ABC News’ Barbara Walters hospitalized after fall

NEW YORK (AP) — Veteran ABC newswoman Barbara Walters has fallen at an inauguration party at an ambassador’s home in Washington and has been hospitalized.

Walters, 83, fell Saturday night on a step at the residence of Britain’s ambassador to the United States, Peter Westmacott, ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider said. The fall left Walters with a cut on her forehead, he said.

Walters, out of an abundance of caution, went to a hospital for treatment of the cut and for a full examination, Schneider said on Sunday. She was alert and was “telling everyone what to do, which we all take as a very positive sign,” he said.

It was unclear when Walters might be released from the hospital, which ABC didn’t identify.

Walters was TV news’ first female superstar, making headlines in 1976 as a network anchor with an unprecedented $ 1 million annual salary. During more than three decades at ABC, and before that at NBC, her exclusive interviews with rulers, royalty and entertainers have brought her celebrity status. In 1997, she created “The View,” a live weekday talk show that became an unexpected hit.

Walters had heart surgery in May 2010 but returned to active duty on “The View” that September, declaring, “I’m fine!”

Even in her ninth decade, Walters continues to keep a busy schedule, including appearances on “The View,” prime-time interviews and her annual special, “10 Most Fascinating People,” on which, in December, she asked New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie if he considered himself fit enough to be president someday. (Christie, although acknowledging he is “more than a little” overweight, replied he would be up to the job.)

Last June, Walters apologized for trying to help a former aide to Syrian President Bashar Assad land a job or get into college in the United States. She acknowledged the conflict in trying to help Sheherazad Jaafari, daughter of the Syrian ambassador to the United States and a one-time press aide to Assad. Jaafari helped Walters land an interview with the Syrian president that aired in December 2011.

Walters said she realized the help she offered Jaafari was a conflict and said, “I regret that.”

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UN clinches global deal on cutting mercury emissions

GENEVA (Reuters) – More than 140 countries have agreed on the first global treaty to cut mercury pollution through a blacklist of household items and new controls on power plants and small-scale mines, the United Nations said on Saturday.

The legally-binding agreement aims to phase out many products that use the toxic liquid metal such as batteries, thermometers and some fluorescent lamps, through banning global import and exports by 2020.

The treaty will require countries with coal-fired power plants such as India and China to install filters and scrubbers on new plants and to commit to reducing emissions from existing operations to prevent mercury from coal reaching the atmosphere.

“We have closed a chapter on a journey that has taken four years of often intense but ultimately successful negotiations and opened a new chapter towards a sustainable future,” said Fernando Lugris, chair of the negotiations.

The deal also includes measures to reduce mercury use in small-scale gold mining, although stopped short of an all-out ban. Gold prices near $ 1,700 a tonne have spurred the use of mercury as a catalyst to separate gold from its ore.

Emissions of mercury from artisanal and small-scale gold mines, which are usually unofficial and often illegal, more than doubled to 727 tonnes in 2010 from 2005 levels, overtaking coal-fired power plants as the main source of pollution from the metal.

The Minamata Convention on Mercury – named after the Japanese city where people were poisoned in the mid-20th century from industrial discharges of mercury – needs ratification from 50 countries and is expected to be formalised later this year.

The treaty requires governments to draw up national rules to comply and could take between three to five years to take effect.

As mercury, also known as quicksilver, is released to the air or washed into rivers and oceans, it spreads worldwide, and builds up in humans mostly through consumption of fish. The brains of foetuses and infants are particularly vulnerable to damage from mercury.

Officials said the financing required to bring in cleaner technology for industry and help developing countries come up with local solutions was one of the major sticking points of the six-day negotiations.

“Financing was agreed very early this morning and it was one of the most difficult aspects,” said Lugris.

Japan, Norway and Switzerland have made initial pledges totalling $ 3 million in financing and an interim financial arrangement will be discussed in April by the Global Environment Facility, said Tim Kasten, head of the chemicals branch of UNEP.

Countries failed to agree on including vaccines where mercury is sometimes used as a preservative.

