Labor dispute moves into courts with talks stalled

(Reuters) - After three months of failed negotiations, the labor dispute between the National Hockey League and locked out players moved into the courts on Friday, with the league filing a class action complaint against the players' union.
The league asked U.S. courts to confirm the legality of the lockout. It also filed an unfair labor practice against the players' union.
The move appears to be a pre-emptive strike by the league after reports circulated that the NHL Players' Association (NHLPA) would seek a vote from its members to proceed with a "disclaim of interest" and no longer represent players in bargaining.
Dissolving the union would free players to file anti-trust lawsuits in the courts and have the lockout found illegal.
"Today, in response to information indicating that NHL players have or will be asked to vote to authorize the National Hockey League Players' Association's executive board to proceed to "disclaim interest" in continuing to represent the players in collective bargaining, the National Hockey League filed a class action complaint in Federal Court in New York seeking a declaration confirming the ongoing legality of the lockout."
The league also said it was simultaneously filing an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that by threatening to "disclaim interest," the NHLPA is engaging in an unlawful subversion of the collective bargaining process and conduct that constitutes bad faith bargaining under the National Labor Relations Act.
The legal maneuvering comes a day after the sides had spent two unsuccessful days with U.S. federal mediators trying to jump start stalled talks on a new collective bargaining agreement.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has said he cannot see the league, which normally runs an 82-game regular season, playing less than a 48-game campaign. But with 42.8 percent of the schedule already canceled, time is quickly running out on salvaging even a partial season.
The two sides appear to have inched closer on the main sticking point of how to divide $3.3 billion in revenue.
The league is seeking an immediate 50-50 split while players, who will see their share chopped from 57 percent, want the cuts brought in gradually with a "make whole" provision in place to cover money that would be lost on current contracts.
Several other contentious items remain on the table, including the length of a new collective bargaining agreement and contract limits to drug testing and continued participate in the Winter Olympics.

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Local Leaks Tipsters Allege Steubenville Victim Was Drugged

The latest information posted to Local Leaks, the Wikileaks-like site that has devoted itself to finding details about Steubenville's so-called "Rape Crew", is what they say is an account from the night of the alleged gang-rape of a 16-year-old girl. Local Leaks, which uses and utilizes hacks and tipsters driven to the site from the hacktivist group known as Anonymous, posted what they say is a basic picture of what happened on the night in question which they say is derived "from a number of young people in Steubenville who were witness to various parts of this horrendous crime." Their account goes on to name specific people, but since we aren't privy to those documents or tips, naming those people without verification doesn't seem fair and we've redacted the names of the boys who are not facing charges.
RELATED: One of Steubenville's 'Rape Crew' Wants to Get Out of Steubenville
(Update, January 8: Local Leaks speaks out — meet the hackers behind the Steubenville Files.)
RELATED: Everything You Need to Know About Steubenville High's Football 'Rape Crew'
Here's the first section of the newly posted report:
After being convinced, with some amount of coaxing – to attend the parties that night with the “Rape Crew” by by XXX’s girlfriend XXX, Jane Doe was picked up at a volleyball team party she was attending in the early evening of August 11th and transported in a vehicle with Richmond, XXX and XXX in it. Jane Doe was administered a “date rape” drug snuck into her drink almost immediately, possibly while still in the vehicle enroute to the nights “festivities”.
That sort of falls in line with what's been said. But we're not sure how someone knows for sure that the victim was snuck a "date rape drug." That's a dangerous implication and adds a sinister side of premeditation. As The New York Times Juliet Macur and Nate Schweber reported, because by the time the alleged victim went to the police "it was too late for toxicology tests to determine if she had been drugged." However, there were reports of the victim being drugged, according to Rachel Dissell of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
RELATED: Inside the Anonymous Hacking File on the Steubenville 'Rape Crew'
The second portion reads:
In any case, she has no memories after being picked up. The first party of the night was at the home of Assistant Coach XXXXX, where XXXXX, XXXX, XXXXX, and XXXXX were already engaged in heavy drinking and drug use. At this location Jane Doe was raped multiple times by Richmond and Mays and at least two other assailants from the “Rape Crew”. At that point the “party” went on the move. They first stopped at another Assistant Coach’s home, Coach XXXX. XXXXX didn’t like what he saw, and asked them to leave. Once again, they hit the road with an unconscious Jane Doe in tow.
We know there was drinking. "Some in the crowd, which would grow to close to 50 people, arrived with beer. Those who did not were met by cases of it and a makeshift bar of vodka, rum and whiskey, all for the taking, no identification needed," reads the Times report. From reports we know there were multiple parties that night, but the apartments being at multiple coaches' houses have largely been unconfirmed.
RELATED: A Heartbreaking Look Inside the World of India's Gang Rape Victim
Anonymous, from tips from Steubenvillers, has a theory that the boys involved had an apartment which they used for parties:
4401 the athletes used to party. It was known as "the apartment". I am told this is where the rape crew honed their skills
— #KnightSec (@KYAnonymous) January 3, 2013
And they're also claiming that a coach or coach's house was involved:
RELATED: Protestors Take to Streets of India While Victim's Body Is Flown Home


