SNB chief denies wrongdoing over dollar deals (AP)

ZURICH ? The Swiss National Bank chief denied any wrongdoing Thursday and said he had no plans to resign over private currency deals that produced hefty profits for his family.

Breaking his silence to counter a national uproar, Philipp Hildebrand said had acted according to the central bank's internal rules in the U.S. dollar swaps, which came as he was spearheading efforts to lower the value of the Swiss franc.

"I am not aware of having committed any legal error," Hildebrand told reporters at the SNB's headquarters in Zurich. "But I understand that the public is also asking moral questions."

The 48-year-old has come under pressure to reveal all details of the dollar deals and avert harm to Switzerland's small but powerful central bank.

Hildebrand said he understood that the dollar deals totaling more than $2 million ? some of which he said were conducted by his wife ? could be misinterpreted and damage his reputation. But he insisted that he would stay on as president as long as he had the support of the SNB's board and Swiss authorities.

"Resignation is not an issue for me," he said.

Hildebrand lashed out at those who had revealed the dollars deals by leaking details of his private account at Bank Sarasin. The Basel-based bank said it has fired an IT support employee who handed the files to a lawyer close to the nationalist Swiss People's Party.

Hildebrand said he would consult with his lawyer on whether to take legal steps against those involved in leaking his files.

The public furor over Hildebrand's private deals marks a rare misstep for the former champion swimmer. As recently as last week, one Swiss newspaper described him as the "rock star of the euro crisis" for keeping a cool head while Switzerland's neighbors trembled amid the turmoil affecting the euro currency.

It was Hildebrand who led the Swiss National Bank's efforts to vent steam out of Switzerland's overheating currency by setting the minimum value of the euro at 1.20 Swiss francs on Sept. 6.

When details of Hildebrand's account at Bank Sarasin surfaced late last year, the Swiss central bank declared that its chief had done no wrong and closed the case.

But the recent drip-drip of claims ? some of them pitting Hildebrand's word against those of a magazine hostile to his leadership of the bank ? reignited debate over the future of Switzerland's top banker.

Much of Hildebrand's defense rests on his claim that it was his wife Kashya, a former currency trader now running an art gallery in Zurich, who bought more than half a million U.S. dollars on Aug. 15 without telling her husband.

Kashya Hildebrand, a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen, told Swiss television Tuesday that she invested in the dollar "because it was at a record low and almost laughably cheap."

Hildebrand told reporters Thursday that his wife wasn't aware that the central bank would two days later increase the liquidity of the franc, thereby lifting the value of the dollar.

Critics say the central bank chief and his wife acted at best naively.

"That those close to the central bank chief are making currency deals is an absolute no-go," Christoph Moergeli, a senior figure in the Swiss People's Party, told Swiss TV. "You don't even need to put that in writing."

Hildebrand said the only charge he would level against himself is that he failed to reverse the Aug. 15 dollar purchase made by his wife.

Asked why he didn't do so, he responded: "Let's just say my wife has a strong personality."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120105/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_switzerland_central_bank

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Romney makes a show of force ahead of SC primary

Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets supporters at a campaign event Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012, in Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets supporters at a campaign event Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012, in Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., right, and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, center, attend an event in support of Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012, in Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

(AP) ? Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made a strong play for votes in conservative South Carolina's primary on Thursday, campaigning there with two popular politicians who are backing his bid instead of remaining in New Hampshire ahead of its first-in-the-nation primary next week.

"He's got to do some work," South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley told reporters after appearing with Romney and Sen. John McCain, the party's 2008 presidential nominee. "He's got to get on the ground, and with his message, he can win."

While the rest of the GOP field was in New Hampshire, Romney continued to show confidence by bolting for a state that doesn't cast primary votes until Jan. 21.

McCain touted Romney's family and support for military strength, key issues in South Carolina, where Christian conservatives and military veterans are influential in the GOP.

"As President Reagan said, 'Peace through strength.' That's what Mitt Romney is committed to," McCain, a decorated Navy veteran and former prisoner of war, told more than 400 people.

