S&P 500 in longest winning streak since 2004

The Standard & Poor's 500 index closed above 1,500 on Friday for the first time since the start of the Great Recession in 2007, lifted by strong earnings from Procter & Gamble and Starbucks.

The S&P 500 rose 8.14 points to 1,502.96. It was the eighth straight gain, the longest winning streak since November 2004.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 13,825.33, up 46 points. The Nasdaq composite gained 19.33 points to 3,149.71.

Procter & Gamble, world's largest consumer products maker, gained $2.83 to $73.25 after reporting that its quarterly income more than doubled. P&G also raised its profit forecast for its full fiscal year. Starbucks rose $2.24 to $56.81 after reporting a 13 percent increase in profits.

“Earnings are growing,” said Joe Tanious, a global market strategist at JPMorgan. “The bottom line is that corporate America is doing exceptionally well.”

Tanious expects corporate earnings to grow at about 5 percent over the “next year or two,” and stock valuations to rise. Currently, the S&P 500 is trading at an average price-to-earnings ratio of 14, below an average of 15.1 for the last decade, according to FactSet data.

Apple continued to decline, allowing Exxon Mobil to once again surpass the electronics giant as the world's most valuable publicly traded company. Apple fell 2.4 percent to $439.88, following a 12 percent drop on Thursday, the biggest one-day percentage drop for the company since 2008, after Apple forecast slower sales. The stock is now 37 percent below the record high of $702.10 it reached Sept. 19.

Apple first surpassed Exxon in market value in the summer of 2011, grabbing a title Exxon had held since 2005. The two traded places through that fall, until Apple surpassed Exxon in early 2012.

Stocks have surged this month, with the S&P 500 advancing 5.4 percent. It jumped at the start of the year when lawmakers reached a last-minute deal to avoid the “fiscal cliff.” Stocks built on those gains on optimism that the housing market is recovering and the labor market is healing. The Dow Jones is up 5.5 percent on the year.

Deutsche Bank analysts raised their year-end target for the index to 1,600 from 1,575.

Companies will be able to maintain their earnings even if lawmakers in Washington decide to implement wide-ranging spending cuts to narrow the budget deficit, the analysts said in a note sent to clients late Thursday.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, climbed 11 basis points to 1.95 percent.

Among other stocks making big moves.

— Halliburton gained $1.91 to $39.72 after posting a loss that was smaller than analysts had expected. The oilfield services company said fourth-quarter profits declined 26 percent to $669 million on increasing pricing pressure in the North American market and one-time charges from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Wall Street had expected worse.

—Hasbro fell $1.14 to $37.31 after the toy maker said its fourth-quarter revenue failed to meet expectations because of poor demand over the holidays. The company plans to cut about 10 percent of its workforce and consolidate facilities to cut expenses.

— Green Mountain Coffee Roasters rose $2.53 to $46.31 after an analyst noted that sales of a competing coffee brewer introduced by Starbucks were getting off to a weak start.

Read More..

Bell council members took pay for 'sham' board meetings, D.A. says

Opening statements began Thursday in the trial against six former Bell council members accused of paying themselves extraordinarily high salaries for their part-time work, largely by collecting pay for serving on boards and commissions that rarely, if ever, met.

Deputy Dist. Atty Edward Miller walked the jury through a PowerPoint presentation that listed how often the four agencies met. One screen shot read, “Agendas for each had one item. Pay raises.”

Between 2006 and 2007, Miller said the total meeting time for all of the boards was 34 minutes.

FULL COVERAGE: Bell trial

“The evidence will show that they worked less minutes than my opening statement will take this morning,” he said.

He pointed out that the Solid Waste Authority met for just two minutes one year.

“This was a sham from the beginning,” he said. “The two minutes was just to pass a resolution to establish their pay. They did nothing else that year.”

The prosecutor said the former council members cost the city $1.3 million with their inflated salaries.

Later, Miller turned to the jury of eight women and four men and said, “So how did they get away with it? Well, unfortunately, participation by the community in Bell city politics wasn’t very good.”

