UK's Kate and William to spend Christmas Day with her parents

Britain's Prince William and his pregnant wife Kate will spend Christmas Day with her parents, their office said on Saturday, in a break with the tradition of royals joining Queen Elizabeth at her country estate at Sandringham. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will celebrate in private with Carole and Michael Middleton at their home in the village of Bucklebury, about 50 miles west of London. "The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will spend Christmas Day privately with the Middleton family," a St James's Palace spokesman said. The couple's decision was taken with the approval of the Queen. They are expected to visit Sandringham, in eastern England, for part of the Christmas holiday. Kate, 30, who married the second-in-line to the throne in April 2011, spent four days in hospital this month with an acute form of morning sickness. Members of the British royal family usually spend Christmas at Sandringham and stay until February, following a custom set by Queen Elizabeth's father and grandfather. Kate and William spent Christmas there last year, meeting scores of wellwishers. The Middletons are likely to join millions of Britons in watching Queen Elizabeth's annual Christmas broadcast, a tradition that her grandfather George V started in 1932. For the first time, the monarch has recorded her television broadcast in 3D. It will be shown at 1500 GMT on December 25.

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South Africa's Mandela responding to treatment in hospital

Former South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela, who is 94, continues to respond to treatment two weeks after being taken to hospital, the government said on Saturday. The Nobel Peace laureate, who has been treated for a lung infection and gallstones after being hospitalized on December 8, was visited by South African President Jacob Zuma, presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement. "Madiba has been in hospital since the 8th of December and continues to respond to treatment," Maharaj said, referring to Mandela by his clan name. "President Zuma assured him of the love and support of all South Africans, young and old, and the whole world." The country's first black president was admitted to hospital in Pretoria earlier this month after being flown from his home village of Qunu in a remote part of the Eastern Cape province. It seems likely that Mandela, admired at home and abroad as a global icon against injustice for his lifetime of struggle against minority white rule, will end up spending Christmas in the hospital. On Thursday, following his re-election as leader of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), Zuma reported Mandela had "steadily improved". Zuma said then the former president was receiving "the best care possible" but recalled that Mandela was "at an age where medical challenges require extraordinary care". He praised Mandela as an "unparalleled fighter". In an interview broadcast on Saturday but recorded a day earlier, the ANC's newly elected Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said he believed Mandela was "on the mend". Mandela spent 27 years in apartheid prisons, including 18 years on the windswept Robben Island off Cape Town. He was released in 1990 and went on to use his prestige to push for reconciliation between whites and blacks as the bedrock of the post-apartheid "Rainbow Nation". He stepped down in 1999 after one term in office and has been largely removed from public life for the last decade. Mandela spent time in a Johannesburg hospital in 2011 with a respiratory condition, and again in February this year because of abdominal pains. He was released the following day after a keyhole examination showed there was nothing serious. He has since spent most of his time in Qunu. His fragile health prevents him from making any public appearances in South Africa, although he has continued to receive high-profile domestic and international visitors, including former U.S. president Bill Clinton in July.

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Pope visits jailed butler to grant pre-Christmas pardon

