Firefighters battled a blaze at a major fuel storage depot in northern Jakarta Sunday that sent clouds of billowing black smoke into the sky. No one w

Russia and Ukraine aim to sign an agreement Monday that would restore natural gas shipments to a freezing Europe, but after weeks of frustration and dashed hopes, the European Union gave the announcement only a lukewarm reception.

Russia cut off gas shipments to Europe via Ukraine on Jan. 7 as a price dispute and a political tussle between Kiev and Moscow escalated. The confrontation deeply shook Europeans' trust in both Russia and Ukraine as reliable energy suppliers and forced over 15 nations to scramble to find alternative sources of energy,

Amid growing concern about the damage to their countries' reputations, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko negotiated for 10 hours and announced the framework of an agreement before dawn Sunday.

Officials of Russia's state-run gas monopoly Gazprom and its Ukrainian counterpart Naftogaz labored Sunday to lay out the precise terms so a deal can be signed Monday when Tymoshenko returns to Moscow.

But even if Russia turns on the taps immediately after the signing, it could take at least another day for the gas to travel hundreds of miles through Ukrainian pipelines to Europe.

"Over the past few days, we have seen several similarly hopeful moments. The only thing that counts for the EU is the resumption of gas supplies," said Trade Minister Martin Riman of the Czech Republic, which holds the EU presidency.

Russia had alleged that Ukraine was siphoning off Europe-bound gas. Ukraine disputed this, claiming that Russia was not sending enough "technical gas" to push the rest further west.

Europe gets 20 percent of its gas from Russia via Ukraine, but some countries, including Bulgaria and Slovakia, are totally or largely dependent on Russian gas. The Czech gas company RWE began sending emergency gas shipments Sunday to Slovakia, where over 1,000 businesses have been crippled by gas rationing.

Putin announced that Ukraine will pay 20 percent less than the European "market price" price for gas this year, which Russia says is $450 per 1,000 cubic meters. That's more than twice as much as the $179.50 Ukraine paid in 2008.

However, natural gas prices for Europe are expected to fall sharply later this year, due to the fall in oil prices. By midsummer, Ukraine could be paying as little as $150 for 1,000 cubic meters, said Ronald Smith, a strategist at Moscow's Alfa Bank.

Russia has won a key principle, however, that Ukraine must pay more for its energy supplies. In the long term, it is not clear how Ukraine will pay for the huge amount of Russian gas needed to run its outdated factories and heating systems.

Ukraine also appeared to have won one of its goals — the elimination of a shadowy middleman company through which Gazprom sold gas to Ukraine. The intermediary company, half-owned by Gazprom, has been criticized as an alleged vehicle for siphoning gas profits into private pockets.

A Kremlin official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said the contract between Gazprom and Naftogaz for 2009 would be "direct."

Moscow and Kiev, which spent the last two weeks blaming each other, managed to wound both their images in the energy debacle.

"The best part for Russia is they get the gas to the customers. This has been pretty damaging" to Russia's reputation as a reliable energy partner, Smith said Sunday. "(Ukraine) probably lost as well, because the European Union was looking at them as a possible member and may now be wondering if it's worth the effort."

Russia also emerged without having to pay a higher gas transit price in 2009.

Putin said Russia was giving Ukraine the "20 percent discount" on the condition the gas transit price does not change for 2009. Beginning next Jan. 1, however, Ukraine will pay full price for gas and Russia will pay market prices for transit, he said.

Russia currently pays $1.70 to transport 1,000 cubic meters of gas 100 kilometers, which last year amounted to close to $3 billion for Ukraine. Putin says the market price is about double that.

Putin and Tymoshenko made no mention of the more than $600 million that Gazprom claims Ukraine still owes for 2008.

The global economic crisis has hit both former Soviet republics hard.

With the dramatic fall in the price of oil — the country's main source of revenue — Russia is facing a budget deficit this year for the first time in a decade. Industrial production has slowed and the ruble has lost nearly 30 percent of its value since summer.

Ukraine's economy is in even worse shape, battered by the drop in world prices for steel and heading into a painful recession.

The two neighbors have been at odds since the 2004 Orange Revolution brought Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to power. His avid push for Ukraine to join NATO and the EU has angered Moscow.

Fire rages at fuel depot in Indonesian capital

Firefighters battled a blaze at a major fuel storage depot in northern Jakarta Sunday that sent clouds of billowing black smoke into the sky. No one was believed to have been hurt.

It was unclear what started the fire, but "explosions were heard from the tank," said Afendi, a worker at the Pertamina national oil company fuel depot. Indonesians often have a single name.

Pertamina spokesman Anang Rizkami told local El Shinta radio the tank holds about 1.3 million gallons (5,000 kilo-liters) of regular gasoline.

