NCAA announces problems with Miami investigation

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — The NCAA's probe of Miami's athletic compliance practices is ramping up yet again.

Only this time, the Hurricanes aren't exactly the subject of the inquiry.

In a bizarre twist, it's college sports' governing body itself that is being investigated after NCAA President Mark Emmert acknowledged on Wednesday "a very severe issue of improper conduct" by former investigators working the long, complex Miami case.

The NCAA said its investigation was based, at least in part, on information that it should not have had access to, the testimony of those who appeared under subpoena to be deposed in the bankruptcy case involving former Miami booster Nevin Shapiro, one of the most notorious Ponzi scheme architects in history.

The NCAA does not have subpoena power. Shapiro's attorney did, and used it — and apparently entered into some sort of contractual agreement with the NCAA, one that apparently either was not or should never have been approved.

"We cannot have the NCAA bringing forward an allegation ... that was collected by processes none of us could stand for," Emmert said. "We're going to move it as fast as possible, but we have to get this right."

Wednesday's revelations mean that the notice of allegations against Miami — the NCAA's findings of wrongdoing, a document that was nearly completed and was expected to be released by the end of this week — will be delayed for at least a couple more weeks, if not longer. The long-term ramifications could be more damning for the NCAA, especially if the outside investigator they have commissioned to look into the mess finds more problems.

The NCAA did not name the attorney involved, whom Emmert only referred to as "she." The NCAA said it would not confirm that it was Maria Elena Perez, a Miami graduate and Shapiro's longtime defense attorney.

Perez did not respond to telephone or email messages. A person in her office said the attorney was working in New York and would be forwarded requests for comment.

"As we have done since the beginning, we will continue to work with the NCAA and now with their outside investigator hoping for a swift resolution of the investigation and our case," Miami President Donna Shalala said.

Emmert said two depositions are involved in this allegation of improper conduct by former enforcement-office staffers. One of those two depositions was given Dec. 19, 2011, by former Miami equipment-room staffer Sean Allen — who has been linked to Shapiro and many of the allegations that he made against the university.

Among the questions Allen was asked in that deposition:

— "Did you ever witness Mr. Shapiro paying any money to any University of Miami football or basketball players?"

— "Would it be fair to say that Mr. Shapiro did, in fact, confer various financial benefits on the University of Miami Athletic Program and its players?"

— "Did you ever overhear any of the coaches or any other staff for the University of Miami providing Mr. Shapiro with inside information regarding, you know, the condition of any particular athlete for the purposes of Mr. Shapiro's gambling?"

It's unknown which of Allen's answers caught the NCAA investigators' attention.

What is known publicly now, and has been suspected by some for months, is that those investigators never should have known those questions were asked.

"How in the world can you get this far without it being recognized that this was an inappropriate way to proceed?" Emmert asked.

That's the question that the NCAA wants answered, and fast.

Emmert spoke angrily at times during a half-hour conference call to discuss the findings, in which he revealed that he briefed the NCAA's executive committee and the Division I board presidents with some information about the Miami matter. He said he developed a better understanding of what went on in the days that followed, which led to the hiring of Kenneth L. Wainstein of the firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP to conduct the external review of what happened.

Wainstein, Emmert said, will begin his probe on Thursday, with the NCAA hoping that he can finish within two weeks.

"We want to make sure that any evidence that's brought forward is appropriately collected and it has the integrity that we expect and demand," Emmert said.

It was part of a stunning day for Hurricane athletics: The 25th-ranked men's basketball team routed No. 1 Duke later Wednesday, 90-63.

Emmert said the NCAA was trying to find out why part of the investigation was based on depositions specific to the bankruptcy case against Shapiro, who will have to repay $82.7 million to his victims as part of his sentence. And the timing of this also is curious. Several people who were to be named in the NCAA's notice of allegations against Miami have been told that the document was in the final stages of preparation — and one person who spoke with the AP said at least one person who was to have faced a charge of wrongdoing was told the letter was scheduled for delivery to Miami on Tuesday.