The corruption case in Bell exploded more than two years ago when The Times revealed that council members were making about $100,000 a year. The town’s chief administrator, Robert Rizzo, was being compensated nearly $1 million for running the largely immigrant city of about 35,000 residents.

Rizzo, along with former assistant city manager Angela Spaccia, will stand trial later this year.

Authorities said their investigation showed that the elected leaders and top administrators had been raiding the city treasury by drawing huge salaries, lending out city money and imposing illegal taxes on residents of the L.A. County city.

Luis Artiga, Victor Bello, George Cole, Oscar Hernandez, Teresa Jacobo and George Mirabal all face potential prison terms if convicted.

The trial drew a few Bell residents, including Donna Gannon, who has lived in the city for more than 35 years. Gannon, 59, said she plans to run for city council and wanted to attend the hearing to learn more about the charges against the defendants. She hopes to relay the information to residents.

“There’s a lot of information we don’t know and are still confused about,” she said. “Right now we’re in the dark. There’s still an elephant in the room, and we’re here to learn the details.”

After the lunch break, opening statements will be heard from all six defense attorneys. One said he was not impressed by Miller’s remarks.

“There were no surprises,” Hernandez’s attorney, Stanley L. Friedman, said. “Where’s the beef?”

Read More..

Microsoft profit dips on lower Xbox holiday sales

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp reported a dip in fiscal second-quarter profit on Thursday, as weaker sales of its Xbox game system in the holiday quarter offset a solid start for its new Windows 8 operating system.

The world’s largest software company reported profit of $ 6.4 billion, or 76 cents per share, compared to $ 6.6 billion, or 78 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Overall sales rose 3 percent to $ 21.5 billion.

(Reporting by Bill Rigby; Editing by Richard Chang)

Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Microsoft profit dips on lower Xbox holiday sales
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/microsoft-profit-dips-on-lower-xbox-holiday-sales/
Link To Post : Microsoft profit dips on lower Xbox holiday sales
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart heading to Broadway

NEW YORK (AP) — Serious theater fans have a reason to suddenly freak out: Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart will team up on Broadway this fall in two of the most iconic plays of the 20th century.

Producers announced Thursday that Stewart and McKellen will star in Harold Pinter's "No Man's Land" and Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" which will play in repertoire under the direction of Sean Mathias.

The Broadway theater, performance dates, the two supporting actors and the schedule of performances will be announced later.

Stewart and McKellen starred in a production of "Waiting for Godot" in London's West End in 2009. Prior to Broadway, they'll tackle "No Man's Land" in an as-yet-unspecified out-of-town tryout this summer.

Mathias told The Associated Press all three men struggled to make "Waiting for Godot" as honest and realistic as possible — an approach they'll likely replicate with Pinter's play.

"What we tried to do, with so much effort, was make it real. Make them human beings, compassionate, funny, flawed and vulnerable and cocky — all the things human beings are," Mathias said. "We never wanted to make it esoteric. I'm sure this is how we will approach the Pinter as well."

Stewart, 72, and McKellen, 73, first worked together in 1977 in Tom Stoppard's "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour." They've also starred in the "X-Men" movie franchise as Professor Xavier and Magneto.

Stewart will play Vladimir in "Waiting for Godot" and Hirst in "No Man's Land;" McKellen will play Estragon in "Waiting for Godot" and Spooner in "No Man's Land."

"My main feeling is it's lovely to be back with friends and it will be lovely to be back in New York," said McKellen, who is doing a sit-com in England and next goes to Middle Earth to film scenes for "The Hobbit" franchise. "But I've got an awful lot to do in the meantime."

McKellen made his Broadway debut in Aleksei Arbuzov's "The Promise" in 1967 and won a Tony Award for his performance in "Amadeus" in 1981. His films include "Apt Pupil," ''Gods and Monsters" and "The Lord of the Rings."

