaked at about 3,000, witnesses said, after a camp they had set up in the forest was raided by masked men.

A journalist who supported the protests and one of the protesters were badly beaten in separate incidents and left with brain damage. The culprits were never identified, and detentions were frequent at rallies against the building of the road.

Social services threatened at one stage to take Chirikova's two children into custody, accusing her of neglect, she said.

But her protest movement established Chirikova as one of the leading voices of the opposition and is often cited by protest leaders as having played a vital role in the birth of a civil society in Russia after decades of Soviet rule.

"People realised they could only change things from below," she said, pointing to the protests in the Khimki forest as a sign that Russians were losing their blind faith in authorities.

Her chances of success are hard to gauge as there are no independent opinion polls in an election campaign that is just starting. She won 15 percent of votes when she ran for mayor of Khimki in 2009, seven percentage points fewer than the winner.

The main electoral issues in Russia are typically economic concerns but an opinion poll released by the independent Levada research group in 2010 showed that three quarters of Khimki residents opposed the new road.

SEEKING UNITY

The Khimki election race could become another test of Putin's readiness to tolerate dissent after a summer in which parliament rushed through several laws seen by the opposition as intended to restrict their actions - such as tightening control of the Internet, which is used to spread word of protest rallies, and increasing potential fines for protesters.

A Moscow court also handed a two-year jail term this month to three women from the Pussy Riot punk band who sang a profanity-laced song against Putin in a Russian Orthodox church, a sentence criticised as harsh abroad although opinion polls showed few Russians sympathised with the way they protested.

The Kremlin denies launching any crackdown on dissent and says it had no say in the Pussy Riot verdict. It also portrays the opposition as too disunited and short of ideas to mount a serious threat to Putin, pointing out that he won nearly two-thirds of the votes cast in the March 4 presidential election.

Kremlin sources say Putin won considerable support by attacking the West during his election campaign and accusing protest leaders of being foreign governments' stooges.

But the opposition has already had some electoral success since the presidential poll, notably defeating United Russia's candidate in the mayoral race in Yaroslavl, north of Moscow.

Chirikova has almost no political experience and has no political party behind her. Her chances may depend on whether she can unite parties that share her fear that Putin's return to the Kremlin for another six years after four years as premier will stifle political and economic reform.

The liberal Yabloko party, a coalition led by former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and two other opposition leaders, and protest leader Alexei Navalny have backed her candidacy although it is not clear how far their influence goes in Khimki.

The other challengers in the election, called after the resignation of Mayor Vladimir Strelchenko, are not yet known because registration of candidates has only just begun. An official statement said only that Strelchenko had stepped aside in a routine rotation of officials.

(Additional reporting by Catherine Koppel, Writing by Timothy Heritage; editing by Peter Graff and Anna Willard)

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EXCLUSIVE - New Egypt leader steps out on world stage seeking "balance"

Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi walks after an interview with Reuters at the Presidential palace in Cairo, August 27, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Asmaa Waguih

By Samia Nakhoul and Edmund Blair

CAIRO | Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:18am IST

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's new Islamist president said on Monday he would pursue a "balanced" foreign policy, reassuring Israel its peace treaty was safe, hinting at a new approach to Iran and calling on Bashar al-Assad's allies to help lever the Syrian leader out.

Mohamed Mursi, who was elected in June and consolidated his power this month by dismissing top military leaders, is seeking to introduce himself to a wider world ahead of a trip to Iran - the first by an Egyptian leader in three decades - and China.

"Egypt is now a civilian state ... a national, democratic, constitutional, modern state," he told Reuters in his first interview with an international news organisation since taking office as the candidate of the once-banned Muslim Brotherhood.

"International relations between all states are open and the basis for all relations is balance. We are not against anyone but we are for achieving our interests," said the U.S.-educated engineer, appearing confident and assertive in the marble-lined presidential palace.

The first leader Egyptians have elected in a 5,000-year history dating back to the pharaohs, he spoke in a room for visiting dignitaries surrounded by monarchy-era furniture, oil paintings and a grand tapestry on the wall.

Mursi, 61, came to power after the fall of Hosni Mubarak, who served for decades as a loyal U.S. ally and the guarantor of Egypt's status as the first Arab country to make peace with Israel.

His emphasis on balance suggests he is seeking a less explicitly pro-American role in the region, but he has also been at pains to reassure traditional allies.

Mursi's Brotherhood describes Israel as a racist and expansionist state, but he resigned from it on taking power and has avoided inflammatory language. He repeated his position that Egypt will continue to abide by international treaties, including its 1979 peace deal.

Without mentioning Israel by name, he indicated Egypt's neighbour had nothing to fear from a new military campaign in the Sinai Peninsula, which he ordered after gunmen attacked an Egyptian border post, killed 16 guards and tried to burst across the frontier into Israel. "Egypt is practicing its very normal role on its soil and does not threaten anyone and there should not be any kind of international or regional concerns at all from the presence of Egyptian security forces," he said, referring to the extra police, army and other forces moved to the area.

The military campaign was in "full respect to international treaties", he said. The Egypt-Israel peace deal includes limits on Egyptian military deployment in Sinai.

Officials in Israel, already concerned that Egypt's Islamists will support the Brotherhood-offshoot Hamas in Gaza, have voiced worries about Egypt's build-up of heavy armour in Sinai to quash militants.

Mursi would not say if he would meet Israeli officials. Mubarak regularly received top officials although only went to Israel once for a funeral.

In an effort to increase Egypt's role in regional affairs, Mursi has called for dialog ue between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran to find a way to stop the bloodshed in Syria. Notably, the initiative has been welcomed by Iran, the only country in the group that supports Assad.

During his interview, Mursi gave a particularly strong call for Assad to be removed from power, suggesting that he is comfortable taking a high profile role in regional affairs. It is a message he will tak e on his trip to Iran and China, which, along with Russia, are the main countries backing Assad.

"Now is the time to stop this bloodshed and for the Syrian people to regain their full rights and for this regime that kills its people to disappear from the scene," Mursi said.

"There is no room to talk about reform, but the discussion is about change," Mursi said, adding Egypt had repeated that "the friends of the Syrian people in China and Russia and other states" need to back ordinary Syrians. However, Mursi said he opposed foreign military action in Syria "in any form".

FIRST VISIT TO IRAN

In what could be an important sign of a shift in the region, Mursi's visit to Iran this week will be the first by an Egyptian leader since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. The two countries broke off diplomatic relations at the time over Egypt's support for the ousted Iranian Shah and its peace with Israel, and have yet to formally restore ties.

Officially, Mursi's visit is to attend a summit of the 120-nation Non-Aligned Movement, and he would not be drawn on whether Egypt would resume full diplomatic ties with Iran.

Asked whether he saw a threat from Iran, whose nuclear programme has sparked fears in the West and Israeli warnings that it could consider a military action, Mursi said: "We see that all the countries in the region need stability and peaceful co-existence with each other. This cannot be achieved with wars but through political work and special relations between the countries of the region."

After Iran, Mursi will travel in September to the United States, which still gives the Egyptian military $1.3 billion in aid a year.

Asked how the outcome of the U.S. election in November might change ties, Mursi said Egypt works with the United States as "a stable institution" rather than dealing with personalities.

TRANSFORMATION

Stocky and well-dressed, Mursi spoke in good humour in the palace where Mubarak held court for decades.

Criticised at the start of his election campaign as a stiff politician who seemed more of a Brotherhood functionary than statesman-in-waiting, he has warmed to the role. His dramatic move against the army on August 12 stamped his authority on the nation far more quickly than many had expected.

Mursi's rise to the presidency is not only a transformation for Egypt but also for him personally, climbing from a poor Nile Delta village to study in California before joining the Brotherhood. Like many members of the group, he was jailed for periods under Mubarak. They have swapped places and the 83-year-old former president is now serving life in jail.

Mursi sealed his rise to power this month with his audacious move to pension off military leaders who had ruled the country during the long transition after Mubarak was toppled last year. In his interview, he took care to praise the army in its transitional role and describe it as part of Egypt's "national fabric."

