Wall Street edges off five-year high, awaits earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks lost ground on Monday, as investors drew back from recent gains that lifted the S&P 500 to a five-year high, in anticipation of sluggish growth in corporate profits.

Shares of financial companies dipped after a group of major U.S. banks agreed to pay a total of $8.5 billion to end a government inquiry into faulty mortgage foreclosures. The KBW bank index <.bkx>, a gauge of U.S. bank stocks, was down 0.3 percent.

Other sectors were hit as well, most notably energy and utilities. The S&P 500 energy sector index <.gspe> fell 0.8 percent and the utilities sector <.gspu> was off 1.1 percent.

The day's decline came a session after the S&P 500 finished at a five-year high, boosted by a budget deal and strong economic data. The S&P 500 rose 4.6 percent last week, the best weekly gain in more than a year.

"It's a little bit of taking some risk off the table ahead of profit season, you're not going to see anything all that great" on earnings, said Larry Peruzzi, senior equity trader at Cabrera Capital Markets Inc in Boston.

Earnings are expected to be only slightly better than the third-quarter's lackluster results, and analysts' current estimates are down sharply from where they were in October. Fourth-quarter earnings growth is expected to come in at 2.8 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Aluminum company Alcoa Inc begins the reporting season by announcing its results after Tuesday's market close. Alcoa shares fell 1.7 percent at $9.10.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> dropped 50.92 points, or 0.38 percent, to 13,384.29. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> fell 4.58 points, or 0.31 percent, to 1,461.89. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> lost 2.84 points, or 0.09 percent, to 3,098.81.

Ten mortgage servicers - including Bank of America , Citigroup , JPMorgan , and Wells Fargo - agreed on Monday to pay $8.5 billion to end a case-by-case review of foreclosures required by U.S. regulators.

In a separate case, Bank of America also announced roughly $11.6 billion of settlements with mortgage finance company Fannie Mae and a $1.8 billion sale of collection rights on home loans.

The bank also entered into agreements with Nationstar Mortgage Holdings and Walter Investment Management to sell about $306 billion of residential mortgage servicing rights.

Bank of America shares lost 0.2 percent at $12.09 while Nationstar Mortgage Holdings jumped 16.8 percent to $38.83.

Citigroup shares were up 0.09 percent to $42.47, and Wells Fargo shares fell 0.5 percent to $34.77.

"The financials probably have the wind behind them now with a lot of the regulations coming out ... the market has to absorb a lot of the gains, and for that reason there's a pullback from this level," said Warren West, principal at Greentree Brokerage Services in Philadelphia.

Shares of U.S. jet maker Boeing Co dropped 2 percent after a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft with no passengers on board caught fire at Boston's Logan International Airport on Monday morning.

Amazon.com shares hit their highest price ever at $269.22 after Morgan Stanley raised is rating on the stock. Shares were up 3.6 percent at $268.46.

Video-streaming service Netflix Inc shares gained 3.4 percent to $99.20 after it said it will carry previous seasons of some popular shows produced by Time Warner's Warner Bros Television.

Walt Disney Co stock fell 2.3 percent to $50.97. The company started an internal cost-cutting review several weeks ago that may include layoffs at its studio and other units, three people with knowledge of the effort told Reuters.

Volume was lower than average, as 4.78 billion shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE MKT and Nasdaq. This is well below the 2012 average of 6.42 billion per session.

Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,629 to 1,363, while on the Nasdaq decliners beat advancers 1,438 to 1,066.

(Reporting By Gabriel Debenedetti; Editing by Kenneth Barry and Nick Zieminski)

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Bama starts with bang at BCS championship game

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Eddie Lacy and No. 2 Alabama bashed No. 1 Notre Dame to start the BCS championship game, scoring touchdowns on its first three drives to take a 21-0 lead one play into the second quarter Monday night.

The Crimson Tide (12-1) marched down the field with ease on the opening drive, going 82 yards on five plays to take a 7-0 lead on Lacy's 20-yard touchdown run up the middle with 12:03 left in the first quarter.

Notre Dame (12-0) had allowed only two rushing touchdowns all season.

Notre Dame did nothing to respond and on its punt back to Alabama, the Crimson Tide might have caught a break. Returner Christion Jones muffed the kick, but Notre Dame was flagged for interfering with the catch, though it was one of Jones' teammates that made contact with him.

