Netflix suffers Christmas Eve outage, points to Amazon

An outage at one of Amazon's web service centers hit users of Netflix Inc.'s streaming video service on Christmas Eve and was not fully resolved until Christmas day, a spokesman for the movie rental company said on Tuesday.
The outage impacted Netflix subscribers across Canada, Latin America and the United States, and affected various devices that enable users to stream movies and television shows from home, Netflix spokesman Joris Evers said. Such devices range from gaming consoles such as Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 to Blu-ray players.
Evers said that the issue was the result of an outage at an Amazon Web Services' cloud computing center in Virginia, and started at about 12:30 p.m. PST (2030 GMT) on Monday and was fully restored Tuesday morning, although streaming was available for most users late on Monday.
"We are investigating exactly what happened and how it could have been prevented," Evers said.
"We are happy that people opening gifts of Netflix or Netflix capable devices can watch TV shows and movies and apologize for any inconvenience caused last night," he added.
An outage at Amazon Web Services, or AWS, knocked out such sites as Reddit and Foursquare in April of last year.
Amazon Web Services was not immediately available for comment. Evers, the Netflix spokesman, declined to comment on the company's contracts with Amazon.

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Japan's policy veteran Motegi likely to serve as trade minister: media

 Incoming Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is likely to pick policy veteran Toshimitsu Motegi as trade minister, who will also take charge of energy and other key economic policies, media reported on Tuesday.
Motegi, 57, a former policy affairs chief for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), will tackle energy problems after last year's Fukushima nuclear crisis, as well as issues such as the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade pact, public broadcaster NHK said.
Motegi was a leading member of the LDP's panel tasked with drafting an economic revival plan aimed at tackling the strong yen, deflation and preventing Japanese firms from shifting overseas.
The LDP returned to power in the December 16 election for the lower house, calling for radical monetary easing and big spending on public works.
First elected to parliament in 1993 as a member of a small opposition party, Motegi joined the LDP shortly thereafter and has served posts including parliamentary vice-minister for the trade ministry and senior vice-minister for foreign affairs.
Motegi's formal appointment is likely to be made on December 26, when Abe is expected to be elected as prime minister in parliament and form a new cabinet.

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Japan new PM Abe wants to correct strong yen trend

 Japan's incoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated on Tuesday a pledge to revive the economy by correcting the recent trend towards a stronger yen.
Abe is set to be selected as prime minister by lawmakers on Wednesday after leading his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to a landslide victory in a lower house election earlier this month.
Abe, who spoke after naming a new leadership team for the LDP, said he wanted to show voters who still doubt the party that the LDP has changed.
The LDP is returning to government after three years in the opposition.

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Japan's incoming PM keeps up pressure on BOJ to attack deflation