SOFT LANGUAGE?

While negotiators celebrated the deal reached after all-night talks in the fifth and final round of talks, the response from some non-governmental organisations (NGO) was more muted.

“The treaty will not bring immediate reductions of mercury emissions. It will need to be improved and strengthened, to make all fish safe to eat,” said David Lennett from the Natural Resources Defense Council.

NGO IPEN, which aims to reduce the health risk of chemicals, described the language of the treaty as “soft” and “somewhat voluntary in nature” and said it was unlikely to result in a global reduction of mercury releases.

“Countries that do not want to do this can escape quite easily,” said IPEN’s Joe DiGangi.

In one notable climbdown, countries abandoned their goal of setting concrete targets for pollution levels from coal-fired power plants and cement factories, but negotiators said they would defer these discussions to a later meeting.

For mining, the treaty requires action from governments to reduce mercury use where artisanal and small-scale gold mining is “more than insignificant” but has no list of countries.

Alternatives to mercury in small mines are available, such as magnetic sluices, but developing countries have complained about the cost of implementation.

Many developing countries including Brazil and Mali strongly resisted attempts to limit imports of mercury, according to IPEN, because of the economic importance of small mines.

“The supply is still available, the practice of artisanal mining is still polluting and we are left with a mess at the end and there is no funding to clean it up,” said DiGangi.

Artisanal and small gold mines now account for around 35 percent of global mercury pollution, according to a study by the U.N. Environment Programme published last week.

Other NGOs welcomed the number of products included in the treaty.

“The list of products was much longer than we expected,” said Elena Lymberidi-Settimo, a coordinator at Zero Mercury Working Group. “The treaty sends the right market signal and will eventually lead to less exposure worldwide.”

Many nations have already tightened laws – the United States barred exports of mercury from January 1, 2013. The European Union, until 2008 the main global exporter, barred exports of the liquid metal in 2011.

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Shopper numbers ‘fell last month’

20 January 2013 Last updated at 19:05 ET

The number of shoppers on UK High Streets fell last month, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

Its latest monthly footfall monitor said shopper numbers declined 1.2% in December, compared with a year earlier.

The BRC data comes after official figures revealed that UK retail sales fell last month.

The Office for National Statistics said that sales in December were 0.1% lower than November, but clothing and food sales particularly struggled.

The BRC said that the decline for the month as a whole came despite a rise of 7.5% in shopper numbers in the immediate week before Christmas.

Helen Dickinson, director general of the BRC, said: “Weak spending power is keeping people away and compounding long-standing difficulties in many of our town centres.

“This month’s retail failures confirm the challenges are far from over.”

On a geographical basis, the BRC said that Wales saw the biggest fall in shopper numbers, down 11.5%, followed by the east of England, 7.1% lower.

For the south west and north of England, footfall both fell by 4.8%, while in the East Midlands it was 1.2% lower.

However, shopper numbers were up in some nations and regions of the UK, rising 6.2% in Scotland, by 3.1% in London, and 0.6% in Northern Ireland.

The BRC data follows a number of high profile High Street casualties. HMV, Jessops and Blockbuster have all been forced into administration so far this year.

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Mexico City pushes for order with parking meters

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Every day before dawn, dozens of men appear in the Mexican capital’s hip Condesa neighborhood and block off parking spaces along entire streets using water jugs, cardboard boxes, buckets, crates and even blocks of cement.

As visitors start arriving for the district’s restaurants, organic food stores, boutiques and art galleries, the men collect 20 to 40 pesos ($ 1.50-$ 3), remove the obstructions and let drivers park.

Here and in other well-to-do areas of traffic-choked Mexico City, authorities are trying to take back the streets by installing parking meters. They say the meters will make the area safer and more orderly, as well as encouraging less driving, which will be a boon for a polluted city with more than 4 million cars.

Residents of Condesa, a bohemian neighborhood of 70,000 residents who rub shoulders every day with 170,000 visitors, will decide in a referendum Sunday whether they want the meters on their streets.