Scores of fire trucks, hundreds of firefighters and uniformed soldiers were at the scene. Flames reaching more than 300 feet (100 meters) into the air could be seen from several miles (kilometers) away.

Police said they were investigating the cause of the blaze, but gave no details.

Residents were cleared from the area around the Plumpang depot, which distributes about 100,000 barrels of fuel to the city every day. Residents from the crowded shanty town surrounding the depot were removing their belongings, fearing the fire could spread to other tanks and cause more explosions at the site.

Teams of firefighters perched on walls surrounding the depot to hose the flames, attempting to contain them and keep surrounding structures cool.

Thousands of spectators stood in the streets watching as the fire burned fiercely four hours after it broke out at around 9 p.m. local time.

It was unclear if the fire would impact fuel supplies.

Financial burden of homeownership spread unequally

When it comes to homeownership, Hispanics in New Jersey, single parents in California and senior citizens in Rhode Island all have something in common: More than a third have an unaffordable mortgage.

Inequality in America has traditionally followed familiar patterns of race, age and education. Those long-standing gaps have been magnified by the real estate boom and now the historic bust, according to an Associated Press analysis of 2007 Census Bureau data.

While minorities have made significant gains in wealth and home ownership since 1990, "things are going into reverse gear," and now the homeownership rate for blacks and Hispanics is falling, said Edward Wolff, a New York University economist who studies income and wealth distribution.

Nearly 9.5 million households, or nearly one out of every five of the nearly 52 million homeowners with a mortgage, spend 38 percent or more of their pretax income on their mortgage payment, property taxes and insurance, the AP's analysis found. That's the new threshold to qualify for the loan assistance program launched last month by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance companies now under government control.

Not surprisingly, the most financially burdened are in California, Florida, Nevada and the Northeast, areas hardest hit by soaring home prices and now foreclosures.

Yet in every state, there are many pockets of homeowners who are just one unexpected medical bill or car repair from falling behind on their mortgages and setting the foreclosure clock ticking.

The AP's analysis reveals the enormous scope of the U.S. housing market bust and how unevenly the burdens are spread, both geographically and demographically. And the situation is worsening — a record 10 percent of U.S. homeowners with a mortgage are at least one payment behind or were in foreclosure as of last fall, compared with 7.5 percent a year earlier and just under 6 percent in 2006.

The burden is clearly more arduous among minority households, the AP analysis found.

Just under a third of Hispanic homeowners spend at least 38 percent of their income on housing expenses, compared with about a quarter of Asian and black households and nearly 16 percent of white households.

In much of the country, the trend is more pronounced. For example, included among those who spent at least 38 percent of their income on housing are:

About 40 percent of black borrowers in California, Nevada, Oregon and Massachusetts.

More than 30 percent of Asian borrowers in California and Florida.

Nearly half of Hispanic homeowners in Rhode Island and at least 40 percent in Alaska, California, Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey and New York.

Many Latino families wound up with expensive subprime mortgages because they often have cash income and no bank account, said Janis Bowdler, associate director for wealth building at National Council of La Raza in Washington.

It is common for Latino families to have stable incomes, but limited credit histories — and hence lower credit scores, which lenders use to gauge risk. Many have multiple sources of income, some of it in cash.

During the housing boom, consumer advocates say it was both faster and more profitable for mortgage brokers and loan officers to put Hispanic families in loans that didn't require proof of income, but charged higher interest rates.

"They had them out the door in a fraction of the time," Bowdler said. "They were definitely getting more expensive loans."

Now, Hispanic households like the Cazares family of Visalia, Calif are caught up in the mortgage crisis. Out of work for more than a year after contracting a rare disease caused by an airborne fungus, Joel, 36, brings in $550 a week in disability payments. His wife Maria, 34, makes about that much money weekly by working as a hair stylist.

They haven't made their $2,500 home loan payment in four months. The couple, who have three kids, have been waiting since October for a loan modification from IndyMac Bank, which was seized by the federal government last July. They hope it will bring their payment down to a more manageable level of around of $1,500.

In the meantime, they buy supersized bags of generic cereal to make ends meet. They've canceled their Internet service and are only using one of their two cars, a pickup truck, because it gets better gas mileage.

Our money's like a piece of gum," Joel Cazares said. "We're making it stretch as far and as long as we can."

The AP's analysis also found that education level is highly correlated with income and mortgage expenses. Nearly one in three of those without a high school or college diploma spend at least 38 percent of their income on housing, compared with only 12 percent of those with advanced degrees, the AP analysis found.

In addition, seniors spent a far higher share of their income on housing than any other age group.

While about half of seniors own their homes outright, the other half often face financial challenges and diminished earning potential.

Among seniors with a mortgage, nearly three in 10 spend at least 38 percent of their income on housing, according to the AP analysis. The stress is most severe in nine states: California, Washington D.C., Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.

