Sony said to be developing online TV service

The Sony XBR-84X900 could feature the company's new television service, which is rumored to be in the works.

(Credit:
Sony)

Word on the street is that Sony is creating a Net-connected multichannel television service that could roll out as soon as this year, according to Variety. Purportedly, the company is in talks with at least two big content companies about channel licensing.

Such a service would put Sony in direct competition with both satellite and cable TV, as well as other tech companies that are branching out into the television market, such as Intel; Google, with Google Fiber; and Dish.

This isn't the first time rumors have floated that Sony has been looking to develop a TV service. In November 2011, The Wall Street Journal reported that Sony was working to distribute television channels through Net-connected TV sets as an alternative to cable. According to Variety, the negotiations Sony is currently working on are far more advanced than they were a year ago.

Sony already has a few channels, such as the Game Show Network, as well as Video and Music Unlimited, but the rumored new service is said to be far more comprehensive, with dozens of channels. Additionally, the deal could theoretically help Sony sell more of its entertainment-focused products, such as the
PlayStation 3 gaming console, Bravia TV sets, and Blu-ray players.

When asked about the possibility of a television service, a Sony representative told CNET that the company does not comment on rumors or speculation.

Read More..

Veteran's improbable survival gives heart to shell-shocked surgeon

(CBS News) AUBURN, Ala. -- The carnage Lee Warren encountered in the combat hospital at Balad, Iraq, in 2005 was like nothing he had ever seen as a neurosurgeon. And no patient was worse-off than a soldier brought in by helicopter after being hit by a roadside bomb.

"I unwrapped his head in the emergency room and looked at him and thought he was dead," Warren says.

He was, Warren later wrote, "one of the most horrifically injured people I have ever operated on."

"His scalp and the front part of his face was all gone, and then I could see his frontal lobe on the left side sort of protruding out onto his face," he says. "His brain was exposed and hanging out."

After four hours in surgery, Warren and three other doctors managed to get him on a medevac flight out of Iraq still alive. Warren called the soldier's father but could offer little hope.

"I just didn't see how anybody with that injury could survive," he says.

Warren left the military and started a successful practice, but he had nightmares about all the wounded soldiers whose fates he never learned.

Finally, he faced his demons by opening a trunk he had brought back from Iraq. He found bullets and shrapnel he had pulled from brains and a thumb-drive with files of his cases, including the soldier with that horrible head wound. Warren looked him up online.

Veterans turn to music therapy to reintegrate into civilian life
Intimacy lost: Veteran and his wife speak out on hidden toll of war
Caregivers of U.S. veterans bear scars of war

"And he popped up on a CBS interview -- very much alive and well," Warren says.

Army Spc. Paul Statzer

/

CBS News

He was Army Spc. Paul Statzer, and CBS had met him at Walter Reed Army Medical Center six months after he was hit.

He took off his helmet to show his injuries. Statzer had lost part of his frontal lobe but was still cogent.

"I'm a little slow on certain things but not that bad," he said at the time.

Asked what lesson a brain surgeon can draw from Statzer's case, Warren says, "The power of the human spirit and -- and indomitable faith can do a lot, sometimes more than I can with my two hands."

Over the years, Paul Statzer has suffered multiple infections and seizures. He's not able to work, and he's not up for another television interview. But when they met, he told the surgeon who thought he would never make it that he is up for living.

"That was one of the questions I asked him: 'Are you happy?' and he said, 'Yeah,' and he said, 'Thanks for saving me,'" Warren says.

And with that, the patient helped save the doctor from his own demons of Iraq.

Read More..

Senate Panel Probes Bin Laden Movie Torture Scenes

The Senate Intelligence Committee has launched a new probe to determine how much the CIA may have influenced the portrayal of torture scenes shown in "Zero Dark Thirty," the Hollywood dramatization of the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden.

The probe, as first reported by Reuters and confirmed to ABC News by a spokesperson for the committee's chairman, will attempt to answer two questions: Did the CIA give filmmakers "inappropriate" access to secret material and was the CIA responsible for the perceived suggestion that harsh interrogation techniques aided the hunt for America's most wanted man?