Now it's anyone's guess when that will happen.

Emmert said the NCAA learned of the alleged misconduct, in part, through legal bills presented by Shapiro's attorney for work that was not properly approved by the organization's general counsel's office.

"One of the questions that has to be answered, unequivocally, is what was the nature of that contractual arrangement and what was all the activity that that individual was involved with," Emmert said. "There is some uncertainty about all of that and it's one of the first orders of business for the firm that we've hired to investigate."

The Hurricanes' athletic compliance practices have been probed by the NCAA for nearly two years. Allegations of wrongdoing involving Miami's football and men's basketball programs became widely known in August 2011 when Yahoo Sports published accusations brought by Shapiro, who is serving a 20-year term in federal prison for masterminding a $930 million Ponzi scheme.

Miami has self-imposed two football postseason bans in response to the investigation. The Hurricanes also would have played in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game this past season, meaning they could have qualified for the Orange Bowl.

"In my two-and-a-half years I've certainly never seen anything like this, and don't want to see it again," Emmert said.

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2013 could be 'climate game-changer'

An ice sculpture entitled 'Minimum Monument' by Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo outside Berlin's Concert Hall, September 2, 2009.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The "neglected" risk of climate change seems to be rising to the top of leaders' agendas


• Extreme weather events are costing the global economy billions of dollars each year


• Gas can be an important bridge to a lower carbon future but it's not the answer


• More investment in renewable energy is needed, with fewer risks

Editor's note: Andrew Steer is President and CEO of the World Resources Institute, a think tank that works with governments, businesses and civil society to find sustainable solutions to environmental and development challenges.

(CNN) -- As leaders gather for the World Economic Forum in Davos, signs of economic hope are upon us. The global economy is on the mend. Worldwide, the middle class is expanding by an estimated 100 million per year. And the quality of life for millions in Asia and Africa is growing at an unprecedented pace.

Threats abound, of course. One neglected risk -- climate change -- appears to at last be rising to the top of agendas in business and political circles. When the World Economic Forum recently asked 1,000 leaders from industry, government, academia, and civil society to rank risks over the coming decade for the Global Risks 2013 report, climate change was in the top three. And in his second inaugural address, President Obama identified climate change as a major priority for his Administration.

Andrew Steer

For good reason: last year was the hottest year on record for the continental United States, and records for extreme weather events were broken around the world. We are seeing more droughts, wildfires, and rising seas. The current U.S. drought will wipe out approximately 1% of the U.S. GDP and is on course to be the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Damage from Hurricane Sandy will cost another 0.5% of GDP. And a recent study found that the cost of climate change is about $1.2 trillion per year globally, or 1.6% of global GDP.

Shifting to low-carbon energy sources is critical to mitigating climate change's impacts. Today's global energy mix is changing rapidly, but is it heading in the right direction?

Coal is the greatest driver of carbon dioxide emissions from energy, accounting for more than 40% of the total worldwide. Although coal demand is falling in the United States -- with 55 coal-powered plants closed in the past year -- it's growing globally. The World Resources Institute (WRI) recently identified 1,200 proposed new coal plants around the world. And last year, the United States hit a record-high level of coal exports—arguably transferring U.S. emissions abroad.

Meanwhile, shale gas is booming. Production in the United States has increased nearly tenfold since 2005, and China, India, Argentina, and many others have huge potential reserves. This development can be an economic blessing in many regions, and, because carbon emissions of shale gas are roughly half those of coal, it can help us get onto a lower carbon growth path.

However, while gas is an important bridge to a low carbon future—and can be a component of such a future—it can't get us fully to where we need to be. Greenhouse gas emissions in industrial countries need to fall by 80-90% by 2050 to prevent climate change's most disastrous impacts. And there is evidence that gas is crowding out renewables.