Many are vehemently opposed, hanging banners from balconies to attack meters, saying the streets are public and no one should profit from them. But others hope the plan will cut down on cars from elsewhere. Parking has become so critical that some Condesa residents have seized their own pieces of the street by erecting removable metal bars that jut from curbs in front of their homes.

Often the only option is to pay the ad hoc attendants, known as “franeleros” for the rags — “franelas” — they use to signal cars in and out of parking spaces they have commandeered. Not paying could mean returning to a broken windshield wiper, a long key scratch along a door or, in extreme cases, a smashed window.

Another option is to leave car and keys with valet parking attendants, who also block spaces for their clients.

“There are times when you drive and drive around and when you finally find a parking spot along comes a man to charge you for it. It really makes me mad,” said resident Elizabeth Ramos, 39, who said she plans to vote “yes” on meters.

Authorities laud the success of the machines that were installed in another affluent neighborhood, Polanco, a year ago.

“Polanco was the parking lot of the whole city,” said Maria Ignacia Moran, a community activist. “Office workers would leave their cars here all day, leaving behind traffic chaos because many of the cars were doubled parked, left on sidewalks. And at times the franeleros even parked them in our driveways.”

Traffic in Polanco is now more orderly, open parking spaces can generally be found and franeleros have largely disappeared, at least when the meters are in operation. And money from the meters helps pay for increased police patrols and improved streets, sidewalks and other infrastructure, according to Erwin Crowley, executive director of the city’s Public Space Authority.

“Polanco is a very good example of how to recover the public space,” he said.

One reason the meters help chase off franeleros is that EcoParq, the company operating the machines, has a financial incentive to summon police when anyone tries to block off a parking space without paying.

Prior to the arrival of meters in Polanco, franeleros charged 20 to 40 pesos for a day of parking. Current meter fees are 8 pesos (65 cents) an hour, or about 64 pesos ($ 5) a day, a sum that adds up for those who work in the area. For residents without their own parking spots, the city will issue one permit per home exempting a single car from paying the meter fee.

Crowley said meters have pushed people to find other modes of transportation to Polanco. “Before we had 10,800 cars coming into the district each day. We have cut that to 5,400,” he said. Some of those drivers simply started parking in nearby neighborhoods, which have seen an increase in traffic. So authorities have begun installing parking meters there as well.

Officials also play up security in pushing the parking meters. Posters plastered throughout Condesa warn that franeleros could be used by criminals because they spend entire days on the same streets, learning the habits of residents.

“They can be very aggressive and that’s always uncomfortable,” said Maria Antonieta Cendejas, 67, who owns a convenience store in Condesa near Parque Mexico, where franeleros have taken over her street. “I used to remove their buckets but then they started placing concrete blocks and I couldn’t move them.”

Opponents of meters say authorities should focus on better planning and stop allowing restaurants, bars and office buildings that don’t provide parking.

“The main problem is not the franeleros but all the businesses that have opened up and have no parking,” said Antonia Romero, 67, who has lived by Parque Mexico for 35 years. “We used to have parking lots, but they have been replaced them with apartment buildings.”

Luis Hernandez used to earn a living by selling candy and potato chips at a street stand near Condesa, but he said officials closed it down because he didn’t have a permit. So he began working as a franelero along Parque Mexico.

“The government will leave a lot of people without anything to eat,” said Hernadez, 31. “I’m really mad about all of this because all we want to do is work.”

He said that if parking meters are installed in Condesa, he will work running errands for people.

“What else could I do?” he said.

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America’s national parks weigh solitude against cellular access

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) – As cell phones, iPods and laptops creep steadily into every corner of modern life, America’s national parks have stayed largely off the digital grid, among the last remaining outposts of ringtone-free human solitude.

For better or worse, that may soon change.

Under pressure from telecommunications companies and a growing number of park visitors who feel adrift without mobile-phone reception, the airwaves in such grand getaway destinations as Yellowstone National Park may soon be abuzz with new wireless signals.