As the pain from the mortgage crisis spreads, Washington is abuzz with talk of new efforts to stabilize the housing market and stop the freefall in home prices. President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to direct up to $100 billion in financial bailout money toward a sweeping effort to prevent foreclosures.

Frustrated housing counselors around the country say that if the Bush administration had grasped the severity of the foreclosure crisis earlier and enacted more ambitious programs long ago, the pain for American families and the economy might not be so severe.

"So far, we haven't seen the mortgage products or resources that we really need to help people who are at risk of losing their homes," said Brenda Clement, executive director of the Housing Action Coalition of Rhode Island.

To be sure, housing counselors acknowledge that some borrowers only have themselves to blame. They clearly got in over their heads and many knowingly took out risky loans. But they also say that mortgage brokers and lenders took advantage of the elderly, immigrants and the unsophisticated.

For decades, the government and most lenders considered homeowners who spent 30 percent or more of their income on housing to be financially strapped.

But that rule of thumb got thrown out the window during the housing boom. When prices were soaring, many Americans could only afford to buy a home by taking out ever-riskier home loans. Lenders were happy to cooperate, because if the homeowner defaulted, the property could still be sold for enough money to cover the loan.

House-rich and giddy, American attitudes about debt and the risks that go with it changed dramatically.

"The average American is in hock up to his eyeballs," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York.

That's especially true now that prices are falling and around 13 million households, or about one in four with a mortgage, owes more to the bank than their properties are worth, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at economic forecasting firm Moody's Economy.com

One of those "underwater" borrowers is Heather Noble, 36, who lives outside Detroit and can see five foreclosures from her front porch. A single mother, she struggled to make her mortgage payment since being laid off from her job in October 2007.

Late last summer, she started a $17-an-hour job handling billing for a doctor's office, but making her home loan payment of around $1,000 a month was a stretch because her take-home pay is at most $1,600 a month, depending on the amount of time she works.

Starting last spring, she spent hour after hour on the phone talking to what she describes as "every human being and division possible" at JPMorgan Chase & Co., before obtaining approval for a loan modification.

Noble's modification had been held up until the fall, and she was actually blocked from making her monthly payment until the Associated Press made an inquiry into her case. "In the large volumes that we're handling, we occasionally will miss something," spokesman Tom Kelly said.

Her two home loans have now been modified. Effective Feb 1., her new monthly payment will be a much more affordable $683 a month.

"That I can pay," she said. "Now I can pay my bills and stay current and not worry about losing my house."

Among single parents like Noble, more than a quarter in Michigan and about 27 percent nationwide spend at least 38 percent of their income on housing. And in California the strain is far worse: About four in 10 single parents meet that threshold.

And what worries Avis Holmes, director of Detroit Non-Profit Housing Corp. in Detroit, is that much of the government's financial aid isn't targeted at those who are in the greatest danger of losing their homes.

So far, Holmes said, "there are no rescue funds for the homeowners."

Super Bowl remains a big bash, but ads toned down

The Super Bowl is on track to remain one big, glitzy bash even in these tough economic times.

That's not to say some advertisers aren't nervous about buying expensive ad slots as business falters. Some stalwarts such as General Motors Corp., FedEx Corp. and Garmin Ltd. won't be advertising on the Feb. 1 broadcast on NBC. Playboy Enterprises Inc. isn't throwing its customary party at the game, for the first time in nine years.

But aggressive marketing by NBC to secure ad deals before last September's financial meltdown helped to ensure Super Bowl XLIII won't be a marketing bust.

NBC said 90 percent of the Super Bowl ads had sold as of mid-January. Most ads have sold for about $3 million per 30-second spot — an all-time high price for the Super Bowl, which is the most watched event in the nation, with about 100 million U.S. viewers.

The sales pace matched those of previous years and the network said it was in discussions on the remaining unsold spots. Most are in the fourth quarter, and tend to go for slightly less than other positions in the broadcast.

"There is unrivaled attention surrounding the game," said Brian Walker, senior director of communications at NBC Sports in New York. "As research confirms, it remains the most powerful vehicle for an advertiser to promote its brand and products."

While some high-profile advertisers have pulled the plug, many are staying put and some, such as Mars Inc.'s Pedigree pet food, will appear in the Super Bowl for the first time.

But the tone of some ads this year will reflect tough times. As Tim Calkins, marketing professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management puts it: A good ad connects with its audience. And that audience is stressed about finances.

Take the case of Hyundai Motors America.

Automotive ads during the Super Bowl tend to focus on vehicle launches, and Hyundai was planning to run two 30-second spots for its Genesis Coupe — one with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma playing a Bach piece that viewers can re-edit online.

But now, the South Korean carmaker might exchange one of the ads for a spot featuring a new incentive program that forgives auto loans for car buyers who lose their income within a year of the purchase.