- Incoming Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe kept up his calls on Tuesday for the Bank of Japan to drastically ease monetary policy by setting an inflation target of 2 percent, and repeated that he wants to tame the strong yen to help revive the economy.
Abe, a security hardliner who will be sworn in as premier on Wednesday, when he is also expected to appoint his cabinet, is prescribing a mix of aggressive monetary policy easing and big fiscal spending to beat deflation and rein in the strong yen.
"The economy, diplomacy, education and rebuilding in the northeast (hit by the 2011 tsunami, quake and nuclear disaster) are in a critical situation. I want to create a cabinet which can overcome this crisis," Abe told a news conference.
"We have advocated beating deflation, correcting the strong yen and achieving economic growth during the election, so we must restore a strong economy," he said, adding that the stagnant economy was also undermining Japan's diplomatic clout.
Abe - who quit abruptly as prime minister in 2007 after a troubled year in office - repeated that his new government hopes to sign an accord with the BOJ to aim for 2 percent inflation, double the central bank's current target.
"Once I become prime minister, I will leave it up to the BOJ to decide on specific measures on monetary policy," Abe told a meeting with officials from major business lobby, Keidanren.
"I hope the BOJ pursues unconventional measures, including bold monetary easing," he added, maintaining pressure on the central bank to expand monetary stimulus more forcefully in order to tackle the deflation that has dogged Japan for more than a decade.
Abe's opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won by a landslide in this month's lower house election just three years after suffering a crushing defeat.
The party has threatened to revise a law guaranteeing the BOJ's independence unless the central bank sets a 2 percent inflation target. The BOJ, which eased monetary policy in December, has promised to debate setting a new price target at its next policy-setting meeting on January 21-22.
A source close to Abe said that revising the BOJ law was unlikely to be necessary since the central bank would probably give in to Abe's pressure to adopt the 2 percent target.
"I don't think it will go so far as revising the BOJ law," the source said. "The BOJ has compromised quite a bit ... and I think it will adopt a 2 percent inflation target. In that case, it will not be necessary to revise the BOJ law."
SPENDING PLANS
Abe and his coalition partner, the head of the small New Komeito party, agreed on Tuesday to set the inflation target and compile a big stimulus budget, New Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi told reporters after the two met.
Abe is expected to draft an extra budget by mid-January with markets looking for 10 trillion yen ($117.93 billion) in new spending, part of which would need to be covered by additional borrowing.
Critics have suggested that the LDP, which ruled Japan almost non-stop for more than 50 years until it suffered a huge election defeat in 2009, was returning to the wasteful spending that characterized much of its past reign.
The source close to Abe said, however, that public works spending in that budget was unlikely to exceed 5 trillion yen.
"The extra budget will be presented to parliament towards the end of January. We cannot find 10 trillion yen worth of public works projects by then," the source told Reuters, adding that the 10 trillion yen total figure was not set in stone.
"The scale will be 10 trillion yen but it will not be limited to public works spending. The most we could manage on public works would be 5 trillion." The remainder could include such steps as tax breaks for purchases of fuel-efficient cars, and government funding for basic pension payouts, he added.
Also on Tuesday, Abe unveiled a new party line-up that includes women in key posts in an effort to show that the long-dominant party was turning over a new leaf.
Seiko Noda, 52, a former consumer affairs minister who went public with her struggle to have a child and gave birth at the age of 50 through artificial insemination, was appointed head of the party's general council. Sanae Takaichi, 51, who served as minister for gender equality in Abe's first 2006-2007 cabinet, was appointed LDP policy chief.
The cabinet looks set to include a heavy dose of Abe's close allies who share his views on the economy and his tough security stance.
As Abe put finishing touches to his cabinet, the defeated Democratic Party of Japan elected former Trade Minister Banri Kaeda as its leader to replace outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who quit to take responsibility for the election debacle.

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Egypt says stability key to fixing economy: PM

 Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil said on Tuesday that political stability was crucial to luring back foreign investors and tourists to help plug a yawning budget deficit and heal the country's ailing economy.
In a statement hours before the expected announcement of the result of a divisive constitutional referendum, Kandil said President Mohamed Mursi's government was committed to taking steps to improve economic growth.
"The prime minister stressed the importance of political stability and security in the coming period, so that foreign investors could return to the Egyptian market, as well as tourism inflows that help support foreign currency reserves and plug the budget deficit," Kandil said in a statement.
"The main goals that the government is working towards now is plugging the budget deficit, and working on increasing growth to boost employment rates, curb inflation, and increase the competitiveness of Egyptian exports," the statement said.
Egypt's budget deficit surged to 11 percent of gross domestic product in the financial year that ended in June 2012 and is forecast to exceed 10 percent this year, adding to a public debt burden of 70 percent of national output that is already very high for a developing economy.
The country has been gripped by political rivalries and sometimes deadly protests over the vote on a new constitution that Mursi's Islamist backers say is crucial to democratic transition, but which opponents say has failed to guarantee personal freedoms and the rights of women and minorities.
Standard and Poor's cut the government's credit rating on Monday and officials confirmed on Tuesday that travelers had been banned from carrying more than $10,000 in foreign currency cash in or out of the country amid worries over pressure on the pound and a rush by Egyptians to withdraw savings from banks.
Kandil said that despite political tensions, the pound had not moved more than 1 percent against the dollar in the past two weeks. Figures show that the central bank has spent more than half its foreign exchange reserves since 2011 in defending the currency, which is pegged to the dollar.
"The fluctuations in the exchange rate remain at normal levels given the political conditions and turmoil the country is experiencing and its negative repercussions on the economic situation," Kandil said.

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Egyptians fret over economy after rancorous vote on constitutiontougher fight in the parliamentary election.

