Westbrook's 3s lead Thunder past Celtics 97-88 (AP)

BOSTON ? Russell Westbrook scored 26 points, hitting a pair of 3-pointers in the final 91 seconds on Monday night to help the Oklahoma City Thunder pull away from Boston and beat the slumping Celtics 97-88.

Kevin Durant scored 28 with seven rebounds for the Thunder, who won their seventh consecutive game. Thabo Sefolosha scored 12 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, and Kendrick Perkins had seven points and five rebounds in his first game back in Boston since the trade that sent him to Oklahoma City and broke up the starting lineup from the Celtics' 2008 NBA championship team.

Paul Pierce scored 24 points, Kevin Garnett had 12 points and 12 rebounds and Jermaine O'Neal had 12 points and 11 boards for the Celtics. Rajon Rondo scored 12 points with nine rebounds and nine assists for Boston, which lost its fifth straight game for the first time in the New Big 3 era.

Perkins went over to the Celtics bench before the opening tip to hug the coaches and chest-bump some of his former teammates, and midway through the first quarter a video tribute was played on the scoreboard. The crowd gave him a standing ovation, which Perkins acknowledged by walking to center court alone and waving.

Durant had a tomahawk slam to give the Thunder an 83-78 lead, but Boston cut the deficit to 83-80 with 2:25 to play. Westbrook cut across the lane and whipped a two-handed pass to Sefolosha in the corner for the 3. After Rondo scored on a putback, Westbrook hit a 3-pointer of his own ? then celebrated by strutting down the sideline.

After Garnett hit Mickael Pietrus to set up a Celtics 3-pointer, Westbrook answered again to make it 92-85. The Thunder went just 2 of 11 from 3-point range in the first three quarters, but 5 of 8 in the fourth.

The Celtics had not had a five-game losing streak since they lost seven straight and eight of the last nine games of the 2006-07 season, a year when they also had an 18-game losing streak that was the longest in franchise history. That summer they began assembling the New Big 3, bringing in Garnett and Ray Allen to join Pierce ? and Rondo and Perkins.

Perkins was the starting center on the team that won the championship in 2008. But when the Celtics returned to the finals in 2010, Perkins injured his knee in Game 6 against the Lakers and missed Game 7, which Los Angeles won 83-79.

With Perkins' rehabilitation due to last well into the following season, general manager Danny Ainge signed Shaquille O'Neal and Jermaine O'Neal. Confident that they would remain healthy contributors, Ainge traded Perkins to Oklahoma City for Nenad Krstic and Jeff Green, but neither of them was able to remain in the lineup and the Celtics lost in the second round of the playoffs to Miami.

The trade looked even worse when Green was diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm, requiring surgery that put him out for this entire season. He is now a free agent.

The Thunder led most of the first half, including a 10-point lead early in the second quarter and a 46-39 advantage at the half. Pierce, who scored Boston's last six points in the second quarter, scored three more quick baskets early in the third, and back-to-back-layups by Jermaine O'Neal left it tied 57-all with 5 minutes left in the third.

It was 65-62 when Oklahoma City scored the last seven points of the quarter to make it a 10-point game.

Notes: New England Patriots cornerback Devin McCourty and receiver Julian Edelman took time off from their preparations for the AFC championship to attend the game. ... The teams split their games last year, each winning on the road. Durant missed the game in Boston with a sore left ankle. ... Thunder guard Reggie Jackson played at Boston College.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120117/ap_on_sp_bk_ga_su/bkn_thunder_celtics

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Obama challenges Republicans on goal they embrace (AP)

WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama is promoting his efforts to make government more efficient and to persuade companies to bring jobs back to the U.S. from overseas.

He rolled out those election-year ideas this past week and used his radio and Internet address Saturday to urge Congress and the private sector to get on board.

"Right now, we have a 21st century economy, but we've still got a government organized for the 20th century," Obama said. "Over the years, the needs of Americans have changed, but our government has not. In fact, it's gotten even more complex. And that has to change."

On government reorganization, Obama wants a guarantee from Congress that he could get a vote within 90 days on any idea to consolidate federal agencies, provided his plan saves money and cuts the government. His first order of business would be to merge six major trade and commerce agencies into one, eliminating the Commerce Department, among others.

