Jihadists and Secular Activists Clash in Syrian Town

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The tensions had been simmering for months in the northern Syrian town of Saraqib. Civilian antigovernment activists had complained of rebel fighters needlessly destroying a milk factory and treating residents disrespectfully. A growing contingent of jihadist fighters from the ideologically extreme and militarily formidable Nusra Front was suspicious of the activists’ secular, nonviolent agenda.

On Thursday, mistrust erupted into confrontation. Masked men believed to be with Al Nusra raided the headquarters of two secular civilian grass-roots organizations — setting in motion one of the most dramatic tests yet of the makeshift system of local governance that civilians and fighters have established in Saraqib, a rebel-held town.

The dispute also tests the clout of jihadist fighters and the ability of civilian opposition groups to stand up to them. The increasingly prominent role of jihadist battalions on the battlefield in Syria worried the United States enough to blacklist Al Nusra last year as a terrorist organization, an effort to isolate it that may have backfired. The Syrian opposition is ambivalent about the group: while many antigovernment activists oppose its vision of an Islamic state and complain of attempts to enforce pious practices, its relatively steady arms supply and string of battleground victories have brought it respect.

The dispute in Saraqib began when a group of masked men raided two organizations run by local activists, a new cultural club and a social work office, the activists said. At the second office, where Danish journalists and two visiting female Syrian activists were staying, the men seized fliers advocating nonviolence, and ordered the group to leave town by sunrise, according to activists and one of the journalists, a filmmaker. The masked men were angry, the witnesses said, in part because the visiting Syrian activists were not covering their hair in accordance with the practice of many pious Muslims. The men also declared that they preferred foreign journalists entering the country to be men.

Northern Syria is socially conservative, and many people there, regardless of their feelings about extremist groups, might expect female visitors to cover their hair. One activist in the area said the Syrian women had upset people with their dress and behavior. The filmmaker, who asked not to be named for safety reasons, said the women were respectful and came from a group called Waw al-Wasel that had produced an ethics guide for rebel fighters, quoting the Koran and other sources.

A number of Saraqib activists were enraged by the masked men’s interference with Syrian civilian activities. They denounced the fighters on social media. “Shabiha,” one activist, Ahmed Kaddour, called them in a Facebook post, using a term usually reserved for pro-government militias. But they also decided to fight back more concretely.

A contingent of local activists and 40 other residents went to the town’s court of Islamic law and filed a complaint. They insisted on holding accountable the local council, whose security committee the masked men claimed to represent, and the town’s military command, the Revolutionary Front of Saraqib. Both groups denied involvement and refused to confront the attackers. That further angered the activists, who said they had recognized the intruders as Nusra members and complained that the local council and military commanders were either sanctioning or ignoring abuse.

“We are currently waiting for the court to finish its investigation,” Assaad Kanjo, 21, a local activist with both Islamist and secular contacts, said in an interview via Skype. “We hold the Revolutionary Front of Saraqib responsible for the safety and well-being of all Syrian civilians and foreign and Arab journalists living in Saraqib.”

Members of Al Nusra later took a conciliatory tone, Mr. Kanjo said, sending mediators to the activists and calling for “extinguishing strife” and uniting against the government. Emboldened, the activists went a step further, demanding an official apology from the local council and the attackers’ brigade, and asking them to take disciplinary action against the attackers.

“I won’t put up with their intimidation tactics anymore,” said Iyas, a civil activist in Saraqib and the owner of the cultural club, who provided only his first name for safety reasons.

Hwaida Saad contributed reporting.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 26, 2013

An earlier version of this article misidentified the time of day that masked men set as a deadline for visiting Syrian activists to leave Saraqib. It was sunrise, not sunset.

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Stan Musial remembered during funeral Mass

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Stan Musial was remembered as a Hall of Famer on and off the field during a 2-hour funeral Mass.

