Decline in US stock market moderate

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are slightly lower in midday trading Monday after Asian markets sank again on fears about disruptions in emerging markets. Industrial stocks were among the few winners on Wall Street. Heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar rose sharply following a surge in earnings for the fourth quarter.

KEEPING SCORE: Major U.S. indexes gave up early gains and turned slightly lower by midday. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 21 points, or 0.1 percent, at 15,851. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down eight points, or 0.5 percent, at 1,782. The Nasdaq composite was down 42 points, or 1 percent, to 4,086.

AVOIDING RISK: Small-company stocks fell more than the rest of the market, a signal that investors were dumping assets seen as risky. The Russell 2000 index gave up 14 points, or 1.3 percent, to 1,129. Also, "defensive" stocks like power and phone companies rose. Investors buy those stocks when they want to play it safe and collect a rich dividend.

OVERSEAS ANGST: Most major European stock markets were lower. Germany's DAX fell 0.3 percent and France's CAC-40 declined 0.2 percent. Spain's benchmark index fell 1 percent. In Asia, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong and the Nikkei in Tokyo each fell more than 2 percent.

CURRENCY TUMULT: Investors were encouraged by a recovery in Turkey's battered currency. The lira hit a record low of 2.39 per dollar early Monday before recovering to 2.29 per dollar after the country's central bank said it would hold an emergency policy meeting on Tuesday.

Other emerging market currencies continued to weaken against the dollar. The South African rand fell another 0.5 percent to 11.15 per dollar, and Russia's ruble fell 0.7 percent to 34.74 per dollar. A sharp drop in emerging market currencies last week set off a global stock market decline as investors worried about a slowdown in China, which is a major importer of commodities from other developing countries.

HOUSING: Sales of new homes in the U.S. slipped in December for a second consecutive month, but sales for all of 2013 were still the highest in five years. D.R. Horton and PulteGroup both fell, reversing gains before the report came out. But NVR Inc. bucked the industry. It surged $56.62, or nearly 6 percent, to $1064.98 after easily beating analysts' projections for earnings.

EARNINGS SURPRISES: Caterpillar was the biggest gainer in the Dow, rising $4.65, or 5 percent, to $90.83 after the earth-moving equipment maker reported fourth-quarter net income that easily beat analyst estimates. Several companies will report results after the market closes, including Apple, Zions Bancorp and Seagate Technology.

THE QUOTE: "Earnings numbers are coming in good, but sales are weak and macroeconomic numbers are lower than expected — new home sales, payroll, industrial production," said Steven Ricchiuto, chief economist at Mizuho Securities. "We're overdue for a correction."

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Next round of Iran talks to be held in New York

WASHINGTON — The next round of international nuclear negotiations with Iran is expected to be held in New York next month, according to officials involved in the planning.

The U.S. and its negotiating partners — Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia — will be seeking a long-term agreement to halt Iran's disputed nuclear program. The Islamic republic will be pressing for an end to international sanctions that have crippled the economy.

The opening rounds were held in Geneva. The parties agreed to a six-month deal that freezes key aspects of Iran's nuclear program in exchange for easing some of the economic sanctions. That went into effect on Jan. 20.

The officials insisted on anonymity because they weren't authorized to identify themselves as confirming the location of the talks before a public announcement.

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European markets pare losses after Asia's plunge

PARIS — European and U.S. stocks stabilized on Monday after a heavy sell-off that was triggered by concern over an economic slowdown in China and tremors among emerging-market currencies.

Markets first became unsettled on Thursday, when a survey indicated a drop in Chinese manufacturing activity, the latest sign that a painful slowdown in the world's No. 2 economy is likely to continue.

When investors worry about global growth, they first pull back from riskier trades in emerging markets. That combined with concerns about specific countries — economic stability in Argentina and a political scandal in Turkey — to convince investors to sell off even more sharply.

"The growing turmoil in emerging markets is inflicting damage ... across the board," said Mitul Kotecha, head of global markets research for Asia at Credit Agricole CIB, in a report.

After more sharp losses in Asia on Monday, Europe mostly pared its losses.