Renewable energy -- especially solar and wind power -- are clear winners when it comes to reducing emissions. Unfortunately, despite falling prices, the financial markets remain largely risk-averse. Many investors are less willing to finance renewable power. As a result of this mindset, along with policy uncertainty and the proliferation of low-cost gas, renewable energy investment dropped 11%, to $268 billion, last year.

What do we need to get on track?

Incentivizing renewable energy investment

Currently, more than 100 countries have renewable energy targets, more than 40 developing nations have introduced feed-in tariffs, and countries from Saudi Arabia to South Africa are making big bets on renewables as a growth market. Many countries are also exploring carbon-trading markets, including the EU, South Korea, and Australia. This year, China launched pilot trading projects in five cities and two provinces, with a goal of a national program by 2015.

Removing market barriers

Despite growing demand for renewable energy from many companies, this demand often remains unmet due to numerous regulatory, financial, and psychological barriers in the marketplace.

In an effort to address these, WRI just launched the Green Power Market Development Group in India, bringing together industry, government, and NGOs to build critical support for renewable energy markets. A dozen major companies from a variety of sectors—like Infosys, ACC, Cognizant, IBM, WIPRO, and others— have joined the initiative. This type of government-industry-utility partnership, built upon highly successful models elsewhere, can spur expanded clean energy development. It will be highlighted in Davos this week at meetings of the Green Growth Action Alliance (G2A2).

De-risking investments

For technical, policy, and financial reasons, risks are often higher for renewables than fossil-based energy. Addressing these risks is the big remaining task to bring about the needed energy transformation. Some new funding mechanisms are emerging that can help reduce risk and thus leverage large sums of financing. For example, the Green Climate Fund could, if well-designed, be an important venue to raise funds and drive additional investments from capital markets. Likewise, multi-lateral development banks' recent $175 billion commitment to sustainable transport could help leverage more funds from the private and public sectors.

Some forward-looking companies are seeking to create internal incentives for green investments. For example, companies like Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, and UPS have been taking actions to reduce internal hurdle rates and shift strategic thinking to the longer-term horizons that many green strategies need.

Davos is exactly the type of venue for finding solutions to such issues, which requires leadership and coalition-building from the private and public sectors. For example, the the G2A2, an alliance of CEOs committed to addressing climate and environmental risks, will launch the Green Investment Report with precisely the goal of "unlocking finance for green growth".

Depending on what happens at Davos—and other forums and meetings like it throughout the year—2013 could just be a game-changer.

Follow us on Twitter@CNNOpinion.

Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Andrew Steer.

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Vegan pizza, smoked salmon Oscars on offer at post-Oscars ball

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hollywood’s elite will chow down on vegan pizza and kale salad in addition to the traditional smoked salmon Oscars at the annual Governor’s Ball after next month’s Academy Awards ceremony, celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck announced on Tuesday.

Unveiling his menu for the year’s biggest movie party, Puck said chicken pot pie with shaved black truffles, mini Kobe burgers, Japanese baby peach salad, steamed red snapper with Thai spice, Tuna Nicoise and his signature gold-dusted mini-chocolate Oscars also would be served.

Some 1,500 guests are expected at the ball immediately after the February 24 Oscars ceremony, including nominees such as George Clooney, Steven Spielberg, Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain.

Puck’s menu could be the first chance for many of the attendees to eat since breakfast, as nominees and presenters stave off food in order to squeeze in to fitted gowns and tuxedos for the televised red carpet arrivals and ceremony.

“Nobody eats lunch that day, so by nine o’clock, anybody who would be on a diet is no longer on that diet,” Puck said.

With Oscar-nominated films ranging from dramas to comedies and musicals, guests at the ball – the Academy’s official celebration – will be dining on dishes just as varied.

“We have so many great nominated movies from ‘Argo’ to ‘Les Miserables’ to ‘Silver Linings Playbook,” Puck told Reuters. “It’s a really great year for movies with lots of variety, so we are going to serve a variety of dishes.”

