Boston City Council set to discuss regulations for rideshare cos.

The Boston City Council is diving into the controversy over rideshare companies such as Uber, scheduling a public hearing tomorrow to discuss potential regulations for the services that taxi drivers say have an unfair advantage because they don't have to follow city rules.

"What we want to do is in a public forum give all sides an opportunity to air it out and give us an opportunity to listen," said City Council President Bill Linehan, who requested the hearing, adding that it may not necessarily lead to the council drafting legislation.

The council hearing comes as the mayor's taxi advisory committee continues to try to hammer out new for-hire transportation regulations at the direction of Mayor Martin J. Walsh.

"The mayor's task force and the hearing, I think, are serving complementary purposes," said Councilor Josh Zakim, who is the council representative on the mayor's committee.

The committee has met several times, chairman Chris English said.

"We're at the point where we're getting to the real meat of the discussion," English said.

Uber, Lyft, and taxi industry representatives plan to be at the hearing tomorrow, but taxi drivers are also organizing a protest against Uber earlier in the day.

"It is time to take action against illegal vehicles for hire on the streets of Boston," said Donna Blythe-Shaw, a spokeswoman for the Boston Taxi Drivers Association, in a statement.

Taxi drivers held another rally over the summer, honking and driving circles around Uber's Boston headquarters.

Uber spokesman Taylor Bennett said in a statement the company is open to regulations that allow Uber to operate.

"We'd like to see sensible regulations for all participants in the transportation ecosystem — including both taxi and ridesharing — that promote innovation, and embrace greater opportunity for drivers and more choice for riders," he said.

Over the summer, a public hearing in Cambridge over proposed regulations became heated on both sides, with supporters of Uber and Lyft and taxi drivers crowding into a small basement room to strongly and loudly express support for their respective sides.

Uber has come under fire around the world for what opponents say is an illegal taxi service operating without proper licenses, and was banned entirely in Nevada this week.

Uber also is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging it charges a "fictitious" fee to riders going to and from Logan International Airport.

Earlier this month, an Uber executive was widely criticized for suggesting the company could hire its own journalists to dig into the private lives of reporters who are critical of the service.

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Obama buys 17 titles at independent bookstore

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama tried to draw attention to independently owned businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, a day that is increasingly being marketed as one for deal-hungry consumers to remember to patronize these mom-and-pop outlets while doing their holiday shopping.

He bought bags of books — 17 titles in all — during a stop at Politics and Prose, a popular Washington bookstore now owned by a former Washington Post reporter and his wife, also a former Post reporter who also worked for Hillary Rodham Clinton at the White House and State Department.

In recent years, the Saturday after Thanksgiving has been advertised as "Small Business Saturday." It's designed to drive foot traffic to independent businesses in between the frenzy of Black Friday sales at mass retailers and the Cyber Monday deals available online.

Obama browsed the bookstore's racks with his daughters, Malia and Sasha. He held one shopper's baby and chatted with author David Baldacci. While paying at the cash register, another patron encouraged Obama to close the U.S. facility in Cuba where suspected terrorists are detained.

"Hope you can close Guantanamo," the patron said.

"We're working on it," Obama replied, then cheerily added to the crowd of shoppers: "Any other issues?"

Obama also joked, "Hope it works," when he handed his credit card to the cashier. That appeared to be a reference to when a restaurant declined his card while he dined out in New York City in late September.

Obama bought a mix of titles apparently chosen to satisfy readers young and old. The White House declined to reveal how much he paid.

Among the books in the president's shopping bags for mature readers were "Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China" by New Yorker writer Evan Osnos, "Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End" by surgeon Atul Gawande and "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr.

For younger readers, Obama's purchases included three titles in the "Redwall" series by Brian Jacques, two titles in the Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park and "A Barnyard Collection: Click, Clack, Moo and More" by Doreen Cronin.

Obama and his daughters also shopped at Politics and Prose on the Saturday after Thanksgiving last year.

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Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

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Antigua's PM names De Niro special economic envoy

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua — The prime minister of Antigua & Barbuda has appointed actor Robert De Niro as special economic envoy of the twin-island nation in the eastern Caribbean.

The administration of Gaston Browne said in a statement Saturday that the appointment comes after De Niro signed a memorandum of agreement on Friday for a $250 million hotel investment in Barbuda.

