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The Telegraph Newspaper yesterday published this extraordinary editorial, which accepted, despite the conspiracy driven rantings of many of its writers, the consensus on climate change.

An excerpt:

The road to Copenhagen has proved to be a rocky one. This past fortnight, ahead of the climate-change summit that starts in the Danish capital on Monday, the air has been thick with pejorative cries of “warmist” and “denier”. The former are those who subscribe to the view that the increase in the Earth’s temperature in recent decades is the fault of man’s profligate use of the planet’s fossil fuels; the latter may or may not dispute that the temperature is rising, or that it is in some way man’s fault, but are certainly not convinced that dramatic remedial action is required. What should be a scientific debate has descended almost into a theological dispute.
…
However, the governments of most countries in the world now accept the consensus. And so, as many as 100 world leaders will gather in Copenhagen – not to argue about the reality of global warming, but to decide what to do about it. Many of the proposals would be the right thing to do even without climate change: it is surely unconscionable, for example, for the current occupants of the Earth simply to continue extracting and exploiting a finite resource – such as fossil fuel – to the point of its depletion. Even those who consider the science ambiguous must acknowledge that there is a moral dimension here; our children and theirs are entitled to a future that has not been blighted by our mistakes. If the consequences of inaction are uncertain, yet possibly calamitous, then we should err on the side of caution.

It’s worth noting that the editorial says emails from University of East Anglia were “obtained”. They were actually stolen.

WASHINGTON – A surprising drop in the November unemployment rate and in job losses cheered investors Friday and raised hopes for a sustained economic recovery.
The rate unexpectedly fell to 10 percent last month, from 10.2 percent in October, as employers cut the fewest number of jobs since the recession began. The better-than-expected figures provided a rare dose of good news for a labor market that’s lost 7.2 million jobs in two years.
The average work week also rose, along with average earnings. And the Labor Department said 159,000 fewer jobs were lost in September and October than first reported.
The stock market jumped and Treasurys fell in response to the reports. In midmorning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average surged 110.94, or 1.1 percent. Broader stock averages also rose.
Still, the respite may be temporary. Job creation is expected to remain far too weak in coming months to absorb the 15.4 million unemployed people who are seeking work — and 11.5 million others who are either working part-time but want full-time jobs or have given up job hunting. As more people begin seeking work, the jobless rate is likely to resume rising.
The report offered further evidence of how hard it remains to find employment: The number of people jobless for at least six months rose last month to 5.9 million, and the average length of unemployment rose to more than 28 weeks.
“We will need very substantial job growth to get unemployment lower, especially when the labor force … starts growing again,” said Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank.
The economy shed 11,000 jobs last month, an improvement from October’s revised total of 111,000, the Labor Department said Friday. That’s much better than the 130,000 Wall Street economists had expected.
If part-time workers who want full time jobs and laid off workers who have given up looking for work are included, the so-called underemployment rate also fell, to 17.2 percent from 17.5 percent in October.
The average work week rose to 33.2 hours, from a record low of 33 hours. Economists expect employers will increase hours for their current workers before hiring new ones.
“We’ve still got a long way to go, but the good news in this report provides important positive momentum,” said Carl Riccadonna, senior U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank.
The increase in hours worked also means employees are earning more income, Riccadonna said, which could help boost consumer spending and enable Americans to pay down more debt.
Average weekly earnings jumped $4.08 to $622.17, the report said.
Temporary help services added 52,000 jobs, the fourth straight increase. That’s also positive news, as companies are likely to hire temporary workers before adding permanent ones. Total employment usually starts to increase between three and six months after temporary employment, Riccadonna said.
The economy has now lost jobs for 23 straight months. But the small decline in November indicates the nation could begin generating jobs soon. Many economists think it will happen in the first quarter of next year.
David Rosenberg, chief economist for Canadian wealth management firm Gluskin Sheff, said the 7 point difference between the jobless rate and underemployment rate is almost double the usual gap. That’s an indication of how many more people are likely to be looking for work in coming months.
Another worrisome sign: The National Federation of Independent Business said Thursday that a monthly survey of its small business members showed that more companies plan to reduce employment in the next three months than plan to add jobs.
And a survey by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Thursday found a sharp drop in the number of companies planning to hire workers in November, compared with the previous month.
The services sector gained 58,000 jobs last month, while manufacturing and construction shed 68,000 positions. Education and health services added 40,000 jobs, and government employment rose 7,000.
The unemployment rate fell because the number of jobless Americans dropped by 325,000 to 15.4 million. The jobless rate is calculated from a survey of households. The number of jobs lost or gained, by contrast, is calculated from a separate survey of business and government establishments. The two surveys can sometimes vary.
The unemployment rate also dropped because fewer people are looking for work. The size of the labor force, which includes the employed and those actively searching for jobs, fell by nearly 100,000, the third straight decline. That indicates more of the unemployed are giving up on looking for work.
The participation rate, or the percentage of the population employed or looking for work, fell to 65 percent, the lowest since the recession began. Once laid-off people stop hunting for jobs, they are no longer counted in the unemployment rate.
Even as layoffs are easing, the slow pace of hiring is causing headaches for political leaders. The employment report comes a day after President Barack Obama hosted a “jobs summit” at the White House, where he told economists, business executives and union leaders that he is “open to every demonstrably good idea” to create jobs.
Christina Romer, the head of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, called the jobs report “unquestionably good news.” She cautioned into reading too much into one month’s number, noting that the data can be “volatile.”
“But I do think it is a hopeful sign,” she said in an interview with the Associated Press. “We have seen the economic recovery in the sense of GDP growing again, we have seen stabilization in our financial markets. I think this could be a sign that that is finally getting to the job market.”
Democrats in Congress, meanwhile, are considering legislation that would extend jobless benefits for those who have run out and help the unemployed pay for health care coverage. Those measures could cost up to $100 billion.