"We know consumers are concerned about their future earnings," said Joel Ewanick, vice president of marketing at Hyundai's Fountain Valley, Calif.-based American division. "That's keeping a whole bunch of people on the sidelines from buying a new car."

Longtime Super Bowl patron Anheuser-Busch is taking a different approach. The Budweiser brewer said it wants its ads to uplift and entertain viewers instead of reminding them about the economy.

The company is still spending heavily on the Super Bowl, even after announcing 1,400 job cuts in December that were tied to its acquisition by InBev SA. Anheuser-Busch will be airing 4 1/2 minutes worth of ads — 30 seconds more than what it purchased last year — broken up into two 60-second ads and five half-minute spots.

The Super Bowl remains a unique marketing vehicle because it's known as much for its commercials as the game itself. A TNS Media survey released this month confirmed that people watch commercials throughout the game, instead of switching channels.

"The Super Bowl remains as truly the only property that has the ability to reach the largest mass audience across all demographics at one time," said TNS Media CEO Dean DeBiase.

That's why Audi of America is staying put and buying a 60-second spot. The German automaker wants to raise its profile as a luxury brand for younger, affluent consumers.

"We need to make the Audi brand far more popular and far more known," said Chief Marketing Officer Scott Keogh. "That's why we do the Super Bowl and the Olympics."

Last year, traffic to Audi's Web site tripled in the month leading up to the Super Bowl — as details about the ads were teased — and the month immediately after.

In the face of dismal automotive news, Audi said it's important to communicate strength and optimism. Or as Keogh put it, "This is a brand that's spending money."

The Go Daddy Group Inc., which registers Internet domain names, is unapologetic about splurging on the Super Bowl. This is the same company that unabashedly threw a $2 million holiday party last month — flying in thousands of employees and guests to Arizona — as other firms cut back. CEO Bob Parsons rode a motorcycle into a concert that featured Joan Jett and Sinbad at Phoenix's Chase Field.

GoDaddy is elated that NBC has approved two somewhat racy ads for the Super Bowl, one of which will air after a consumer vote. Censors disapproved its ad for last year's Super Bowl, so GoDaddy aired a spot telling viewers to go to its Web site to watch the commercial. Scottsdale, Ariz.-based GoDaddy got 1.5 million Web hits before the game ended.

"Our ads are fun, edgy and slightly inappropriate," said spokeswoman Elizabeth Driscoll.

That figures to get attention no matter how the economy is doing.

A look at some Super Bowl advertisers

Some of the brands that will be advertising in the Feb. 1 Super Bowl:

Anheuser-Busch

Audi

Bridgestone

CareerBuilder.com

Cars.com

Coca-Cola

Denny's

Dreamworks Animation

Frito-Lay

GoDaddy

H&R Block

Hyundai

Monster

Pedigree

SoBe Lifewater

Teleflora

Technology to block phones in cars isn't foolproof

Many parents would love to be able to give their teenagers a cell phone that couldn't be used while driving. Now some inventors say they have come up with ways to make that possible, but they appear to be relying on wishful thinking.

One product to hit the market, $10-a-month software by Dallas-based WQN Inc., can disable a cell phone while its owner is driving. It uses GPS technology, which can tell how fast a person is traveling. But it can't know whether the person is driving — and therefore it can needlessly lock a phone. WQN, which sells cell phone and Internet security software under the name WebSafety, says it signed up about 50 customers for its first month of service.

Aegis Mobility, a Canadian software company, plans to release a similar Global Positioning System-based product this fall, known as DriveAssistT. Aegis is in talks with big U.S. wireless phone carriers, which would have to support the software and charge families a fee of probably $10 to $20 a month, said David Teater, the company's vice president.

The DriveAssistT system will disable a phone at driving speeds and send a message to callers or texters saying the person they are trying to reach is too busy driving. But because that person could be a non-driving passenger, the approach is a blunt tool.

Other product concepts that don't involve GPS systems have their own flaws. As a result, Parry Aftab, who advises families on technology and safety, suggests worried parents find another way to stop their kids from calling or texting while driving. Parents are better off taking away a child's cell phone if it is used improperly, she said.

"More and more, we see any solution is, in large part, education and awareness, parents getting involved," said Aftab, executive director of WiredSafety.org. Driving and cell phone use can be a bad combination, "but so is putting on makeup and eating a three-course meal," Aftab said. "I wish technology providers would look hard at the problems before coming up with a knee-jerk solution."

Concerns are mounting that driving while gabbing or text-messaging on a cell phone, even if it is not handheld, is unacceptably dangerous. The National Safety Council said this month that there should be a total ban on cell phone use while driving, citing the higher risk of accidents and deaths.