That prospect has given pause to a more traditional cohort of park visitors who cherish the unplugged tranquility of the great outdoors, fearing an intrusion of mobile phones – and the sound of idle chatter – will diminish their experience.

Some have mixed emotions. Stephanie Smith, a 50-something Montana native who visits Yellowstone as many as six times a year, said she prefers the cry of an eagle to ring tones.

But she also worries that future generations may lose their appreciation for the value of nature and the need to preserve America’s outdoor heritage if a lack of technology discourages them from visiting.

“You have to get there to appreciate it,” Smith said. “It’s a new world – and technology is a part of it.”

Balancing the two aesthetics has emerged as the latest challenge facing the National Park Service as managers in at least two premier parks, Yellowstone and Glacier national parks, consider recent requests to install new telecommunications towers or upgrade existing ones.

There is no system-wide rule governing cellular facilities in the 300 national parks, national monuments and other units the agency administers nationwide. Wireless infrastructure decisions are left up to the managers of individual park units.

The agency’s mission statement requires it to protect park resources and the visitor experience, but each individual experience is unique, said Lee Dickinson, a special-uses program manager for the Park Service.

“I’ve had two visitors calling me literally within hours of each other who wanted exactly the opposite experience: One saying he didn’t vacation anywhere without electronic access and the other complaining he was disturbed by another park visitor ordering pizza on his cell phone,” Dickinson said.

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

Wireless supporters say more is at stake than the convenience of casual phone conversations. Cellular providers say new wireless infrastructure will boost public safety by improving communications among park rangers and emergency responders.

They argue that the ability to download smartphone applications that can deliver instant information on plants and animals will also enrich park visitors’ experiences.

“Our customers are telling us that having access to technology will enhance their visit to wild areas,” said Bob Kelley, spokesman for Verizon Wireless, which is seeking to install a new 100-foot cell tower at Yellowstone.

Rural communities that border the national parks also stand to benefit from enlarged cellular coverage areas.

On the other side of the debate, outdoor enthusiasts worry that bastions of quiet reflection could be transformed into noisy hubs where visitors yak on cell phones and fidget with electronic tablets, detracting from the ambience of such natural wonders as Yellowstone’s celebrated geyser Old Faithful.

Expanding cellular reception may even compromise safety by giving some tourists a false sense of security in the back country, where extremes in weather and terrain test even the most skilled outdoorsman, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.

Tim Stevens, the association’s Northern Rockies director, said distractions like meandering moose already challenge the attention of motorists clogging park roads at the height of the summer tourist season.

“People brake in the middle of the road to watch animals. The added distraction of a wireless signal – allowing a driver to text Aunt Madge to say how great the trip is – could have disastrous consequences,” he said.

Yellowstone already offers some limited mobile-phone service, afforded by four cellular towers previously erected in developed sections of the park.

But vast swathes of America’s oldest national park, which spans nearly 3,500 square miles across the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, still lack wireless reception in an age dominated by Wi-Fi and iPad users who expect access even in the most remote locations.

Park officials see definite signs that a portion of the roughly 3 million annual visitors to Yellowstone, which crafted a wireless plan in 2008, are finding the lack of cell phone coverage disconcerting.

Park spokesman Al Nash said he routinely fields calls from anxious relatives of Yellowstone visitors unable to contact their loved ones.

“They say, ‘My gosh, my niece, daughter or parents went to Yellowstone, and we haven’t heard from them for three days,’” he said.

(Reporting and writing by Laura Zuckerman; Editing by Steve Gorman and David Gregorio)

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Obamas join military families for kids’ concert

WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia are rocking out with hundreds of kids from military families and Washington-area public schools at the Kids’ Inaugural Concert.

Pop star Usher started off the proceedings Saturday evening with his hit song “Yeah.” The concert is chock-full of A-list talent, including Katy Perry, Mindless Behavior and members of the cast of the Fox series “Glee.”

The concert continues a tradition started at the 2009 inauguration by honoring the nation’s military families. It’s being hosted by Mrs. Obama and the vice president’s wife, Jill Biden, and emceed by Nick Cannon.