Broadcaster Bob Costas, his voice cracking at times, pointed out during Saturday's lengthy tribute that in 92 years of life, Musial never let anyone down.

Among those in attendance were baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, former St. Louis standout Albert Pujols and Hall of Famers Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Bruce Sutter and Red Schoendienst.

The 90-year-old Schoendienst once roomed with Musial.

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Religious Groups and Employers Battle Contraception Mandate

Shawn Thew/European Pressphoto Agency

President Obama, with his health secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, offering a compromise on the contraception mandate last year.

In a flood of lawsuits, Roman Catholics, evangelicals and Mennonites are challenging a provision in the new health care law that requires employers to cover birth control in employee health plans — a high-stakes clash between religious freedom and health care access that appears headed to the Supreme Court.

In recent months, federal courts have seen dozens of lawsuits brought not only by religious institutions like Catholic dioceses but also by private employers ranging from a pizza mogul to produce transporters who say the government is forcing them to violate core tenets of their faith. Some have been turned away by judges convinced that access to contraception is a vital health need and a compelling state interest. Others have been told that their beliefs appear to outweigh any state interest and that they may hold off complying with the law until their cases have been judged. New suits are filed nearly weekly.

“This is highly likely to end up at the Supreme Court,” said Douglas Laycock, a law professor at the University of Virginia and one of the country’s top scholars on church-state conflicts. “There are so many cases, and we are already getting strong disagreements among the circuit courts.”

President Obama’s health care law, known as the Affordable Care Act, was the most fought-over piece of legislation in his first term and was the focus of a highly contentious Supreme Court decision last year that found it to be constitutional.

But a provision requiring the full coverage of contraception remains a matter of fierce controversy. The law says that companies must fully cover all “contraceptive methods and sterilization procedures” approved by the Food and Drug Administration, including “morning-after pills” and intrauterine devices whose effects some contend are akin to abortion.

As applied by the Health and Human Services Department, the law offers an exemption for “religious employers,” meaning those who meet a four-part test: that their purpose is to inculcate religious values, that they primarily employ and serve people who share their religious tenets, and that they are nonprofit groups under federal tax law.

But many institutions, including religious schools and colleges, do not meet those criteria because they employ and teach members of other religions and have a broader purpose than inculcating religious values.

“We represent a Catholic college founded by Benedictine monks,” said Kyle Duncan, general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which has brought a number of the cases to court. “They don’t qualify as a house of worship and don’t turn away people in hiring or as students because they are not Catholic.”

In that case, involving Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina, a federal appeals court panel in Washington told the college last month that it could hold off on complying with the law while the federal government works on a promised exemption for religiously-affiliated institutions. The court told the government that it wanted an update by mid-February.

Defenders of the provision say employers may not be permitted to impose their views on employees, especially when something so central as health care is concerned.

“Ninety-nine percent of women use contraceptives at some time in their lives,” said Judy Waxman, a vice president of the National Women’s Law Center, which filed a brief supporting the government in one of the cases. “There is a strong and legitimate government interest because it affects the health of women and babies.”

She added, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Contraception was declared by the C.D.C. to be one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th century.”

Officials at the Justice Department and the Health and Human Services Department declined to comment, saying the cases were pending.

A compromise for religious institutions may be worked out. The government hopes that by placing the burden on insurance companies rather than on the organizations, the objections will be overcome. Even more challenging cases involve private companies run by people who reject all or many forms of contraception.

The Alliance Defending Freedom — like Becket, a conservative group — has brought a case on behalf of Hercules Industries, a company in Denver that makes sheet metal products. It was granted an injunction by a judge in Colorado who said the religious values of the family owners were infringed by the law.

“Two-thirds of the cases have had injunctions against Obamacare, and most are headed to courts of appeals,” said Matt Bowman, senior legal counsel for the alliance. “It is clear that a substantial number of these cases will vindicate religious freedom over Obamacare. But it seems likely that the Supreme Court will ultimately resolve the dispute.”

