Netanyahu, in Germany, Defends Settlement Plans

BERLIN — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel gave no ground on Thursday over his plans to expand Jewish settlements, which have been widely criticized by European allies.

Pool photo by Michael Sohn

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that Germany and Israel remained close friends despite their disagreement over Israeli settlements.

Speaking at a news conference here with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Mr. Netanyahu said the 3,000 new homes planned for settlers represented “a consistent policy” that Israel would continue under any version of an eventual peace deal with the Palestinians.

Mr. Netanyahu repeatedly emphasized that Germany and Israel remained close friends despite their disagreement, and he thanked Ms. Merkel for her unstinting support during the latest Gaza conflict.

Asked whether Israel had “lost Europe,” Mr. Netanyahu said that was not the case, but he acknowledged, “There is obviously a difference of view in Europe on the issue of the settlements.”

Ms. Merkel concurred. “On the question of settlements, we agreed that we do not agree,” she said.

Mr. Netanyahu’s visit followed a vote last week by the United Nations General Assembly on upgrading the status of Palestinians to nonmember observer state, in which Germany joined 40 other nations in abstaining. Germany’s decision had no effect on the outcome, with 138 nations voting for the proposal and 9 voting against it, including Israel and the United States.

Israel announced the next day that the government had approved 3,000 more units of housing in contested areas of East Jerusalem and the West Bank and was resuming planning and zoning work in an area east of Jerusalem known as E1. The announcement was viewed as a reaction to the United Nations vote, and critics said future construction in E1, which lies between East Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, could irreparably harm the chances for a viable, contiguous Palestinian state there.

Most countries regard any Israeli settlement beyond the 1967 boundaries as illegal under international law. So the 3,000 new units would produce criticism in any case. But the apparent threat to build on E1, however symbolic for now, struck a deeper chord of criticism.

Any expectations that Mr. Netanyahu would try to defuse the situation or at least play it down during his visit to Berlin were dashed Thursday when he brushed aside criticism.

The usually warm relations between Israel and Germany have been especially strained in recent days. Israel’s loss of support from Germany in the United Nations vote stung especially hard. German leaders have backed Israel for decades as amends for the Holocaust, whether that came in the form of diplomatic help or arms shipments. But as the Nazi era recedes into the past, Germans have proved increasingly willing to criticize Israel.

With parliamentary elections coming up next month in Israel, Mr. Netanyahu had a strong incentive to take a tough stand after the United Nations vote.

Mr. Netanyahu came to Germany with several ministers for regularly scheduled intergovernmental consultations. The themes of the meeting were supposed to be innovation, sustainability and education, but that was overshadowed at the news conference by talk of the settlement construction.

Referring to the “special relationship” between the two countries, Mr. Netanyahu said to Ms. Merkel, “I want to take this opportunity to make it absolutely clear that I have no doubt whatsoever about the depth of your commitment to Israel’s security and to the well-being of the Jewish state.”

Steven Erlanger contributed reporting from Jerusalem.

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No Grammy love for Justin Bieber, One Direction

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Irate fans of Justin Bieber and boy band One Direction took to social media on Thursday to voice their outrage after being snubbed by the Grammys for a chance to win the biggest honors in the music industry.

Indie-pop band fun and rapper Frank Ocean led the 2013 nominations, tying with The Black Keys, Mumford & Sons, Jay-Z and Kanye West for six nods. But The Recording Academy overlooked some of the year’s biggest and most commercially successful artists in Wednesday’s nominations.

While Bieber, 18, who won three American Music Awards in November, stayed quiet on his omission, his manager Scooter Braun took to Twitter.

“Grammy board u blew it on this one. the hardest thing to do is transition, keep the train moving. The kid delivered. Huge successful album, sold out tour, and won people over. … This time he deserved to be recognized,” Braun posted in a series of tweets.

Many of Bieber’s 31 million Twitter fans quickly followed suit, with hashtags such as #BieberForGrammys trending on the micro-blogging service.

The Canadian singer, who has never won a Grammy, in June released album “Believe,” showcasing a more grown-up image. The album, which produced top 10 hits “Boyfriend” and “As Long As You Love Me,” has sold more than 1.1 million copies.

