WASHINGTON (AP) ? Patients with hard-to-treat kidney cancer that has spread to other parts of the body gained a new drug option Friday, after U.S. government regulators approved a twice-a-day pill from Pfizer for the disease.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the company's drug Inlyta as a secondary option for patients with renal cell carcinoma that hasn't responded to previous drug treatments. Renal cell carcinoma is the most common form of kidney cancer, with an estimated 61,000 people in the U.S. newly diagnosed last year, according to the National Cancer Institute. Only about 11 percent of patients with advanced kidney cancer survive five years or more after diagnosis.
Like other recent cancer drugs, Inlyta works by blocking proteins that promote tumor growth and cancer progression.
The market for kidney cancer drugs has grown increasingly crowded in recent years, with six other new drugs approved in the last six years, including Roche's Avastin and GlaxoSmithKline's Votrient. Pfizer's drug is only the second to be designated as a backup, or second-line, treatment after other kidney cancer drugs have been prescribed. Pfizer is also conducting studies of the drug as a first-line option against kidney cancer.
"This is the seventh drug that has been approved for the treatment of metastatic or advanced kidney cell cancer since 2005," said Dr. Richard Pazdur, FDA's cancer drug director, in a statement. "Collectively, this unprecedented level of drug development within this time period has significantly altered the treatment paradigm."
The FDA approved the drug based on a single study in which patients on Inlyta, known chemically as axitinib, experienced two more months without their cancer worsening than patients taking Nexavar, a drug from Bayer and Onyx Pharmaceuticals.
The most common side effects with Inlyta included diarrhea, high blood pressure, fatigue, nausea, weight loss and decreased appetite, among others.
"Even with the advent of targeted therapies, the need remains for additional options for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma whose disease has progressed following first-line medications," Pfizer Senior Vice President Dr. Mace Rothenberg said in a statement.
Shares of New York-based Pfizer Inc. fell 12 cents to $21.51 in afternoon trading.
Commentary in Nature: Can economy bear what oil prices have in store?Public release date: 26-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Sandra Hines shines@uw.edu 206-543-2580 University of Washington
Stop wrangling over global warming and instead reduce fossil-fuel use for the sake of the global economy.
That's the message from two scientists, one from the University of Washington and one from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, who say in the current issue of the journal Nature (Jan. 26) that the economic pain of a flattening oil supply will trump the environment as a reason to curb the use of fossil fuels.
"Given our fossil-fuel dependent economies, this is more urgent and has a shorter time frame than global climate change," says James W. Murray, UW professor of oceanography, who wrote the Nature commentary with David King, director of Oxford's Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment.
The "tipping point" for oil supply appears to have occurred around 2005, says Murray, who compared world crude oil production with world prices going back to 1998. Before 2005, supply of regular crude oil was elastic and increased in response to price increases. Since then, production appears to have hit a wall at 75 million barrels per day in spite of price increases of 15 percent each year.
"As a result, prices swing wildly in response to small changes in demand," the co-authors wrote. "Others have remarked on this step change in the economies of oil around the year 2005, but the point needs to be lodged more firmly in the minds of policy makers."
For those who argue that oil reserves have been increasing, that more crude oil will be available in the future, the co-authors wrote: "The true volume of global proved reserves is clouded by secrecy; forecasts by state oil companies are not audited and appear to be exaggerated. More importantly, reserves often take 6 - 10 years to drill and develop before they become part of the supply, by which time older fields have become depleted." Production at oil fields around the world is declining between 4.5 percent and 6.7 percent per year, they wrote.
"For the economy, it's production that matters, not how much oil might be in the ground," Murray says. In the U.S., for example, production as a percentage of total reserves went from 9 percent to 6 percent in the last 30 years.
"We've already gotten the easy oil, the oil that can be produced cheaply," he says. "It used to be we'd drill a well and the oil would flow out, now we have to go through all these complicated and expensive procedures to produce the oil."
The same is true of alternative sources such as tar sands or "fracking" for shale gas, Murray says, where supplies may be exaggerated and production is expensive. Take the promise of shale gas and oil: A New York Times investigative piece last June reported that "the gas may not be as easy and cheap to extract from shale formations deep underground as the companies are saying, according to hundreds of industry e-mails and internal documents and an analysis of data from thousands of wells."
Production at shale gas wells can drop 60 to 90 percent in the first year of operation, according to a world expert on shale gas who was one of the sources for the commentary piece. Murray and King built their commentary using data and information from more than 15 international and U.S. government reports, peer-reviewed journal articles, reports from groups such as the National Research Council and Brookings Institution and association findings.
Stagnant oil supplies and volatile prices take a toll on the world economy. Of the 11 recessions in the U.S. since World War II, ten were preceded by a spike in oil prices, the commentary noted.
"Historically, there has been a tight link between oil production and global economic growth," the co-authors wrote. "If oil production can't grow, the implication is that the economy can't grow either."
Calculations from the International Monetary Fund, for example, say that to achieve a 4 percent growth in the global economy in the next five years, oil production must increase about 3 percent a year.
"Yet to achieve that will require either an heroic increase in oil production, ... increased efficiency of oil use, more energy-efficient growth or rapid substitution of other fuel sources," according to the commentary. "Economists and politicians continually debate policies that will lead to a return to economic growth. But because they have failed to recognize that the high price of energy is a central problem, they haven't identified the necessary solutions: weaning society off fossil fuel."
The commentary concludes: "This will be a decades-long transformation and we need to start immediately. Emphasizing the short-term economic imperative from oil prices must be enough to push governments into action now."