McCain drew chuckles from the audience with a slip of the tongue near the close of his speech. "And so I am confident with the leadership and backing of the American people, President Obama will turn this country around," he said, inadvertently referring to the Democratic incumbent before repeatedly correcting himself with a grimace.

McCain has contacted supporters of his 2008 campaign who have endorsed other candidates, including former state Attorney Gen. Henry McMaster, who is backing Romney rival Jon Huntsman.

McMaster declined to say whether McCain asked him to switch his support, but he said McCain's backing will help Romney in the state where he placed a disappointing fourth in the 2008 primary.

In 2008, after campaigning hard and advertising aggressively in South Carolina, Romney saw little movement in his sluggish poll numbers and abandoned his bid in the state two weeks before the primary to focus on later primaries.

Romney has begun running advertisements and has locked up the endorsements of key figures, such as Haley and state Treasurer Curtis Loftus, a leader among the state's tea party supporters.

His visits have targeted the state's larger urban areas, which include more politically moderate transplants from other states, like Tom Kelly, a retired Air Force officer from Charleston who lived in Massachusetts when Romney was governor.

"He's standing on his record this time, not running so hard as a conservative. It's more authentic, and how we knew him in Massachusetts," said Kelly, who attended Romney's campaign event near Charleston.

It's a strategy similar to his plan in Iowa last year: Build on existing relationships, project a national image and ramp up late with the look of a top contender.

As in Iowa, some evangelical conservatives in South Carolina distrust Romney because of his changed positions on key social issues and voice discomfort with his Mormon faith. Some believe that Mormons falsely claim to be Christians.

Haley said she believes Romney's religion will not keep people from supporting him.

"This is a state that elected a 38-year-old Indian female. No, I'm not worried about that at all," Haley told reporters.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who finished nearly even with Romney in Iowa, has strong backing from evangelical conservatives. He also has campaigned aggressively in South Carolina, compared with Romney, having visited 26 times. Romney was making his eighth and planned to campaign with McCain in the state Friday.

Santorum was set to pour money into South Carolina advertising beginning next week. Fresh off his strong showing in the Iowa caucuses, he raised $2 million in the two days since the leadoff caucuses, aides said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-05-Romney/id-10e035d84fd249e28b3d29dad8a392d1

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Apple's (AAPL) iPhone 4S Becomes Biggest Data Hog Thanks to 'Siri'

FREE Breaking News Alerts from StreetInsider.com!

January 6, 2012 1:59 PM EST

Siri, how much will my wireless bill be this month? Siri? Siri. Siri?? SIRI?!?!

Prepare iPhone 4S users! Your $200 to $400 entry fee (for new signers) isn't the only fee you'll be seeing... watch out for that data usage.

According to reports Thursday, the Siri feature on Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone 4S is gobbling up data at nearly double the rate of the average user.

Network firm Arieso reported "iPhone 4S users are the 'hungriest' data consumers, demanding twice as much data as iPhone 4 users and three times as much as iPhone 3G users."

Arieso uses the iPhone 3G as it's baseline when conducting tests, the firm said. Based on that, the iPhone 4S specifically uses 2.76 times baseline data.

The numbers have dual implications -- both good and bad. The bad is networks will become more bogged down, though that's likely to be less so with the introduction of Sprint (NYSE: S) as a third iPhone carrier. The good is carriers will be able to make more money from users, as data use continues to escalate. Currently, Sprint said it's the only carrier with "truly unlimited" data plans, though that claim has a little asterisk next to it. Other U.S. carriers of iPhone's include AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ)(NYSE: VOD).

Next on the list is Samsung's Galaxy S, using 1.99 times baseline data.

Also notable, data showed even wireless has its upper-echelon: about 1 percent of users account for 50 percent of all downloaded data.