The timing of these cases remains in flux. Half a dozen will probably be argued by this summer, perhaps in time for inclusion on the Supreme Court’s docket next term. So far, two- and three-judge panels on four federal appeals courts have weighed in, granting some injunctions while denying others.

One of the biggest cases involves Hobby Lobby, which started as a picture framing shop in an Oklahoma City garage with $600 and is now one of the country’s largest arts and crafts retailers, with more than 500 stores in 41 states.

David Green, the company’s founder, is an evangelical Christian who says he runs his company on biblical principles, including closing on Sunday so employees can be with their families, paying nearly double the minimum wage and providing employees with comprehensive health insurance.

Mr. Green does not object to covering contraception but considers morning-after pills to be abortion-inducing and therefore wrong.

“Our family is now being forced to choose between following the laws of the land that we love or maintaining the religious beliefs that have made our business successful and have supported our family and thousands of our employees and their families,” Mr. Green said in a statement. “We simply cannot abandon our religious beliefs to comply with this mandate.”

The United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit last month turned down his family’s request for a preliminary injunction, but the company has found a legal way to delay compliance for some months.

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Factory Fire Kills 7 Workers in Bangladesh

A.M. Ahad/Associated Press

Firefighters and volunteers worked to extinguish the fire at a small garment factory in Bangladesh’s capital on Saturday.

DHAKA, Bangladesh — In the latest blow to Bangladesh’s garment industry, seven workers died on Saturday after a fire swept through a factory here not long after seamstresses had returned from a lunch break. Workers said supervisors had locked one of the factory exits, forcing some people to jump out of windows to save their lives.

The fatal fire comes roughly two months after the horrific blaze at the Tazreen Fashions factory, which left 112 workers dead and focused global attention on unsafe conditions in Bangladesh’s garment industry. Tazreen Fashions, located just outside Dhaka, the capital, had been making clothing for some of the world’s biggest brands and retailers, including Walmart.

In the aftermath of the Tazreen Fashions fire, Bangladeshi political and industrial leaders pledged to quickly improve fire safety and even conducted high-profile, nationwide inspections of many of the country’s 5,000 apparel factories. Global brands, meanwhile, promised consumers that they would not buy clothes from unsafe factories.

But Saturday’s fire in a densely populated section of Dhaka, is a grim reminder that the problems remain. The blaze erupted at about 2 p.m. at Smart Garment Export, a small factory that employed about 300 people, most of them young women who were making sweaters and jackets. All seven of the dead workers were women.

Masudur Rahman Akand, a supervisor in the Bangladesh Fire Department, said workers were returning from lunch when the blaze erupted in a storage area. The factory was located on the second-floor of a building, above a bakery, and it lacked proper exits and fire prevention equipment, Mr. Akand said.

“We did not find fire extinguishers,” he said. “We did not find any safety measures.”

With smoke filling the factory floor, workers apparently panicked. Mr. Akand said the seven workers who died either suffocated or were trampled by others trying to escape. Eight other workers were hospitalized with injuries. Workers told rescuers that many people could not quickly escape because one of the exits was blocked by a locked steel gate. Witnesses said people began jumping out of windows before the gate was finally unlocked.

Azizul Hoque, a police supervisor, said investigators initially suspected that the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit in a room where fabrics and materials were being stored. But Mr. Hoque said the investigation was continuing.

“We do not know the reason or the source or the origin of the fire,” he said.

It was unclear whether the Smart Garment factory was making clothing for international brands or retailers. Dhaka’s industrial areas are filled with factories, large and small, that produce clothing for much of the Western world. Bangladesh is now the world’s second-biggest exporter of apparel, trailing only China.

An American delegation with four members of Congress arrived in Dhaka on Saturday to meet with political leaders and garment industry executives for a discussion of trade issues, including efforts by Bangladesh to win tariff-free access to the American market for the country’s clothing exports.