###
For more information:
Murray, 206-543-4730, jmurray@uw.edu
King
http://www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/who-we-are/professor-sir-david-king/
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Commentary in Nature: Can economy bear what oil prices have in store?Public release date: 26-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Sandra Hines shines@uw.edu 206-543-2580 University of Washington
Stop wrangling over global warming and instead reduce fossil-fuel use for the sake of the global economy.
That's the message from two scientists, one from the University of Washington and one from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, who say in the current issue of the journal Nature (Jan. 26) that the economic pain of a flattening oil supply will trump the environment as a reason to curb the use of fossil fuels.
"Given our fossil-fuel dependent economies, this is more urgent and has a shorter time frame than global climate change," says James W. Murray, UW professor of oceanography, who wrote the Nature commentary with David King, director of Oxford's Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment.
The "tipping point" for oil supply appears to have occurred around 2005, says Murray, who compared world crude oil production with world prices going back to 1998. Before 2005, supply of regular crude oil was elastic and increased in response to price increases. Since then, production appears to have hit a wall at 75 million barrels per day in spite of price increases of 15 percent each year.
"As a result, prices swing wildly in response to small changes in demand," the co-authors wrote. "Others have remarked on this step change in the economies of oil around the year 2005, but the point needs to be lodged more firmly in the minds of policy makers."
For those who argue that oil reserves have been increasing, that more crude oil will be available in the future, the co-authors wrote: "The true volume of global proved reserves is clouded by secrecy; forecasts by state oil companies are not audited and appear to be exaggerated. More importantly, reserves often take 6 - 10 years to drill and develop before they become part of the supply, by which time older fields have become depleted." Production at oil fields around the world is declining between 4.5 percent and 6.7 percent per year, they wrote.
"For the economy, it's production that matters, not how much oil might be in the ground," Murray says. In the U.S., for example, production as a percentage of total reserves went from 9 percent to 6 percent in the last 30 years.
"We've already gotten the easy oil, the oil that can be produced cheaply," he says. "It used to be we'd drill a well and the oil would flow out, now we have to go through all these complicated and expensive procedures to produce the oil."
The same is true of alternative sources such as tar sands or "fracking" for shale gas, Murray says, where supplies may be exaggerated and production is expensive. Take the promise of shale gas and oil: A New York Times investigative piece last June reported that "the gas may not be as easy and cheap to extract from shale formations deep underground as the companies are saying, according to hundreds of industry e-mails and internal documents and an analysis of data from thousands of wells."
Production at shale gas wells can drop 60 to 90 percent in the first year of operation, according to a world expert on shale gas who was one of the sources for the commentary piece. Murray and King built their commentary using data and information from more than 15 international and U.S. government reports, peer-reviewed journal articles, reports from groups such as the National Research Council and Brookings Institution and association findings.
Stagnant oil supplies and volatile prices take a toll on the world economy. Of the 11 recessions in the U.S. since World War II, ten were preceded by a spike in oil prices, the commentary noted.
"Historically, there has been a tight link between oil production and global economic growth," the co-authors wrote. "If oil production can't grow, the implication is that the economy can't grow either."
Calculations from the International Monetary Fund, for example, say that to achieve a 4 percent growth in the global economy in the next five years, oil production must increase about 3 percent a year.
"Yet to achieve that will require either an heroic increase in oil production, ... increased efficiency of oil use, more energy-efficient growth or rapid substitution of other fuel sources," according to the commentary. "Economists and politicians continually debate policies that will lead to a return to economic growth. But because they have failed to recognize that the high price of energy is a central problem, they haven't identified the necessary solutions: weaning society off fossil fuel."
The commentary concludes: "This will be a decades-long transformation and we need to start immediately. Emphasizing the short-term economic imperative from oil prices must be enough to push governments into action now."
###
For more information:
Murray, 206-543-4730, jmurray@uw.edu
King
http://www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/who-we-are/professor-sir-david-king/
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, arrives with Prime Minister Francois Fillon to address his New Year speech to the Justice representatives at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. The euro fell to a 17-month low against the dollar on news reports that France's credit rating might be downgraded by Standard & Poor's. If France were downgraded it could hurt efforts to resolve Europe's debt crisis. (AP Photo/Charles Platiau, Pool)
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, arrives with Prime Minister Francois Fillon to address his New Year speech to the Justice representatives at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. The euro fell to a 17-month low against the dollar on news reports that France's credit rating might be downgraded by Standard & Poor's. If France were downgraded it could hurt efforts to resolve Europe's debt crisis. (AP Photo/Charles Platiau, Pool)
German chancellor Angela Merkel, attends a press conference in Kiel, northern Germany, Saturday Jan. 14, 2012 after a meeting with Christian Democratic (CDU) party leaders. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Standard & Poor's downgrades of nine eurozone countries underline the fact that Europe has a "long road" in front of it to win back investors' confidence. Merkel pushed Saturday for European countries to implement "as soon as possible" a planned pact to strengthen budget discipline and said eurozone countries also must move quickly to implement their permanent rescue fund - the so-called European Stability Mechanism. (AP Photo/dapd: Philipp Guelland)
German chancellor Angela Merkel, speaks at a press conference in Kiel, northern Germany, Saturday Jan. 14, 2012 after a meeting with Christian Democratic (CDU) party leaders. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Standard & Poor's downgrades of nine eurozone countries underline the fact that Europe has a "long road" in front of it to win back investors' confidence. Merkel pushed Saturday for European countries to implement "as soon as possible" a planned pact to strengthen budget discipline and said eurozone countries also must move quickly to implement their permanent rescue fund - the so-called European Stability Mechanism. (AP Photo/dapd: Philipp Guelland)
German chancellor Angela Merkel, speaks at a press conference in Kiel, northern Germany, Saturday Jan. 14, 2012 after a meeting with Christian Democratic (CDU) party leaders. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Standard & Poor's downgrades of nine eurozone countries underline the fact that Europe has a "long road" in front of it to win back investors' confidence. Merkel pushed Saturday for European countries to implement "as soon as possible" a planned pact to strengthen budget discipline and said eurozone countries also must move quickly to implement their permanent rescue fund - the so-called European Stability Mechanism. (AP Photo/dapd: Philipp Guelland)
PARIS (AP) ? Amid a wave of criticism, Standard & Poor's defended its decision to downgrade nine European countries and insisted Saturday that the region's leaders aren't doing enough to solve their debt crises.