Egyptians fret over economy after rancorous vote on constitutionEgypt prepared to announce on Tuesday the result of a vote on a new constitution that Islamist President Mohamed Mursi hails as a step toward stability in a country beset by political and economic crisis. But critics say that by ramming through the basic law, Mursi has angered his liberal, leftist and Christian opponents, and may have squandered any chance of building a broad consensus on tax rises needed to rein in a crushing budget deficit. Unofficial tallies from Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood showed the charter was approved by a 64 percent majority. The electoral commission will announce the official result at 1700 GMT, with the final numbers widely expected to confirm earlier estimates. Mursi believes the constitution will end a protracted period of turmoil that has haunted the most populous Arab nation since the fall of military-backed strongman Hosni Mubarak in 2011. But ordinary people and some commentators worry that Mursi's approach in pushing through the contentious text will only galvanise his rivals to capitalise on any public backlash against austerity rather than help sell reforms to the nation. Hossam El-Din Ali, a 35-year-old newspaper vendor in central Cairo, said he agreed the new constitution would help bring some political stability but like many others he feared the possible austerity measures lying ahead. "People don't want higher prices. People are upset about this," he said. "There is recession, things are not moving. But I am wishing for the best, God willing." If the "yes" vote is confirmed, a parliamentary election will follow in about two months, setting the stage for Islamists to renew their struggle with more liberal-minded opponents. On the political front, tensions remain high. The opposition says the constitution, crafted mostly by Mursi's Islamist allies, fails to guarantee personal freedoms and the rights of women and minorities. The government denies this. ECONOMIC WORRIES Once a darling of emerging market investors, Egypt's economy has taken a hammering since Mubarak's fall. The budget deficit surged to a crippling 11 percent of gross domestic product in the financial year that ended in June 2012 and is forecast to exceed 10 percent this year. In a further worrying sign, Egypt has made it illegal for travellers to carry more than $10,000 in cash in or out of the country amid growing fears the government may not be able to get its fragile finances under control. Reflecting investor concerns, Standard and Poor's cut Egypt's long-term credit rating this week and said another cut was possible if political turbulence worsened. Adding fuel to people's worries, the central bank also said it was taking steps to safeguard bank deposits, in a statement which emerged after some Egyptians said they had taken out cash out of concern their accounts would be frozen by authorities. Without broad support, Mursi will find it hard to implement reforms needed to secure a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. Shortly before the referendum, Mursi enraged many by introducing hikes on the sales tax on goods and services that ranged from alcoholic beverages, cigarettes and mobile phone calls to automobile licences and quarrying permits. In an embarrassing policy U-turn, he withdrew them within hours under criticism from his opponents and the media. Facing public anger, the Muslim Brotherhood's party, which propelled Mursi to office in an election earlier this year, may now also face a tougher fight in the parliamentary election.

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Colts recovering coach returns to team facility

 Chuck Pagano was back at work Monday morning.
Three months after taking an indefinite leave to battle leukemia, the Colts' coach was scheduled to meet with players, coaches and reporters as he retook the reins from interim coach Bruce Arians.
When Pagano arrived at the team headquarters, he drove past an inflatable Colts player to the side of the driveway with a simple message across the chest "Welcome Back Chuck." The sign usually reads "Beat," plus whichever team the Colts play next.
Indianapolis (10-5) has been waiting months for this day, and last week Arians called Pagano's impending return the best Christmas gift the team could get.
Pagano began the first of three rounds of chemotherapy Sept. 26, after the team completed its final practice during a bye week.
When the Colts returned to their practice facility Oct. 1, they were told Pagano had cancer and was taking an indefinite leave.
Arians, a prostate cancer survivor, immediately established the goal: Play long enough so Pagano could return to the sideline this season.
If all goes well at practice this week, Pagano will likely be on the sideline calling the shots Sunday against AFC South champion Houston in the regular-season finale. It would be the first time Pagano has been making game-day decisions since Jacksonville scored a last-minute touchdown on an 80-yard TD pass in Week 3, handing Indy it's only home loss this season.
Under Arians, the Colts did better than anyone expected.
When players arrived at training camp in August, they handed out T-shirts that showed where the so-called experts figured they would finish this season: The NFL's worst team again.
But with Sunday's 20-13 victory at Kansas City, Indy clinched its first playoff spot of the post-Peyton Manning era and Arians tied the league record for most wins after a midseason coaching change (nine). Indy is the fourth team in league history to win two or fewer games one season and 10 or more the next and became the second team in league history to lose 14 or more games one season and win 10 or more the next — joining the 2008 Miami Dolphins.
Pagano was never far from the Colts' thoughts while he was out.
He was in contact with players and coaches primarily through phone calls and text messages, watched tapes of practices and games on his computer, attended three home games and sometimes showed up at the team complex. He occasionally gave pregame or postgame speeches throughout his recovery.
On Nov. 5, Pagano's oncologist, Dr. Larry Cripe, said the illness was in complete remission, though Pagano still had to complete two more rounds of chemotherapy. The last round ended the first week of December. Last Thursday, Cripe said he gave Pagano medical clearance to return to the team. Cripe said he was putting no restrictions on what Pagano could do, only that he advised Pagano, as he does with other patients, to scale things back if necessary.

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