Lacy and the Crimson Tide went right back to work, hammering away at Notre Dame's vaunted defense. The Irish struggled to bring down the 220-pound tailback, who even ran through Heisman Trophy finalist Manti Te'o on a screen pass.

Lacy popped another 20-yard run that got the Tide down to the Notre Dame 2. Instead of running into a Notre Dame goal-line defense that has been one of its strengths all season, AJ McCarron faked a handoff and found tight end Michael Williams all alone for the score and a 14-0 lead.

Alabama made it 3 for 3 on the next drive when T.J. Yeldon scored from a yard out on the first play of the second quarter.

The Alabama fans seemed outnumbered at Sun Life Stadium by Fighting Irish followers, but they were making all the noise as the Tide rolled.

Notre Dame had only one first down and had already allowed 203 yards. The Irish defense came in allowing 286 per game.

Lacy had 72 yards on eight carries and McCarron, the MVP of last year's title game against LSU, was 8 for 9 for 112 yards.

Alabama was trying to become the first team to repeat as BCS champions, and to win its third in four seasons.

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Study: Billions of Earth-size planets in Milky Way

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Our Milky Way is home to at least 17 billion planets that are similar in size to Earth, a new estimate suggests. That’s more than two Earth-size planets for every person on the globe.

Just how many are located in the sweet spot where water could exist is “simply too early to call,” said Francois Fressin of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who presented his work at an astronomy meeting Monday.

It’s the first reliable tally of the number of worlds outside the solar system that are the size of Earth, but the hunt for our twin is far from over.

Despite the explosion of exoplanet discoveries in recent years, one find remains elusive: A planet that’s not only the right size but also in the so-called Goldilocks zone where it’s not too hot or too cold for water to be in liquid form on the surface.

The sheer number of Earth-size planets gives astronomers a starting point to narrow down which ones are in the habitable zone.

Fressin and his team came up with their figure by conducting a fresh analysis of data collected by NASA’s Kepler spacecraft, which was launched in 2009 to track down other Earths. They estimated at least one in six stars in the galaxy hosts a planet the size of ours, translating to at least 17 billion Earth-size worlds.

Using a different method, a team from the University of California, Berkeley and University of Hawaii separately came up with a similar estimate. They calculated 17 percent of distant stars have planets that are the same size as Earth or slightly larger.

The findings were presented at the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, Calif.

Meanwhile, the Kepler spacecraft continues to spot planets as they pass between Earth and the star they orbit. It found 461 new candidate planets, bringing the total to 2,740 potential planets, said mission scientist Christopher Burke at the SETI Institute.

Most of the new Kepler finds were driven by discoveries of Earth-size planets and super-Earths. Four of those are thought to reside in the Goldilocks zone, but more observations are needed.

Fressin said it’s clear that rocky planets abound outside the solar system.

“If you look up on a starry night, each star you’re looking at — almost each one of them — has a planetary system,” Fressin said.

___

Follow Alicia Chang at http://twitter.com/SciWriAlicia

___

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Kepler mission: http://www.nasa.gov/kepler

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Why Al Jazeera deal doesn't seem right

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Al Gore sold Current to al Jazeera and could net an estimated $70 million


• Howard Kurtz: Gore's Current network failed to gain an identity or viewers


• He says it's odd that the former vice president is selling to an oil-rich potentate


• Kurtz: Al Jazeera may have a tough time getting traction with U.S. viewers

Editor's note: Howard Kurtz is the host of CNN's "Reliable Sources" and is Newsweek's Washington bureau chief. He is also a contributor to the website Daily Download.

(CNN) -- So Al Gore starts a liberal cable network, which turns into a complete and utter flop, then sells it to a Middle East potentate in a deal that will bring him an estimated $70 million.

Is America a great country or what?

There is something highly unusual -- OK, just plain weird -- about a former vice president of the United States doing this deal with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.

Howard Kurtz

Al Jazeera, owned by said emir's government, is trying to buy its way into the American television market by purchasing Current TV for a half billion dollars. The only thing stranger would be if Gore had sold Current to Glenn Beck -- oh wait, Beck did try to buy it and was told no way within 15 minutes.

So the sale was in part about ideology, which opens the door to examining why Gore believes Al Jazeera gives "voice to those who are not typically heard" and speaks "truth to power."

