China recovery dogged by doubt as data questioned

A shipping container is craned to a containership at a port in Qingdao in east China's Shandong province Wednesday, April 10, 2013. China reported higher import growth in March on Wednesday in a possible positive sign for its economic recovery but analysts said doubts about the accuracy of Beijing's data made it hard to draw conclusions. (AP Photo) CHINA OUT

A shipping container is craned to a containership at a port in Qingdao in east China's Shandong province Wednesday, April 10, 2013. China reported higher import growth in March on Wednesday in a possible positive sign for its economic recovery but analysts said doubts about the accuracy of Beijing's data made it hard to draw conclusions. (AP Photo) CHINA OUT

A worker walks past shipping containers piled at a port in Ningbo in east China's Zhejiang province, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. China reported higher import growth in March on Wednesday, April 10, 2013 in a possible positive sign for its economic recovery but analysts said doubts about the accuracy of Beijing's data made it hard to draw conclusions. (AP Photo) CHINA OUT

BEIJING (AP) ? China's trade expanded in March in a possible positive sign for its recovery but analysts said the data might be inflated and give a distorted picture of the economy's health.

Imports rose 14.1 percent after growing 5 percent rate for the combined January-February period, customs data showed Wednesday, suggesting Chinese manufacturers and consumers might be buying more.

Export growth slowed to 10 percent from the previous two-month period's 23.6 percent. That could add to challenges for newly installed Communist Party leaders as they try to sustain the rebound from China's deepest downturn since the 2008 global crisis and avoid job losses.

Analysts said, though, the data might be distorted by companies misreporting trade or government manipulation, clouding the picture of whether an economic recovery is gaining traction.

Exports probably are even lower than reported, based on what is known about shipments into Hong Kong, said Francis Lun, chief economist of GE Oriental Financial Group in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is Chinese territory and handles a big share of the mainland's trade but is treated as a separate customs region.

"The figures in Hong Kong to and from China do not add up," he said. "Instead of 10 percent growth, you have 2 or 3 percent."

China's economic growth rose to 7.9 percent in the three months ending in December, up from the previous quarter's 7.4 percent. Analysts say the recovery from the country's deepest downturn since the 2008 global crisis is being propped up by government spending and could be vulnerable if trade or state-driven investment weakens.

Commentators raised questions after China's strong trade data failed to match up with much lower figures reported by its trading partners.

Some suggested companies might be reporting phony exports to get tax rebates or to evade Beijing's strict capital controls and move money into China with fictitious billing of foreign customers. Others say Beijing might have exaggerated trade volume to make the economy look healthier during the transition to new Communist Party leaders in recent months.

"Today's trade data release has not instilled any more confidence in either the quality of data or the strength of the recovery," said IHS Global Insight analyst Alistair Thornton in a report.

Other indicators show economic activity recovering but at a slow pace. A survey of manufacturing by a Chinese industry group showed activity improved in March but by only a fraction of one point on a 100-point scale.

Also in March, inflation fell, suggesting consumer demand might be weaker than authorities hoped.

Referring to February's explosive reported export growth, Alaistair Chan of Moody's Analytics said in a report, "It now seems that it was probably due to some issue with the reporting of exports, or possibly over-invoicing as firms evaded capital controls to bring in more foreign capital."

Chinese customs officials defended their data Wednesday at a news conference.

"Every dollar that is listed in the customs trade data can be traced back to an actual declaration form," said Zheng Yuesheng, a spokesman for the bureau. "The exported or imported goods listed on the declaration form have to be something shipped across the border, either in or out."

Beijing's capital controls and tax breaks and other privileges for foreign investors give Chinese companies an incentive to covertly bring in money from abroad. Economists believe a large share of China's reported foreign investment is money sent abroad by Chinese companies and "round-tripped" back into the country.

China's trade is volatile in the first few months of each year as companies shut down for several weeks during the Lunar New Year and then buy raw materials to resume production.

March exports rose to $182.2 billion while imports were $183.1 billion, leaving a rare monthly deficit of $900 million, according to the General Administration of Customs.

The trade surplus with the United States narrowed by 34 percent from a year earlier to $11 billion. The surplus with the 27-nation European Union shrank 35 percent to $5.3 billion.