Officials said De Niro and Australian businessman James Packer will help renovate and expand a former five-star luxury resort that closed several years ago.

Browne said he expects the deal to be signed late next month and for construction to begin in the next 12 months.

He said De Niro will help attract more investment and American celebrities to Antigua & Barbuda as special economic envoy.

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Legal loophole lets Germany spy on own citizens

BERLIN — German lawmakers probing the surveillance activities of the U.S. National Security Agency have uncovered a legal loophole that allows the country's foreign intelligence agency to spy on its own citizens.

The agency, known by its German acronym BND, is normally forbidden from eavesdropping on Germans or German companies.

But a former BND lawyer told Parliament this week that Germans aren't protected while working abroad for foreign companies.

The government confirmed Saturday to The Associated Press that work-related calls or emails are attributed to the employer. If the employer is foreign, the BND can intercept them.

Opposition lawmakers have accused Germany's government of feigning outrage over alleged NSA spying while condoning illegal surveillance itself.

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Cyber Monday going mobile

Record-breaking online Thanksgiving Day sales for big-box retailers Walmart and Target point to strong Cyber Monday results tomorrow, with mobile shoppers poised to overtake desktop shopping for the first time ever.

The National Retail Federation forecast online holiday sales to grow between 8 percent and 11 percent in November and December to as much as $105 billion. The trade group is set to release survey information today about the number of people who plan to shop online tomorrow.

"But it's clear there's a lot of demand from online shoppers already this holiday season, many of whom know that some of the best online deals are yet to come," spokeswoman Kathy Grannis said.

Walmart had its second-highest online sales day ever on Thanksgiving — topped only by Cyber Monday in 2013 — and it expects its biggest Cyber Monday to date tomorrow. Walmart has doubled the number of Cyber Monday deals, including a Samsung 55 4K Ultra HD LED HDTV for $998 ($500 off), a Hamilton Beach 6-Speed Classic stand mixer for $24 ($25 off) and a PlayStation 4 Lego Batman & Little Big Planet Console bundle with the choice of an extra game and a controller for $449 ($189 off).

Target's online Thanksgiving sales, meanwhile, jumped more than 40 percent from last year for its biggest online day ever. It saw the most growth in traffic and sales from mobile shoppers.

Thanksgiving Day online sales grew 14.3 percent from a year earlier, and this year marked the first time when mobile traffic accounted for more than half (52.1 percent) of all online retail traffic, an increase of 22.4 percent, according to IBM Digital Analytics. On Black Friday, online sales were up 9.5 percent year-over-year with mobile devices accounting for 27.9 percent of all online purchases, an increase of 28.2 percent over last year. .

Amazon is catering to mobile shoppers by, for the first time, announcing exclusive "lightning deals" via its mobile app on Cyber Monday, it's busiest day for mobile shopping.

But the lines between pre-Black Friday events, Thanksgiving night, Black Friday and Cyber Monday continue to blur as consumers think holistically on where, when and how to shop, according to analyst David Schick of Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.

"A number of retailers are more willing to offer deals well before and after Black Friday for a much longer duration than previous years — now more than just Cyber Monday or Cyber Week," he said in a report.

Office supplies chain Staples will start offering its Cyber Monday deals online today, including a $149 Asus X205 laptop ($100 off) and a Dell 24" monitor for $99 (also $100 off). Macy's also will preview its Cyber Monday specials today.

But employers still can expect less productivity tomorrow, as 85 percent of employed Cyber Monday shoppers say they'll scour the Internet for deals during work for an average of four hours, according to a survey by RetailMeNot, a digital offers website.

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Home equity lines of credit come back in vogue

WASHINGTON — If you're thinking about taking out a new home equity line, you're hardly alone. Credit lines tied to home equity — known as HELOCs — are one of the fastest-growing segments in the mortgage market. Volume during the first half of 2014 is up by an extraordinary 21 percent compared with the same period last year, according to data collected by credit bureau Equifax.

The main reasons: Owners' equity holdings nationwide are up sharply — the Federal Reserve estimates gains at nearly $4.5 trillion since 2011 — and interest rates are near historical lows. Owners borrowed $66 billion against those fattened equity stakes during the first half of this year, a six-year high. Banks and other lenders extended 670,000 new HELOCs during the same period, also a six-year high, according to Equifax.

