Apple doubles iPhone sales in record quarter

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Apple Inc. reported another strong quarter Monday on the back of its current product lineup, including iPhones and Macintosh computers, as the company gears up for its widely anticipated announcement of a new tablet computer on Wednesday.

The Cupertino, Calif., company said net income for the quarter ended Dec. 31 surged 50% from a year earlier to a record $3.4 billion, or $3.67 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected earnings of $2.08 per share.

Apple’s sales rose 32% to a record $15.7 billion, easily sweeping past analysts’ forecasts of $12.1 billion. That marks the second straight quarter in which Apple posted record revenue.

“If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it’s surprising that Apple is now a $50+ billion company,” said Apple CEO Steve Jobs in a statement. “The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about.”
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Nasa accepts Spirit Mars rover ‘stuck for good’

The US space agency (Nasa) has conceded defeat in its battle to free the Spirit rover from its Martian sand trap.

The vehicle became stuck in soft soil back in May last year and all the efforts to extricate it have failed.

Nasa says Spirit, which landed on the Red Planet just over six years ago, will now live out its remaining days as a static science station.

The robot geologist has taken thousands of images and found evidence in Mars’ rocks of a wetter, warmer past.

“Spirit has encountered a golfer’s worst nightmare – the sand trap that no matter how many strokes you take, you can’t get out of it,” said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars exploration programme at Nasa headquarters in Washington DC.

“But this is not a day to mourn Spirit; this is not a day of loss at this point. Spirit will continue to make contributions to science.”

Like a ‘polar bear’

The robot’s predicament has been exacerbated by the failure of two of its six wheels. Without the additional traction, the agency now accepts that further efforts to try to escape the soft soil will be fruitless.
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North and South Korea exchange fire near sea border

North Korea has fired artillery shots near the disputed sea border with South Korea and the South has returned fire, according to Yonhap news agency.

It said the North fired several shells into the sea near the South Korean-controlled Baengnyeong Island off the countries’ western coast.

On Tuesday, North Korea declared a no-sail zone in waters off its coast, media reports said.

South Korea’s ministry of defence said it was checking the reports, AFP said.

The western sea border is a constant source of military tension between the two Koreas.

There have been three deadly exchanges between the two Koreas along the sea border in the past decade.

In the most recent incident, last November, their navies fought a brief gun battle that left one North Korean sailor dead and three others wounded.

Avatar overtakes Titanic as top-grossing film ever

Sci-fi spectacular Avatar has surpassed Titanic to become the highest grossing movie of all time, figures from distributor 20th Century Fox show.

Avatar’s worldwide takings in just six weeks stand at $1.859bn (£1.15bn), versus Titanic’s $1.843bn (£1.14bn).

The figures are not adjusted for inflation or the higher cost of Avatar’s 3D film tickets.

Director James Cameron holds the remarkable distinction of directing both the world’s top grossing movies.

Titanic, which starred Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, set a new box office record during its release in 1997-1998.

It also won Cameron an Oscar for best director.

Avatar – Cameron’s latest epic – won two Golden Globes last week, and is expected to garner an Oscar nomination next month.

Earlier this month, it became the fastest movie ever to achieve $1bn (£623m) in ticket sales around the world, and took over second place from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
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McDonald’s ‘wrong’ to fire worker over cheese slice

A McDonald’s outlet in the Netherlands was wrong to sack an employee for giving a colleague a piece of cheese on a hamburger, a court has ruled.

The waitress was fired last March after she sold a hamburger to a co-worker who then asked for cheese, which she added.

The fast-food chain argued this turned the hamburger into a cheeseburger, and so she should have charged more.

But Leeuwarden district court ruled a written warning would have been more appropriate.

McDonald’s was ordered to pay the former employee more than 4,200 euros ($5,900; £3,660) for the last five months of her contract.

The fast-food chain had argued that the waitress – who was employed at a branch in the northern town of Lemmer – had broken staff rules prohibiting free gifts to family, friends or colleagues.
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France MPs’ report backs Muslim face veil ban

A French parliamentary committee has recommended a partial ban on women wearing Islamic face veils.

The committee’s near 200-page report has proposed a ban in hospitals, schools, government offices and on public transport.

It also recommends that anyone showing visible signs of “radical religious practice” should be refused residence cards and citizenship.