Stewart, perhaps best known as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," first appeared on Broadway in Peter Brook's production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in 1971 and has recently been in David Mamet's "A Life in the Theatre" and "Macbeth."

Putting the Beckett and Pinter plays together in repertoire makes theatrical sense since both require four male actors and they both mine a surreal, witty vein.

"Both plays play tricks with our memory, with time, with what time is," said Mathias. "Both plays are dealing with a landscape of poetry, a landscape of psychology, a landscape that is both real and isn't real. So there are incredible reverberations and resonances."

Stewart and McKellen will sink their teeth into Beckett and Pinter after spending the summer filming "X-Men: Days of Future Past." Mathias, a Tony nominee in 1995 for "Indiscretions," will be directing "Breakfast at Tiffany's" on Broadway this spring.

Now a thorny question: Who gets top billing on Broadway — McKellen or Stewart? After all, both actors have gotten knighthoods for their services to drama and the performing arts.

"For me there's no question," Stewart said. "Ian was a star actor while I was still working in regional theater. To be absolutely frank, I was in awe of him and his work long before I knew him."

___

Follow Mark Kennedy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

Read More..

Question Mark: Why Am I Making So Many Pit Stops?

There are those who have suggested that this feature appears to take an unseemly delight in the decline of the human body: ears that don't hear as well, spines that compress and curve, nose sensors that fade. And did we mention those hairs that start growing out of places other than the head? So we are happy to report on one thing baby boomers may find they do as well as well as ever: urinating. In fact, not only are they still doing it, they may well be doing it more often than ever. A lot more often.

Herman Wouters

Older men may feel more affinity for this  famous fountain in Brussels than they'd like.

Um, wait a minute. It turns out this may be another one of those decline-of-the-human body pieces. Because for many people, their bedtime routine may now consist of reading, a strategic dash to the bathroom right before lights out, and a plea to Neptune to hold back the waters so they will make it through the night without having to get up.

Even if they do manage to do that, they may feel chagrined if they are parents and see their children roll out of bed, eat breakfast and head off to school without making a single pit stop. Your children may not be better people. But they may have better kidneys, said Dr. Sharon A. Brangman, a professor of medicine at SUNY Upstate Medical University.

People may urinate more as they get older for a number of reasons, including medical problems like hypertension or diabetes. It may also be a symptom of infection. “That’s often the first thing we look at when people complain of frequent urination,” said Dr. Tomas Griebling, vice chairman of urology at the University of Kansas and a spokesman for the American Urological Association. Some medicines can also be the cause.

Getting older, Dr. Griebling said, does not necessarily mean more trips to the bathroom. But many people do notice that they have to go more often, and often the explanation lies with normal changes in the body.

As people age, their kidneys may become less adept at concentrating urine and may draw in more water from elsewhere in the body, said Dr. Brangman, a past president of the American Geriatrics Society. This means more urine is produced and sent on to the bladder which, as it happens, is not getting any younger, either, and may be losing some storage capacity. The urethra, through which the urine exits the body, may also be shortening and its lining thinning.

Adding to the problem is that as people age, their bodies produce less of a hormone, aldosterone, that lets them retain fluid. In women, estrogen levels also drop, a change associated with increased urination. And in men, as the prostate gets bigger, it may become harder to urinate, or to do so completely. (Men and women may also develop some incontinence, especially common in women who have borne children.)

Increased urination knows no time of day, but people seem to notice it more at night. The National Sleep Foundation says that when it surveyed people ages 55 to 84, two-thirds reported losing sleep at least a few times a week because of the problem.

Questions about aging? E-mail boomerwhy@nytimes.com

Booming: Living Through the Middle Ages offers news and commentary about baby boomers, anchored by Michael Winerip. You can follow Booming via RSS here or visit nytimes.com/booming. You can reach us by e-mail at booming@nytimes.com.

Read More..

Apple shares tumble after relatively unimpressive earnings report

Apple Inc. may still make products customers love, but its latest earnings report appears to have broken investors' hearts.