The proposal is a challenge to congressional Republicans because it embraces the traditional GOP goal of smaller government.

"These changes will make it easier for small-business owners to get the loans and support they need to sell their products around the world," he said.

Obama is also promising new tax incentives for businesses that bring jobs to the U.S. instead of shipping them overseas, and he wants to eliminate tax breaks for companies that outsource.

"You've heard of outsourcing. Well, this is insourcing," said Obama. "And in this make or break moment for the middle class and those working to get into the middle class, that's exactly the kind of commitment to country that we need."

Obama went so far as to bring several U.S.-made products to display in his weekly video ? a padlock, a candle, some socks and a pair of boots ? to demonstrate his commitment to made-in-America manufacturing.

Republicans used their weekly address to promote the Keystone XL project to carry oil from Canada to Texas Gulf Coast refineries. Under a GOP-written provision Obama signed into law just before Christmas as part of a tax bill, the president faces a Feb. 21 deadline to decide whether the $7 billion pipeline is in the national interest.

The GOP is pounding Obama over the issue, saying it's a question of whether he wants to create jobs and import energy from a close friend and ally, or lose jobs and see Canadian oil go to Asia instead.

"If the Keystone XL pipeline isn't built, Canadian oil will still be produced and transported," said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D. "But instead of coming to our refineries in the United States, instead of creating jobs for our people, instead of reducing our dependence on Middle Eastern oil and keeping down the cost of fuel for American consumers ? that oil will be sent to China."

Obama had sought to delay the project and the State Department has warned the deadline doesn't leave it enough time for necessary reviews. Hoeven accused Obama of turning his back on American workers if he fails to approve it.

___

Online:

Obama address: www.whitehouse.gov

GOP address: www.youtube.com/gopweeklyaddress

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120114/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama

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Puerto Rico installing tsunami sirens in capital (AP)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico ? Puerto Rico is setting up a tsunami alert system in densely populated San Juan.

San Juan Mayor Jorge Santini says experts warn that the island faces a very real threat from a tsunami though the last one occurred in 1918. Santini says the network of sirens and a public education campaign are critical in case of an evacuation. San Juan received about $800,000 from the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security to set up the alert system.

Puerto Rico is in a seismically active zone. The island's official seismic tracking center says one of the most powerful earthquakes in Puerto Rico history triggered the 1918 tsunami on the west coast. About 40 people were killed.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120116/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_puerto_rico_tsunami_sirens

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Tanker carrying fuel arrives at iced-in AK town (AP)

NOME, Alaska ? Crews worked to build a path Sunday over a half-mile of Bering Sea ice for the final leg of a Russian tanker's mission to deliver fuel to a town isolated amid one of the most severe Alaska winters in decades.

The tanker was moored roughly a half-mile from Nome's harbor after a Coast Guard cutter cleared a path for it through hundreds of miles of a slow journey stalled by thick ice and strong ocean currents.

The tanker got into position Saturday night, and ice disturbed by its journey had to freeze again so workers could create some sort of roadway to lay a hose that will transfer 1.3 million gallons of fuel from the tanker to the harbor in Nome.

On Sunday, workers spent the morning walking around the vessel and checking the ice to make sure it was safe to lay the hose, which will take about four hours, said Jason Evans, board chairman of the Sitnasuak Native Corp.

With the tanker and the Coast Guard ice breaker sitting just offshore and poised to deliver the fuel, Evans said the bulk of the mission's biggest challenges were now behind the crew.

Still, the final job of transferring fuel from the ship to the town comes with its own hurdles: In addition to waiting for the ice to freeze, crews must begin the transfer in daylight, a state mandate. But Nome has just five hours of daylight this time of year.

"In theory, it was possible and in reality, it now is done," Evans said of the journey.

A storm prevented Nome's 3,500 residents from getting a fuel delivery by barge in November. Without the tanker delivery, supplies of diesel fuel, gasoline and home heating fuel Nome are expected to run out in March and April, well before a barge delivery again in late May or June.

The tanker began its journey from Russia in mid-December, picking up diesel fuel in South Korea, then headed to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, where it took on unleaded gasoline. Late Thursday, the vessels stopped offshore and began planning the transfer to Nome, more than 500 miles from Anchorage on Alaska's west coast.

