Bulls rally to beat Pistons 85-82









As the United Center rocked and the Bulls celebrated Marco Belinelli's go-ahead, three-point play with 7.5 seconds left, Joakim Noah remained down in the photographer's pit along the baseline, cameras and cheerleaders all around him.


"I didn't really see the play," Noah said. "I had the cheerleaders' pom-poms in my face."


His teammates saw it, which is why they were celebrating the shot that sealed the Bulls' stirring 85-82 comeback over the Pistons, their 17th straight victory in this series. It marked the second time in just more than a month the Bulls erased a 17-point deficit against the Pistons to prevail.








And yet Noah, who had authored, really, the play of the season — one that defines the heart and hustle that has the Derrick Rose-less Bulls on pace for 50 victories now that the midway point has been reached — remained down.


"We were over there celebrating and he was still knocked over by the cheerleaders," said Nate Robinson, who kick-started the rally with nine straight points early in the fourth. "We were like, 'Oh, yeah, we have to go help him up.' But that play shows how hard Jo works. He never gives up."


Noah smiled, clearly relishing the opportunity to tweak his teammates.


"Damn, it took forever, right?" he said of the delay.


All's well that ends well, right?


But make sure to find a replay of Noah's hustle, which came off Belinelli's bricked jumper. As Noah tumbled into cameras and cheerleaders, Belinelli cut to the basket, grabbed the fruit of Noah's effort and laid it in as Rodney Stuckey fouled him.


"I scored, but the credit goes to Jo," said Belinelli, who scored his second game-winner in four games.


Coach Tom Thibodeau just shook his head.


"Quite frankly, I don't know he got to it," Thibodeau said. "It was an incredible play."


The Bulls then watched tying 3-point attempts from Tayshuan Prince and Stuckey rim out as time expired.


"I stayed with the play," Noah said. "The basketball gods were on our side. It's not really a great play because if Detroit gets it, it's a four-on-five fast break the other side. Fortunately, we got it. "


Robinson's boundless energy can delve into extracurricular emotion, but there's no denying he jump-started the comeback. Robinson keyed a 12-2 run to open the fourth with nine straight points and a dish for a fast-break dunk from Butler, who tied his career-highs with 18 points and nine rebounds.


Butler, starting again for the injured Luol Deng, played all but 91 seconds and overcame a 1-for-8 start. He also hit a huge 3-pointer — the Bulls missed their first 10 and made just 3 of 14 — for an 82-80 lead before Jason Maxiell tied the game with 29.4 seconds left off a defensive breakdown.


"Jimmy just kept working the game," Thibodeau said. "He never got down. He kept battling and battling."


Robinson finished with 11 points.


"That's Nate. He made a lot of big-time plays for us," Thibodeau said. "He's not afraid. I respect that about him.


"The group that started the fourth quarter played with energy, got some stops and got us going.


Noah played 45 minutes with 10 points and 18 rebounds.


"We just kept saying, 'We're going to rally together,'" Butler said. "That's what this team is all about."


kcjohnson@tribune.com


Twitter @kcjhoop





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North Korea to target U.S. with nuclear, rocket tests


SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Thursday it would carry out further rocket launches and a nuclear test that would target the United States, dramatically stepping up its threats against a country it called its "sworn enemy".


The announcement by the country's top military body came a day after the U.N. Security Council agreed a U.S.-backed resolution to censure and sanction the country for a rocket launch in December that breached its bans.


"We are not disguising the fact that the various satellites and long-range rockets that we will fire and the high-level nuclear test we will carry out are targeted at the United States," North Korea's National Defence Commission said, according to state news agency KCNA.


North Korea is believed by South Korea and other observers to be "technically ready" for a third nuclear test, and the decision to go ahead rests with leader Kim Jong-un who pressed ahead with the December rocket launch in defiance of the U.N. sanctions.


China, the one major diplomatic ally of the isolated and impoverished North, agreed to the U.S.-backed resolution and it also supported resolutions in 2006 and 2009 after Pyongyang's two earlier nuclear tests.


Thursday's statement by North Korea represents a huge challenge to Beijing as it undergoes a leadership transition with Xi Jinping due to take office in March.


North Korea has rejected proposals to restart the so-called six-party talks aimed at reining in its nuclear capacity.


"After all these years and numerous rounds of six-party talks we can see that China's influence over North Korea is actually very limited. All China can do is try to persuade them not to carry out their threats," said Cai Jian, an expert on Korea at Fudan University in Shanghai.


Analysts said the North could test as early as February as South Korea prepares to install a new, untested president or that it could choose to stage a nuclear explosion to coincide with former ruler Kim Jong-il's Feb 16 birthday.


"North Korea will have felt betrayed by China for agreeing to the latest U.N. resolution and they might be targeting (China) as well (with this statement)," said Lee Seung-yeol, senior research fellow at Ewha Institute of Unification Studies in Seoul.


U.S. URGES NO TEST


Washington urged North Korea not to proceed with a third test just as the North's statement was published on Thursday.


"Whether North Korea tests or not is up to North Korea," Glyn Davies, the top U.S. envoy for North Korean diplomacy, said in the South Korean capital of Seoul.


"We hope they don't do it. We call on them not to do it," Davies said after a meeting with South Korean officials. "This is not a moment to increase tensions on the Korean peninsula."


The North was banned from developing missile and nuclear technology under sanctions dating from its 2006 and 2009 nuclear tests.