By mid-afternoon, London's FTSE 100 was down 1.3 percent to 6,578.71. The index was dragged down by a nearly 17-percent plunge in the shares of natural gas provider BG Group, which warned on its outlook due to turmoil hitting its Egyptian operations. Vodafone slipped nearly 4 percent after AT&T announced it was not interested in making an offer for the British mobile-phone service company.

In Frankfurt, Germany's DAX slipped 0.1 percent to 9,383.44 and France's CAC 40 nosed into the black, up 0.1 percent to 4,164.75.

"The initial reaction to the emerging markets panic on Friday really hit America hard, but it didn't really hit Europe quite as hard," said Max Cohen, a trader in London at Spreadex. "I can't help but think that there's a bit of a lag now in Europe."

The Dow Jones industrial average plunged two percent on Friday, its worst day since last June. Early Monday, Wall Street enjoyed relative calm, with the Dow up 0.1 percent to 15,890.07. U.S. sentiment was buoyed by strong earnings from Caterpillar.

Among the biggest movers in financial markets were the currencies of emerging economies.

The Turkish lira hit a record low of 2.39 per dollar on Monday before recovering to 2.3072 per dollar after the central bank said it would hold an emergency policy meeting on Tuesday. The South African rand fell another 0.6 percent to 11.16 per dollar, and Russia's ruble fell 0.7 percent to 34.76 per dollar.

Stocks and currencies in emerging markets have been propped up for years by investors seeking higher returns using a tide of so-called "easy money" from the Fed and other central banks. But now that the end for those policies looks to be near, some investors are fleeing stocks.

In that light, investors will be looking forward to a two-day meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve starting Tuesday, where officials are expected to reduce its monthly bond buying by another $10 billion to $65 billion. Recent signs of a sustained recovery in the world's biggest economy will play a big role in the decision by Fed officials to scale back stimulus for a second time.

Investors are sensitive to trouble in developing economies such as China as they are playing an increasingly large role in the world economy. Emerging and developing economies account for nearly 40 percent of the global economy, up from 18 percent two decades ago. China's share zipped to 14 percent from 4 percent, according to Societe Generale.

In Asia, investors sought out the perceived safe haven of the Japanese yen, which strengthened to a seven-week high against the dollar, and gold, which was at its highest in more than two months. The higher yen tends to hurt Japan's stocks as it makes its big exporters less competitive. The Nikkei briefly dipped below 15,000 for the first time since mid-November before closing 2.5 percent lower at 15,005.73.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 2.1 percent and Seoul's Kospi dropped 1.6 percent. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1 percent. Benchmarks in Taiwan, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia and New Zealand also slipped. The Australian stock market was closed for a holiday.

The euro dipped to $1.3663 from $1.3676 on Friday.

In energy markets, benchmark crude for March delivery was down 25 cents to $96.41 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 68 cents to close at $96.64 on Friday.

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Kelvin Chan contributed to this report from Hong Kong.

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AP-GfK poll: Breaches not changing people's habits

NEW YORK — American shoppers say they are very concerned about the safety of their personal information following a massive security breach at Target, but many aren't taking steps to ensure their data is more secure, says a new Associated Press--GfK Poll.

The poll finds a striking contradiction: Americans say they fear becoming victims of theft after the breach that compromised 40 million credit and debit cards and personal information of up to 70 million customers. Yet they are apathetic to try to protect their data.

In the survey, nearly half of Americans say they are extremely concerned about their personal data when shopping in stores since the breach. Sixty-one percent say they have deep worries when spending online, while 62 percent are very concerned when they buy on their mobile phones.

But just 37 percent have tried to use cash for purchases rather than pay with plastic in response to data thefts like the one at Target, while only 41 percent have checked their credit reports. And even fewer have changed their online passwords at retailers' websites, requested new credit or debit card numbers from their bank or signed up for a credit monitoring service.

The poll offers insight into the effects big data breaches can have on consumer behavior. There have been worries that shoppers would dramatically change their habits since December, when Target announced the breach that could wind up being the largest in U.S. history. Weeks later, those concerns were elevated when luxury retailer Neiman Marcus disclosed that it too was the victim of a breach that may have compromised 1.1 million debit and credit cards.