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Americans roll up sleeves in day of service before inauguration

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – From sprucing up hiking trails to painting schools, Americans across the country, including President Barack Obama and his family, took part in a national day of service on Saturday to help kick off presidential inauguration ceremonies.

The day honors the slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., who famously said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?’” Obama will be publicly sworn in for a second term on Monday, which is also a national holiday honoring King.

Before his first inauguration in 2009, Obama urged Americans to spend part of January 19 helping others by volunteering. This year, the Presidential Inaugural Committee asked people both to volunteer on Saturday and pledge to do more service work throughout the year.

Obama and his wife, Michelle, accompanied by their daughters, Malia and Sasha, rolled up their sleeves to spruce up an elementary school in Washington. After varnishing some bookshelves, both Obamas spoke to about 300 other volunteers and noted the importance of getting young people to get in the habit of helping out.

“I want to say thank you to the parents, for showing early on to all our young people how gratifying, how fulfilling this is,” Obama said. His wife added, “We’re passing on the baton to you all.”

Beau Biden, the son of Vice President Joe Biden, and Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former President Bill Clinton, helped launch a volunteer fair on Washington’s National Mall.

“The national day of service is a wonderful way to honor the legacy of Doctor King, to kick off this inaugural weekend,” said Biden, the attorney general of Delaware and an Iraq war veteran.

“Despite all the talk of how divided we are as a nation, more and more Americans are coming together to serve each other every day. Volunteerism in America is at a five-year high,” Biden said, noting that Americans spent 8 billion hours giving back to their communities in 2011.

Service projects were set up in all 50 states, and the inaugural committee offered links online to find projects ranging from clearing invasive plants from a hiking trail to feeding the hungry to putting together packages for U.S. troops overseas.

Sharon Mudd, a high school English teacher in Maryland, went to the National Mall to get some ideas for her students.

“I want to make sure that they realize that with privilege comes responsibility,” she said.

Memona and Huda Shahid, 17-year-old twins from Chicago, were at the National Mall as part of a high school trip to Washington.

“As young adults, you get experience volunteering. For example, we want to study medicine, so we volunteered in a hospital,” said Memona. “The important thing – when you volunteer do it from the heart.”

(Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney)

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How 30 Rock Made Office Life Fun

(Corrects number of Emmy nominations and wins in first sentence.)

When NBC’s comedy 30 Rock ends its seven-season run on Jan. 31, it will be memorialized for its fast and furious jokes, its 97 Emmy nominations and 14 victories, and the masterful, bone-dry line readings of Alec Baldwin as NBC suit Jack Donaghy, the most indelible 1 Percenter on television since C. Montgomery Burns. (At Harvard Business School, Donaghy was voted “Most.”) Yet 30 Rock should also be remembered for its upbeat perspective on the joys and satisfactions—and inanities and frustrations—of office life. As Jack says to Liz Lemon (played by the show’s creator and executive producer, Tina Fey) in season one: “Business doesn’t get me down. Business gets me off.”

30 Rock wasn’t the first of its kind, of course. “The big mother of office sitcoms was The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” says Robert Thompson, a professor of TV and pop culture at Syracuse University. “In the early ’70s, TV comedy moved its focus from the nuclear family to the office.” More women were entering the workplace, and then, as now, most of viewers’ waking hours were spent with their institutional families rather than their biological ones. “Liz Lemon owes a lot to Mary,” says Thompson. “But her and her colleagues’ Seinfeld-like self-absorption about their jobs is what makes the show unique and modern.”