The prime minister of France, the biggest economy hit by the downgrade, vowed to press ahead with cost-cutting measures that opponents say will suffocate growth. The loss of its coveted AAA status wounded France's self-image and market credibility just as it's facing a new recession and presidential elections.
The move Friday night may make it more expensive for struggling countries to borrow money, reduce debts and sustain growth. It also came just as crucial negotiations between the Greek government and its private creditors appeared close to collapse.
Voices rose up Saturday against the power that ratings agencies wield. The criticism came from countries targeted by the downgrade such as Austria and Cyprus as well as from Germany, which was spared the blow.
The downgrade brought a downbeat end to a mildly encouraging week for Europe's most debt-laden nations. It also served as a reminder that the 17-country eurozone faces what German Chancellor Angela Merkel called a "long road" ahead to win back investors' confidence.
Cyprus President Dimitris Christofias called the downgrade "unacceptable."
"The latest downgrade is completely unfair and loaded with ulterior motives," he told reporters. "Just when the Cyprus economy is breathing easier and showing signs of emerging from the crisis, and when our financing needs for 2012 and perhaps beyond 2012, have been covered, a (credit ratings) agency comes along to downgrade."
Austria's chancellor criticized S&P's decision to strip his country of its AAA rating, and noted that his coalition government is working on an austerity package.
Werner Faymann wrote on his Facebook page that the decision showed "that Austria must become more independent from the financial markets."
In Germany, a senior lawmaker with Merkel's conservative party, Michael Meister, suggested action to reduce the significance of ratings, and Merkel signaled her support.
The foreign minister called for independent European ratings agencies instead of relying solely on the leading, U.S.-based agencies such as Standard & Poor's.
And Vice Chancellor Philipp Roesler, who is also the economy minister, was quoted as telling the weekly Der Spiegel, "It is apparent time and again that U.S. rating agencies pursue very much their own goals."
It's unclear though whether a European agency would come to different conclusions or reduce what critics see as a disproportionate influence that ratings agencies have on markets and policymakers.
S&P spokesman Martin Winn dismissed suggestions that the agency's decisions were political and could further hurt indebted countries. "The track record of our sovereign ratings as indicators of default risk worldwide is very strong," he told The Associated Press.
S&P analyst Moritz Kraemer said in a conference call Saturday that European government measures aren't sufficient to restore confidence.
"They have not achieved a solution that is sufficient in size or scope," he said. He added that austerity measures require "huge sacrifices" of the public that might prompt a backlash.
Merkel and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the downgrades should push European countries to quickly implement a planned pact to strengthen budget discipline.
Germany and France have piloted rescue efforts for other eurozone countries as the continent has been swept up in crisis after crisis over the past two years. The downgrade, by pushing up France's borrowing costs, could make it harder for France to help others.
Merkel sought to allay concerns that the downgrade of France would complicate the work of the bloc's temporary rescue fund, the euro440 billion ($560 billion) European Financial Stability Facility. However, she underlined the urgency of putting its permanent successor, the European Stability Mechanism, in place quickly.
Fillon said France's government wouldn't adjust this year's budget yet, because it had been devised with an assumption of higher borrowing costs. S&P had warned 15 European nations in December that they were at risk for a downgrade, and Moody's has France and other European governments on review.
The downgrade, three months before France holds presidential elections, was "an alert that should not be dramatized any more than it should be underestimated," Fillon said.
Standard & Poor's stripped France of its coveted AAA status, knocking it down one notch to AA+, the level of U.S. long-term debt after S&P downgraded it last summer. It dropped Italy even lower. Germany retained its top-notch rating, but Portugal's debt was consigned to junk.
Stocks fell Friday as downgrade rumors reached the trading floors of Europe and the United States. But the declines were nothing like the wrenching swings of last summer and fall.
The prime minister of Spain ? also downgraded ? promised to reduce the budget deficit by reining in public spending. In his first major speech to Popular Party members as premier and party leader, Mariano Rajoy described "living a difficult moment."
France's presidential elections could complicate Europe's discussions. President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been at the heart of the debate, is highly unpopular and far from certain of winning a second term.
The man who tops polls ahead of the April and May elections, Socialist Francois Hollande, said the downgrade was a punishment for conservative Sarkozy's policies. He said Saturday that austerity measures were stifling growth and France's competitiveness.
___
Geir Moulson in Berlin, Cecile Brisson and Jeffrey Schaeffer in Paris and Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON ? The Justice Department is publicly rebutting Republican criticism of the legality of President Barack Obama's recent recess appointments of a national consumer watchdog and other officials.
The department released a 23-page legal opinion Thursday summarizing the advice it gave the White House before the Jan. 4 appointments. GOP leaders have argued the Senate was not technically in recess when Obama acted so the regular Senate confirmation process should have been followed.