In a press release today, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Dianne Feinstein's office said Feinstein, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D.-Mich.) and former Presidential candidate John McCain (R.-Ariz.) – the latter two are ex officio members of the Intelligence Committee – sent two letters to acting CIA Director Michael Morell in December asking just what the CIA might have told the filmmakers about the effectiveness of enhanced interrogation.

The first letter, dated Dec. 19, focused on the possibility that the CIA "misled" the filmmakers into showing torture as an effective tactic.

"As you know, the film depicts CIA officers repeatedly torturing detainees. The film then credits CIA detainees subjected to coercive interrogation techniques as providing critical lead information on the courier that led to the [bin Laden] compound," the letter says. "The CIA cannot be held accountable for how the Agency and its activities are portrayed in film, but we are nonetheless concerned, given the CIA's cooperation with the filmmakers and the narrative's consistency with past public misstatements by former senior CIA officials, that the filmmakers could have been misled by information they were provided by the CIA."

Two days after the letter was sent, Morell posted a statement on the CIA website explaining that the movie was "not a realistic portrayal of the facts" but said some information did come from detainees subjected to enhanced interrogation.

"...[T]he film creates the strong impression that the enhanced interrogation techniques that were part of our former detention and interrogation program were key to finding Bin Laden. That impression is false," Morell said. "As we have said before, the truth is that multiple streams of intelligence led CIA analysts to conclude that Bin Laden was hiding in Abbottabad. Some came from detainees subjected to enhanced techniques, but there were many other sources as well. And, importantly, whether enhanced interrogation techniques were the only timely and effective way to obtain information from those detainees, as the film suggests, is a matter of debate that cannot and never will be definitively resolved."

The trio of Feinstein, Levin and McCain wrote the second letter on New Year's Eve in apparent frustration with that statement and asked Morell to provide information on what exactly the CIA learned from detainees who underwent harsh interrogation – and if it was learned before, during or after the detainees' ordeals.

A CIA spokesperson told ABC News today the agency had received the letters and "take[s] very seriously our responsibility to keep our oversight committees informed and value[s] our relationship with Congress."

Read More..

Central African Republic rebels halt advance, agree to peace talks

DAMARA, Central African Republic (Reuters) - Rebels in Central African Republic said they had halted their advance on the capital on Wednesday and agreed to start peace talks, averting a clash with regionally backed troops.

The Seleka rebels had pushed to within striking distance of Bangui after a three-week onslaught and threatened to oust President Francois Bozize, accusing him of reneging on a previous peace deal and cracking down on dissidents.

Their announcement on Wednesday gave the leader only a limited reprieve as the fighters told Reuters they might insist on his removal in the negotiations.

"I have asked our forces not to move their positions starting today because we want to enter talks in (Gabon's capital) Libreville for a political solution," said Seleka spokesman Eric Massi, speaking by telephone from Paris.

"I am in discussion with our partners to come up with proposals to end the crisis, but one solution could be a political transition that excludes Bozize," he said.

Bozize on Wednesday sacked his Army Chief of Staff and took over the defense minister's role from his son, Jean Francis Bozize, according to a decree read on national radio, a day after publicly criticizing the military for failing to repel the rebels.

The advance by Seleka, an alliance of mostly northeastern rebel groups, was the latest in a series of revolts in a country at the heart of one of Africa's most turbulent regions - and the most serious since the Chad-backed insurgency that swept Bozize to power in 2003.

Diplomatic sources have said talks organized by central African regional bloc ECCAS could start on January 10. The United States, the European Union and France have called on both sides to negotiate and spare civilians.

Central African Republic is one of the least developed countries in the world despite its deposits of gold, diamonds and other minerals. French nuclear energy group Areva mines the country's Bakouma uranium deposit - France's biggest commercial interest in its former colony.

RELIEF IN BANGUI

News of the rebel halt eased tension in Bangui, where residents had been stockpiling food and water and staying indoors after dark.

"They say they are no longer going to attack Bangui, and that's great news for us," said Jaqueline Loza in the crumbling riverside city.