For the third quarter in a row, Apple reported revenue and profit that were impressive by normal standards, but short of what analysts had expected. Investors reacted harshly, driving Apple's stock price down more than 10% in after-hours trading Wednesday.

If that trend holds when trading opens Thursday, Apple will have lost almost $50 billion in market value in the blink of an eye, and its stock will have given up almost all the extraordinary gains it had made in the last year. Investors' and fund managers' belief in one of the world's most widely held stocks will be severely tested in the coming days.

More fundamentally, despite upbeat talk by Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, the performance is unlikely to quell growing worries that Apple's remarkable run of dominance might be over.

"Overall, compared to other companies, it's impressive. But for Apple's standards, it's not great," said Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy. "I do think this somewhat fuels the perception that Apple is slowing down a bit.... And it's driven by the fact that some of its competitors are catching up, and in some markets have already caught up."

Apple executives did their best during an hourlong conference call with analysts to project optimism and excitement about both the last quarter and the months ahead. They noted that the company had trouble meeting demand for both iPads and Macs, and could have sold many more had they been able to build enough.

They also pointed to a growing business in China and the expansion of iTunes, which is now available in 119 countries.

"Apple is in one of the most prolific periods of innovation in its history," Cook said. "We continue to believe our fundamentals, our remarkable people, our clear and focused strategy will serve us well in the coming months and years ahead."

Cook praised the record numbers posted by Apple. For the three months that ended in December, Apple said revenue increased 18% to a record $54.5 billion. Profit also set an all-time high but was up only slightly from the year-earlier quarter, rising to $13.08 billion, or $13.81 a share, from $13.06 billion, or $13.87.

Apple said it sold a record 47.8 million iPhones last quarter, up from 37 million iPhones in the same quarter of 2011. Despite that massive figure, some analysts had hoped to see stronger demand with sales exceeding 50 million.

"Meeting expectations is not enough for Apple," said Colin Gillis of BGC Financial. "So that's a little bit of a disappointment…. International sales were a little weaker than people expected. So we'll see how that shakes out."

Last quarter saw the introduction of the iPad mini, a 7.9-inch version of Apple's popular tablet computer. The Cupertino, Calif., company said it sold a total of 22.9 million iPads in the quarter, also a record, up from 15.4 million a year earlier. The company didn't break out iPad mini numbers from its total tablet sales, but Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer told analysts that the smaller version has been a hit and that the company experienced significant backlog getting the product to store shelves. The 22% lower average selling price for Apple's tablets suggests the mini has performed well but probably cannibalized some sales of its 9.7-inch version.

Historic comparisons were challenging this year because the most recent quarter had only 13 weeks, compared with 14 weeks for the same quarter of 2011.

Like many retailers and consumer electronics companies, the quarter from October to December is typically Apple's largest because of the holiday shopping season. Last year, Apple managed to stun investors by beating its own revenue estimates by more than 25% and earnings forecast by nearly 50%. That sent the stock soaring.

But even as Apple extended its lead as the world's most valuable company, and set a record in August for most valuable company ever when not adjusted for inflation, doubts began to creep into the minds of analysts and investors.

Shares have plummeted 27% in the last four months. On Wednesday, shares rose $9.24, or 1.8%, to $514.01 during regular trading.

Apple reported strong earnings in both the third and fourth quarters last year, but the numbers missed analysts' consensus estimates. Gradually, analysts began lowering their forecasts for Apple's earnings for the current fiscal year. At the same time,

Apple experienced some uncharacteristic gaffes. The new Apple Maps app that replaced Google Maps on iOS 6 devices had reliability problems, prompting a rare apology by Apple. And the iPhone 5 that went on sale in September faced long shipping delays as Apple suppliers struggled to adapt to the new, longer screen size.

The dismissal of iOS chief Scott Forstall, a favorite of the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, raised eyebrows. But so did a new strategy for launching products: Whereas Apple updates to products used to be few and far between, the company has lately begun increasing the number of products as well as the introduction of new versions.