Julfikar Ali Manik reported from Dhaka, and Jim Yardley from New Delhi.

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Yandex says new mobile app is blocked by Facebook

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian internet company Yandex said on Friday its new experimental application to search on social networking sites from mobile devices was blocked by Facebook.

The Wonder app is a recommendation tool for devices using Apple’s iOS software that allows U.S. users of social networks to retrieve information from these sites by voice or by typing questions.

The application was released late on Thursday for users of Facebook, Instagram, Foursquare and Twitter but was blocked by Facebook three hours after the launch, a Yandex spokesman said.

He added that talks between Yandex and Facebook, aimed to establish the reason of the issue and resolve it, were to begin within hours. He gave no reason for the problem.

Facebook was not available for comment.

With the new app, Yandex wants to test the opportunities offered by social networks. If successful, the company will consider offering it to users in Russia and Turkey, he said.

Shares in Yandex, Russia’s most popular search engine, gained 0.8 percent in early trade on Friday.

(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Mike Nesbit)

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Riots Mark Anniversary of Egyptian Revolt

CAIRO — Violence erupted across the country on Friday as Egyptians marked the second anniversary of their revolution with an outpouring of rage against the power of the Muslim Brotherhood.

At least five people were killed in the canal city of Suez, state news media reported. More than 250 people were injured as protesters clashed with security forces around government facilities across the country, including the Interior Ministry headquarters, the state television building and the presidential palace in Cairo. And unidentified assailants attacked Muslim Brotherhood offices in several cities, including Cairo, the Delta town of Demanhour, and the canal town of Ismailia, where the group was founded 85 years ago.

The chaos was the clearest demonstration yet of the chasm of animosity and distrust dividing the Brotherhood and its opponents.

Although the Islamists of the Brotherhood have dominated elections since the ouster of the longtime president, Hosni Mubarak, two years ago, another broad segment of the population harbors deep suspicions of the group’s conservative ideology, hierarchical structure and insular ethos. Those doubts were redoubled last month when President Mohamed Morsi, with the Brotherhood’s political party, temporarily overruled the authority of the judiciary in order to ensure that his allies could push through an Islamist-backed constitution to a referendum despite the objection of other parties and the Coptic Christian Church.

It was also the latest confirmation that the Brotherhood had inherited not only Mr. Mubarak’s presidential palace, but also the blame for Egypt’s myriad problems.

On Friday, five months after Mr. Morsi took power from Egypt’s interim military rulers, the demonstrators’ main complaint was that the Islamists had failed to fulfill the social welfare and social justice demands of the original uprising. A banner in the center of the square called for the repeal of the Islamist-backed Constitution, passed in a referendum last month, which opponents say failed to enshrine ironclad guarantees of individual freedoms.

“The Egyptian people had so many dreams and the reality on the ground is, everything is still the same,” said Mohamed Adl, 41, a teacher who carried a sign with a handwritten poem accusing the Brotherhood of making “injustice the guard of our lives.”

Protesters at times seemed to be re-enacting scenes from the 18-day revolt in 2011 that toppled Mr. Mubarak. The loudest chants were recycled from the revolution — “Leave, leave” and “The people want the fall of the regime.” Others were adapted slightly to focus on the Islamist Brotherhood, calling for an end to “the rule by the supreme guide,” Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood’s spiritual leader.

By early afternoon in Cairo, a few dozen protesters at one corner of the square — many of them apparently teenagers — had begun to throw rocks over a cement barrier at security forces massed around the Interior Ministry building, resuming an intermittent battle that had begun the day before in anticipation of the anniversary. The security officers, as they typically do, threw back some of the rocks, and plumes of tear gas sailed overhead past a church steeple up the street.

State news media reported at around 3 p.m. that four people had been injured in the clashes with security forces near the square, in addition to 25 injured since the battle began the day before.