PHILADELPHIA – Comcast Corp. announced Thursday it plans to buy a majority stake in NBC Universal for $13.75 billion, giving the nation’s largest cable TV operator control of the Peacock network, an array of cable channels and a major movie studio.
Although the deal could mean that movies could reach cable more quickly after showing in theaters, and that TV shows could appear faster on cell phones and other devices, it was already raising concerns that Comcast would wield too much power over entertainment.
Indeed, if the deal clears regulatory and other hurdles, Comcast would rival the heft of The Walt Disney Co. — which Comcast CEO Brian Roberts already tried to buy.
Comcast, which serves a quarter of all U.S. households that pay for TV, would gain control of the NBC broadcast network, the Spanish-language Telemundo and about two dozen cable channels, including USA, Bravo, Syfy and The Weather Channel. It also would have regional sports networks, Universal Pictures and theme parks.
Shares of Comcast jumped 96 cents, or 6.4 percent, to $15.90 in morning trading Thursday, as the company also announced an increase in its dividend.
In agreeing to buy 51 percent of NBC Universal from General Electric Co., which has controlled NBC since 1986, Comcast hopes to succeed in marrying distribution and content in a way Time Warner Inc. could not. AOL and Time Warner are undoing their ill-fated marriage Dec. 9, and Time Warner has already shed its cable TV operations.
Comcast’s Roberts and GE CEO Jeff Immelt have been discussing the deal for months, and the final weeks came down to GE’s persuading French conglomerate Vivendi SA to first sell its minority stake.
Comcast made the deal because it is eager to diversify its holdings. It faces encroaching threats from online video and more aggressive competition from satellite and phone companies that offer subscription TV services.
For entertainment viewers, the deal means Universal Pictures movies could get to cable faster.
TV shows could appear on mobile phones and other devices faster as part of Comcast’s plans to let viewers watch programs wherever they want. Comcast already is letting subscribers watch cable TV shows online in trials, with a nationwide launch in December.
On Thursday, Comcast pledged that NBC Universal shows that now cost money over its cable video-on-demand service would be free for three years after the deal closes.
Comcast also said it would maintain free, over-the-air TV on NBC stations — a business model that is eroding because of falling advertising revenue. Comcast also pledged to improve public interest programming. And it said it would not let its business interests affect NBC News.
But consumer advocates worry about the deal, saying people could end up paying more for TV.
Once Comcast controls NBC Universal, other subscription-TV operators — DirecTV, Verizon, Time Warner Cable, to name a few — would be negotiating with a rival on how much they have to pay to carry NBC broadcast and cable channels. An NBC Universal under Comcast might be less willing to budge than one under GE. Consumer groups worry that as a result, programming fees that are already creeping up could rise even faster, with the costs passed to customers in their monthly pay-TV bills.
NBC Universal is profitable, with operating earnings of $1.7 billion on revenue of $11.2 billion in the first three quarters of 2009, despite weakness in the fourth-place NBC broadcast network and Universal Pictures, ranked sixth in North American box office gross this year by Rentrak Corp./Hollywood.com.
Comcast wants the company largely for its cable channels — which are expected to provide about 80 percent of the new venture’s profit. Comcast is seeking more programming to beef up its video-on-demand offerings and rely less on cable revenue as the company loses subscribers to rival providers — such as phone companies that are offering TV services — or the Internet.
Meanwhile, GE needs cash to support GE Capital, which lends money for everything from credit cards to office buildings and has struggled with rising loan losses during the financial crisis. GE shares were up 7 cents at $16.14.
Under the deal, expected to close in a year if regulators and shareholders approve, GE would buy Vivendi SA’s 20 percent stake in NBC Universal for $5.8 billion. Of that, $2 billion is payable in September 2010 if the deal hasn’t closed by then, and the remaining $3.8 billion would be due at closing. Universal is to be separated into a new joint venture.