Liberals worry that the rise of Mursi and his Brotherhood group could lead to the imposition of Islamic sharia law, which they fear will impose social restrictions in a country where a tenth of the 82 million people are Christians and tourist visits to its beaches and pharaonic ruins are a vital source of income.

Mursi said tourism would grow under his rule.

When asked whether the new constitution, now being drawn up by an assembly before being put to the nation on a referendum, would seek to implement the Islamic code, he said it was up to the Egyptian people to decide.

(Additional reporting by Marwa Awad and Patrick Werr; Writing by Edmund Blair and Samia Nakhoul; Editing by Peter Graff)

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Contador hurts leg, Henderson wins first stage

Sky's team rider Gregory Henderson of New Zealand celebrates after winning the first stage of Paris-Nice cycling race between Saint-Arnoult-En-Yvelines and Contres March 8, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Eric Gaillard

By Gilles Le Roc'h

CONTRES, France | Tue Mar 9, 2010 1:31am IST

CONTRES, France (Reuters) - Tour de France champion Alberto Contador lost time on the leaders and suffered a painful knock to his leg when he crashed towards the end of the first stage of Paris-Nice on Monday.

The race favourite crashed three km from the finish in Contres after being dropped from the front following a harsh effort by the Caisse d'Epargne team of last year's winner Luis Leon Sanchez.

New Zealand's Greg Henderson won the 201.5-km stage beating Slovenia's Grega Bole and France's Jeremy Galland on the line.

"I picked up a pretty good knock. The pain is quite sharp. I am quite worried," Spaniard Contador told reporters.

"I was on the left side on the road and there was a wave in the peloton. I fell in the grass with Heinrich Haussler.

"It was quite a hard fall but as I was still over three km from the finish I had little choice but to come back into the bunch."

The Astana rider's team manager Yvon Sanquer said Contador was bruised but would start Tuesday's 201-km second stage to Limoges.

Prologue winner Lars Boom retained his overall lead, but Contador, who won Paris-Nice in 2007, is 25 seconds behind in the standings, in eighth place.

"It's not the time lost I'm worried about but how I will feel in the morning," Contador said.

Germany's Jens Voigt stayed second overall, five seconds behind Dutchman Boom, and Briton David Millar moved into third, 13 seconds adrift.

Henderson, a former track rider who won his first major road laurels last year on the Tour of Spain, outsprinted the leading group of 17 riders for victory.

"I won a sprint in slow motion because we were all so tired because of the cold and wind," said Henderson, who gave his Team Sky their first pro victory in Australia in January.

American Levi Leipheimer was another of the big names to lose time in the treacherous stage. Held back by one of several pile-ups in the peloton, the RadioShack team leader lies seventh overall, 25 seconds behind Boom.

(Editing by Alison Wildey and Sonia Oxley;

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Klitschko to defend WBC title against Poland's Sosnowski

WBC heavyweight champion boxer Vitali Klitschko of Ukraine reacts after winning against contender Kevin Johnson of the U.S. after their 12-round WBC heavyweight title fight in Bern December 12, 2009.

Credit: Reuters/Michael Buholzer/Files

BERLIN | Tue Mar 9, 2010 3:47pm IST

BERLIN (Reuters) - WBC world heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko will defend his title against Poland's Albert Sosnowski in Schalke's soccer stadium on May 29, the Ukrainian said on Tuesday.

The 38-year-old Klitschko, whose brother Vladimir will defend his WBO,IBF and IBO titles against Eddie Chambers on March 20, said Sosnowski, 31, would be a tough rival.

"He is experienced, he is fast and he is a tough boxer who will try everything to take my belt. But I will not let it happen," Klitschko said in a statement. "I promise all fans an unforgettable evening."

Sosnowski, the European Boxing Union heavyweight champion with 45 wins, two defeats and a draw, was due to defend his European title against Audley Harrison in London in April but cancelled to fight Klitschko.

"This is a dream come true," he said. "I was already training for the Harrison fight when I suddenly get the chance of a lifetime. Vitali is way past his peak," he said.

(Writing by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Pritha Sarkar; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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Alpine skiing - Guay snatches super-G World Cup title

Erik Guay of Canada celebrates with the Super-G World Cup trophy after winning the men's Super-G race at the Alpine Skiin World Cup finals in Garmisch-Partenkirchen March 11, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Michaela Rehle

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Australia beat Pakistan to qualify for World Cup semis

Pakistan's Waseem Ahmed (R) fights for the ball with Australia's Glenn Turner during their match at the men's Hockey World Cup in New Delhi March 8, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Danish Ismail

NEW DELHI | Mon Mar 8, 2010 9:06pm IST

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Tournament favourites Australia advanced into the semi-finals of the men's hockey World Cup on Monday after they beat Pakistan 2-1 in a pulsating match to finish top of Pool B.

Desmond Abbott scored twice as Australia completed their matches in the six-team pool, finishing level with England on 12 points but topping the group on goal difference.

European champions England, who pulled off a surprise 3-2 victory over Australia in the opening match, lost 2-0 to Spain at the Dhyan Chand National Hockey Stadium for their first defeat in the competition.

Pau Quemada and Eduard Tubau scored for Olympic silver medallists Spain who finished third in the group on nine points. India meet South Africa in the day's final match.

Sohail Abbas put Pakistan ahead against Australia, who won a 10th Champions Trophy in December, in the 24th minute through a penalty corner.

Abbott scored the equaliser three minutes into the second half and netted again shortly before the final whistle.

(Reporting by Sanjay Rajan in Chennai; Editing by Alison Wildey

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Patience proves a virtue for Williams

A file photo shows Ivory Williams of the U.S. at the Olympic Stadium July 13, 2009.

Credit: Reuters/John Kolesidis/Files

By Gene Cherry

RALEIGH, North Carolina | Tue Mar 9, 2010 6:06am IST

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - Ivory Williams, America's newest sprint champion, knows all too well how mental errors can destroy dreams.

A year ago the 2004 world junior champion went to the U.S. indoor nationals primed for victory but a false start left him on the sidelines while training partner Mark Jelks roared to the 60 metres title.

"He was probably physically ready (to win) last year, but he was mentally not ready," Al Hobson, Williams's coach, told Reuters in a telephone interview from Kansas City last week.

"The two critical times people could have recognised him, there was a goof-up, mental mistakes," Hobson said of Williams's false start indoors and slow start at the U.S. outdoor nationals that left him seventh in the 100 metres.

So the coach, who was retired world-record holder Maurice Greene's early tutor, worked on patience, starting and strength with Williams.

The reward came on Feb. 28 in the sprinter-friendly thin air of high-altitude Albuquerque, New Mexico. A solid start, now Williams's trademark, sent the 24-year-old to the year's fastest 60 metres, with a personal best of 6.49 seconds, at the U.S. championships.

The triumph was Williams's fifth consecutive win of the season and thrust him into a favourite's role for this week's IAAF world indoor championships in Doha, Qatar.

"It will be hard to beat me," Williams said, "but I don't put it past somebody to; I can be beaten at any time."

RIGHT ANGLE

British European indoor champion Dwain Chambers, the year's second fastest man, is likely to be his top challenger.

"He is a good starter and a good finisher also," said Williams.

If Williams has an edge, his coach thinks it may be the angle at which the American accelerates out of the blocks.

"It's just like pushing a car," Hobson said. "If you want to push a car, you can't stand up. You can, but if you get a better angle, you can apply more force. The lower you get the more force you can apply to the ground."

So Williams stays low for as long as he can in a race. "He is just getting to top-end (speed) at 50 metres," said Hobson.

Getting Williams into position to be at the top of his sport has taken much longer.

This is the fourth year the two have worked together.

"We changed everything," said Hobson, even the way Williams walked. "He's comfortable enough now that he doesn't have to think about it."

WORLD RECORD

Both coach and student had been expecting a time faster than Williams's world leader at the U.S. championships.

"About 45 (6.45 seconds)," said Hobson. "He was kind of disappointed."

There was a positive side, however.

"If I can run 49, I can run 45," Williams said. "If I can run 45, I can run 39."