At least 18 states restrict cell phone use — talking or texting — for some or all drivers, according to the insurance industry-funded Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Yet even in those states, motorists and especially young drivers are hardly deterred.

One of the worst accidents occurred last year in New York, when five teens were killed when their 17-year-old driver, carrying on a text conversation, collided with a tractor-trailer rig.

B. Michael Adler, chief executive of WQN, said his 18-year-old son came to mind as he was developing the company's software to disable a cell phone while driving.

"He's texting messages with two hands and driving with his legs," Adler said. "You flip him the keys to the family car, you might as well be flipping him a six-pack of beer."

WQN's surveillance service promises more than just disabling the phone in cars. It can monitor a person's whereabouts, notifying parents by text messaging when their children step out of designated zones or return home. It also can turn off a cell phone at school, preventing cheating by text messaging during classroom tests, based on a reading of the school's location.

The question parents would have to ask themselves is whether they'd want to prohibit their children's activities this way. That kid you're trying to control might not be driving, but rather sitting on a train or a city bus or in the passenger seat of a buddy's car.

Michael Hensley has thought about this very dilemma. The 52-year-old manager for a defense contractor worries that his 23-year-old daughter is a "thumb Olympian" inclined to send text messages while driving.

But he doesn't expect technology to provide an answer. Savvy kids "will always find a way to defeat" a technological product, Hensley said. "It's human nature to defeat the system." Instead, Hensley said, he's tried to educate his daughter about the dangers of mixing phones with driving.

The inventors of the GPS-based software systems acknowledge their systems aren't perfect for disabling cell phones and are hard at work on improvements. Meanwhile, a separate, hardware-based solution appears to have its own flaws.

A pair of inventors affiliated with the University of Utah have developed a prototype of a key fob device that communicates with a cell phone over Bluetooth wireless signals. The key fob wraps around an ignition key; when the key is flipped or slid open, the device disables the cell phone paired with it.

This turns out to be easy to beat. A kid could remove or run down the key fob's batteries, or duplicate the key — without the fob. So in response to questions from The Associated Press and critics on the Internet, the Utah inventors, Wally Curry and Xuesong Zhou, have dropped their original concept for something different.

Zhou considered transforming the key fob into a device that prevents nothing. Instead, it would let a driver hit a "quit" button and talk or text at will, but with a consequence: parents get notified by text messaging, and a monthly "driving score" could go to an insurer, which might jack up the teenager's premiums for bad driving.

Even that, Zhou acknowledged, wouldn't solve the tampering problem. So in his latest brainstorming he produced an elaborate scheme: Parents should estimate how many hours a child drives each month and report that to a Web site. If the key fob system reported the teenager appears to be driving substantially less than the prescribed time, it might indicate he's defeating the system, and the Web site could send a report to the parent.

For now, though, the key fob is going back to the drawing board.

American CareSource Holdings Announces HealthSmart Contract Extension

American CareSource Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANCI) announced today that it has reached a new agreement with HealthSmart Preferred Care II, LP (HSPC) that extends the term of their existing agreement through 2012 and creates a deeper partnership between the two companies by making American CareSource the exclusive provider of ancillary services. HSPC is the Company's largest client having contributed approximately 60% of American CareSource's revenues during the first nine months of 2008. American CareSource has been the primary ancillary group health network solution for HSPC since 2005 and now influences approximately 1.7 million insured lives through this relationship.

"We are delighted by HSPC's continued vote of confidence in our ability to lower their ancillary healthcare costs and serve their constituents with our high quality, cost effective network of providers," stated David S. Boone, Chief Executive Officer of American CareSource. "As the exclusive provider of ancillary services, American CareSource will be better positioned to drive additional market share to our participating providers, thus enhancing the value proposition for our contracted ancillary care givers. Under the terms of the new agreement, the logo for Ancillary Care Services, a subsidiary for American CareSource, will appear on all HSPC member ID cards. In addition, American CareSource providers will be identified in HSPC's directories. American CareSource and HSPC have also committed to the development of new products and services in order to provide comprehensive healthcare solutions in the marketplace."

Ted Parker, Chairman and Founder of HSPC, noted, "We are equally pleased to have extended our contract with American CareSource. They are a first-tier ancillary services provider and this extension is a direct reflection of the outstanding value added that they bring to the table."

About Ancillary Healthcare Services

American CareSource provides ancillary healthcare services through its network that offers cost effective alternatives to physician and hospital-based services. This market is estimated at $574 billion, and has grown to 30% of total national health expenditures. These providers offer services in over 30 categories, including laboratories, dialysis centers, free-standing diagnostic imaging centers, non-hospital surgery centers, as well as durable medical equipment such as orthotics and prosthetics, and others.

About American CareSource Holdings, Inc.