Comcast would buy a 51 percent stake of the new company by paying $6.5 billion in cash and contributing $7.25 billion worth of cable channels it owns, including E!, Style and Golf Channel. Moody’s analyst Neil Begley noted that Comcast is jumping in as media company values are relatively low and stands to benefit as business conditions improve.
GE would retain a 49 percent stake, with the option of unloading half its stake in 3 1/2 years and all of it in seven years. The new NBC Universal would borrow $9.1 billion that would partially go toward covering the money GE owes Vivendi.
Comcast would name three people to the board and GE two, and Comcast would manage the joint venture. Jeff Zucker would remain NBC Universal’s CEO and report to Comcast Chief Operating Officer Steve Burke. NBC Universal’s headquarters are expected to stay in New York.
Consumer groups fear that a Comcast-NBC combination would be so threatening that rivals would strike similar deals just to compete — a sentiment echoed by DirecTV Chairman John Malone in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
And if media ownership were further concentrated, consumers would see higher prices and fewer choices, said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, chief executive of the Media Access Project. He warned that online video and other new forms of competition could be squashed “before they can gain a toehold in the market.”
Satellite TV rival Dish Networks Corp., meanwhile, worries that Comcast would be in a stronger position to withhold channels from competitors. CEO Charles Ergen has complained that a regulatory loophole lets Comcast bar his company from carrying Philadelphia sports games shown on Comcast’s regional sports network. Comcast did not respond to requests for comment.
The Comcast-NBC deal is widely seen as a test of the Obama administration’s resolve to fight media consolidation. Congressional hearings are also being promised. But consumer groups aren’t confident the government will find a legal means to block the transaction.
Instead Comcast would likely have to agree to restrictions, such as treating rival cable, satellite TV and phone companies equally in programming talks instead of favoring its own cable operations.
Shareholders haven’t been happy with what they see as a renewed attempt at empire building after Comcast’s failed $54 billion hostile bid for Disney in 2004. Many investors sold off the stock at the first whiff of a possible deal with GE, afraid that Comcast would make an acquisition it couldn’t handle and tie up money for dividends and stock buybacks that could boost Comcast’s shares. Comcast stock fell 11 percent, vaporizing about $5 billion in market value, between Sept. 30 — when word of the deal leaked — and Wednesday.
In an effort to please investors, Comcast said Thursday it would increase its annual dividend by 40 percent, to 37.8 cents per share, and confirmed it would still buy back stock.
If the deal wins approval, Comcast would still have to make it work. It’s betting that it could do a better job than Time Warner, which couldn’t find a way to make its cable, AOL and content businesses operate well together.
Comcast said Burke, its chief operating officer, has plenty of experience in content given his former role as an ABC executive. But Time Warner, too, had a suite full of entertainment executives.
One problem at Time Warner was the conflicting interests between the cable and content sides. Time Warner’s cable TV unit, before it was spun off into a separate company, considered bringing Warner Bros. movies to cable viewers earlier, for instance. But favoring one cable TV provider over another would have hurt the movie studio. Now Comcast could face similar challenges.
Comcast also would inherit NBC Universal’s weaker units. Its NBC network has had trouble developing hit shows, reflected in the move to bring Jay Leno to prime time. Universal Pictures has been socked with some notable flops including “Land of the Lost.” And theme park attendance is down in the recession.
“These kinds of big mergers always have a `crapshoot’ element to them,” said Peter Fader, marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “You can never predict with certain success or failure. You can always see it with 20-20 hindsight. This one will be no different.”