That would equal Greene's world record.

So how much is Williams like Greene in his Hobson-coached early days before he moved to California to train with John Smith and set world records and win Olympic gold medals?

"Both believe in themselves," said Hobson. "Secondly, they are very dedicated. Thirdly, they think they are going to be the best in the world."

With the world's three fastest men, Usain Bolt, Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell, not competing indoors, Williams's best chance of emulating Greene may well come this weekend in Doha.

(Editing by Clare Fallon;

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Sumo - Schoolboy giant set for pro debut

TOKYO | Tue Mar 9, 2010 8:19am IST

TOKYO (Reuters) - A 15-year-old Japanese schoolboy tipping the scales at 145 kilograms is set to make his professional sumo debut and is already being tipped as a future 'yokozuna.'

National junior high school champion Ryoya Tatsu stands 6 feet 3 inches (1.93 metres) and is expected to take part in the Osaka grand sumo tournament beginning this weekend.

The Japan Sumo Association told Reuters on Tuesday Tatsu passed his first health check and was waiting for the results of internal tests to determine if he can wrestle in Osaka.

"I want to be a yokozuna (grand champion) in six to seven years," Tatsu told the Nikkan Sports newspaper. "I want to become an aggressive champion."

Tatsu, who hails from the hot spring resort of Nanao in central Japan, is already similar in size to his idol, Mongolian yokozuna Hakuho who boasts a 152-kg, 1.92-metre frame.

Japanese officials are desperate for the next homegrown yokozuna, the country's last being Takanohana, who retired from the sport in 2003.

(Reporting by Alastair Himmer. Editing by Ossian Shine.

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Korean economy gets its skates on after Olympic medal haul

South Korea's Kim Yu-Na kisses the gold medal she won in the women's figure skating event at a news conference during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, February 26, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Simon Newman/Files

SEOUL | Tue Mar 9, 2010 11:21am IST

SEOUL (Reuters) - Kim Yuna's stunning win at last month's Winter Games will not only boost the career of the Olympic figure skating champion, it should help add several billion dollars to the South Korean economy.

Samsung Economic Research Institute economist Lee Dong-hun estimated Asia's fourth largest economy would benefit to the tune of 20.1768 trillion won ($17.82 billion) from the record haul of medals by its athletes in Vancouver.

South Korea finished fifth on the medals table, its best position, with six gold, six silver and two bronze medals.

All of the medals were won in skating events, including one from a world record performance by 19-year-old figure skater Kim, dubbed "Queen Yuna" at home.

"The country's splendid achievement in the 2010 Winter Games will bolster soft power, a prerequisite becoming an advanced country," Lee wrote in a report.

"After watching Kim Yuna's performance, Koreans may have experienced a heightened sense of self-confidence that encourages the belief that, by putting together their capabilities, Koreans can achieve anything."

In a country which has few peers when it comes to producing statistics, he broke down the financial benefits into such areas as greater brand recognition for companies and a boost for exports and domestic demand.

There was also a 3.3 trillion won price tag on indirect effects, including a boost to public morale.

All the more reason, the economist wrote, for South Korea to push hard to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.

The city of Pyeongchang is bidding for the third successive time after narrowly losing out to Vancouver and Russia's Sochi for the 2010 and 2014 Games.

(Reporting by Jonathan Thatcher; Editing Peter Rutherford; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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Idowu to miss worlds after late arriving baby

Britain's Phillips Idowu is seen in Budapest in this October 17, 2009 file photo. Idowu has pulled out of this week's world indoor championships in Doha after the late arrival of his baby son disrupted his preparations.

Credit: Reuters/Karoly Arvai/Files

LONDON | Tue Mar 9, 2010 12:20am IST

LONDON (Reuters) - Triple jump champion Phillips Idowu has pulled out of this week's world indoor championships in Doha after the late arrival of his baby son disrupted his preparations.

"The late arrival of my baby boy has meant that my training has been severely disrupted and I decided after talking with my coach that I'd not had the preparation we agreed was needed to do the British team proud," Idowu said in a statement issued by UK Athletics on Monday.

"I will increase the training with a focus on the European Championships in Barcelona," added the 31-year-old, who became a father for the second time last week.

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NBA - Cavs survive without LeBron, beat Spurs 97-95

San Antonio Spurs George Hill dumps off a pass during the third quarter of the Spurs NBA basketball game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland, March 8, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Aaron Josefczyk

CLEVELAND | Tue Mar 9, 2010 10:47am IST

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - The Cleveland Cavaliers overcame the absence of LeBron James to earn a 97-95 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Monday.

With James sidelined for the second game in a row due to an injured ankle, the Cavaliers sunk eight consecutive free throws as time wound down to hold off the charging Spurs.

"This is a resilient team," said Cavs coach Mike Brown. "We have a lot of capable players. The thing you look for is you want to make sure guys keep trusting one another. That trust factor was a big thing."

Cleveland's Delonte West scored 10 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, and Mo Williams added 17 and eight assists, to help the NBA's top team improve to 50-15.

Manu Ginobili had a game-high 38 points, including seven three-pointers, but the Spurs, who were missing point guard Tony Parker due to a hand injury, squandered a five-point lead with around six minutes to go.

After Williams made free throws to put the Cavs on top 95-92 with nine seconds to play, Roger Mason missed a potential game-tying three-pointer for San Antonio (36-25).

In addition to playing without James, the league's reigning MVP, Cleveland were also without Shaquille O'Neal (thumb) and lost Antawn Jamison to a knee injury in the third quarter.

San Antonio had won four in a row coming into the game, despite Parker sustaining his injury on Saturday against the Memphis Grizzlies.

George Hill, taking Parker's place in the starting lineup, scored 23 for the Spurs, who led by three points at halftime and by six early in the fourth.

"Without LeBron and Shaq, and Antawn for most of the second half, a lot of guys had to step up," Williams said. "We did a good job today of finding a way."

(Reporting by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing Peter Rutherford; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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Hooker advances in pole vault but Lavillenie fails

By Gene Cherry

DOHA | Fri Mar 12, 2010 4:54pm IST

DOHA (Reuters) - Australian Olympic and world champion Steve Hooker turned his first indoor pole vault of the year into an easy qualifier at the IAAF world championships on Friday.

However, the year's top indoor vaulter, France's Renaud Lavillenie, could not advance past the opening session of the three-day championships.

The world outdoor bronze medallist failed three times at the qualifying height of 5.60 metres.

Hooker joined eight others in Saturday's final by clearing 5.60 on his only attempt.

"I jumped just before the equipment broke, so that made it much easier," the Australian said after the competition was interrupted because of a problem with one of the standards on which the bar rests.

"Anyone that had to jump after that, it made it very challenging. I really feel for those guys."

Lavillenie and U.S. 2004 Olympic champion Tim Mack were among the victims, both ending their day at 5.45 metres.

"I spent 30 minutes without jumping at 5.60," Lavillenie said of his failure. "It is a real pity because these championships were a rare opportunity where I could get a real competition from Steve Hooker and that's the day when I messed it up."

Hooker overcame the pain from a torn thigh muscle to win last year's Berlin outdoor world championships in a stern test of mind over body.

"I would love to win this competition," a much more relaxed Hooker said this time. "That is my only goal coming here."

Heavily favoured defending women's high jump champion Blanka Vlasic of Croatia smoothly advanced to Saturday's final, clearing all three heights she attempted.

Vlasic, who has world record hopes, was one of nine moving forward with clearances of 1.92 metres.

"It's always a stressful competition, the qualification, because there are a lot of people (jumping)," said Vlasic, who has jumped 2.06 metres this season. "But I am happy with everything today."

American defender Christian Cantwell joined Germany's Ralf Bartels in qualifying for Saturday's men's shot put final.

Bartels, the 2006 European champion, had a heave of 20.91 metres on his second attempt while Cantwell threw only once, reaching 20.72 to meet the automatic qualifying standard.