A South Korean military official said the concern now is that Pyongyang could undertake a third nuclear test using highly enriched uranium for the first time, opening a second path to a bomb.


North Korea's 2006 nuclear test using plutonium produced a puny yield equivalent to one kiloton of TNT - compared with 13-18 kilotons for the Hiroshima bomb - and U.S. intelligence estimates put the 2009 test's yield at roughly two kilotons


North Korea is estimated to have enough fissile material for about a dozen plutonium warheads, although estimates vary, and intelligence reports suggest that it has been enriching uranium to supplement that stock and give it a second path to the bomb.


According to estimates from the Institute for Science and International Security from late 2012, North Korea could have enough weapons grade uranium for 21-32 nuclear weapons by 2016 if it used one centrifuge at its Yongbyon nuclear plant to enrich uranium to weapons grade.


North Korea gave no time-frame for the coming test and often employs harsh rhetoric in response to U.N. and U.S. actions that it sees as hostile.


Its long-range rockets are not seen as capable of reaching the United States mainland and it is not believed to have the technology to mount a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile.


The bellicose statement on Thursday appeared to dent any remaining hopes that Kim Jong-un, believed to be 30 years old, would pursue a different path from his father Kim Jong-il, who oversaw the country's military and nuclear programs.


The older Kim died in December 2011.


"The UNSC (Security Council) resolution masterminded by the U.S. has brought its hostile policy towards the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea) to its most dangerous stage," the commission was quoted as saying.


(Additional reporting by Christine Kim in SEOUL, Ben Blanchard and Sui-Lee Wee in Beijing; Writing by David Chance; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)



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Asian shares retreat, Nikkei hit hard as yen stays firm

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares retreated from multi-month highs on Wednesday amid caution as the earnings season gathers pace, with Tokyo stocks falling to three-week closing lows in response to a firm yen.


"Asian markets have been climbing steadily and it's natural for investors to want to book profits as the region's earnings season begins in full force later this month," said Hirokazu Yuihama, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo.


"The uptrend remains intact given improving fundamentals globally, so selling like this is a healthy correction that may lead to putting a solid floor to prices," he said.


The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> fell 0.3 percent after earlier reaching a 17-1/2-month high. The index has risen nearly 30 percent since a low touched in June, 2012.


The yen held firm against the dollar and the euro as monetary easing announced on Tuesday by the Bank of Japan failed to provide an immediate stimulus as some had hoped, though many analysts acknowledged the BOJ's resolve to tackle Japan's stubborn deflation and economic stagnation.


The stronger yen hurt Japanese exporters, dragging the benchmark Nikkei average <.n225> down 2.1 percent to a three-week closing low. The yen has weakened by around 12 percent since mid-November against the dollar, and boosted the Nikkei by more than 20 percent as a weaker yen improved exporters' earnings outlook. <.t/>


The BOJ on Tuesday doubled its inflation target to 2 percent and adopted an open-ended commitment to buy assets starting 2014, sparking an unwinding of yen short positions from speculators looking for more immediate easing step.


The dollar fell 0.6 percent to 88.20 yen while the euro slid 0.7 percent to 117.45 yen. The dollar hit a 2-1/2-year high of 90.25 yen on Monday.


Many still believe the yen will resume its recent downtrend, seeing the latest rebound in the Japanese currency as a correction to its rapid and sharp decline.


With the BOJ joining the continued push by global central banks to support growth, Morgan Stanley said in a research note that policy easing by central banks was positive for emerging markets, with more bond portfolio inflows increasingly towards local markets.


"Our key themes for 2013 are rebalancing and reflation, with both prevalent so far this year. Even given a migration towards global equities and away from fixed income, emerging market fixed income remains well-placed," it said.


Elsewhere, Hong Kong and Chinese shares were among the hardest hit as investors took profits from recent gains, with indexes faltering at technical resistances. Hong Kong <.hsi> shares slipped from a 19-1/2-month high and were down 0.4 percent while Shanghai shares <.ssec> fell 0.5 percent, moving further away from a 7-1/2 month high.


"We have risen by quite a bit in a very short time, so investors have been taking some profit in the last week or so, looking for new ideas to rotate into," said Larry Jiang, chief strategist at Guotai Junan International Securities.


Australian shares <.axjo> bucked the trend to edge up 0.2 percent to their highest close in almost 21 months after miner BHP Billiton gained after reporting a rise in quarterly iron ore production.


BETTER ENVIRONMENT


European markets are seen rising, with financial spread-betters predicting London's FTSE 100 <.ftse>, Paris's CAC-40 <.fchi> and Frankfurt's DAX <.gdaxi> would open as much as 0.4 percent higher. U.S. stock futures were down 0.2 percent, pointing to a softer Wall Street start. <.l><.eu><.n/>


On Tuesday, hopes of an improvement in the global economy led the Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> to a five-year high.


Investors were also cheered by easing worries over the U.S. budget crisis.


Republican leaders in the House of Representatives said they aim to pass on Wednesday a nearly four-month extension of the U.S. debt limit to May 19.


U.S. crude was down 0.1 percent to $96.59 a barrel and Brent eased 0.2 percent to $112.23.


Spot gold was at $1,692.66 an ounce, near Tuesday's one-month high of $1,695.76, while London copper traded down 0.3 percent at $8,107 a metric ton but clinging near a one-week high of $$8,144.50 hit on Tuesday.


