Somali pirates free 3 Syrian hostages

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A Somali official says three Syrian hostages held by Somali pirates have been released after more than two years in captivity.
Mohamed Aden Ticey, an administrator based in Adado town in central Somalia, said Saturday no ransom was paid for their release.
The three were the last to be freed of the 21 surviving crew of the ship MV Orna, owned by a company in the UAE. One crew member was shot dead by the pirates in August to protest a delay in ransom payments. The ship was hijacked 400 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles in December 2010 and freed on Oct. 22, 2012.
Hijackings by Somali pirates have significantly decreased in the last couple of years, because many ships now carry armed guards and there is an international naval armada that carries out onshore raids.

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French commando killed in Somalia hostage raid

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A raid to free a French intelligence agent held captive in Somalia for three years went horribly wrong, leaving 17 Islamists and at least one French commando dead in a mud-caked farming town deep in militant territory.
In the chaotic aftermath of the firefight, the hostage's fate was unclear Saturday. The Islamists denied French claims that he was killed and said they had a new prisoner — a wounded French soldier.
The botched rescue in East Africa came the same day French airstrikes in the West African nation of Mali targeted resurgent rebel Islamists. French officials said the two operations were unrelated, but stepped up domestic counter-terror measures to protect public places and transportation networks.
Confusion surrounded early reports of the failed rescue of the French agent, known by his code-name Denis Allex. He was captured in Somalia on July 14, 2009 — Bastille Day — and last seen in a video released in October pleading for the French president to help him.
But it was clear that a dangerous raid the French defense minister said was planned with the utmost of care had encountered serious problems from the moment the helicopters swooped in.
"This operation could not be achieved despite the sacrifice of two of our soldiers and doubtless the murder of our hostage," French President Francois Hollande said in a grim nationwide broadcast. "But this operation confirms the determination of France not to give into blackmail by terrorists."
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Allex was killed by his captors and that one French soldier was missing and one dead, along with 17 Islamists. The Defense Ministry earlier said two commandos were killed in the fighting in the Somali town of Bulomarer, a small farming community under Islamist control for four years.
"It was an extremely dangerous mission," Le Drian said. "Everything indicates Denis Allex was killed."
The militant Islamist group al-Shabab, which held Allex for more than three years, said Saturday that he remained alive and in its custody, as was a new captive — a French commando wounded in fighting. There are also seven French hostages in Mali.
Residents of Bulomarer described hearing explosions and gunfire from what they called an al-Shabab base. An al-Shabab official said that fighting began after helicopters dropped off French soldiers.
"Five helicopters attacked a house in the town. They dropped soldiers off on the ground so that they could reach their destination," he said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The French attack was swift and loud, residents said.
"We heard a series of explosions followed by gunfire just seconds after a helicopter flew over the town," Mohamed Ali, a resident of Bulomarer, told The Associated Press by telephone. "We don't know exactly what happened, but the place was an al-Shabab base and checkpoint."
An elder in the town, Hussein Yasin, said the French troops shot dead two residents who turned on flashlights after hearing movement. As the soldiers walked away, they encountered an al-Shabab checkpoint and the gunfire began.
As the Islamists retreated, the helicopters returned to retrieve the commandos, he said.
The al-Shabab official said some soldiers were killed, but the group held only one dead French soldier. Later, the Islamist group released a statement saying that Allex "remains safe and far from the location of the battle." It said there would be a verdict in his case in two days.
The chief of staff of the French army, Edouard Guillaud, said France had exhausted any other way to free Allex.
"When you get to the point of launching an assault, it means the other options had failed," Guillaud said.
Allex was kidnapped from a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, on July 14, 2009 with a colleague who later escaped. They were in Somalia to train government forces, which are fighting Islamist militiamen.
In October, Hollande pledged to "use all means" to contact "anyone who can help free our hostages."
In 2009, a Frenchman held hostage by pirates off the Somali coast was killed in the crossfire during a commando rescue on his captive sailboat. The man's family was rescued.
And in 2011, two French hostages kidnapped in Niger were killed by their captors as French troops closed in for a rescue.