Assistant Attorney General Virginia Seitz wrote that the president has authority to make such appointments because the Senate is on a 20-day recess, even though it has held periodic pro forma sessions in which no business is conducted. Seitz argued the pro forma sessions ? some with as few as one member present ? have not been sufficient for the chamber to exercise its constitutional authority to advise and consent to normal presidential nominations.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has said Obama has endangered the nation's systems of checks and balances, and Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch says the appointments are a very grave decision by an autocratic White House.
Senate Republicans have been using their ability to block or stall Senate confirmation of some regular nominees as a way to curb agencies they believe have taken or are poised to take actions they disagree with.
On Jan. 4, Obama appointed Richard Cordray, a former attorney general of Ohio, to be the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Obama also appointed two Democrats and a Republican to the National Labor Relations Board that day. There was stiff Republican opposition to creating the new consumer agency, which was authorized in the financial regulation law, and Republicans have argued that the labor board has tilted toward unions under Obama's Democratic administration.
The Justice official who wrote the opinion, Seitz, heads the department's Office of Legal Counsel, which is empowered to provide binding legal opinions to the executive branch.
Her new memo cites a Justice Department legal opinion from President George W. Bush's Republican administration in justifying Obama's recent appointments. The Bush administration opinion from 2004 says that a recess during a session of the Senate can meet constitutional requirements for permitting the president to make recess appointments as long as the recess is of sufficient length. Seitz noted that the last five presidents have made recess appointments during recesses of 14 days or less.
In December, the Senate agreed to adjourn until Jan. 23 but to convene pro forma sessions in which no business was to be conducted every Tuesday and Friday.
The Senate pro forma sessions in which no business was conducted, do not "in our opinion" interrupt the recess "in a manner that would preclude the president" from acting, Seitz wrote in her Jan. 6 opinion.
Beginning in late 2007, the Senate has frequently conducted pro forma sessions that typically last only a few seconds and that "apparently require the presence of only one senator," Seitz wrote. Under a legal framework dating back nearly a century, recess appointments have been permitted when the Senate cannot receive communications from the president or participate as a body in confirming nominees.
In an op-ed article in the Washington Post, Edwin Meese, who served as attorney general under Republican President Ronald Reagan, and Todd Gaziano, a former Office of Legal Counsel attorney who is now a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, called Obama's actions "a breathtaking violation of the separation of powers."
The GOP's unsuccessful opposition to creating the consumer watchdog agency has turned into opposition to potential nominees to lead the office. Stiff Republican opposition headed Obama off from even nominating Elizabeth Warren, the interim official who helped set up the office, to be its permanent chief.
There is GOP resistance as well to filling slots on the National Labor Relations Board that Republicans feel has become pro-labor under Obama. If Republicans keep enough slots vacant on the labor board, they can prevent it from acting at all.
The pro forma sessions have been used by both Democratic and Republican senators in an effort to stave off recess appointments.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in 2008 that the pro forma sessions were designed to prevent the president ? at that time Bush ? from exercising his constitutional power to make recess appointments.
Last year with Obama in the White House, some Republican senators urged House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, not to pass any resolution that would allow the Senate to recess or adjourn for more than three days. The Constitution provides that neither the House nor the Senate shall adjourn for more than three days without the consent of the other. No concurrent resolution of adjournment has been introduced in either chamber since May of last year.
A central authority automotive public sale is usually auctioning off government-seized automobiles, or decommissioned cars that the company no longer uses.
Government automotive public sale events are on a regular basis held ceaselessly at other locations. The fastest and the best way to be told whilst and the place a central authority car auction will happen are to test the local newspapers. Differently of finding a central authority automotive auction is to find an internet public sale provider to find it for you. There could be some charges concerned however it?s going to prevent a lot of time.
If you?re about to bid on a government car public sale, you should still be careful about sure thins. The truth that you might be purchasing a car from a government automobile public sale does not imply that the car you will purchase will probably be in nice situation or that there can be no issues of it. The federal government can public sale vehicles that are now not required but in addition can public sale cars accrued from other companies and even criminals.
You will have to arrive at the auction early, choose an automobile and than start with the checks. This can be a should to test the Car Id Numbers (in the event that they fit at the papers and at the car) and run a CARFAX report. Ask the auction administrator for another details about the auto such as the mileage information. It?s best of you can have the auto inspected through a mechanic. Having performed all of the above, you will have obtained sufficient data to decide ? weather to bid in this automotive or not.
A thing to watch out approximately ? there is a festival in the bidding at any govt automobile auction. What it method is that each new bid must be upper than the previous ones. As you can also wager, the automobiles which might be in better condition will draw in numerous attention ? not best from automotive hunters such as you but in addition from different car dealers. Which means an automotive might reach a bid so much upper than its present market value. Move with a clear funds and an excellent analysis approximately car prices in order that you do not finally end up spending too much or more than the same car marketplace value.
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MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (Reuters) ? Mitt Romney is poised to take a big step toward the Republican U.S. presidential nomination on Tuesday by capturing New Hampshire, hoping to ride out last-minute attacks from his rivals and recover from a self-inflicted wound.
The former governor of neighboring Massachusetts carried a sizeable lead in polls into voting day, a sufficient cushion that should force rivals Ron Paul, Jon Huntsman, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum into a battle for second place.
Romney, 63, would be the first Republican who is not an incumbent president to win the first two early voting states, after his slim eight-vote victory over Rick Santorum a week ago in the Iowa caucuses.
A more resounding win on Tuesday would give him momentum going into South Carolina on January 21 and Florida on January 31. He leads in both states and victories there could all but sew up his nomination to face Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.
"You're going to make a big statement tomorrow, let's take it to the next step, give me the boost I need, I hope," said Romney in Bedford on Monday night at his final rally of the day.
