Top detective appointed new Pistorius investigator

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — South Africa's top detective was appointed lead investigator in the Oscar Pistorius case Thursday, replacing a veteran policeman who was charged with attempted murder in the latest shock development to hit a case being watched closely by the nation.

National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega promised that a team of "highly skilled and experienced" officers would investigate the killing of Pistorius' 29-year-old girlfriend. Pistorius, 26, has been charged with premeditated murder in the case.

The decision to put police Lt. Gen. Vinesh Moonoo in charge came soon after word emerged that the initial chief investigator, Hilton Botha, is facing attempted murder charges, and a day after he offered testimony damaging to the prosecution in Pistorius' bail hearing.

Pistorius, an Olympic runner whose lower legs were amputated when he was less than a year old, killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the predawn hours of Valentine's Day. He claims he mistook her for an intruder when he shot her through a locked door in a bathroom in his home. Prosecutors say the shooting happened after the couple got into an argument and allege the killing was deliberate, carried out with no mercy.

Botha acknowledged Wednesday in court that nothing in Pistorius' version of the fatal shooting of Steenkamp contradicted what police had discovered, even though there have been some discrepancies. Botha also said that police had left a 9 mm slug in the toilet and had lost track of allegedly illegal ammunition found in Pistorius' home.

"This matter shall receive attention at the national level," Phiyega told reporters soon after the end of proceedings in the third day of Pistorius' bail hearing. The case has riveted South Africa and much of the world and has placed the country's judicial system under close scrutiny.

Bulewa Makeke, spokeswoman for South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority, said the attempted murder charges had been reinstated against Botha on Feb. 4. Police say they found out about it after Botha testified in Pistorius' bail hearing Wednesday.

Botha and two other police officers had seven counts of attempted murder reinstated against them in relation to a 2011 shooting incident. Botha and his two colleagues allegedly fired shots at a minibus they were trying to stop.

Asked about Botha's court performance and handling of the investigation, Phiyega said South Africa's police force "can stand on its own" compared to others around the world.

Makeke, the spokeswoman for the national prosecution office, had said before Botha was dismissed from the Pistorius case that he should be taken off, but added that it was up to the police force to make that decision.

Makeke indicated the charges were reinstated against Botha because more evidence had been gathered. She said the charge against Botha was initially dropped "because there was not enough evidence at the time."

Pistorius' main sponsor Nike, meanwhile, suspended its contract with the multiple Paralympic champion, following eyewear manufacturer Oakley's decision to suspend its sponsorship. Nike said in a brief statement on its website: "We believe Oscar Pistorius should be afforded due process and we will continue to monitor the situation closely."

The judge is still trying to decide whether to grant Pistorius bail, and under what conditions.

During Thursday's bail hearing, Chief Magistrate Desmond Nair asked the defense of Pistorius' bail application: "Do you think there will be some level of shock if the accused is released?"

Defense lawyer Barry Roux responded: "I think there will be a level of shock in this country if he is not released."

Opposing bail, prosecutor Gerrie Nel painted a picture of a man "willing and ready to fire and kill," and said signs of remorse from Pistorius do not mean that the athlete didn't intend to kill his girlfriend.

"Even if you plan a murder, you plan a murder and shoot. If you fire the shot, you have remorse. Remorse might kick in immediately," Nel said.

As Nel summed up the prosecution's case opposing bail, Pistorius began to weep in the crowded courtroom, leading his brother, Carl Pistorius, to reach out and touch his back.

"He (Pistorius) wants to continue with his life like this never happened," Nel went on, prompting Pistorius, who was crying softly, to shake his head. "The reason you fire four shots is to kill," Nel persisted.

Earlier Thursday, Nair questioned Botha over delays in processing records from phones found in Pistorius' house following the killing of Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and budding reality TV contestant.

"It seems to me like there was a lack of urgency," Nair said as the efficiency of the police investigation was questioned.

Botha is himself to appear in court in May to face seven counts of attempted murder. Botha was dropped from the case but not suspended from the police force, Phiyega said, and could still be called by defense lawyers at trial.

Pisatorius' behavior Thursday reflected the change of mood in the courtroom as his defense lawyers attacked police procedures and maintained his innocence.

Pistorius, in the same gray suit, blue shirt and gray tie combination he has worn throughout the bail hearing, stood ramrod straight in the dock, then sat calmly looking at his hands. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the athlete had been slumped over and sobbing uncontrollably at times as detail was read out of how Steenkamp died in his house.

"The poor quality of the evidence offered by investigative officer Botha exposed the disastrous shortcomings of the state's case," Roux said Thursday. "We cannot sit back and take comfort that he is telling the truth."