Exports to Germany, China's biggest European trading partner, fell 7 percent while shipments to France declined 6.7 percent.

___

AP Business Writer Pamela Sampson in Bangkok and researcher Flora Ji in Beijing contributed.

___

General Administration of Customs of China: www.customs.gov.cn

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-04-10-AS-China-Trade/id-35177d242263472c97879e0b685b90cb

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10-year anniversary of Baghdad fall to US forces

In this Sunday, April 7, 2013 photo, a general view of Firdous Square, where the statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down by U.S. forces and Iraqis on April 9, 2003, in central Baghdad, Iraq. Ten years ago, a statue fell in Paradise Square. Joyful Iraqis helped by a U.S. Army tank retriever pulled down their longtime dictator, cast as 16 feet of bronze. The scene broadcast live worldwide became an icon for a war, a symbol of final victory over Saddam Hussein. But for the people of Baghdad, it was only the beginning. The toppling of the statue on April 9, 2003, remains a potent symbol that has divided Iraqis ever since. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban)

In this Sunday, April 7, 2013 photo, a general view of Firdous Square, where the statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down by U.S. forces and Iraqis on April 9, 2003, in central Baghdad, Iraq. Ten years ago, a statue fell in Paradise Square. Joyful Iraqis helped by a U.S. Army tank retriever pulled down their longtime dictator, cast as 16 feet of bronze. The scene broadcast live worldwide became an icon for a war, a symbol of final victory over Saddam Hussein. But for the people of Baghdad, it was only the beginning. The toppling of the statue on April 9, 2003, remains a potent symbol that has divided Iraqis ever since. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban)

In this Saturday, April 6, 2013 photo, an Iraqi man pours water onto the grave of his father, who was killed during a fight with U.S. forces, at a cemetery in Baghdad, Iraq. Ten years ago, a statue fell in Paradise Square. Joyful Iraqis helped by a U.S. Army tank retriever pulled down their longtime dictator, cast as 16 feet of bronze. The scene broadcast live worldwide became an icon for a war, a symbol of final victory over Saddam Hussein. But for the people of Baghdad, it was only the beginning. The toppling of the statue on April 9, 2003, remains a potent symbol that has divided Iraqis ever since. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)

In this Sunday, April 7, 2013 photo, homeless Iraqi children play in the rubble of al-Rashid military base belonging to the former Iraqi army, destroyed ten years ago during the air campaign at the beginning of the war, in Baghdad, Iraq. Ten years ago, a statue fell in Paradise Square. Joyful Iraqis helped by a U.S. Army tank retriever pulled down their longtime dictator, cast as 16 feet of bronze. The scene broadcast live worldwide became an icon for a war, a symbol of final victory over Saddam Hussein. But for the people of Baghdad, it was only the beginning. The toppling of the statue on April 9, 2003, remains a potent symbol that has divided Iraqis ever since. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban)

In this Saturday, April 6, 2013 photo, Iraqi boys sit next to a mural that used to be painted with the portrait of former dictator Saddam Hussein, which turned into a mural of Shiite clerics Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr, left, and Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, right, in Baghdad, Iraq. Ten years ago, a statue fell in Paradise Square. Joyful Iraqis helped by a U.S. Army tank retriever pulled down their longtime dictator, cast as 16 feet of bronze. The scene broadcast live worldwide became an icon for a war, a symbol of final victory over Saddam Hussein. But for the people of Baghdad, it was only the beginning. The toppling of the statue on April 9, 2003, remains a potent symbol that has divided Iraqis ever since. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)

An orthotist looks at prosthetic legs at the prosthetic limbs hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. The toppling of the longtime dictator Saddam Hussein, 16 feet bronze statue remains a potent symbol that has divided Iraqis ever since: liberation for Shiites and Kurds, a loss for some Sunnis and grief among almost everybody over the years of death, destruction and occupation that followed the fall of the capital to U.S. forces on April 9, 2003. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Ten years ago, a statue fell in Baghdad's Firdous Square. Joyful Iraqis helped by an American tank retriever pulled down their longtime dictator, cast as 16 feet of bronze. The scene broadcast live worldwide became an icon of the war, a symbol of final victory over Saddam Hussein.