Puck, who this year is marking his 19th year catering the ball, and chef Matt Bencivenga will serve over 50 dishes from hors d’ oeuvres and entrees that will be served on small plates throughout the evening.

Gastronomical items will include Chinese, French, Italian dishes and others from Puck’s many Los Angeles eateries.

The master chef told Reuters there will also be a strong focus this year on vegan dishes, including pizza, kale salad with grilled artichoke, and a beet salad with spiced walnut among others.

“If they don’t find something to eat (among our dishes) then they are really finicky,” joked Puck.

About 300 of Puck’s staff will be in the kitchen and 650 on the dining room floor, which will be laid out with small tables and booths to create a party atmosphere rather than a black tie dinner, according to Puck.

Completing the setting will be a 120-foot (37-meter)chandelier hanging from the ceiling and an 18-foot (5.5-meter) golden Oscar as the centerpiece of the ballroom floor.

Puck said food preparation will start a few days before the event with the making of dishes like smoked salmon and tortellini, but “we cook everything as if we were cooking for an intimate party of 25 – everything at the last moment.”

By midnight, Puck said the festivities would be pretty much over as attendees moved to other parties. That’s when he’ll get his first opportunity of the day to relax “and hang with a few people I know, and we sit around and have some good wine.”

(Reporting By Zorianna Kit; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Paul Simao)

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Wanted: People to Serve on the ‘Death Panel’

Republican Representative Phil Roe frequently gives speeches about what he calls the perils of Obamacare. A gynecologist from Tennessee, he’s especially worked up about one part of the law: the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a government-appointed panel intended to help slow the growth of Medicare spending. The 15-person IPAB will propose Medicare cost cuts if the growth in the program’s spending exceeds inflationary targets. But that’s not how Roe sees it. He envisions closed-door meetings where “unelected bureaucrats” make decisions that lead to rationing—a scenario hyped by Sarah Palin and other conservatives who warn the IPAB is really a “death panel” that will sit in judgment over Americans’ health claims, denying costly care to the old and weak. Roe is pushing a bill that would get rid of the board. “This is not something we want to do to our seniors,” he says.

Sounds scary. Except the IPAB doesn’t have anything close to that kind of power. The law makes it clear that the panel has no authority to ration care or cut benefits for Medicare recipients. It can’t touch reimbursements to hospitals until 2020. Instead, it’s expected to find savings by eliminating fraud and reducing payments to private insurance companies that work with Medicare and prescription drug providers. And it can only do that if the government is projected to spend more than it’s supposed to.

Each spring, the Office of the Actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services forecasts how much the programs will cost two years in the future. On April 30, it will issue its per-capita estimate for 2015. The actuary will also release a spending target, based on predictions about the pace of health-care inflation. If the increase in expected Medicare costs exceeds the spending target, the IPAB steps in to propose cuts. It will take a three-fifths Senate supermajority to reject its recommendations, and then legislators must find alternative cuts that achieve the same savings. Senators can’t resort to the usual stalling tactics: The law allows them to debate the IPAB’s proposal for 30 hours max, making it filibuster-proof.

The hyperbole surrounding the board shows why it may not be such a bad idea, at least in theory. For all its avowed concern about runaway entitlement spending, Congress is too scared to do anything about it. Not many politicians in Washington are willing to make enemies of the elderly, who are vocal and vote, or the health-care industry, which receives billions of dollars from Medicare and rewards legislators who keep the cash flowing. “There’s nobody representing taxpayers,” says Robert Berenson, an Urban Institute fellow and former vice chairman of Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which counsels Congress on Medicare. “There’s a lot of people representing doctors, hospitals, and medical device manufacturers.”

While Republicans fret about power-hungry bureaucrats taking over health care, President Obama appears to be having trouble finding people willing to take a job that in reality has little influence and not much appeal. The White House, which declined requests to comment on its efforts to recruit IPAB members, has yet to name anyone to the board, even though it’s supposed to get to work by the end of April.