PRETORIA, South Africa – South Africa announced ambitious new plans Tuesday for earlier and expanded treatment for HIV-positive babies and pregnant women, a change that could save hundreds of thousands of lives in the nation hardest hit by the virus that causes AIDS.
President Jacob Zuma — once ridiculed for saying a shower could prevent AIDS — was cheered as he outlined the measures on World AIDS Day. The new policy marks a dramatic shift from former President Thabo Mbeki, whose health minister distrusted drugs developed to keep AIDS patients alive and instead promoted garlic and beet treatments. Those policies led to more than 300,000 premature deaths, a Harvard study concluded.
The changes are in line with new guidelines issued a day earlier by the World Health Organization that call for HIV-infected pregnant women to be given drugs earlier and while breast-feeding. By treating all HIV-infected babies, survival rates should also improve for the youngest citizens in South Africa, one of only 12 countries where child mortality has worsened since 1990, in part due to AIDS.
Zuma compared the fight against HIV, which infects one in 10 South Africans, to the decades-long struggle his party led against the apartheid government, which ended in 1994 with the election of Nelson Mandela in the country’s first multiracial vote.
“At another moment in our history, in another context, the liberation movement observed that the time comes in the life of any nation when there remain only two choices: submit or fight,” Zuma said. “That time has now come in our struggle to overcome AIDS. Let us declare now, as we declared then, that we shall not submit.”
In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that new infections are outpacing the gains from treating people with the HIV virus. He said that more must be done urgently to reach the U.N. goal of providing universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010.
“That means countering any form of HIV-related stigma and discrimination,” Ban said in a statement. “It means eliminating violence against women and girls. It means ensuring access to HIV information and services.”
Zuma was greeted with a standing ovation when he entered a Pretoria exhibition hall filled with several thousand people.
In some ways, Zuma is an unlikely AIDS hero. As his Zulu tradition allows, he has three wives — experts say having multiple, concurrent partners heightens the risk of AIDS. And in 2006, while being tried on charges of raping an HIV-positive family friend, he testified he took a shower after extramarital sex to lower the risk of AIDS. He was acquitted of rape.
The one-time chairman of the country’s national AIDS council may never live down the shower comment. But Zuma has won praise for appointing Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi as his health minister. AIDS activists say Motsoaledi trusts science and is willing to learn from past mistakes.
South Africa, a nation of about 50 million, has an estimated 5.7 million people infected with HIV, more than any other country.
UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibe, who took the podium shortly before Zuma, told the president: “What you do from this day forward will write, or rewrite, the story of AIDS across Africa.”
Zuma said in his speech broadcast across South Africa on state radio and television that the policy changes would take effect in April. They include treatment for all children under 1 year old, regardless of their level of CD4 cells, a measure of immune system health.
Patients with both tuberculosis and HIV will get treatment if their CD4 count is 350 or less, compared to 200 now, which means treatment would start earlier. Pregnant women who are HIV-positive also would start treatment earlier. That is in line with the new WHO recommendations that doctors start HIV patients on drugs when their level of CD4 cells is about 350.
The expanded treatment was expected to be free, as it is now, although Zuma did not confirm that. He said all health institutions, not just specialist centers, would provide counseling, testing and treatment.
He also called on South Africans to get tested for HIV. But, contrary to speculation in recent days, he did not take an HIV test Tuesday.
“I have taken HIV tests before and I know my status,” he said. “I will do another test soon as part of this new campaign. I urge you to start planning for your own tests.”
Kurt Firnhaber, who runs Right to Care, one of the largest private providers of AIDS treatment, counseling and testing in South Africa, said Zuma outlined “steps that aren’t rhetoric — if they’re implemented.”
He said the burden would now be on the government and foreign donors to find the money to meet Zuma’s ambitious goals.
On Tuesday, in response to a plea from Zuma, the United States announced it was giving South Africa $120 million over the next two years for AIDS treatment drugs. That is in addition to $560 million the U.S. has already pledged to give South Africa in 2010 for fighting AIDS.
Mark Heywood, executive member of the Treatment Action Campaign, an independent group that has challenged the South African government on AIDS, said the Zuma speech marked a departure in thinking that would have a global impact. Heywood shared the stage with Zuma on Tuesday.
“It was a very good speech in all its aspects — the empathy he showed, what he said about prevention and the need to test for HIV was all very positive,” Heywood said.
Zuma’s government had earlier set a target of getting 80 percent of those who need AIDS drugs on them by 2011.
Setjhaba Ranthako brought his 4-year-old daughter Tshegofatso to hear Zuma’s speech, saying education should start early.
“I’ve seen in President Zuma a person who’s willing to listen, and say, `Here I am, come with your views, and let’s turn your views into an effective campaign to combat the spread” of AIDS, said Ranthako, who works with a group that raises awareness about AIDS among men.
The crowd rose to their feet when Zuma finished his speech. Then he danced along with a choir that sang: “Zuma, you are blessed.”