Pope Benedict made a surprise pre-Christmas visit to the jail holding his former butler on Saturday and pardoned him for stealing and leaking documents that alleged corruption in the Vatican. The pope and Paolo Gabriele spent about 15 minutes together before Gabriele was freed and allowed to return to his wife and children in their Vatican apartment, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said. "What they said to each other will remain a secret between them ... he knows he made a mistake," Gabriele's lawyer Cristiana Arru, who was in the apartment when he returned home, told Reuters. Gabriele was convicted of aggravated theft on October 6 in a case that shone unwelcome publicity on the Vatican. He had been serving an 18-month sentence in a jail cell in the city state's police headquarters. Lombardi called the pope's action "a paternal gesture towards a person with whom the pope shared his daily life for several years ... this is a happy ending in this Christmas season to this sad and painful episode." Both Lombardi and Arru described the encounter as "intense" because it was the first time the two had seen each other since last May, when Gabriele was arrested after Vatican police found many documents in his possession that had been stolen from the pope's office. The pope also pardoned a Vatican computer expert who had received a suspended sentence in a separate trial. VATILEAKS SAGA In a saga that became known as "Vatileaks", Gabriele leaked documents showing what appeared to be a power struggle at the highest ranks of the Church, and internal conflict about how transparent the Vatican's scandal-plagued bank should be with outside financial authorities. He told investigators he had acted because he saw "evil and corruption everywhere in the Church" and that information was being hidden from the pope. The Vatican said Gabriele would no longer be able to work there but would be helped to find a job and start a new life outside its walls together with his family. "When he came home, the kids jumped up and hung from his neck. It was a very tough time for them. I don't think the whole episode has sunk in for them yet," lawyer Arru said. Gabriele, 46, said at his trial - one of the most sensational in the recent history of the Holy See - that he did not consider himself a thief and that he was motivated by "visceral" love for the Church. The butler, who served the pope his meals and helped him dress, photocopied sensitive documents under the nose of his immediate superiors in a small office adjacent to the papal living quarters in the Apostolic Palace. He then hid more than 1,000 copies and original documents, including some the pope had marked "to be destroyed", among many thousands of other papers and old newspaper clippings in a huge armoire in the family apartment inside the Vatican walls. A former member of the small, select group known as "the papal family", Gabriele was one of fewer than 10 people who had a key to an elevator leading directly to the pope's apartments. He said at the trial that from his perch as papal butler he was able to see how easily a powerful man could be manipulated by aides and kept in the dark about things he should have known. The leaked papers revealed inner workings of an institution long renowned for its secrecy, and triggered one of the biggest crises of Pope Benedict's papacy when they emerged in a muckraking expose by an Italian journalist earlier this year. The case was all the more embarrassing at a time when the Church was trying to limit the fallout from a series of scandals involving sexual abuse of minors by clerics around the world, as well as from mismanagement at its bank. However, many people believe the butler could not have acted alone and was a fall-guy for others in the Vatican. Gabriele said during the trial that while he may have been influenced by others, he had no direct accomplices. The Vatican said the pope had also decided to pardon a second Vatican employee and friend of Gabriele's, Claudio Sciarpelletti, who was convicted separately of giving police conflicting testimony and given a two-month suspended sentence. Sciarpelletti, a computer expert, will be able to keep his job in the Vatican.

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Former President George H.W. Bush remains hospitalized

Former President George H.W. Bush, who has been hospitalized for a month undergoing treatment for bronchitis, may not be released from a Houston hospital in time to celebrate Christmas at home as doctors had hoped. Bush, 88, remained in stable condition and doctors were optimistic he would make a full recovery, George Kovacik, a spokesman at Methodist Hospital, said in an emailed statement on Sunday. But doctors were being "extra cautious" with his care and no discharge date had been set, the statement said. Earlier this month, Kovacik said doctors expected Bush would be able to spend Christmas at home with his family. "His doctors feel he should build up his energy before going home," the statement said. Bush, the 41st president and a Republican, took office in 1989 and served one term in the White House. The father of former President George W. Bush, he also is a former congressman, U.N. ambassador, CIA director and vice president for two terms under Ronald Reagan.

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Apple’s New iPad Mini Is Pricey but That Won’t Deter Fans: TechCrunch’s John Biggs

It's officially here: The iPad mini, the subject of endless speculation and rumors over the past year, made its debut Tuesday at the California Theater in San Jose, Calif. The iPad mini starts at $329 and hits store shelves Nov. 2. Pre-sales begin Oct. 26. It boasts a 7.9-inch display, weighs 0.68 pounds and is 7.2mm thick. The design closely resembles the iPod Touch and comes in both black and white. Related: Get Ready for a Big Week in Tech: Apple & Facebook Earnings, Mini iPad, Windows 8 & More As is the case with all Apple products, there is an option to pay up for more hardware. Here are the price points: $329 for 16GB $429 for 32GB $529 for 64GB In mid-November Apple will roll out the Wi-fi and 4G mini for $459 for 16GB, $559 for 32GB, and $659 for 64GB. The iPad mini screen measures 1,024x768, the same resolution as the iPad 2. It also includes a dual-core A5 processor, a front-facing FaceTime HD camera, Apple's "Lightning" connector and a 5-megapixel back camera. A fully charged iPad mini will get 10 hours of battery life. Apple (AAPL) stock was trading nearly two percent lower after the iPad mini presentation. Related: Why Apple's Stock is Dropping John Biggs, East Coast editor of TechCrunch, says the Apple event lacked the shock and awe of previous product announcements. "Everybody was expecting an iPad mini and we got an iPad mini," he says in an interview with The Daily Ticker. "To see an iPad mini pop up is no huge surprise." Biggs says the new mini may be pricey but it would not deter Apple devotees and tech "dorks" from adding to their Apple collections. The smaller screen will attract consumers who use tablet devices for reading -- "it's Apple's e-reader" -- Biggs says, and the new mini is not likely to cut into sales of the larger iPad versions, which still feature bigger screens and a higher resolution display. The starting price for the iPad mini is $130 more than the Kindle Fire HD and Nexus 7 — Apple's two main competitors in the e-reader space. Most Apple insiders and analysts were expecting a lower entry point for the mini, says CNET's Brian Tong, and consumer sticker shock could drag down sales expectations. The mini's price would have been even higher if Apple made it with a retina display, he adds. "It will sell well but won't break records," Tong says. "It will sell because it's Apple. Never underestimate the Apple consumer." Microsoft will unveil its first tablet device, Surface, next week. Related: Microsoft Launches Its Own Tablet--and Admits Apple Was Right Biggs says the Surface's size and user-face are more conducive to typing, an important feature for some consumers. The tablet market may be expanding but there's still only one winner, according to Biggs — Apple. "You're getting the premium product," he says.