Roux also raised issue of intent, saying the killing was not "pre-planned" and referred to a "loving relationship" between the two.

He said an autopsy showed that Steenkamp's bladder was empty, suggesting she had gone to use the toilet as Pistorius had claimed. Prosecutors claim Steenkamp had fled to the toilet to avoid an enraged Pistorius.

"The known forensics is consistent" with Pistorius' statement, Roux said, asking that bail restrictions be eased for Pistorius.

But the prosecutor said Pistorius hadn't given guarantees to the court that he wouldn't leave the country if he was facing a life sentence. Nel also stressed that Pistorius shouldn't be given special treatment.

"I am Oscar Pistorius. I am a world-renowned athlete. Is that a special circumstance? No." Nel said. "His version (of the killing) is improbable."

Nel said the court should focus on the "murder of the defenseless woman."

Botha testified Thursday that he had investigated a 2009 complaint against Pistorius by a woman who claimed the athlete had assaulted her. He said that Pistorius had not hurt her and that the woman had actually injured herself when she kicked a door at Pistorius' home.

The hearing is to continue Friday morning.

___

AP Sports Writer Gerald Imray contributed to this report from Johannesburg.

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Lawrence, Chastain, Riva in Oscar battle of youth versus experience

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A young widow, a bayou girl, an elderly woman, a mother and a CIA agent battle it out on Sunday for the Best Actress Oscar, a race that includes the youngest and oldest nominees in the category’s history.

Jennifer Lawrence of “Silver Linings Playbook,” 9-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis from “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” 85-year-old star of “Amour” Emmanuelle Riva, “The Impossible” lead Naomi Watts and “Zero Dark Thirty’s” Jessica Chastain are competing for their first Academy Award.

“Any one of these five can win, it’s one of the most hotly contested races in recent memory,” Scott Feinberg, lead awards analyst for The Hollywood Reporter, told Reuters.

In the long movie campaign season, awards have been split between Lawrence, Chastain and Riva.

Lawrence, 22, who picked up her first Oscar nomination in 2011 for “Winter’s Bone,” was nominated for her portrayal of an endearing young widow in quirky comedy “Silver Linings Playbook.”

The actress won the Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice awards in the comedy acting categories, and bested Chastain for the Screen Actors Guild trophy.

“Jennifer Lawrence fits the perfect profile of a winner. (The voters) love an ingenue at the peak of her career,” Tom O’Neil of awards website GoldDerby.com told Reuters.

“She is queen of popcorn pictures with ‘The Hunger Games’ franchise and she is delivering the kind of dramatic performance in ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ that merit her the ultimate crown,” he added.

Chastain, who landed her first Oscar nod for supporting actress for the 2011 film “The Help,” has picked up the Critics’ Choice Best Actress award, and the Golden Globe for drama actress.

Yet Chastain, 35, an early Oscar front-runner for her role as dogged CIA agent Maya in the Osama bin Laden manhunt thriller “Zero Dark Thirty,” has seen some of her support wane in the wake of criticism for the film’s portrayal of torture, and director Kathryn Bigelow’s omission from the Oscar director’s race.

The race between Chastain and Lawrence has been fueled by reports of a rivalry between the two, which Chastain was forced to deny through her Facebook page last week, calling Lawrence “utterly charming and a great talent.”

But with French actress Riva winning Best Actress at Britain’s version of the Oscars this month, the star of foreign-language entry “Amour” could pull off an upset.

AN OPEN RACE

At age 85, Riva is the oldest Best Actress nominee for her performance as a retired music teacher felled by a series of strokes in “Amour.” Many pundits believe this year is an opportune time to recognize the French actress for her five-decade film career.

“Riva may be helped by the fact that people want to do this now. They’re not going to put it off for her as they might for the other nominees, who are all considerably younger,” Feinberg said.

Chastain and Watts, 44, are nominated for playing characters based on real people. But Feinberg suggested that Watts, who plays a mother torn from her family by a tsunami in “The Impossible,” had another advantage.

“(Voters) like to see that kind of physical transformation and Naomi is playing a real person, which they think is a taller order … you need to provoke more than respect, you need to provoke awe or enthusiasm,” Feinberg said.

“The problem with Jessica Chastain, as good an actress as she is, the part is very cold. It’s hard for people to get excited about it,” he added.

O’Neil noted that the 5,800 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – a predominantly male, over 50s group of movie professionals who select the Oscar winners – often vote for younger, attractive actresses in a close contest.

That would give Lawrence or perhaps child star Wallis an edge.

Wallis was a surprise Oscar nominee for her first acting role in mythical drama “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” playing a defiant young girl in an impoverished Louisiana bayou community.