Here's the next part:
While en route to XXXX’s house, Jane was again raped and sodomized in the back seat of a vehicle – and this was video recorded by XXXXX who was in the front seat. Her attackers in the car were again Mays and Richmond.
Now, again, knowing exactly what happened in the back seat would be hard for anyone that wasn't there. Though, this account jibes with what at least one witness told police. From the Times report:
That player told the police that he was in the back seat of his Volkswagen Jetta with Mays and the girl when Mays proceeded to flash the girl’s breasts and penetrate her with his fingers, while the player videotaped it on his phone. The player, who shared the video with at least one person, testified that he videotaped Mays and the girl “because he was being stupid, not making the right choices.” He said he later deleted the recording.
And the last part:
Once they arrived at XXXXX’s house Jane Doe was carried to the basement where she was again raped multiple times by multiple attackers, one of which was XXXXX. Finally, having sated themselves and exhausted any further entertainment that Jane Doe could provide for these animals, she was unceremoniously dumped (still unconscious) onto the front lawn of the XXXXX residence – where at least one member of the “Rape Crew” proceeded to urinate on her.
Well there's obviously some editorializing there ("further entertainment"... "animals"). But tweets from that night confirm that people were, at the very least talking about the alleged victim being urinated on while unconscious. According to The New York Times report, the party didn't end with this girl on the front lawn. "The girl slept on a couch in the basement of that home that night, with Mays alongside her before he took a spot on the floor.
The big takeaway from this report is that the account, from which is said to be gathered and confirmed from multiple sources, says there the girl was raped multiple times by multiple people and that the two Steubenville foortball players facing charges, Malik Richmond and Trent Mays, weren't the only ones involved.
Since the Times report last month, the reporting on this story has been driven by a kind of hacker vigilantism more than professional journalists. These new details may be unconfirmed, but they are the leads that the mainstream outlets who are headed for Ohio will be following.

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Android’s explosive content consumption growth threatens Apple

Smartphone market share surveys from IDC and Kantar have shown for a long time that the Android phone volume surge is leaving the iPhone in the dust in major growth markets from Brazil to India. But one thing that Apple has had on its side has been the propensity of iPhone owners to consume far more content than Android phone owners. One argument has been that it does not matter if iPhone has a 5% share vs. Android’s 40% share if Apple (AAPL) still dominates in  app revenue generation and browsing volume. Content is king. Another argument is that it does not matter who moves the most units, since only hardware margins count. Here Apple reigns supreme.
[More from BGR: First leaked picture of the Samsung Galaxy S IV emerges]
In the long run it’s difficult to say whether selling smartphones at extremely high margins is more important than dominating mobile content. As consumers keep shifting their precious entertainment consumption minutes to smartphones from television, print media and video games, the value of owning the mobile browsing and mobile application markets increases. Samsung (005930) is playing the deep game of flooding the world market with hundreds of millions of Android phones, most of them cheap, some of them very expensive. The goal is to blanket the globe with Samsung devices and bet that the content consumption of Android devices can catch up with Apple in aggregate.
[More from BGR: Google’s rumored ‘X Phone’ could be an ‘attack on Samsung’]
That is why it’s interesting to see how different research houses started to detect clear signs of Android surge in content consumption in 2012. According to AppAnnie, Google Play showed 48% download growth over the summer, while iOS download volume ticked up by just 3%. In South Korea, Google Play moved ahead of iOS in app revenue generation.
And StatCounter numbers on mobile browser usage seem to be pointing to the same direction. A year ago, Android phones had 17% mobile browsing market share in the Philippines vs. iPhone’s 12%. In January 2013 that lead had grown to 27% vs. 14%. This was the first month when Android took the browsing share lead from Opera in the Philippines. As feature phones fade, Android is grabbing their share of mobile page views.
In Brazil, Android’s mobile browser share has vaulted from 19% to 38% in a year. The iPhone still has a respectable 11% share, which is maybe five times higher than iPhone’s slice of smartphone shipments in Brazil. But that outperformance is no longer enough to keep up with the avalanche of Android phones that are now a prime vehicle for mobile content consumption for Brazil’s middle classes.
In Germany, Europe’s leading mobile market, Android has just pulled into a dramatic 51% vs. 31% lead in page views. In Russia, Android has opened a 25% vs. 18% lead in just the past five months. In affluent Japan, iPhone is leading Android by just 48% v. 44%.
Apple is still punching way above its unit volume class when it comes to grabbing consumers who use the smartphone most frequently for content consumption purposes. But the Google (GOOG)-Samsung strategy of swamping the market with cheap smartphones is working. Android’s lead in mobile browsing is growing at an accelerating rate in many major markets. The new wave of sub-$150 smartphones from Samsung, Huawei and ZTE is shooing consumers across the globe under Google’s mobile content umbrella. These consumers will shape the future of mapping, shopping, localized news and other mobile content industries.
One of these days Apple must choose between the goals of dominating mobile content and maintaining sky-high phone operating margins. The blended iPhone ASP of $620 is not compatible with competing against the Android Armada in Latin America, Africa and Asia, and perhaps not even in Germany or Spain.

