Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/175313789?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Wirelessly Transmit Music from Your Computer to Your Speakers with playGo
With the playGo USB, you’ll be able to wirelessly send music from your PC or Mac to your powered speakers, stereo receiver, or even your headphones.? The playGo USB transmitter plugs into your computer’s USB port, and it uses its own wireless protocol to send music to the receiver up to 75 feet away.? It [...]
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Locals Gather For Annual Woodhaven Christmas Parade
Members of the Woodhaven Residents? Block Association (WRBA) gathered in front of their office on December 3 to watch the annual Woodhaven Christmas Parade. Members blew whistles and horns while cheering on those that participated in the 20-block march along Jamaica Avenue. ?Community spirit is alive and kicking,? said WRBA President Ed Wendell. ?We appreciate the effort that went into this parade, and we wanted to come out and show that appreciation.? The parade is an annual tradition in Woodhaven, sponsored by the Woodhaven Business Improvement District and attracts local schools, organizations and also features the Franklin K. Lane ROTC.
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SurveyMonkey Acquires MarketTools? Zoomerang, ZoomPanel, and TrueSample via TPG Capital
Question: How do you acquire your biggest rival if you don't have the cash? Answer: Partner with a private equity firm. SurveyMonkey has done just that,?buying MarketTools'?products?Zoomerang, ZoomPanel, and TrueSample?through a partnership with TPG Capital. The deal gives MarketTools' other businesses and a minority stake in SurveyMonkey to TPG, while SurveyMonkey gets the 3 products and their 1.7 million survey users, 2.5 million panel respondents, and technology to weed out false responses. he playfully named SurveyMonkey will gain some more legitimacy from the acquisition, as companies like Proctor & Gamble and General Mills rely on MarketTools' research products, though SurveyMonkey already serves 99% of the Fortune 500.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/CDWyXPRDtRg/
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Wednesday, December 7, 2011
China services data may bolster case for further easing (Reuters)
SHANGHAI (Reuters) ? China's services sector contracted in November, mirroring similar weakness in the country's giant manufacturing sector and underlining expectations that Beijing can ease monetary policy further to cushion the blows of the global economy.
China's official purchasing managers' index for its non-manufacturing sector fell to 49.7 in November from 57.7 in October, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said on Saturday. The 50-mark divides expansion from contraction.
A private-sector PMI on non-manufacturers from HSBC is due for release at 9:30 p.m. EST on Monday and may paint a similar picture of weakness in services as the euro-zone debt crisis weighs on the global economy. The HSBC gauge in October was running at 54.1, the strongest growth in four months.
PMI data in the past week has shown that both domestic and export orders are weakening, helping explain the central bank's decision last Wednesday to cut reserve requirements for commercial lenders for the first time in three years.
The move to free up cash was a signal that the central bank was shifting toward loosening monetary policy to support the economy, which is widely expected to grow next year at less than 9 percent for the first time in a decade, economists said.
Indeed, former central bank adviser Fan Gang said in the Securities Times newspaper on Saturday that there was room for further cuts in reserve requirements provided inflation continued to fall.
"There is plenty of room for adjusting banks' reserve requirements ratios," he said.
The official manufacturing PMI on Thursday showed prices fell in November and Premier Wen Jiabao said on November 9 that prices had fallen since October.
Consumer inflation dropped in October to 5.5 percent, backtracking from a three-year high of 6.5 percent in July.
The official services PMI suggested the sector was weak due to softer consumption patterns and a slowdown in the construction industry.
"The retail, food and beverage industry-based consumer services were in an off-season, showing a more significant decline," Cai Jin, a vice president with the CFLP, said in a statement.
The sub-index of new orders in services PMI declined to 47.2 in November, indicating they were actually falling, from 52.5 in October. Input prices for the Chinese services sector eased to 54.4 from 55.7 in October, showing inflationary pressures eased.
The services PMI index aims to give a snapshot of conditions in the services sector, which accounts for less than 45 percent of China's economy, much less than in developed countries.
Last Thursday, the official manufacturing PMI fell to 49 in November from October's 50.4, pointing to the first contraction in activity in nearly three years, or since the global financial crisis.
The HSBC manufacturing PMI dropped to a 32-month low of 47.7 in November from October's 51.
"The November PMI final reading points to a sharp deterioration in business conditions across the Chinese manufacturing sector," said Qu Hongbin, China economist at
HSBC.
Globally, the picture was similar.
A global PMI produced by JPMorgan, with research and supply management organizations, fell to 49.6, suggesting a contraction in global manufacturing.
Chinese officials have expressed growing alarm at the slide in the global economy as Europe struggles to produce a decisive solution to its debt crisis.
Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said last week that the world economy faced a worse crisis now than during 2008 and that stimulating growth should be a priority.
Vice Premier Wang Qishan in November said a chronic global recession was certain.
Although analysts say China is shifting policy to support growth, China's Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development suggested there would be no let up in policy controls on the property market.
The ministry told local governments not to relax home purchase restrictions, the China Business Journal said on Saturday, adding that the restrictions would continue despite their scheduled expiry in at least 11 cities by year-end.
The paper quoted an unnamed government official with the ministry as saying China's current property controls of restrictive home buying would not change.
On Friday, China's central bank said Chinese home prices were at a turning point. Home prices fell in October from September for the first time this year, official data showed, but a private survey has indicated that November could mark a third consecutive monthly fall.
(Reporting by Melanie Lee; Writing by Kevin Yao and Neil Fullick; Editing by Mark Bendeich)
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Hundreds detained at anti-fraud protest in Moscow (AP)
MOSCOW ? Police clashed with demonstrators protesting vote fraud in Moscow and at least two other major Russian cities Tuesday, as anger boiled over against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his ruling United Russia party.