Bill O'Reilly, on Fox News, calls the network "anti-American." Fox pundit Dick Morris says Gore has sold to a fount of "anti-Israel propaganda." Such labels are rooted in the network's role during the height of the war on terror, when it aired smuggled videos of Osama bin Laden and was denounced by Bush administration officials.

Watch: How Lance Armstrong lied to me about doping

But Al Jazeera English, the spinoff channel launched in 2006, doesn't have the same reputation. In fact, no less a figure than Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has praised it as "real news," and the channel has won journalism awards for its reporting on the Arab Spring and other global events.

To be sure, the main Al Jazeera network gives a platform to such figures as Yusuf al-Qaradawi. He's the Muslim cleric in Egypt who, The Washington Post gas reported, frequently appears on air to castigate Jews and America and has praised suicide bombings. But when I went to the home page of Al Jazeera English the other day, there was video of David Frost, the acclaimed British journalist who now works for the main network, interviewing Israeli President Shimon Peres.

That's not to say Al Jazeera America, the working name for the new channel, won't have its own biases. Al Jazeera English is sometimes determined to paint the U.S. in a negative light.

During a report on President Barack Obama signing a renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which entails a legitimate controversy over civil liberties, the reporter said flatly that the law "violate(s) U.S. constitutional rights in the name of national security."

Watch: Can Al Jazeera make it in the American market?

Dave Marash, the ABC News veteran who once worked for Al Jazeera English, told me the network has a "post-colonial" view of America and its stories can be infused with that attitude.

And there are real questions about how independent these channels are from the Qatar government that helps bankroll them. The director-general of Al Jazeera, Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim al-Thani, is a member of the country's royal family and has no background in journalism.

Such details add to the odd spectacle of the ex-veep, who would have been running Mideast policy had he won a few more votes in Florida, selling -- and some say selling out -- to the emir. Not to mention that the crusader against climate change is taking petrodollars from an empire built on oil, the bete noire of environmentalists.

Watch: Hey Fox, Hillary Clinton was sick after all

But what is Al Jazeera buying? The network is going to have a tough time cracking the American market.

Its earlier reputation makes the company highly controversial, and other cable carriers might follow the lead of Time Warner Cable (which is no longer owned by CNN's parent company, Time Warner) in refusing to carry it. These carriers agreed to air Current TV, after all, and contracts generally require them to approve a major change in programming.

Global politics aside, it may just be bad business. There's a reason Al Jazeera English, which will supply 40% of the content to the new channel, has barely gotten a foothold in the United States. Most Americans aren't lusting for a steady diet of international news.

Watch: Did Nancy Pelosi go too far in photoshopping picture of congresswomen?

There's no denying that Gore, a onetime newspaper reporter who had testy relations with the press during his 2000 campaign, presided over a lousy cable channel. No one quite knew what Current was during the years when it aired mostly low-rent entertainment fare and was famous mainly for North Korea taking two of its correspondents, including Lisa Ling's sister Laura, into custody.

Then Gore tried to relaunch it as a talking head channel to the left of MSNBC, hiring Keith Olbermann -- a relationship that ended with his firing and mutual lawsuits -- along with the likes of Eliot Spitzer and Jennifer Granholm, former Michigan governor. Gore himself offered commentary during major political events.

It was the utter failure of that incarnation of Current that prompted Gore and co-founder Joel Hyatt to put the thing up for sale.

Some detractors have slammed Gore for hypocrisy because, while he has advocated higher taxes on the rich, he tried to get the Al Jazeera deal done by December 31 to avoid the Obama tax hike. (The sale didn't close until January 2.) I don't see a problem trying to legally take advantage of changes in the tax code, no matter what your political stance.

Nor do I want to prejudge Al Jazeera America. The marketplace will decide its fate.

But there is something unsettling about Gore making off with such a big payday from a government-subsidized channel after making such bad television. Nice work if you can get it.

Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Howard Kurtz.

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Asian shares steady, Basel ruling supports banks

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asian shares outside Japan edged up on Monday, supported by data showing the U.S. economy continuing on a path of slow but steady recovery that had pushed Wall Street stocks to a five-year high.