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Look Who's Already in Trouble Over the Steubenville Rape Case

If this was the week that the whole country found out about the alleged gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in football-crazedSteubenville, Ohio, next week might be the one when the punishments arrive. Steubenville High's famed football coach may resign as soon as Monday, and the recent graduate whose shocking video confession was leaked by hackers who took the case nationalmay be in trouble with his college.

RELATED: Everything You Need to Know About Steubenville High's Football 'Rape Crew'

Instagram photos from the night in question emerged almost immediately after the August incident, and today the site LocalLakes, which is partnering with the hacking collective Anonymous to collect eyewitness details and speak truth to rumor, provided a narrative of what it says happened. But the most emotional — and viral — leak out of the so-called The Steubenville Files came in the form of this unsavory video, in which a former Steubenville student is thought to be referring to the victim when he says local football players "raped her more than the Duke lacrosse team": 

RELATED: Inside the Anonymous Hacking File on the Steubenville 'Rape Crew'

RELATED: Local Leaks Tipsters Allege Steubenville Victim Was Drugged

The YouTube video identifies the speaker as former Steubenville student Michael Nodianos, who according to his Twitter account or someone who had access to it, said some pretty gross things the night of the alleged attack: 

Local Leaks and Anonymous tracked Nodianos, now 18, to Ohio State University and released his e-mail and personal information on the Internet, adding that he might have had a gun in his possession during the filming. On Friday afternoon OSU's press office gave in to just how crushing the effects of the viral wave of leaked information has become, releasing the following cryptic statement:

Sexual assault is a terrible act of aggression and violence, and our hearts go out to all victims. The situation in Steubenville is particularly disturbing, and our thoughts are with those affected. To our knowledge, the only students who have been criminally charged in this matter are high school students with no affiliation to Ohio State. To the extent there are inquiries about any Ohio State student, the university is not at liberty to comment due to Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) regulations, other than to confirm that the student in question was in attendance at Ohio State only through Dec. 12.

When reached for comment by The Atlantic Wire, an Ohio State spokeswoman refused to clarify the statement, merely repeating the last line above (emphasis ours). But the phrase "only through" is still throwing us for a loop: Why isn't he there any longer? Because OSU is still on vacation until January 7? Because Nodianos decided to leave? Or has he been punished by the school? Nobody's really saying.

Someone who has spoken up about Nodianos and the viral video is Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdala. "Sheriff Abdalla is proud of his town but when it comes to the video released Wednesday, he called it disgusting," reports WTRF-TV. But Sheriff Abdala still doesn't like the way the national press has covered the involvement of Anonymous and LocalLeaks: 

This is all over the world now. It's in the Huffington Post and New York Times but some of these papers are reporting this stuff based on what this Anonymous is telling them. How do you support what they're saying? Where's your proof? I thought newspapers where to be able to back it up with good, solid information. How can you do a story when someone is giving you information that's not even factual?

But... but... that video? Can't we agree it's pretty disgusting? The Steubenville Files allege that Sheriff Abdala and Steubenville football's head coach, Reno Saccoccia, are friends. Abdala hasn't denied that allegation because, well, it seems like everyone in Steubenville knows Coach Reno.