At least 250 people were detained by police at a protest in downtown Moscow, where flare-type fireworks were thrown at a group of pro-Kremlin youth, said city police spokesman Maxim Kolosvetov.
Russian news agencies reported about 200 were arrested at a similar attempt to hold an unsanctioned rally in St. Petersburg and another 25 protesters were arrested in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don.
It was the second consecutive night of large protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg, an unusually sustained show of indignation that came after widespread reports of vote fraud in Sunday's parliamentary election. Russian police routinely crack down hard on unauthorized rallies and protesters generally take time to regroup for a new attempt.
According to preliminary results,Putin's dominant United Russia party lost a large share of the seats it had held in the State Duma but still kept a majority of seats.
Opponents say even that reduced presence came because of vote fraud. Local and international election observers reported widespread ballot-stuffing and irregularities in the vote count.
The protesters appear to be both angered by the reported fraud and energized by the vote's show of declining support for Putin and his party, which have strongly overshadowed all other political forces in Russia for a dozen years.
But pro-Kremlin supporters also put on two large rallies in Moscow, attracting thousands and showing vehement divisions in Russian society.
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Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Asia stocks fall after S&P warns euro nations (AP)
BANGKOK ? Asian stock markets fell Tuesday after Standard and Poor's warned 15 countries using the euro currency that their credit ratings are at risk of a downgrade.
Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 0.8 percent to 8,628.73. South Korea's Kospi dipped 0.7 percent to 1,908.75 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1 percent to 18,988.82. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.6 percent to 4,293.90. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and New Zealand also gave up ground.
The S&P announcement came only hours after French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday unveiled sweeping plans to change the European Union treaty in an effort to keep tighter checks on overspending nations.
The S&P warning left out only two of 17 countries that use the euro: Cyprus, whose bonds have near-junk status, and Greece, which already has ratings low enough to suggest that it's likely to default soon anyway. The inclusion on the list of Germany, Europe's strongest economy, was the biggest surprise.
The Franco-German plan, which would tie the 17 euro nations closer together, would likely also result in heavier financial burdens for Germany and other stronger economies that have already put up billions of euros to rescue Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
Sarkozy and Merkel discussed several broad changes for the EU treaty, including the introduction of a penalty for any government that allows its deficit to exceed 3 percent of gross domestic product. The penalty would be automatic ? unless a majority of nations opposed it, a loophole that drew sharp criticism from analysts.
Andrew Sullivan, principal sales trader at Piper Jaffray in Hong Kong, said the sanctions were "subject to political control" and in reality represent no change from mechanisms already in existence.
The French-German proposal will be taken up at a summit of EU leaders on Thursday and Friday aimed at fixing a debt crisis so severe that it threatens the viability of the euro currency.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.7 percent to 12,097.83. The S&P 500 rose 1 percent to 1,257.1. The Nasdaq added 1.1 percent to 2,655.76.
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Monday, December 5, 2011
The girl barred from flying because her purse was considered a lethal weapon (The Week)
New York ? A pregnant 17-year-old is grounded because of a decorative pistol design on her handbag. Another epic TSA misfire?
The TSA may have shot itself in the foot once again. Vanessa Gibbs, 17, was recently stopped at a Virginia airport by a Transportation Security Administration official because her purse was decorated with a gun motif. TSA agents flagged the handbag as a security risk, and the resulting delay caused Gibbs, who is pregnant, to miss her flight from Norfolk, Va. to her home in Jacksonville, Fla. Instead, Gibbs was diverted to Orlando, sending her waiting mother into a panic. Here's what you should know:
What does this purse look like?
On the front of the small brown bag is a miniature revolver dotted by studs. "It's my style, it's camouflage," Gibbs told reporters. The decorative pistol is just a few inches long, isn't hollow, and, of course, is not a real gun. "I carried this from Jacksonville to Norfolk, and I've carried it from Norfolk to Jacksonville. Never once has anyone said anything about it until now," said the pregnant teenager. "It's a purse, not a weapon."
SEE MORE: Do gadgets really need to be turned off during flights?
?
Did TSA agents think it was a real gun?
Apparently, they believed it might have been a "replica weapon." The TSA first flagged the purse as a potential "security risk," but after they concluded that the gun was "pure decoration," officials told Gibbs to "check her bag or turn it over," says Terri Pous at TIME. It's unclear whether Gibbs was allowed to take her purse with her on the flight to Orlando. The TSA is standing by its decision, and says that replicas have been banned from airplanes since 2002.
Are people angry with the TSA?
You bet. "I was so upset," said mother Tami Gibbs. "I was on the phone all the way to Orlando trying to figure out what was going on with her. It was terrifying." It's hard to believe this really happened, says Robert Paul Reyes at The SOP. "The only thing terrifying about Vanessa's purse is its gaudy design." But the fashion police are one thing. The TSA, on the other hand, "had no right to harass her."
Sources:?Daily Mail, The SOP, TIME
View this article on TheWeek.com
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Sunday, December 4, 2011
Cesar Sanchez, Escaped Inmate, Found By Police In Illinois Port-A-Potty (VIDEO)
An inmate who jumped from a moving van while being taken back to prison Friday afternoon was found by police six hours after making his bold escape -- in an Illinois port-a-potty.
Cesar Sanchez, 37, was on his way to the Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Ill. following a court appearance when he somehow jumped from the prisoner transport van in southwest suburban Lockport, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Illinois Department of Corrections spokeswoman Sharyn Elman told the Chicago Tribune that authorities were investigating whether Sanchez, who was handcuffed and in a prison jumpsuit, kicked open the van door before jumping out.