(Additional reporting by Clement Tan in Hong Kong; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)



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Williams loses in quarters; Azarenka into semis


MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Serena Williams' dominating run at the majors is over.


American teenager Sloane Stephens is headed to the semifinals of the Australian Open.


Williams hurt her back in the eighth game of the second set, slowing down her serve, restricting her movement and causing her obvious pain.


But the 19-year-old Stephens kept her composure, blocking out the injury issue on the opposite side of the net, and rallied for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory on Wednesday — by far the most significant in her seven Grand Slams.


It was Williams' first loss since Aug. 17 for the 15-time Grand Slam winner, ending a run of 20 consecutive wins.


She hadn't lost a match at a Grand Slam tournament since the French Open, where her first-round exit sparked a resurgence in the second half of 2012 that included titles at Wimbledon, the London Olympics, the U.S. Open and the WTA Championship.


After winning her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, Stephens next plays defending champion Victoria Azarenka.


The No. 29-seeded Stephens had been given barely a chance of beating Williams, who lost only four matches in 2012 and was in contention to regain the No. 1 ranking at the age of 31.


Williams' latest winning streak included a straight-sets win over Stephens at the Brisbane International earlier this month.


And Stephens wasn't even sure that she could beat Williams, until she woke up Wednesday.


"When I got up, I was like, 'Look, Dude, like, you can do this.' Like, 'Go out and play and do your best," she said.


It wasn't until after losing the first set and being broken in the first game of the second that she really convinced herself she could.


"I was like, 'Hmm, this is not the way you want it to happen. But you just fight and just get every ball back, run every ball down, and just get a lot of balls in play, I think you'll be OK.'


"From then on I got aggressive, started coming to the net more, and just got a lot more comfortable."


She started hitting winners, cutting down on the errors, and pushing the injured Williams around the court.


Williams walked around the net to congratulate Stephens, who then clapped her hand on her racket and waved to the crowd, a look of disbelief on her face.


She then went to her tennis bag, pulled out her phone and started checking for any text messages from her mother.


"I was hoping she had texted me right away. I thought maybe she was texting me during the match," Stephens said. "I'm sure my grandparents are like freaking out."


Stephens has said she had a photo of Williams up in her room when she was a child, and had long admired the Williams sisters.


"This is so crazy. Oh my goodness," Stephens said, wiping away tears in her post-match TV interview. "I think I'll put a poster of myself (up) now."


For her part, Williams said the bad back was just another problem to contend with at a Grand Slam event that had been "absolutely" her worst for injuries.


"I'm almost relieved that it's over because there's only so much I felt I could do," she said. "It's been a little difficult. I've been thrown a lot of (curve) balls these two weeks."


Williams was up a set and a break before Stephens settled in. In the eighth game of the second set, Williams was chasing a drop shot to the net when she appeared to hurt her back. She needed a medical timeout after the set, and then slowly started to regain the speed in her serve.


She her back "just locked up" on her.


"I couldn't really rotate after that," she said. "It was a little painful, but it's OK."


There were times when she barely concealed the pain, and had to bend over or stretch out her back.


And despite not being able to serve at full speed and being restricted, she only thought about retiring from the match "for a nanosecond."


But she was clearly frustrated at times, smashing her racket into the court in the third set and then flinging it toward the chairs on the side of the court. She looked to the sky occasionally and yelled at herself.


Stephens had never seen Williams smashing a racket before, just part of an unexpected day.


The gravity of it didn't strike her until later.


"I was stretching, and I was like, 'I'm in the semis of a Grand Slam.' I was like, 'Whoa. It wasn't as hard as I thought.' But it's pretty cool.


"To be in the semis of a Grand Slam is definitely I say a good accomplishment. A lot of hard work."


Azarenka, with her most famous fan sitting in the crowd wearing a shirt reminding her to keep calm, overcame some early jitters to beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 6-1 in the earlier quarterfinal match at Rod Laver Arena.


After dropping serve in a long fourth game that went to deuce 10 times, Azarenka recovered to dominate the rest of the match against Kuznetsova, a two-time major winner who was floating dangerously in the draw with a No. 75 ranking as she recovers from a knee injury.


Azarenka's American rapper friend, Redfoo, returned from a concert in Malaysia to attend Wednesday's quarterfinal match.


Wearing a red sleeveless T-shirt that read "Keep Calm and Bring Out the Bottles," the name of his next single, Redfoo stood, clapped and yelled "Come on, Vika!" during the tight first set.


Asked if it helped to have her No. 1 fan wearing a keep calm logo, Azarenka said "I was looking more at the part that says 'Bring out the bottles.'"


Of her game, she added, "I'm just glad I could produce my good tennis when it was needed."


Williams' loss was a boost for Azarenka, who lost all five head-to-heads against the American in 2012 and is 1-11 in their career meetings.


In the men's quarterfinals, 17-time major winner Roger Federer was playing No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a night match and U.S. Open champion Andy Murray was to meet Jeremy Chardy of France.


Top-ranked Novak Djokovic is still on course in his bid for a third consecutive Australian Open title and is already through to the semifinals, where'll meet No. 4-seeded David Ferrer of Spain.


On the other half of the women's draw, Maria Sharapova has conceded only nine games in five matches — a record in Australia — en route to a semifinal against 2011 French Open champion Li Na.