(Editing by Clare Fallon; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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IBM enters web applications market with $1.3 bln Kenexa buy

An IBM Central Processor Unit (CPU) is seen on a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) controller in Kiev, March 5, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Gleb Garanich/Files

By Jim Finkle and Sayantani Ghosh

Mon Aug 27, 2012 10:57pm IST

REUTERS - IBM Corp will buy Kenexa Corp for about $1.3 billion to enter the human resource software market in a move that would likely increase competition with Oracle Corp and SAP AG who recently bought into the sector.

The deal underpins the importance that slow-growing technology giants place on faster-growing, web-based software makers, whose products are less vulnerable to the economic downturn as there are no upfront costs for program licenses, dedicated hardware or installation.

Germany's SAP bought Kenexa's competitor SuccessFactors for $3.4 billion in cash last December, while Oracle bought rival Taleo Corp for about $1.9 billion in February.

The two companies made other cloud purchases, including RightNow Technologies and Ariba Inc.

Kenexa shares jumped nearly 42 percent, equaling the premium offered, to a life high of $45.92 on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.

The acquisition suggests that IBM is ready to find a foothold in the fiercely competitive market for delivering business applications via the web.

It brings the company face-to face against close partner SAP and rivals Oracle and Salesforce.com Inc, the largest maker of web-based software.

"This is a big step," said Nucleus Research analyst Rebecca Wettemann. The move makes it clear that IBM is serious about taking on Oracle, SAP and Salesforce.com in the business applications market, the analyst said.

"This brings the arms race up a notch."

IBM is expanding in the fast-growing field of delivering business applications through the Web as its new CEO Ginni Rometty looks to make her imprint on the 100-year-old company that is widely considered one of the world's most conservative computer technology firms.

"IBM has previously suggested the return on software acquisitions is the best it has seen in recent years. We expect continued acquisition activity this year," ISI Group analyst Brian Marshall said in a note.

IBM has focused its highly profitable software division on email, databases, operating systems and "middleware" - programs that make up the plumbing of computer networks. It has shied away from selling applications such as human resources software.

"Following Oracle's move into hardware and SAP's move into the database market, both of which position these leading apps companies more in IBM's traditional markets, IBM has perhaps fewer reservations about participating in the apps and software-as-a-service market," Nomura analysts said.

"The Kenexa acquisition will complement IBM's social business and HR business services leadership," IBM said, adding that it expects the transaction to close in the fourth quarter.

Kenexa has more than 8,900 customers across financial services, pharmaceuticals, retail and consumer industries, it said.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle in New York and Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Rodney Joyce and Joyjeet Das)

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TV Guide app personalizes viewing choices

By Natasha Baker

TORONTO | Tue Aug 28, 2012 8:26am IST

TORONTO (Reuters) - Television viewers can watch hundreds of shows via broadcast, cable, satellite TV and the Internet, as well as on-demand, but how does one manage all that content? TV Guide has an app to help.

TV Guide late last week released a free companion app for Apple's iOS devices called TV Guide Mobile. The highlight is its "Watchlist," a personalized guide based on user habits that consolidates the many viewing choices available.

Within Watchlist, users select their favorite shows, movies, celebrities and sports teams. The app consolidates content, then displays the various ways of viewing it.

Fans of George Clooney, for example, can see upcoming TV shows or movies starring the actor and being aired by a TV network or other provider. Or, they can watch instantly through direct links to streaming services such as Hulu or iTunes.

"Think of it as a 3D TV Guide for the future in which all your favorites are there in one easy-to-manage interface," said Christy Tanner, general manager of TV Guide Digital.

Users also can share what they are watching with their friends via social networks. This functionality, previously only available on TV Guide's website, has seen over 9 million user check-ins on the Internet.

In the app, check-ins also are used to create a "Trending Tonight" list - a social hot list of the most popular TV shows.

Tanner views the user data as a game-changer for networks and ad agencies looking to predict the next big hit.

"We look at this as a potential early indicator of success," she said. Currently, the top show being added to watch lists is "Elementary" starring Jonny Lee Miller, airing this fall on CBS.

The app supports nearly every cable and satellite provider in the United States, although the streaming partners content is a bit more narrow and includes ABC, ABC Family, CW, Hulu Plus, HBO GO, MAX GO, Crackle and iTunes. Some popular streaming options - such as Netflix - are not yet supported.

"We have a couple dozen streaming partners in the queue so it's just a matter of time before we add more steaming partners in the app," Tanner said.

In addition, TV Guide plans to add more smart and social features such as remote record and recommendations.

The app is available in the United States, and select countries abroad in the Caribbean, South America and Europe.

(Reporting by Natasha Baker; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte, Steve Orlofsky and Bob Burgdorfer)

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Feature: A pill that treats and tells

By Esha Dey

Mon Aug 27, 2012 5:12pm IST

n">(Reuters) - If you have trouble remembering whether you took your pills on time, your medicine may soon have the answer for you.

Pills for anything from the common cold to diabetes or cancer can be embedded with tiny ingestible chips that keep track of whether a patient is taking their medicine on time.

The digital feedback technology, devised by Redwood City, California-based Proteus Digital Health Inc, can also prompt patients to take their medicine and even ask them to take a walk if they have been inactive for too long.

"Overall, people only take their medications half of the time ... adherence is a really big issue across all treatments," Eric Topol, chief academic officer of Scripps Health, a non-profit medical service provider, told Reuters.

Some patients might not like their pill-taking being tracked but the system can help manage patients' complicated medicine routines, such as diabetes or heart conditions.

"This is a way to have a "friend" helping look after me, since my doctor can't be there most of the time," said Kelly Close, a diabetes patient and the founder of diaTribe, a newsletter for people with diabetes. She has not yet used the pill.

The sensor was last month approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Proteus has attracted investments from Swiss drug giant Novartis (NOVN.VX) and Japanese drug firm Otsuka Holdings Co Ltd (4578.T).

Other investors in the company include medical device companies Medtronic Inc (MDT.N) and St. Jude Medical Inc (STJ.N), and chipmaker ON Semiconductor Corp (ONNN.O).

"The point of this technology is not to say you are being a bad patient. The point is to have accurate data," Proteus' co-founder and Chief Medical Officer George Savage said.

PILL TELEGRAPH

The swallowed sensor is linked to a skin patch worn on the patient's torso, which captures the report sent by the sensor.

About the size of a grain of salt, the sensor has no battery or antenna and is activated when it gets wet from stomach juices.

That completes a circuit between coatings of copper and magnesium on either side, generating a tiny electric voltage for a few minutes.

The skin patch records the digital message, along with the patient's heart rate, body angle and activity, and sends the data to a bluetooth-enabled device such as a phone or computer.

"Think of this as a high-tech version of an old-style Morse code telegraph key," Savage said.

The data is then uploaded to a computer network for viewing by patients, caregivers and physicians.

The system allows users to set up alarms to remind them to take medicines or to issue an alert if the patient is inactive for a certain time.

Novartis is testing Proteus' sensor in renal transplantation patients -- a group that is required to maintain a strict regimen of anti-rejection drugs.

"Study results show that when used properly, the Proteus system was observed to monitor patients' medication-taking behaviour with very high accuracy," Novartis spokeswoman Julie Masow said.

The Swiss firm has made a $24 million upfront payment to access the technology, with royalties due to Proteus from future sales.

Savage said Proteus was working on generic versions of big-selling drugs for type 2 diabetes, congestive heart failure and mental health disorders that would incorporate the sensor. Savage did not name the drugs.

Testing included 254 people using the system for a collective 3,828 days involving patients being treated for tuberculosis, congestive heart failure and hypertension, Proteus said.

TRACKING TB

Proteus has a partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention to test the technology in tuberculosis treatment.

The Gates Foundation awarded a $560,000 grant to Proteus to support a pilot study of the technology in Chinese TB patients.

Highly contagious tuberculosis is typically treated by powerful antibiotics that have unpleasant side effects, leading to patients dropping treatment and putting others at risk.

Health experts say that raises the question of acceptance of the system among some patients who would most benefit from it.

"People may not want to wear the patch and have the medications because they might feel like big brother is watching," Topol said.