The first quarter saw one of the busiest product launch cycles in the company's history. The quarter was the first full quarter of sales for the iPhone 5, a new iPod Touch and nano, the fourth iPad, a new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, and, of course, the first iPad mini.

Observers have pointed to this accelerated pace as an indication that Apple is facing more competitive pressure from rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co., which is now the world's biggest seller of smartphones, with its Galaxy series of phones. The concern is that the faster upgrade cycle plus the smaller iPad mini will cut into Apple's historically high profit margins.

Such fears over lower profits have also been stoked by the debate over whether Apple plans to release a cheaper iPhone aimed at capturing market share in emerging economies and the concern that Apple has not been able to strike a deal with China's largest carrier.

Now that the first-quarter numbers have been released, analysts will be busy recalibrating their projections over the next couple of days. But the focus is also likely to shift to renewed speculation about new products that investors are hoping will drive another big run for the stock.

chris.obrien@latimes.com

andrea.chang@latimes.com

Read More..

Pentagon ends ban on women in combat

WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta is ending the ban on women serving in combat in the U.S. military, potentially opening up more than 200,000 positions on the front lines and possibly also jobs with elite commando units.

Pentagon officials said Wednesday that Panetta gave the armed services until 2016 to ask for special waivers if they believe any positions should remain closed to women.

The decision specifically overturns a 1994 rule that barred women from serving with smaller ground combat units.

Panetta’s decision was seen as a recognition of women’s contributions to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Because of the demand for troops, women often found themselves on the front lines serving as drivers, medics, mechanics and in other roles when commanders attached their units to combat battalions. They didn’t receive combat decorations or other special recognition, however.

Complete coverage of the 2013 inauguration

The move will also help women climb the military ranks. Female service members have struggled to gain promotions in part because of their lack of combat experience; the Pentagon’s first four-star female general, Ann Dunwoody, wasn’t promoted until 2008.

The Pentagon took an initial step in February when it opened 14,000 combat-related jobs, mostly in the Army, to female service members. The new policy would open up to women more than 200,000 combat jobs, including in Army and Marine infantry units.

Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove), a member of the House Armed Services Committee and founder of the Women in the Military Caucus, praised Panetta’s decision. He is expected to step down next month, and a Senate confirmation hearing is scheduled next week for Chuck Hagel, whom President Obama has nominated as the next Pentagon chief.

“I have been a firm believer in removing the archaic combat exclusion policy for many years,” Sanchez said in a statement.  “I am happy to hear the secretary will be making significant changes as part of an effort to expand opportunities for women in the military.”

PHOTOS: A look ahead at 2013’s political battles

Follow Politics Now on Twitter and Facebook

shashank.bengali@latimes.com

Read More..

Racy Victorian divorces online at genealogy website

LONDON (Reuters) – The original Mrs Robinson’s diary and scandalous suggestions about a former heir to the British throne are all part of the latest ancestral revelations to go online.

British genealogical website Ancestry.co.uk said on Tuesday it has put the transcripts of thousands of Victorian divorce proceedings online, which reveal the racy details of an era that most modern Britons consider to have been dominated by imperial duty, a stiff upper lip and formal familial relations.

The UK Civil Divorce Records, 1858-1911 date from the year when the Matrimonial Causes Act removed the jurisdiction of divorce from the church and made it a civil matter.

Before this, a full divorce required intervention by Parliament, which had only granted around 300 since 1668. The records also include civil court records on separation, custody battles, legitimacy claims and nullification of marriages, according to the website.

Primarily due to their high cost, divorces were relatively rare in the 19th century, with around 1,200 applications made a year, compared to approximately 120,000 each year today, and not all requests were successful due to the strength of evidence required.

The rarity of such cases, combined with the fact that it was wealthy, often well-known nobility involved, made the divorce proceedings huge public scandals, played out in the press as real life soap operas.