After making his escape, Sanchez reportedly hitched a ride on a delivery truck to Rockdale, near Joliet, NBC Chicago reports. He was ultimately tracked to Waste Management facility in the area which contained several hundred portable toilets.
"As you can imagine, looking through 300 port-a-potties was going to be quite a job," Will County Sheriff Paul Kaupas told NBC Chicago.
Police did not have to open every door, however. Authorities used "infrared, heat-sensing technology attached to a helicopter" and dogs to narrow the search, the Sun-Times reports. They found the inmate inside one of the portable toilets about 8:15 p.m.
?He was in the doo-doo,? Kaupas told CBS Chicago.
Sanchez is serving a 7-year-sentence for burglary. His previous convictions include shoplifting, robbery, aggravated battery, motor vehicle theft and unlawful use of a credit card
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/03/cesar-sanchez-escaped-inm_n_1126853.html
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Saturday, December 3, 2011
Man pleads guilty to killing 4 in NYC rampage (AP)
NEW YORK ? A man accused of stabbing his stepfather and two others to death, fatally running down a pedestrian, carjacking and other violence in a 28-hour rampage across the city this year unexpectedly pleaded guilty Wednesday.
Maksim Gelman pleaded guilty to murder and other charges in the February spree that stretched from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Gelman had previously said he wasn't guilty. He had been under medical supervision, and his attorney, Edward Friedman, described his mental state as "fragile."
But, given the evidence in the case and a psychiatrist's recent opinion that Gelman couldn't argue he was not guilty by reason of insanity, he decided he wanted to get out of his holding cell ? and start serving his time in a permanent facility, his lawyer said. No plea deal was offered.
The 24-year-old Ukraine-born man answered "yes" when asked if he understood what it meant to change his plea. Wearing a baggy orange jumpsuit, his hands cuffed behind his back and his hair closely cropped, Gelman brusquely answered the judge, saying "yes," "yep" and "yea," as the 13-count indictment was read aloud.
The courtroom was nearly empty ? only the boyfriend of one of the victims attended, crying silently in the second row. Earlier court hearings had been packed.
Gelman faces nearly 100 years in prison. A sentencing hearing was set for Jan. 11.
"It's quite likely, almost guaranteed, that any sentence I give means you'd never be released from a penal institution while you are alive," Judge Vincent DelGiudice said during what would have been a routine pretrial hearing at state Supreme Court in Brooklyn.
Gelman said he understood. "Have a good one," he said to his lawyer after he was led away.
Gelman's deadly spree on Feb. 11 started with a family argument over whether he could use his mother's car, authorities said.
After stabbing to death his stepfather in the family's Brooklyn apartment, Gelman left in the car and drove to the home of an acquaintance, Yelena Bulchenko, prosecutors said. Bulchenko's friends have said he was obsessed with the 20-year-old woman and imagined a romantic relationship with her.
Gelman first killed Bulchenko's 56-year-old mother, then waited hours for the daughter to return and stabbed her 11 times, authorities said. He then left the Bulchenkos' home, rear-ended a car and stabbed its driver, they said. The driver survived.
Stealing the wounded man's car, Gelman drove off and plowed into a pedestrian, who died from his injuries, police said. After abandoning the car, Gelman later hailed a livery cab and attacked its driver, then approached another car, attacked a man inside and seized the car, police said. Both men survived.
All those attacks happened in Brooklyn. Gelman was next spotted hours later on a subway in Manhattan, where passengers recognized him from newspaper photographs and notified police, authorities said. He dashed across the tracks, switched trains and attacked a final passenger before he was grabbed by police who were in the subway car looking for him on the tracks, authorities said. The Manhattan case is still pending.
Police later recovered a bloody knife, three straight razor blades, a paring knife and $932.
According to court documents filed by prosecutors, Gelman told a police officer, "I'll beat this. I'll go to a mental hospital for a few years, and I'll get out on the street again, you'll see."
When asked by police why the four victims had to die, Gelman said, "Because I said so," according to the documents. On Wednesday, his attorney asked for time to do another psychiatric evaluation to prove Gelman needed treatment while imprisoned. The Brooklyn district attorney's office said it would seek the maximum penalty available.
Outside court, Bulchenko's boyfriend, Gerard Honig, said he was just happy that Gelman admitted guilt.
"I just want him to get as much time as he can, that's it," he said.
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Tim McGraw released from record label (Reuters)
NASHVILLE (Reuters) ? A judge on Wednesday ruled that country singer Tim McGraw can now sign with a new record label or record for his own company, releasing him from his longtime distributor Curb Records following a court battle.
Davidson County Chancery Court Chancellor Russell Perkins ruled in favor of McGraw in a legal tussle over the unreleased album "Emotional Traffic" that the singer completed but which the record label believed was not ready for release.
The Grammy winning singer, whose hits include "Live Like You Were Dying," "Southern Voices" and "Something Like That," signed with Curb Records in the early 1990s and has never recorded for another label.
The label filed a breach of contract suit in Davidson County, Tennessee in May, claiming McGraw violated his contract by turning in the new album too soon after his previous greatest hits album was released. The record label claimed the material wasn't topical or new, and said few singles were good enough to air on radio.
Curb asked for another record, meaning McGraw would owe them an additional album beyond "Emotional Traffic."
McGraw countersued, asking for advance payment for the album, reimbursement of some recording expenses, unspecified damages and a jury trial. McGraw also asked that "Emotional Traffic" be declared his final album for Curb.
It was not clear whether the album would ever be released.
Wednesday's ruling means McGraw can now move forward with his recording career, and another hearing was set for July 2012 on the damages portion of the lawsuit.