(Editing by Rodney Joyce)

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Latest Java software opens PCs to hackers - experts

By Jim Finkle

BOSTON | Tue Aug 28, 2012 10:15am IST

BOSTON (Reuters) - Computer security firms are urging PC users to disable Java software in their browsers, saying the widely installed, free software from Oracle Corp opens machines to hacker attacks and there is no way to defend against them.

The warnings, which began emerging over the weekend from Rapid7, AlienVault and other cyber security firms, are likely to unnerve a PC community scrambling to fend off growing security threats from hackers, viruses and malware.

Researchers have identified code that attacks machines by exploiting a newly discovered flaw in the latest version of Java. Once in, a second piece of software called "Poison Ivy" is released that lets hackers gain control of the infected computer, said Jaime Blasco, a research manager with AlienVault Labs.

Several security firms advised users to immediately disable Java software -- installed in some form on the vast majority of personal computers around the world -- in their Internet browsers. Oracle says that Java sits on 97 percent of enterprise desktops.

"If exploited, the attacker will be able to perform any action the victim can perform on the victim's machine," said Tod Beardsley, an engineering manager with Rapid7's Metasploit division.

Computers can get infected without their users' knowledge simply by a visit to any website that has been compromised by hackers, said Joshua Drake, a senior research scientist with the security firm Accuvant.

Java is a computer language that enables programmers to write one set of code to run on virtually any type of machine. It is widely used on the Internet so that Web developers can make their sites accessible from multiple browsers running on Microsoft Windows PCs or Macs from Apple Inc.

An Oracle spokeswoman said she could not immediately comment on the matter.

Security experts recommended that users not enable Java for universal use on their browsers. Instead, they said it was safest to allow use of Java browser plug-ins on a case-by-case basis when prompted for permission by trusted programs such as GoToMeeting, a Web-based collaboration tool from Citrix Systems Inc.

Rapid7 has set up a web page that tells users whether their browser has a Java plug-in installed that is vulnerable to attack: www.isjavaexploitable.com/

(Editing by Ciro Scotti)

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Apple up on Samsung win; trouble for Android - analysts

The logo of Apple is seen on a product displayed at a store in Seoul August 24, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Lee Jae-Won

By Sayantani Ghosh and Sruthi Ramakrishnan

Mon Aug 27, 2012 8:58pm IST

REUTERS - Shares of Apple Inc climbed to an all-time high on Monday morning, after the iPhone maker won a bitter patent war against Samsung Electronics Co Ltd that may change the dynamics of the booming mobile computing market.

Analysts said the win strengthened Apple's position ahead of the iPhone 5 launch and could cement its dominance in the market as companies using Google Inc's Android operating system - two-thirds of the global market - may be forced to consider design changes.

Apple was awarded $1.05 billion in damages on Friday after a U.S. jury found the Korean company had copied critical features of the iPhone and iPad. The verdict could lead to an outright ban on sales of key Samsung products.

"While a ban would likely increase Apple's leading smartphone share in the U.S. market, we believe this verdict could lead to Samsung also delaying near-term product launches as it attempts to design around Apple's patents," Canaccord Genuity analysts said in a note.

Google shares were down 1.3 percent at $669.57, while Samsung's stock slumped 7.5 percent, wiping off more than $12 billion from the South Korean company's market valuation.

Shares of Apple were up 2 percent at $676.71 on the Nasdaq late on Monday morning, after hitting an all-time high of $680.87 earlier in the session.

The verdict comes as competition in the mobile device industry intensifies, with Google jumping into hardware for the first time with its Nexus 7 tablet, and Microsoft Corp's new touchscreen-friendly Windows 8 coming in October, led by its "Surface" tablet.

The jolt to Android could also mean good news in the near term for Research in Motion Ltd's upcoming BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system and for Nokia's phones.

Shares of the BlackBerry maker were up 3.1 percent at C$7.09 on the Toronto exchange, while Microsoft's stock was up 0.8 percent at $30.81 on the Nasdaq.

"The verdict does not come as a surprise," wrote William Blair & Co analysts. "From Apple's perspective, Samsung's market size position and its leadership in the handset world was something the company could no longer overlook, and viewing this as another 'imitation is a form of flattery' was not possible."

"Companies such as Samsung, who we categorize as fast followers, have been viewed by the industry for their ability to quickly adopt the latest handset trends ... rather than their ability to introduce fundamental innovation."

Samsung, which sold around 50 million phones between April and June - almost twice the number of iPhones - will have to pay less than half the compensation Apple sought. The damages are just 1.5 percent of annual revenue from Samsung's telecoms business.

While the victory does not cover new Samsung products including the Galaxy SIII, Apple will push its case on these products in the near-term, Evercore Partners analyst Mark McKechnie said.

He added that an all-out sales ban on Samsung products like the Galaxy S and SII, Nexus 4G and Galaxy Tab is unlikely.

(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh and Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bangalore, Jennifer Saba in New York; editing by Joyjeet Das and Matthew Lewis)

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With Samsung win on Galaxy Tab, judge may reconsider U.S. ban

The Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Tab is displayed for customers at a store in Seoul April 6, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji/Files

By Basil Katz and Dan Levine

Mon Aug 27, 2012 10:22am IST

REUTERS - Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) legal victory on Friday over Korean rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) was crushing but for one key front in its global smartphone and tablet patent war: Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1.

The jury in the San Jose, California, federal court awarded the iPhone and iPad maker $1.05 billion in damages and said Samsung had copied critical features in the U.S. company's products.

However, it declined to side with Apple on one patent, covering design elements on the iPad. That put the jury directly at odds with the judge in the case who, only two months earlier, had sided with Apple over allegations the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet ripped off Apple's design.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh issued a pre-trial order barring Samsung from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the United States.

Late on Sunday, Samsung asked Koh to dissolve the order, due to the jury's finding. "There is thus no proper basis for maintaining the injunction," Samsung attorneys wrote.

An Apple representative could not be reached immediately for comment.

Samsung's Galaxy touch screen tablets, powered by Google's (GOOG.O) Android operating system, are considered by some industry experts to be the main rival among larger tablets to the iPad, although they are currently a distant second in sales to Apple's device.

Normally, when a preliminary injunction based on one patent becomes inconsistent with a subsequent verdict, the party subject to the injunction asks the court to lift it, said Mark McKenna, a professor at the University of Notre Dame's Law School.

Yet while the jury absolved Samsung on allegations the Galaxy Tab violated Apple's design patent, it did say the device infringed some of Apple's software patents. That could complicate Samsung's pitch, McKenna said.

"If Samsung or Google could design around those patents, use features that didn't infringe, then they could sell the devices without violating the injunction," McKenna said.

Additionally, Koh can overrule the jury's decision and issue a verdict saying the Galaxy Tab infringed Apple's design patent.

"Judge Koh appears to be of the mindset that the accused Samsung tablet easily meets the 'substantially the same' infringement standard - so much so that the facts lead to one and only one conclusion - infringement," said Christopher Carani, a partner at Chicago-based intellectual property law firm McAndrews, Held & Malloy.

"Thus, Apple has a greater chance than usual to succeed in convincing Judge Koh to play this extraordinary trump card."

If the sales ban is ultimately dissolved, Samsung could go after Apple for damages for the wrongful imposition of the injunction, legal experts said.

Samsung, which has various tablet line-ups with different sizes from 7 inches to 10.1 inches (17.8-25.7 cm), introduced the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in June last year and recently unveiled an upgraded version, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 II.

The company said that Koh's injunction would not affect the updated Tab 10.1 II.

The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, is Apple Inc v. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, 11-1846.

(Reporting By Basil Katz in New York and Dan Levine in Oakland, California; Editing by Paul Tait and Alex Richardson)

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Friend and foe; Samsung, Apple won't want to damage parts deal

Memory chips made by Samsung Electronics are displayed at the company's main office in Seoul January 29, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Lee Jae-Won/Files

By Miyoung Kim

SEOUL | Mon Aug 27, 2012 5:35pm IST

SEOUL (Reuters) - While Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) is reeling from a patent pounding by its smartphone rival Apple Inc (AAPL.O), this is unlikely to damage the other part of their relationship - where Samsung is the sole supplier of Apple-designed chips that power the iPhone and iPad.