Customers are probably already getting initial bills in the mail, or have paid a few, with the new iPhone 4S. One thing the basics of Arieso's report didn't give was the actual data quantity (500-megabyte, 1-gigbyte, etc.), but with AT&T expecting $45 per 4-GB of data, users will be paying closer attention to usage.

...In between dropped calls, of course (zing!).

Shares of Apple are trading 0.8 percent better Friday afternoon.


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Woman killed in hit-and-run had been struck on same road

By msnbc.com

?

A wheelchair-bound woman who was killed when she was hit by three cars Tuesday had lost her leg in a previous hit-and-run accident on the same city road in Wilmington, Del., a friend told NBC Philadelphia.

Edith McFarland, 58,?was trying to get across South Market Street, a busy road near the Fairview Inn, where she had been living for the past three months, when she was struck at 6:35 p.m. on Tuesday, Delaware State Police said.

?"After the impact, McFarland was ejected from her wheelchair into the southbound lanes of South Market Street, where she was then struck by two additional vehicles," investigators said in a statement.

Police said the disabled woman was hit first by a gold truck or SUV. All three drivers fled the scene without stopping and have yet to be apprehended.

McFarland was pronounced dead at the scene in the state's first fatal accident of the year, police said.

The first hit-and-run happened 25 years ago, her friend, Robin Smith, told NBC Philadelphia. South Market Street is also known as Route 13, and McFarland's first accident happened just a few miles further down the road on Route 13, reported CBSPhilly.com.

"To be taken off of this earth the same way she lost her leg, it?s just, it heavies my heart," Smith said.

Smith implored the drivers who hit her friend to turn themselves in.

"I think it's cruel. How can you hit somebody in a wheelchair and keep going?" she said. "I pray to God that whoever hit her, that their heart would be so heavy that they would turn themselves in and that justice would be made for her and her family."

?Sources told NBC Philadelphia that McFarland was returning from the grocery store when she was killed.

Read the full story on NBCPhiladelphia.com

"She was a good woman," McFarland's son Jeremy told NBC Philadelphia, unable to hold back tears. "We didn?t have very much anyway, but she would give anyone what she had, you know."

Police said they had interviewed witnesses and asked anyone with information to call the Delaware State Police.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/05/9975313-woman-killed-in-hit-and-run-had-been-struck-on-same-road

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98% Le Havre

All Critics (56) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (55) | Rotten (1)

'Tis the season, so the saying goes. And when it comes to Aki Kaurism?ki, it holds true. The Finnish writer-director arrives bearing a gift wrapped in a contemporary immigration fable.

If the bummers and ambiguity of some of this season's movies are getting you down - or, hey, just the bummers and ambiguities of life - make your way to Le Havre. You won't be sorry.

The Finnish director's sense of humor is dry and dark as pitch, as he consistently finds moments of absurdity in the midst of strife and tragedy.

Kaurism?ki wrote the script, I think, with secret credit from Mother Goose and some fabric softener.

"Le Havre" is a small bit of movie magic, a story that plays more as a fable even as it deals with something as topical as immigration.

The film is especially comforting if you love old movies, as Kaurismaki does.

The latest work by Finnish cult director Aki Kaurismaki is is his strongst in a decade--and one of 2011 best foreign pictures.

The movie never wears out its welcome with an efficient 93-minute running time. Besides the four principal characters, the supporting cast makes an impression playing a grocer, a baker, a tavern owner and Marcel's best buddy from Vietnam. It also...

While the film never reaches any hugely profound revelations with its parable-styled stories of compassion and community, and occasionally feels a little slight, it's also enormously enjoyable and gorgeous to watch.

It's a puzzle, and an intriguing one.

In two stories of evolving trust and secrets, Le Havre reflects the essential simplicity of the moral choices made in its simple-seeming camera set-ups.

Kaurismaki's movie about a shoeshine man and an illegal immigrant is nothing less than a joy

A wonderfully concise, unfussy movie; it is "easy" by the director's standards, which is to say that it doesn't leave any significant ellipses in the narrative up until the aggressively darling ending.