But security experts say the results show that Americans have come to expect that security theft is a possibility when they use their credit or debit cards or provide retailers with phone numbers, emails and other personal information.

"They ... just chalk it up to ... 'It's part of life,'" says Cameron Camp, security researcher at global security firm ESET who believes people don't think they will be liable for fraudulent charges.

Experts also say the results show another expectation Americans have: While nearly 4 out of 10 say they have been victimized by personal data theft, most expect credit card companies, banks or retailers to take responsibility when that happens.

About 38 percent report that they think they have either had someone make unauthorized purchases using their credit or debit cards without it having been physically stolen or that someone had used their personal information to apply for a fraudulent line of credit, the poll says. And just over a third of Americans think their personal information was compromised in the breach at Target.

But the survey shows that just 37 percent say consumers bear most of the responsibility for keeping their data safe, while 88 percent place the burden on the retailers who are collecting it. Six in 10 say the banks that provide credit or debit cards or the credit bureaus should bear most of the responsibility.

Andrea Davis doesn't believe she was affected by the Target breach, but she recently found unauthorized charges on her American Express credit card. Still, she hasn't taken steps to make her data more secure because she says she feels protected when she uses her Amex card. In fact, American Express immediately took off the charges after she notified the company.

"You feel discouraged, but in the end, everyone gets their money," says Davis, who lives in Marina del Rey, Calif. "It is what it is."

The sentiment was different among Americans who've been victims of personal data theft. In that group, 52 percent have checked their credit report, while 41 percent have tried to use more cash. Twenty-eight percent have signed up for a credit monitoring service.

Eve Sims signed up for a credit card monitoring service for a monthly fee of $14 about five years ago after she found fraudulent charges from Nigeria on her credit card. "It's worth it," she says.

The AP-GfK Poll was conducted Jan. 17 through Tuesday and involved interviews with 1,060 adults. The survey has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

The poll used KnowledgePanel, GfK's probability-based online panel that is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. Respondents were first selected randomly using phone or mail survey methods, and later, completed this survey online. People selected for KnowledgePanel who didn't otherwise have Internet access were provided with access at no cost to them.

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AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

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Court rules for airline in pilot defamation claim

WASHINGTON — Ruling that airlines have broad immunity from lawsuits under a post-9/11 security law, the Supreme Court on Monday threw out a $1.4 million defamation judgment awarded to a pilot who was reported by his employer as mentally unstable and potentially armed.

The court was unanimous in holding that a law aimed at encouraging reports of possible security threats to the Transportation Security Administration shields airlines from defamation claims when the reports are substantially true.

"Congress wanted to ensure that air carriers and their employees would not hesitate to provide the TSA with information it needed," Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the court. Airlines may be held liable only for recklessly false reports, she said.

Applying that reasoning to the case of veteran pilot William Hoeper, the justices voted 6-3 to overturn a Colorado jury's verdict against Air Wisconsin, Hoeper's former employer.

The case stems from Hoeper's final, failed attempt to win airline approval to fly a new aircraft. The session ended with an angry exchange between Hoeper and another employee at a Virginia training facility.

Later that day, Hoeper was a passenger on a United Airlines flight home to Denver that was ordered to return to its gate after Air Wisconsin called TSA with its report of Hoeper as a potential threat.

He was removed from the plane by armed police officers and asked about his gun — properly locked up at home — while his luggage was emptied on the jet bridge.

TSA eventually determined Hoeper was not a threat, but he said he was so embarrassed by the incident that he took a later flight rather than re-board the delayed plane that was still sitting at the gate.

Sotomayor said the airline was basically correct when it reported that Hoeper "may be armed" because he had earlier been certified as a federal flight deck officer who was authorized to carry a gun while on the job to protect passengers and crew. Hoeper was not supposed to carry the weapon when he was not working or in training, and he had appropriately left it home.

She also said that concerns about his mental stability were more or less justified by the anger he showed at the training facility.

Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Clarence Thomas, said the high court should have sent the case back to Colorado courts, possibly for a new trial.

"In short, a jury could find that Hoeper did nothing more than engage in a brief, run-of-the-mill, and arguably justified display of anger that included raising his voice and swearing, but that did not cause anyone, including the person on the receiving end of the outburst, to view him as either irrational or a potential source of violence," Scalia said.

The case is Air Wisconsin v. Hoeper, 12-315.

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Wealth gap: A guide to what it is, why it matters

WASHINGTON — From the White House to the Vatican to the business elite in Davos, Switzerland, one issue keeps seizing the agenda: the growing gap between the very wealthy and everyone else.

It's "the defining challenge of our time," says President Barack Obama, who will spotlight the issue in his State of the Union address Tuesday night. A Gallup poll finds two-thirds of Americans are unhappy with the nation's distribution of wealth. Experts say it may be slowing the economy.

Why has the issue suddenly galvanized attention? Here are questions and answers about the wealth gap — what it is and why it matters.

Q. Hasn't there always been a wide gulf between the richest people and the poorest?

A. Yes. What's new is the widening gap between the wealthiest and everyone else. Three decades ago, Americans' income tended to grow at roughly similar rates, no matter how much you made. But since roughly 1980, income has grown most for the top earners. For the poorest 20 percent of families, it's dropped. Incomes for the highest-earning 1 percent of Americans soared 31 percent from 2009 through 2012, after adjusting for inflation, according to data compiled by Emmanuel Saez, an economist at University of California, Berkeley. For the rest of us, it inched up an average of 0.4 percent. In 17 of 22 developed countries, income disparity widened in the past two decades, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Q. So who are the top 1 percent in income?

A. They're bankers, lawyers, hedge fund managers, founders of successful companies, entertainers, senior managers and others. One trend: Corporate executives, doctors, and farmers made up smaller shares of the top 1 percent in 2005 than in 1979. By contrast, the proportion of the wealthiest who work in the financial and real estate industries has doubled. The top 1 percent earned at least $394,000 in 2012. Through most of the post-World War II era, the top 1 percent earned about 10 percent of all income. By 2007, that figure had jumped to 23.5 percent, the most since 1928. As of 2012, it was 22.5 percent.

Q. How has the middle class fared?

A. Not well. Median household income peaked in 1999 at $56,080, adjusted for inflation. It fell to $51,017 by 2012. The percentage of American households with income within 50 percent of the median — one way of measuring the middle class — fell from 50 percent in 1970 to 42 percent in 2010.

Q. Does it matter if some people are much richer than others?

A. Most economists say some inequality is needed to reward hard work, talent and innovation. But a wealth gap that's too wide is usually unhealthy. It can slow economic growth, in part because richer Americans save more of their income than do others. Pay concentrated at the top is less likely to be spent.

It can also trigger reckless borrowing. Before the 2008 financial crisis, middle class households struggled to keep up their spending even as their pay stagnated. To do so, they piled up debt. Swelling debt helped inflate the housing bubble and ignite the financial crisis. Experts note that the Great Depression and the Great Recession were both preceded by surging income gaps and heedless borrowing by middle class Americans.

Q. Has it become harder for someone born poor to become rich?

A. The evidence is mixed. Countries that have more equal income distributions, such as Sweden and other Scandinavian countries, tend to enjoy more social mobility. But a study released last week found that the United States isn't any less mobile than it was in the 1970s. A child born in the poorest 20 percent of families in 1986 had a 9 percent chance of reaching the top 20 percent as an adult, the study found — roughly the same odds as in 1971.

Other research has shown that the United States isn't as socially mobile as once thought. In a study of 22 countries, economist Miles Corak of the University of Ottawa found that the United States ranked 15th in social mobility. Only Italy and the Britain among wealthy countries ranked lower. By some measures, children in the United States are as likely to inherit their parents' economic status as their height.