Despite the complicated logistics of delivering fuel by sea in winter, Sitnasuak opted for the extra delivery after determining that it would be much less costly and more practical than flying fuel to Nome.

Mark Smith, CEO of Vitus Marine LLC, the fuel supplier that arranged to have the Russian tanker and its crew deliver the fuel to Nome, described the challenges as substantial, partly because winter has been especially harsh in the region this year. He said that moving the tanker even with the help of the cutter through more than 300 miles of pack-ice was "a very profound obstacle."

"It seems that every day brought a new crisis," he said. "Opinion appeared to be divided in Nome where some welcomed the arrival of the tanker and others thought it was a manufactured and unnecessary crisis."

Cari Miller was among the residents unconvinced a real crisis was at hand. The 43-year-old mother, who has lived in Nome for eight years, said she believed that another fuel provider in town had plenty of fuel for the community.

"We do not have a fuel crisis," she said. "It wasn't necessary."

Kwan Yi, 40, a maintenance worker at the Polaris Bar in Nome, faulted Sitnasuak for not arranging for barge delivery earlier last fall, but he believed the town was in need of fuel. He said he was still pleased the fuel tanker had arrived after struggling with frozen pipes and gas leaks caused by the unusually cold weather.

The crew of the 370-foot tanker Renda was working to ensure the safe transfer of the fuel through a segmented hose that will be laid on top of the ice to the harbor, located about 2,100 feet from the ship, Wadlow said in a telephone interview from Nome on Saturday night.

Once crews create a suitable path for the hose to rest on, its segments will have to be bolted together and inspected before the fuel can begin to flow.

Though the transfer must start during daylight, it can continue in darkness, Betty Schorr of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has said. It could be finished within 36 hours if everything goes smoothly, but it could take as long as five days, she said.

Evans said once the hose is laid down, personnel will walk its entire length every 30 minutes to check it for leaks. Each segment of hose will have its own spill containment area, and extra absorbent boom will be on hand in case of a spill.

Evans, however, cautioned that delivering the fuel is only half the mission.

"The ships need to transition back through 300 miles of ice," he said. "I say we're not done until the ships are safely back at their home ports" in Seattle and Russia.

___

Online:

Coast Guard webcam, http://bit.ly/wEsemi

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120115/ap_on_re_us/us_nome_iced_in

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Two killed in crash of small airplane on Cape Cod (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? A single-engine airplane flying from Martha's Vineyard to mainland Massachusetts crashed on a Cape Cod beach Sunday killing the two people on board, authorities said.

The four-seat Piper Comanche, which had taken off from Hyannis on southern Cape Cod, reported smoke in the cabin to air traffic controllers Sunday morning before communications were lost and the airplane disappeared from radar, U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Connie Terrell said.

Two airplanes, a helicopter and at least two boats were sent to search for the airplane and emergency teams searching on shore found the wreckage Sunday afternoon outside Brewster, Massachusetts, about 85 miles southeast of Boston, Terrell said.

"We received notification from the Brewster Fire Department that the plane had crash-landed on a beach ... and both people that were aboard that plane have been recovered deceased," she said.

Terrell said she did not know the names or genders of the two people killed, the airplane's pilot and either a co-pilot or passenger.

(Reporting By Zach Howard; Editing by David Bailey)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120115/us_nm/us_massachusetts_airplane_crash

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Video: Huntsman states his top priority in S.C.

Specter of SOPA haunts CES

Red Tape: Amid the glitz and glamour in Las Vegas, a grey could hangs over the annual geek-fest: The future of controversial anti-piracy legislation known as SOPA, which threatens to cause a bit of a civil war among tech firms.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45977816#45977816

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Next on A&E: "Bates Motel", Norman Bates, the teenage years (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES, Jan 13 (TheWrap.com) ? A&E has a pair of -- pun ahead -- killer new dramas in development.

"Bates Motel" will revisit classic "Psycho" serial killer Norman Bates, during his disturbing formative years. The series, produced by Universal Television, will serve as a "Psycho" prequel, examining the life of Norman Bates from his childhood through to his teen years, giving viewers access to "the dark, twisted backstory," to learn how Bates' mama and her lover turned him into, well, a psycho.