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IBM’s shines with fourth quarter, 2013 outlook






(Reuters) – IBM, the world’s largest technology services company, gave a better than expected 2013 outlook after a solid fourth quarter that analysts say has more to do with Big Blue’s smooth execution than a vibrant tech spending environment.


Companies had been widely expected to hold back on IT purchases in December in part because of worries about the so-called U.S. fiscal cliff. Automatic tax increases and spending cuts would have been triggered had Congress not made a deal to avert the cliff and could have pushed the weak U.S. economy into recession.






But International Business Machines Corp said on Tuesday that its quarterly results beat forecasts and it plans to achieve earnings of at least $ 16.70 a share for the full year, above analysts’ consensus forecast of $ 16.57.


While some analysts said IBM’s earnings may be a sign of an improved tech spending environment, others said the strong results were specific to IBM’s business model.


“IBM is better positioned in a tough environment than most tech companies are,” said Cindy Shaw, managing director at Discern.


IBM made a bold strategic move a decade ago when it bought PriceWaterhouse’s consulting business and then decided to exit the PC business, betting its future was in finding solutions to business problems with the help of software and technology.


That strategy appears to have paid off.


“What IBM does better than anyone, with the exception of Accenture, is solving problems and I am not talking about taking out some costs, but really driving revenue,” Shaw said.


In addition, she said, IBM was strong in “hot growth markets” such as data analytics, cloud computing, emerging markets and what IBM calls smarter planet, which aims to improve areas such as traffic, power grids and food production.


Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu agreed, saying the success appeared to be more specific to IBM than the industry in general.


“The results show that the IBM advantage and business model – vertical integration of hardware and software – is difficult to replicate,” he said.


“IBM has been doing this the longest and customers are very accustomed to it. They have a much stronger offering and brand name.”


As a result quarterly net income rose 10 percent to $ 6.1 billion, or $ 5.39 a share from $ 4.71 a year earlier. Revenue dropped 1 percent to $ 29.3 billion due to the sale of its retail business in the third quarter.


Analysts had expected the Armonk, New York-based company to report net income of $ 5.95 billion, or $ 5.25 a share, on revenue of $ 29.05 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.


Revenue grew in particular because of an 11 percent increase in IBM’s growth markets in Brazil, India, Russia and China.


Software revenue was up 3 percent in the quarter.


Some analysts said IBM’s better than expected results were a sign that tech spending might not have been as bleak as expected.


“It is better than what people had feared,” said Brian Marshall, an analyst at ISI Group.


“Virtually every segment did a little bit better than people expected. It supports the fact that things are getting better out there at least from a tech industry standpoint.”


Andrew Bartels, an analyst with research firm Forrester Research, said: “We were expecting a lot of companies were sitting on their wallets until it became clear what was going to become of the fiscal cliff.


“Given the fact it’s Q4 with a cloud of the fiscal cliff, it’s a positive indication that tech software will be doing better in the next couple of months.”


IBM shares rose more than 4 percent to $ 204.50 after closing at $ 196.08 on the New York Stock Exchange.


(Additional reporting by Jennifer Saba in New York and Alistair Barr in San Francisco; Editing by Richard Chang and Andre Grenon)


Green News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Defterios: What keeps Davos relevant






STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Since the late 20th Century, the ski resort of Davos has been synonymous with the World Economic Forum

  • Defterios: I first came to Davos as a relatively junior correspondent, two months after the Berlin Wall fell

  • Fall of Communism, China's opening, removal of apartheid in South Africa unfolded in the 90s


  • It's the inter-play between geo-politics and business is what keeps the forum relevant




Davos (CNN) -- Veterans of Davos often refer to nature's awe-inspiring work as the Magic Mountain.


The name comes from an early 20th century novel by Thomas Mann -- reflecting on life in an alpine health retreat, and the mystery of time in this breath-taking setting.


Read more from John Defterios: Why Egypt's transition is so painful


Since the late 20th century, this ski resort has been synonymous with the World Economic Forum, which represents networking on its grandest scale.


This year nearly 40 world leaders -- a record for this annual meeting -- 2000 plus executives and it seems an equal number of people in the media, like yours truly, are in pursuit of them all. The setting is certainly more chaotic then a decade ago. The agendas of the Fortune 500 chief executives are to filled with bi-lateral meetings and back door briefings to allow for the spontaneity that made this venue unique.











Davos gets ready for leaders' gathering











HIDE CAPTION









I first came to Davos as a relatively junior correspondent in 1990, two months after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It was arguably then, after nearly two decades in the conference business, when the forum became a fixture on the global calendar.


Quest: U.S. economy to dominate Davos 2013


I can remember, quite vividly, working out of a bunker (like we do today) in the Davos Congress Centre. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl sat side-by-side with his East German counterpart Hans Modrow. That meeting before the global community helped set the stage for monetary union, a huge unification fund for what became Eastern Germany and shortly thereafter German elections.


The early 90s at Davos were dominated by European reconstruction after the fall of communism. Former party bosses came to the forum to convince business leaders that a transition to market economics could be delivered. Boris Yeltsin made his Davos appearance during that chaotic transition from the USSR to today's Russia.


Davos 2013: New year, same old problems?


In 1992, Chinese Premier Li Peng used the setting here in the Alps to articulate plans for the country's economic opening up to the world. Not by chance, the architect of Washington's engagement with Beijing, the former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger also took a high profile that year.