American CareSource Holdings, the first national, publicly traded ancillary care network services company, offers a comprehensive national network of approximately 2,500 ancillary service providers at over 25,000 sites through its subsidiary, Ancillary Care Services. The Company's ancillary network and management provides a complete outsourced solution for a wide variety of healthcare payors and plan sponsors including self-insured employers, indemnity insurers, PPOs, HMOs, third party administrators and both federal and local governments. For additional information, please visit www.anci-care.com.

About HealthSmart Preferred Care II, LP

HSPC, together with its affiliated networks, constitutes the largest independently owned group of Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO) in the southwest United States. The Company maintains an extensive network of quality physicians and facilities that supports approximately 1.7 million members. HSPC is the industry leader in successfully integrating efficient technologies to expedite receipt, repricing and electronic transfer of claims. HSPC takes pride in offering outstanding products at competitive rates with excellent customer service. For additional information, please visit www.healthsmart.net.

ANCI-G

Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

Any statements that are not historical facts contained in this release, including with respect to future engagements by clients, revenue growth, earnings, and guidance are forward-looking statements. It is possible that the assumptions made by American CareSource Holdings, Inc. for purposes of such statements may prove to be inaccurate or may not materialize. Actual results may differ materially from those projected or implied in any forward-looking statements. Such statements may involve further risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those relating to demand for our services, pricing, market acceptance, our ability to integrate with our clients, our ability to attract and maintain providers, our ability to manage growth, the effect of economic conditions, and the affect of competitive services, risks in product development, the ability to complete transactions, and other risks identified in this release, and the Securities and Exchange Commission filings of American CareSource Holdings, Inc.

The Buckle, Inc. Reports December 2008 Net Sales

The Buckle, Inc. (NYSE: BKE) announced today that comparable store net sales, for stores open at least one year, for the five-week period ended January 3, 2009 increased 13.5 percent from comparable store net sales for the five-week period ended January 5, 2008. Net sales for the five-week fiscal month ended January 3, 2009 increased 20.8 percent to $131.2 million from net sales of $108.5 million for the prior year five-week fiscal month ended January 5, 2008.

Comparable store net sales year-to-date for the 48-week period ended January 3, 2009 increased 21.0 percent from comparable store net sales for the 48-week period ended January 5, 2008. Net sales for the 48-week fiscal period ended January 3, 2009 increased 28.1 percent to $744.0 million from net sales of $580.9 million for the prior year 48-week fiscal period ended January 5, 2008.

During the five-week fiscal month ended January 3, 2009, the Company repurchased 165,000 shares of its common stock at an average price of $17.99 per share. These shares were purchased pursuant to the 1,000,000 share corporate stock repurchase program authorized by the Board of Directors on November 20, 2008. The Company had 800,000 shares remaining to complete this authorization as of the end of the fiscal month.

About Buckle

Offering a unique mix of high-quality, on-trend apparel, accessories, and footwear, Buckle caters to fashion-conscious young men and women. Known as a denim destination, each store carries a wide selection of fits, styles, and finishes from leading denim brands, including the Company's exclusive brand, BKE. Headquartered in Kearney, Nebraska, Buckle currently operates 388 retail stores in 39 states compared to 369 stores in 38 states as of January 8, 2008. To listen to the Company's recorded monthly sales commentary, please call (308) 238-2500.

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995: All forward-looking statements made by the Company involve material risks and uncertainties and are subject to change based on factors which may be beyond the Company's control. Accordingly, the Company's future performance and financial results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in any such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, those described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company does not undertake to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements even if experience or future changes make it clear that any projected results expressed or implied therein will not be realized.

Sears December same-store sales fall 7.3 percent

Retailer Sears Holdings Corp. said Thursday that December same-store sales dropped 7.3 percent, weighed down by weak sales at domestic Sears stores.

The company, whose proprietary brands include Kenmore and Craftsman, said Kmart same-store sales fell 1.1 percent for the period ended Jan. 3. Sears domestic same-store sales sagged 12.8 percent for the month.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, is a key indicator of retailer performance since it measures growth at existing stores rather than newly opened ones.

Sears said Kmart's sales were helped by a rise in purchases made through its layaway program. The company blamed the soft performance of its namesake stores on lower sales across most of its hardlines and apparel segments, as well the ongoing housing downturn and eroding credit.

Consumers have pulled back on discretionary spending as economic conditions have worsened and concerns have grown over issues such as unemployment and rising food costs.

For the quarter- and year-to-date, same-store sales are off 7.9 percent.

Sears also said it expects fourth-quarter profit between $300 million and $380 million, or $2.44 to $3.09 per share. It reported net income of $426 million, or $3.17 per share, in the prior-year period.

Sears said its forecast excludes the possible impact of store closings, goodwill and other charges as well as items such as severance, mark-to-market gains and losses on hedge transactions by Sears Canada.