But for the residents of the capital, it was only the beginning.

The toppling of the statue remains a potent symbol that has divided Iraqis ever since: Liberation for Shiites and Kurds, a loss for some Sunnis and grief among almost everybody over the years of death, destruction and occupation that followed the fall of Baghdad to U.S. forces on April 9, 2003.

"Ten years ago, I dreamed of better life," said Rassol Hassan, 80, who witnessed the fall of the statue from his nearby barber shop. "Nothing has changed since then for me and many Iraqis, it has even gotten worse."

In an opinion piece in the Washington Post, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the overwhelming majority of Iraqis agree that they are better off today than under Saddam's brutal dictatorship.

"Iraqis will remain grateful for the U.S. role and for the losses sustained by military and civilian personnel that contributed in ending Hussein's rule," he said.

"Iraq is not a protectorate of the United States; it is a sovereign partner," al-Maliki said in response to the contention that Iraq has become more pro-Iran than pro-West. "Partners do not always agree, but they consider and respect each other's views. In that spirit, we ask the United States to consider Iraq's views on challenging issues, especially those of regional importance."

In the past 10 years, Iraqis have seen the country's power base shift from minority Arab Sunnis to majority Shiites, with Kurds gaining their own autonomous region.

"For Kurds there is no regret," said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish legislator. "April 9 is a national liberation day for us."

Ali al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Iraq's Shiite-led government, said "April 9 is a day of contradictions: We ended the oppression of Saddam" but began the American occupation. Still, he emphasized that Iraqis were looking forward.

"Our fight is . against terrorist groups that kill people and want to prevent them from tasting the freedom they had lost for 30 years (under Saddam)."

A Sunni lawmaker, Hamid al-Mutlaq, was unsparing in his assessment of what happened a decade ago.

"Baghdad, the city of history and civilization, fell into the hands of a brutal occupation that ignored all laws," al-Mutlaq said. "They came as occupiers and killers unlike what they said before. They left us killing, sectarianism and displacement," he added. "It is a black and ominous day in its history. It is a day of slavery."

Baghdad has indelibly changed since the darkest days of the war.

Residents no longer flee their neighborhoods fearing sectarian violence. Bridges joining Sunni and Shiite areas have reopened. Hotels are being renovated as foreign investment trickles in.

But car bombs targeting police, Shiite mosques and government offices, mostly the hallmarks of al-Qaida militants, still ravage the city of some 7 million.

Ten years on, the city is draped in a spider's web of generator cords wrapped over crumbling buildings and crisscrossing above unpaved streets, a sign of the graft-ridden government's failure to restore power or rebuild basic infrastructure.

Shiite power is evident in posters pasted around the city ? on security checkpoints, billboards, concrete walls. Most show the Shiite hero, the Imam Hussein, grandson of the prophet Mohammed with his bearded face draped in a green turban.

Other walls are painted with scenes of ancient Iraqi civilizations. Some offer practical graffiti, such as the phone number of a tow-truck service.

Walls now are also emblazoned with posters of candidates for provincial elections slated for April 20: Turbaned, bearded Shiite clerics mix with clean-shaven, businessmen clad in suits and female candidates in headscarves and tidy makeup.

Amid Baghdad's near-universal neglect runs a divide between jeep-driving elites in guarded streets and the city's poor.

Men and women shove each other aside at a dump on the eastern outskirts of Baghdad, fighting to grab bags of garbage tossed off a truck, searching for cans and plastic to sell to recycling factories. Children in grubby clothes play among garbage, a pool of green sewage stinking nearby.

"Look at my condition!" demanded Ali Hassan, one of those digging through garbage. "Is this how a human should live? Politicians are fighting over jobs while people live in poverty."

There are also flashes of joy in the city hugging the banks of the Tigris river.

Couples stroll riverside walkways, and children play in parks along its banks. Residents traipse through al-Mutanabi street, a pedestrian alley of booksellers.

Books are neatly displayed on tables and floors: Arabic poetry, heavy tomes of Islamic law and etiquette guides. Stationary shops sell calendars featuring bloodied Shiite martyrs and notebooks with covers of the yellow cartoon character "Spongebob Squarepants."