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US economic growth improves to 2 pct. rate in Q3

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. economy expanded at a slightly faster 2 percent annual rate from July through September, buoyed by an uptick in consumer spending and a burst of government spending. Growth improved from the 1.3 percent rate in the April-June quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday. The pickup in growth may help President Barack Obama's message that the economy is improving. Still, growth remains too weak to rapidly boost hiring. And the 1.74 percent rate for 2012 so far trails last year's 1.8 percent growth, a point GOP nominee Mitt Romney will emphasize. The report is the last snapshot of economic growth before Americans choose a president in 11 days. The economy improved because consumer spending rose 2 percent in the July-September quarter, up from 1.5 percent in the second quarter. Spending on homebuilding and renovations increased more than 14 percent. And federal government spending expanded sharply on the largest increase in defense spending in more than three years. Growth was held back by the first drop in exports in more than three years and flat business investment in equipment and software. The economy was also slowed by the severe drought this summer in the Midwest. That sharply cut agriculture stockpiles and reduced growth by nearly a half-point. The government's report covers gross domestic product. GDP measures the nation's total output of goods and services — from restaurant meals and haircuts to airplanes, appliances and highways. The first of three estimates of growth for the July-September quarter sketched a picture that's been familiar all year: The economy is growing at a tepid rate, slowed by high unemployment and corporate anxiety over an unresolved budget crisis and a slowing global economy. While growth remains modest, the factors supporting the economy have changed. Exports and business investment drove growth for most of the recovery, but are now fading. Meanwhile, consumer spending has ticked up and housing is adding to growth after a six-year slump. Consumer spending drives nearly 70 percent of economic activity. Businesses have grown more cautious since spring, in part because customer demand has remained modest and exports have declined as the global economy has slowed. Many companies worry that their overseas sales could dampen further if recession spreads throughout Europe and growth slows further in China, India and other developing countries. Businesses also fear the tax increases and government spending cuts that will kick in next year if Congress doesn't reach a budget deal. Since the recovery from the Great Recession began in June 2009, the U.S. economy has grown at the slowest rate of any recovery in the post-World War II period. And economists think growth will remain sluggish at least through the first half of 2013. Some analysts believe the economy will start to pick up in the second half of next year.

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Disney buying Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Disney is paying $4.05 billion to buy Lucasfilm Ltd., the production company behind "Star Wars," from its chairman and founder, George Lucas. It's also making a seventh movie in the "Star Wars" series called "Episode 7," set for release in 2015, with plans to follow it with Episodes 8 and 9 and then one new movie every two or three years. The Walt Disney Co. announced the blockbuster agreement to make the purchase in cash and stock Tuesday. The deal includes Lucasfilm's prized high-tech production companies, Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound, as well as rights to the "Indiana Jones" franchise. Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a statement that the acquisition is a great fit and will help preserve and grow the "Star Wars" franchise. "The last 'Star Wars' movie release was 2005's 'Revenge of the Sith' — and we believe there's substantial pent-up demand," Iger said. Kathleen Kennedy, the current co-chairman of Lucasfilm, will become the division's president and report to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn. Lucas will be creative consultant on new "Star Wars" films. Lucas said in a statement, "It's now time for me to pass 'Star Wars' on to a new generation of filmmakers." The deal brings Lucasfilm under the Disney banner with other brands including Pixar, Marvel, ESPN and ABC, all companies that Disney has acquired over the years. A former weatherman who rose through the ranks of ABC, Iger has orchestrated some of the company's biggest acquisitions, including the $7.4 billion purchase of animated movie studio Pixar in 2006 and the $4.2 billion acquisition of comic book giant Marvel in 2009. Disney shares were not trading with stock markets closed due to the impact of Superstorm Sandy in New York.