Compare 30 Rock with other current workplace comedies. On The Office, also in its final season, work smothers the protagonists, who seek any momentary escape from its drudgery. On Parks and Recreation, local politico Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) is devoted to her job wholeheartedly, but her satisfaction comes from its impact on the community. By contrast, the work accomplished on 30 Rock seems to please no one but the workers themselves. “Surprisingly enough 30 Rock embraces Freud’s dictum: All there is in life that is worth anything is love and work,” says Richard Walter, screenwriting chairman at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

Liz is head writer for the low-rated, late-night sketch show TGS with Tracy Jordan, a program that TV Guide once called “still on.” (Liz had the article framed.) Jack’s entire identity and astonishing ego revolve around being an executive. “Remember that time I came back from the World Economic Forum with mono and missed a week of work, and I wanted to pull my hair out but couldn’t because it’s too thick?” he reminisces. A General Electric (GE) lifer, Jack never became chief executive officer as he dreamed, because the fictional GE sold NBC to the cable provider Kabletown after the real-world network’s sale to Comcast (CMCSA). Desperate for some high-level business sparring, Jack negotiates Liz’s contract for her, against himself, in a back-and-forth tour de force at an Upper West Side Tasti D-Lite.

Liz and Jack’s careers are, essentially, jokes—jokes that each is committed to like crazy. They’re not helping others, making great art, or living up to their ambitions. Liz’s show stinks. Jack is tripped up by a CEO who refuses to announce a successor after “a beam of light” tells him to reappoint himself. Their work is ridiculous; and yet, it’s everything. “30 Rock is to working what The West Wing was to politics,” says Thompson. “It glamorizes office life in an amusing, over-the-top way. For all the problems at 30 Rock, and there are many, it seems like a fun place to work.” As Liz puts it, “As crazy and stressful as this place is, not being here is worse.”

But it’s not all frivolous. Liz is the rare female heroine whose love of her job is valorized, even though she isn’t saving babies or solving crimes. (The show skewered the conversation about women “having it all”—other characters ran away in terror when Liz brought up the subject.) Take the 2009 episode in which Liz is forced on hiatus due to a sexual harassment complaint; she’d tried to seduce a consultant to maintain her show’s budget. She befriends a group of stay-at-home women and gets into shopping and girl talk, but it turns out her new friends are so unfulfilled that their coffee klatch is a cover for a fight club. Liz returns to her beloved office, exulting, “I’m back, nerds!”

And though Liz’s tumultuous personal life was an ongoing thread, her marriage this season (wearing a Princess Leia costume) was a rejoinder to any suggestion that she put love before her job. The wedding was sweet, but it wasn’t the most important day of Liz’s life. It recalled a telling moment in Bossypants, Tina Fey’s book, when she describes breastfeeding as the most gratifying thing she’s ever done, “except for several very satisfying work-related things.”

Jack, impressed by Liz’s devotion to TGS, becomes her mentor, echoing the long relationship between Fey and 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels. HR rep Jeffrey Weinerslav (“it’s pronounced ‘wiener-slave’ ”) describes the Liz-Jack relationship as “the longest and perhaps most meaningful [one] in your life.” At that, they both tear up in recognition. Similarly, Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer), a wide-eyed NBC page, is so inhumanly dedicated to his job and his “best friends” at TGS that he turns down repeated opportunities for career advancement. “The overarching principle that drives 30 Rock is family,” says Walter. Even Tracy Jordan, the loose cannon played by Tracy Morgan, can’t shake the crew—after briefly quitting, he returns to continue his relationship with Kenneth. (“You and me, it’s not gonna be a one-way street,” Tracy says to Kenneth. “Cause I don’t believe in one-way streets. Not between people, and not while I’m driving.”)

“Workplace comedies inevitably end in the breakdown of the institution,” says Thompson. “On Cheers, Sam is left alone in the bar; on Mary Tyler Moore, everyone gets fired; on M*A*S*H the war ends. It’s a bittersweet notion, especially today when we aren’t staying at jobs for very long and know that feeling of leaving our surrogate families,” he says. However 30 Rock ends, its cast is already in mourning. On the last day of filming, Alec Baldwin tweeted, “Lots of tears today at SilverCup as we head into the home stretch. Thank you, Tina Fey.” At the wrap party, Fey said, “The thing I’m most proud of about the show is that it was a really nice place to work for over 200 people for seven years. … That will always stick in my mind, even more than the comedy we made.”