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UPDATE 1-NBA-Paul pulls the strings as Clippers slice up Mavs

(adds quotes, detail)
* Crawford returns for Clippers
* Mavericks lose fourth straight
Jan 9 (Reuters) - Chris Paul orchestrated another Los Angeles Clippers triumph with a season-high 16 assists as he pulled the strings in a 99-93 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.
With the game evenly poised heading into the closing stages, Paul scored or assisted on eight of his team's 10 field goals in the fourth quarter to lift the Clippers to a franchise-record 13th straight home win.
Los Angeles had trailed 83-82 with nine minutes remaining but an 8-0 run, highlighted by a pair of three-pointers set up by their point guard, gave them the momentum the Clippers needed to pull away for the victory.
"Our maestro Chris Paul was finding guys, getting to the paint and making good things happen," Los Angeles forward Caron Butler told reporters.
Paul finished with 19 points to tie reserve Matt Barnes for the team-high in scoring. Blake Griffin added 15 and 13 rebounds.
"That's the identity of our team - every night it's going to be a collective effort," Butler added. "We're building something truly special here."
While the Clippers (28-8) are riding high with the NBA's best record, the Mavericks (13-23) have lost four straight and appear unlikely to make the playoffs on current form.
Darren Collison led Dallas with 22 points and Dirk Nowitzki added 15 as he continues his rehabilitation from knee surgery that sidelined him until late last month.
The Mavericks fell behind early but they surged in the third where they took a 10-point advantage before Los Angeles scored the final seven of the quarter.
In the end, Dallas were undone by their inability to grab a rebound. Los Angeles beat the Mavericks 47-34 on the glass and snagged a few key offensive rebounds in the last few minutes to halt the visitors.
Top reserve Jamal Crawford returned to the lineup for the Clippers after missing two games with a sore left foot.
"I'm not all the way there obviously," said Crawford, who had 11 points. "I figured 50 percent was better than zero.

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Paul pulls the strings as Clippers slice up Mavs

(Reuters) - Chris Paul orchestrated another Los Angeles Clippers triumph with a season-high 16 assists as he pulled the strings in a 99-93 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.
With the game evenly poised heading into the closing stages, Paul scored or assisted on eight of his team's 10 field goals in the fourth quarter to lift the Clippers to a franchise-record 13th straight home win.
Los Angeles had trailed 83-82 with nine minutes remaining but an 8-0 run, highlighted by a pair of three-pointers set up by their point guard, gave them the momentum the Clippers needed to pull away for the victory.
"Our maestro Chris Paul was finding guys, getting to the paint and making good things happen," Los Angeles forward Caron Butler told reporters.
Paul finished with 19 points to tie reserve Matt Barnes for the team-high in scoring. Blake Griffin added 15 and 13 rebounds.
"That's the identity of our team - every night it's going to be a collective effort," Butler added. "We're building something truly special here."
While the Clippers (28-8) are riding high with the NBA's best record, the Mavericks (13-23) have lost four straight and appear unlikely to make the playoffs on current form.
Darren Collison led Dallas with 22 points and Dirk Nowitzki added 15 as he continues his rehabilitation from knee surgery that sidelined him until late last month.
The Mavericks fell behind early but they surged in the third where they took a 10-point advantage before Los Angeles scored the final seven of the quarter.
In the end, Dallas were undone by their inability to grab a rebound. Los Angeles beat the Mavericks 47-34 on the glass and snagged a few key offensive rebounds in the last few minutes to halt the visitors.
Top reserve Jamal Crawford returned to the lineup for the Clippers after missing two games with a sore left foot.
"I'm not all the way there obviously," said Crawford, who had 11 points. "I figured 50 percent was better than zero."

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NBA-Varejao faces two months out after operation

Jan 10 (Reuters) - The Cleveland Cavaliers' Brazilian center Anderson Varejao has been ruled out for six to eight weeks after undergoing surgery on a quadriceps muscle on Thursday, the National Basketball Association team said.
Varejao suffered the injury on December 18 against the Toronto Raptors and on Thursday had an operation to repair a small split in his vastus medialis muscle, the Cavaliers said.
"Varejao is resting comfortably and will be admitted overnight. Rehab guidelines will be established today and he is expected to miss the next six to eight weeks," the team said in a statement.
Varejao is the Cavaliers' leading rebounder, averaging 14.4 rebounds a game and he is also their second top scorer averaging 14.1 points per game.

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Tired of seeing Android sued by everyone, Google cranks up its patent output

Google (GOOG) may hate the patent suit players, but it sure doesn’t hate the patent suit game. As Network World reports, Google ramped up its patent filings last year and was granted 1,151 United States patents in 2012, a 170% increase from the number of patents it was awarded in 2011. By increasing its patent output, Google actually surpassed rival Apple (AAPL), which was granted 1,136 patents on the year, a 68% increase from the year before.
[More from BGR: ‘Apple is done’ and Surface tablet is cool, according to teens]
Producing more patents is part of Google’s larger overall strategy of having a stronger intellectual property portfolio capable of combatting lawsuits from competitors. The company’s acquisition of Motorola was part of this strategy as well, although a recent deal with the Federal Trade Commission has left many of the Motorola patents much less valuable since Google has agreed to not use them in offensive patent suits in the future.