Famously high-profile divorces included that of Henry and Isabella Robinson, the inspiration for the novel “Mrs Robinson’s Disgrace”, by Kate Summerscale.

Henry Robinson sued for divorce after reading his wife Isabella’s diary, which included in-depth details of her affair with a younger married man.

The diary was used as court evidence and when reported by the media became a huge scandal, partly because of the language used within the journal. Isabella, however, claimed the diary was a work of fiction, which led to her victory in court.

Conservative MP and baronet, Charles Mordaunt, filed for divorce in 1869 from his wife Harriet who stood accused of adultery with multiple men.

The case became national news when the Prince of Wales was rumored to be among the men who had had an affair with her. This rumor was never proven and Lady Mordaunt was eventually declared mad and spent the rest of her life in an asylum.

“At the time, such tales often developed into national news stories, but now they’re more likely to tell us something about the double standards of the Victorian divorce system or help us learn more about the lives of our sometimes naughty ancestors,” Ancestry.co.uk UK Content Manager Miriam Silverman said in a statement on Tuesday.

When the divorce laws first came into effect, men could divorce for adultery alone, while women had to supplement evidence of cheating with solid proof of mistreatment, such as battery or desertion.

Despite this double standard, roughly half of the records are accounts of proceedings initiated by the wife. Many of the nullifications of marriages fall into this category, with failure to consummate the nuptials a common reason.

One such example in the records shows a Frances Smith filing for divorce in 1893 under such grounds.

In the court ledgers it is noted that the marriage was never consummated, with the husband incapable “by reason of the frigidity and impotency or other defect of the parts of generation” and “such incapacity is incurable by art or skill” following inspection.

(Reporting by Paul Casciato; editing by Patricia Reaney)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Racy Victorian divorces online at genealogy website
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/racy-victorian-divorces-online-at-genealogy-website/
Link To Post : Racy Victorian divorces online at genealogy website
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Sundance stars sound off on gun violence in film

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — The Sundance Film Festival isn't home to many shoot-em-up movies, but action-oriented actors at the festival are facing questions about Hollywood's role in American gun violence.

Guy Pearce and Alexander Skarsgard are among those who say Hollywood shares in the blame.

Pearce is in Park City, Utah, to support the family drama "Breathe In," but he's pulled plenty of imaginary triggers in violent films such as "Lockdown" and "Lawless." He says Hollywood may make guns seem "cool" to the broader culture, but there are vast variations in films' approach to guns.

"Hollywood probably does play a role," Pearce said. "It's a broad spectrum though. There are films that use guns flippantly, then there are films that use guns in a way that would make you never want to look at a gun ever again — because of the effect that it's had on the other people in the story at the time. So to sort of just say Hollywood and guns, it's a broad palette that you're dealing with, I think. But I'm sure it does have an effect. As does video games, as do stories on the news. All sorts of things probably seep into the consciousness."

Skarsgard, who blasted away aliens in "Battleship," says he agrees that Hollywood has some responsibility for how it depicts violence on-screen.

"When (NRA executive director) Wayne LaPierre blames it on Hollywood and says guns have nothing to do with it, there is a reason," he said. "I mean, I'm from Sweden. . We do have violent video games in Sweden. My teenage brother plays them. He watches Hollywood movies. We do have insane people in Sweden and in Canada. But we don't have 30,000 gun deaths a year.

"Yes, there's only 10 million people in Sweden as opposed to over 300 (million) in the United States. But the numbers just don't add up. There are over 300 million weapons in this country. And they help. They do kill people."

Ellen Page, who co-stars with Skarsgard in "The East," noted that gun restrictions are much more pervasive in her home country, Canada.

"You can't buy some crazy assault rifle that is made for the military to kill people. And like that to me is just like a no-brainer," she said. "Why should that just be out and be able to be purchased? That does not make me feel safe as a person."

Skarsgard says it may be time to revisit the Second Amendment.