British boy band One Direction was also left empty-handed despite their debut album “Up All Night” having topped the Billboard 200 album chart.

The quintet has performed sold-out shows across the world and won three MTV video music awards earlier this year.

The Grammy Awards are voted on by members of The Recording Academy and recognize achievement in 81 categories.

Lady Gaga, rapper Nicki Minaj and Korea’s Psy also failed to snag any nominations.

While Gaga hasn’t released new music this year, focusing on her global tour, Minaj released “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded,” which topped the Billboard 200 chart and spawned singles such as “Starships.”

Psy may have YouTube’s most watched video ever with “Gangnam Style,” – over 897 million views – but he missed out on becoming the first Korean artist to receive a Grammy nod.

The Grammy Awards will be handed out at a live performance show and ceremony on February 10 in Los Angeles.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; editing by Jill Serjeant and Todd Eastham)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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The X Factor Reveals Its Four Semi-Finalists

TV Watch

The X Factor

By Aaron Parsley

12/06/2012 at 09:20 PM EST

There were tears on The X Factor Thursday night.

With only four spots in next week's semi-finals, the six acts who performed two songs each Wednesday night were a tense bunch. Especially after last week's shocking elimination that sent home fan favorite Vino Alan.

A majority of PEOPLE.com readers picked Demi Lovato's only remaining contestant, CeCe Frey, as the singer who most deserved elimination. Was she able to make it through one more week? Keep reading for all the results ...

CeCe Frey was the first to go.

"I'm proud of everything that I've done on this show," she said. "I hope I've taught everyone at home that you need to love who you are, because the more you love who you are, the less you're going to need anybody else to."

Her coach tried to avoid tears but shed a few anyway. "I've grown so close to you," Demi said. "And I'm just so proud of you."

Three acts were then declare safe: Simon Cowell's boy band, Emblem3; Britney Spears's frontrunner, Carly Rose Sonenclar; and L.A. Reid's country singer, Tate Stevens, also a frontrunner.

That left Team Britney's Diamond White and Simon's other group, Fifth Harmony, to sing for survival.

Fifth Harmony sang Mariah Carey's "Anytime You Need a Friend," and Diamond sang Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance."

As expected, Simon and Britney voted to send home each other's acts. But it was the end of the road for Diamond, after L.A. and Demi both voted to send her home as well.

"I'm just thinking of Cher Lloyd right now," she said of the "Want U Back" singer. "She came in fifth and look where she is."

Here's how the top four ranked:
1. Tate Stevens
2. Carly Rose Sonenclar
3. Emblem3
4. Fifth Harmony

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Celebrations planned as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — Legal marijuana possession becomes a reality under Washington state law on Thursday, and some people planned to celebrate the new law by breaking it.

Voters in Washington and Colorado last month made those the first states to decriminalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana. Washington's law takes effect Thursday and allows adults to have up to an ounce of pot — but it bans public use of marijuana, which is punishable by a fine, just like drinking in public.

Nevertheless, some people planned to gather at 12:01 a.m. PST Thursday to smoke in public beneath Seattle's Space Needle. Others planned a midnight party outside the Seattle headquarters of Hempfest, the 21-year-old festival that attracts tens of thousands of pot fans every summer.

"This is a big day because all our lives we've been living under the iron curtain of prohibition," said Hempfest director Vivian McPeak. "The whole world sees that prohibition just took a body blow."

In another sweeping change for Washington, Gov. Chris Gregoire on Wednesday signed into law a measure that legalizes same-sex marriage. The state joins several others that allow gay and lesbian couples to wed.

That law also takes effect Thursday, when gay and lesbian couples can start picking up their wedding certificates and licenses at county auditors' offices. Those offices in King County, the state's largest and home to Seattle, and Thurston County, home to the state capital of Olympia, planned to open the earliest, at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, to start issuing marriage licenses. Because the state has a three-day waiting period, the earliest that weddings can take place is Sunday.

The Seattle Police Department provided this public marijuana use enforcement guidance to its officers via email Wednesday night: "Until further notice, officers shall not take any enforcement action — other than to issue a verbal warning — for a violation of Initiative 502."