Again only two years later in 1994, Yasser Arafat and Shimon Peres walked hand in hand on stage, holding a public dialogue leading up to the creation and recognition of the Palestinian Authority.


The World Economic Forum, as the saying goes, was positioned to be in the right place at the right time. While the author of the Magic Mountain talked about the complexity of time around World War I, in the 1990s time was compressed here.


The fall of communism, the lowering of global trade barriers, the opening up of China, the removal of apartheid in South Africa and the proliferation of the internet all unfolded in that decade.


Interactive: How's your economic mood?


As those events came together, so too did the major players as they made the journey to Davos. Michael Bloomberg, evolving as a global name in financial data and now the Mayor of New York City, sat alongside Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. U.S. President Bill Clinton outlined his party's historic move to the political center before a packed audience of global business executives.


To spice things up, rock stars and actors, as they became activists, chose the Davos platform: Bono, Richard Gere, Sharon Stone, Brad and Angelina would have the wealthiest and most powerful corporate titans freeze in their tracks.


Earlier this week, I walked into the main plenary hall as workers put the final touches on the stage and lighting. It is a venue which has welcomed countless political leaders and business executives, during internet booms and banking busts, in the midst of a Middle East crisis and even during the lead up to two Gulf Wars.


But that inter-play between geo-politics and business -- during the best and worst of times -- is what keeps the forum relevant. It allows this setting at the base of the Magic Mountain to endure and recreate something unique during what Mann rightly described as the ongoing complexity of our times.







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Massive blaze engulfs vacant Bridgeport warehouse









One-third of the Chicago Fire Department's on-duty personnel responded to a 5-11 alarm fire that engulfed a warehouse building, causing parts of it to collapse and endangering nearby buildings in the Bridgeport neighborhood Tuesday night.


A four-story building caught fire after 9 p.m., endangering another building, according to the Chicago Fire Department. Extra alarms, bringing more fire equipment, firefighters and paramedics were called soon after firefighters arrived. The fire in the former Harris Marcus Group building, 3757 S. Ashland Ave., was declared under control, though still burning, as of about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.


Firefighters had to contend with frozen hydrants and ice caused by overspray, Fire Department Commissioner Jose Santiago said. One firefighter suffered a back injury and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in serious condition, said Chicago Firefighter Meg Ahlheim, a department spokeswoman.








The fire climbed into the sky and sent ashes down on cars below. The warmth from the blaze could be felt blocks away. A Chicago Fire Department helicopter was called into service to provide an "aerial visual," but after firefighters arrived, they were able to keep the blaze from spreading to nearby businesses, Santiago said.


Still, anyone who looked out an upper-floor window from buildings across the city could see the fire, with many sending photographs out over social media. Ashes fell far from the fire scene.


"You could see the embers from the highway," said Darcy Benedict, a 28-year-old UIC medical school student. "I could see blue flames rising up."


Benedict and her boyfriend saw the fire from Interstate 55 and got off to get a better look. 


A crowd of at least 40 adults and children stood behind police tape, bundled up in the freezing weather, taking videos with cellphones.


Several others at the scene expressed doubt that the fire could be contained, as dozens of hoses could be seen in the distance spraying high and low onto the enormous blaze.

The commander at Tuesday's fire used two 'special alarms' to call for additional equipment beyond what a 5-11 alarm calls for, calling in special equipment needed to fight the massive blaze, Santiago said.


“I’m looking at the south side of the main fire building and there’s a big portion of exterior wall and roof collapse,” Ahlheim said.


There was “extreme fire” throughout the buildings. Nobody has been reported injured.


The fire in the second building was mostly extinguished as of about 10:25 p.m. but the first building is "still involved," Ahlheim said.


Special alarms are called beyond the fifth, though they are "extremely rare," according to the fire department.


Commissioner Santiago said it was the first time a 5-11 with two special alarms was called since 2006 - apparently fire a fire that gutted the historic Wirt Dexter Building in the South Loop. That fire broke out before 3 p.m. on a weekday, snarled downtown traffic and forced the CTA to stop service on Loop L tracks.


Santiago said a Fire Department chief was driving past the warehouse when he saw smoke, turned around and called the fire in, bringing the first response, which was quickly elevated to an extra-alarm.


The alarms normally escalate one at a time beyond a normal fire response up to a fifth alarm, though the scene commander skipped a fourth alarm once the fire jumped to another building.


There was also a 5-11 fire in 2012 - in Avondale on the Northwest Side. That burned for hours but didn't required the special alarms called for Tuesday night's fire. About 200 firefighters and paramedics responded to that fire.


Santiago described the warehouse as "old," with lots of timber throughout the building. Firefighters are expected to be at the blaze for several hours, he said. As the water poured on the fire starts to freeze, more portions of the timber-and-brick construction building are likely to collapse under the weight of the ice, he said.


Check back for more information.


lford@tribune.com
Twitter: @ltaford


pnickeas@tribune.com
Twitter: @peternickeas


ehirst@tribune.com
Twitter: @ellenjeanhirst



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Netanyahu turns focus to Iran after narrow election win


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed victory in Israel's parliamentary election, shrugging off surprise losses to centre-left challengers and vowing to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.


However, Tuesday's vote, which also disappointed religiously inspired hardliners, may deflect the premier's focus on confronting Tehran and resisting Palestinian demands as Israel's secular middle-class demanded new attention on domestic issues.