Financial stocks were underpinned by a decision from global regulators on Sunday to give banks four more years and greater flexibility to build up cash buffers so they can use some of their reserves to help struggling economies grow.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> gained 0.1 percent, but Tokyo's Nikkei share average <.n225> retreated after touching a 23-month high in early trade and last stood down 0.4 percent. <.t/>

The MSCI benchmark's financial sector sub-index <.miapjfn00pus> gained 0.2 percent after the Basel Committee of banking supervisors agreed at the weekend to a relaxation of a draconian earlier draft of new global bank liquidity rules.

Shares in Japanese exporters were supported by a weaker yen, which was steady around 88.17 to the dollar, after the U.S. currency rose as far as 88.40 yen, its highest in nearly two-and-a-half years, on Friday.

The dollar ticked up slightly against the euro, which traded around $1.3060.

The U.S. benchmark S&P 500 index <.spx> closed at its highest level since December 2007 on Friday after data showed a steady pace of jobs growth and brisk expansion of the services sector in the world's biggest economy.

(Reporting by Alex Richardson; Editing by Eric Meijer)

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RG3 hurt, Seattle tops Redskins 24-14 in playoffs

LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Russell Wilson raced ahead to throw the final block on Marshawn Lynch's go-ahead touchdown run, and the Seattle Seahawks finally had a victorious road show.

Robert Griffin III's knee buckled as he tried to field a bad shotgun snap, leaving the Washington Redskins an offseason to worry about their franchise player's health.

The last rookie quarterback standing in the NFL playoffs is Wilson — the third-round pick who teamed with Lynch on Sunday to lead the Seahawks to a 24-14 victory over the Griffin and the Redskins.

Lynch ran for 132 yards, and Wilson completed 15 of 26 passes for 187 yards and ran eight times for 67 yards for the Seahawks, who overcame a 14-0 first-quarter hole — their biggest deficit of the season — and will visit the top-seeded Atlanta Falcons next Sunday.

"It was only two touchdowns, but it's still a big comeback and in this setting and the crowd, it's a marvelous statement about the guys resolve and what is going on," Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. "It's not about how you start but how you finish."

Seattle will be riding a six-game winning streak, having left behind any doubts that the team can hold its own outside the Pacific Northwest. The Seahawks were 3-5 on the road in the regular season and had lost eight straight road playoff games, the last win coming in December 1983 against the Miami Dolphins.

The day began with three rookie quarterbacks in the playoffs, but No. 1 overall pick Andrew Luck was eliminated when the Indianapolis Colts lost 24-9 to the Baltimore Ravens earlier in the day.

Lynch's change-of-direction, 27-yard touchdown run — with Wilson leading the way with a block on safety Madieu Williams near the goal line — and a 2-point conversion gave the Seahawks a 21-14 lead with 7:08 remaining.

"Marshawn always tells me, 'Russ, I got your back, no matter what,'" Wilson said. "So I just try to help him out every cone in a while when he gets downfield."

Then came the play that essentially put the outcome to rest.

On the second play of the Redskins' next possession, Griffin's heavily braced right knee buckled badly as he tried to field a bad shotgun snap on a second-and-22 at Washington's 12-yard line. He lay on the ground, unable to recover the ball as the Seahawks pounced on it.

Griffin walked off the field under his own power, but the Redskins announced he would not return. After a few minutes, Griffin walked back to the sideline and watched the end of the game. The extent of the injury was not immediately known.

Griffin was playing in his third game since spraining his right knee about a month ago against the Baltimore Ravens, and he had been looking gimpy since tumbling backward following an ill-advised sidearm throw in the first quarter.

Nevertheless, he stayed in the game. Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said he didn't pull Griffin because the quarterback wanted to continue.

"I think I did put myself at more risk," Griffin said. "But every time you get on the field, you're putting yourself on the line."

Griffin was scheduled for an MRI to determine the extent of the injury.

Having recovered the fumble, the Seahawks kicked a short field goal to give them the insurance they needed. Fellow rookie Kirk Cousins, subbing for Griffin, was unable to rally the Redskins in the final minutes.

Griffin, the No. 2 overall pick and last year's Heisman Trophy winner who set several rookie quarterback record this year, finished 10 for 19 for 84 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. He also had five carries for 21 yards, including a laboring 9-yard run that made him look 32 years old instead of 22.

The loss ended a seven-game winning streak for the Redskins, who recovered from a 3-6 start to win the NFC East.