Now rumors are surfacing that Saccoccia, who has become a Friday Night Lights-style legend in the small Ohio city during his 35 years at Steubenville High, will be resigning on Monday. The school is on a community-wide gag order at least until the rape trial's preliminary hearings on Februar 13, butthere are growing calls for the coach, who didn't bench his players when he was told even the non-accusers were posting photos of the alleged victim as she was allegedly being attacked, to either resign or be fired. And those calls will only grow louder on Saturday, when an Occupy Steubenville rally rolls into town.

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Egypt's ultraconservative party names new leader

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's largest ultraconservative Islamist party, which has emerged as a potent political force in the country, elected a new leader on Wednesday after the previous head broke away to form his own political group following months of infighting.
Younis Makhyoun, a 58-year-old cleric and trained dentist, was selected in a consensus vote to lead the Salafi Al-Nour party, one of several religion-based parties to take root after the 2011 Egyptian uprising. His election marks the consolidation of power of the religious clerics who cofounded the party and successfully faced down a challenge from the previous leadership to separate the group's politics from its religious ideology.
Makhyoun takes over just two months before President Mohammed Morsi is expected to call for new parliamentary elections, and Al-Nour's new leader immediately turned his sights on the vote. He described the next parliament as "the most dangerous and the most important" in Egypt's history because its mission will be "to purify all laws from whatever violates Islamic Shariah law."
Makhyoun was among the Islamist-dominated constituent assembly that wrote Egypt's new constitution. The charter deeply polarized Egyptians and sparked deadly street protests, but passed by a 64 percent "yes" vote in a referendum in which around 33 percent of voters participated.
Islamists perceive the constitution as the first step toward redefining Egypt's identity to conform to Shariah, or Islamic law.
"We want to liberate Egypt from slavery and submission," Makhyoun said while trying to assuage fears of women and Christians by saying Shariah would "liberate women from the West's moral decay that brought humiliation."
Al-Nour was founded by a group of influential hardline Salafi clerics shortly after the 2011 Egyptian uprising that toppled longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak.
Their single-minded dedication to applying Islamic law sets them apart from Egypt's strongest Islamist force, the Muslim Brotherhood, which shares many of the Salafi fundamentalist beliefs but also has a history of political pragmatism to achieve its ends.
Salafis follow the Wahhabi school of thought, which predominates in Saudi Arabia. They promote a strict interpretation of Islamic law which mandates segregation of the sexes, bans banks from charging interest and punishes theft by cutting off thieves' hands.
Al-Nour made a surprisingly strong showing in the country's first parliamentary elections last year, capturing 25 percent of the seats and trailing only the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's best-organized political force. Their success reflected years of grassroots organizing throughout the country, giving them a ready-made network of support when they entered politics.
That parliament was disbanded by a court order last year. A new one should be elected within two months starting from the day the Egypt's new constitution is put into effect, according to the charter.
The party has been riven by internal feuds over the past year as it struggles to reconcile democratic maneuvering with religious ideology. Al-Nour's founder, Emad Abdel-Ghafour, broke away earlier this month to form a new party over disagreements tied to the role of a body of clerics in the group's politics.
Some of the divisions were also linked to concerns with the Brotherhood. Some Salafis fear the Brotherhood is too willing to compromise in pursuit of an Islamic state. During last year's parliamentary elections, Al-Nour split from an electoral alliance with the Brotherhood after complaining of the group's attempt to monopolize the alliance.

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Saudi executes maid despite appeals for reprieve

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi authorities say a Sri Lankan domestic worker has been executed for killing a Saudi baby in her care in 2005.
The case spurred global appeals to call off the beheading of Rizana Nafeek because she was 17 at the time of the killing. Rights groups called the death sentence a violation of international codes governing the rights of minors. She had denied strangling the 4-month-old boy.
A statement Wednesday from the Saudi Interior Ministry said the execution was carried out, but it gave no other details.
Groups such as Human Rights Watch strongly condemned the execution.