For viewers who toil in ever more metric-dominated jobs, where you’re only as good as your last quarter, one of 30 Rock’s most endearing traits is the way its characters’ passion for work wasn’t contingent on returns. That’s particularly welcome when the economy has kept so many of us grateful for any steady job, even one that doesn’t live up to our expectations. Fey and her writing staff also labor in a field where external results—ratings, renewals, syndication windfalls—depend on a fickle American public. Worthy shows fail; absolute garbage can run for years. The best work experience may have zero correspondence with success. The people of 30 Rock learned to appreciate a good gig when they had it, and for 30 minutes a week they gave us a place where business couldn’t get us down.

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Australia pray for bad boy Tomic to come good

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Wayward talent. Flawed genius. Wasted potential.

Few athletes have inspired so many backhanded compliments as Australia’s Bernard Tomic, who has alienated the country’s entire tennis establishment while keeping his fans in the palm of his hand.

The lanky 20-year-old has packed a lot into a year, going from the toast of the nation with a fourth-round run at his home grand slam in 2012, to a pantomime villain booted out of the Davis Cup team for a perceived lack of commitment.

In the space of a week, the pendulum of public opinion has swung back in Tomic’s favor at Melbourne Park.

The Australian number one will head into Saturday’s third-round clash against Roger Federer willed on by 15,000 of his compatriots at Rod Laver Arena.

The 43rd-ranked Tomic brings a lone ATP title on his resume, won at the Sydney International in the leadup, versus Federer’s 17 grand slam titles.

He has not let the gulf in achievement quell his bluster, however, declaring himself full of the belief to win.

The Federer clash will be a re-match of their fourth-round encounter at Melbourne Park last year, when a marginally more humble Tomic was spanked in straight sets.

Tomic’s performance against Federer after another year’s development will be under the microscope, according to Mats Wilander, who says the player’s unorthodox style – and his willingness to trust – are his greatest assets.

“When you’re trying to play like everyone else, running around and hitting forehands as often as possible…then you can see there’s a limit to it,” he told Reuters.

“But with Bernard he gets into a zone and he doesn’t see Djokovic the other side, he sees the opportunities.

“We don’t know how good he can be. No one should ever think that they could put a limit on someone who plays that unorthodox with so much feel,” added Wilander.

PLAYBOY IMAGE

“For me there’s really only physically that he can be stopped. Mentally and feel-wise he’s as good as the best players in the world.”

Wilander’s analysis jars with the enduring image of Tomic on Australian television, a sports car driving playboy in Queensland’s Gold Coast getting into trouble for thumbing his nose at traffic police.

Tomic, who is still coached by his father and cosseted by his team, has been accused of being lazy by Davis Cup captain Pat Rafter, who expressed concerns he would never fulfill his potential.

The criticisms appeared justified as the player appeared to stop trying in a series of matches last year, earning the nickname “Tomic the Tank Engine”.

Other Australian tennis identities have queued up to lay the boot in, with his former coach declaring him a ‘lost soul’ and former U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur suggesting he needed to “knuckle down” in his career.

Tomic’s success leading into his match against Federer has seen olive branches offered by Rafter, however, with Australia desperate for an heir to ageing former world number one Lleyton Hewitt.

But only hard work and time will tell if Tomic can make it, Swede Wilander said.

“Physically, I have no idea whether he can do two, three or four hours against Novak. That remains to be seen,” he added.

“To have the physical stuff that it takes, that they have, you’re talking about 1,000 hours of work and two hours in the gym every day for the next two years.

“You have to be willing to go to the gym and do pushups and thousands of hours and it hurts every second.

“Somebody needs to get that message across (to him) very clearly. This is what it takes. Why would you be in the game if you don’t want to be your best? And with his talent, that could probably mean being number one in the world.

“But he needs somebody to explain it to him.”

(Editing by John Mehaffey)

Australia / Antarctica News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Exclusive: Japan’s Sharp cuts iPad screen output

TOKYO/SEOUL (Reuters) – Sharp Corp has nearly halted production of 9.7-inch screens for Apple Inc’s iPad, two sources said, possibly as demand shifts to its smaller iPad mini.