Osama Amir, 22, a student walking from the fight, said he did not know how it started or why. “People have lost confidence in the central security forces, so when there is a chance to beat them up, we will beat them up,” he said.

A little while later, another fight broke out when demonstrators passed the office of the Muslim Brotherhood Web site on their way to the square and threw rocks at it. Other civilians — it was unclear whether they were annoyed neighbors or Brotherhood supporters — rushed out to strike back at the protesters, and a street vendor’s kiosk was burned in the melee.

Simultaneously, a group of masked men broke into the building and ransacked the Brotherhood office, overturning furniture, destroying computers and breaking glass. Neighbors of the building said the attack appeared to have been planned because the men had brought acid to break through a padlock.

The Brotherhood, hoping to avoid the kind of factional clashes that killed 10 people in December, had urged its supporters to stay away from the square and observe the anniversary with community service projects around the country.

Both the Brotherhood and its opponents are looking ahead to parliamentary elections expected to be held in April, and critics of the Brotherhood contended that its community service drive was in part an effort to curry favor with needy voters. The opposition had poured most of its energy into Friday’s demonstrations, and its critics said it was once again wasting its time on street protests while the Islamists had already turned their attention to the more important electoral battle.

“It is important that people go down to the square, if for no other reason than to remind Egypt, and themselves, that something really special happened during those 18 days two years ago,” said H. A. Hellyer, a researcher based here with the Brookings Institution. “That energy, however, can’t stay in the square,” he said. “It’s got to be channeled.”

But some demonstrators argued that the public protests were a first step toward building a more potent political movement that might someday counterbalance the Islamists. “Nothing tangible will come of today, and I don’t think anything tangible with happen with the elections,” said Ayman Roshdy, 57, a retired marketing consultant. “But there is hope. What is happening today is part of the process of building hope.

“The Islamists have been saying that they are the good guys,” he continued. “Now they are in control and they are being exposed by the minute. And we are building a political movement that will help us to produce a reasonable government.”

By late afternoon, other marches from around the city, some led by well-known leaders of the political opposition, were streaming toward the square and the crowd was expected to swell by nightfall, along with the potential for more violence.

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After beating Federer, Murray reaches Aussie final

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Andy Murray was sucking in deep breaths, trying to recover from his exhausting win over Roger Federer. Pain was very much on his mind.

The U.S. Open champion defeated Federer 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-2 in a four-hour Australian Open semifinal Friday night. It was Murray's first victory against the 17-time major winner at a Grand Slam event.

But with the clock about to strike midnight, Murray was already thinking about Sunday's final against two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic, who is on a 20-match winning streak at Melbourne Park. This will be a rematch of their U.S. Open final.

"Every time we play each other it's normally a very physical match," Murray said. "I'll need to be ready for the pain. I hope it's a painful match — that'll mean it's a good one."

Murray had a 10-9 record against Federer, but had lost his three previous Grand Slam matches to the Swiss star. One of those defeats came at Wimbledon last year. Murray says the disappointment of that loss triggered his run to the gold medal at the London Olympics, and then his drought-breaking triumph at the U.S. Open.

"You know, I've obviously lost some tough matches against him in Slams," Murray said. "So to win one, especially the way that it went tonight, yeah, was obviously nice."

Murray ended a 76-year drought for British men at the majors when he beat Djokovic in five sets in the final at Flushing Meadows.

He's hoping the step-by-step manner in which he has crossed career milestones off his to-do list will continue Sunday. He lost four major finals, including two in Australia, before winning a Grand Slam title. He lost three times to Federer in a major before beating him. Even then, he wasted a chance to serve out in the fourth set Friday night as Federer rallied.

"Those matches ... have helped obviously mentally," he said. "I think going through a lot of the losses that I've had will have helped me as well. Obviously having won against Novak before in a Slam final will help mentally."

Djokovic will not be the only defending champion this weekend playing for another title. Victoria Azarenka will face China's Li Na on Saturday night for the women's crown.