The law requires the panel to be made up of prominent doctors, economists, hospital executives, and insurance industry representatives. Candidates are subject to Senate approval, which means they must endure potentially hostile public hearings. “They are going to be held to a high level of scrutiny,” says Senator John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican and orthopedic surgeon. “We’re going to have tough questions. We’re going to demand answers to know where they stand and then make decisions about each one of them individually.” Barrasso has made it clear where he stands. He’s a co-sponsor of the Health Care Bureaucrats Elimination Act, a bill that would do away with the IPAB.

Board members willing to go through all that must also agree to serve for six years, full time; they have to quit their current jobs because of conflict-of-interest concerns. “They are going to have to lead this Rapunzel-like existence hidden away somewhere in a tower,” says J.D. Kleinke, a health-care economist who’s writing a book on Obamacare. The salary of $ 165,300, though respectable, is far less than top doctors and health-care executives typically make. And the life of an IPAB member may be rather dull, since its powers kick in only if spending is surging. In March, the Congressional Budget Office forecast that Medicare costs aren’t likely to spike for the next decade. Chapin White, a senior researcher at the Center for Studying Health System Change, attributes this to cost-control measures that are already in effect as a result of the Affordable Care Act. “The ACA has definitely pushed the Medicare spending trajectory down,” he says.

That would leave IPAB members with little to do but tinker away on health-care reports the law recommends they write every other year. But Congress can just ignore those. “Who wants to drop their careers to go onto a board that’s going to pay you very little money to say ‘let’s fight fraud’?” asks Dana Goldman, a health-care economist at the University of Southern California. “I think a better approach would be to let them do it part time.”

No wonder Obama has yet to announce his candidates. The drafters of the Affordable Care Act seem to have anticipated such ambivalence. If there’s no IPAB in place by the time its services are needed, the law allows Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to do its job until the panel is up and running. “Everybody is focused on 15 unelected people,” says Berenson. “But the key part of the IPAB is that there’s a trigger mechanism which forces somebody to recommend cuts to stay within the spending target. The activity doesn’t go away.”

The bottom line: Top doctors and highly paid executives aren’t flocking to sit on the IPAB, which requires a six-year commitment and pays $ 165,300.

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RideIt! For Your New Year’s Resolution

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM–(Marketwire – Jan 23, 2013) – If this year, your New Year”s resolution was to stay fit and active as well as getting out to meet new people, then RideIt! from Evans Cycles could be the perfect way for you to achieve your goals in 2013.

RideIt! explained

Specialist cycle retailer Evans Cycles organises the RideIt! series every year to offer novice cyclists the chance to get into a fantastic new sport, and those with a little more experience the chance to see some of the country as well as meeting like minded individuals.

The RideIt! series consists of organised mountain bike and sports five bike rides, taking place twice monthly in a variety of locations up and down the UK.

Evans Cycles” philosophy that underpins the RideIt! series is to design great rides that are both affordable and enjoyable. Whether you”re new to the sport or an experienced rider, you”ll find something new with RideIt!

Upcoming RideIt! Events

The following are upcoming RideIt! events for the next three months:

Rochdale

• 26^th January – Mountain Bike


• 27^th January – Road and Sportfive

Gatwick

• 9^th February – Mountain Bike


• 10^th February – Road and Sportfive

Leeds

• 23^rd February – Mountain Bike


• 24^th February – Road and Sportfive

Scotland

• 23^rd March – Mountain Bike


• 24^th March – Road and Sportfive

How to sign up

Once you”ve found the ride that best suits you, simply sign up online or call the Evans Cycles contact centre on +44 (0) 1293 574900. It”s recommended to sign up well in advance due to the popularity of the events.

Then grab your bike, your winter cycle clothing; and off you go!

Catching up with previous RideIt! Events

If you”re still a little unsure what you”re letting yourself in for, check out the Evans Cycles Blog at http://blog.evanscycles.com/ and you”ll find full details on previous events.