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Has Obama Been Good for Millionaires?

The question of whether Americans are better off than they were four years ago depends, of course, on the American. For the 12 million unemployed, the answer is most certainly no. But for many of America's millionaires, the answer may be more affirmative. A new study from WealthInsight, the London-based wealth-research and data firm (and yes, they are non-partisan), showed that the United States added 1.1 million millionaires between Jan. 1, 2009 and the end of 2011, the latest period measured. There were 5.1 million millionaires in America at the end of 2011, compared with around 4 million at the end of 2008. That works out to more than 1,000 millionaires a day under the Obama administration. (They defined millionaires as people with total net worth of $1 million or more, excluding primary residence). (Read more: Rich Will Spend More Under Romney: Poll) "It's true that Obama has been good for millionaires, at least in absolute terms," said Andrew Amoils, analyst at WealthInsight. "He certainly hasn't been bad for millionaires." Amoils said that quantitative easing and financial bailouts especially helped the finance sector, which accounts for the largest share of millionaires. It also helped that markets recovered in 2009. The timeframe is worth noting. Measured against the 2007 peak, when 5.27 million Americans had a net worth of at least $1 million, the nation lost 165,360 millionaires. Their combined wealth is down six percent, to $18.8 trillion from a peak of more than $20 trillion in 2007. We don't know how 2012 will turn out, though if stock markets continue to strengthen, the millionaire count for 2012 is likely to increase. Wealth Insight says the number of millionaires in America will grow to more than six million by 2016, and their combined fortunes will jump 25 percent over the same period. (Read more: Millionaires Give Nine Percent of Income to Charity) Where did all the millionaires come from between 2008 and 2011? Mainly from retail, tech and finance -- and in both blue and red states. Of the sectors adding the largest number of people worth $30 million or more, the retail, fashion, and luxury goods sector ranked first. That was followed by energy and utilities, then tech, telecoms and finance. Transportation and construction saw the biggest drops. The number of people worth $30 million or more grew 26 percent in Connecticut since 2008, 20 percent in Kansas, 12 percent in Michigan, showing that the wealth creation was nationwide.

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Obama Wins 2012 Election: Why Your Taxes Are Going Up