Q. So why has income inequality worsened?

A. There's no simple answer. Globalization has created "superstars" and concentrated pay among corporate executives, Wall Street traders, popular entertainers and other financial elite. At the same time, factory workers now compete with 3 billion people in China, India, eastern Europe and elsewhere who weren't working for multinational corporations 20 years ago. Many now make products for Apple, Intel, General Motors and others at low wages. This has depressed middle-class pay. And pay has risen much faster for college graduates than for high-school graduates. These trends have contributed to a "hollowed out" labor market, with more jobs at the higher and lower ends of the pay scale and fewer in the middle.

Social factors contribute, too. Single-parent families are more likely to be poor than other families and less likely to ascend the income ladder. Finally, men and women with college degrees and high pay are more likely to marry each other and amplify income gaps.

Q. Does wealth distribution follow a similar pattern?

A. It's even more pronounced. A Pew Research Center study found that the wealthiest 7 percent of households grew 28 percent richer from 2009 through 2011. For the bottom 93 percent, collective wealth fell 4 percent. That's largely because wealthy households own far more stocks and other financial assets than others. By contrast, whatever wealth middle-class Americans have is mainly in their home equity.

Since the Great Recession ended, stock-market averages have soared, setting records in 2013. Home values, though, remain far below their peaks reached in 2006. That divergence has benefited the richest and left others struggling.

Q. Where do the 1 percent live?

A. Investor Warren Buffett famously lives in Omaha, Neb. Les Wexner, whose fashion empire includes Victoria's Secret, is an Ohioan. But the wealthy mainly cluster around the largest cities. Of the 515 U.S. billionaires, 96 live around New York City, according to the intelligence firm Wealth-X. Los Angeles is home to 22, Chicago 21, San Francisco 20, Houston 14. Millionaires are more widely dispersed. Maryland has the highest concentration. Of all its households, 7.7 percent have $1 million or more in financial assets. New Jersey, Connecticut, Hawaii and Alaska have the next-highest concentrations, according to a report from Phoenix Marketing International.

Q. Is anything being done to narrow the wealth gap?

A. President Barack Obama has made the issue a priority and wants the government to act to reduce the disparities. The president managed to restore higher tax rates on incomes above $398,350 last year. And he's pushed other steps that might narrow the gap slightly, such as a higher minimum wage. But congressional Republicans say those steps could hurt economic growth and have resisted most such measures.

Q. Is everyone concerned about the wealth gap?

A. Some conservative economists question much of the data. They note, for example, that Saez's figures don't include government benefits, such as Social Security or food stamps, or employer payments for health insurance, that benefit the less-than-rich. Yet the Congressional Budget Office did include government benefits and the effect of taxes in its own study and still found a sizable gap: For the top 1 percent, income jumped 275 percent, adjusted for inflation, from 1979 to 2007. For the middle 60 percent of Americans, it grew less than 40 percent.

Q. So what do experts say is the best way to shrink the wealth gap?

A. Most ideas break down along political lines. Liberal economists tend to support a higher minimum wage, greater access to pre-school and college education and more spending on roads, bridges and other infrastructure to help generate good-paying jobs. Most favor higher taxes on the wealthy to pay for such programs.

Conservatives tend to back tax cuts, government deregulation and other steps they say will accelerate hiring and growth and raise living standards for everyone. They tend to focus on the need to advance income mobility.

In a speech this month, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio acknowledged the enormous pay disparity between a fast food company's cashier and its CEO.

"The problem we face is not simply the gap in pay between them, but rather that too many of those cashiers are stuck in the same job for years on end," Rubio said.

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AP Business Writers Paul Wiseman in Washington and Bernard Condon in New York contributed to this report.

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Follow Chris Rugaber on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/ChrisRugaber

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US probes Camry hybrids for power brake problem

DETROIT — U.S. safety regulators are investigating complaints that power-assisted brakes can fail at times in Camry gas-electric hybrids.

The probe covers about 30,000 of the midsize cars from the 2007 and 2008 model years.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it has 59 complaints about intermittent loss of power-brake assist. The agency says the problem happens without warning. It causes increased stopping distances and requires more pedal pressure to stop the car.

Two crashes have been reported but no injuries. The agency says 24 incidents happened at speeds of 40 miles per hour or more. It says the number of complaints is increasing, with 55 percent received in the past eight months.