At an emergency meeting in Seoul early on Sunday following the damning U.S. legal defeat, the South Korean group's post mortem was led by vice chairman Choi Gee-sung and the head of the mobile business JK Shin, rather than by CEO Kwon Oh-hyun, whose primary role is in charge of the components business.

The clear message from Samsung is that a strict internal firewall between its handset business and its components operations remains intact.

While it plans to appeal the U.S. verdict, and a damages bill for $1.05 billion for copying critical features of Apple's popular mobile devices - a sum that could be trebled - Samsung will not want to put at risk its Apple supply contract which is worth billions of dollars.

GRAPHIC: World smartphone sales r.reuters.com/sat99s

INSIDER video on verdict r.reuters.com/fah32t

As well as being the only supplier of micro processors for the iPhone and iPad, Samsung also supplies DRAM and NAND-type memory chips and flat screens used in the popular Apple gadgets. Samsung products comprise 26 percent of the component cost of the iPhone, Samsung's lead counsel Charles Verhoeven was quoted as saying in the media.

Samsung's component sales could hit $13 billion next year and bring in $2.2 billion in operating profit, according to a recent estimate by Morgan Stanley. That's nearly 8 percent of estimated group operating profit for next year.

TOO IMPORTANT

Experts and analysts said the symbiotic business relationship between Samsung and Apple is too important for either to put at risk.

"Apple needs Samsung to make the iPhone and iPad. Period. Samsung is the sole supplier of Apple's processing chips and without Samsung, they can't make these products," said James Song, an analyst at KDB Daewoo Securities in Seoul. "Samsung might be considering lots of options to leverage its components business' importance and pressure Apple, and Apple could be also well aware of this."

With that in mind, Samsung had sought to resolve the patent dispute with Apple - which Apple first brought up shortly after Samsung launched its first Galaxy model in 2010 - through negotiation rather than in the courtroom.

"We initially proposed to negotiate with Apple instead of going to court, as they had been one of our most important customers," Samsung said in an internal memo sent to employees and released to the media on Monday. "However, Apple pressed on with a lawsuit, and we have had little choice but to counter sue."

While Samsung has been found to have copied innovative features of the iPhone and iPad, the Korean group's lawyers have emphasized that its own innovative components and wireless technology patents, which the U.S. jury ruled that Apple did not violate, made Apple's products a reality.

"Apple isn't that stupid (to risk its Samsung parts deal). Apple's agreements with Samsung will ensure that Samsung has no choice but to comply and supply," Florian Mueller, an intellectual property consultant, posted on his blog.

"Also, Samsung's other customers would lose faith if it turned out unreliable. And since Apple threatened Samsung with litigation two years ago, it's had plenty of time to identify alternatives."

SHARP SELL-OFF

Samsung itself shrugged off market concerns that its component contracts were at risk due to the litigation. Samsung shares tumbled more than 7 percent on Monday, wiping $12 billion off its market value.

"(The) supply contract remains a separate issue from the litigation and there'll be no change to it going forward," said an executive who took part in Sunday's meeting, which was not attended Jay Y. Lee, chief operating offer and heir apparent to Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee, according to the executive.

Kwon was promoted to CEO in June, with JK Shin and BK Yoon leading the telecommunications and consumer electronics divisions respectively so as to avoid potential conflicts of interest, as Samsung supplies parts to its main rivals such as Apple, Nokia (NOK1V.HE), HTC Corp (2498.TW) and Sony Corp (6758.T).

As demand for mobile gadgets has soared, Samsung announced just last week a $4 billion investment to boost output at its U.S. chip plant, where it makes chips for the iPhone and iPad. That comes on top of $2 billion of spending Samsung unveiled two months ago to build a new chip plant and the conversion of existing chip lines to make logic chips to power mobile gadgets.

SUPPLY CHAIN

Apple has been looking to spread its supply chain to reduce its reliance on Samsung. The U.S. firm frequently faces a supply crunch when a new product is launched, triggering a consumer stampede that drives demand far in excess of supply and production capability.

Earlier this year, a source told Reuters that Japan's Elpida Memory Inc (ELPDF.PK) was selling more than half of its mobile DRAM chips to Apple.

Samsung mainly competes with Toshiba Corp (6502.T) and Korean rival SK Hynix (000660.KS) in supplying memory chips for Apple, and LG Display (034220.KS) in flat-screen panels.

Samsung has around 70 percent global market share in mobile DRAMs, but Apple sources only 40 percent of its mobile DRAM chip requirement from Samsung, a boon to the likes of Elpida and SK Hynix, analysts say.

Shares in LG Display, which is widely speculated to supply a new and thinner panel for the next iPhone, jumped more than 4 percent on Monday. SK Hynix slipped 0.5 percent in a flat market.

"For its part, Samsung is also diversifying its customer base to reduce its reliance to Apple - adding new ones like Qualcomm (QCOM.O), and that'll prove to be a good strategy longer term as Apple component margins are generally low due to its huge bargaining power," said Daewoo's Song.

"Other suppliers may benefit from a worsening Apple/Samsung relationship in the short term, but in terms of margins, I'm doubtful they can make good money from any Apple cookie crumbs that Samsung throws away."

(Reporting by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

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Apple seeks quick bans on eight Samsung phones

Customers hold their newly purchased Samsung Galaxy S2 android phone in Jakarta July 23, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Beawiharta/Files

By Sayantani Ghosh and Sruthi Ramakrishnan

Tue Aug 28, 2012 11:19am IST

REUTERS - Apple Inc(AAPL.O) is seeking speedy bans on the sale of eight Samsung Electronics(005930.KS) phones, moving swiftly to translate its resounding court victory over its rival into a tangible business benefit.

The world's most valuable company wasted no time in identifying its targets on Monday: eight older-model smartphones, including the Galaxy S2 and Droid Charge. While Apple's lawsuit encompassed 28 devices, many of those accused products are no longer widely available in the world's largest mobile market.

Although Samsung's flagship Galaxy S III phone was not included in the trial, the jury validated Apple's patents on features and design elements that the U.S. company could then try to wield against that device. Apple may not have to seek a new trial over the S III, but can include it in a "contempt proceeding" that moves much faster, according to legal experts.

Many on Wall Street believe Apple now has momentum behind it in the wake of its near-complete triumph over the South Korean company on Friday.

"The evidence and weight of the case are heavily in Apple's favor," said Jefferies & Co analyst Peter Misek. "We expect there's a two-thirds chance of an injunction against Samsung products."

An injunction hearing has been set for September 20. If U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh grants sales bans, Samsung will likely seek to put them on hold pending the outcome of its appeal.

Samsung said it will take all necessary measures to ensure the availability of its products in the U.S. market. A source familiar with the situation said Samsung has already started working with U.S. carriers about modifying infringing features to keep products on the market should injunctions be granted.

Apple's win on Friday strengthens its position ahead of the iPhone 5's expected September 12 launch and could cement its market dominance as companies using Google Inc's (GOOG.O) Android operating system - two-thirds of the global market - may be forced to consider design changes, analysts say.

Apple was awarded $1.05 billion in damages after a U.S. jury found Samsung had copied critical features of the iPhone and iPad. The verdict could lead to an outright ban on sales of key Samsung products.

Apple's stock scored another record high on Monday.

While the victory does not cover new Samsung products including the Galaxy S III, Apple will push its case on these products in the near-term, Evercore Partners analyst Mark McKechnie said.

"While a ban would likely increase Apple's leading smartphone share in the U.S. market, we believe this verdict could lead to Samsung also delaying near-term product launches as it attempts to design around Apple's patents," Canaccord Genuity analysts said in a note.

INSIDER video: Apple boosted r.reuters.com/dum32t

TOOTH-AND-NAIL

Apple's shares gained 1.9 percent to close at $675.68, tacking on another $12 billion-plus to its already historically leading market value. Samsung lost about the same amount in market capitalization as its shares slid 7.5 percent in Seoul.

Samsung shares rebounded 1.8 percent on Tuesday.