When President Obama and the new Congress begin to tackle important legislation and federal policy in January, one of the key issues will be how to reform America's byzantine tax code. Obama campaigned on a platform to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans, declaring that millionaires and billionaires need to "pay their fair share." The president proposed the highly controversial "Buffett Rule," which would make sure those individuals earning more than $1 million a year would pay at least 30% of their income in federal taxes. Related: Do the Rich Have a Moral Obligation to Pay Higher Taxes? Gov. Jerry Brown Says 'Yes' The top individual tax rate is currently 35% but few U.S. households and individuals actually pay that much; various tax deductions and loopholes reduce one's tax burden. According to the Obama campaign, the richest 400 taxpayers in 2008 (who each made more than $110 million that year) paid an average income tax rate of just 18%. In 2009 over 20,000 U.S. households with more than $1 million in income paid a federal tax rate of less than 15%. Obama has vowed to raise the top income tax rate for individuals to 39.6% and let the Bush-era tax breaks end for the highest income earners. The majority of Americans — those who are lower to middle class — could also see a 2% tax increase if Congress allows the temporary payroll tax holiday to expire at the end of the year. Related: Here's Why Your Taxes Are Going Up 2% Next Year: Just Explain It Nearly half of voters support raising taxes on incomes over $250,000, according to Tuesday night's exit polls. Len Burman, a professor of public affairs at Syracuse University and a co-founder of the bipartisan Tax Policy Center, believes higher tax rates play just a small role in resolving the nation's budget woes. "In the long term [Obama] is going to need to raise taxes on more than just the rich," Burman says in an interview with The Daily Ticker. "The budget problem isn't going to be solved without broader-based tax increases, preferably done in the context of tax reform and also serious entitlement reform. We're not going to be able to solve this on the tax side alone." Burman, who recently co-wrote the new book "Taxes in America: What Everyone Needs to Know," says tax rates do not need to be raised for any income group if Congress and the White House would agree on one simple change: raising the capital gains rate, i.e. the profits from the sale of an investment. Assets, such as stocks, art or real estate, that are held for at least a year are currently taxed at a special 15% rate; Obama wants to raise that to 20%. "The problem with a low tax rate on capital gains is not that it allows Mitt Romney and Warren Buffett to pay very low taxes but that it creates this huge opportunity for tax sheltering," he notes. "There's a whole industry that's devoted to coming up with these schemes. [Raising capital gains rates] could make the tax system more progressive and allow for lower tax rates" and a reduction in the deficit Burman says. Obama's tax proposal also targets the Alternative Minimum Tax, the Estate Tax and as well as many personal tax credits and itemized deductions. Obama would make permanent the 2007 AMT patch and index it for inflation. He would raise the estate tax to 45% from 35% on estates worth more than $3.5 million. He would lower the corporate tax rate to 28% from 35% and provide a refundable $3,000 credit per added employee for companies that expand their workforce. He would tax carried interest as ordinary income. Related: Corporate Tax Loopholes=Corporate Socialism: Pulitzer Prize Winner David Cay Johnston A divided Congress refused to compromise with Obama during his first term and could very well dismiss the president's tax reforms for the next four years. Republicans are loathe to raise taxes by even a penny and Obama has said he would veto any budget bills that did not include tax increases. Neither party wants to raise taxes in a weak economy. But the options available for reducing the deficit and generating new revenue are few and far between.

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Giants, Ravens feel the urgency of Sunday's showdown

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Reuters) - The New York Giants and Baltimore Ravens, both coming off one-sided losses, are looking forward to Sunday's playoff-caliber showdown with a sense of urgency running through both teams.
The Super Bowl champion Giants need to win their last two games, including a regular season finale against Philadelphia, to ensure a place in the playoffs, while the Ravens, on a three-game losing skid, can win the AFC North title with a victory.
"We have the two-game schedule and we have to win both games to get in the playoffs and everybody's aware of that," New York coach Tom Coughlin told reporters before Wednesday's practice.
The Giants (8-6) are tied for the NFC East lead with the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys, but would come up on the losing end of tiebreakers with both teams.
Since Washington and Dallas meet in their final game, two wins would guarantee the Giants a wildcard berth.
The Ravens (9-5) were beaten 34-17 at home last week by Denver, but clinched a playoff berth nonetheless for a fifth successive season. Coach John Harbaugh said it is essential the team got get on track.
"We understand what's at stake," Harbaugh told reporters in a conference call to the Giants' practice facility. "The guys are excited to play. We have plenty to play for. We‘re trying to play for a division championship.
"You do want to build momentum and you want to be your best at the end of the year. You want to build toward that and peak at the right time, and that's what we're really hoping to do."
Coughlin said his team had been plagued by inconsistency and that quarterback Eli Manning was the man to lead them out of the trend after the team was shut out 34-0 last week by Atlanta.
"It's our whole football team," Coughlin said, not laying the blame on any particular phase of the game.
"Hopefully, because of the position that Eli is in, he's going to lead us out of the inconsistencies," Coughlin said about a team that scored 50 points in beating New Orleans two weeks ago before being blanked by the Falcons.
The Giants hope history can repeat itself.
Last season, the up-and-down New Yorkers put it all together at the end of the season, winning their last two games to reach the postseason and sweeping four playoff games culminating in a Super Bowl triumph over the New England Patriots.
"The reality of it is we haven't been able to play to substantiate what I would say is the personality of this team," Coughlin said about the 2012 edition of the club.
"So I'm definitely counting on the veterans to go ahead and prove this and do it with consistency. Last year we did it over a six-game run, and we're in that situation again."
Ravens running back Ray Rice said he expected a high intensity showdown game against the Giants.
"They have a lot at stake and we got a lot at stake," said Rice. "We're trying to clinch the AFC North and I think they are in a three-way tie. There's going to be a playoff atmosphere on Sunday."

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