Thanks to a 2003 law, marijuana enforcement remains the department's lowest priority. Even before I-502 passed on Nov. 6, police rarely busted people at Hempfest, despite widespread pot use, and the city attorney here doesn't prosecute people for having small amounts of marijuana.

Officers will be advising people to take their weed inside, police spokesman Jonah Spangenthal-Lee wrote on the SPD Blotter. "The police department believes that, under state law, you may responsibly get baked, order some pizzas and enjoy a 'Lord of the Rings' marathon in the privacy of your own home, if you want to."

Washington's new law decriminalizes possession of up to an ounce for those over 21, but for now selling marijuana remains illegal. I-502 gives the state a year to come up with a system of state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores, with the marijuana taxed 25 percent at each stage. Analysts have estimated that a legal pot market could bring Washington hundreds of millions of dollars a year in new tax revenue for schools, health care and basic government functions.

But marijuana remains illegal under federal law. That means federal agents can still arrest people for it, and it's banned from federal properties, including military bases and national parks.

The Justice Department has not said whether it will sue to try to block the regulatory schemes in Washington and Colorado from taking effect.

"The department's responsibility to enforce the Controlled Substances Act remains unchanged," said a statement issued Wednesday by the Seattle U.S. attorney's office. "Neither states nor the executive branch can nullify a statute passed by Congress" — a non-issue, since the measures passed in Washington and Colorado don't "nullify" federal law, which federal agents remain free to enforce.

The legal question is whether the establishment of a regulated marijuana market would "frustrate the purpose" of the federal pot prohibition, and many constitutional law scholars say it very likely would.

That leaves the political question of whether the administration wants to try to block the regulatory system, even though it would remain legal to possess up to an ounce of marijuana.

Colorado's measure, as far as decriminalizing possession goes, is set to take effect by Jan. 5. That state's regulatory scheme is due to be up and running by October 2013.

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Johnson can be reached at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle

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Apple's gains lift tech in quiet day before jobs data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks closed modestly higher on Thursday, a day ahead of the key monthly jobs report, as a rebound in shares of Apple helped boost technology shares.

Traders were reluctant to bet heavily a day before the Friday release of the November employment report. Just 5.62 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, shy of the 6.48 billion daily average this year.

Investors are also keeping watch on the "fiscal cliff" negotiations in Washington to see if lawmakers can reach a deal to avoid a series of spending cuts and tax hikes beginning in January.

"Right now we're just drifting, waiting to learn about the cliff and jobs," said Donald Selkin, chief market strategist at National Securities in New York. "The only stabilizing factor is that Apple is higher again, which is lending some support to the broader market."

Apple climbed 1.6 percent to $547.24, reversing losses incurred at the open. The stock was coming off its biggest one-day drop in four years on Wednesday, which occurred on concerns about higher capital gains taxes in 2013 and the company's tablet computer market share.

The S&P technology index <.gspt> was the best performing of the S&P 500's 10 major sectors, gaining 0.8 percent. Semiconductor stocks rallied a day after Broadcom forecast fourth-quarter revenue at the high end of its target range. Broadcom's stock rose 3.2 percent to $33.36 while the PHLX semiconductor index <.sox> rose 1.1 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 39.55 points, or 0.30 percent, to 13,074.04 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> added 4.66 points, or 0.33 percent, to 1,413.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> gained 15.57 points, or 0.52 percent, to close at 2,989.27.

Monthly payroll numbers, which will be released by the Labor Department before the market opens on Friday, are expected to show a sharp slowdown in jobs growth, though that is largely due to the impact of Superstorm Sandy, which devastated the U.S. Northeast in late October and early November. The unemployment rate is seen holding steady at 7.9 percent.

Broader moves were limited, however, as traders focused on the "fiscal cliff" debate. About three weeks remain before higher tax rates would go into effect, which economists worry would dampen economic growth. Legislators are trying to come up with a deal to avoid some of the negative effects on the economy while still reducing the U.S. budget deficit.

While Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives insist that raising tax rates on the rich is not negotiable, some GOP lawmakers now see it as inevitable to avoid the fiscal cliff.