...an upbeat little tome that leaves a good feeling to the spirit.

Kaurism?ki can almost restore your hope in humanity.

Kaurismaki dives into French film culture in 'Le Havre'

You almost become a citizen of Le Havre, watching this film and rejoicing at the end as two newfound, unexpected friends share a drink.

It's a straightforward yet completely artificial scenario, with welcome overtones of Italian Neo-Realism.

Unlike the director's typical hero, Wilms's spare performance conveys confidence rather than defeat. He and the kid warm the heart, thawing Kaurism?ki's usual icy aplomb.

Heart-wrenching but ultimately inspirational.

Le Havre is not the filmmaker's best work (see La Vie de Boh?me for that), but no matter the storm, we should be grateful to dock in this port.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/le_havre_2011/

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Glover could miss golf opener with knee injury

Lucas Glover reacts after winning the Wells Fargo Championship last season in Charlotte, N.C.

Buy Photo AP FILE

Published: Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 3:15 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, January 6, 2012 at 1:36 a.m.

KAPALUA, Hawaii ? Lucas Glover sprained his right knee in a freak paddle board accident and might not be able to start his season at the Tournament of Champions.

?Just fell off the board,? Glover said Thursday. ?Done that a thousand times.?

The simple fall into the water wasn't harmless this time, though. The former U.S. Open champion and Clemson golfer was on his paddle board Saturday morning in the Pacific ? one of his favorite hobbies when he comes to Hawaii ? when he lost his balance and fell.

?My foot caught on the edge of the board, my body went one way and my knee went the other,? Glover said. ?I knew immediately I done a little something. I just wasn't sure how bad.?

Tests an hour later revealed a sprain of the medial collateral ligament. Glover spent the next few days icing his knee and resting, and showed up Thursday morning hoping to play in the pro-am. On the practice range, however, he couldn't properly transfer his weight from the right side and had to pull out. Stephen Ames, who vacations in west Maui over the holidays, replaced him.

Glover has not given up on playing when the first round begins Friday.

?If you put a gun to my head, I could have played today, but I don't think I'd have been effective,? said Glover, who qualified for this winners-only event with his victory at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow. ?If I play tomorrow, I'm definitely going to have to rest today. I hate to miss the pro-am, I've never missed one. I'm 50-50 tomorrow. In order to move that percentage up, I'm going to have to rest today.?

What might keep him out, however, is the Plantation Course at Kapalua, carved out of a mountain with severe elevation changes. Players are allowed to use carts in practice and in the pro-am. They have to walk when the competition begins.

?If it were next week, I'd feel better about it,? he said, referring to the flat course of Waialae for the Sony Open.

If he can't play, it would be the second straight year that a former U.S. Open champion had to withdraw. Geoff Ogilvy, the two-time defending champion at Kapalua, last year cut open his finger on coral while swimming in the ocean and wound up missing the first month of the year.

?I was doing what I like to do. I was living,? Glover said. ?It's not like I was showboating. Just one of those freak deals. Bad luck.?

Even if he can't play, or if the knee sprain doesn't improve, Glover isn't going anywhere. His parents arrived Wednesday from South Carolina.

?They haven't had a vacation like this in 20 years,? he said. ?I'm going to be with them if nothing else. I'm not all too down about this. I hate to come out here and not be able to compete. But it could be worse. I could be somewhere not as pretty.?

Glover hopes it doesn't cut into his plans for a big West Coast Swing. He plans to play in just about every tournament except the Humana Challenge to try to build up his world ranking (No. 69) and qualify for a pair of World Golf Championships early in the year in Arizona and Miami.

Source: http://www.goupstate.com/article/20120105/wire/120109827

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Navy pilot killed self in San Diego murder-suicide (AP)

SAN DIEGO ? A New Year's Day shooting that left four people dead at a condominium near San Diego was a murder-suicide involving a 25-year-old Navy pilot who killed himself, officials said Wednesday.

John Robert Reeves shot himself in the head, and the three others with him were murdered, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said, citing autopsy results.