Analysts expect fourth-quarter profit of $1.90 per share, according to a Thomson Reuters survey. Analysts estimates' typically exclude one-time items.

Sears predicts full-year earnings for the period ended Jan. 31 in a range of $163 million to $243 million, or $1.27 to $1.90 per share.

Analysts anticipate net income of 62 cents per share.

Last month Sears posted its biggest quarterly loss since financier Edward Lampert combined Sears and Kmart into one retail company, due mainly to hefty charges related to store closures and disappointing U.S. sales.

Sears is in the midst of a restructuring aimed at reconnecting with shoppers and reinvigorating its sales at established stores, which have been dropping for nearly three years.

Sears had more than $50 billion in annual revenue and runs about 3,900 full-line and specialty retail stores in the U.S. and Canada.

World stocks slide amid economic gloom

European stock markets fell for the second consecutive day Thursday after earlier big Asian losses amid mounting concerns about the world economy and the financial health of businesses around the globe.

The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 43.99 points, or 1.0 percent, at 4,463.52, despite another interest rate reduction from the Bank of England of half a percentage point.

Meanwhile Germany's DAX fell 54.06 points, or 1.1 percent, to 4,883.41. France's CAC-40 was down 55.62 points, or 1.7 percent, to 3,290.47.

Earlier, every major market in Asia posted a fall, marking an end to a New Year's rally that had been spurred by speculation that massive government spending and low interest rates would lead to an economic rebound later this year.

But hopes seem to fade after dour outlooks from tech heavyweight Intel, computer maker Lenovo and aluminum producer Alcoa, among others, highlighted the toll that the economic slump is taking on companies around the world. A worse-than-expected reading of the U.S. labor market only added to investor fears.

"Some are seeing this as the end of the bear market rally and with a lot of negative data flying around," said Jimmy Yates, a dealer at CMC Markets.

The latest selling pressure was stoked overnight on Wall Street, where investors sent stocks sharply lower after Intel warned about poor business conditions and an employment survey predicting that the private sector shed a greater-than-expected 693,000 jobs in December, fraying nerves ahead of Friday's official employment report from the government.

The Dow average tumbled 245.40, or 2.7 percent, to 8,769.70, its biggest point and percentage decline since Dec. 1. Broader stock indicators also tumbled, with the S&P 500 index falling 28.05, or 3 percent, to 906.65. European markets fell sharply as well.

U.S. futures pointed to further losses in New York. Dow futures were down 42 points, or 0.5 percent, at 8,702 while S&P 500 futures fell 3.1 points, or 0.3 percent, to 902.10.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock average lost 362.82, or 3.9 percent, to 8,876.42, snapping a seven-day winning streak as the yen traded higher, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 571.55 points, or 3.8 percent, to 14,415.91.

Elsewhere South Korea's Kospi shed 1.8 percent, Australia's benchmark dropped 2.3 percent and Taiwan's key index lost 5.3 percent. India's market, which plunged Wednesday after the chairman of major outsourcing company Satyam Computer admitted doctoring the firm's accounts for several years, was closed for a holiday.

As in the U.S., news on the corporate front in Asia was grim.

Shares in Lenovo Group plunged more than 26 percent in Hong Kong trade after the world's fourth-largest computer maker warned it expects a loss for its latest quarter and will lay off 11 percent of its workforce and cut executive pay.

Meanwhile, Cathay Pacific, Asia's No. 3 carrier, said it could lose nearly $1 billion from bad hedges on jet fuel and reiterated its profit warning for 2008, saying passenger and cargo traffic had weakened significantly. Cathay's shares shed 7.6 percent in Hong Kong.

In Australia, shares in Macquarie Group Ltd dropped 3.7 percent after the country's leading investment bank said "exceptionally challenging" market conditions in the fourth quarter would hurt profits.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose 58 cents to $43.21 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract plunged $5.95 overnight to settle at $42.63.

In currencies, the dollar weakened 0.9 percent to 91.79 yen, while the euro traded 0.6 percent to $1.3553.

Urban Outfitters holiday same-store sales slip

Urban Outfitters Inc. said Thursday that same-store sales dipped 1 percent for the holiday season, hurt by bigger discounts and softness in its Anthropologie and Free People brands.

For the two month period ended Dec. 31, the specialty apparel retailer reported same-store sales fell 6 percent at Anthropologie and 13 percent at Free People from a year earlier. Same-store sales for its namesake brand grew 3 percent.

"The highly promotional selling environment forced us to take higher markdowns versus the comparable period last year, but we finished the holiday season with clean and lean inventories which are well-positioned for the spring selling season," Chief Executive Glen T. Senk said in a statement.

When factoring in a 25 percent increase in direct-to-consumer sales, same-store sales for the company's retail segment rose 3 percent.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, is a key indicator of retailer performance since it measures growth at existing stores rather than newly opened ones.

