Vegas casino seeking Britney Spears residency

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? After weeks of speculation, Caesars Entertainment is confirming that it's trying to lure Britney Spears to Las Vegas for a recurring gig at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino.

Spokeswoman Emily Wofford said Friday the company is in negotiations to install the pop princess on the Las Vegas Strip.

The 31-year-old "Scream & Shout" singer stoked residency rumors last week by responding with a "Viva Las Vegas" hashtag to a post from her dog's Twitter account asking if puppies can gamble in Sin City.

Spears left her position on the television singing contest "The X Factor" in January, telling fans she wanted to refocus on her music.

Caesars Entertainment currently is promoting residencies by singers Cee Lo Green at Planet Hollywood and Shania Twain at Caesars Palace.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vegas-casino-seeking-britney-spears-residency-190232326.html

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Eye-catching rickshaws promote peace in Pakistan

Fareed Khan / AP

A rickshaw driver, his vehicle adorned with a message of peace, makes his way through the slums of Karachi, Pakistan on Feb. 2, 2013.

By Sebastian Abbot, The Associated Press

Published at 5:23 a.m. ET:?KARACHI, Pakistan?? Pakistani youth leader Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi has a plan to counter the relentless message of violence spewed forth by radical Islamic groups in his country ? and he is stealing a gimmick from the hard-liners' own playbook to do it.

His weapon: the three-wheeled motorized rickshaws that buzz along Pakistan's streets carrying paying customers.

Fareed Khan / AP

Artists prepare colorful panels for rickshaws in Karachi on Feb. 2, 2013.

Radical Islamists have long used the rickshaws as a canvas to display slogans in support of religious warfare in neighboring India and Afghanistan and to foster hatred against the United States.

Zaidi is turning that strategy on its head with a fleet of rickshaws emblazoned with peace slogans and decorated with colorful designs similar to those found on many trucks and buses in the country. Read the full story.

Source: http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/08/16895999-eye-catching-rickshaws-promote-peace-in-pakistan?lite

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Asia stocks rise as China posts big trade jump

BANGKOK (AP) ? Asian stock markets were mostly higher Friday, boosted by better-than-expected trade data from China that provided new evidence of an upswing in the world's second-largest economy.

Exports rose 25 percent in January from a year earlier, the government reported, while imports soared 28 percent. A large part of the increase was due to companies rushing to fill orders before shutting down for up to two weeks for the Lunar New Year holidays that begin Sunday.

"Seeing the underlying trend is a little difficult. Nevertheless, the data were above expectations and seem generally positive," said Moody's Analytics economist Alaistair Chan in a report.

A more accurate picture of China's trade at the beginning of the year will emerge once February's data is released, said Dariusz Kowalczyk of Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong. But he added that investors still might interpret the January figures at face value and push up stock markets.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.2 percent to 23,210.96. South Korea's Kospi advanced 1 percent to 1,950.50. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.6 percent to 4,966.60. Benchmarks in Singapore, mainland China and the Philippines also rose.

Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 1.4 percent to 11,202.47, slumping after a recent rally spurred by a weakening yen.

Some analysts believe the yen's weakness may have bottomed out. A weaker yen benefits Japan's export manufacturers because it makes their products cheaper in overseas markets.

Many stock markets across Asia, including those in mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, will be closed Monday for holidays celebrating the Lunar New Year. Hong Kong's holidays run through to Wednesday while China and Taiwan are closed all week. Japan's markets are also closed Monday.

Among individual stocks, Japan's Panasonic Corp. fell 4.8 percent while Sony Corp. plummeted 8.6 percent. South Korea's Samsung Electronics rose 3 percent. Australia's Newcrest Mining advanced 4.9 percent.

Wall Street fell Thursday as weaker earnings unnerved investors despite data suggesting that company layoffs are easing. Media conglomerate News Corp. cut its forecast for annual earnings. Sprint Nextel Corp., the third-largest wireless carrier in the U.S., lost $1.3 billion in its latest quarter as it revamped its network to take on larger competitors.

On the bright side, fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week. Applications for unemployment benefits falling 5,000 to 366,000.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 0.3 percent at 13,944.05. The S&P 500 fell 0.2 percent to 1,509.4. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.1 percent to 3,165.13.

Benchmark oil for March delivery was up 27 cents to $96.10 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 79 cents to finish at $95.83 a barrel on the Nymex on Thursday.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3410 from $1.3401 late Thursday in New York. The dollar was down at 93.48 yen from 93.52 yen.

___

Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-08-World%20Markets/id-280aeee95a5a436f8ac9e861b0654c94

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Fed says still determining extent of hacker breach, FBI probing

By Anne Laurent: A 9-year-old Mexican girl, under the reported name of Dafne, gave birth to a baby girl on Jan. 27, 2013 in Jalisco, Mexico. Both mother and child are at home and healthy, Dr. Enrique Rabago, director of Zapopan Hospital, said at a...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fed-says-still-determining-extent-hacker-breach-fbi-222759171.html

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Moody's shares slide despite strong earns

NEW YORK (AP) -- Moody's fourth-quarter net income jumped 66 percent and revenue blew away expectations, but shares slid with many expecting the ratings agency will be the next target of the Justice Department, which filed a suit against a rival for its actions before the housing market collapse.

The Obama administration accused Standard & Poor's on Tuesday of refusing to warn investors that the housing market was collapsing in 2006 because it would be bad for business.

In the days since S&P announced that the lawsuit would be filed, Moody's shares have tumbled 15 percent, falling another 6 percent Friday.

CEO Raymond McDaniel said that he had no knowledge of any pending action against the company during a conference call with investors Friday.

For the quarter ended Dec. 31, the New York company earned $160.1 million, or 70 cents per share, up from $96.2 million, or 43 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

Revenue jumped 33 percent to $754.2 million, easily topping Wall Street expectations for revenue of $687.1 million in revenue, according to FactSet.

U.S. revenue rose 40 percent to $400.9 million, while overseas revenue increased 26 percent to $353.3 million.

Revenue from Moody's Investors Service, its credit rating arm, rose 42 percent to $519.4 million, as global corporate finance revenue jumped 73 percent to $244.9 million on higher demand for credit ratings.

Why Moody's was not included in the Justice Department action was debated all week, though the direction of the company's stock suggests that most believe that is only a matter of time. And experts said the lawsuit could serve as a template for future action against Fitch and Moody's, the other two major credit rating agencies.

According to the lawsuit, S&P gave high marks to the investments because it wanted to earn more business from the banks that issued them. S&P has denied any wrongdoing, and it has vowed to fight the civil charges filed by the Justice Department.

For the full year, Moody's earned $690 million, or $3.05 per share, up from $571.4 million, or $2.49 per share, in 2011. Revenue rose to $2.73 billion from $2.28 billion.

The company said that despite the continued economic uncertainty, it expects market conditions to remain favorable this year and projected a 2013 profit of $3.45 to $3.55 per share. Analysts expect $3.25 per share.

But it projected a slow-down in revenue growth at Moody's Investors Service, predicting a revenue increase in the "high-single-digit percent range," down from the 20 percent increase it posted in 2012.

In afternoon trading, Moody's shares fell $2.94, or 6 percent, to $44.05, after dropping as low as $43.89 earlier in the day.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/moodys-shares-slide-despite-strong-162603145.html

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