“Oscar voters love little girls,” O’Neil said, citing Tatum O’Neal and Anna Paquin who won in the supporting category when they were children.

“Just because she is an adorable 9-year-old does not mean we should dismiss her as a contender. Oscar voters have historically shown that they love to give big hugs to little girls,” O’Neil said.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; editing by Jill Serjeant and Stacey Joyce)

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Wall Street dips on weakness in energy

DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend, "Doug" (24), and I (22) have been in a long-distance relationship for a year, but we were friends for a couple of years before that. I had never had a serious relationship before and lacked experience. Doug has not only been in two other long-term relationships, but has had sex with more than 15 women. One of them is an amateur porn actress.I knew about this, but it didn't bother me until recently. Doug had a party, and while he was drunk he told one of his buddies -- in front of me -- that he should watch a certain porn film starring his ex-girlfriend. ...

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The Latest Abortion Battle: Pro-Lifers vs. Telemedicine

Five years ago, doctors at the Whole Woman’s Health clinic in Austin, Tex., began prescribing abortion-inducing drugs to patients in McAllen, a town about 300 miles away on the Mexican border. The women consulted with the clinic’s physicians by telephone and videoconference, eliminating travel time and lowering costs for doctor and patient. Before this service was available, the clinic would pay doctors to drive to the town two to four days a week. Remote visits allowed the clinic to offer abortions six days a week.

That’s no longer possible. In the past two years, 10 states* have effectively outlawed what opponents call webcam abortions. Nine passed legislation requiring doctors who prescribe abortion drugs to be in the same room as patients. Texas says doctors must perform ultrasounds on all women seeking abortions and describe the results in person. Whole Woman’s Health no longer administers abortions from afar in Texas. “We still do it in our Maryland clinic and plan to start it up in our Minnesota clinic, but our five Texas sites are very limited now,” says Amy Hagstrom Miller, founder of the for-profit chain of seven clinics.

Telemedicine bans are the latest attempt by anti-abortion activists to curtail the widespread use of drugs that allow women to avoid undergoing surgery to end a pregnancy. Since 2000, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a pill to induce miscarriage, drugs have increasingly replaced surgical abortions. They accounted for 17 percent of nonhospital abortion procedures in 2008, the latest year for which data are available, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research group.

This year, Republican lawmakers in Iowa, Alabama, Indiana, Missouri, and Mississippi have introduced similar bills restricting the use of telemedicine in prescribing abortion drugs. All but one of the measures are based on model legislation written by Americans United for Life, an anti-abortion group in Washington that calls abortion drugs “the new profit-boosting frontier” for providers. Remote abortion services are about making money, says Charmaine Yoest, the group’s president. “It’s appalling that the self-described defenders of women’s health demonstrate over and over that they’re willing to put their economic interests ahead of actually protecting women.”

Miller says Yoest has it backward. Remote consultations didn’t increase the number of abortions her clinics offered, she says. But it did make them safer by enabling women seeking abortions to obtain them earlier in their pregnancies, which research shows reduces the risk of complications.

Since its introduction in the 1960s, telemedicine has revolutionized how people in rural and other underserved areas get all kinds of medical care, giving them access to cardiologists, neurologists, and other specialists. States have generally encouraged its use, aided by millions of dollars in public and private investment. In the U.S., 10 million people took advantage of virtual doctor visits last year, quadruple the number five years before, according to the American Telemedicine Association. Abortion is the only area where lawmakers have curbed its use or prevented it from expanding, says its president, Jon Linkous. In June, Republican Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan lauded a bill promoting telemedicine as an “incredible opportunity” to deliver care to those without easy access to a doctor. Six months later, he signed into law a ban on the same remote consultations for drug-induced abortions.

Yoest of Americans United for Life says states are seeking to outlaw telemedicine abortions out of concern for patients’ safety. Women up to nine weeks pregnant typically take a first dose of the abortion drug at a clinic, a second dose at home 48 hours later, and then follow up with a doctor after two weeks. Yoest argues it’s dangerous to take the drugs without that face-to-face supervision.

A 2011 study published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology shows otherwise. Researchers in Iowa—which has 16 clinics offering video doctor visits for abortions, more than all other states combined—compared the experiences of 449 patients, 226 whose doctors prescribed abortion drugs in person and 223 who were given the treatment after a teleconference. It found the complication rate, 1.3 percent, to be the same in both groups.
 
* Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Texas

The bottom line: In the U.S., 10 million people in underserved areas see doctors via telemedicine. Activists want to restrict its use for abortion services.