Fellow Navy pilot David Reis, also 25, was killed by a gunshot wound to the torso, and his 24-year-old sister, Karen, suffered a gunshot wound to the head and chest, officials said. Matthew Saturley, 31, of Chula Vista was shot multiple times.

Sheriff's Capt. Duncan Fraser said there were no outstanding suspects in the case, and police have found no evidence indicating there was an exchange of gunfire.

Fraser declined to say if Reeves was the shooter, explaining that "we don't have forensic evidence yet to say that definitively."

"We have no eyewitnesses to what happened inside the residence," Fraser told reporters. "We don't know what the motive was."

The deaths shook Coronado, a picturesque peninsular enclave of 24,000 people on San Diego Bay that draws tourists and recorded only one homicide in 2010. The city is home to Naval Air Station North Island, serves as a training area for Navy SEALs, and is a haven for Navy retirees.

The two Navy pilots shared the condominium with another Navy pilot who was out of town at the time. The third pilot has been talking to authorities, Fraser said.

Friends and family members have not indicated there were any problems in the household that could have caused Sunday's tragedy, investigators said.

Authorities were awaiting toxicology results to see if drugs or alcohol might have played a role.

Reeves moved in to the condo a few months ago, Fraser said.

The two Navy pilots and Karen Reis went out to a nightclub on New Year's Eve with another unidentified friend, Fraser said. At the club, they met Saturley and returned to Coronado.

The unidentified friend was talking to David Reis outside the condo when gunshots rang out. Reis rushed inside and the friend stayed outside and called 911, Fraser said.

David Reis' body was found near the entryway. The other three were found on the third floor of the condo, Fraser said.

Karen Reis and one of the men were in a bedroom and another male was on the landing.

Investigators seized four guns from the property but did not release any details on the weapons. None appeared to be a military firearm, Fraser said.

The Marine Corps says Reeves, of Prince Frederick, Md., and Reis, of Bakersfield were both Navy officers and F/A-18 fighter pilots. They were assigned to the Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101 of the Third Marine Aircraft Wing at Miramar Air Station.

Both men joined the Navy through ROTC in 2008 at separate universities. Reeves commissioned in the Navy through ROTC at Penn State University while Reis commissioned at the University of New Mexico, where he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering.

The Reis siblings were close friends. David Reis had just taken his first flight aboard an F/A-18 fighter jet. His sister, Karen, 24, graduated from the University of California, San Diego in 2009, and coached volleyball twice a week to children 12 and younger.

Genuine Volleyball Club's website says she was completing course work toward becoming an occupational therapist.

"David and Karen were good people, from a good family, and doing all that they could to spread that goodness to all who had the fortune to come into contact with them," the family said in a statement Wednesday.

They asked the media to respect their privacy at this time and not to contact them. The siblings are expected to be buried together.

Karen's absence will be greatly felt by those who came in contact with the "selfless young woman" who loved to play sports and sing in her car. David was Karen's "knight in shining armor," the family said.

"We will miss David tremendously, but take solace knowing that he is now forever flying in flawless formation across eternity, with Karen on his wing," the family said.

Navy Lt. Col. Robert Brodie expressed his support for the families of both men and urged people to pray for them.

"Our condolences go out to the families, friends, fellow service members and Coronado community during this time of mourning," Brodie said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120104/ap_on_re_us/us_condo_shooting

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@#m#watch Kansas vs Kansas State Live Streaming ncaa basketball online

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Magma Causing Uplift in Oregon (LiveScience.com)

Volcanic activity is causing the earth to rise in Oregon, scientists have found.

Though whether such uplift is a sign of an imminent eruption remains uncertain.

As early as the summer of 1996, a 230-square-mile (600-square-kilometer) patch of ground in Oregon began to rise. The area lies just west of the South Sister Volcano, which with the North and Middle Sisters form the Three Sisters volcanoes, the most prominent peaks in the central Oregon stretch of the Cascade Mountains.