It was unclear how much damage had been done by a mess of his own making in which Romney declared "I like being able to fire people," in addressing his desire for greater competition between health insurance companies.
His opponents, Republican and Democratic alike, quickly seized on the comment as evidence of an out-of-touch politician and coupled it with attacks over his record at Bain Capital, a firm that bought companies and restructured them.
In a remarkable turnaround in a party known for being friendly to business, Republicans seeking to slow Romney down sounded more like populists as they bashed Romney's work as a venture capitalist.
Gingrich, brooding over negative attacks from Romney and his backers that knocked him out of the front-runner position, has launched the toughest onslaught on Romney.
"Mitt Romney was not a capitalist during his reign at Bain. He was a predatory corporate raider," says a video produced by a pro-Gingrich group.
New Hampshire voting stations close at 7 p.m. EST (midnight GMT). About 250,000 people are expected to vote in the Republican primary while 75,000 are likely to vote to endorse Obama's re-election.
HUNTSMAN HOPING FOR 'BONANZA'
"Mitt Romney, I think he will come out on top," said voter Albert Guptill in Nashua. "By how much, I don't know, but I think he will, yeah."
But not everyone was happy about voting for him.
Eli Haykinson of Bedford said he did not want to vote for Romney but might have to because he could have the best chance to defeat Obama.
"I personally don't like his huge campaign style. You don't really get to feel him at all. I don't want to vote for him but I may have to," Haykinson said.
The Monday Suffolk University tracking poll had Romney at 33 percent, Paul 20 percent, Huntsman 13 percent, Gingrich 11 percent, Santorum 10 percent and undecided 12 percent.
Since victory looked out of reach for Romney's rivals, they were waging a fierce battle to sway undecided voters their way in the final hours and win second place.
Both libertarian Representative Paul and Huntsman, a former U.S. ambassador to China, have been on the rise in recent days.
"It could be a bonanza," Huntsman told CNN.
Former Pennsylvania Senator Santorum, who nearly won Iowa by appealing to social conservatives, has found that his message in New Hampshire is not attracting the same surge of support.
He and Texas Governor Rick Perry, along with Gingrich, are looking to South Carolina to challenge Romney as his conservative alternative.
Romney leads there for now but Gingrich backers have launched $3.4 million worth of ads in South Carolina to try to slow him down in the conservative state.
(Additional reporting by Ros Krasny, Sam Youngman, Jason McLure and Mary Milliken; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
ATHENS (Reuters) ? Time is running short to clinch a deal on a voluntary debt exchange for Greece, private sector bondholders warned on Thursday during crunch talks, while euro zone sources said Athens might force reluctant investors to accept losses.
Negotiations on the debt swap deal, which Greece needs to secure international aid and avoid a messy bankruptcy when a major bond redemption comes due on March 20, have entered the final stretch after dragging on for months.
"A range of issues were discussed and some key areas remain unresolved. Discussions will continue in Athens tomorrow, but time for reaching an agreement is running short," the Institute of International Finance said after its chief, Charles Dallara, met Greece's prime minister and finance minister.
"It is essential in order to finalize the voluntary (private sector involvement) agreement that support be given by all official parties in the days ahead," the IIF said in a statement.
Greek officials sounded rather more optimistic.
"I'm cautious and very confident after this two-hour meeting," Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said in a statement.
A finance ministry source said Greece could reach a deal by the end of next week, with a formal offer possible by early February.
Whatever happens, a deal must be struck well before the March 20 bond redemption of 14.5 billion euros, because the paperwork alone will take at least six weeks.
EU, IMF and ECB inspectors also want to see an agreement before they wrap up talks, due to start on Tuesday, on a 130 billion euro rescue plan for Greece.
The swap aims to cut Greece's debt burden from 160 percent of the nation's annual output to 120 percent by 2020 and erase about 100 billion euros from the country's debt load of over 350 billion euros.
Banks have agreed to a "voluntary" 50 percent write-down on Greek debt holdings, but the talks have been complicated by demands for further concessions, which has made it less attractive for some investors to take part on a voluntary basis.
FURTHER SUPPORT NEEDED?
However, the risk that recalcitrant bondholders could be rewarded has prompted Greece to consider an unprecedented retroactive introduction of collective action clauses (CACs) on outstanding debt.
Three senior euro zone sources said on Thursday that Athens could impose such clauses to force holdouts to sign up to the bond swap.
The clause may be required because sources say hedge funds who have picked up Greek debt are intent on staying out of the bond swap deal. They either prefer letting the country go under, which would trigger the credit insurance they have bought, or hope to get paid out in full if enough others sign up.
"CACs are necessary to get the holdouts on board. Otherwise the euro zone summit's goal of a high participation rate is totally unrealistic," one of the three sources said.
Such clauses would say that a debt restructuring deal agreed on by a certain percentage of investors is binding for all, thus removing any profit for hedge funds from holding out.
Speculation has centred on whether euro zone governments would be forced to stump up more cash to save Athens, something that would be deeply unpopular in Germany and other northern euro zone countries.
IMF chief Christine Lagarde is also said to have warned Europe that Greece's economic prospects are deteriorating and the European Union will either have to put up more money to rescue Athens or debt holders will have to stomach steeper losses.
"We always require full financing of any program we are involved or might be involved," IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters in Washington. "We need to wait and see what the final conclusions of the deal are, make an assessment on that and how it meets the debt sustainability targets that have been set."
Asked to explain why Lagarde was discussing the possibility of Greece needing additional funds, Deputy Finance Minister Filippos Sachinidis said that could depend on the level of participation in the bond swap scheme.
"If the percentage of participation is not, for instance, 100 percent, then Greece may need further support from the side of our partners," Sachinidis told Skai radio.