Investigators will try to find the cause and determine if the cars should be recalled.

Toyota spokesman John Hanson said the company is cooperating with NHTSA.

One Camry owner complained to NHTSA in June that the dashboard brake warning lights came on and his brakes failed while approaching a pedestrian crossing. "I did a sharp evasive turn and hit the curb hard in an attempt not to run over pedestrians in the crossing!" the driver wrote. The dashboard lights then disappeared and brakes functioned normally, the owner wrote.

The car was taken to a dealer, who at first found no trouble codes in the Camry's computer. After further testing, the dealer said there was a problem with the brake control computer, the driver wrote. "Toyota is behaving immoral not recalling the faulty parts that in many cases cannot even be diagnosed," the driver wrote.

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New GM boss Barra stands behind lossmaking Opel

RUESSELSHEIM, Germany — New General Motors chief Mary Barra has stressed the company's support for its struggling Adam Opel AG subsidiary in Europe, saying Opel workers will get the job of building a new vehicle at the main plant in Germany.

Barra said it was "no accident" that Opel's headquarters in Ruesselsheim was the destination for her first foreign trip since becoming CEO on Jan. 15.

"I thought it was very important to reinforce in person my commitment and GM's commitment to Opel," she said during a brief appearance before journalists Monday. She called Opel "clearly a vital part of our company."

Barra reiterated the commitment made last year by her predecessor Dan Akerson to turn Opel around after years of losses.

She said Opel's Ruesselsheim assembly plant would be the site for a new vehicle that for competitive reasons she couldn't name. The plant, which produces the Insignia model, will lose production of the Astra compact when the current model is replaced. The company is closing another plant in Bochum at the end of this year.

General Motors Co., which has headquarters in Detroit, considered selling Opel to Magna International in 2009 but changed its mind. Akerson went to Germany last year and underlined the automaker's commitment to turning its European business around by rebuilding its brand image and launching new models.

GM now aims to return Opel to break-even by mid-decade, and is plowing 4 billion euros ($5.5 billion) into the European business. Opel will roll out 23 new models and 13 new engines over the next several years.

Barra cited the company's success with recent models such as the tiny Adam city car and the Mokka small SUV as grounds for optimism. Opel's market share inched up to 6.8 percent in the European Union from 6.7 percent last year. Still, GM lost $214 million in Europe in the third quarter.

Europe's mass-market carmakers are struggling with weak demand in an economy that is recovering only slowly from a financial crisis. The economy is growing again but unemployment remains painfully high at 12.1 percent.

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Gold prospectors take advantage of Calif. drought

AUBURN, Calif. — As California's drought persists and water levels dip to historically low levels, gold prospectors are taking to Northern California rivers hoping to spot something shiny.

The Sacramento Bee reports  that calling it a gold rush might be a stretch, but unusually low rivers are opening up areas of Placer County that haven't been touched by man in decades, if not over a century.

James Hutchings, Sacramento chapter president of the Gold Prospectors Association of America, tells the newspaper that flakes — possibly even nuggets — that normally would be submerged might be available.

Over the weekend, truck driver Michael Albin came away with a gold chip in his pan about one-fourth the size of a pea.

He says that's enough to keep him coming back for more.

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Information from: The Sacramento Bee, http://www.sacbee.com

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MSNBC shuffles daytime following departures

NEW YORK — MSNBC has given Ronan Farrow a time slot for his new show, part of a shuffling of the news network's daytime schedule.

Farrow is Mia Farrow's son and a former foreign policy official in the Obama administration. He will start Feb. 24 with a one-hour show at 1 p.m.

He'll be followed by a new show at 2 p.m. with Joy Reid, managing editor of The Grio.com. Current shows hosted by Tamron Hall and Andrea Mitchell will air at 11 a.m. and noon.

The daytime openings were created by the move of Thomas Roberts to the early slot before "Morning Joe" and the exit of Martin Bashir following crude comments he made about Sarah Palin.

Alex Wagner moved her show from noon to 4 p.m. following Bashir's exit, and she'll keep that schedule.

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