Also on tap at the network now best known for reality fare like "Storage Wars" and "Dog the Bounty Hunter": "Those Who Kill," an adaptation of a Danish crime series. Fox21 and Ron Howard/Brian Grazer's Imagine Television will produce the drama, which revolves around serial killers and the two lead characters -- a police detective and a criminal profiler -- who track them.

The characters "possess a deep psychological understanding that connects them to the killer's victims and to the killer himself, driving them to pursue each case to the end of the line, again and again," according to A&E's description of the show.

The new series will expand on A&E's recent foray into scripted fare, which includes the breakout cop drama "The Glades" and "Breakout Kings," about former fugitives who help U.S. marshals catch current criminals on the run.

(Editing By Zorianna Kit)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120113/tv_nm/us_batesmotel

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Christians, Muslims unite at Nigeria protest (AP)

LAGOS, Nigeria ? A human wave of more than 20,000 surrounded the Muslim faithful as they prayed toward Mecca Friday, as anti-government demonstrations over spiraling fuel prices and corruption showed unity among protesters despite growing sectarian tensions in Africa's most populous nation.

While violence sparked by religious and ethnic divisions left about 1,500 people dead last year alone in Nigeria, some hope the ongoing protests gripping the oil-rich nation will bring together a country that already suffered through a bloody civil war.

"It shows that Nigeria is now coming together as one family," said Abdullahi Idowu, 27, as he prepared to wash himself before Friday prayers.

Labor unions, meanwhile, announced Friday they would halt their five-day strike for the weekend, allowing families stuck largely inside their homes to go to markets and rest. Union leaders also plan to meet President Goodluck Jonathan and government officials on Saturday for new negotiations, just ahead of a promised labor shutdown of Nigeria's oil industry.

Nigeria, which produces about 2.4 million barrels of crude a day, is the fifth-largest oil exporter to the U.S. While the country has a several-week stock of oil ready for export, the threatened shutdown Sunday could shake oil futures as traders remained concerns about worldwide supply.

The strike began Monday, paralyzing the nation of more than 160 million people. The root cause remains gasoline prices: President Goodluck Jonathan's government abandoned subsidies that kept gasoline prices low Jan. 1, causing prices to spike from $1.70 per gallon (45 cents per liter) to at least $3.50 per gallon (94 cents per liter). The costs of food and transportation also largely doubled in a nation where most people live on less than $2 a day.

Anger over losing one of the few benefits average Nigerians see from being an oil-rich country, as well as disgust over government corruption, have led to demonstrations across this nation and violence that has killed at least 10 people. Red Cross volunteers have treated more than 600 people injured in protests since the strike began, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Friday.

"Over 4,000 persons have also been temporarily displaced there as a result of the strike and communal tensions," said Mamadou Sow, the deputy head of the committee's delegation in Nigeria. "Most of them have now started to return to their homes."

Protesters say they will not accept anything other than a full restoration of the estimated $8 billion in subsidies the government spends to keep gas prices low. On Friday, the president of the Nigeria Labor Congress said the government offered a slight subsidy to lower prices during negotiations on Thursday night. However, Abdulwaheed Omar said labor organizers rejected it, saying they wanted a full return of the subsidy.

At the mass demonstration in Lagos, Pastor Tunde Bakare called in Nigeria to reject a government that "is working hard to remove the crumbs the poor people survive on," while not providing adequate clean drinking water and electricity.

"We have become a generator republic," said Bakare, a one-time vice presidential candidate for the opposition party Congress for Progressive Change.

Bakare also urged those gathered in Nigeria's predominantly Christian south not to retaliate against Muslims living in their neighborhoods over recent attacks by a radical Islamist group known as Boko Haram. The group, which wants to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria, is blamed for killing at least 67 people so far this year alone, according to an Associated Press count.

Boko Haram also has begun specifically targeting Christians in Nigeria's Muslim north in their attacks, causing some to flee while exploiting deep-seated ethnic suspicions in the country. Jonathan himself described the situation as worse than the nation's 1960s civil war, which saw 1 million people killed after Nigeria's southeast declared itself the Republic of Biafra.