The Redskins opened the game threatening to make a mockery of the NFL's top scoring defense. Simple toss-to-the-right stretch plays netted 8, 9 and 18 yards for Alfred Morris in an 80-yard drive, and tight end Logan Paulsen barreled into linebacker Malcolm Smith after a catch to highlight a 54-yard drive.

Both possessions ended with 4-yard touchdown passes: one to Evan Royster for his first NFL TD catch and the other to Paulsen. The Redskins led 14-0 in the first quarter against a team that allowed a season-low 15.3 per game in the regular season, but Griffin had tweaked the knee on that second drive.

The Seahawks responded by getting Lynch involved more and scoring on three consecutive drives to pulled within a point at halftime. Steven Hauschka, who injured his left ankle during the first half and had to relinquish kickoff duties, nevertheless sandwiched field goals of 32 and 29 yards around a 4-yard touchdown pass from Wilson to Michael Robinson.

The Seahawks were poised to take the lead on the opening drive of the second half, moving the ball to 1-yard line with a pair of nice runs by Lynch and a leaping catch by Golden Tate.

But Lynch fumbled on second-and-goal from the 1, the ball popped loose and was recovered by defensive lineman Jarvis Jenkins. Then, on their next drive, the Seahawks drove to Washington's 28 before a sack forced a punt — rather than a long field goal attempt by an injured kicker.

With the Redskins' offense struggling, however, the Seahawks had more chances to take the lead — and finally did on the 79-yard drive capped by Lynch's touchdown run.

The playoff meeting between the two teams was the third, but first outside Seattle. The Seahawks won 20-10 in January 2006, and 35-14 in January 2008. Those were the last two postseason games played by the Redskins.

Seattle had outscored opponents 193-60 in its final five games of the regular season. But they were 3-5 on the road and had lost eight straight road playoff games. Their only road playoff win came in their first postseason road game, Dec. 31, 1983, at Miami.

And now they have another.

___

Follow Joseph White on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JGWhiteAP

___

Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

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The Kilogram Has Gained Weight

The kilogram may need to go on a diet. The international standard, a cylinder-shaped hunk of metal that defines the fundamental unit of mass, has gained tens of micrograms in weight from surface contamination, according to a new study.

As a result, each country that has one of these standard masses has a slightly different definition of the kilogram, which could throw off science experiments that require very precise weight measurements or international trade in highly restricted items that are restricted by weight, such as radioactive materials.

But ozone and ultraviolet light could be used to clean the kilograms without damaging them, the research suggests.

The cleaning technique, described in the January issue of the journal Metrologia, may eventually be widely adopted as a way to keep the fundamental unit of mass more consistent. [What's That? Your Physics Questions Answered]

In addition, since it uses “equipment that one could come by without too much investment of time and money,” it is a practical technique that could be widely adopted, said Richard Davis, a metrologist who consults for the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Paris, who was not involved in the study.

Common standard

The kilogram was first adopted as an international standard at the Convention of the Meter in 1875. At that time, scientists were frustrated that there was no consistent, standard way to measure weight with high precision.

To solve the problem, scientists created a cylindrical hunk of mass called the international prototype kilogram (IPK) from platinum and platinum-iridium alloy. The cylinder, which weighs approximately 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram), is the definition of the kilogram. The kilogram is one of seven standard international base units of measurement.

In the 1880s, about 40 of these prototype kilograms were distributed to countries that signed the Meter Convention, said study co-author Peter Cumpson, a metrologist at Newcastle University in the U.K.

Dirty weights

Even then, scientists realized contaminants could coat the kilogram’s surface. To try to counteract this effect, they made the masses into cylinders, which have less surface area to acquire dust and debris. The IPKs are stored in filtered laboratory air at constant temperature and pressure, but there’s no way to completely isolate them from air pollution and contamination, Cumpson told LiveScience.

To clean them, a skilled technician will rub the cylinders with chamois leather dipped in alcohol. But because every country cleans their kilograms differently and at different times, each kilogram in the world is off by a different, unknown amount.

Cleaning the kilogram

To see how the kilogram puts on weight, Cumpson’s team used an imaging technique called X-ray spectroscopy to look at surfaces similar to those of the IPKs. Those surfaces picked up tens of micrograms of carbon-based and mercury contamination a decade. And though a few dozen micrograms is not a lot of weight, it matters for measuring things like radioactive materials, Cumpson said.