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Winter storm slams Mideast, 2 die in West Bank

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — The fiercest winter storm to hit the Mideast in years has unleashed deadly flash flooding in the West Bank, dumped a rare foot of snow on desert Jordan, and disrupted traffic on the Suez Canal in Egypt.
The unusual weather was a particularly harsh blow for the vulnerable Syrian refugees, especially about 50,000 sheltering in the Zaatari tent camp in Jordan's northern desert. Torrential rains over the past four days have flooded 200 tents and forced women and infants to evacuate in temperatures below freezing at night, whipping wind and lashing rain.
"It's been freezing cold and constant rain for the past four days," lamented Ahmad Tobara, 44, who evacuated his tent when its shafts submerged in flood water in Zaatari camp.
In the West Bank town of Ramallah, a Palestinian official said on Wednesday two West Bank women drowned after their car was caught in a flash flood a day earlier. Nablus Deputy Governor Annan Atirah said the women abandoned their vehicle after it got stuck on a flooded road and their bodies were found apparently swept away by surging waters. Their driver was hospitalized in critical condition.
The storm dumped at least a foot of snow on many parts of Jordan, shutting schools, stranding motorists and delaying international flights, Jordanian weatherman Mohammed Samawi said. He called it the "fiercest storm to hit the Mideast in the month of January in at least 30 years."
The rare, heavy snowfall blocked all streets in Jordan's capital, Amman, and isolated remote villages, prompting warnings from authorities for people to stay home as snow ploughs tried to reopen clogged roads. The country's Meteorology Department said the storm, accompanied by lashing wind, lightning and thunder, dumped the most snow in northern regions and some parts of usually arid southern Jordan.
The snowstorm followed four days of torrential rain, which caused flooding in many areas across the country.
In Egypt, torrential rains, strong winds and low visibility disrupted Suez Canal operations over the past three days and also closed down several ports. The number of ships moving through the Suez Canal dropped by half because of poor visibility, the official MENA news agency reported. A canal official said that by Wednesday, operations had returned to normal. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters.
MENA also reported that ports in the northern Mediterranean city of Alexandria and Dakhila were shut down, while cities in the Nile Delta suffered power outages and fishing stopped in cities like Damietta, northeast of Cairo.
MENA also reported ten fishermen went missing after their boat capsized near Marsa Matrouh on the Mediterranean.

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Soccer-Sporting and Porto agree swap of Izmailov for Miguel Lopes

LISBON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Portuguese Premier League club Sporting agreed to swap Russian midfielder Marat Izmailov for Porto's Portugal international Miguel Lopes, the Lisbon club said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Sporting informs that Marat Izmailov was transferred to Porto and that Miguel Lopes was signed with a contract that runs until June 2018 and has a buyout clause of 20 million euros ($26.13 million)," Sporting said in a filing to the Portuguese stock market regulator's website (www.cmvm.pt).
Russian international Izmailov, 30, joined Sporting in 2007 and has been an influential player in the last few seasons. However, he has been plagued by several injuries of late and sparsely used in the first team.
Lopes, 26, is a versatile defender who can play both as a left and right back and was perhaps the biggest surprise call-up in Portugal's Euro 2012 squad.
Sporting, who sacked coach Franky Vercauteren on Monday and replaced him with Jesualdo Ferreira, provided no further details on the deal or if any transfer fees had been involved.
Porto are second in the league, three points behind leaders Benfica but with a game in hand. Sporting, enduring one of their worst ever seasons, languish in 12th place, one point above the relegation zone.

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Soccer-Lazio ease into Italian Cup semis

Jan 8 (Reuters) - Lazio beat Catania 3-0 on Tuesday to waltz into the Italian Cup semi-finals and keep their so far successful season on track for silverware.
The Rome club, riding high in second in Serie A, never looked in difficulty once Romanian defender Stefan Radu headed in a corner on the half hour.
Brazilian midfielder Hernanes converted Sergio Floccari's assist midway through the second half to seal matters before adding another classy goal in stoppage time.

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UPDATE 1-Soccer-Spanish King's Cup last 16 results

Jan 8 (Infostrada Sports) - Results from the Spanish King's Cup Last 16 second leg matches on Tuesday
Last 16
Tuesday, January 8, second leg
Valencia - Osasuna 2-1 (halftime: 1-1)
First leg: Osasuna - Valencia 0-2. Valencia win 4-1 on aggregate.
Malaga - Eibar (III) 4-1 (halftime: 0-1)
First leg: Eibar - Malaga 1-1. Malaga win 5-2 on aggregate.
Next Fixtures (GMT):
Wednesday, January 9
Sevilla v Real Mallorca (1830)
Real Madrid v Celta Vigo (2030)
Real Zaragoza v Levante (2030)
Thursday, January 10
Getafe v Atletico Madrid (1830)
Barcelona v Cordoba (II) (2030)
Real Betis v Las Palmas (II) (2030)

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