Britney Spears calls off engagement, quits “X Factor”

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Pop star Britney Spears on Friday called it quits with both fiancé Jason Trawick and as a celebrity judge on “The X Factor” talent show.

Spears, 31, and Trawick, 41 – her former agent – got engaged in December 2011.

“Jason and I have decided to call off our engagement,” Spears said in a statement. “I’ll always adore him and we will remain great friends.”

The couple began dating in May 2010, following a turbulent few years in Spears’ personal and professional life in which she lost custody of her children, entered rehab and shaved off her hair.

Trawick added in a statement: “As this chapter ends for us a new one begins. I love and cherish her and her boys and we will be close forever.”

The wedding would have been the third for Spears. She divorced dancer Kevin Federline, with whom she had two children, in 2006.

The singer also spontaneously married childhood friend Jason Alexander during a trip to Las Vegas in 2004. That marriage lasted 55 hours before the singer annulled the union.

Spears and Trawick announced their split the same day that the “Toxic” singer confirmed she was leaving “The X Factor” after just one year as a judge on the Fox singing show, saying it was time to get back to making music.

“I had an incredible time doing the show and I love the other judges and I am so proud of my teens but it’s time for me to get back in the studio.

“Watching them all do their thing up on that stage every week made me miss performing so much! I can’t wait to get back out there and do what I love most,” Spears said of her “X Factor” departure.

Spears’ most recent album, “Femme Fatale,” was released in March 2011.

Celebrity website TMZ.com reported on Friday that Spears was in talks about a long-term residency gig in Las Vegas. The gambling city is already host to stars like Celine Dion and Shania Twain, who perform under long term contracts.

Spears was recruited to “The X Factor” with a reported $ 15 million salary after a 14-year singing career that made her one of the biggest pop stars of the 2000s.

But audiences slumped and the TV show lost about 3 million regular viewers from its first season. Many fans and TV critics found Spears bland and boring.

The exit of Spears leaves “X Factor” creator Simon Cowell searching for two new judges to lift his show past its NBC rival, “The Voice,” in the ratings when it returns in September.

Judge and record producer L.A. Reid announced in December that he would be returning full time to his job as the head of Epic Records.

Spears took “The X Factor” gig with singer Demi Lovato, 20, in May 2012 to fill the judges’ seats left by Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger, who were both fired by Cowell a year ago.

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant and Eric Kelsey; Editing by Eric Walsh and Carol Bishopric)

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City Room: Cuomo Declares Public Health Emergency Over Flu Outbreak

With the nation in the grip of a severe influenza outbreak that has seen deaths reach epidemic levels, New York State declared a public health emergency on Saturday, making access to vaccines more easily available.

There have been nearly 20,000 cases of flu reported across the state so far this season, officials said. Last season, 4,400 positive laboratory tests were reported.

“We are experiencing the worst flu season since at least 2009, and influenza activity in New York State is widespread, with cases reported in all 57 counties and all five boroughs of New York City,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement.

Under the order, pharmacists will be allowed to administer flu vaccinations to patients between 6 months and 18 years old, temporarily suspending a state law that prohibits pharmacists from administering immunizations to children.

While children and older people tend to be the most likely to become seriously ill from the flu, Mr. Cuomo urged all New Yorkers to get vaccinated.

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said that deaths from the flu had reached epidemic levels, with at least 20 children having died nationwide. Officials cautioned that deaths from pneumonia and the flu typically reach epidemic levels for a week or two every year. The severity of the outbreak will be determined by how long the death toll remains high or if it climbs higher.

There was some evidence that caseloads may be peaking, federal officials said on Friday.

In New York City, public health officials announced on Thursday that flu-related illnesses had reached epidemic levels, and they joined the chorus of authorities urging people to get vaccinated.

“It’s a bad year,” the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas A. Farley, told reporters on Thursday. “We’ve got lots of flu, it’s mainly type AH3N2, which tends to be a little more severe. So we’re seeing plenty of cases of flu and plenty of people sick with flu. Our message for any people who are listening to this is it’s still not too late to get your flu shot.”

There has been a spike in the number of people going to emergency rooms over the past two weeks with flulike symptoms – including fever, fatigue and coughing – Dr. Farley said.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Mr. Cuomo made a public display of getting shots this past week.