Nearby, families stroll through a museum featuring mannequins in traditional scenes, such as a wedding, circumcision, and a cafe. For an extra fee, visitors may be photographed in colorful costumes and have the photo inserted into a snow globe.

The dozens of young men who helped pull down the 16-foot bronze Saddam statue in Firdous Square 10 years ago were mostly from the nearby Iraqi communist party office.

But the statue was reinforced by metal cables and finally Marines with a crane finished the job. It was meant to be the swift end to an invasion that began only three weeks before.

Another statue made by an Iraqi artist soon replaced Saddam, but was also pulled down. The modernist structure, with branches reaching toward the sky and a crescent moon balancing a ball was supposed to represent the freedom and unity among Iraq's Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

On Tuesday, the pedestal stood empty, save for a rusted iron bar poking out of it.

_______

With additional reporting by Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad.

Follow Hadid on twitter.com/diaahadid; follow Salaheddin on twitter.com/sinansm

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-09-ML-Iraq-Fall-of-Baghdad/id-34347a20932d4fc88acdb72e8aa9076b

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Apple reaches smartphone patent licensing deal, agrees to pay Japanese company $10 million for rights

You can't normally read about IP and the mobile industry without coming across two endlessly warring tech companies -- especially when Apple is involved. But today marks a different sort of patent exchange for Cupertino: a cooperative one. Japan-based Access Corporation, a mobile software provider, has agreed to license its patent portfolio -- acquired from its purchase of PalmSource (yes, that's the company behind Palm OS) -- to Apple, in a deal valued at about 1 billion Yen (roughly $10 million USD). It's not the first deal of this kind for Access' smartphone IP. Back in 2010, Microsoft entered into a similar arrangement that gave it the rights to the same portfolio. The lesson here, kids? Money, it solves everything.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Apple

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Via: Apple Insider

Source: Macotakara (Translated)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/10/apple-reaches-smartphone-patent-licensing-deal/

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Google, AT&T target Austin for high-speed Internet

By Alexei Oreskovic and Sinead Carew

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Google Inc said on Tuesday it plans to bring its ultra high-speed Internet and television service to Austin, Texas, next year, prompting AT&T Inc to reveal its own plans to follow suit - if it gets the same terms from local authorities.

AT&T appeared to be making a political point to highlight the heavy regulations that encumber traditional phone companies, analysts said.

Google promised to begin connecting homes in Austin by the middle of 2014 with a 1-gigabit-per-second Internet service, roughly 13 times faster than the speediest service AT&T had previously committed to offering and about three times faster than the zippiest available from Verizon Communications.

The Austin launch would be Google's first move to expand its "Google Fiber" service beyond Kansas City, Missouri, introduced last year. Google says the Fiber Internet service is 100 times faster than today's average broadband performance.

But as Google unveiled its plans at an event in Austin that featured Texas Governor Rick Perry, Austin's mayor and other city officials, AT&T issued a challenge to the city to provide a more level playing field.

"AT&T's expanded fiber plans in Austin anticipate it will be granted the same terms and conditions as Google on issues such as geographic scope of offerings, rights of way, permitting, state licenses and any investment incentives," AT&T said in a statement.

The No.2 U.S. telecommunications firm did not provide a time frame for its own planned Gigabit network, which it said would not materially alter its anticipated 2013 capital expenditures.

"AT&T is making the point that they could make a lot more investments in many of their communities, absent the regulatory burdens which every community puts on providers," said Raymond James analyst Frank Louthan.

While Louthan said he did not know what the terms of Google's Austin deal were, he pointed out that Google received various benefits in Kansas City, including preferential right-of-way access, access to data centers, and reduced pole access rates.

"This immediately puts the city of Austin in a box," said Louthan. "They realize that if they actually give that to AT&T and build it, Google may not come."

Austin City spokesman Doug Matthews said there was no "special incentives" for Google. "The negotiated agreement we had with Google, by state law we're obligated to provide to anybody else who wants to offer the same service," Matthews said.

"If AT&T is interested in providing a similar service we're happy to talk to them about that," Matthews said. He noted that Google was committed to connect up to 100 public facilities under the terms of the agreement.