Without action from Congress, tax cuts on capital gains and dividends will expire at the end of 2012. This has given investors a reason to sell certain stocks such as Apple that have done extremely well in recent years.

The CBOE Volatility Index <.vix>, known as the VIX, rose 0.7 percent, "a reflection of the anxiety people have about the jobs report and skepticism over the cliff," Selkin said.

An S&P index of consumer discretionary shares <.gspd> gained 0.6 percent, lifted by Starbucks Corp shares' advance of 5.7 percent to $53.70 after Baird upgraded the stock to "outperform."

H&R Block climbed 5.1 percent to $18.26 after the company reported a quarterly loss that was narrower than expected.

Sirius XM Radio shares rose 0.7 percent to $2.79 after its board approved a $2 billion stock repurchase and declared a special dividend that gave a big payout to its largest shareholder, Liberty Media . Shares of Liberty climbed 2.7 percent to $109.24.

Garmin shares jumped 5.7 percent to $41.99 after Standard & Poor's said it would add the navigation device maker to the S&P 500 index. Garmin will replace R.R. Donnelley & Sons after the close of trading on December 11.

Slightly more than 50 percent of the stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange closed higher, while the number of advancing and declining stocks was about even on the Nasdaq.

(Editing by Jan Paschal)

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Elisabeth Murdoch, 103, Matriarch of a Journalism Family

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, the 103-year-old mother of the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, the widow of an Australian newspaper baron and one of her nation’s most noted philanthropists, died on Wednesday at her estate near Melbourne.

Mr. Murdoch announced her death.

Elisabeth Joy Greene was just a teenager, a shy, obedient girl of privilege, rail thin and fashionably coiffed (though not long out of pigtails), when she was introduced to Keith Murdoch in 1927. He was 42, already a wealthy, famous and worldly newspaperman destined to become one of Australia’s foremost publishers. He had seen her debutante picture in a society magazine and had come courting.

Months later, in June 1928, they were married. She was 19. As a wedding present he gave her a sprawling estate at Langwarrin, near Australia’s southeast coast. They called it Cruden Farm, after the ancestral parish of his Scottish forebears, and it became the seat of Murdoch family life for generations.

There, while her husband amassed a newspaper and radio empire in Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane and became a political power broker, she gave birth to her four children: Helen in 1929, Rupert in 1931, Anne in 1936 and Janet in 1939.

She reared them with what she called “loving discipline,” to discourage materialism, especially in the headstrong Rupert. She sent him for eight years to Geelong Grammar, a boarding school near Melbourne that imposed a military regimen and canings. He was bullied and teased and became decidedly unhappy, but his mother was firm.

“I was never indulgent with them because my husband was inclined to be a bit indulgent, so I had to swing the other way,” she told Frances Jones last year. “They all grew up to appreciate my attitude about material things.”

She was also alert to her husband’s self-indulgences. During the Depression, when the Murdochs hired men desperate for work to build stables and other outbuildings at the farm, she was aghast when her husband drove up one day in a Rolls-Royce. She ordered him to return it.

And she herself was frugal. For decades, according to The Australian, a national broadsheet, she refused to have heating in the house, resisted hairdressers and one year gave up a trip abroad to pay for a pool in the garden. The newspaper said she preferred to spend money on the garden rather than herself.

Dame Elisabeth, who was styled Lady Elisabeth when her husband was knighted in 1933 and Dame Elisabeth when she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1963, said her philanthropies were inspired by Sir Keith, a trustee of national museums and galleries. He died in 1952.

Although much of her husband’s wealth went for taxes, she inherited shares in his media company, News Limited, and its subsidiaries; a Melbourne magazine, and a newspaper in New South Wales. The Adelaide News and Sunday Mail went to her son, and became the foundations of his international media empire.

Dame Elisabeth gave millions to more than a hundred charities. Her beneficiaries included deaf children, epileptics, victims of mental illness and substance abuse, prison inmates and Melbourne institutions. These included the Royal Children’s Hospital, of which she was president from 1954 to 1965, the Australian Ballet and the Royal Botanic Gardens. Last year she greeted Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, at ceremonies to dedicate new facilities at the hospital.