Sharp’s iPad screen production line at its Kameyama plant in central Japan has fallen to the minimal level to keep the line running this month after a gradual slowdown began at the end of 2012 as Apple manages its inventory, the industry sources with knowledge of Sharp’s production plans told Reuters.

Sharp has stopped shipping iPad panels, the people with knowledge of the near total production shutdown said. The exact level of remaining screen output at Sharp was not immediately clear but it was extremely limited, they said.

Company spokeswoman Miyuki Nakayama said: “We don’t disclose production levels.”

Apple officials, contacted late in the evening after normal business hours in California, did not have an immediate comment.

The sources didn’t say exactly why production had nearly halted. Among the possibilities are a seasonal drop in demand, a switch to another supplier, a shift in the balance of sales to the mini iPad, or an update in the design of the product.

Macquarie Research has estimated that iPad shipments will tumble nearly 40 percent in the current quarter to about 8 million from about 13 million in the fourth quarter, although Apple’s total tablet shipments will show a much smaller decrease due to strong iPad mini sales.

APPLE SHARES

Any indication that iPad sales are struggling could add to concern that the appeal of Apple products is waning after earlier media reports said it is slashing orders for iPhone 5 screens and other components from its Asian suppliers.

Those reports helped knock Apple’s shares temporarily below $ 500 this week, the first time its stock had been below the threshold mark in almost one year.

Apple, the reports said, has asked state-managed Japan Display, Sharp and LG Display to halve supplies of iPhone panels from an initial plan for about 65 million screens in January-March. Apple is losing ground to Samsung, as well as emerging rivals including China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp.

NO BIG CHANGE AT OTHER MAKERS

In addition to Sharp, Apple also buys iPad screens from LG Display Co Ltd, its biggest supplier, and Samsung Display, a flat-panel unit of Samsung Electronics.

Both LG Display and Samsung Display declined to comment.

A source at Samsung Display, however, said there had not been any significant change in its panel business with Apple, which has been steadily reducing panel purchases from the South Korean firm.

A person who is familiar with the situation at LG Display said iPad screen production in the current quarter had fallen from the previous quarter ending in December, mainly due to weak seasonal demand that is typical after the busy year-end holiday sales period.

Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said some of the product cutbacks at Sharp are probably seasonal.

“The March quarter is almost always weaker than the December quarter,” he said, adding that Apple also consolidates suppliers of certain components during quarters with weaker demand. “The Korean manufacturers are more efficient and typically have lower costs.”

Apple’s iPad sales may have also suffered amid a weak Christmas shopping period that hurt other consumer gadget makers as well.

CROWD OF RIVAL PRODUCTS

Apple also faces stiffening competition in tablets from a growing crowd of rival products from makers including Samsung with its Galaxy and Microsoft Corp’s Surface. A consumer shift to smaller 7-inch screen devices, which Apple responded to late last year by launching its iPad mini for $ 329, are adding pressure.

BNP Paribas expects the iPad mini will eat into sales of the full-sized iPad, with the mini rise to 60 percent of total iPad shipments in the January-March quarter.

Looking to cut into Apple’s market share in the smaller segment are Amazon.com Inc with its Kindle and Google Inc with its Nexus 7.

CEO Tim Cook, who is credited with building Apple’s Asian supply chain, has overseen several gadget launches, including the iPhone 5, the latest iPad models and the iPad mini during his first year, is under pressure to deliver the kind of product innovations that wowed consumers during Steve Jobs’ tenure to keep his company’s profit growth stellar.

Sharp, which also supplies screens for the iPhone, has been working with its main banks on a restructuring plan after posting a $ 5.6 billion loss for the past fiscal year. To secure emergency financing from lenders including Mizuho Financial Group and Mitsubishi Financial Group it had mortgaged its domestic factories and offices including the one building screens for Apple.

In December, Qualcomm Inc agreed to invest as much as $ 120 million in Sharp and the two companies said they would work to develop new power-saving screens.

(Additional reporting by Poornima Gupta in San Francisco; Writing by Tim Kelly; Editing by Ken Wills and Richard Chang)

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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