Google, the world's No. 1 Internet search engine, launched its first Google Fiber service in Kansas City in November. The company initially billed the service as a test project to spur development of new Web services and technology but now says it views Google Fiber as a viable business.

The ultra high-speed connections and television offerings are aimed at surpassing those of current providers, such as cable and telecommunications companies, such as AT&T and Time Warner Cable Inc.

As in Kansas City, consumers in Austin will be able to get standalone Gigabit Internet service or a bundle that includes nearly 200 high-definition television channels. Pricing in Austin is still to be determined, Google said.

Google said it will also offer Austin residents free Internet service, at a slower 5 megabit per second rate for seven years, provided they pay a one-time construction fee that was not specified. In Kansas City, the fee is $300.

The city's authorities, as opposed to federal regulators, hold the oversight power over the terms and conditions for AT&T's and Google's projects.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski has been a big proponent of growing high-speed internet access across the country and on Tuesday, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel welcomed the news from Austin.

"Every effort we can make to make sure we have the highest speeds available is a good one," Rosenworcel said on the sidelines of the National Association of Broadcasters trade show in Las Vegas. "I think it is such an important economic imperative that we need to fire on all fronts at once."

Google shares finished Tuesday up $2.80, or less than 1 percent, at $777.65. Shares of AT&T closed the session up 14 cents, or less than 1 percent, at $37.76.

(Additional reporting by Alina Selyukh in Las Vegas and Corrie MacLaggan in Austin; Editing by Kenneth Barry, Eric Walsh and Bob Burgdorfer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/google-expand-high-speed-internet-tv-austin-texas-175159657--sector.html

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Iran says 37 killed in earthquake in south

An Iranian woman reacts as she sits among the rubble of buildings after an earthquake struck southern Iran, in Shonbeh, Iran, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. A 6.1 magnitude earthquake killed dozens of people and injured hundreds more in a sparsely populated area in southern Iran on Tuesday, Iranian officials said, adding that it did not damage a nuclear plant in the region. (AP Photo/Fars News Agency, Mohammad Fatemi)

An Iranian woman reacts as she sits among the rubble of buildings after an earthquake struck southern Iran, in Shonbeh, Iran, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. A 6.1 magnitude earthquake killed dozens of people and injured hundreds more in a sparsely populated area in southern Iran on Tuesday, Iranian officials said, adding that it did not damage a nuclear plant in the region. (AP Photo/Fars News Agency, Mohammad Fatemi)

An Iranian woman receives medical treatment after an earthquake struck southern Iran, in Shonbeh, Iran, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. A 6.1 magnitude earthquake killed dozens and injured hundreds more in a sparsely populated area in southern Iran on Tuesday, Iranian officials said, adding that it did not damage a nuclear plant in the region. (AP Photo/Fars News Agency, Mohammad Fatemi)

Map locates an earthquake which struck Iran

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? A 6.1 magnitude earthquake killed at least 37 and injured hundreds more in a sparsely populated area in southern Iran on Tuesday, Iranian officials said, adding that it did not damage a nuclear plant in the region.

The report said the earthquake struck the town of Kaki some 96 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Bushehr, a town on the Persian Gulf that is home of Iran's first nuclear power plant, built with Russian help.

"No damage was done to Bushehr power plant," Bushehr provincial governor Fereidoun Hasanvand told state TV. He said 37 people had died so far and 850 were injured, including 100 who were hospitalized.

The plant's chief, Mahmoud Jafari, confirmed the site's condition to semi-official Mehr news agency, saying that it is resistant to earthquakes of up to magnitude eight.

Water and electricity were cut to many residents, said Ebrahim Darvishi, governor of the worst-hit district Shonbeh.

The UN's nuclear watchdog agency said on its website that it had been informed by Iran that there was no damage to the plant and no radioactive release and, based on its analysis of the earthquake, was not seeking additional information. The International Atomic Energy Agency statement indicated that it was satisfied there was little danger.

Shahpour Rostami, the deputy governor of Bushehr province, told state TV that rescue teams have been deployed to Shonbeh.

Three helicopters were sent to survey the damaged area before sunset, said Mohammad Mozaffar, the head of Iran's Red Crescent rescue department. He said damage was particularly bad in the village of Baghan.