WASHINGTON – Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday the Obama administration’s new surge-and-exit troop strategy in Afghanistan is aimed more at wringing reforms from President Hamid Karzai than mollifying a war-weary American public.
Appearing on network news shows a day after President Barack Obama announced his plan to send in 30,000 more U.S. forces, Biden said the principal aim of the new policy is to protect the United States from further terrorist attack while also keeping the Taliban from overrunning the country.
Democrats complained about Obama’s escalation of the 8-year-old war, however. And Republicans are unhappy with his promise to withdraw troops in 18 months. But Congress appears nevertheless willing to approve the buildup’s $30 billion price tag.
Sen. John McCain, who lost to Obama in last year’s presidential election, reiterated Wednesday that while he supports the president’s build up, he believes it’s a mistake to signal in advance when a troop withdrawal might begin. Obama said in his prime-time West Point speech Tuesday that it could commence as early as July 2011.
The Arizona Republican said: “We don’t want to sound an uncertain trumpet to our friends in the region.”
On Capitol Hill, Congress is ready to use two days of high-profile hearings on the war, beginning later Wednesday, to express its misgivings. Obama’s escalation strategy won quick backing from NATO allies. Afghan leaders praised the speech, but had questions about the 18-month timetable for withdrawal.
And a Taliban spokesman said Wednesday that Obama’s plan was “no solution” to Afghanistan’s troubles.
Of Karzai, Biden said the plan was an unmistakable warning.
“The purpose is to make it clear to Karzai and his government, which have up to now been unwilling to step up to the ball, to make it clear that you now have to step up to the ball,” the vice president said.
Obama pledged Tuesday night to an audience of Army cadets at the U.S. Military Academy that the shift from surge to exit strategy would depend on the military situation in Afghanistan.
“We will execute this transition responsibly, taking into account conditions on the ground,” Obama said, declaring that the nation’s security was at stake and that the additional troops were needed to “bring this war to a successful conclusion.”
Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which planned to grill top administration officials Wednesday on Obama’s decision, said that he expected the administration to submit a new war spending request and that Democrats would back it.
The planned infusion of 30,000 U.S. troops would raise the total American military presence in Afghanistan to about 100,000.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates was expected to tell Levin’s panel that the president’s strategy “will make real and measurable progress over the next 18-24 months,” said spokesman Geoff Morrell.
Biden was asked about doubts he was said to have had about escalating the war.
“I’ve never publicly said what my position is because I reserve that for the president,” he replied. “But I was skeptical of taking our eye off the ball. The ball is al-Qaida. That’s the reason we’re there. They are in Pakistan, the Taliban leadership is in Pakistan. And I wanted to make sure the focus stayed on those two elements of our concern and didn’t sort of morph into a nation-building exercise that would tie us down for 10 years and in fact not be of any assistance in meeting what is the real threat to the U.S. — that is al-Qaida and the most extreme forces that are in Pakistan and wanting to topple Pakistan.”
Many Democrats said they weren’t convinced that sending more troops would hasten an end to the war. They also question whether the money used for troop deployments will drain resources from other domestic priorities, like health care and job creation.
Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., called the plan “an expensive gamble to undertake armed nation-building on behalf of a corrupt government of questionable legitimacy.”
After meeting Wednesday with Karzai, U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal called Karzai’s reaction to the new U.S. strategy “really positive. The president was very upbeat, very resolute this morning.”
McChrystal, Obama’s field commander in Afghanistan, said U.S. and NATO forces would hand over responsibility for the fight against the Taliban to Afghan security forces “as rapidly as conditions allow.”
Afghan Interior Minister Hanif Atmar, who also met with McChrystal, sought more details about how the Afghan security forces would be trained and expanded in the next 18 months — a time frame that he said was too short for a complete handoff from international forces.
“That kind of time frame will give us momentum,” Atmar said. “We are hoping that there will be clarity in terms of long-term growth needs of the Afghan national security forces and what can be achieved in 18 months.”
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he expected the allies to bolster the American buildup with more than 5,000 additional troops. He said the best way to overcome widespread public opposition in Europe is by demonstrating progress, starting by transferring control of parts of the country to the Afghan government.
“Albania will respond positively to such a commitment and for sure that we will send additional troops again,” Albanian Foreign Minister Ilir Meta said, without specifying how many extra troops his country might send. Albania currently has 250 troops in Afghanistan.
At a meeting of foreign ministers in Athens, Greece, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said: “Some countries are ready now to make commitments to provide additional troops or additional funds, some are now just examining it. We understand that they need a little bit of time to digest exactly what the president’s proposed.”
French President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed Obama’s speech as “courageous, determined and lucid” but stopped short of pledging additional French troops.
Biden and McCain appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” CBS’s “The Early Show,” and NBC’s “Today” program.