At Cruden Farm, she developed a magnificent garden, with a lake and vistas of woodlands, lawns and beds of roses, irises and honeysuckles. Rows of lemon-scented eucalyptus lined the long, winding driveway like sentries. The garden became a centerpiece of her life — she worked on it for more than 80 years — and a treasure of landscape architecture, which she opened to the public.

In a life that spanned a century, Dame Elisabeth met and entertained royalty, prime ministers and presidents and many world leaders in business, entertainment and other fields. The house at Cruden Farm was comfortable, if not imposing, with white columns across the portico and an Australian flag flying from the roof. The public rooms were filled with photographs, mementos and old oak furniture.

She was a matriarch from a gentler age, speaking softly, keeping track of appointments in a small red leather diary, writing letters in her own hand, reading biographies voraciously, and each week playing bridge, calling it her secret vice. In 2009, her family and 500 guests attended her 100th birthday, and the Spanish tenor José Carreras performed eight songs.

Even after her centennial, Dame Elisabeth, alert and observant, kept up a busy schedule of meetings, charity functions and gardening chores. She got around with a walker and a wheelchair, and in the garden used an electric buggy driven by her gardener as they discussed what to trim, remove, plant or rearrange.

Elisabeth Joy Greene was born on Feb. 8, 1909, in Melbourne, the third daughter of Rupert and Marie Grace De Lancey Forth Greene. Her father was the wool expert of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency and the son of a Scottish railway engineer who had emigrated to Australia. Her mother, descended from Scottish and English forebears, was active in society and philanthropic circles.

She attended elite schools in the Melbourne area, St. Catherine’s in Toorak and Clyde in Woodend. While still a schoolgirl, she knitted woolen shirts for babies at the Melbourne Children’s Hospital and was rewarded with a tour. There she saw victims of abuse and neglect, and she was appalled. She volunteered to work one day a week at a free kindergarten for poor children. She said these early experiences were the seeds of her philanthropies after her marriage.

Dame Elisabeth’s oldest child, Helen Handbury, died in 2004. Besides her son Rupert, she is survived by her two other daughters, Anne Kantor and Janet Calvert-Jones, as well as many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. A News Limited newspaper, The Courier-Mail of Brisbane, said she is survived by 77 direct descendants.

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Kate Receives Hospital Visit from Pippa and James

12/05/2012 at 07:30 PM EST

James and Pippa Middleton

Alpha /Landov; Inset:Allpix/ plash News Online

The Duchess of Cambridge had more hospital visitors on Wednesday.

Just two days after husband Prince William, 30, was photographed leaving the King Edward VII Hospital in Central London where a pregnant Kate, 30, was admitted for hyperemesis gravidarum, her sister, Pippa Middleton, brother James and mom Carole (not pictured), also dropped by to keep the mom-to-be company.

Pippa was bundled up in a coat, sporting a tan-colored ensemble, while her brother was casually dressed in jeans and layered tops.

The Palace announced the Duchess's pregnancy Monday in a statement. "Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Cambridge is expecting a baby," it said. "The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry and members of both families are delighted with the news."

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Study could spur wider use of prenatal gene tests

A new study sets the stage for wider use of gene testing in early pregnancy. Scanning the genes of a fetus reveals far more about potential health risks than current prenatal testing does, say researchers who compared both methods in thousands of pregnancies nationwide.

A surprisingly high number — 6 percent — of certain fetuses declared normal by conventional testing were found to have genetic abnormalities by gene scans, the study found. The gene flaws can cause anything from minor defects such as a club foot to more serious ones such as mental retardation, heart problems and fatal diseases.

"This isn't done just so people can terminate pregnancies," because many choose to continue them even if a problem is found, said Dr. Ronald Wapner, reproductive genetics chief at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. "We're better able to give lots and lots of women more information about what's causing the problem and what the prognosis is and what special care their child might need."

He led the federally funded study, published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

A second study in the journal found that gene testing could reveal the cause of most stillbirths, many of which remain a mystery now. That gives key information to couples agonizing over whether to try again.