ECCAS members Chad, Congo Republic, Gabon and Cameroon have sent hundreds of soldiers to reinforce CAR's army after a string of rebel victories since early December.

Gabonese General Jean Felix Akaga, commander of the regional force, said his troops were defending the town of Damara, 75 km (45 miles) north of Bangui and close to the rebel front.

"Damara is a red line not to be crossed ... Damara is in our control and Bangui is secure," he told Reuters. "If the rebellion decides to approach Damara, they know they will encounter a force that will react."

Soldiers armed with Kalashnikovs, rocket propelled grenade launchers and truck-mounted machineguns had taken up positions across the town, which was otherwise nearly-abandoned.

Some of the fighters wore turbans that covered their faces and had charms strung around their necks and arms meant to protect them against enemy bullets.

Chad's President Idriss Deby, one of Bozize's closest allies, had warned the rebels the regional force would confront them if they approached the town.

Chad provided training and equipment to the rebellion that brought Bozize to power by ousting then-president Ange Felix Patasse, who Chad accused of supporting Chadian dissidents.

Chad is also keen to keep a lid on instability in the territory close to its main oil export pipeline and has stepped in to defend Bozize against insurgents in the past.

A CAR government minister told Reuters the foreign troop presence strengthened Bozize's bargaining position ahead of the Libreville peace talks.

"The rebels are now in a position of weakness," the minister said, asking not to be named. "They should therefore stop imposing conditions like the departure of the president."

Central African Republic is one of a number of countries in the region where U.S. Special Forces are helping local soldiers track down the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group which has killed thousands of civilians across four nations.

France has a 600-strong force in CAR to defend about 1,200 of its citizens who live there.

Paris used air strikes to defend Bozize against a rebellion in 2006. But French President Francois Hollande turned down a request for more help, saying the days of intervening in other countries' affairs were over.

(Additional reporting by Paul-Marin Ngoupana in Bangui and Jon Herskovitz in Johannesburg; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Janet Lawrence)

Read More..

Israel arresting Palestinians to preempt uprising: security

JERUSALEM: Israel plans to step up arrests of suspected militants in the occupied West Bank to prevent a rising tide of low-intensity conflict and civil unrest from turning into an uprising, security sources say.

"There is a certain (Palestinian) awakening," one source told AFP.

"As a consequence a decision was taken within the security establishment to increase intelligence activity and arrests among members of Hamas or activists against Israel," he added. "It started in the past few days and will increase."

Recent events, however, suggest that such a policy could backfire.

On Tuesday, undercover Israeli troops attempting to arrest a suspected Islamic Jihad militant were pelted with rocks by an angry crowd.

The squad made their arrest, but Palestinian security sources said dozens were lightly injured when soldiers fired rubber bullets, live rounds and tear gas at their attackers.

Israeli public radio's military affairs reporter quoted military sources on Wednesday as saying the arrest operation was routine, but the Palestinian response was anything but so.

"What is exceptional is the grave disturbances," she quoted her sources as saying. "An operation like this would not in the past have brought disturbances of this kind."

"There is a certain rise in disturbances in the territories but talk of a third intifada is premature," she added.

Earlier this month, troops in a southern West bank village were forced to abort an attempt to arrest a Palestinian policeman suspected of militant activity when crowds of local residents pelted them with rocks.

They seized the man later at a military checkpoint near Hebron.

The Palestinians have twice risen up against their Israeli occupiers in so-called intifadas (uprisings) -- in December 1987 and September 2000.

But neither movement succeeded in ending the Israeli occupation of the West Bank that began in 1967. Now, with direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians on hold since September 2010, observers have raised the spectre of a third uprising breaking out.

Ghassan Khatib, a veteran of the first intifada, who later became a Palestinian cabinet minister and now teaches at the West Bank's Birzeit University, does not see a guiding hand in the current round of clashes.

Violence "spontaneous"

He considers as "spontaneous" the daily confrontations between Palestinian farmers and Jewish settlers, the hurling of rocks and petrol bombs at Israeli motorists in Palestinian areas and the clashes with troops.