"The ruling marks an important victory for Apple against Android. Competitors may now think twice about how they compete in smart mobility devices with the industry's clear innovator," Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes wrote on Monday. "If Apple forces competitors to innovate more, it could take longer for competitive products to come to market, and make it more expensive to develop them."

The victory for Apple - which upended the smartphone industry in 2007 with the iPhone - is a big blow to Google, whose Android software powers the Samsung products found to have infringed on patents. Google and its hardware partners, including the company's own Motorola unit, could now face legal hurdles in their effort to compete with the Apple juggernaut.

Google shares closed 1.4 percent lower at $669.22. Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), a potential beneficiary if smartphone makers begin to seek out Android alternatives, ended up 0.4 percent. Nokia(NOK1V.HE), which has staked its future on Windows phones, gained 7.7 percent.

Even Research in Motion(RIM.TO)(RIMM.O) - which has hemorrhaged market share to Apple and Google - climbed more than 5 percent, before ending 2 percent higher.

"The mobile industry is moving fast and all players, including newcomers, are building upon ideas that have been around for decades," Google responded in a Sunday statement. "We work with our partners to give consumers innovative and affordable products, and we don't want anything to limit that."

The verdict came as competition in the device industry is intensifying, with Google jumping into hardware for the first time with the Nexus 7 and Microsoft's touchscreen-friendly Windows 8 coming in October, led by its "Surface" tablet.

Samsung, which sold around 50 million phones between April and June - almost twice the number of iPhones - will have to pay damages equivalent to just 1.5 percent of the annual revenue from its telecoms business.

"The verdict does not come as a surprise," wrote William Blair & Co analysts. "From Apple's perspective, Samsung's market position and its leadership in the handset world was something the company could no longer overlook, and viewing this as another 'imitation is a form of flattery' was not possible."

"Companies such as Samsung, who we categorize as fast followers, have been viewed by the industry for their ability to quickly adopt the latest handset trends ... rather than their ability to introduce fundamental innovation."

(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh and Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bangalore, Jennifer Saba in New York; Additional reporting by Miyoung Kim in SEOUL; editing by Joyjeet Das, Matthew Lewis, Richard Chang and Ian Geoghegan)

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How Apple overwhelmed Samsung's patent case tactics

An employee poses as he holds Apple's iPhone 4s (L) and Samsung's Galaxy S III at a store in Seoul August 24, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Lee Jae-Won

By Dan Levine and Poornima Gupta

SAN FRANCISCO | Mon Aug 27, 2012 9:58am IST

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - In August 2010, just a few months after Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) launched its Galaxy smartphone, a team of Apple Inc (AAPL.O) lawyers flew to South Korea.

Apple's late co-founder, Steve Jobs, had already told Samsung executives at a meeting earlier that summer that he considered the Galaxy S, based on Google's (GOOG.O) Android operating system, an illegal copy of the iPhone. But given the extensive business ties between the two companies - Samsung is one of Apple's key component suppliers - a negotiated solution seemed most likely.

The Apple attorneys were blunt: "Android is designed to lead companies to imitate the iPhone product design and strategy," read the second slide in their presentation.

But the meeting did not go well, according to a person familiar with the case. Samsung attorneys bristled at being accused of copying, and produced a set of their own patents that they said Apple was using without permission.

The meeting brought to the fore a fundamental disagreement between the two companies, and set the stage for a bitter, multi-country patent dispute that led to Friday's U.S. jury verdict that Samsung had violated Apple's patents. The jury awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages, which could be tripled as the jury found Samsung acted willfully.

Samsung could now face a costly ban on sales of key smartphone and tablet products. Shares in Samsung - the world's biggest technology firm by revenue - tumbled more than 7 percent on Monday, set for its biggest daily percentage drop in nearly four years, wiping $12 billion off its market value.

Samsung says it will seek to overturn the decision, and the worldwide patent battles among tech giants are hardly over. But for now at least the decision in what was widely seen as a critical case promises to re-set the competitive balance in the industry.

GRAPHIC: World smartphone sales r.reuters.com/sat99s

GRAPHIC: Apple earnings r.reuters.com/nez59s

GRAPHIC: Samsung earnings r.reuters.com/zyx29s

The vast majority of patent disputes settle before trial, particularly between competitors. In this case, though, the stakes were just too high - and the two companies ultimately had very different views of the often murky legal issues.

Samsung believed its wireless communications patents were strong and valuable, and would serve as a counter-weight to any Apple showing of infringement, people close to the case say.

The South Korean company also didn't believe Apple could or should be allowed to claim patent protection on design elements like the form of a rectangle, or the front flat surface embodied on the iPhone.

Apple, for its part, considered its feature and design patents to be very high up on the intellectual property food chain - and demonstrating their validity was critical to a much wider war against Android.

The two companies never came close to settling their differences, according to courtroom testimony, trial evidence and interviews with several sources close to the case.

And when it came to the trial, Samsung's lawyers miscalculated in arguing that a verdict for Apple would harm competition in the marketplace. The jurors, led by a foreman who holds his own patent, were more persuaded by Apple's pleas to protect innovation. For them, it ultimately wasn't even a close call.

A spokesman for Samsung in Seoul had no immediate comment.

CORDIAL BUT ADAMANT

Apple launched the iPhone in 2007, revolutionizing the mobile phone market. But later that year Google, then still an ally of Apple's, unveiled the Open Handset Alliance, with the aim of distributing its Android smartphone software to all-comers.

Google's open approach quickly caught on among manufacturers looking to compete with Apple. The strategy infuriated Jobs, and by 2009 relations between the two companies had soured and Google's then-CEO, Eric Schmidt, left Apple's board. Jobs' biographer famously quotes him as accusing Google of "grand theft" and vowing to "go to thermonuclear war" over the issue.

In January 2010, Taiwanese phone manufacturer HTC Corp (2498.TW) launched a touch screen, Android-based smartphone that sported features very similar to the iPhone. Apple sued in March of that year, and the Android smartphone patent wars were on.

HTC, though, was a minor player compared with Samsung.

After the cordial but failed August 2010 meeting, attorneys from Apple and Samsung talked in a series of meetings both in South Korea, California and elsewhere in the United States.

Apple's attorneys set to work putting a price tag on a royalty demand. By October 2010, they had concluded that Samsung should pay $24 per smartphone, and $32 per tablet. Based on Samsung's own estimation of its profits, Apple's royalty payments would effectively wipe out more than half of Samsung's margins on any phone priced less than $450.

And, Apple's offer wouldn't have covered the "unique user experience" patents Apple holds dear. "We made that clear," said Apple licensing chief Boris Teksler.

By the end of 2010, the meetings stopped as the two sides were too far apart.

VIEWED AS RIP-OFF

Apple hoped its relationship with Samsung would make filing an actual lawsuit unnecessary. Yet instead of wilting under Apple's pressure, Samsung instead pressed its own patent claims, including a critical one relating to how mobile products send and receive information over wireless networks.

Samsung eventually would request a 2.4 percent royalty on those patents, or $14.40 per device.

But Samsung had committed to license its wireless patents on fair terms to competitors over the years, in exchange for the technology becoming part of the industry standard. Courts have generally been reluctant to bar companies from using such "standards essential" patents, and thus they are often less valuable than other types of intellectual property.

Then, in early 2011, Samsung released the Galaxy Tab 10.1. To Apple, it was a clear rip-off of the iPad, and showed Samsung had no intention of modifying its products.

Apple sued Samsung in a San Jose, California federal court in April 2011, saying the Korean company "slavishly" copied its designs. Samsung quickly counter sued, and the dispute bled into at least 10 courts around the world, including Australia and South Korea.

Over the next year, outside law firms hired by both companies racked up thousands of billable hours around the world, but no decisive rulings threatened either side. Jobs passed away in October 2011, and Cook carried on the litigation, filed "reluctantly," he said.

Until recently it had mostly been a see-saw battle. Apple largely succeeded in thwarting HTC. But earlier this year a federal judge in Chicago threw out a case pitting Apple against Google's Motorola Mobility unit, saying neither side could prove damages.

For Apple, the California lawsuit against Samsung took on even more urgency as it sought to prove the basic validity of its iPhone and iPad patent claims.