Ironically, Curb released a new McGraw single on Wednesday from "Emotional Traffic" called "Better Than I Used To Be," saying it is the first new music from the singer in 11 months.
McGraw's prior single, "Felt Good On My Lips," was a three-week No. 1 hit, and originally turned in as part of the "Emotional Traffic" album. The song, however, was released as part of a "Number One Hits" package.
(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111201/en_nm/us_timmcgraw
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Friday, December 2, 2011
New comedy album on tap for Jimmy Fallon
NEW YORK?? "Late Night" host Jimmy Fallon is known for performing with his famous musical guests, including Justin Timberlake, Bruce Springsteen and Blake Shelton, so it seems only natural the comedian and music enthusiast would release a new album.
Fans won't have to wait long. His second record, not yet titled, is scheduled for release next summer on Warner Music Nashville. It will feature parodies and music that have become instant classics on NBC's "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon."
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Ex: McCready not a fit mother, right now
His first album, "The Bathroom Wall," was released in 2002.
Despite singing live with some of the biggest names in music on his show, Fallon said he still feels the pressure of getting his new album completed.
Story: Timberlake and Fallon are planning more 'History of Rap'"Mostly, it means I should probably start writing some songs," he said in a statement Friday.
TODAY.com is powered by msnbc.com, which is a joint venture bewteen Microsoft and NBC Universal.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45524023/ns/today-entertainment/
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Man faces charges in military buildings shootings (AP)
ALEXANDRIA, Va. ? The lawyer for an ex-Marine Corps reservist accused of firing shots at the Pentagon and other military targets last year says his client is a loyal American and that a notebook found in his possession containing references to Osama bin Laden and jihad was merely part of his efforts to understand the enemy.
Yonathan Melaku, 23, of Alexandria, Va., made an initial appearance Wednesday in U.S. District Court to answer charges that while a reservist he conducted a series of overnight shootings in October and November 2010 at the Pentagon, Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, and other targets including a Marine recruiting station in Chantilly. Nobody was injured.
He was arrested and charged in June after he was spotted in Arlington National Cemetery after dark in an incident that sparked a massive security scare in and around the Pentagon, which is near the cemetery. A court affidavit says he was carrying a backpack with ammonium nitrate, which can be used in explosives, and a notebook containing references in Arabic to Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida and "the path to jihad," which included a reference to "defeat coalition and allies and America."
But the federal charges ? two counts of damaging federal property plus two counts of using a firearm in a crime of violence ? were on hold while he awaited trial in Loudoun County on unrelated larceny charges. These charges led to his dismissal from the Marine reserves a few days after his arrest for allegedly firing the shots at military buildings.
Earlier this month, Melaku, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Ethiopia, struck a plea deal on the state charges that resulted in a six-month jail term, including time served. When his jail term concluded Wednesday, he was picked up by U.S. Marshals and transferred to Alexandria to face the federal charges.
In a phone interview following Wednesday's hearing, Melaku's attorney, Gregory English, said his client volunteered to join the Marines and served honorably while enlisted.
As for the notebook references to bin Laden and al-Qaida, English said it's a mistake to assume they denote a nefarious intent.
"We're at war with al-Qaida," English said. "The first thing they teach you as a soldier is `Know thy enemy.'"
At Wednesday's hearing, a magistrate ordered that Melaku remain in custody pending a detention hearing scheduled for Thursday.
Prosecutor Neil Hammerstrom told the judge that the government will seek to keep Melaku in jail pending trial and may present evidence at Thursday's hearing that includes a videotape that Melaku purportedly made while firing shots at the Marine Corps museum. A court affidavit quotes Melaku on the tape saying, "That's what they get. That's my target. That's the military building. It's going to be attacked."
If convicted on all four counts, Melaku would face a mandatory minimum of 35 years in prison and a possible life sentence.
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Monday, November 28, 2011
New Best Buy TV ad aimed at bringing Apple Store customers into Best Buy
Best Buy has released a new advert for the holidays called ?Everything Apple at Best Buy”, and it’s aimed squarely at poaching potential Apple purchasers. Best Buy has Apple Stores within a store idea and is aimed at letting its customers know that they sell all of Apple?s products...
 |  |
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/vTMnoXfnpD8/story01.htm
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Service uses gaming to reward consumers for saving money ...
It?s all too common to see rewards programs that encourage consumers to spend; far more rare are those that promote saving instead. Just last year we featured Piggymojo, which recruits the user?s friends and family to cheer them on toward their financial goals, and recently we came across a similar initiative called SaveUp, a free service that rewards consumers for their smart financial decisions.
Just launched into beta, San Francisco-based SaveUp allows consumers who bank at any of more than 18,000 US financial institutions to earn credits for performing positive financial actions. For example, credits are awarded when a user contributes to their savings or retirement accounts; pays down their credit cards, mortgages or other loans; and engages with SaveUp?s financial education content on the site. Those credits, in turn, can be redeemed for chances to win instant prizes, or for entry into weekly and monthly draws. Underwritten by SaveUp?s sponsors and bank partners, prizes range from retail gift cards and consumer electronics, to luxury vacations, college tuition and even a USD 2 million jackpot. The video below explains SaveUp in more detail:
Consumer debt in the US alone is more than USD 2.4 trillion, according the US Federal Reserve. Could gaming prove the solution to help get rid of some of that?