Notes to Editors

• Founded in 1921, Evans Cycles is the UK”s largest quality cycle shop, stocking the widest range of products and brands, including Scott bikes, Cannondale and Specialized amongst others.


• Deeply passionate about cycling in all its forms, Evans” friendly staff has expert knowledge and are happy to help out with all aspects of cycling.


• Evans celebrated its 90^th anniversary in 2011, evolving from a family owned store to an award winning enterprise. Evans Cycles is now the UK”s leading bike retailer selling road bikes, mountain bikes and hybrid bikes, as well as cycling clothing and accessories. 

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Stock futures flat, but techs rally in preopen trade

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures were flat on Wednesday, with investors reluctant to make big bets following a five-day rally that took major averages to levels not seen since December 2007.

Tech shares will be in focus following strong results from both IBM and Google, which rallied in premarket and continued the string of major companies outperforming following results.

Investors were also cautious as they awaited another onslaught of earnings reports, including from Dow components McDonald's Corp and United Technologies . Apple Inc reports after the market closes and investors will scour that report for signs the company can continue to grow at an accelerated pace.

Google Inc rose 5.1 percent to $738.61 in light premarket trading a day after the search giant's core Internet business outpaced expectations. Revenue was also higher than expected.

International Business Machines Corp late Tuesday forecast better-than-anticipated 2013 results and also posted fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that beat expectations. The results helped to allay concerns about the tech sector that arose when Intel Corp gave a weak outlook last week. IBM, which is a Dow component, rose 3.9 percent to $203.81 before the bell.

According to the latest Thomson Reuters data, of the 74 S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far, 62.2 percent have topped expectations, roughly even with the 62 percent average since 1994, but below the 65 percent average over the past four quarters.

Overall, S&P 500 fourth-quarter earnings are forecast to have risen 2.6 percent. That estimate is above the 1.9 percent forecast from the start of earnings season, but well below the 9.9 percent fourth-quarter earnings forecast from October 1, the data showed.

S&P 500 futures fell 1.8 point and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures were flat points and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 3.5 points.

Both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial average hit five-year closing highs on Tuesday, and recent gains have largely been fueled by a strong start to the earning season. The S&P has jumped 6.4 percent over the past four weeks.

Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives aim on Wednesday to pass a bill to extend the U.S. debt limit by nearly four months, to May 19. The White House welcomed the move, saying it would remove uncertainty about the issue.

The debt limit issue has been viewed as a market overhang for the past few weeks, with many investors worried that if no deal is reached to raise the limit, it could have a negative impact on the economy.

Bank and commodity shares led the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 Index to a fresh five-year closing high on Tuesday on hopes that the global economy continues to mend.

(Editing by W Simon)

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Te'o tells Couric he briefly lied about girlfriend

NEW YORK (AP) — Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o has told Katie Couric that he briefly lied about his online girlfriend after discovering she didn't exist.

Te'o said in an interview to air Thursday on Couric's show that he didn't lie about the hoax until December, believing Lennay Kekua had died of cancer. A segment of the interview with Te'o and his parents was broadcast Wednesday on "Good Morning America."

The Heisman Trophy runner-up received a phone call in December from a woman saying she was Kekua, whom he believed had died in September.

Te'o said, "Now I get a phone call on Dec. 6, saying that she's alive and then I'm going be put on national TV two days later. And to ask me about the same question. You know, what would you do?"

Te'o maintained that he had no part in creating the hoax.

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Beyonce, Hudson do star turns at inauguration

WASHINGTON (AP) — Beyonce drew a loud cheer at the inauguration Monday even before her impressive rendition of the national anthem. But in the role she played four years ago singing for the president and first lady at the inaugural ball was her “Dreamgirls” co-star Jennifer Hudson.

If President Barack Obama’s first inaugural theme seemed to be summed up by Beyonce’s “At Last,” this time it was Hudson’s version of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.”