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New digs: Federal research chimps savor retirement

KEITHVILLE, La. (AP) — For the first time in their lives, four aging chimpanzees once used in federal research can go outside whenever they like. They can lie on the grass, clamber onto a platform 20 feet up on a chimp-style jungle gym and gaze freely at the open sky, the vista unbroken by steel bars.

Fifty-two-year-olds Julius and Sandy, 46-year-old Phyllis and 44-year-old Jessica have arrived. These and several other primates are now “living like chimpanzees” as they play, groom each other and tussle at Chimp Haven in northwest Louisiana — the only national sanctuary for retired federal research chimps.

Julius’ group is among 111 chimpanzees coming to Chimp Haven over the next 18 months from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s New Iberia Research Center. They could be the vanguard of a much larger immigration of former research chimps on the way to the refuge in Keithville, La.

A National Institutes of Health committee recommended Jan. 22 that most of the other 350 federally owned research chimpanzees be retired to “the federal sanctuary system” — a system of one. The agency’s director will decide whether to accept the recommendations after a 60-day period for public comment.

The proposal to retire all but about 50 federally owned chimpanzees is the latest step in a gradual shift away from using chimps as test subjects, owing to technological advances and growing ethical concerns about research on primates that share more than 98 percent of the DNA of humans.

Research on the chimps has ranged from psychological studies to trying to develop vaccines for HIV and hepatitis.

The arrivals are staggered so the small staff can integrate small groups of newcomers with old-timers at Chimp Haven. And some of their living quarters and play spaces haven’t yet been built at Chimp Haven, which opened in 2005.

The newcomers led by Julius were among nine that arrived Jan. 22. Another seven arrived later that week and eight more Tuesday.

Julius and his “girls” got their first view of unobstructed sky last week. New arrivals spend 17 days in quarantine before being moved into an indoor bedroom area near a bedroom occupied by chimps already settled into the sanctuary, to see how they get along.

Their first outdoor time is in one of two grassy, quarter-acre play yards that open onto the bedrooms. A network of steel mesh tunnels lets the staff move chimps from any part of the sanctuary to any other.

Staffers say it’s amazing to see them savor new freedoms.

“They light up, look up at the sky, look at us watching them,” behaviorist Amy Fultz said.

Like most newcomers to Chimp Haven, Julius’ group first explored the edges of its new surroundings. Their play yards are surrounded by a high concrete wall that can’t be climbed, and the larger areas of dense pine forest by similar concrete walls and, on one side, a moat.

Chimps in the wild make regular perimeter patrols, alert for any encroaching bands and for a chance to expand their own territory.

These retirees will send the rest of their lives at the 200-acre sanctuary in a forested park belonging to the Caddo Parish government, which donated the land to Chimp Haven.

They get about a month at a time with access to each of the quarter-acre play areas and the habitats of 3 to 5 acres populated by dense stands of pines where the primates can nest high in the trees.

Two other groups of recent arrivals from the university lab in New Iberia are getting acquainted with each other because each includes a youngster. The aim is to meld them and other groups with juveniles into a group with Chimp Haven’s three “oops” babies, all sired by Conan, who has been at Chimp Haven for years.

The 111 incoming chimps include a total of eight youngsters; one was born to a female chimp with HIV, but the others and their mothers all are destined to become part of Conan’s social group.

On Tuesday, Conan’s crowd was in a play area, catching fruit thrown by staffers. A female named Sheila slapped her hands together and then held up an arm to attract attention.

A few minutes’ walk away, another group of 15 chimps raced from the steel mesh tunnel between their sleeping area and a 5-acre forested habitat toward an array of fruits and vegetables strewn on the ground. Some grabbed a hoard of bananas, apples and oranges before starting to munch; others ate immediately.

After a bit, several turned to a tall, pointed structure with PVC pipes stuck in it — an imitation termite mound. In the wild, chimps poke sticks into termite mounds to pull out insects to eat. At Chimp Haven, the tubes may hold honey-coated bits of fruit or sugar-free candy, inducing the great apes to use tools as they would in the wild.

Fultz said some newcomers won’t even step on the grass in the play yards, but Julius’ group had no qualms.

“They sit and look around. They look up at the sky. To me, they seem to be thinking, ‘There’s no bars,’” Fultz said.

That isn’t to say bars don’t exist in the sanctuary.

Indoor bedrooms, furnished with straw and blankets for making nests, and old fire hose for climbing, have steel mesh interior walls to keep chimps in.

Chimps with HIV, hepatitis or other major medical or psychological problems have outdoor areas surrounded by the same wide, heavy steel mesh. The peaked ceilings are of pipes laid a few inches apart from each other so the chimps can swing across the ceiling arm over arm, as they might in trees.