Website: www.saveup.com
Contact: info@saveup.com
Spotted by: Alice Revel
Source: http://www.springwise.com/gaming/service-gaming-reward-consumers-saving-money/
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Sunday, November 27, 2011
After centuries, Bethlehem church to get new roof
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) ? Preparations for a long-needed renovation of the 1,500-year-old Church of the Nativity are moving ahead in Bethlehem, the town of Jesus' birth, in the face of political and religious conflicts that have kept one of Christendom's holiest sites in a state of decay for centuries.
The first and most urgent part of the renovation, initiated by the Palestinian government in the West Bank, is meant to replace the building's roof. Ancient wooden beams pose a danger to visitors, officials say, and leaks have already ruined many of the church's priceless mosaics and paintings.
If the repairs go ahead as planned next year, it will be the first time the crumbling basilica has seen major renovation work in more than a century and a half.
Altering a building like the Church of the Nativity, built 1,500 years ago on the site of a church 200 years older than that, is never a simple affair. The building is shared by three Christian sects ? Catholics, Greek Orthodox and Armenians ? who have traditionally viewed each other with suspicion and are wary of upsetting the brittle status quo that governs the site.
To repair a part of the church is to own it, according to accepted practice, meaning that letting other sects undertake renovations or pay for them could allow one to gain ground at another's expense.
The resulting paralysis and disrepair has been a recurring theme at the church.
"In the roof the timbers which were constructed in ancient times are rotting, and this structure is falling daily into ruin," wrote one visitor. That was in 1461.
Some measure of the complications involved in a renovation of this type can be found in the Nativity's similarly ancient and fractious sister church, the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. When a 1927 earthquake badly damaged that building, it took the rival sects more than three decades to agree to major repairs and another three to complete them.
Today, the increasingly dire state of the Nativity's roof and the intervention of an external player in the form of the Palestinian Authority ? which has circumvented the old rivalries and allowed all to save face ? has led the three churches to agree to a renovation to be arranged and funded by the Palestinian government and international donors.
The Palestinian Authority, the Western-backed government that wields limited control in the West Bank under Israel's overall control, sees the church as its premier tourist attraction, with 2 million foreign visitors last year.
The PA and its president, Mahmoud Abbas, are eager to win recognition for the basilica from UNESCO as a world heritage site, but an earlier application was not accepted because UNESCO did not consider the Palestinian government a state. That changed last month, when, in a controversial decision that triggered a funding cutoff by the United States, the U.N.'s cultural arm decided to grant recognition.
The Palestinians are now hoping their application will be approved. The renovation is motivated, in part, by a desire on their part to prove they are responsible stewards of sites of global importance.
"Our president has issued a decree to restore the roof and to prepare for the restoration of the church on behalf of the three churches and in coordination with the three churches, which obviously cannot do it on their own," said Khouloud Daibes, the Palestinian tourism minister.
A high-tech survey by experts from Canada, Italy and elsewhere ended earlier this year. Palestinian officials hope the three churches will sign off on the plans and that the renovation itself will begin in 2012. It is expected to cost between $10 and $15 million.
The roof is in such poor condition that there is a "risk of collapsing beams within the wooden structure which could hurt people inside the church," said Issam Juha of the Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation, one of the official Palestinian bodies in charge of the UNESCO application.
"We recognize that this is a necessity that goes beyond our different claims, and that this has to be done," said Father Athanasius, the Roman Catholic clergyman in charge of relations with other sects at shared sites in the Holy Land.
Archbishop Aris Shirvanian of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem said his church supported the plan, along with the other churches. A Greek Orthodox representative did not respond to requests for comment.
To someone standing on the worn marble floors of the basilica amid cassocked monks and busloads of tourists and looking upward, the roof appears as an aging latticework of wooden beams, some of them visibly warped.
The roof was first built, along with the rest of the basilica, by the Byzantine emperor Justinian in the 6th century A.D. following the destruction of the original church built on the site of the grotto where Jesus was believed to have been born. Some of Justinian's massive wooden beams are still in use.
In 1480, with Bethlehem under Muslim rule and the roof disintegrating, permission was granted to replace it. Philip, Duke of Burgundy, sent craftsmen, wood and iron. King Edward IV of England sent lead, and the Doge of Venice provided ships. Major work was carried out again two centuries later.
When the British controlled the Holy Land between 1917 and 1948, they recognized the urgency of replacing the roof but simply could not navigate the explosive rivalries between the sects in the church, traditionally backed by powers like France and Russia.
In the mid-1800s the tensions had become so fierce that Russian Czar Nicholas I actually deployed troops along the Danube to threaten a Turkish sultan who had been favoring the Catholics over the Orthodox.
The British managed only small repairs. The same went for the Jordanians, who ruled Bethlehem from 1948 to 1967, and for the Israelis, who captured the West Bank from the Jordanians and turned the city over to the Palestinian Authority in the 1990s.
A UNESCO report in 1997 found that because of water leaking from the roof, most of the mosaics and paintings, some dating from Byzantine times, had been "damaged beyond repair."
In the similar case of the renovation of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the sects put aside their differences only when they realized that their holy building was in danger of collapse, said Raymond Cohen of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, an international relations professor who wrote a book about that renovation project. There was also a measure of judicious outside intervention by a Jordanian official at the right time, he said.
Something similar appears to have happened here.
"The paradox is that everyone needs to repair it, but they can't agree," Cohen said. "When the place is about to fall down, it focusses the mind."
___
Follow Matti Friedman at www.twitter.com/MattiFriedman
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Saturday, November 26, 2011
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Obama turning to Biden for help in 3 key states (AP)
WASHINGTON ? A year from Election Day, Democrats are crafting a campaign strategy for Vice President Joe Biden that targets the big three political battlegrounds: Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, states where Biden might be more of an asset to President Barack Obama's re-election campaign than the president himself.