Hudson was among the entertainment at Monday night’s inaugural balls, joined by Stevie Wonder and Alicia Keys, who modified her hit “Girl on Fire” to sing “He’s the president and he’s on fire … Obama’s on fire. Obama’s on fire.”

The crowd at the official Inaugural Ball joined in with the Grammy-nominated fun. anthem “We Are Young.”

And Wonder got small knots of dancers going with crowd-pleasers such as “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours.”

Earlier in the day, the applause for Beyonce started when she took her place with Jay-Z at the Capitol to watch President Barack Obama take the oath for his second term in office. The two stopped to chat with the Rev. Al Sharpton.

James Taylor kicked off the musical performances, strumming his guitar and singing “America the Beautiful.” Kelly Clarkson followed with a different arrangement of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” Then Beyonce was introduced and the crowd again roared its approval.

Beyonce had a definite fan in Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who applauded eagerly after she finished singing the national anthem. She offered R&B-esque vocal riffs as she sang on and the crowd seemed to love it, cheering loudly as she finished. Clarkson, too, hit high notes.

Beyonce may have been the star musical attraction, but she had plenty of company from Hollywood at the Capitol on Monday. Katy Perry and John Mayer sat side-by-side, with Perry in an orange-striped coat and wide hat, and Mayer in dark sunglasses. Singer-songwriter Ke$ ha was there, too.

People flocked to the colorful pop star, snapping photos. And Perry did the same, taking shots of “Girls” actress and daughter of news anchor Brian Williams, Allison Williams.

Actress Eva Longoria was seated on the platform outside the Capitol after making an appearance at a Kennedy Center performance Sunday night. Perry sang at the children’s concert the night before.

Former Boston Celtics great Bill Russell was in the crowd, too, along with actor Marlon Wayans.

___

AP writers Donna Cassata, Darlene Superville, Josh Lederman and Jocelyn Noveck contributed to this report.

__

Follow Mesfin Fekadu on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MusicMesfin

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Redknee Projected for Leadership Position in Pre-Integrated Converged Billing and Customer Care Market

TORONTO–(Marketwire – Jan 22, 2013) –   Redknee ( TSX : RKN ), a leading provider of business-critical billing and charging software and solutions for communications service providers, is pleased to announce that it has been featured in Ovum’s On The Radar analyst report, which highlights vendors that are bringing innovative ideas, products or business models to the market. Ovum, an independent market analyst, identifies Redknee’s end-to-end, pre-integrated, converged billing and customer care solution and the strong roadmap for its cloud-based platform as key differentiators that will see Redknee secure a strong position in the growing pre-integrated converged billing and customer care market.

Shagun Bali, analyst at Ovum, commented:

“As communication service providers move toward convergence of their business units, they demand platforms that can interact and respond in real-time to subscribers’ needs, regardless of service or technology. Ovum believes that with Redknee’s commitment to innovation, particularly in cloud enablement, next generation convergence to enhance the customer experience and partner enablement to drive services on the platform, it will secure a stronger position in the market space.”

Lucas Skoczkowski, CEO, commented:

“This latest report by a leading analyst firm reiterates the growing momentum that Redknee is achieving in the market, which is demonstrated through our expanding customer footprint as well as the increased recognition by industry experts. The findings from Ovum’s report validate Redknee’s focused strategy to invest in developing cloud-based and on-premise billing and customer care solutions to enable service providers to increase revenues, improve the customer experience and grow profitability.”

In addition to highlighting Redknee’s strategy to invest in its cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) converged billing solution, Ovum also identifies the following key benefits:

• Redknee addresses problems facing service providers that are struggling with managing identities in silos for individual applications. Redknee offers a converged billing and customer care solution that consolidates customer data and makes it available to all customer facing applications.


• Redknee’s innovative converged billing platform helps service providers to enhance the customer experience, define and launch new services and promotions quickly, and reduce operating costs by eliminating integration costs and efforts.