That in turn might draw Netanyahu toward a less fractious relationship with his key ally, U.S. President Barack Obama, who himself embarked on a new term this week with great ambitions.


Interim vote count results on Wednesday showed the Israeli leader's right-wing Likud and the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu would remain the biggest bloc in the 120-member assembly, but with only 31 seats, 11 fewer than the 42 the two parties held in the last parliament.


That put Netanyahu on course for a third term in office, perhaps leading a hardline coalition that would promote Jewish settlement on occupied land.


But his weakened showing in the ballot, which he had called nine months early in the hope of a strong mandate for his struggle with Iran, could complicate his efforts to forge an alliance with a stable and substantial majority in parliament.


"I am proud to be your prime minister, and I thank you for giving me the opportunity, for the third time, to lead the state of Israel," the 63-year-old leader told a cheering crowd in the early hours of Wednesday at his campaign headquarters.


Netanyahu said he planned to form as broad a governing coalition as possible, suggesting he would seek partners beyond his traditional ultra-nationalist and religious allies. His first call may be to Yair Lapid, a former television anchorman whose centrist, secular party came from nowhere to second place.


"The first challenge was and remains preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said.


Iran denies it is planning to build an atomic bomb, and says Israel, widely believed to have the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, is the biggest threat to the region.


Netanyahu views Tehran's nuclear program as a threat to Israel's existence and has stoked international concern by hinting at possible Israeli military action to thwart it.


He has shunted Palestinian peacemaking well down the agenda despite Western concern to keep the quest for a solution alive.


Wednesday's count forecast an even split between right-wing parties and the centre-left, with each bloc taking 60 of parliament's 120 seats.


Lapid's Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party should have 19 seats, the interim count showed - a stunning result for a newcomer to politics in a field of 32 contending parties.


Lapid won support amongst middle-class, secular voters by promising to resolve a growing housing shortage, abolish military draft exemptions for Jewish seminary students and seek an overhaul of the failing education system.


He urged Netanyahu "to build as broad a government as possible so that we can bring about real change in Israel".


The once dominant Labour party led by Shelly Yachimovich was projected to take third place with 15 seats. She described Likud victory claims as "ridiculous" before final results were in.


"There is a very good chance, a very good chance, that tomorrow morning Benjamin Netanyahu will not be able to form a government," she declared at her party headquarters.


Reconciling views to build a cabinet will certainly be hard.


"YESH ATID SWEEP"


Some in Netanyahu's party acknowledged that the election had gone somewhat awry. "We anticipated we would lose some votes to Lapid, but not to this extent. This was a Yesh Atid sweep," Likud-Yisrael Beitenu campaign adviser Ronen Moshe told Reuters.


Lapid said before the election he would consider joining a Netanyahu-led government. If that happens, the ultra-Orthodox religious parties which often hold the balance of power in parliament might lose some of their leverage.


After a lackluster campaign, Israelis voted in droves on a sunny winter day, registering a turnout of 66.6 percent, the highest since 2003. That buoyed centre-left parties which had pinned their hopes on energizing an army of undecided voters against Netanyahu and his nationalist-religious allies.


"A big majority of middle class Israelis have voted strongly against the priorities of the last government," said Dan Avnon, a political science professor at Hebrew University.


"These are the people who pay the taxes and serve in the army," he said. "I don't think they can be ignored."


Opinion polls before the election had predicted an easy win for Netanyahu, although the last ones suggested he would lose some votes to the Jewish Home party, which opposes a Palestinian state and advocates annexing chunks of the occupied West Bank.


Wednesday's interim count gave 11 seats to Jewish Home.


The biggest casualty was the centrist Kadima party, which teetered between a minimum parliamentary showing of 2 seats and political extinction, depending on the final vote tally due later on Wednesday.


Kadima had gained the highest number in the previous election in 2009, although its then leader Tzipi Livni failed to put together a governing coalition.


Official vote results will be announced on January 30. After that, President Shimon Peres is likely to ask Netanyahu, as leader of the biggest bloc in parliament, to try to form a government.


WESTERN ANXIETY


Whatever permutation finally emerges, a Netanyahu-led government is likely to resist any push for a peace deal with the Palestinians that would come anywhere near satisfying the moderates who seek a viable independent state alongside Israel.


Naftali Bennet, high-tech millionaire son of American immigrants who leads the hard-right, pro-settler Jewish Home party, was a likely coalition partner despite his election showing, which was less than surging opinion polls had predicted.


Bennet, who advocates annexing West Bank land to Israel, told cheering supporters: "There is only one truth and it is simple. The Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel."


Britain warned Israel on Tuesday it was losing international support, saying Jewish settlement expansion had almost killed off prospects for a two-state solution.


U.S.-brokered peace talks broke down in 2010 amid mutual acrimony. Since then Israel has accelerated construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem - land the Palestinians want for their future state - much to the anger of Western partners.


Netanyahu's relations with Obama have been notably tense and Martin Indyk, former U.S. ambassador to Israel, told the BBC the election was unlikely to change that.


"President Obama doesn't have high expectations that there's going to be a government in Israel committed to making peace and is capable of the kind of very difficult and painful concessions that would be needed to achieve a two-state solution," he said.


But Aaron David Miller, once a senior U.S. adviser on the peace process, said a weakening of the right might improve ties: "The fact is, if (Netanyahu) goes with Lapid and he reaches out to the centre, you're going to end up with an American-Israeli rapprochement to a certain degree," Miller told CNN.