The prenatal study of 4,400 women has long been awaited in the field, and could make gene testing a standard of care in cases where initial screening with an ultrasound exam suggests a structural defect in how the baby is developing, said Dr. Susan Klugman, director of reproductive genetics at New York's Montefiore Medical Center, which enrolled 300 women into the study.

"We can never guarantee the perfect baby but if they want everything done, this is a test that can tell a lot more," she said.

Many pregnant women are offered screening with an ultrasound exam or a blood test that can flag some common abnormalities such as Down syndrome, but these are not conclusive.

The next step is diagnostic testing on cells from the fetus obtained through amniocentesis, which is like a needle biopsy through the belly, or chorionic villus sampling, which snips a bit of the placenta. Doctors look at the sample under a microscope for breaks or extra copies of chromosomes that cause a dozen or so abnormalities.

The new study compared this eyeball method to scanning with gene chips that can spot hundreds of abnormalities and far smaller defects than what can be seen with a microscope. This costs $1,200 to $1,800 versus $600 to $1,000 for the visual exam.

In the study, both methods were used on fetal samples from 4,400 women around the country. Half of the moms were at higher risk because they were over 35. One-fifth had screening tests suggesting Down syndrome. One-fourth had ultrasounds suggesting structural abnormalities. Others sought screening for other reasons.

"Some did it for anxiety — they just wanted more information about their child," Wapner said.

Of women whose ultrasounds showed a possible structural defect but whose fetuses were called normal by the visual chromosome exam, gene testing found problems in 6 percent — one out of 17.

"That's a lot. That's huge," Klugman said.

Gene tests also found abnormalities in nearly 2 percent of cases where the mom was older or ultrasounds suggested a problem other than a structural defect.

Dr. Lorraine Dugoff, a University of Pennsylvania high-risk pregnancy specialist, wrote in an editorial in the journal that gene testing should become the standard of care when a structural problem is suggested by ultrasound. But its value may be incremental in other cases and offset by the 1.5 percent of cases where a gene abnormality of unknown significance is found.

In those cases, "a lot of couples might not be happy that they ordered that test" because it can't give a clear answer, she said.

Ana Zeletz, a former pediatric nurse from Hoboken, N.J., had one of those results during the study. An ultrasound suggested possible Down syndrome; gene testing ruled that out but showed an abnormality that could indicate kidney problems — or nothing.

"They give you this list of all the things that could possibly be wrong," Zeletz said. Her daughter, Jillian, now 2, had some urinary and kidney abnormalities that seem to have resolved, and has low muscle tone that caused her to start walking later than usual.

"I am very glad about it," she said of the testing, because she knows to watch her daughter for possible complications like gout. Without the testing, "we wouldn't know anything, we wouldn't know to watch for things that might come up," she said.

The other study involved 532 stillbirths — deaths of a fetus in the womb before delivery. Gene testing revealed the cause in 87 percent of cases versus 70 percent of cases analyzed by the visual chromosome inspection method. It also gave more information on specific genetic abnormalities that couples could use to estimate the odds that future pregnancies would bring those risks.

The study was led by Dr. Uma Reddy of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

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Online:

Medical journal: http://www.nejm.org

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Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

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Dow, S&P rise, but Nasdaq sours with Apple in wild day

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A volatile trading session ended with U.S. stocks mostly higher on Wednesday, even as Apple, the most valuable company in the United States, suffered its worst day of losses in almost four years.

In a strange occurrence, Apple accounted for the entirety of the Nasdaq 100's <.ndx> fall of 1.1 percent, while the Dow industrials - which do not include Apple as a component - enjoyed the best day since November 28.

With the drop, Apple shed nearly $35 billion in market capitalization, its biggest one-day market-cap loss ever. The company's market value, or market capitalization, now stands at $506.85 billion.

"Today's move is because of index weightings, with the Nasdaq down because of Apple's decline," said Rex Macey, chief investment officer of Wilmington Trust in Atlanta. "The S&P is up because Apple isn't as big a weight in that index, and the Dow is up even more because it isn't there at all."