Although this region has not seen an eruption in at least 1,200 years, the scattered hints of volcanic activity here have been a cause of concern, leading to continuous satellite-based monitoring. Now 14 years of data is revealing just how the Earth is changing there and the likely cause of the uplift ? a reservoir of magma invading the crust 3-to-4 miles (5-to-7 km) underground.

Uplifting ground

The European Space Agency's European Remote Sensing and Envisat radar satellites revealed that the terrain deformed in three distinct phases since this uplift began. From 1996 to 1998, the ground rose by 0.4 inches (1 cm) per year. Then, from 1998 to 2004, uplift grew to 1.2-to-1.6 inches (3-to-4 cm) annually. However, for the rest of the decade, uplift declined to only a few millimeters per year, for a total of 9.8 inches (25 cm) of uplift so far.

"The most important implication of our research is that the ground appears to still be uplifting," said researcher Susan Riddick, a geodesist at the University of Oregon. "Previous researchers believed that the ground uplift, a result of the input of magma deep in the Earth's crust, had stopped at around 2006. We found that the ground is still uplifting as of late 2010 and may still be uplifting, but at a slow rate."

By analyzing precisely how the landscape was changing, the researchers suggest the magma pocket behind this uplift has a volume of 1.76-billion-to-2.47-billion cubic feet (50-million-to-70-million cubic meters), enough to fill 20,000-to-28,000 Olympic-size swimming pools.

Eruption monitoring

Since the ground is still rising, "magma may still be accumulating, and as a result, this area needs to be continually monitored to determine whether or not there will be an eruption," Riddick told OurAmazingPlanet. [Album: Volcanoes from Space]

"If there were to be an eruption, it would probably not be from a pre-existing volcano that we can see because the uplifting ground area is several kilometers from historically active volcanoes," Riddick added. "A new volcanic vent would likely form. Lava would be ejected from a vent and fall to the ground to create a cinder cone, which is a steep conical volcano made of lava fragments. We believe it would be a small eruption, because we calculated that only a relatively small amount of magma has accumulated in the earth's crust so far."

If the researchers are correct, " if an eruption were to take place, it would produce a small cinder cone, then the eruption would be localized within the Three Sisters wilderness area and would not pose a great hazard to the public in neighboring towns," Riddick said. "However, this can change if more magma accumulates at depth, which is why continual monitoring of this area is crucial."

Riddick and her colleague David Schmidt detailed their findings online Dec. 17 in the journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.

This story was provided by OurAmazingPlanet, a sister site to LiveScience.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20120104/sc_livescience/magmacausingupliftinoregon

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Aretha Franklin is engaged to longtime friend

FILE - In this May 17, 2011 file photo, singer Aretha Franklin appears at a taping of "Surprise Oprah! A Farewell Spectacular," in Chicago. Franklin released a statement Monday, Jan. 2, 2012, saying she's ready to tie the knot with longtime friend William ?Willie? Wilkerson. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

FILE - In this May 17, 2011 file photo, singer Aretha Franklin appears at a taping of "Surprise Oprah! A Farewell Spectacular," in Chicago. Franklin released a statement Monday, Jan. 2, 2012, saying she's ready to tie the knot with longtime friend William ?Willie? Wilkerson. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

(AP) ? Aretha Franklin is engaged to longtime friend William "Willie" Wilkerson.

The Grammy-winning singer told The Associated Press in a statement Monday that she and Wilkerson are considering a summer wedding, perhaps in Miami Beach, Fla. The Queen of Soul wants to follow the ceremony with a reception on a private yacht.

The 69-year-old jokes: "No, I'm not pregnant."

Franklin and Wilkerson became engaged over the holidays.

She is considering Vera Wang, Valentino and Donna Karan to design her dress.

Franklin has been married twice before.

___

Mesfin Fekadu covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/musicmesfin

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-02-US-People-Aretha-Franklin/id-6e0f590a8bec4f5db53927b9d7b7e088

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