Azarenka hasn't added a major title since her breakthrough in Australia last year. She's coming off a semifinal victory over American teenager Sloane Stephens in which she had to answer a torrent of questions over her nine-minute medical timeout after wasting five match points and then dropping serve in the next-to-last game.

Li, who is seeded sixth, lost the 2011 Australian final before claiming her first major title months later at the French Open. She made the final with less commotion, beating No. 2 Maria Sharapova in straight sets.

The first title of the 2013 Australian Open, women's doubles, was decided Friday when top-seeded Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci of Italy beat unseeded Australians Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

That was a prelude to the night match, where 15,000 people packed Rod Laver Arena, including the great Laver himself, to see if Federer could reach a sixth Australian final. The 31-year-old Swiss has won four of his 17 titles at Melbourne Park.

He showed flashes of his customary genius, but also rare bursts of anger. Murray showed his frustration as well. The crowd started to turn on him after he challenged a call in the eighth game of the fourth set, booing each time he complained to the umpire. His unforced error into the net on the next point prompted a huge cheer.

In the 12th game of the fourth set, Federer appeared to yell across the net after Murray stopped momentarily behind the baseline during the rally.

Murray shrugged it off and seemed to dig in. He'd won that point but lost the game and was taken to another tiebreaker, which he lost.

"We were just checking each other out for bit," Federer said. "That wasn't a big deal for me — I hope not for him."

Murray said "stuff like that happens daily in tennis," and added that it was "very, very mild in comparison to what happens in other sports."

When Federer got break point with Murray serving for the match at 6-5, the applause was so prolonged Murray had to wait to serve. And when Federer got the break to force a tiebreaker, the crowd stood and roared as Murray slammed a ball into the court in anger.

The crowd cheered for every Murray error in tiebreaker. One man yelled, "Andy, don't choke."

He didn't.

Rather than wilting under the pressure in the fifth set, Murray hit his stride. He allowed Federer only four points in the first three games of the fifth set, bolting to a 3-0 lead and carrying it through to the end.

"It's big. I never beat Roger in a Slam before. It definitely will help with the confidence," Murray said. "Just knowing you can win against those guys in big matches definitely helps."

Federer could see improvement in Murray's approach in the tough situations.

"With the win at the Olympics and the U.S. Open, maybe there's just a little bit more belief," Federer said. "Or he's a bit more calm overall."

Djokovic already owns three Australian titles and is aiming to be the first man in the Open era to win three in a row. The 25-year-old Serb was nearly flawless in his 89-minute disposal of No. 4-ranked David Ferrer in Thursday night's semifinal, and said he was hoping Murray and Federer would go to five sets.

"Obviously, Novak goes in as the favorite, I would think, even though Andy beat him at the U.S. Open," Federer said. "Novak is the double defending champion here. He's done really well again this tournament. Obviously a tough match again, and give a slight edge to Novak just because of the last couple of days."

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Well: Ask Well: Squats for Aging Knees

You are already doing many things right, in terms of taking care of your aging knees. In particular, it sounds as if you are keeping your weight under control. Carrying extra pounds undoubtedly strains knees and contributes to pain and eventually arthritis.

You mention weight training, too, which is also valuable. Sturdy leg muscles, particularly those at the front and back of the thighs, stabilize the knee, says Joseph Hart, an assistant professor of kinesiology and certified athletic trainer at the University of Virginia, who often works with patients with knee pain.

An easy exercise to target those muscles is the squat. Although many of us have heard that squats harm knees, the exercise is actually “quite good for the knees, if you do the squats correctly,” Dr. Hart says. Simply stand with your legs shoulder-width apart and bend your legs until your thighs are almost, but not completely, parallel to the ground. Keep your upper body straight. Don’t bend forward, he says, since that movement can strain the knees. Try to complete 20 squats, using no weight at first. When that becomes easy, Dr. Hart suggests, hold a barbell with weights attached. Or simply clutch a full milk carton, which is my cheapskate’s squats routine.