Sachinidis sidestepped a question on whether Greece would insert or activate a collective action clause.
"Let's not jump ahead and let's see how we can seal the technical agreement in such a way that it ensures two things," he said.
"First, a high participation rate and a voluntary participation in the bond swap programme and secondly, that Greek debt ends up with characteristics that allow analysts monitoring and examining its viability to conclude that after this procedure it is sustainable."
(Additional reporting by Dina Kyriakidou in Athens, Jan Strupczewski in Brussels, Steve Slater in London and Lesley Wroughton in Washington; Writing by Ingrid Melander and Deepa Babington; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
U.S. stocks rose solidly Tuesday after European markets rallied and corporate bellwether Alcoa predicted stronger demand in 2012. The Standard & Poor's 500 index closed at its highest level since July.
Kicking off U.S. corporate earnings season, aluminum maker Alcoa said late Monday that its fourth-quarter revenue far outpaced analysts' projections. It expects that global aluminum demand will increase 7 percent in 2012. Rising demand for aluminum would reflect broader economic growth because many industries rely on the metal.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 69.78 points, or 0.6 percent, to 12,462.47.
The S&P 500 index rose 11.38, or 0.9 percent, to 1,292.08.
The Nasdaq composite index gained 25.94, or 1 percent, to 2,702.50.
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ISLAMABAD (AP) ? Armed men seized a Red Cross worker from the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Thursday, police and the organization said.
Local police officer Nazir Ahmed Kurd said his initial information was that the man was a British health worker.
But an intelligence official in the city said the man was Yemeni. The official didn't give his name because he is not allowed to be identified in the media.
International Committee of the Red Cross spokeswoman Sitara Jabeen declined to disclose the man's name or nationality.
Kurd said the man was seized from a vehicle that was heading to a Red Cross office in an upscale housing complex in Quetta. He said the victim had been visiting a local school.
Quetta is home to Islamist militants as well as separatist insurgents.
Both have kidnapped foreigners and locals in the region.
In 2009, an American working for the United Nations refugee agency in the city was kidnapped and held for two months.
ROME?Around 100 Italian newspapers face closure due to government subsidy cuts in 2012 as part of measures to fight off a ferocious debt crisis, a National Press Federation spokesman told AFP on Tuesday.
?100 or so titles ? newspapers but also some weekly and monthly publications ? are at risk,? said Renzo Santelli from the FNSI federation, adding that around 4,000 jobs in the journalism industry were in the firing line.
Among those which may collapse without government contributions are the left-wing Il Manifesto newspaper, L?Unita ? a communist daily founded by Antonio Gramsci in 1924 ? and the Catholic newspaper Avvenire.
Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Thursday that it was ?unthinkable to completely stop aid which guarantees pluralistic information and the coexistence of cultural and political currents vital for the country?.
However, newspapers which have limited readership cannot continue to be propped up by the government ?in a period when every euro that the state spends has to be scrutinised?, he said.
Pakistan's former ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani (center), exits the Supreme Court in Islamabad on Dec. 22, 2011.
By Msnbc.com staff and wire services
Pakistan's former ambassador to the United States fears he will be murdered if he leaves the sanctuary of the prime minister's official residence after he was branded a "Washington lackey" and a "traitor," according to a new interview.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph newspaper, Husain Haqqani said that "certain powerful quarters" in Pakistan -- the paper said this was a reference to the country's ISI intelligence agency -- were behind the claims against him.
Haqqani is at the center of a scandal that threatens to topple Pakistan's government over an alleged request to the U.S. to help stop a coup by the army, following the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
In October, a U.S. businessman of Pakistani origin, Mansoor Ijaz, wrote an article for the Financial Times newspaper claiming Haqqani had written a memo to U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen, who was then chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, supposedly promising to replace Pakistan's national security hierarchy with people favorable to the U.S. in exchange for help in reining in the military.
Ijaz, who claimed he had been asked to convey the message to Mullen, further alleged that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari supported the move. The Financial Times operates behind a paywall, but Ijaz also wrote an article for Pakistan's The News in November describing his allegations.
'Hysteria' Both Zardari and Haqqani denied Ijaz's claims, but Haqqani subsequently resigned.
"I'm a guest of the prime minister (Yousuf Raza Gilani) with whom I have had a long-standing political association. There are clear security concerns given the hysteria generated against me. Staying at the prime minister's house is the safest option," Haqqani told the Telegraph in an interview published Wednesday.
"My good friend Salman Taseer (the late governor of Punjab) was killed by a security guard because he heard in the media that the governor had blasphemed. I'm being called a traitor and an American lackey in the media with the clear encouragement of certain powerful quarters even though I've not been charged legally with anything," he added.
He said that he had left the prime minister's house twice, once to go to court and another time to visit the dentist because he had toothache.
"The president and prime minister are firmly standing behind me and the government is not going anywhere. This is psychological warfare against the government," he told the Telegraph.
Amb. Husain Haqqani discusses whether the Pakistani government or military knew about Osama bin Laden's whereabouts.
In December, Zardari, who was married to former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007, said people should pay tribute to her memory by guarding against anti-democratic conspiracies, an apparent reference to tensions over the memo scandal.
He said his wife's death was also a conspiracy against Pakistani democracy.
"I therefore urge all the democratic forces and the patriotic Pakistanis to foil all conspiracies against democracy and democratic institutions," said Zardari in a statement sent to reporters.
Washington:? Wendi Deng Murdoch's verified Twitter account turned out to be bogus on Tuesday when someone else admitted to posing as Rupert Murdoch's wife on the microblogging site.