The Biden plan underscores an uncomfortable reality for the Obama team. A shaky economy and sagging enthusiasm among Democrats could shrink the electoral map for Obama in 2012, forcing his campaign to depend on carrying the 67 electoral votes up for grabs in the three swing states.
Obama won all three states in 2008. But this time he faces challenges in each, particularly in Ohio and Florida, where voters elected Republican governors in the 2010 midterm elections.
The president sometimes struggles to connect with Ohio and Pennsylvania's white working-class voters, and with Jewish voters who make up a core constituency for Florida Democrats and view him with skepticism.
Biden has built deep ties to both groups during his four decades in national politics, connections that could make a difference.
As a long-serving member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden cemented his reputation as an unyielding supporter of Israel, winning the respect of many in the Jewish community. And Biden's upbringing in a working class, Catholic family from Scranton, Pa., gives him a valuable political intangible: He empathizes with the struggles of blue-collar Americans because his family lived those struggles.
"Talking to blue-collar voters is perhaps his greatest attribute," said Dan Schnur, a Republican political analyst. "Obama provides the speeches, and Biden provides the blue-collar subtitles."
While Biden's campaign travel won't kick into high gear until next year, he's already been making stops in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida this fall, speaking at events focused on education, public safety and small businesses and raising campaign cash. Behind the scenes, he's working the phones with prominent Jewish groups and Catholic organizations in those states, a Democratic official said.
Biden is also targeting organized labor, speaking frequently with union leaders in Ohio ahead of a vote earlier this month on a state law that would have curbed collective bargaining rights for public workers. After voters struck down the measure, Biden traveled to Cleveland to celebrate the victory with union members.
The Democratic official said the vice president will also be a frequent visitor to Iowa and New Hampshire in the coming weeks, seeking to steal some of the spotlight from the Republican presidential candidates blanketing those states ahead of the January caucus and primary.
And while Obama may have declared that he won't be commenting on the Republican presidential field until there's a nominee, Biden is following no such rules. He's calling out GOP candidates by name, and in true Biden style, he appears to be relishing in doing so.
During a speech last month to the Florida Democratic Convention, Biden singled out "Romney and Rick", criticizing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for saying the government should let the foreclosure crisis hit rock bottom, and hammering Texas Gov. Rick Perry's assertion that he would send U.S. troops into Mexico.
And he took on the full GOP field during an October fundraiser in New Hampshire, saying "There is no fundamental difference among all the Republican candidates."
Democratic officials said Biden will follow in the long-standing tradition of vice presidents playing the role of attack dog, allowing Obama to stay out of the fray and appear more focused on governing than campaigning.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal strategy. The Obama campaign has been reluctant to publically define Biden's role in the re-election bid this early in the run, though campaign manager Jim Messina did say the vice president would deliver an economic message to appeal for support.
"You'll see him in communities across the country next year laying out the choice we face: restoring economic security for the middle class or returning to the same policies that led to our economic challenges," Messina said.
Democrats say Biden will campaign for House candidates in swing states as the party tries to recapture some of the seats in Congress lost during the 2010 midterms.
And here again, the vice president's efforts in politically crucial Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida could be most important. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is targeting 12 districts in those states that Obama and Biden carried in the 2008 presidential race but are represented by Republican representatives.
New York Rep. Steve Israel, who chairs the committee, said he believes Biden could be a "game-changer" in those districts.
"All he has to do is ask voters, has the Republican strategy of no worked for you?" Israel said.
Israel met with Obama and Biden at the White House earlier this month to discuss, among other things, their role in congressional campaigns. While Israel said he hopes Obama will actively campaign for Democratic House candidates, he said "the vice president has already volunteered."
___
Julie Pace can be reached at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC.
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Friday, November 25, 2011
Mars Science Laboratory Latest NASA Nuclear Powered Space Craft (ContributorNetwork)
The Mars Science Laboratory, carrying the SUV sized Curiosity Mars rover, is due to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center this Saturday. One of the features of the newest Mars rover is the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator that powers it.
While many space probes use solar panels to power them, some use RTGs, which use the decay of plutonium 238 to provide heat and power. RTGs are used when the probe in question is slated to explore far away from the sun, such as the Outer Planets, or, as in the case of the MSL, the probe is large enough to need to power generated by the RTG.
While there has been some controversy surrounding the safety of launching space craft with RTGs, the only serious contamination occurred when a Russian probe crashed in the Canadian wilderness in 1978, spreading radioactive fuel over the landscape.
RTGs have provided power for space missions since the Apollo program. Some examples include:
Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package
Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package was an instrument package placed on the lunar surface by the crews of Apollo 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17. The instruments measured seismic activity on the lunar surface, as well as other phenomenon such as solar wind and magnetic activity. The ALSEPs were powered by a single RTG that generated 70 watts of power.
Galileo
Galileo, which was launched in October 1989, orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003, exploring the largest planet in the solar system and its various moons. Galileo was powered by two GPHS-RTGs that carried just over 17 pound of plutonium. The RTGs provided 570 watts of power at launch, which had decreased to 493 watts when it had arrived at Jupiter.
Ulysses
Ulysses, launched in October 1990, orbited the sun, studying its properties between 1994 and 2009, when communications was lost with the vehicle. The RTG power source on the vehicle generated about 285 watts.
Cassini
Cassini, currently orbiting Saturn, was launched in 1997 and arrived at Saturn in 2004. Cassini is powered by three RTGs, contained 72 pounds of plutonium. The RTGs provide 600 to 700 watts of power.
New Horizons
New Horizons was launched in January 2006, with a planned flyby of Pluto in 2015. The single RTG, which was actually a spare from the Cassini mission, contained 24 pounds of plutonium. It generated 240 watts at launch, but will put out 200 watts by the time it encounters Pluto.
Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker. He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times and The Weekly Standard.
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Thursday, November 24, 2011
LG and PRADA, together since 2006, renew their vows
PRADA phone by LG 3.0 coming in 2012
LG and PRADA today announced that they've renewed their partnership and that we can expect the PRADA phone by LG 3.0 early next year. The Korean electronics giant and the Italian fashion giant have worked together since 2006, release a pair of phones the next two years. The PRADA phone by LG 1.0 sold more than 1 million units, LG said in a press release, and is a fixture at New York's Museum of Modern Art as well as in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Shanghai, China.
No word yet on how far out of your price range the PRADA phone by LG 3.0 will be. We've got the full presser after the break.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/yFTOQuf0B8g/story01.htm
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Gingrich: Cutting off gasoline would contain Iran (AP)
WASHINGTON ? Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich says the United States could "break Iran within a year" if allies worked together on a strategy instead of focusing on specific tactics.
Gingrich says that ending gasoline sales to Iran and sabotaging its refineries would lead to regime change and end its nuclear ambitions. The former House speaker says the world must change regimes in Tehran before Iran acquires a nuclear weapon.
Other Republican presidential candidates debating in Washington Tuesday night had different views of how to deal with Iran's aggressive nuclear program.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he favors sanction on Iran's central bank.
Businessman Herman Cain says he would support an Israeli military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities only if he were convinced it would work.
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Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Mitt Romney drops bombshell from his past (The Ticket)
Via ABC News' Michael Falcone, who got his hands on an interview with Mitt Romney in a forthcoming issue of People magazine:
"I tasted a beer and tried a cigarette once, as a wayward teenager, and never did it again."
Other popular Yahoo! News stories:
? What you need to know about the supercommittee
? Herman Cain and the Holy Land Experience
? First Lady booed at NASCAR race
Want more of our best political stories? Visit The Ticket or connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
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Nickelback Roar Back To Basics On Here And Now
Band's new album isn't a departure, because it doesn't have to be.
By James Montgomery
Nickelback's Chad Kroeger
Photo: Getty Images
When Nickelback set out to record their brand-new album Here and Now, which hit stores Monday (November 21), they decided not to stray far from the mantra that has made them one of the decade's biggest-selling acts: Namely, keep it simple, stupid.
"If we had a 'vision,' it was pretty much 'Record 11 songs, try to make sure they don't sound like any of the other 11 songs, and make 'em good,'" frontman Chad Kroeger said. "That was about it."
If Kroeger sounds like he's joking, he assures you, he's not. After all, for more than 15 years now, Nickelback have done one thing — write and record the kinds of songs that sound great played very loudly, be it on the radio, in the parking lot or inside venues that house professional sports franchises — and have done it exceptionally well, to the tune of some 50 million albums sold worldwide. And Here and Now seems destined to follow in those footsteps, both sonically (have you heard "Bottoms Up"?) and commercially. Then again, the latter doesn't seem to matter all that much to Kroeger and company, which may very well be the secret to their success.
"Did you read the bio [for the new album]? Oh my God, it's a thrill ride. It's like my mom wrote it. She's like, 'They've sold this many records worldwide, they've won all of these accolades, the band has set these records,' and you just go down it, and there's almost nothing about the new album," Kroeger laughed. "The adjectives are just like, 'Wow, this dude got a thesaurus for Christmas for sure, and he just blew the dust off it.'
"You know what? I think [sales] mean more to my mom. My mom is just pumped when this stuff comes out," he continued. "But I think sometimes, we'll be sitting at dinner, and we'll look at each other, if it's just the four of us, those are those little secret private moments where we'll look at each other and be like, 'That was pretty cool.' Or, you know, 'Pass the butter.' "
And so, on Here and Now, Nickelback return with much of the same that has led them to such lofty heights. They'll make no bones about it, either. It will probably sell a bazillion copies and launch singles onto modern rock radio for the foreseeable future. And it will most definitely be coming to an arena near you very soon. And all those things would be near-certainties even if the band decided to go with their original title for the album, which, truth be told, would've been pretty awesome, really.
"It's called Here and Now because it just represents a snapshot in time, a snapshot of who we were when we made it," Kroeger explained. "And of all the names we had, it was better than Wizard Beating."
Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1674792/nickelback-here-and-now-album.jhtml
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Tuesday, November 22, 2011
China urges progress on climate change fund (AP)
BEIJING ? China is worried the financial crisis is draining contributions to a multibillion-dollar global warming fund but hopes basic financing to help developing countries deal with climate change can be hammered out this month.
Delegates at a U.N.-sponsored climate change conference that starts Nov. 28 in Durban, South Africa, are to consider ways to raise $100 billion a year for the Green Climate Fund.
Xie Zhenhua, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission and China's lead climate official, told a news conference in Beijing that some countries may not be able to pledge as much as originally planned but he hopes there will be progress in determining how the fund is allocated and managed in the long-term.
China is also pushing for new emissions-reduction targets for developed countries to take effect after the 1997 Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
Countries generally have fallen into camps of rich and poor on the issue. Developing countries insist the Kyoto obligations ? the individual targets for countries to cut emissions ? be extended and new targets adopted. Industrial countries say they want emerging economies to accept similar binding commitments.
Xie reiterated China's stance that developed countries are mainly to blame for the current global warming situation and must take the lead in combatting the problem, while developing countries should not have to face mandatory restraints on emissions because they would hamper efforts to alleviate poverty.