Straight leg lifts are also useful for knee health. Sit on the floor with your back straight and one leg extended and the other bent toward your chest. In this position, lift the straight leg slightly off the ground and hold for 10 seconds. Repeat 10 to 20 times and then switch legs.

You can also find other exercises that target the knees in this video, “Increasing Knee Stability.”

Of course, before starting any exercise program, consult a physician, especially, Dr. Hart says, if your knees often ache, feel stiff or emit a strange, clicking noise, which could be symptoms of arthritis.

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Court Rejects Recess Appointments to Labor Board

A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that President Obama violated the Constitution when he made three recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board last January.

The three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that Mr. Obama did not have the power to bypass the Senate and make the appointments.

The Obama administration has repeatedly asserted that the appointments to the N.L.R.B. were legitimate because he made them when the Senate was away during a 20-day holiday recess a year ago. The appeals court strongly disagreed, ruling that the Senate was technically in session because it was gaveled in and out every few days as part of a tactic that created “pro forma” sessions.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have used the tactic of “pro forma” session to block presidents from making recess appointments.

The court’s decision also raises doubts about the legitimacy of Mr. Obama’s recess appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Mr. Cordray’s appointment, which is being challenged in a separate lawsuit, was also made last January under the same recess circumstances. On Thursday, Mr. Obama announced he was again nominating Mr. Cordray to that position, voicing hope that Senate Republicans would not block confirmation this time, as they did with the previous nomination of Mr. Cordray.

The White House criticized Friday’s ruling, saying it would severely weaken the president’s ability to make recess appointments when Republicans have threatened filibusters to block many of his nominations.

“The decision is novel and unprecedented, and it contradicts 150 years of practice by Democratic and Republican administrations,” Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said at the daily press briefing. “We respectfully but strongly disagree with the ruling.”

Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, applauded the ruling, saying the court “reaffirmed that the Constitution is not an inconvenience, but the law of the land.” He added that letting “the president decide when the Senate is in recess would demolish the checks and balances” in the advise-and-consent process.

Mr. McConnell and 41 other Republican senators had filed an amicus brief in the case, challenging the validity of the appointments.

Many Republicans and business associations have derided the labor board under Mr. Obama, saying it has become a tool of organized labor. But many Democrats and labor unions have responded that Mr. Obama’s appointments had merely restored ideological balance to the board after it had favored business interests under President George W. Bush.

The Obama administration is likely to appeal Friday’s ruling to the United States Supreme Court.

But if the ruling is upheld, it would invalidate scores of decisions that the labor board has made since last January.

The board would be left with just one validly appointed member — its chairman, Mark Gaston Pearce — who was confirmed by the Senate. Under a 2010 Supreme Court decision, the labor board, which has five seats, is authorized to issue decisions only when it has three or more sitting members.

On Jan. 4, 2012, Obama made the three recess appointments to the labor board. They were two Democrats — Deputy Labor Secretary Sharon Block; Richard Griffin, general counsel to the operating engineers union — and one Republican, Terence Flynn, a counsel to an N.L.R.B. member. Mr. Flynn resigned from the board last May after he was accused of leaking materials about the N.L.R.B.'s internal deliberations.

The three federal judges who issued Friday’s ruling were all Republican appointees. The decision was written by David B. Sentelle, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan who is chief judge of the federal appellate court in Washington, D.C.

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Microsoft profit dips on lower Xbox holiday sales

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp reported a dip in fiscal second-quarter profit on Thursday, as weaker sales of its Xbox game system in the holiday quarter offset a solid start for its new Windows 8 operating system.

The world’s largest software company reported profit of $ 6.4 billion, or 76 cents per share, compared to $ 6.6 billion, or 78 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Overall sales rose 3 percent to $ 21.5 billion.

(Reporting by Bill Rigby; Editing by Richard Chang)

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