"In every family in the south, there are Muslims and Christians. They are not violent people. The sect can be identified and dealt with," Bakare told the AP.

In a show of solidarity, the protests Friday included prayers for Muslims. Several thousand gathered in the grass near an expressway off-ramp. Sheik Abdulrahman Ahmad preached to the crowd about the evils of terrorism, calling on them to shun possible reprisal attacks over the ongoing unrest.

"Because we forget ourselves, oil has become our curse," Ahmad told the crowd. He later added: "Our problem is oppression; our problem is bad governance."

Though Christians gathered around praying Muslims to protect them during their prayers, violence still lurks around the edges of the protest in a country where people are beginning to become hungry. A crowd suddenly ran after a suspected thief at one point, stoning him and beating him with sticks until he fell into a trash and feces-filled ditch.

The crowd continued to throw things at him, cursing.

"This is the life of a Nigerian," a man in the crowd called out. "This is how we live."

___

Associated Press writer Bashir Adigun in Abuja, Nigeria contributed to this report.

___

Jon Gambrell can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120113/ap_on_bi_ge/af_nigeria_fuel_subsidy

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Video: Stocks Outrun Bad Data

Michael Farr, Farr, Miller & Washington; Art Hogan, Lazard Capital Markets; and Gary Shilling, A. Gary Shilling & Company, discuss whether Romney will be bullish for stocks, and how investors should position their portfolios.

Related Links:

Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45979564/

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Romney tells SC voters he's 'pro-life' candidate

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, campaigns with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley at The Hall at Senate?s End, in Columbia, S.C., Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, campaigns with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley at The Hall at Senate?s End, in Columbia, S.C., Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

(AP) ? Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on Thursday insisted he is "pro-life" and said he's raising the issue on the campaign trail to counter his rivals' attacks.

"I understand that there are some attack ads coming my way that question" his commitment to life, Romney told reporters gathered at a motorcycle dealership in Greer, S.C. "Obviously it's important for me to remind people that I'm pro-life."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's campaign is running ads in South Carolina attacking Romney for changing his position on abortion. It's part of an onslaught of negative ads Romney is facing in the first-in-the-South primary, some from his rivals and some from their wealthy SuperPAC allies.

Romney arrived in South Carolina Wednesday and held a rally in Columbia, where he added extra emphasis to his typical campaign speech focused on protecting life.

"I'm convinced that the principles of opportunity, and freedom and the protection of life were not temporary but are permanent," Romney said Wednesday. And on Thursday, campaigning in the conservative Upstate, he repeated "life, life" twice as he recited the Declaration of Independence.

Gingrich has been hammering away at Romney's claim to conservative credentials, calling Romney a "Massachusetts moderate." Gingrich said Thursday he intends to emphasize Romney's views on social issues such as abortion, gun control and gay marriage in the days leading up to South Carolina's Jan. 21 primary.

Romney also is defending his record as a venture capitalist, repeating his contention that the company he ran was set up to save businesses where possible, although he's admitted that in private business, these efforts aren't always fruitful.

Romney came to South Carolina Wednesday as the unmistakable front-runner in the GOP presidential sweepstakes. But many of the state's voters are conservative Christians and tea party supporters, and Romney struggled here four years ago. He came in fourth.

Romney said Thursday the environment has changed enough that he could win here.

"Four years ago, we were really focused on Iraq and what was happening there and the surge. And that was an area that really was in John McCain's wheelhouse," Romney said. "Now the economy is the issue people are most concerned about. That's in my wheelhouse."

"This is a time when people care about the economy and the scale of government. It's the message of the tea party, it's the message of the Republican Party," he said.

Romney was leaving South Carolina Thursday to hold a midday rally in West Palm Beach, Fla., where absentee voters are already mailing in ballots. The primary is Jan. 31.

But first he stopped to admire the motorcycles on display at Cherokee Trikes and More after he wrapped up the rally in the back warehouse. He stood with an array of motorcycles behind him as he took reporters' questions ? but refused to sit on a motorcycle and pose for pictures.

Instead, he joked: "And, what, put a helmet on, Dukakis style?"

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-12-Romney/id-208717c8daef42bab6aa2b09474641c6

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