What are these people doing with their sudden access to ready cash and how much are they pulling out? A new national survey, based on a representative sample of 1,364 homeowners with HELOCs, offers some important answers. The study was conducted last month by research firm Vision Critical for TD Bank.

The No. 1 finding: Most people aren't spending their home equity line money on dumb stuff. There's no evidence of a repeat of the wacky days of the last decade when houses morphed into ATMs and credit lines paid for groceries and nights out on the town. By contrast, 52 percent of current borrowers say they are using or have used their drawdowns for projects that are likely to increase the market value of their properties — updating kitchens, adding bathrooms, putting on a new roof and similar remodelings. Another 29 percent have used their HELOC money to take advantage of today's wide gaps in interest rates among different financial products. They are consolidating debts — paying off credit card balances with interest rates in the double-digits using equity line funds borrowed at rates in the low single digits.

Nearly a quarter of borrowers say they've used some of the equity line dollars as form of insurance against unforeseen "emergency" expenses — paying off bills for events that popped up without warning and might have been otherwise unaffordable. Other major uses, according to the survey: Buying new autos (27 percent of borrowers); paying medical bills (18 percent); spending on kids' and adults' education costs (15 percent): travel (15 percent); and small-business investments (13 percent). Relatively few owners (13 percent) say they use their equity line dollars for day-to-day expenses.

Michael Kinane, TD Bank's head of consumer and mortgage lending, said he interprets the strong recent surges in home equity borrowing as a delayed reaction by owners who have put off home improvements and other expenditures for years because they were unsure about the economy, their jobs, and where real estate values were headed.

"Now they're stepping back in," he said, "they've got more confidence" in the economy and they've seen their property values increase to the point where they can responsibly pull out some cash secured by their equity.

Home equity lines as a financial product "are much safer" in 2014 — for borrowers and lenders alike — than they were a decade ago, Kinane believes. Most banks now limit the combined loan-to-value ratio — the total of the primary mortgage balance plus the maximum draw amount on the new credit line compared with the home value — to 80 percent. And full documentation of income, employment, credit and property values is the rule, not the exception.

In 2005 and 2006, by contrast, 100 percent ratios were readily available with minimal underwriting and documentation. Some lenders, including TD Bank, now allow select customers to borrow more (TD's ceiling is 
89 percent), but only those applicants with pristine credit reports, high FICO scores, lots of income and plentiful financial reserves.

Today's rates and fees on HELOCs generally are as good as or better than they were at the height of the boom. A quick search of deals offered on Bankrate.com last week turned up rates anywhere from the low 3 percent range to 4 percent and up, depending on the dollar limit on the line and applicants' credit scores. Some credit unions and banks offer special rates — below 3 percent — for existing customers or members with solid credit.

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Justices weigh limits of free speech over Internet

WASHINGTON — Anthony Elonis claimed he was just kidding when he posted a series of graphically violent rap lyrics on Facebook about killing his estranged wife, shooting up a kindergarten class and attacking an FBI agent.

But his wife didn't see it that way. Neither did a federal jury.

Elonis, who's from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was convicted of violating a federal law that makes it a crime to threaten another person.

In a far-reaching case that probes the limits of free speech over the Internet, the Supreme Court on Monday was to consider whether Elonis' Facebook posts, and others like it, deserve protection under the First Amendment.

Elonis argues that his lyrics were simply a crude and spontaneous form of expression that should not be considered threatening if he did not really mean it. The government says it does not matter what Elonis intended, and that the true test of a threat is whether his words make a reasonable person feel threatened.

One post about his wife said, "There's one way to love you but a thousand ways to kill you. I'm not going to rest until your body is a mess, soaked in blood and dying from all the little cuts."

The case has drawn widespread attention from free-speech advocates who say comments on Facebook, Twitter and other social media can be hasty, impulsive and easily misinterpreted. They point out that a message on Facebook intended for a small group could be taken out of context when viewed by a wider audience.

"A statute that proscribes speech without regard to the speaker's intended meaning runs the risk of punishing protected First Amendment expression simply because it is crudely or zealously expressed," said a brief from the American Liberties Union and other groups.

But so far, most lower courts have rejected that view, ruling that a "true threat" depends on how an objective person perceives the message.