Tuesday's vote was the first in Israel since Arab uprisings swept the region two years ago, reshaping the Middle East.


Netanyahu has said the turbulence, which has brought Islamist governments to power in several countries long ruled by secularist autocrats, including neighboring Egypt, shows the importance of strengthening national security.


Foreign policy issues barely registered during the election campaign, with a poll in Haaretz newspaper on Friday saying 47 percent of Israelis thought social and economic issues were the most pressing concern, against just 10 percent who cited Iran.


A major problem for the next government, which is unlikely to take power before mid-March, is the stuttering economy.


Data last week showed the budget deficit rose to 4.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2012, double the original estimate, meaning spending cuts and tax hikes look certain.


(Reporting by Jerusalem bureau; Editing by Alastair Macdonald and David Brunnstrom)



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Asian shares rise; BOJ easing spurs volatile yen, Nikkei trading

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares rose on Tuesday amid optimism over the global growth outlook, but bold easing measures from the Bank of Japan failed to lift Tokyo equities and the yen rebounded from a brief sell-off as investors digested the central bank's actions.


The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> rose 0.4 percent to a fresh 17-1/2-month high, while Australian shares <.axjo> ended little changed after touching a 20-month high earlier in the session. Hong Kong shares <.hsi> hovered around a 19-1/2-month peak and onshore China markets were on track to gain for a fourth-straight day.


The spotlight in Asia fell on the BOJ, which on Tuesday doubled its inflation target to 2 percent and adopted an open-ended commitment to buy assets, surprising markets that had expected another incremental increase in its 101 trillion yen ($1.12 trillion) asset-buying and lending program.


"A stronger Japan is good for the global economy," said Jeremy Friesen, a commodities strategist at Societe Generale in Hong Kong. He added the stimulus plan will be more positive for base metals than energy as Japan will be building infrastructure that will boost demand for metals such as zinc and copper.


The reaction in Japanese markets, however, reinforced market perceptions that the BOJ could have done more.


The yen rebounded from brief losses and the Nikkei turned down from an initial surge as investors digested the details, including the fact that the new scheme for additional purchases will only come into effect next year. Several analysts were also of the opinion the BOJ could have taken more steps, such as scrapping the 0.1 percent floor for short-term interest rates and extending the duration of bonds the central bank buys.


Japan's benchmark Nikkei average <.n225> surged as much as 0.8 percent before giving up all gains to end down 0.4 percent. Tokyo shares have been rising in tandem with the yen's slide against major currencies on expectations for bolder BOJ steps. The Nikkei tumbled 1.5 percent on Monday after investors booked profits from the index's 2.9 percent rally on Friday. <.t/>


The dollar rose as high as 90.18 yen, but was last trading down 0.6 percent at 89.09 yen. It touched a fresh 2-1/2-year high of 90.25 on Monday. The euro rose to 120.18, before falling 0.5 percent to 118.88 yen. The euro hit its peak since May 2011 of 120.73 on Friday.


"The BOJ increase in asset purchases is only commencing in 2014. So no strong immediate increase in easing," said Jeffrey Halley, FX trader for Saxo Capital Markets in Singapore, noting stop-loss selling under 89.50 yen added to the dollar's drop.


Hiroshi Maeba, head of FX trading Japan at UBS in Tokyo, said: "It was more or less within market expectations and was not disappointing. But it also didn't top expectations because there was speculation that the BOJ would do all it can, including removing the 0.1 percent floor on short term interest rates."


Still, there is a perception in markets that even if investors rooting for much bolder BOJ steps cut their yen short positions in disappointment over the outcome, the yen's rebound was likely to be limited relative to its 13 percent decline against the dollar and a 20 percent drop versus the euro over the past two months. Such views were fed by expectations the BOJ will continue to aggressively ease monetary policy to drive Japan out of years of deflation and support the economy.


Brent crude rose 0.3 percent to $112.07 a barrel as the BOJ's latest easing action added to the recent positive data from the United States and China, while growing confidence in the strength of China's economic recovery pushed London copper up 0.7 percent to $8,111.75 a metric ton.


European markets are seen subdued, with financial spread-betters predicting London's FTSE 100 <.ftse>, Paris's CAC-40 <.fchi> and Frankfurt's DAX <.gdaxi> would open flat to down as much as 0.1 percent. U.S. stock futures were up 0.2 percent, pointing to a firm Wall Street start. <.l><.eu><.n/>


General market sentiment was also supported by signs of a compromise to avert a U.S. fiscal crisis.


Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have scheduled a vote on Wednesday on a nearly four-month extension of U.S. borrowing capacity, aimed at avoiding a fight over the looming federal debt ceiling and shifting their negotiating leverage for spending cuts to other fiscal deadlines.


Gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,693.31 an ounce on the fresh round of easing from the BOJ.


($1 = 89.7950 Japanese yen)


(Additional reporting by Masayuki Kitano and Florence Tan in Singapore; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)



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Jim, John Harbaugh ready for rematch at Super Bowl


SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Jim and John Harbaugh have exchanged a handful of text messages, and plan to leave it at that. No phone conversations necessary while the season's still going. No time for pleasantries, even for the friendly siblings.


There is work to be done to prepare for the Super Bowl, prepare for each other, prepare for a history-making day already being widely hyped as "Harbowl" or "Superbaugh" depending which nickname you prefer.