“Those spaces are huge. They’re huge,” said Lori Gruen, a Wesleyan University philosophy professor who specializes in animal ethics. Chimp Haven is “a pretty remarkable facility. I think it will be quite interesting and exciting to see it expand.”

But there’s a major hurdle. When Chimp Haven was made the national sanctuary in 2002, Congress capped spending on the project at $ 30 million. That cap will be hit this year.

U.S. Rep. John Fleming, a Republican representing northwest Louisiana, said in a statement emailed by his press secretary that any additional federal spending “will be difficult” in the current budget climate of mounting federal debt and ongoing national security priorities.

Kathleen Conlee, vice president for animal research issues of the Humane Society of the United States, and other advocates say there’s no need for additional spending if Congress would let NIH put money now spent on research contracts into the animals’ retirement.

That would save money, because the 75 percent federal share of care at Chimp Haven is lower than the research contracts’ cost, Conlee has said.

With help from the Humane Society and other nonprofit groups, the sanctuary has in recent months raised $ 2.6 million needed to add bedrooms, six play yards and an open-air enclosure to accommodate all 111 federal chimps coming from New Iberia and another $ 100,000 toward a total $ 5.1 million goal announced in November.

“We certainly expect and hope the cap will be extended,” said Cathy Willis Spraetz, who became president of Chimp Haven three weeks ago.

If it isn’t? “Then we have to rely on our wonderful donors,” she said.

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Armstrong facing Wednesday deadline with USADA

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Lance Armstrong is facing a Wednesday deadline to decide whether he will meet with U.S. Anti-Doping Agency officials and talk with them under oath about what he knows about performance-enhancing drug use in cycling.

The agency has said Armstrong's cooperation in its cleanup effort is the only path open to Armstrong if his lifetime ban from sports is to be reduced.

Armstrong has given mixed signals about whether he plans to talk with USADA officials. Armstrong attorney Tim Herman previously suggested Armstrong would not meet with USADA before the agency's original Feb. 6 deadline. The two sides then agreed to give Armstrong another two weeks to work out an interview with investigators.

Armstrong previously denied using performance-enhancing drugs, but in January admitted doping to win seven Tour de France titles.

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How can U.S. deal with cyber war?

Michael Hayden says lack of domestic agreement is driving U.S. to take the offense on cyber attacks.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Obama administration beefing up effort to counter cyberattacks


• Michael Hayden says emphasis is on striking first, as the U.S. does with drone attacks


• Ex-CIA director says drone policy reflects lack of consensus on handling prisoners


• Hayden: Is killing terrorists preferred because of division over how to try them?

Editor's note: Gen. Michael V. Hayden, who was appointed by President George W. Bush as CIA director in 2006 and served until February 2009, is a principal with the Chertoff Group, a security consulting firm. He serves on the boards of several defense firms and is a distinguished visiting professor at George Mason University.

(CNN) -- Human decisions have complex roots: history, circumstance, personality, even chance.

So it's a dangerous game to oversimplify reality, isolate causation and attribute any particular course of action to one or another singular motive.

But let me tempt fate, since some recent government decisions suggest important issues for public discussion.

Michael Hayden

Over the past several weeks, press accounts have outlined a series of Obama administration moves dealing with the cyberdefense of the United States.

According to one report, the Department of Defense will add some 4,000 personnel to U.S. Cyber Command, on top of a current base of fewer than a thousand. The command will also pick up a "national defense" mission to protect critical infrastructure by disabling would-be aggressors.

A second report reveals another administration decision, very reminiscent of the Bush Doctrine of preemption, to strike first when there is imminent danger of serious cyberattack against the United States.

Both of these represent dramatic and largely welcome moves.

But they also suggest the failure of a deeper national policy process and, more importantly, the failure to develop national consensus on some very difficult issues.

Chinese military leading cyber attacks

Let me reason by analogy, and in this case the analogy is the program of targeted killings supported and indeed expanded by the Obama administration. Again, I have no legal or moral objections to killing those who threaten us. We are, as the administration rightly holds, in a global state of war with al Qaeda and its affiliates.

But at the level of policy, killing terrorists rather than capturing them seems to be the default option, and part of that dynamic is fairly attributable to our inability to decide where to put a detainee once we have decided to detain him.

Congress won't let him into the United States unless he is going before a criminal court, and the administration will not send him to Guantanamo despite the legitimate claim that a nation at war has the right to detain enemy combatants without trial.

Failing to come to agreement on the implications of the "we are at war" position, we have made it so legally difficult and so politically dangerous to detain anyone that we seem to default to killing those who would do us harm.