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Is BlackBerry back? Strong early BlackBerry 10 demand could signal RIM comeback

After hitting a rough patch that seemed to last for most of 2012, Research In Motion (RIMM) may finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. RIM plans to unveil the finished version of its next-generation BlackBerry 10 platform at a press conference on January 30th, and at least one new smartphone is expected to be revealed during the event. Generating interest in BlackBerry 10 within the crowded global smartphone market will be no easy task for the struggling vendor, but if demand at top Canadian carrier Rogers is any indication, RIM is off to a promising start.
[More from BGR: ‘Apple is done’ and Surface tablet is cool, according to teens]
In mid-December, Rogers began taking reservations for RIM’s first BlackBerry 10-powered handset. The carrier offered almost no information about the BlackBerry smartphone, which has not yet been announced, but asked subscribers interested in purchasing the device to register on the company’s website.
[More from BGR: iPhone 5 now available with unlimited service, no contract on Walmart’s $45 Straight Talk plan]
BGR approached Rogers on Thursday to see how subscriber response has been thus far.
“While we can’t release the total number of reservations we have received for the BlackBerry 10 all-touch device, we can say that customer interest is definitely strong and reservations continue daily,” a Rogers spokesperson told BGR via email.
The strong response from Rogers subscribers despite being provided only with the knowledge that the device will feature an all-touch form factor and will run the BlackBerry 10 OS is a good sign for RIM.
The vendor has a number of difficult challenges ahead, and convincing current BlackBerry users to upgrade en masse is near the top of the list. Strong early demand at Rogers for RIM’s first BlackBerry 10 handset is clearly a positive sign in this regard, as most early reservations likely came from current BlackBerry subscribers.

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Nokia: Q4 mobile phone sales beat own forecast

HELSINKI (AP) -- Nokia Corp. signaled Thursday its smartphone partnership with Microsoft was starting to reap rewards as it revealed that fourth-quarter mobile phone sales exceeded expectations and that its handset business would return to profitability.
The Finnish company's share price surged 11 percent to close at €3.32 on Helsinki Stock Exchange.
Nokia said it sold 86 million devices in the last three months of 2012, including some 4.5 million Lumia smartphones, while revenues amounted to some €3.9 billion. A year earlier, it posted a fourth-quarter net loss of €1 billion with a 19-percent plunge in revenue.
The cellphone maker said it sold 15.9 million smartphones in the quarter, up from 6.3 million in the previous quarter.
Nokia has been struggling in the fierce top-end race against Apple Inc. and Samsung and is now also losing ground to Asian makers in lower-end devices. Samsung overtook it as the world's No. 1 cellphone maker early last year after Nokia led the field for 14 years. In 2011, Nokia announced that it would join forces with Microsoft to produce a smartphone that would run on Windows software. The latest Windows handset, the Lumia was launched last year.
CEO Stephen Elop said he was pleased with the company's "solid" fourth-quarter performance.
"We are pleased that Q4 2012 was a solid quarter where we exceeded expectations and delivered underlying profitability," he said. "We focused on our priorities and as a result we sold a total of 14 million Asha smartphones and Lumia smartphones while managing our costs efficiently, and Nokia Siemens Networks delivered yet another very good quarter."
The company said operating expenses in the last quarter of 2012 had been lower than expected and that its devices and services sector saw operating margins of "between break even and positive 2 percent." Elsewhere, its networks joint venture with Germany's Siemens AG — Nokia Siemens Networks — had "record underlying profits and a third consecutive quarter of underlying profitability," with operating margins expected to be 13-15 percent.
However, the company warned that seasonality and competition would have a negative impact on the handset division's first-quarter profitability in comparison to the last three months of 2012. Nokia is due to report fourth-quarter earnings on Jan. 24.

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New Novel Explores an Unusual Phenomenon in a Remote Valley

Author Helga Brendel's weaves an intricate web of mystery, suspense, folklore, romance, danger and excitement in a tale that will rivet readers from beginning to end.