For more than four decades, the Supreme Court has said that "true threats" to harm another person are not protected speech under the First Amendment. But the court has been careful to distinguish threats from protected speech such as "political hyperbole" or "unpleasantly sharp attacks."

Elonis claims he was depressed and that his online posts under the pseudonym "Tone Dougie" were a way to vent his frustration after his wife left him and he lost his job working at an amusement park. His lawyers say the posts were heavily influenced by rap star Eminem, who has also fantasized in songs about killing his ex-wife.

But Elonis' wife testified that the comments made her fear for her life.

After she obtained a protective order against him, Elonis wrote a lengthy post mocking court proceedings: "Did you know that it's illegal for me to say I want to kill my wife?"

A female FBI agent later visited Elonis at home to ask him about the postings. Elonis took to Facebook again: "Little agent lady stood so close, took all the strength I had not to turn the bitch ghost. Pull my knife, flick my wrist and slit her throat."

Elonis was convicted of making threats of violence and sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison. A federal appeals court rejected his claim that his comments were protected by the First Amendment.

The Obama administration says requiring proof that a speaker intended to be threatening would undermine the law's protective purpose. In its brief to the court, the Justice Department argued that no matter what someone believes about his comments, it does not lessen the fear and anxiety they might cause for other people.

"The First Amendment does not require that a person be permitted to inflict those harms based on an unreasonable subjective belief that his words do not mean what they say," government lawyers said.

The National Center for Victims of Crime, which submitted a brief supporting the government, said judging threats based on the speaker's intent would make stalking crimes even more difficult to prosecute.

"Victims of stalking are financially, emotionally and socially burdened by the crime regardless of the subjective intent of the speaker," the organization said.

The case is Elonis v. United States, 13-983.

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Follow Sam Hananel on Twitter at http://twitter.com/SamHananelAP

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Sony's new movies leak online following hack attack

At least five new movies from Sony Pictures are being devoured on copyright-infringing file-sharing hubs online in the wake of the hack attack that hobbled the studio earlier in the week.

Copies of DVD screeners of four unreleased Sony movies including the upcoming "Annie" are getting some unwelcome early exposure, but nothing compared to the frenzy enveloping "Fury," the war pic still in theaters since bowing last month.

"Fury" has been downloaded by over 888,000 unique IP addresses since showing up on peer-to-peer networks on Nov. 27, according to piracy tracking firm Excipio. That's high enough to be the second most downloaded movie currently being pirated, and it's not out of movie theaters yet.

Another big Sony movie, "Annie," is also being pirated, this one three weeks ahead of its own wide release. Other Sony movies being downloaded include "Mr. Turner," "Still Alice" and "To Write Love on Her Arms."

Sony declined comment, but a source with knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the hacking earlier this week divulged that the multi-title leak is likely related to the hacking. Many of the leaked copies are watermarked.

In the attack on the studio's corporate systems Nov. 24, an image of a skeleton appeared on company computers with a message that said, "Hacked by #GOP," with the group behind it calling itself "Guardians of Peace." The message threatened to release "secrets and top secrets" of the company. Currently being investigated is a connection between upcoming Sony movie "The Interview," and North Korea.

Sony's outbreak marks the biggest piracy incident since July, when Lionsgate saw "Expendables 3" pop up online three weeks before its theatrical release. Police arrested two men in London earlier this week in connection with the movie.

While "Fury" has emerged as a hot ticket in file-sharing circles, the other Sony titles aren't seeing as much sampling. "Annie" has been downloaded by over 184,000 unique IP addresses. Studio is hopeful "Annie" won't be pirated as much because family films aren't subject to as much illegal downloading as titles that skew more toward young males.

"Still Alice," "Mr. Turner" and "To Write Love on Her Arms" are seeing only modest piracy activity, all below 100,000 unique IP addresses since Nov. 27.

© 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Thousands rally in Moscow against health care cuts

MOSCOW — At least 5,000 Russians marched through Moscow on Sunday to protest against plans to lay off thousands of doctors and close hospitals in the capital amid a flagging economy.

Doctors, patients and other protesters braved the freezing cold to voice their opposition to an ongoing Moscow health care reform that could remove up to 10,000 doctors from their jobs and close 28 hospital and clinics by early next year.