Clearly, it's an easier path: no debates over the location or conditions of confinement. Frequently such action can be kept covert. Decision-making is confined to one branch of government. Congress is "notified." Courts are not involved.

Besides, we are powerful. We have technology at our fingertips. We know that we can be precise, and the professionalism of our combatants allows them to easily meet the standards of proportionality and distinction (between combatants and noncombatants) in such strikes, despite claims to the contrary.

And we also believe that we can live with the second and third order effects of targeted killings. We believe that the care we show will set high standards for the use of such weapons by others who will inevitably follow us. We also believe that any long-term blowback (akin to what Gen. Stanley McChrystal calls the image of "arrogance" such strikes create) is more than offset by the immediate effects on America's safety.

I agree with much of the above. But I also fear that the lack of political consensus at home can drive us to routinely exercise an option whose long-term effects are hard to discern. Which brings us back to last week's stories on American cyberdefense.

In the last Congress, there were two prominent bills introduced to strengthen America's cyberdefenses. Neither came close to passing.

In the Senate, the Collins-Lieberman Bill created a near perfect storm with the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Chamber of Commerce weighing in strongly against the legislation. That two such disparate bodies had issues with the legislation should suggest how far we are from a national consensus.

In the House, a modest proposal from the Intelligence Committee to enhance cybersharing between the private sector and the National Security Agency was met with a presidential veto threat over alleged privacy concerns and was never even considered by the Senate.

Indeed, my preferred option -- a more active and well-regulated role for NSA and Cyber Command on and for American networks -- is almost a third rail in the debate over U.S. cybersecurity. The cybertalent and firepower at Fort Meade, where both are headquartered, are on a short leash because few dare to even address what we would ask them to do or what we would permit them to do on domestic networks.

And hence, last week's "decisions." Rather than settle the roles of these institutions by dealing with the tough issues of security and privacy domestically, we have opted for a policy not unlike targeted killing. Rather than opt for the painful process of building consensus at home, we are opting for "killing" threats abroad in their "safe haven."

We appear more willing to preempt perceived threats "over there" than spill the domestic political blood that would be needed to settle questions about standards for the defense of critical infrastructure, the role of government surveillance or even questions of information sharing. And we seem willing to live with the consequences, not unlike those of targeted killings, of the precedent we set with a policy to shoot on warning.

I understand the advantage that accrues to the offense in dealing with terrorists or cyberthreats. I also accept the underlying legality and morality of preemptive drone or cyberstrikes.

I just hope that we don't do either merely because we don't have the courage to face ourselves and make some hard decisions at home.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Michael Hayden.

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Daniel Day-Lewis as Abe Lincoln makes unstoppable Oscar force

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – If there is one sure bet in this roller coaster movie awards season, it is that Daniel Day-Lewis will take home the Best Actor statuette at the Oscars on Sunday.

Day-Lewis, known for his meticulous preparation, would become the first man to win three Best Actor Oscars, and awards pundits say it’s not hard to see why.

The tall, intellectual actor has swept every prize in the long Hollywood awards calendar for his thoughtful, intense portrayal of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg‘s movie “Lincoln.”

“No-one has emerged to take him on. I don’t think he has lost a single (pre-Oscar) race. We have 25 experts and every single one is betting on Daniel Day-Lewis,” said Tom O’Neil of awards website Goldderby.com.

More surprising perhaps is that Day-Lewis will also be the first person to win an Oscar for playing a U.S. president. And it has taken a Briton with dual Irish citizenship, portraying one of America’s most revered leaders, to do it.

Although “Lincoln” started the Oscar race with a leading 12 nominations, its Best Picture front-runner status has dimmed in recent weeks with the ascendance of Iran hostage drama “Argo.”

But Day-Lewis’s star has only risen with Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and British BAFTA trophies, along with a slew of honors from film critics.

LINCOLN FOR A NEW GENERATION

Day-Lewis, 55, plays Lincoln in the last few months of a life cut short by his 1865 assassination in a film that focuses on the president’s personal commitment to abolish slavery and end the bloody four-year U.S. Civil War.

He’s not the first actor to play Lincoln on screen. Yet his quiet assurance, his adoption of a high-pitch voice rather than the booming tones associated with Lincoln, and the movie’s focus on complex political debates have shone new light on a man that many Americans thought they already knew well.

“It’s a performance that is subtle. It’s not the Lincoln you expect. It’s a different interpretation of Lincoln than we have seen and we feel, wow! This could be the way Lincoln was,” said Pete Hammond, awards columnist at Deadline.com.

“We are seeing a real human being played out here for the first time and that is extraordinary. Day-Lewis is bringing the character to life in a way we haven’t seen in years,” Hammond told Reuters.