The broad market seesawed, with the S&P 500 dropping into negative territory before it rebounded off the 1,400 level, seen as a key support point over the past two weeks. Investors cited comments from President Barack Obama suggesting a potential near-term resolution to the "fiscal cliff" wrangling in Washington as a catalyst for the rebound.

Shares of The Travelers Cos Inc rose 4.9 percent to $74. The stock ranked as the Dow's top percentage gainer after the insurance company said it intended to resume stock buybacks it had temporarily suspended while it assessed its exposure to Superstorm Sandy. The company also said a preliminary estimate of net losses from Sandy was about $650 million after tax.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 82.71 points, or 0.64 percent, to 13,034.49 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> gained 2.23 points, or 0.16 percent, to 1,409.28. But the Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> fell 22.99 points, or 0.77 percent, to end at 2,973.70.

Apple, the largest U.S. company by market capitalization and a big weight in both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, fell 6.4 percent to $538.79. Apple is down more than 20 percent from an all-time high reached in late September, putting the stock into bear market territory.

Banking shares were led higher by a 6.3 percent jump in Citigroup to $36.46 after the company said it would cut 4 percent of its workforce. The S&P financial sector index <.gspf> climbed 1.3 percent, and Bank of America hit a 52-week high of $10.55 before pulling back slightly. The stock, a Dow component, ended at $10.46, up 5.7 percent for the day.

Cyclical sectors, which are tied to the pace of economic growth, rallied on optimism about progress on a solution to avoid the fiscal cliff. An S&P index of industrial stocks <.gspi> rose 1.1 percent, buoyed by Caterpillar Inc , up 2.2 percent at $86.05, while an S&P index of energy shares <.gspe> climbed 0.7 percent. The Dow Jones Transportation Average <.djt> gained 0.9 percent, with CSX Corp jumping 2.7 percent to $20.16.

Still, Apple struggled throughout the session. Market participants cited a host of reasons for the drop in the iPad maker's stock, including a consultant's report about the company losing share in the tablet market and reports that margin requirements had been raised by at least one clearing firm, as well as year-end tax selling ahead of a possible rise in capital-gains tax rates next year.

On the Washington front, Obama told the Business Roundtable, a group of chief executives, on Wednesday that a fiscal cliff deal was possible "in about a week" if Republicans acknowledged the need to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

Equities have struggled to gain ground recently because of concerns over the fiscal cliff - a series of mandatory spending cuts and tax increases effective in early January that could push the U.S. economy into recession next year. Recently equities have moved on any whiffs of sentiment from Washington in headlines about negotiations.

"Obama's comments generated a lot of optimism, but to the extent the market believes them, that's how much we're setting ourselves up for a decline if that deadline passes with no progress," said Macey, who helps oversee about $20 billion in assets.

In an interview on CNBC after the market closed, U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said that uncertainty over the fiscal cliff was standing in the way of stronger economic growth, and that there was no prospect for an agreement if tax rates didn't rise on the wealthiest taxpayers.

The stock of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc fell 16 percent to $32.17 and ranked as the S&P 500's biggest percentage decliner. The company said it was acquiring Plains Exploration & Production Co and McMoRan Exploration Co in two separate deals for $9 billion in cash and stock in a major expansion into energy.

McMoRan Exploration soared 87 percent to $15.82 and Plains surged 23.4 percent to $44.50.

About half of the stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange closed in positive territory, while about 54 percent of Nasdaq-listed shares ended lower.

Volume was higher than it has been in recent sessions, with about 6.93 billion shares changing hands on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and NYSE MKT, above the daily average so far this year of about 6.48 billion shares.

(Editing by Jan Paschal)

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Egyptians Protesting Draft Constitution Are Met With Tear Gas

Tara Todras-Whitehill for The New York Times

Egyptians protested against President Mohamed Morsi in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo.

CAIRO — Riot police officers fired brief rounds of tear gas on Tuesday night at tens of thousands of demonstrators outside the presidential palace protesting the Islamist-backed draft constitution. It was the clearest evidence yet that the new charter has only widened the divisions that have plagued Egypt since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak nearly two years ago.