"I don't think that it can be connected to any specific event; it's been building up gradually," he told AFP.

"I think it's a result of the dangerous combination of a complete absence of any political horizon together with serious economic and financial crisis that is leading to increased unemployment and poverty," he added, noting an increase in settlement activity.

"In my view the situation is not sustainable," he said.

Israel's Shin Bet domestic security service tied an upswing in clashes to November's eight-day battle between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

"In response to the operation, Jerusalem and the (West Bank) also saw an increase in the level of violence," Shin Bet said in its monthly summary for November.

It recorded 122 Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the West Bank, compared with 39 in October, and 44 incidents in Jerusalem, up from 31 the month before.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Palestinian youngsters seemed to be heavily involved in the unrest, which some Israeli media are already calling "a mini-intifada."

"In general there's been an increase in the number of incidents that have taken place, stone-throwing incidents as well as Molotov cocktails on the main highways," he told AFP.

"The majority of incidents take place in the morning when Palestinian children are on their way to school and in the afternoon when Palestinian children are returning from school," he said.

-AFP/ac

Read More..

Does Apple's shadow still loom over CES?

Apple's presence looms large over CES.

(Credit:
Uncover)

At the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, one company always comes up during the cocktail conversations and hallway chats of the show. Its presence looms large and can be seen everywhere, even though it never attends
CES.

That company is Apple, the undisputed juggernaut of the consumer electronics world and the planet's most valuable company (even with its recent stock slump).

Ever since Apple unveiled the iPhone, the rest of the consumer electronics world has been playing catchup. Samsung, Acer, Dell, Motorola, HTC, Nokia, Microsoft and others have been making up ground in the smartphone wars (especially Samsung with the Galaxy series), but still trail badly when it comes to
tablets. CES is the time when these companies (except Microsoft) announce their latest hardware and show them off to hundreds of thousands of industry shakers and tech enthusiasts.

But over the last couple of years, Apple has found a way to dominate the headlines during CES, all from the comfort of its headquarters in Cupertino. In 2010, it was the nonstop chatter about the fabled Apple tablet. 2011 was dominated by Verizon iPhone rumors. And during last year's CES, Apple launched the Mac App Store and stole some of CES's thunder. Oh, and don't forget about the still-a-mystery Apple TV that dominated the chatter last year. MG Siegler's right when he says that Apple has won CES the last couple of years without even showing up.

Will this year be any different? To answer this question, let's look at the latest from the Apple rumor mill in the last week alone:

None of these rumors is as big as Apple TV last year or the Apple tablet rumors of 2010, but the sheer number of rumors will provide good conversation starters for this year's CES. None of these rumors will scare consumer electronic manufacturers like the Apple TV rumors did last year, though (they won't admit it, but they absolutely were scared).

I wouldn't be surprised if Apple decides to rain on CES's parade, however. It would be an Apple-like thing to do. A Waze acquisition or a well-timed announcement could be just the thing to put a damper on all the Android talk that will dominate the headlines next week.

Does Apple's shadow still loom over CES? Of course it does, even if it isn't as big as last year's shadow. The better question to ask is this: what will Apple do this year to steal the show?

Read More..

Hillary Clinton discharged from hospital

WASHINGTONSecretary of State Hillary Clinton was discharged from a New York hospital Wednesday, after spending 72 hours under observation following the discovery of a blood clot in her head, the State Department said.

In a statement, spokesperson Philippe Reines said: "Her medical team advised her that she is making good progress on all fronts, and they are confident she will make a full recovery. She's eager to get back to the office."

Clinton and her family thanked her medical team "for the excellent care she received," Reines said.

Earlier Wednesday, Clinton had been seen in public for the first time in three weeks when she walked out of the Harkness Eye Institute in New York City and into a secure van along with a smiling Bill and Chelsea Clinton and accompanied by a security detail, reports CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan.

The State Department had said Secretary Clinton was active in speaking with staff and reviewing paperwork while she continued to recover at New York Presbyterian Hospital.