Kaki resident Mondani Hosseini told The Associated Press that people had run out into the streets out of fear.

Dozens of aftershocks have been reported by the official IRNA news agency since the earthquake, which occurred at 16:22 local time, 11:58 GMT.

Iran announced three days of mourning.

The quake was felt across the Gulf in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, where workers were evacuated from high-rise buildings as a precaution.

Earlier on Sunday a lighter earthquake jolted the nearby area. Iran is located on seismic faults and it experiences frequent earthquakes.

In 2003, some 26,000 people were killed by a 6.6 magnitude quake that flattened the historic southeastern city of Bam.

In Russia, the head of the state agency responsible for the Bushehr project said the reactor was not producing fission by chain reaction when the tremor occurred.

"Personnel at the station are continuing to work in a normal regime, the radiation conditions are within the norms of natural background," Igor Mezenin was quoted as saying by the ITAR-Tass news agency.

____

AP writers George Jahn in Vienna and James Heintz in Moscow contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-09-ML-Iran-Earthquake/id-d1e31362d15847809431a1920479ba7d

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Apps help U.S. consumers rent from each other

By Natasha Baker

TORONTO (Reuters) - Whether it is houses, cars, luxury clothing or sports equipment, more consumers are opting to rent, borrow or lease than buy, and a range of new apps are helping them do it online.

In the last two years, more than half of Americans surveyed said they had rented items they would have purchased in the past, according to a poll about buying habits commissioned by solar panel rental company Sunrun.

The trend toward renting was highest in people 55 years and older, the poll of 2,252 Americans found.

"There's a return to simplicity, a return to cutting down on waste and being a little bit smarter about how you spend your money and what you buy," Sunrun co-founder Lynn Jurich said.

Getaround, which is available for iPhone users and on the web, is a free car-sharing app that allows users to rent vehicles from other people. Users can find nearby cars, reserve them and unlock them with the app. Another free app called RelayRides provides a similar service.

For consumers interested in ride-sharing, SideCar and Lyft, both available for iPhone and Android, help people hitch rides for a fee. The service can be less expensive than taxis and gives riders an opportunity to meet new people.

The apps use social networks, such as Facebook, to show the identity of the user and provider, and any mutual associations, to make people feel more comfortable doing business with strangers online, said Arun Sundararajan, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business and an expert on digital economics.

"Relationships and ties that exist in the real world are now available to marketplaces to take advantage of. They don't have to build trust from scratch to get people to participate," he said.

On DogVacay, an iPhone and web app that helps vacationing pet owners find temporary care for their dog, identities are verified via Facebook and telephone interviews.

Car-sharing apps such as Getaround provide insurance coverage for both the car owner and driver for liability, collision and theft. Airbnb, an app for private rental accommodations, offers property owners up to a $1 million insurance guarantee.

While a downturn in the economy and a return to simplicity may be fueling the trend and the apps that support it, Sundararajan believes demand will continue, even if the economy bounces back strongly.

"In many ways, it's just as much about getting access to greater variety and quality," he said.

(Editing by Patricia Reaney and Stacey Joyce)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apps-help-u-consumers-rent-other-185746417.html

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Porsha Stewart Divorce Takes Ugly Turn With Kordell Stewart's Latest Allegations

Porsha Stewart and her soon-to-be ex-husband Kordell's divorce proceedings have taken a bit of an ugly turn.

The Atlanta housewife, who said she was 'blindsided' by the filings has been leaning on the support of her friends, family and fans in the wake of the devastating news. But the reality star has been hit with another game-changing play from her retired NFL-ex.

According to new documents, the former pro-athlete claims that Porsha stays out partying all night long and neglects "her responsibilities to her stepson,' TMZ reports.

Shots were originally fired when the Bravo star asserted her estranged spouse was locking her out of their shared home and bringing another woman there. But Stewart responded, saying he locks the house for security reasons and that the other woman is in fact a nanny he was forced to hire since Porsha has failed to carry out her "duties."

Kordell asked the court to deny Porsha spousal support, saying she is a celebrity who is capable of earning her own income.

Who's side are you on? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/07/porsha-stewart-divorce-kordell-stewart-allegations_n_3032855.html

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