"It doesn't matter who the coach is, what relationship you have with the person on the other side," 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said so matter-of-factly Monday afternoon.


Their parents sure aren't picking sides for the Feb. 3 matchup in New Orleans.


These days, the Harbaughs' longtime coaching father, Jack, stays away from game-planning chatter or strategy sessions with his Super Bowl-bound coaching sons. Baltimore's John Harbaugh and little brother Jim have been doing this long enough now to no longer need dad's input.


Yet, they still regularly seek it. And, their father does offer one basic mantra: "Get ahead, stay ahead."


"Probably the greatest advice that I've ever been given and the only advice that I've ever found to be true in all of coaching, I think we mentioned it to both John and Jim ... the coaching advice is, 'Get ahead, stay ahead,'" Jack Harbaugh said.


"If I'm called upon, I'll repeat that same message."


His boys still call home regularly to check in with the man who turned both on to the coaching profession years ago, and the mother who has handled everything behind the scenes for decades in a highly competitive, sports-crazed family — with all the routine sports clichés to show for it.


The Harbaugh brothers will become the first siblings to square off from opposite sidelines when their teams play for the NFL championship at the Superdome.


Not that they're too keen on playing up the storyline that has no chance of going away as hard as they try.


"Well, I think it's a blessing and a curse," Jim Harbaugh said Monday. "A blessing because that is my brother's team. And, also, personally I played for the Ravens. Great respect for their organization. ... The curse part would be the talk of two brothers playing in the Super Bowl and what that takes away from the players that are in the game. Every moment that you're talking about myself or John, that's less time that the players are going to be talked about."


Both men love history, just not the kind with them making it.


"I like reading a lot of history ... I guess it's pretty neat," John Harbaugh offered Monday. "But is it really going to be written about? It's not exactly like Churchill and Roosevelt or anything. It's pretty cool, but that's as far as it goes."


Nice try, guys.


John watched the end of Jim's game from the field in Foxborough, Mass., as Baltimore warmed up for the AFC championship game. Jim called his sister's family from the team plane before takeoff after a win at Atlanta and asked how his big brother's team was doing against New England.


The improbable Super Bowl features a set of brothers known around the NFL as fierce competitors unafraid to make a bold move during the season. Unafraid to upset anyone who stands in their way.


In fact, each one made a major change midseason to get this far — John fired his offensive coordinator, while Jim boosted his offense with a quarterback switch from Alex Smith to Colin Kaepernick.


Leading up to Sunday's games, parents Jack and Jackie said they would wait to decide whether to travel to New Orleans if both teams advanced or stick to what has been working so well — watching from the comfort of their couch in Mequon, Wis.


"We enjoy it very much. We get down in our basement, turn on the television and just have a fantastic day watching outstanding football," Jack said last week. "We share our misery with no one but ourselves. Not only the misery, but the ups and downs, the ins and outs of an outstanding professional game."


And, no, the Harbaughs weren't looking ahead to a potential big trip to the Big Easy.


Jack insists his wife is quick to pull out that old sports cliche: "It's one game at a time. I think it's very appropriate," he said.


Jim figures they won't possibly miss this history-making game.


"I think they'll be there," he said with a smile.


The brothers, separated in age by 15 months, have taken different paths to football's biggest stage — years after their intense games of knee football at the family home. They tried to beat each other at cards, or whatever other game it was at the time. Sometimes, they tried to beat each other up. Sister, Joani Crean, often got in on the fun, too.


The 49-year-old Jim never reached a Super Bowl, falling a last-gasp pass short during a 15-year NFL career as a quarterback. The 50-year-old John never played in the NFL.


Still, both will tell you, "Who's got it better than us? No-body!" — one catchphrase they got from their dad.


"We can't put into words what it means to see John and Jim achieve this incredible milestone," their brother-in-law, Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean, said on Twitter. "We talked to Jim (before) his team plane left. All he wanted to know was how was John doing? How were they playing? One incredible family who puts the care, well-being and love for each other at the forefront like most families do. Again, we are very proud of them. Going to be exciting to watch it unfold."


John worked his way up from the bottom of the coaching ranks, while Jim was the star college quarterback at Michigan, a first-round draft pick and eventual Pro Bowler who made coaching his career once he retired.


John already has the one-up, while Jim's team is the early favorite. John's Ravens beat the 49ers 16-6 on Thanksgiving night 2011, in Jim's rookie season as an NFL coach — though both know that means nothing now.


"I just want everybody to know, that was a four-day deal and every story has been told," John said. "We're not that interesting. There's nothing more to learn. The tape across the middle of the room story, OK, you got it? It's OK. It was just like any other family, really. I really hope the focus is not so much on that. We get it, it's really cool and it's exciting and all that."


Said Jim, "Completely new business."


In spite of his efforts to avoid the topic, Jim did take the opportunity to express how proud he is of John.


"He's a great football coach, a real grasp of all phases — offense, defense, special teams. I think he could coordinate at least two of those phases and do it as well as anyone in the league," Jim said. "I've got half the amount of coaching experience he does. Again, it's not about us. I keep coming back to that. I'm really proud of my brother. I love him. That's the blessing part, that this is happening to him."


And, fittingly for the big brother, John feels the exact same way.


___


AP Sports Writer Dave Ginsburg in Baltimore contributed to this story.


___


Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL


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