"Hello Twitter. As News International has finally come to their senses, it's time to confirm that yes, this is a fake account. I'm not Wendi," the anonymous voice behind @Wendi_Deng said.
It appeared the account was set up on New Year's Day, a day after the global media tycoon, according to a spokesman for his British newspaper unit News International in London, made his Twitter debut.
"Joining my husband @rupertmurdoch in our new digital adventure on Twitter," read the imposter's profile, alongside a photo of the smiling Murdochs at a public function.
"To those of you who kept maintaining the account was fake, even after being verified, good on you for being suspicious," @Wendi_Deng stated Tuesday in a lively exchange with his or her nearly 10,000 followers.
"Above all, this was a bit of fun. If you don't think it was, then you'd better ask Twitter to remove every other spoof account too."
Twitter says it grants "a Verified Badge" to well-known users, such as celebrities, once it has established their authenticity. To which @Wendi_Deng, disclosing no personal details, tweeted: "What verification process?... There was none. I was never contacted."
The microblogging site, deleted the account and apologised for their error.
Mr Murdoch, 83, and his Chinese-born wife, 43, have been married since 1999.
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Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow (15) is sacked by Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Wallace Gilberry (92) in the third quarter of an NFL football game, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012, in Denver. (AP Photo/Joe Mahoney)
DENVER -- Even in defeat, Tim Tebow came out a winner.
Tebow fell short in his latest comeback bid, yet his Denver Broncos still made it to the playoffs Sunday.
As the AFC West champions, no less. Meaning more Tebowmania, at least for another week.
Former Denver quarterback Kyle Orton got his revenge in leading the Kansas City Chiefs over the Broncos 7-3. But the Broncos wound up in the postseason anyway when San Diego knocked off the Raiders minutes later.
"It's obviously a little bittersweet right now," Tebow said. "We would have loved to have won that game to have a little momentum going into the playoffs. But I think it's still a special thing what we accomplished, to come back and win the AFC West is very special."
The Broncos (8-8) will host the wild-card Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4) in the first round next Sunday.
"Well, we're AFC West champs," Broncos coach John Fox said. "It doesn't matter how you do it. Once you get into the dance, they can't kick you out."
After begrudgingly congratulating Orton, the Broncos celebrated the end to their six-year playoff drought once the Raiders lost.
The Broncos finished 8-8, same as the Raiders and Chargers. They won their first division title since 2005 on a tiebreaker, going 6-6 against common opponents while the others went 5-7.
So, everybody at Mile High got what they wanted even though Tebow couldn't beat the guy he failed to beat out in training
camp.
Orton, who also handed Green Bay its only loss, went 2-1 in Kansas City. His steady play likely raised his stock as he prepares to enter free agency. And he might have secured interim coach Romeo Crennel's future with the Chiefs (7-9).
Best of all, he beat the team that benched him after he finally caved under the weight of Tebowmania and the Broncos stumbled to a 1-4 start.
Orton had kept a low profile all week but finally conceded after the win that this game had special meaning to him even though it was for pride and payback and not the playoffs.
"I can't hide that," he said. "But I congratulate those guys. They're in. I congratulate them, and I look forward to next year."
The Broncos revamped their offense to fit Tebow's unconventional skill set and surged to the top of their division. They released Orton in the midst of a 7-1 run that included a series of fourth-quarter comebacks that captivated the football world.
Never before in the four-plus decades since the AFL-NFL merger has a starting quarterback returned to start a game in the same season against his former team.
Neither quarterback had a great day. The game's only touchdown came on Dexter McCluster's 21-yard run in the first quarter, so this game was as much about the Punting Colquitt brothers, Dustin and Britton, as it was about Orton vs. Tebow.
Tebow finished 6 of 22 for 60 yards and added 16 yards on six carries.
The Broncos saved $2.6 million by releasing Orton just before Thanksgiving, but Orton nearly made them pay an even heftier price for that decision, completing 15 of 29 passes for 180 yards.
"Nobody said how you had to get in," Broncos linebacker Mario Haggan said. "It's what you do with the opportunity once you get there."
SAN ANTONIO ? Manu Ginobili scored 23 points, 14 in the second quarter, to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 104-89 victory over the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.
Ginobili was 9 of 10 from the field, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range.
The win gave Spurs coach Gregg Popovich his 800th career coaching victory. He is the 14th coach to reach that milestone and third among active coaches behind George Karl (1038) and Rick Adelman (945).
DeJuan Blair had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Tony Parker added 14 points, and Tim Duncan 12 as San Antonio moved to 3-1.
Duncan continued to struggle to find his form. The 36-year-old forward followed up his 1-of-8 performance in Houston by going 4 of 13 from the field. He had nine rebounds.
Ginobili injected life to an offense that had gone cold in Thursday's 105-85 loss to the Houston Rockets. He began the Spurs' quick turnaround in the second period, scoring the first 11 points of the quarter. That propelled San Antonio on a 22-10 run that ended with Richard Jefferson hitting a 3-pointer with 5:26 left and gave the Spurs 17-point lead.
The Spurs were 7 of 8 from the 3-point line during the second period and were 10 and 16 for the game ( 63 percent).
Al Jefferson returned to the starting lineup for Utah, scoring 21 points with 11 rebounds in 35 minutes. Jefferson sat out Utah's 102-99 win over Philadelphia on Friday night with an inflamed right ankle.
But Utah shot just 35 percent (18 of 51) from the field and had only 11 assists.
San Antonio never trailed and built its largest lead at 27 points on Blair's basket with 9:52 left that made it 89-62.
Josh Howard, who flirted with signing with San Antonio earlier in the month before committing to the Jazz, had 18 points.