It took Spielberg three attempts to convince Day-Lewis to play the role. Explaining his decision last month to take the part, Day-Lewis noted that “it was an actor that murdered Abraham Lincoln. Therefore, somehow it’s only fitting that every now and then, an actor tries to bring him back to life again.”

The London-born actor threw himself into the role with the same devotion that marked his Best Actor Oscar-winning performance as quadriplegic Irish writer Christy Brown in “My Left Foot” in 1989, when he spent weeks living in a wheelchair.

In “Gangs of New York,” he sharpened knives on sets between takes to capture the menace of Bill “The Butcher” Cutting, earning another Oscar nomination, and in 2008 he won his second Best Actor Award at the Oscars for his turn as a greedy oil baron in “There Will Be Blood.”

TEXTING LIKE LINCOLN

Sally Field, who plays his screen wife Mary Todd Lincoln, said Day-Lewis sent her text messages that were completely in character and in 19th century vernacular over a seven-month period prior to shooting “Lincoln.”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt who plays Lincoln’s son Robert, said he didn’t get to know Day-Lewis until after production wrapped.

“I never met Daniel in person,” Gordon-Levitt told reporters. “I only ever met the president, only ever heard the president’s voice. I called him sir, and he called me Robert.”

With four Academy Award nominations and two wins before “Lincoln,” Day-Lewis appears to have barely set a foot wrong in his 30-year career. Yet there have been missteps, including the box-office flop of star-laden musical “Nine” in 2009.

“He was sorely miscast as Guido, the adorable gigolo, and he was not convincing at all. He brought the whole film down,” recalled O’Neil. “‘Lincoln’ is a spectacular career rally for him after that disaster.”

While others are betting on Day-Lewis to take home a third Academy Award on Sunday, the actor has been modest about his chances.

“Members of the Academy love surprises, so about the worst thing that can happen to you is if you’ve built up an expectation. I think they’d probably be delighted if it was anybody else,” he told reporters after winning the Screen Actors Guild trophy in January.

Those “anybody elses” in the running are Bradley Cooper for “Silver Linings Playbook,” Denzel Washington’s alcoholic pilot in “Flight,” Joaquin Phoenix for “The Master” and Hugh Jackman in musical “Le Miserables.”

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Todd Eastham)

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Wall Street gains on M&A optimism, health insurers weigh

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks advanced on Tuesday after the long holiday weekend and a seven-week winning streak for the S&P 500 as merger activity buoyed investor optimism, but health insurer shares muted gains.

Office Depot Inc surged 21.6 percent to $5.58 after a person familiar with the matter said the No. 2 U.S. office supply retailer is in advanced talks to merge with smaller rival OfficeMax Inc . A deal could come as early as this week.

OfficeMax shares jumped 28.8 percent to $13.85 while larger rival Staples Inc shot up 15.1 percent to $14.91 as the best performer on the S&P 500.

"M&A is providing an enormous amount of enthusiasm in pockets and it is really a function of the cost of money, the cost of borrowing. It is a sign there is a shift going on in the economy that is very, very positive," said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital in Jersey City, New Jersey.

"At the same time, if you take the M&A activity out of the picture, you will see that many on the Street are expecting a pullback.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 59.94 points or 0.43 percent, to 14,041.7, the S&P 500 <.spx> gained 6.62 points or 0.44 percent, to 1,526.41 and the Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> added 12.01 points or 0.38 percent, to 3,204.04.

U.S. markets were closed on Monday for the Presidents Day holiday.

Health insurer stocks tumbled, led lower by a 9 percent drop in Humana Inc to $70.98 after the company said the government's proposed 2014 payment rates for Medicare Advantage participants were lower than expected and would hurt its profit outlook.

UnitedHealth Group lost 2.9 percent to $55.68 as the biggest drag on the Dow. The Morgan Stanley healthcare payor index <.hmo> dropped 2.8 percent.

The benchmark S&P index is up 7 percent for the year and is coming off its longest weekly winning streak since January 2011.

The strong start was fueled by legislators in Washington temporarily averting automatic spending cuts and tax hikes as well as by stronger-than-expected earnings and economic data. The Federal Reserve's stimulus policy has also been a major factor.

But further gains for the S&P 500 have been a struggle as investors look for new catalysts to lift the index, which hovers near five-year highs.

The compromise by lawmakers on across-the-board spending cuts, known as sequestration, only postponed the matter, and Democrats and Republicans have until March 1 to resolve differences or the cuts, which are predicted to damage the economy, will take effect.