• Redknee has integrated policy controls and business intelligence capabilities into the core platform that help to analyze real-time customer data and provide personalized services.


• Redknee has successfully built strong partnerships with leading IT vendors and system integrators. For example, Redknee leverages the Microsoft Dynamics CRM framework to expand its real-time billing solution to support advanced customer care, a retail and dealer network portal and innovative self-care solutions.

The full report is available for download at:

http://www.redknee.com/pdf/forms/Ovum_On_the_Radar_Report.aspx

For more information about Redknee and its solutions, please go to www.redknee.com.

About Redknee
Redknee is a leading global provider of innovative communication software products, solutions and services. Redknee’s award-winning solutions enable operators to monetize the value of each subscriber transaction while personalizing the subscriber experience to meet mainstream, niche and individual market segment requirements. Redknee’s revenue generating solutions provide advanced converged billing, rating, charging and policy for voice, messaging and new generation data services to over 90 network operators in over 50 countries. Established in 1999, Redknee Solutions Inc. ( TSX : RKN ) is the parent of the wholly-owned operating subsidiary Redknee Inc. and its various subsidiaries. References to Redknee refer to the combined operations of those entities. For more information about Redknee and its solutions, please go to www.redknee.com.

Marketwire News Archive – Yahoo! Finance

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Stock futures flat at five-year highs, investors await earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures were flat on Tuesday as investors held back from making large bets ahead of an onslaught of corporate earnings and after recently notching five-year highs.

Both the Dow and S&P 500 closed at their highest levels the earnings season. U.S. markets were closed on Monday for a public holiday.

Despite stronger-than-expected earnings results from major companies, including big banks, at the start of the quarterly reporting season, many investors are worried that other reports will reflect economic uncertainty in the fourth quarter.

"The market has been pleased with earnings thus far, and it is encouraging to see a cyclical company like DuPont show revenue strength, but I'm waiting on more tech and energy earnings until I come down one way or the other on this season," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of Sarhan Capital in New York.

posted a steep drop in earnings on reduced demand for paint pigment, though revenue was ahead of expectations.

Verizon Communications Inc fell 1.1 percent to $42.06 in premarket trading after reporting a steep loss due to pension liabilities and charges related to superstorm Sandy that offset strength in its wireless business. Travelers Cos Inc also posted earnings that were hurt by losses related to Sandy.

DuPont, Verizon and Travelers are all Dow components, as is Johnson & Johnson , slated to report later Tuesday along with Google Inc and Texas Instruments . Tech earnings will be in particular focus after Intel Corp last week gave a revenue outlook that was below expectations.

Overall, S&P 500 fourth-quarter earnings are forecast to have risen 2.5 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data. That estimate is above the 1.9 percent forecast from a week ago but well below the 9.9 percent fourth-quarter earnings forecast from October 1, the data showed.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.3 point but remained below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 8 points and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 5 points.

Monday was a market holiday for Martin Luther King Day in the United States, and also marked the start of a second term for President Barack Obama, who called for aggressive action on climate change, economic equality and the federal budget.

"It remains a question whether Obama will be able to deliver on his agenda, but a sector like solar power companies could continue to be strong as he pushes for action," Sarhan said.

Markets have recently been pressured by uncertainty stemming from Washington about the federal debt limit and spending cuts that could hamper U.S. growth.

Republican leaders in the House of Representatives said they aim to pass on Wednesday a nearly four-month extension of the U.S. debt limit, allowing the government to borrow enough to meet its obligations during that period.

U.S. shares of Research in Motion jumped 8.9 percent to $17.25 in premarket trading after its chief executive said the company may consider strategic alliances with other companies after the launch of devices powered by RIM's new BlackBerry 10 operating system.

The Dow and S&P 500 closed at five-year highs on Friday as the market registered a third straight week of gains on a solid start to the quarterly earnings season, including from Morgan Stanley and General Electric Co .

(Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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