The carbon likely comes from car exhaust, while mercury contamination occurred because mercury-filled thermometers and barometers in the laboratories occasionally break.

The team also found that using ozone and ultraviolet light treatment could reliably break the bonds between carbon atoms on the surface, taking a consistent amount of carbon-based contamination away. The mercury, however, is probably there to stay, Cumpson said.

While there are other methods, “the UV ozone method is really the only one that’s competitive with the manual rubbing,” he said.

Fundamental constants

Long-term, however, most scientists want to get away from defining the kilogram based on a hunk of metal. Instead, it should somehow be based on a fundamental law of nature, Davis said.

“I think the definition will be changed in the next five to 10 years,” Davis told LiveScience.

One possibility is using an electromagnetic device that consistently produces the same amount of force, from which the mass can then be calculated, Cumpson said.

Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We’re also on Facebook & Google+.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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U.S. isn't ready for superstorms

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

Long, slow recovery from Superstorm Sandy

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House drops bills on guns, marijuana, but pension fix alive

SPRINGFIELD — With time running short in the lame-duck session, state lawmakers on Sunday dropped hot-button issues dealing with guns and marijuana but kept alive hopes of reforming pensions and giving drivers licenses to illegal immigrants.

The slimmed-down agenda unfolded rapidly as the House, returning to the Capitol for the first time in a month, pulled an assault weapons ban from consideration and the sponsor of legislation to allow Illinoisans to use marijuana for medical purposes said the chances of quick passage is unlikely.

The spotlight on whether Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and legislators can come together on financial changes to the state’s $96.8 billion government worker pension debt intensified Sunday. House Republican leader Tom Cross of Oswego signed onto a plan offered by two House Democrats and urged GOP members to support it.

Still, Cross acknowledged that Senate President John Cullerton believes a different measure is the only one that meets a state constitutional prohibition against impairing or diminishing public pensions. Cullerton’s version, previously passed by the Senate, offers state employees a trade of access to state health care in return for a reduction in retirement benefits.

“Nobody has any idea what the court’s going to do,” Cross said. “We all have lawyers. There are a lot of lawyers in Chicago. People have opined on what works and doesn’t work. The reality is, nobody knows.”

Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson said the administration, which wants the package passed before a new legislature is seated Wednesday, is “encouraged with the momentum.”

The pension proposal’s fate is uncertain should it pass the House. The Senate went home Thursday but Cullerton left open the possibility of coming back. Cullerton spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon said senators would return to Springfield Tuesday “to review and hear” a significant pension reform bill if one is passed by the House.

“I can’t make any predictions beyond that,” she said.

When the governor and legislative leaders met Saturday, Cullerton said at various points he would lobby against the House plan, Cross said. But Cross also said Cullerton indicated that he would allow for a Senate vote if the pension measure passed the House.

Still, if Cullerton balks at the House pension plan, Springfield could devolve into an all-too-familiar political game: the House passes one version of legislation, the Senate passes another, lawmakers pat themselves on the back and then blame the other chamber for failing to achieve needed reform.

Among the key features of the House plan is a freeze on cost-of-living increases for all workers and retirees for as long as six years, although the length of time was still under discussion Sunday night. Once the cost-of-living bumps resume, they would apply only to the first $25,000 of pensions. The inflation adjustments also would not be awarded until a person hits 67, a major departure among public employees who have been allowed to retire much earlier in some cases and begin reaping the benefits of the annual increases immediately.

Under the proposal, employee contributions to pensions would increase 1 percentage point the first year and 1 percentage point the second year. A lid would be put on the size of the pensionable salary based on a Social Security wage base or their current salary, whichever is higher.

The goal is to put in place a 30-year plan that would fully fund the Illinois pension systems, which are considered the worst-funded in the nation.

Meanwhile, a proposal to allow undocumented immigrants to qualify for Illinois driver’s licenses could get its first House test on Monday. Sponsoring Rep. Eddie Acevedo, D-Chicago, said he would call the Senate-passed bill on the House floor if it advances from committee.

Also Sunday, a House panel defeated a bill to require companies to file public disclosure forms when they pay no state income taxes.

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Activists wary as India rushes to justice after gang rape

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - It's no surprise the Indian street wants faster, harsher justice for sexual crimes after a horrific gang rape that rocked the nation, but some activists worry the government will trample fundamental rights in its rush to be in tune with popular rage.