The uptick in merger and acquisition activity, a sign of optimism about the outlook on Wall Street, has resulted in more than $158 billion in deals announced so far in 2013.

Last week, deals were reached for the acquisition of H.J. Heinz Co by Berkshire Hathaway and the sale by General Electric of its remaining stake in NBCUniversal to Comcast Corp .

Economic data showed the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market index edged down to 46 in February from 47 in the prior month and below expectations of 48 as builders faced higher material costs.

Express Scripts rose 2.6 percent to $57 after the pharmacy benefits manager posted fourth-quarter earnings.

According to the Thomson Reuters data through Monday morning, of the 391 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results, 70.1 percent have exceeded analysts' expectations, compared with a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters.

Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are estimated to have risen 5.6 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Kenneth Barry)

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First Came the Russian Meteor, Now the Meteorite Deals

A meteorite for sale on Avito.ruPsssst! Want to buy a piece of that meteor that exploded over Russia the other day? Hundreds of vendors will be happy to hear from you. Some of them might even be selling real meteorites.

Avito.ru, the Russian equivalent of Craigslist, has been flooded with ads offering meteorites from Chelyabinsk, site of the dramatic Feb. 15 explosion that injured more than 1,000 people. Listings are also starting to turn up on EBay (EBAY). Prices range from less than $ 20, for fragments weighing about 100 grams (a little over 3 ounces), to more than $ 3,300 for a meteorite described as “the size of an egg.”

Some samples of the deals on offer:

• An eBay ad offers “samples from the scene of a Chelyabinsk meteorite” for $ 200. The vendor admits: “We aren’t sure for 100% that it is a meteorite.”

• A vendor on Avito.ru is proposing a “private tour of the crash site and sightseeing excursion of the destruction” for $ 167, including airport pickup.

• A second vendor on Avito.ru is asking about $ 3,300 for a meteorite “found near the zinc factory.”

That sounds like a lot. But, says Rob Elliott, a meteorite dealer near Edinburgh, “Any serious collector is going to want a piece.” (Yes, there are serious meteorite collectors and dealers, as well as national and international associations of meteorite enthusiasts.)

The RIA-Novosti news agency quoted Russian scientists as saying the Chelyabinsk meteor was made of “ordinary chondrites,” with iron content of about 10 percent. “This sounds like a very common type of meteorite,” Elliott says, “but it has the added attraction of the fireball and being seen by so many people and doing so much damage.”

What if you’re not a serious collector but still want your own piece of the biggest object to enter Earth’s atmosphere in more than a century? What should you expect to pay?

Meteorites are subject to the laws of supply and demand that govern earthly objects, says Mark Ford, a longtime collector who is chairman of the British and Irish Meteorite Society. “Some meteorite falls are just a few kilograms, and they tend to be more valuable.” Ford says he’s heard of some particularly rare specimens fetching as much as $ 1,000 per gram.

However, the Chelyabinsk meteor was enormous—NASA estimated its weight at between 7,000 and 10,000 tons—which means lots of meteorites probably fell, and prices are likely to be lower. That’s the good news for potential buyers. The bad news, Ford says, is that “if you buy now, you’ll pay too much.” Prices typically plummet after the initial excitement of a major meteorite fall, he says.

An even bigger risk is that what you buy won’t be a meteorite at all. Russian authorities have issued a stern warning to online vendors, saying that police “will be monitoring advertising around the clock” and that anyone selling phony meteorites “will be immediately prosecuted.”

Exactly how Russian police are going to authenticate meteorites was not explained. In the meantime, Scottish dealer Elliott says he has looked at a number of online ads for purported Chelyabinsk meteorites, “and so far I haven’t seen any meteorites. All I’ve seen is a lot of old rocks.”

One particularly imaginative vendor is offering to sell bags of Chelyabinsk topsoil to people who want to search for meteorites in the comfort of their own homes. Buying these is probably not a good idea, as the Chelyabinsk region is home to a major plutonium-processing facility that in the 1950s suffered one of the worst nuclear accidents in history.

Ford advises would-be buyers to steer clear of online ads with blurry photographs and to look for rocks with a jet-black outer coating, caused by superheating as the meteorite passes through the atmosphere at supersonic speed. But, he adds, “There are a lot of black rocks around.” Even chunks of tarmac can easily be mistaken for meteorites.

The best bet, Ford says, is to buy from a dealer who is a member of the International Meteorite Collectors Association, a self-policing group of dealers. Ordinarily, after a major meteorite fall, “the dealers are on the next plane,” he says. “But this being Russia, it’s a bit more difficult. They have to get visas, and there are some security issues because Chelyabinsk is a nuclear city.”

Businessweek.com — Top News

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