In a briefing with reporters on Friday, officials from the C.D.C. said that this year’s vaccine was effective in 62 percent of cases.

As officials have stepped up their efforts encouraging vaccinations, there have been scattered reports of shortages. But officials said plenty of the vaccine was available.

According to the C.D.C., makers of the flu vaccine produced about 135 million doses for this year. As of early this month, 128 million doses had been distributed. While that would not be enough for every American, only 37 percent of the population get a flu shot each year.

Federal health officials said they would be happy if that number rose to 50 percent, which would mean that there would be more than enough vaccine for anyone who wanted to be immunized.

Two other diseases – norovirus and whooping cough – are also widespread this winter and are contributing to the number of people getting sick.

The flu can resemble a cold, though the symptoms come on more rapidly and are more severe.

A version of this article appeared in print on 01/13/2013, on page A21 of the NewYork edition with the headline: New York Declares Health Emergency.

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Treasury Will Not Mint $1 Trillion Coin to Raise Debt Ceiling

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department said Saturday that it will not mint a trillion-dollar platinum coin to head off an imminent battle with Congress over raising the government’s borrowing limit.

“Neither the Treasury Department nor the Federal Reserve believes that the law can or should be used to facilitate the production of platinum coins for the purpose of avoiding an increase in the debt limit,” Anthony Coley, a Treasury spokesman, said in a written statement.

The Obama administration has indicated that the only way for the country to avoid a cash-management crisis as soon as next month is for Congress to raise the “debt ceiling,” which is the statutory limit on government borrowing. The cap is $16.4 trillion.

“There are only two options to deal with the debt limit: Congress can pay its bills, or it can fail to act and put the nation into default,” Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said in a statement. “Congress needs to do its job.”

In recent weeks, some Republicans have indicated that they would not agree to raise the debt limit unless Democrats agreed to make cuts to entitlement programs like Social Security.

The White House has said it would not negotiate spending cuts in exchange for Congressional authority to borrow more, and it has insisted that Congress raise the ceiling as a matter of course, to cover expenses already authorized by Congress. In broader fiscal negotiations, it has said it would not agree to spending cuts without commensurate tax increases.

The idea of minting a trillion-dollar coin drew wide if puzzling attention recently after some bloggers and economic commentators had suggested it as an alternative to involving Congress.

By virtue of an obscure law meant to apply to commemorative coins, the Treasury secretary could order the production of a high-denomination platinum coin and deposit it at the Federal Reserve, where it would count as a government asset and give the country more breathing room under its debt ceiling. Once Congress raised the debt ceiling, the Treasury secretary could then order the coin destroyed.

Mr. Carney, the press secretary, fielded questions about the theoretical tactic at a news conference last week. But the idea is now formally off the table.

The White House has also rejected the idea that it could mount a challenge to the debt ceiling itself, on the strength of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which holds that the “validity of the public debt” of the United States “shall not be questioned.”

The Washington Post earlier published a report that the Obama administration had rejected the platinum-coin idea.

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Detroit Auto Show: GM hopes 2014 Corvette will boost Chevrolet sales

As he prepared to unveil the seventh-generation Corvette this weekend — an event akin to the naming of a new pope in the sports-car world — General Motors executive Mark Reuss told a story familiar to legions of Corvette faithful over six decades of production.

Reuss coveted the car as a teenager, back when the 'Vette versus Porsche debate ignited the same fury as disco versus rock. He bought one in his 20s, a used silver 1969 model with a big-block 427 engine, and took his future wife on their first date. Then he married and sold the two-seater to make room for a family.

Such nostalgia is pervasive among Corvette buyers. The car's heritage means even more to GM as it attempts to rebound from the bailout-and-bankruptcy era.

PHOTOS: Six generations of the Corvette

In a once-a-decade event, Chevrolet will unveil the redesigned 2014 Corvette on Sunday night at a preview to next week's North American International Auto Show in Detroit. As with every 'Vette since 1953, the new model will serve as the standard bearer of the brand's engineering, a laboratory for technology that trickles down to mainstream models. The dynamic extends to marketing, as the Corvette embodies the soul of the brand, the aspirational "halo" car that GM hopes will rub off on perceptions of its entire lineup.