CHAMPION, Alberta (PRWEB) January 10, 2013
Constance, Yukon lies approximately one hundred and fifty miles west of Whitehorse and is a remote predominantly native community accessible only by air. Jackson Jacobs spent most of his life here. It was relatively peaceful until a stranger arrives and shakes up the whole town, bringing new Changes In Constance. In this riveting fictional novel by Helga Brendel, readers can witness mysterious events unfold in a place where nothing is what it seems.
As the senior Royal Canadian Mountain Police (R.C.M.P.) officer, Constable Jackson Jacobs is determined to do whatever it takes to protect his home—even from a ‘crazy white woman’. When the arrival of newcomer Emily Linden sparks the increasingly violent activities of a mysterious presence in the valley, Jackson wants to hold her responsible for them. Emily has been invited to help reorganize the town’s finances though he is against it. Something, however, about Emily, told Jackson that this woman was no stranger to this valley. She had lived in this valley before; in fact, she had always been his greatest ally…
Interwoven with mystery, suspense, folklore, danger and excitement, Changes In Constance is engrossing from beginning to end. Secrets will be revealed while betrayal rears its ugly head and the valley wreaks havoc. Only Jackson holds the key to bringing peace back in Constance. But can he do it in time? Readers will find themselves glued to the pages as they unravel the mystery of Jackson and Emily’s past and how it will affect the present.
For more information on this book, interested parties may log on to http://www.Xlibris.com.
About the Author

Ms Helga Brendel has experienced ‘strange in phenomena’ since she was a child; from out-of-body experiences to seeing the holes or tears in the fabric of reality. She has been endowed with a highly overactive imagination, which caused problems for her since grade school. In her mind, she always lived the adventures of an explorer or pioneer: somebody who was discovering something. She was always driven/ guided by something which she felt was not only greater than herself but which also seemed to protect her from certain unfavorable aspects of life. She has been dubbed ‘Gypsy Wanderer’ as an indication of her ‘instability’. Despite the connotation she is an explorer in the realm of mind. Gypsy Wanderer: Inner Space Explorer.
Changes In Constance * by Helga Brendel

Publication Date: September 29, 2010

Trade Paperback; $19.99; 343pages; 978-1-4535-7010-4

eBook; $9.99; 978-1-4535-7011-1
Members of the media who wish to review this book may request a complimentary paperback copy by contacting the publisher at (888) 795-4274 x. 7879. To purchase copies of the book for resale, please fax Xlibris at (610) 915-0294 or call (888) 795-4274 x. 7879.
For more information on self-publishing or marketing with Xlibris, visit http://www.Xlibris.com. To receive a free publishing guide, please call (888) 795-4274.
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New Novel Follows a Young Deputy’s Struggle in His Quest for Justice

Alfred Patrick’s “Clinch River Justice” is a gripping tale that fans of suspense novels will enjoy.

(PRWEB) January 10, 2013
Author Alfred Patrick, in his newly published book Clinch River Justice, tells a tale about a boy who matures into manhood, falls in love, and begins to find his way in life. Set against the backdrop of the Appalachian Mountains of Southwest Virginia, this intriguing novel then follows how he, as a young deputy, makes his way toward bringing justice to his townspeople.
Charley Scott, an inexperienced but idealistic deputy sheriff, faces a rash of deaths in a normally idyllic, peaceful Appalachian community in the early 1940s. These deaths of neighbors and a beloved family member result when greed, passion, jealousy, hopelessness, or utter disdain for the life or welfare of another human overcomes some residents’ sense of fidelity and of right and wrong. In the young deputy’s endeavors to apprehend killers and in his quest for justice, he learns how difficult that simple concept is to achieve.
Packed with 31 chapters, Clinch River Justice is a pulse-pounding tale that will leave fans of mystery-murder stories hooked from the first page to the last.
For more information on this book, interested parties may log on to http://www.Xlibris.com.
About the Author

Alfred Patrick grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of Southwest Virginia. He earned degrees at Bluefield College, Virginia Tech, and the University of Tennessee. After teaching at high school and collegiate levels in Virginia and Louisiana, he served as professor, department chair, and dean in the College of Business at Eastern Kentucky University, where he retired.
Patrick enjoys reading, traveling, gardening, writing, crossword puzzles, and backpacking. He has completed hiking the Appalachian Trail, the John Muir Trail in California, and trails in other states. He and his wife, Peggy, live in Richmond, Kentucky; they have a daughter, a grandson, and five granddaughters.
Clinch River Justice * by Alfred Patrick

Publication Date: June 21, 2012

Trade Paperback; $19.99; 303 pages; 978-1-4771-1686-9

Trade Hardback; $29.99; 303 pages; 978-1-4771-1687-6

eBook; $3.99; 978-1-4771-1688-3
Members of the media who wish to review this book may request a complimentary paperback copy by contacting the publisher at (888) 795-4274 x. 7879. To purchase copies of the book for resale, please fax Xlibris at (610) 915-0294 or call (888) 795-4274 x. 7879.
For more information on self-publishing or marketing with Xlibris, visit http://www.Xlibris.com. To receive a free publishing guide, please call (888) 795-4274.

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