Eleven newspapers stopped publication for the day on Tuesday to protest limits on the new constitution’s protections for freedom of expression. At least three private television networks said they would go dark on Wednesday. By Tuesday night, demonstrators had also filled Tahrir Square and taken to the streets in Alexandria, Suez and several other Egyptian cities.

President Mohamed Morsi’s supporters say the constitution establishes a new democracy, not a theocracy. But while it does not impose religious rule, his opponents say, it does not preclude it, either. They say it contains major loopholes in individual liberties, could enable Muslim religious authorities to wield new influence and still leaves too much power in the hands of the president.

“It seeks to impose a one-sided religious extremist national identity, contrary to Egypt’s moderate character and openness to the world,” a coalition of secular opposition groups said Tuesday.

Still, the document promises an end to nearly two years of tumultuous transition, and the odds are against blocking its ratification in an up-or-down vote on Dec. 15, many in the opposition acknowledge. But Mr. Morsi’s opponents hope that their campaign to defeat the draft might at least narrow its margin of approval.

They hope to carry that momentum into parliamentary elections in two months, and hurt the Islamists’ chances at the polls. Last year Islamists won about three-quarters of the seats in the parliamentary elections, before a court dissolved the chamber.

Protesters turned out on Tuesday for the third day in the last two weeks to protest against Mr. Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president and a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. Marchers used slogans recycled from the revolt against Mr. Mubarak against Mr. Morsi and the Islamists. “Bread, freedom and bring down the Brotherhood!” some chanted. “Shave your beard, show your disgrace, you will find that you have Mubarak’s face!”

When the crowds reached the palace around 6 p.m., they pushed briefly against police barricades, and officers responded with short volleys of tear gas. But the riot police then retreated behind the palace walls, apparently to avoid further clashes.

Two rows of riot police officers stood guard so Mr. Morsi’s motorcade could leave for his suburban home. “Coward!” they chanted. “Leave!” The crowd looted a guardhouse and covered the palace walls with graffiti mocking either Mr. Morsi, the Brotherhood, or other Islamists.

President Obama’s national security adviser, Tom Donilon, met Tuesday in Washington with his Egyptian counterpart, Essam el-Haddad, and emphasized “the need to move forward with a peaceful and inclusive transition that respects the rights of all Egyptians,” according to a White House spokesman.

The protests did not suggest widespread defections from among core Morsi supporters. The crowd appeared more affluent than those at the usual Tahrir Square protests here, to say nothing of the Islamist rallies. There was an unusually high concentration of women, especially for an event after dark, and very few traditional Islamic headscarves. Interviews suggested a heavy representation from Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority, who fear marginalization under the Brotherhood.

The relative affluence of the crowd “is a good thing,” said Farid Beshay, a 29-year-old Christian. “This is not a revolt of the poor. This is people coming to demand their rights.”

The newspapers that shut down for the day said their action was aimed specifically at the draft constitution’s failure to protect free expression. “You are reading this message because Egypt Independent objects to continued restrictions on media liberties, especially after hundreds of Egyptians gave their lives for freedom and dignity,” a short statement declared Tuesday morning on the Web site of Egypt Independent, the English-language sister publication of the country’s largest independent daily, Al Masry Al Youm.

That paper and 10 others did not publish. Among other criticisms, analysts and human rights groups say the draft all but eviscerates its provisions for freedom of expression, in part by also expressly prohibiting “insults” to any living individual or to religious “prophets.”

The draft charter also stipulates that a purpose of the news media is to uphold public morality and the “true nature of the Egyptian family,” and specifies that government authorization may be required to operate a television station or a Web site.

“The protection of freedom of expression is fatally undermined by all the provisions that limit it,” said Heba Morayef, a researcher with Human Rights Watch who has studied the text. “On paper, they have not protected freedom of expression. It is designed to let the government limit those rights on the basis of ‘morality’ or the vague concept of ‘insult.’ ”

The Web site of the state newspaper Al Ahram on Tuesday reported that at least 60 of its own journalists had joined the protest marches — a sign that could be taken as a notable endorsement of the cause, or a measure of how much has already changed since Mr. Mubarak’s exit.

Mayy El Sheikh contributed reporting from Cairo, and Peter Baker from Washington.

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