Last month's rape of a physiotherapy student on a moving bus and her death on December 28 in hospital triggered a national debate about how to better protect women in India, where official data shows one rape is reported on average every 20 minutes.

Many women's rights groups are cautiously hopeful the protests and outrage that followed the crime can be channeled into real change - fast-track courts for sexual offences and a plan to hire 2,500 new women police in Delhi are measures already in the works.

But legal experts and some feminists are worried that calls to make rape punishable with death and other draconian penalties will cramp civil liberties and are unconstitutional. They say India needs better policing and prosecutions, not new laws.

"If there are not enough convictions, it is not because of an insufficiency of law, but it is the insufficiency of material to base the conviction on," said retired Delhi High Court judge R.S. Sodhi.

Five men have been charged with the student's rape and murder and will appear before a New Delhi court later on Monday. They are due to be tried in a newly formed fast-track court in the next few weeks. A teenager also accused will likely be tried in a juvenile court.

Ahead of Monday's court appearance the five still had no defense lawyers - despite extensive interrogations by the police, who have said they have recorded confessions - after members of the bar association in the South Delhi district where the case is being heard vowed not to represent them.

GROUNDS FOR APPEAL

The men will be assigned lawyers by the court before the trial begins, but their lack of representation so far could give grounds for appeal later should they be found guilty - similar cases have resulted in acquittals years after convictions.

"The accused has a right to a lawyer from point of arrest - the investigations are going on, statements being taken, it is totally illegal," said Colin Gonsalves, a senior Supreme Court advocate and director of Delhi's Human Rights Law Network.

Senior leaders of most states on Friday came out in support of a plan to lower to 16 the age that minors can be tried as adults - in response to fury that the maximum penalty the accused youth could face is three years detention.

A government panel is considering suggestions to make the death penalty mandatory for rape and introducing forms of chemical castration for the guilty. It is due to make its recommendations by January 23.

"The more you strengthen the powers of the state against the people, the more the possibility you create a draconian regime," said Sehjo Singh, Programme and Policy Director with ActionAid in India and an expert on Indian women's social movements.

"We want to raise the bar of human rights in India, we want to raise the standards, not lower them."

The Indian Express newspaper warned against "knee-jerk" reaction and said any change to the juvenile law "must come after rigorous and considered debate. It cannot be a reaction to a fraught moment".

Courts are swamped with a backlog of cases in the country of 1.2 billion people and trials often take more than five years to complete, so the launch by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir of six fast-track courts in the capital to deal with sexual offences was widely greeted as a welcome move.

Several other states including Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra are now looking at following Delhi's example.

But Gonsalves says while the courts are a good idea on paper, similar tribunals in the past delivered dubious verdicts and put financial pressure on the rest of the justice system.

FAST TRACK COURTS

India set up 1,700 fast-track courts in 2004, but stopped funding them last year because they turned out to be costly. The courts typically work six days a week and try to reduce adjournments that lead to long delays in cases.

"The record of the fast-track courts is mixed," Gonsalves said. Conviction rates rose, he said, but due process was sometimes rushed, leading to convictions being overturned.

"Fast-track courts were in many ways were fast-track injustice," he said.

The real problem lie with bad policing and a shortage of judges, Gonsalves said. India has about a fifth of the number of judges per capita that the United States has.

Indian police are often poorly trained and underpaid, and have sometimes been implicated in organized crime. Rights groups complain the mostly male officers are insensitive to victims of sexual crimes.

Resources for, and expertise in, forensic science is limited in most of the country's police forces and confessions are often extracted under duress. The judiciary complains it is hard to convict offenders because of faulty evidence.

Human Rights Watch said reforms to laws and procedures covering rape and other sexual crimes should focus on protection of witnesses and modernizing support for victims at police stations and hospitals.

The rights organization has documented the continued use of archaic practices such as the "finger test" used by some doctors on rape victims to allegedly determine if they had regular sex.

"Reforms in the rape laws - these are needed. But not in terms of enhancing punishment," said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director of Human Rights Watch.

"Why they are not investigated, why there are not enough convictions, those are the things that need to be addressed."

(Additional reporting by Satarupa Bhattacharjya, Shashank Chouhan and Annie Banerji; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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