The demonstration followed a previous doctors' rally early this month, which was the first social protest in Russia in a decade. The pressure on the country's budget has intensified as the economy is taking a hit from low oil prices, a drop in the value of the national currency and from Western sanctions over its role in the deadly conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Many of the protesters were dressed in white coats over their winter jackets. Some carried banners with the names of the hospitals that are being closed.

"Save money on war, but not on doctors," one banner read.

Authorities defend the reform as a much-needed step to modernize a decrepit Soviet-era health care system and close down hospitals that are deemed inefficient. They also say it as a step toward implementing President Vladimir Putin's election pledge to increase doctors' salaries to twice that of the average employee by 2018.

Protesters lamented not only the cuts but also the secrecy that has surrounded the reform, the details of which only became public following a leak to the press in October.

"We're here to show our solidary," said Tatyana Korshunova, 69, who works at a research center. "Nobody explained anything to us, there was no discussion (of the reform)."

Moscow psychiatrist Dmitry Albertovich, who would not give his last name for fear of reprisal, said pretty much everyone in the medical community agrees that a reform is needed, "but it's not the issue of what we need the reform for, but it's about how it is being done — this is a disgrace."

The 48-year-old's job is safe for now but he says four units in his hospital with dozens of staff have been cut.

Moscow authorities said they would offer training programs for those who are being laid off, but doctors have criticized the effort saying it means they are being offered jobs that they are not qualified for.

"You cannot turn a surgeon into a psychiatrist just like that," Dmitry Albertovich said. "They will never be good at it."

The Moscow health department this week held round table discussions with medical professionals, while Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin offered the doctors a one-off severance payment of up to 500,000 rubles ($10,700) each.

The move came just days before the Sunday rally and was considered by some as an attempt to muffle the protest.

Valentin Abdulkhayev, a 37-year-old doctor at a tuberculosis clinic, said the offer of the severance pay is "merely about obeying the law. It's what they were supposed to do."

A petition adopted at the end of Sunday's rally called for the resignation of Mayor Sobyanin and top Moscow health officials.

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Swiss reject plan to hoard gold, limit immigration

BERN, Switzerland — Voters in Switzerland on Sunday overwhelmingly rejected plans to protect the country's wealth by investing in gold and to drastically limit immigration or to eliminate a special tax that draws rich foreigners, according to polling firm gfs.bern.

A proposal to require the Swiss central bank to hold a fifth of its reserves in gold was opposed by 78 percent of voters and supported by 22 percent, projections based on tallies provided by selected voting districts indicated. At last count, the measure — which had drawn attention worldwide and required the backing of a majority of voters and cantons (states) — was rejected in 22 of 26 cantons.

The plan would have forced the Swiss National Bank to buy massive amounts of gold within five years and likely causing the global price for the valuable metal to jump.

"After this clear decision by the people, there are no further grounds to pursue another similar initiative," one of the three parliamentarians behind the proposal, Luzi Stamm, told Swiss broadcaster SRF of its defeat. But he said the campaign had at least raised awareness of the central bank's shortcomings.

The proposal to limit immigration to 0.2 percent of Switzerland's population — about 16,000 immigrants a year for a country of 8 million — received the backing of 26 percent of voters, while 74 percent opposed it. Currently, immigration is estimated at around 80,000 a year.

The "Ecopop" initiative would also have forced Switzerland to devote a large chunk of its foreign aid to programs aimed at reducing population growth in poor countries.

As with the gold initiative, government and business leaders warned voters the measure could do more harm than good and further inflame tensions with the European Union. Andreas Thommen, a Green Party member who oversaw the campaign, told SRF it had been "a David and Goliath battle" against the establishment, and Switzerland "missed the opportunity to set the course for a sustainable future."

Earlier this year, Swiss voters narrowly backed a proposal by the nationalist People's Party to reintroduce quotas for immigrants. The outcome has proved to be a political headache for the Swiss government as it now needs to renegotiate bilateral treaties with the EU, of which it isn't a member.

A third national referendum, which would have abolished special tax discounts for rich foreigners living in Switzerland, was also defeated, according to gfs.bern. The pollsters predicted 60 percent voted against the measure, while 40 percent were in favor of it, and only one of the country's 26 cantons said yes to getting rid of a flat tax rate that helps attract the super wealthy.

Official results are expected to be published later Sunday.

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Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.

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