Forward Derrick Favors, who had a career-high 20 points in his first career start Friday, only had seven points.
Notes: Ginobili and Blair are the only Spurs to score 20 or more points in a game this season. ... Utah is 2-14 since the AT&T Center opened in 2002-2003 season.
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NEW YORK ? Muslim leaders intent on showing Mayor Michael Bloomberg that they have no appetite for his support of the police department's efforts to gather intelligence on their neighborhoods are poised to make an impression by their absence at his annual interfaith breakfast Friday.
A letter they composed made a controversy out of a normally sedate end-of-the-year meeting. In all, 15 Muslim clerics and community figures say they won't show up to protest the surveillance program first revealed in a series of Associated Press articles.
But one man who signed the letter, Rabbi Michael Weisser, said he will attend the breakfast after friends in the Muslim community urged him to attend and engage the mayor in conversation about the dispute.
The breakfast is traditionally held at the historic New York Public Library building on 42nd Street and has long served to showcase the city's diversity during overlapping winter holidays.
Weisser, who is one of seven people who will give invocations at the gathering, said he will not address it in his remarks to the group because he had already submitted his text to the mayor's office before taking sides in the dispute. Still, he said he saw parallels to what Jews have faced.
"From a Jewish perspective, it reminded me of things that were going on in the 1930s in Germany. We don't need that in America," he said. "The Muslim community is targeted. It's stereotyped. When people think of terrorism, they immediately think Muslim."
He said he had no problem with the police department following leads, but objected to the sense that the department is targeting Muslim organizations because they are Muslim.
"We can't be painting a whole group of people with the same broad brush," he said.
Bloomberg's office has said it expects about two dozen Muslim leaders to attend the breakfast.
"You're going to see a big turnout tomorrow, and it's nice that all faiths can get together," the mayor said Thursday. Boycott participants "are going to miss a chance to have a great breakfast."
Among those disagreeing with the boycott is Imam Shamsi Ali of the Islamic Cultural Center of New York. "I believe that engagement is more important. I think everyone disagrees with the way the NYPD is penetrating the community, but I think generalizing everything else as bad is not appropriate," he said. "The mayor's not perfect, but there are many things about him we need to appreciate. And I think working with him is a way of appreciation."
Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly have insisted their counterterrorism programs are legal.
"Contrary to assertions, the NYPD lawfully follows leads in terrorist-related investigations and does not engage in the kind of wholesale spying on communities that was falsely alleged," police spokesman Paul Browne said in an email Thursday.
Imam Al-Hajj Talib Abdur-Rashid, president of the Islamic Leadership Council of New York, a group of 35 clerics and their congregations, said those who won't attend don't feel comfortable "going to have coffee and doughnuts with the mayor knowing that this civil liberties crisis that's affecting all New Yorkers is not going to be addressed."
He and other Muslim activists and clerics sent a letter to Bloomberg this week turning down their invitations. About three dozen other people signed the letter as supporters, including rabbis, a Roman Catholic nun, Protestant pastors and a Quaker, though it was unclear how many had been invited to the breakfast.
"I couldn't be there while knowing that the mayor supports, if not established, this warrantless spying apparatus," said Hesham El-Meligy, founder of the Building Bridges Coalition of Staten Island.
Activists accused Bloomberg of squandering the goodwill built up last year when he fiercely defended a proposed Islamic prayer and cultural center not far from where the World Trade Center stood. The mosque is still in the planning stages.
Bloomberg had also won praise from Muslim leaders for criticizing anti-Islamic rhetoric and offering words of compassion after fires in the Bronx killed a large Muslim family and destroyed a mosque.
"However, despite these welcome and positive actions, very disturbing revelations have come to light regarding the city's treatment of Muslim New Yorkers," the letter said.
Records examined by the AP show the police department collected information on people who were neither accused nor suspected of wrongdoing.
The AP series detailed police department efforts to infiltrate Muslim neighborhoods and mosques with aggressive programs designed by a CIA officer. Documents reviewed by the AP revealed that undercover police officers known as "rakers" visited businesses such as Islamic bookstores and cafes, chatting up store owners to determine their ethnicities and gauge their views. They also played cricket and eavesdropped in ethnic clubs.
The surveillance efforts have been credited with enabling police to thwart a 2004 plot to bomb the Herald Square subway station.
Critics said the efforts amount to ethnic profiling and violate court guidelines that limit how and why police can collect intelligence before there is evidence of a crime. They have asked a judge to issue a restraining order against the police.
Participants in the boycott said they feel betrayed by the city.
"Civic engagement is a two-way street. We've done our part as a community; we're waiting for the city to do their part," said Linda Sarsour, executive director of the Arab-American Association of New York.
The surveillance has revealed deep divisions in the city a decade after 9/11. Many New Yorkers say they empathize with Muslims living under the pall of suspicion, but also support aggressive police efforts against would-be terrorists.
The New York Daily News and New York Post defended the police in editorials this week, with the Daily News calling the AP's reporting "overheated, overhyped."
The AP's senior managing editor, Michael Oreskes, sent a letter to the newspaper Thursday in defense of the news organization.
"These were stories about where our city was drawing the line in protecting New Yorkers from another 9/11 attack," Oreskes wrote. "The stories were based on extensive reporting and documents. It is a journalist's job to report the activities of government. It is up to citizens to decide about those activities."
___
Online:
Read AP's previous stories and documents about the NYPD at: http://www.ap.org/nypd
Letter to Bloomberg: http://interfaithletter.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/hello-world/
___
Associated Press writers Samantha Gross and Tom Hays in New York and Adam Goldman in Washington contributed to this story.
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Public release date: 26-Jan-2012
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