Total sales for the holiday period climbed 9 percent to $389 million.

Retailers have been pressured as consumers continue to curb their discretionary spending due to the continued housing slowdown, rising food costs, diminishing credit and unemployment worries.

Year-to-date same-store sales increased 8 percent, while total sales surged 23 percent to $1.3 billion. Direct-to-consumer sales soared 35 percent during the 11-month period.

As of Dec. 31, the company had 142 Urban Outfitters stores in the U.S. Canada and Europe, 120 Anthropologie stores, 30 Free People stores and one Terrain garden center.

Urban Outfitters will report fourth-quarter results on Feb. 5.

Williams-Sonoma holiday same-store sales tumble

Kitchen gadget and home furnishings chain Williams-Sonoma Inc. said Thursday its same-store sales dropped 24.2 percent over the holidays, and warned its fourth-quarter profit will likely come in at the low end of expectations.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, are a key indicator of retailer performance since they measure growth at existing stores rather than newly opened ones.

In the eight weeks ended Dec. 28, the operator of the Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn brands said its total revenue sank 23 percent to $729.4 million, as retail revenue and catalog sales both declined sharply.

During the holiday period, Williams-Sonoma said retail revenue fell 22 percent to $606.7 million from $471.7 million. Direct-to-customer revenue slid 23 percent to $257.7 million from $335.3 million.

The company said fourth-quarter earnings will be closer to 10 cents per share than 30 cents per share, as its profit margins decreased due to its efforts to clear out inventory. Williams-Sonoma expects revenue to range between $940 million and $1 billion for the period.

On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect a profit of 17 cents per share for the quarter ending Jan. 30, on $964.8 million in revenue.

For the fiscal year, Williams-Sonoma forecasts profit of 27 cents to 47 cents per share, or 13 cents to 33 cents per share excluding one-time gains and losses. Revenue is expected to between $3.29 billion to $3.35 billion

UK interest rates cut to record low of 1.5 percent

he Bank of England cut official interest rates by a half a percentage point to 1.5 percent on Thursday, the lowest level in its 315-year history as it attempts to ward off a prolonged recession.

The cut means officials are moving closer to the limits of conventional monetary policy after trims totaling 3.5 percentage points since the beginning of October as Britain faces its bleakest year since the early 1990s recession.

The bank's nine-member monetary policy committee said the world economy "appears to be undergoing an unusually sharp and synchronised downturn."

"Measures of business and consumer confidence have fallen markedly," it said in a statement accompanying its decision. "World trade growth this year is likely to be the weakest for some considerable time."

House prices have suffered their worst year on record, the huge services sector is shrinking at record pace and several major retailers have collapsed as consumers curb spending.

Inflation, meanwhile, is expected to fall from 4.1 percent currently to well below the government's 2 percent target, heading toward destabilizing negative inflation.

"The Bank of England is now facing another balancing act," said Hetal Mehta, senior economic adviser to the Ernst & Young ITEM Club. "Six months ago, it was juggling slowing economic growth with soaring inflation. But now the bank has to tread a path between avoiding deflation and a further weakening of sterling whilst doing all it can to soften the impact of the recession."

A warning in the Bank of England's latest credit conditions survey that lending to households and businesses is set to fall further in the first quarter of this year is likely to lead to more house price falls, corporate failures, and rising unemployment.

Policy makers are now more worried about inflation falling below target or turning negative. Deflation, a sustained drop in prices, can be disastrous for an economy by discouraging people from spending as wages fall and unemployment rises.

The half a percentage point cut was less dramatic than the 1.5 percentage point trim it announced in November, and lower than the 1 percentage point cut expected by some economists — but still brings the rate down to the lowest level since the Bank of England was founded in 1694.

Yet whether the lower rates will have the desired impact of jump-starting the economy is debatable, as many banks and other lenders have been slow to pass on previous cuts.

Nationwide, the country's biggest building society, has already said it plans to invoke a "collar" clause enabling it to stop reducing rates on most of its tracker mortgages, which are designed to follow the benchmark interest rate.

In contrast, banks have been quick to pass on the lower rates to savers, who have watched the value of their nest eggs decline in real terms. Lower savings are unlikely to encourage consumer spending.

Meanwhile, Treasury chief Alistair Darling moved to quash speculation that the government was planning to print money to ease the impact of recession after he told the Financial Times in an interview published Wednesday that he was considering a policy of "quantitative easing."

"Nobody is talking about printing money," he told reporters after a Cabinet meeting on Thursday. "There's a debate to be had about what you do to support the economy as interest rates approach zero, as they are in the United States. But for us that is an entirely hypothetical debate."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said that with interest rates close to zero, the government should take fiscal action, hinting at further tax cuts and increased government spending.