It scored its first serious victory in the San Jose court when U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh issued two sales bans: one against the Galaxy Tab 10.1, and the other against the Galaxy Nexus phone. In her ruling on the tablet, Koh said Samsung had the right to compete, "but does not have right to compete unfairly."

Yet Koh repeatedly urged the two sides to settle. Last month, Cook and his Samsung counterpart Choi Gee-sung participated in one last mediation in an attempt to stave off the impending U.S. trial.

They couldn't agree. Besides the dispute over the "standards essential" patents, Samsung believes it has a stronger patent portfolio than Apple when it comes to next-generation technology like 4G.

OUT OF TIME

The trial began on July 30. Apple presented top executives who testified in coherent narratives, and revealed damaging internal Samsung documents that showed the company modifying its products to be more like the iPhone.

Samsung's case was far less slick. Koh gave both sides 25 hours of trial time, but Samsung lawyers used up too much time in the beginning and couldn't cross examine some Apple witnesses towards the end. Samsung employees testified through interpreters, or in video depositions that alienated jurors.

"Instead of witnesses, they sent you lawyers," Apple attorney Harold McElhinny said during his closing argument.

And while Samsung's own patents were a major part of behind-the-scenes negotiations, at trial its lawyers struggled to present them on an equal footing with Apple's intuitively comprehensible design and feature patents.

Samsung could have opted for a separate trial on its patents, but declined. Its lawyers may have believed that placing its own allegations in front of the same jury would balance out any toxic impact from breaches of Apple patents.

It didn't work. Samsung violated six of Apple's patents, the jury said. Whether damages will be tripled is a decision for Koh in the coming weeks.

Samsung asked for up to $399 million on its standards patents. It got nothing.

Samsung has vowed to keep fighting. It could get an appeals court to delay any potential sales ban, which would give it time to bring new, modified products to the market.

But barring a reversal on appeal, Apple now has a clear verdict: how it values its intellectual property is more than just a theory.

The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, is Apple Inc v. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, 11-1846.

(Reporting by Dan Levine and Poornima Gupta; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Ian Geoghegan)

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Apple Submits List of Smartphones It Wishes To Be Banned

If the gaming industry (and the technology industry) is wanting to thrive, it must innovate, according to the PlayStation Europe Boss, Jim Ryan. When Ryan spoke to MCV, the executive sounded off on the varied trends in the gaming industry today. “It is great that the industry evolves and goes in different directions,” Ryan said. [...]

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SEC to review "quiet period" IPO rule after Facebook mess: WSJ

The Facebook logo is seen on a screen inside at the Nasdaq Marekstsite in New York May 18, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton/Files

REUTERS - U.S. stock market regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reviewing whether to relax rules governing what companies can say ahead of initial public offerings, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The review comes after Facebook's (FB.O) botched listing, which prompted more than a dozen shareholder lawsuits accusing Facebook and its underwriters of obscuring the company's weakened growth forecasts ahead of the listing. Facebook shares have almost halved from their $38 IPO price.

Some U.S. lawmakers have complained that small investors were kept uninformed in the runup to the May IPO, the Journal said.

The head of SEC Mary Schapiro has asked her staff to review the "quiet period" rules which ban remarks about a firm's prospects around the time of a share sale, the Journal said, citing a letter Schapiro recently sent to Republican Congressman Darrell Issa.

"We should review our communications rules and the application of the quiet period" in light of changes in technology and the stock market in recent years, Schapiro wrote in her August 23 letter, which was a response to one Issa sent in June, the WSJ reported.

Issa wrote in his June 19 letter that in the case of Facebook's IPO, "the informational disadvantage to the less informed public proved harmful".

Schapiro, while declining to comment on the Facebook share offer, responded by saying the agency could review rules that gag company executives ahead of an IPO to prevent hyping of a stock, the paper said.

The SEC could not immediately be reached for comment by Reuters outside of regular U.S. business hours.

(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)

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Archos to launch 11.6-inch Full HD XS tablet in 2013, reveals prices of Smaller XS tablets

Archos, the French electronics company, has finally revealed three new Android tablets as a part of 10th generation genXS lineup. Previous year’s kernel revealed that a ~12” offering from the company was in the pipeline, and things have turned out to be more clear now. Archos is said to be working towards launching an 11.6 inch tablet device. The company isn’t the first one to reveal a 10 inch plus in the works, however, 116 XS is going to be the cheapest in that category.

Some people would argue and render an 11.6 inch or 13.3 inch tablet device as useless, but it’s not okay to make such claims without the actual device being launched in the market. If we go back in time, people had said similar things to say about Samsung’s Galaxy Note device, which is basically a 5.3 inch tablet hybrid device, or a phablet. Things turned out to be different after the launch of Galaxy Note, and it turned out to be incredibly successful. Samsung managed to sell more than 10 million units of this phablet, and the upcoming successor of the device, Samsung Galaxy Note II, is also expected to experience similar success. Galaxy Note’s case definitely testifies the fact that one cannot predict how a device will work out to be in the market without it being actually launched. There was a time when any device that is tiny and compact would sell in large numbers, but consumers are going towards bigger screens these days, so giving consumers what they’re demanding definitely makes sense if a company wants to sell its products.

The Archos 116 XS will be the first device from Archos to incorporate a screen with Full HD resolution of 1920×1200. The device is slated to make a launch in early 2013, and will be booting Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box. The company is aiming to keep the price tag well below €5 00. If you take a look at the above image, it’s clear that like the 101 XS, even 116 XS will come with a ‘coverboard’ keyboard dock.

Launch of Asus’ Google Nexus 7, a 7 inch Android Jelly Bean tablet, has sent shockwaves across the tablet industry. The build quality of this budget device is great, so is the hardware. Google Nexus 7 retails at $199 for the 8 gig model and $249 for the 16 gig model, and this device has now set a standard for how a budget tablet device should look, feel and function like. More and more manufacturers are working towards manufacturing their own device to challenge Google Nexus 7, and Archos is one of them. Archos will be launching an 8 inch Archos 80 XS with a price tag of €200. Google’s Nexus 7 is now available in Germany, France, and Spain for the same price, and that discloses the fact that Archos is indeed working towards competing head-to-head with the Asus-made Google Nexus 7. Archos’ offering will of course have some advantage over Nexus 7, including the bigger screen and the 4:3 aspect ratio. The 80 XS is expected to launch by end of this year, and inclusion of coverboard keyboard dock is highly unlikely as it’s a budget tablet device, however, it may be offered as an option, unlike what the case is with the 101 XS.

The third device is the Archos 97 XS. This device will be having an IPS touchscreen display with 4:3 aspect ratio. It must be noted that not many manufacturers in the Android tablet business use 4:3 aspect ratio for their screens, however, one notable player in this field using this aspect ratio is Apple in its iPad range of tablets. Archos 97 XS is expected to be launched in the market as early as November, and this model too will be booting Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box. It will come with a price tag of €399, and more details on this device are expected to be out soon.

The prices quoted are of course not final and may change at the time of actual launch. Like the recently announced 101 XS, all these devices will also have a very thin form factor. Archos 101 XS’ design is very elegant to say the least. Taking a look at track record of Archos, we expect the G10/XS lineup to be using the same TI OMAP 4470 dual-core processor that is used on other models.

It’s good to see that Archos is finally switching to Full HD touchscreens, and bigger displays, thus entering the league of big boys. Tablets with bigger screen may do well or may not sell at all, as not many have ventured into this market yet. Nevertheless, this transition is sure to help the French company in the long run. What are your thoughts on these tablet devices? Would you fancy buying one for yourself? Have your say in the comment section below.

Company profile: Archos is a French consumer electronics company that was established in 1988. It has developed a variety of products, including digital audio players, digital video recorders, a personal digital assistant, portable video players (PVP), netbooks, tablet computers using Google Android and Microsoft Windows (tablet PCs). Archos is also the name given to the core artificial intelligence responsible for the robot that is featured in Robopocalypse, a popular novel.

Tags: Archos, big tablets

Category: Tech News

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