The interior ministry says just 1,900 women in France wear the full veils.

In its report, the committee said requiring women to cover their faces was against the French republican principles of secularism and equality.

“The wearing of the full veil is a challenge to our republic. This is unacceptable. We must condemn this excess,” the report said.

The commission called on parliament to adopt a formal resolution stating that the face veil was “contrary to the values of the republic” and proclaiming that “all of France is saying ‘no’ to the full veil”.

Presenting the report to the French National Assembly, speaker Bernard Accoyer said the face veil had too many negative connotations.

“It is the symbol of the repression of women, and… of extremist fundamentalism.
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Mr. Gay pageant shut down in China

Beijing, China (CNN) — The stage was set, the event sold-out. International media cameras lined up along on the catwalk beneath rows of gleaming spotlights, but an hour before the Mr. Gay China pageant was supposed to start, police shut it down.

The announcement triggered a media scrum at LAN, a flashy nightclub in downtown Beijing. Event organizer Ben Zhang of Gayographic disappeared amid what seemed to be an intense conversation with authorities. Contestants scattered and found refuge with friends.

“I’m a little bit sad,” said Jay, a 29-year-old contestant from Tianjin. “I encouraged myself to do this but now it’s cancelled.”

The competition was scheduled to include a fashion and talent show, as well as a question-and-answer session. Several of the eight finalists were planning to go public with their homosexuality for the first time.

“I tried to use this competition to come out,” Jay said. “But now I’ll wait another few years until I find my Mr. Right.”

26-year-old contestant Emilio Liu from Inner Mongolia also expressed disappointment. “[Homosexuality] is still not really accepted by the whole society and China is not there yet.”
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JP Morgan Chase reports $3.3bn profits

Wall Street bank JP Morgan Chase has reported profits of $3.3bn (£2bn) for the last three months of 2009.

That compares with profits of $702m reported at the end of 2008 at the height of the financial crisis.

Total profits for the year were $11.7bn, the bank said, with investment banking providing the bulk of the earnings.

Staff compensation – made up of salaries and bonuses – totalled $27bn for the year.

Investment bankers earned $9.3bn in pay and bonuses.

Mixed performance

Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan’s chairman and chief executive, said he was pleased with the bank’s performance, but said it could be better.

“Though these results showed improvement, we acknowledge that they fell short of both an adequate return on capital and the firm’s earnings potential,” he said.
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Haiti earthquake death toll ‘may be 50,000′

The Red Cross estimates 45,000-50,000 people have died in Haiti’s devastating earthquake, as rescue teams race against time to find survivors.

The US is sending up to 3,500 troops and 2,200 marines but correspondents say aid is so far only trickling in.

President Barack Obama pledged one of the biggest relief efforts in recent US history and said Haiti would “not be forgotten” in its hour of need.

Aid groups say they need food, water, medical supplies and lifting equipment.

President Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, working with Brazil, Canada and other countries, will organise a conference on reconstruction in Haiti, the French presidency has announced.

The Red Cross estimates that up to three million people in Haiti have been affected by Tuesday’s earthquake.
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Google errs

Google’s plan to leave China may be as much about poor business prospects as ethics

“WE’RE in this for the long haul”, wrote a Google executive four years ago when the internet giant launched a self-censored version of its search engine for China. Now Google says it might have to pull out of the country because of alleged attacks by hackers in China on its e-mail service and a tightening of restrictions on free speech online.

Google’s “new approach to China”, as the firm’s chief legal officer, David Drummond, called it in an official blog posting on Tuesday January 12th, will infuriate the government in Beijing. Official sensitivity to foreign complaints about internet controls in China was evident in November during a visit by President Barack Obama. His obliquely worded criticism of online censorship was itself expunged from official media reports. If the firm were to quit China, Google would be the first big foreign company to do so while citing concerns about freedom of speech.

Mr Drummond’s posting also involved unusually direct finger-pointing by a foreign firm at China as a source of hacker attacks. He said that in mid-December Google detected a “highly sophisticated and targeted attack” on its corporate computer systems “originating from China”. Its investigations found that at least 20 other large companies from a wide range of industries had been targeted. A primary goal, he said, appeared to be to gain access to the e-mail accounts of Chinese human-rights activists who use Google’s Gmail service. The hackers managed to penetrate partially two accounts.
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