"When you see a Corvette in a showroom, most know that Chevrolet embodies performance, value and is unapologetically American," said Reuss, president of GM's North American operations.

Corvette redesigns have historically boosted sales of the sports cars, often by 50% or more. But some question how much a new Corvette can do to shore up Chevrolet's sagging U.S. market share.

"The negative is that, in the minds of Corvette owners, it is a Corvette before it is a Chevy," said Jeremy Anwyl, vice chairman of Edmunds.com. "It is not like you go look at the Corvette and walk out with a Cruze. If they took the money they spent on Corvette development and spent it on a couple of marketing campaigns, they would get more bang for their buck."

Others aren't so quick to write off the premium sports car's benefit to the larger brand. Larry Dominique, former vice president of product planning at Nissan, saw marketing benefits in play from the Japanese automaker's series of Z sports cars. Consumers believed that Nissan's other vehicles shared the same DNA, which the company underscored in pitching its Maxima as the "four-door sports car."

"There is an awareness and consumer draw," Dominique said. "That's why Chevy dealers put the Corvette on the turntable out front."

Profitable niche

The Corvette has often served as a barometer of the company's fortunes. Many view the mid-1960s Sting Ray version as a golden era of the 'Vette's might and sex appeal, a tangible representation of GM's corporate power.

A decade later — after GM got caught flat-footed by the oil crisis — the Corvette morphed into a sports car for posers, poorly built and agonizingly slow.

As a premium car, the Corvette naturally sells in low volumes, particularly through the battered economy of recent years, when sales plummeted from more than 40,000 in 2007 to less than 12,000 last year.

Even in good years, Corvette sells as many copies in a year as Toyota's Camry sometimes sells in a month.

But the economy is on the mend, and whatever the Corvette does for the larger Chevrolet and GM brands, the car will turn a substantial profit on its own, Reuss assured.

"This makes as much money as any of the top-profit models in our company," Reuss said. "That is why we do it."

Even as GM works to make Chevrolet more of a global brand, the Corvette remains an American affair.

"From a business case, the car is done for North America first," Reuss said. "Anything else that happens because we made a fundamentally sound car is extra benefit."

Reuss also hopes to speed up the timeline for Corvette redesigns, which have averaged nine years and once stretched to 15 years. The current Corvette debuted in 2005. Corvette fans, he said, won't have to wait so long for the next version.

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Lenovo IdeaTab A2107 comes to AT&T for $200 with no contract

AT&T (T) on Friday announced the addition of the Lenovo (LNVGY) IdeaTab A2107 to its line of tablet PCs. The 7-inch slate is equipped with a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, 3G connectivity and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The IdeaTab A2107 also includes a 3-megapixel rear camera, a microSD slot, a front-facing camera and a 3550 mAh battery. The tablet’s display isn’t nearly as good as the competition, however, sporting a mere 1024 x 600 resolution with a pixel density of 170 pixels per inch, falling short of Google’s (GOOG) similarly priced Nexus 7.

[More from BGR: Samsung cancels Windows RT plans in U.S.]

“The Lenovo IdeaTab is a great option for those in the market for a compact, multifunctional tablet at an affordable price,” said Chris Penrose, senior vice president of emerging devices at AT&T. “Connecting it to the AT&T network keeps customers connected while on the go to what matters most.”

[More from BGR: ‘Apple is done’ and Surface tablet is cool, according to teens]

The IdeaTab A2107 is available now for $ 200 without a two-year agreement or $ 100 on contract.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

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Destiny’s Child releasing first new song in 8 years

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – One of the biggest girl groups of the 21st century is making a comeback. Or, at least, some new music.

Destiny’s Child – a bootylicious R&B act consisting of Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams – announced on Thursday that they will be releasing a compilation album later this month, which contains the first new song they’ve recorded since 2004.

“We are so proud to announce the first original Destiny’s Child music in eight years,” a post on the group’s Facebook page read.

If this is a sign of a reunion album or tour to come, the girls are taking baby steps for now.