The San Antonio Spurs won their fifth straight behind franchise centerpiece Tim Duncan(notes).

The Philadelphia 76ers lost their sixth straight while hounded by speculation that their former star, Allen Iverson(notes), might come back to rescue a deepening dismal start.

Duncan led San Antonio in scoring for the sixth time in eight games with 22 points, and the Spurs beat the Sixers 97-89 on Sunday night to extend their longest winning streak since pulling themselves out of a similar early slump last December.

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“We really shouldn’t care that much about winning five in a row,” Spurs guard Manu Ginobili(notes) said. “It’s always good. It helps your confidence, and of course your standings, but we still believe we’ve got a long way to go.”

A far longer road is in front of the Sixers, who dropped to 5-12 and have the third-worst record in the Eastern Conference. But reports that the Sixers are weighing bringing Iverson out of retirement and back to the city where he became an NBA star overshadowed the skid Sunday.

Sixers coach Eddie Jordan acknowledged before the game that Iverson has been discussed but emphasized that talks have been just that and nothing more. After the game, Jordan’s availability with reporters abruptly ended after another question about Iverson surfaced.

“It’s something that’s been out there and it doesn’t have any legs except for the media and fans,” Jordan said.

Andre Iguodala(notes) had 21 points for the Sixers and Willie Green(notes) added 17. Philadelphia has lost five straight on the road with three games left on this trip, which continues Monday at Southwest division-leading Dallas.

“We’re just searching for one” win, Green said.

Tony Parker(notes) and Matt Bonner(notes) scored 16 points apiece for San Antonio. The Spurs have been on a roll since a skid of three straight losses dropped them to 4-6, their worst 10-game start in the Duncan era.

The schedule might be helping. Only one of San Antonio’s last five wins have come against a team that entered Sunday with a winning record, but the Spurs are about to be tested. San Antonio will play Atlantic division leader Boston on Thursday and Denver, which sits atop the Northwest, on Saturday.

Ginobili played for the first time after missing six games because of a strained left groin and came off the bench to score eight points in 17 minutes.

“We just got to keep improving and be good in April, May, June,” Ginobili said. “That’s when it counts. We are just building. If it happens that we have won five in a row, that’s good.”

DeJuan Blair(notes) had 11 points and 10 rebounds, and made his most memorable mark with dazzling successive plays on both ends in the second quarter. It began with Blair, hopping below the basket, hitting a bank shot while falling down on his back in the paint.

The 6-foot-7, 270-pound rookie then rumbled down court in time to spike Royal Ivey’s(notes) layup attempt into the second row, leading a wide-eyed Duncan to spring off the bench and prompting a standing ovation for the quickly emerging fan favorite.

A person with knowledge of the Iverson talks told The Associated Press on Saturday that the Sixers were approached about signing the recently retired guard. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because talks have not been made public.

Iverson’s statement this week about ending his NBA career after 13-plus seasons hardly sounded like his mind was made up. Saying there is “a whole lot left in my tank,” Iverson said he felt strongly he could still compete “at the highest level.”

Iverson spent his first 10 years in Philadelphia and led the Sixers to the NBA finals in 2001. If the Sixers signed him, it wouldn’t be for nostalgia: injured starting point guard Lou Williams is expected to miss eight weeks, and 19-year-old rookie Jrue Holiday(notes) is starting in his place.

Jordan said before the game that although Iverson has been discussed, the Sixers still want to see if their depth can pull them out of their tailspin.

“I have not been oversaturated with Allen Iverson in my mind or in conversations with our front office,” Jordan said. “It’s like any other free agent out there. We’ve talked about a number of people.”

NOTES: Sixers F Elton Brand(notes) missed his third consecutive game with a sore right hamstring. Jordan said Brand could still wind up playing the final three games of this four-game road swing for Philadelphia. … San Antonio honored David Robinson after the game by re-unveiling his retired jersey to reflect his new status as a Hall of Famer.

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