"The whole Second Amendment discussion is ridiculous to me. Because that was written over 200 years ago, and it was a militia to have muskets to fight off Brits," he said. "The Brits aren't coming. It's 2013. Things have changed. And for someone to mail-order an assault rifle is crazy to me. They don't belong anywhere but the military to me. You don't need that to protect your home or shoot deer, you know."

___

AP Entertainment Writer Ryan Pearson is on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ryanwrd .

Read More..

Research on Deadly Bird Flu to Resume After Safety Debate

Experiments with a deadly flu virus, suspended last year after a fierce global debate over safety, will start up again in some laboratories, probably within the next few weeks, scientists say.

The research touched off a firestorm in 2011 when it became known that two groups, one in the Netherlands and another in the United States, had genetically altered a dangerous bird flu virus to make it more contagious in mammals. Some scientists warned that a deadly pandemic could break out if the mutant virus leaked out of the lab accidentally or if terrorists stole it or made it themselves, using articles in scientific journals for the recipe.

The outcry led scientists conducting the experiments to declare a voluntary moratorium a year ago, in part to let research organizations and governments decide what safety rules to require.

Now, flu researchers say, the moratorium should end because most countries have rules in place. A letter from 40 scientists — the same ones who called the moratorium last year — was published on Wednesday in the journals Science and Nature, saying it is time for the work to begin again in countries ready to allow it.

But the United States, which pays for much of the flu research both at home and abroad, has not yet released new guidelines. So scientists in America will not be able to resume experiments yet, nor will those in other countries who depend on grant money from the United States.

During a telephone news conference on Wednesday, Ron Fouchier, a virologist who conducted some of the flu experiments at Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, said the scientists were lifting the moratorium without waiting for guidelines from the United States.

“How long do you want us to wait?” Dr. Fouchier asked. “If this was the Netherlands, would the U.S. wait? Should all countries really wait for the U.S., and why?”

He said his laboratory would resume research within a few weeks. Although he receives research money from the National Institutes of Health in the United States, funding from other sources will allow him to go ahead, he said. Other researchers in the European Union would be free to pick up the research if they had funding that did not come from the United States government, he said. Laboratories in China and Canada may be ready to start up, but Japan, like the United States, is still working on new guidelines, researchers said during the teleconference.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the Department of Health and Human Services was reviewing new guidelines, and that he expected them to be approved in weeks. The guidelines will specify the laboratory conditions under which this type of research is permitted and require that experiments have a potential benefit for public health.

The experiments involve a type of bird flu virus called H5N1. It does not often infect people, but appears unusually deadly when it does. Of 610 known cases in people since 1997, slightly more than half have been fatal. But the real death rate is not known and could be lower than half because some mild cases may go uncounted.

So far, H5N1 has rarely spread from person to person. People who fall ill have nearly always caught it from poultry. But flu viruses mutate a lot, and the fear has been that H5N1 will somehow become more contagious in humans.

The debated experiments, by Dr. Fouchier and Dr. Yoshihiro Kawaoka, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, involved ferrets, which are considered a good model for flu research because they react to the virus in much the way people do. Researchers can infect ferrets with H5N1 by squirting the virus into their noses or lungs, but then the animals normally do not infect one another. However, by genetically manipulating the virus, researchers created a form that became airborne and spread from ferret to ferret. Its transmissibility set off alarms.

Advocates of the research insist it can be done safely. And they say it is necessary so scientists can recognize changes in naturally occurring viruses that are dangerous and signal the need to eradicate infected animal populations. Understanding the viruses better should also help researchers develop more effective vaccines and antiviral drugs, Dr. Fouchier said.

He said other scientists could be given samples of the mutant virus for research only with the permission of Erasmus Medical Center, the National Institutes of Health and virus experts at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan.

But some scientists still have reservations. Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Minnesota Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance at the University of Minnesota and a member of a United States biosecurity board, said that he thought the research should go on, but that details should not be published for fear others would try to replicate it without safety precautions.

“The work they’re doing is really important,” he said, “but I don’t see it as work I want in the hands of every potential gene jockey out there.”

Read More..