Clinton was admitted to a New York hospital Sunday and was treated with blood thinners to dissolve a clot in the vein behind the right ear. Doctors found the clot during a follow-up exam stemming from a concussion she suffered in early December. She has been hospitalized for around 72 hours, which is a window of time during which it is possible to establish the proper blood thinner dosage that would be required prior to discharge according to doctors.

Clinton's doctors say there was no neurological damage.

Read More..

Christie Calls Boehner's Sandy Decision 'Disgusting'

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said today that it was "disgusting" that the House adjourned without voting on a $60 billion relief package for the victims of superstorm Sandy and put the blame squarely on a fellow Republican -- House Speaker John Boehner.

Christie, who is considered a possible Republican presidential candidate four years from now, said there was "only one group to blame, the Republican Party and Speaker Boehner."

The blunt talking New Jersey governor joined a chorus of Republicans from New York and New Jersey fuming over his decision to pull the bill at the last minute.

Christie in an angry news conference decried the "selfishness and duplicity," the "palace intrigue," "the callous indifference to the people of our state."

"Unfortunately people are putting politics ahead of their responsibilities... You do the right thing. Enough with all the politics," he said.

Christie said that when it comes to natural disasters, "We respond as Americans, at least we did until last night... it was disgusting to watch."

"In our hour of desperate need, we've been left waiting for help six times longer than the victims of Katrina with no end in sight," said Christie. "Sixty-six days and counting, shame on you. Shame on Congress."

The governor said his four calls to Boehner Tuesday night went unanswered, but he said he spoke to the House speaker today. Christie would not disclose any details of the conversation, but clearly his anger over the no-vote was not mollified.

Following Christie's press conference Republican representatives from New York and New Jersey announced that the speaker promised a vote on the bill on Jan. 15.

"Getting critical aid to the victims of Hurricane Sandy should be the first priority in the new Congress, and that was reaffirmed today with members of the New York and New Jersey delegations," Boehner said in a statement released late this afternoon.

Rep. Peter King Blasts Speaker Boehner on House Floor Watch Video

Boos as House Adjourns Without Hurricane Sandy Relief Watch Video

'Fiscal Cliff' Deal Passes House Despite GOP Holdouts Watch Video

Rep. Peter King, R-NY, whop spent much of the day criticizing Boehner, met with the speaker this afternoon and was confident that the speaker would keep his word and hold a vote later this month and offered for the first time a reason for why the bill was pulled.

"[Boehner] said there was much confusion and so much fighting going on over the fiscal cliff bill it would be damaging to the Republican caucus" to have voted on the relief bill Tuesday night.

Lawmakers were initially told by Boehner, R-Ohio, that the relief bill would get a vote on Tuesday night following an eleventh hour vote on the fiscal cliff bill. But in an unexpected switch, Boehner refused to put the relief bill to a vote, leading to lawmakers from parties yelling on the floor of the House.

Congress historically has responded to natural disasters by promptly funding relief efforts. It took just 11 days to pass a relief package for victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Senate already passed its version of the bill that would replenish an emergency fund set to run out of cash next week and which will help repair subways and tunnels in New York City and rebuild parts of the New Jersey shore devastated by superstorm Sandy.

Time is particularly pressing, given that a new Congress will be sworn in Thursday. The Senate will therefore have to vote on the bill again before it comes to the House, which could be as late as February or March.

"This was a betrayal," Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., told ABC News.com. "It's just reprehensible. It's an indefensible error in judgment not have given relief to these people that are so devastated."

Rep. King, took the floor of the House and to the airwaves and aimed his outrage squarely at Boehner, accusing him plunging "a cruel knife in the back" of storm-ravaged residents "who don't have shelter, don't have food," he said during a House session this morning.

"This is not the United States. This should not be the Republican Party. This shouldn't not be the Republican leadership," King said on the floor of the House.

He made no attempt to hide his anger, suggesting that residents in New York and New Jersey should stop sending money to Republicans and even questioning whether he could remain a member of the party.

"Anyone who donates one cent to the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee should have their head examined," King, a staunch conservative and Republican congressman for 10 years, told CNN.