“Nuclear” will be the only new track on “Love Songs,”a collection of the best-selling group’s most romantic recordings, which include “Cater 2 U,” “Brown Eyes” and one of their biggest hits, “Say My Name.”

The girls called it quits in 2005 after releasing four full-length studio albums, which sold over 60 million copies between 1997 and 2005 to make Destiny’s Child the world’s top-selling female vocal group.

Following the split, Beyoncé became a household name as a solo artist, actress and Jay-Z’s wife, while both Rowland and Williams found some success pursuing independent careers as well.

The 14-track “Love Songs” drops on January 29, but is currently available for pre-order on Amazon.

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Business Briefing | Retailing: Best Buy Shares Rally on Improved Holiday Sales

The Best Buy Company had better-than-expected holiday sales, setting off a gain of $2, or 16.4 percent, in its stock price, to $14.21 a share on Friday. The holiday quarter accounted for about a third of Best Buy’s revenue last year. The chain said that revenue at stores open at least a year fell 1.4 percent for the nine weeks ended Jan. 5. The company’s performance in the United States was flat. The chief executive, Hubert Joly, said in a statement that the result was better than the last several quarters. A Morningstar analyst, R. J. Hottovy, said the results showed that some of Best Buy’s initiatives, like more employee training and online price matching helped increase sales.

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At Nordstrom Rack hostage scene, mall employees try to go to work

Near the scene of an overnight hostage situation at the Nordstrom Rack store in Westchester, traffic was picking up Friday morning around the Promenade at Howard Hughes Center mall.

As cars drove by on Sepulveda Boulevard and Center Drive, puzzled mall employees, many of whom were unaware of the hostage situation in which 14 Rack employees were held and later released, gathered at the main entrance to the mall and questioned authorities about what to do.

Jackie Carter, 40, of Redondo Beach, works in technical support in a building on Center Drive. Armed with a thermos of coffee, he said he was supposed to be at work at 6 a.m., but officers told him it was unclear when they would open access to the buildings near the mall.

He said he wasn’t sure what he was going to do because his wife had dropped him off at work.

“I guess there’s no work,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bill Schaeffer of Los Feliz suddenly got a voicemail from his manager around 7:30 a.m. telling him not to come to work at Piccolo’s Books inside the mall.

The message came too late though. Schaeffer had already gotten to work and gone to a nearby coffee shop to pass time. After conferring with officers, Schaeffer, 55, said he was going to go home.

“Now it’s time to run errands,” he said.

One female hostage held at the store was sexually assaulted, another was stabbed in the neck and a third was pistol-whipped, police said Friday.

The ordeal began about 11 p.m. Thursday, when two men took the hostages, leading them into a store room and bathroom, police said.

Police did not say exactly how long the suspects were in the Nordstrom Rack before they fled with an undisclosed amount of money.

Police early Friday were trying to confirm that the getaway car was found at a nearby location.

When the Los Angeles Police Department's SWAT officers arrived Thursday night, they surrounded the store, according to police sources. At one point, one of the suspects left the store, saw police and ran back inside. A second suspect walked out with an unidentified woman, saw police and headed back to the store.

The officers entered the store at 3:30 a.m. and freed 14 people -- employees and possibly customers -- huddled in a storage room. The Promenade at Howard Hughes Center is near the 405 Freeway.

The LAPD had called a tactical alert and closed off the area around the shopping center.

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BlackBerry Z10 shown off in leaked marketing materials

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N. Dakota, Washington win Miss America prelims

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Miss North Dakota and Miss Washington have picked up prizes in the third day of preliminary Miss America competition in Las Vegas.

Miss North Dakota Rosie Sauvageau took top honors Thursday after her piano and vocal rendition of “To Make You Feel My Love.” The 24-year-old from Fargo, N.D., will take a $ 2,000 Amway scholarship home from the competition at Planet Hollywood resort.

Miss Washington Mandy Schendel took the trophy for the third round of the Lifestyle and Fitness category after modeling a strapless white Catalina swimsuit. The 22-year-old from Newcastle, Wash., earned a $ 1,000 Amway scholarship for it.

Contestants are divided into three groups and compete in different categories during three nights of preliminaries. Their scores will factor in the finals that will be broadcast live on Saturday.

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