"They have written off New York and New Jersey. They've written me off…. Party loyalty, I'm over that. When your people are literally freezing in the winter… Then why should I help the Republican Party?" he added.

He said that Boehner refused to talk to Republican members from New York and New Jersey when they tried to ask him about the vote Tuesday night.

"He just decided to sneak off in the dark of night," King said.

Read More..

At least 61 crushed to death in Ivory Coast stampede

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - At least 61 people were crushed to death in a stampede after a New Year's Eve fireworks display at a stadium in Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan early on Tuesday, officials said.

Witnesses said police had tried to control crowds around the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium following the celebrations, triggering a panic in which scores were trampled.

"The estimate we can give right now is 49 people hospitalized ... and 61 people dead," said the chief of staff of Abidjan's fire department Issa Sacko.

Crying women searched for missing family members outside the stadium on Tuesday morning. The area was covered in patches of dried blood and abandoned shoes.

"My two children came here yesterday. I told them not to come but they didn't listen. They came when I was sleeping. What will I do?" said Assetou Toure, a cleaner.

Sanata Zoure, a market vendor injured in the incident, said New Year's revelers going home after watching the fireworks had been stopped by police near the stadium.

"We were walking with our children and we came upon barricades, and people started falling into each other. We were trampled with our children," she said.

Another witness said police arrived to control the crowd after a mob began chasing a pickpocket.

President Alassane Ouattara called the deaths a national tragedy and said an investigation was under way to find out what happened.

"I hope that we can determine what caused this drama so that we can ensure it never happens again," he said after visiting the injured in hospital.

The country, once a stable economic hub for West Africa, is struggling to recover from a 2011 civil war in which more than 3,000 people were killed.

Ivory Coast's security forces once were among the best trained in the region, but a decade of political turmoil and the 2011 war has left them in disarray.

At least 18 people were killed in another stampede during a football match in an Abidjan stadium in 2009.

(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly and Alain Amontchi; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Read More..

Colorado town in the thick of fracking dispute

Longmont, COLORADO: The US oil and gas industry is condemning a move by one Colorado town to impose its own ban on the practice of hydraulic fracturing.

Voters in Longmont have chosen to outlaw the controversial practice within city limits, but drillers and the state government said the city has overstepped its bounds.

Space for large houses with mountain views -- one of the reasons the population of the Colorado city of Longmont has grown steadily over the past twenty years. But some residents are not happy with a new neighbour that has moved in recent years.

Natural gas wells and pipelines have sprung up around Longmont - often very close to subdivisions.

Michael Bellmont, one of the activists involved in a recent campaign to ban hydraulic fracturing in Longmont, said modern fracking practices use chemicals that can contaminate surrounding air and water, and is dangerous to health.

He said: "if you live within half a mile of these wells, one is 250 per cent more likely to have negative and chronic health impacts, and 60 per cent more likely to get cancer."

The majority of Longmont voters agree with Bellmont -- in November, they approved the ban on hydraulic fracturing in the city by a 60 to 40 per cent margin.

That ban has triggered a row with the oil and gas industry, which already leases land and drills in Longmont, and maintains fracking is safe.

Colorado governor John Hickenlooper -- a supporter of the oil and gas industry -- expects drilling companies to sue to overturn the ban.

Tisha Conoly Schuller, president and CEO of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association, said: "The oil and gas industry -- we're evaluating our options, and then the state government has also been looking at their options. So I imagine we will see a lawsuit in Longmont, and there's lots of different ways it could come about."

Environmentalists are locked in a heated debate with county and state regulators over the issue -- including proposed rules on how far wells should be from people's homes.

Dr William Fleckenstein of the Colorado School of Mines said: "It adds a lot of jobs, there's a lot of rigs that are there. But at the same time, the rigs that are drilling -- the pipelines are going to impact people's lives and the industry has to take into account those impacts."

In Longmont, the city is gearing up for a protracted and expensive legal battle -- one which could set a precedent for other towns and cities that want to take matters regarding fracking into their own hands.

-CNA/ac

Read More..