A white paper on China's climate change policies distributed at the news conference said clarifying a new emissions-reduction plan for developed countries was the most urgent task facing negotiators at Durban.
Also important will be securing "new, additional and abundant funds" for developing nations to deal with global warming, it said.
"Climate change hasn't become less important because of the international financial crisis, but it has become less prominent," Xie said. "Some people say that given the economic difficulties in Western countries these days, that it's not the proper time to discuss financing issues."
Xie said China understands that point of view but also believes global economic difficulties are temporary and that progress should be made at Durban on establishing the financing mechanisms for the fund. He said there are multiple options for financing but that the main source will be public funds from developed countries.
"If you have difficulties, for instance, you can donate less money, but the mechanism should be there and we hope, we look forward to positive progress in the allocation and management of these long-term financing mechanisms (in Durban)," Xie said.
China and other emerging economies exempted from the Kyoto pact have sharply increased emissions in recent years, while rejecting calls to commit by treaty to restraints on emissions.
However, China has voluntarily set a target of reducing power consumed per unit of economic output ? a measure known as "energy intensity" ? by 40 percent to 45 percent by 2020, compared with 2005 levels, while also increasing the share of energy produced by renewable sources to 15 percent and expanding forest cover.
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'Breaking Dawn' rises to $283.5M worldwide debut
In this image released by Summit Entertainment, Kristen Stewart, foreground, and Robert Pattinson are shown in a scene from "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1." (AP Photo/Summit Entertainment, Andrew Cooper)
In this image released by Summit Entertainment, Kristen Stewart, foreground, and Robert Pattinson are shown in a scene from "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1." (AP Photo/Summit Entertainment, Andrew Cooper)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? "The Twilight Saga" has staked out another huge opening with a $139.5 million first weekend domestically and a worldwide launch of $283.5 million.
The domestic total gives "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 1" the second-best debut weekend for the franchise, after the $142.8 million launch for 2009's "The Twilight Saga: New Moon." ''Breaking Dawn" did more than half of its business, $72 million, on opening day Friday, while the movie's debut weekend was the fifth-best on record.
Opening in 54 overseas markets, "Breaking Dawn" pulled in $144 million internationally, according to studio estimates Sunday.
But the Warner Bros. dancing penguin sequel "Happy Feet 2" stumbled in its debut, pulling in just $22 million over opening weekend. That's barely half what the first film in the animated franchise earned in its 2006 opening.
The comparison is even worse considering the original did not have the sequel's price advantage for 3-D screenings, which cost a few dollars more than 2-D shows.
The previous weekend's No. 1 movie, Relativity Media's action tale "Immortals," fell to third-place with $12.3 million, raising its domestic haul to $53 million.
George Clooney had a great start with Fox Searchlight's comic drama "The Descendants," which broke into the top-10 despite playing in just a handful of theaters.
"The Descendants" finished at No. 10 with $1.2 million in 29 theaters, averaging a whopping $42,150 a cinema. That compares to an average of $34,351 in 4,061 theaters for "Breaking Dawn."
Directed by Alexander Payne ("Sideways"), the film stars Clooney as a distressed dad tending to his daughters after his wife falls into a coma from a head injury. The film expands to about 400 theaters Wednesday.
In an industry whose main audience is young males, "Twilight" is a rare blockbuster franchise driven by female viewers. Distributor Summit Entertainment reported that women and girls made up 80 percent of the audience for "Breaking Dawn."
The popularity of "Twilight" has left many men scratching their heads, even those involved in releasing the movies.
"I'm 53 years old, and I haven't figured it out yet," said Richie Fay, head of distribution for Summit. "It relates really to young girls and things that are important to them, their romantic ideas of love and relationships, without getting so physical, at least on screen, that it becomes a worry for their parents."
"Breaking Dawn" has brooding teen Bella (Kristen Stewart) marrying vampire lover Edward (Robert Pattinson), whose family strikes an uneasy alliance with jealous werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner) to protect the bride and the baby she's carrying.
The movie's big start points to even better business for next year's "Breaking Dawn ? Part 2," the finale in the five-film series based on Stephenie Meyer's best-selling novels.
"Breaking Dawn" was a windfall for Hollywood in general, whose domestic revenues continue to trail 2010's despite rosy projections last spring of a record box-office year.
Domestic business totaled $222 million, up 14 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" led with $125 million, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com.
The penguins of "Happy Feet 2" were left in the cold compared with the big debut for the first film, a critical favorite that won the Academy Award for feature animation.
The sequel, featuring returning voice stars Elijah Wood and Robin Williams, received mixed to bad reviews. Still, Warner Bros. reported it earned high marks from audiences, which could keep it afloat in the coming weeks.
"We honestly feel we'll pick up some steam and play some catch-up as we get into the holidays," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution at Warner.
But the competition for family audiences turns intense in the next few days with Martin Scorsese's youthful adventure "Hugo," the musical comedy "The Muppets" and the animated holiday tale "Arthur Christmas" all opening Wednesday for the busy Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
The newcomers, combined with "Breaking Dawn," could lift Hollywood above the Thanksgiving record set in 2009, when "New Moon" paced the industry to a $273 million domestic haul from Wednesday to Sunday.
"This could be one of the greatest movie-going weekends ever in the midst of a year that has really had its ups and downs at the box office," said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 1," $139.5 million ($144 million international)
2. "Happy Feet 2," $22 million.
3. "Immortals," $12.3 million ($11.9 million international).
4. "Jack and Jill," $12 million.
5. "Puss in Boots," $10.7 million ($2.4 million international).
6. "Tower Heist," $7 million ($4.5 million international).
7. "J. Edgar," $5.9 million.
8. "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas," $2.9 million.
9. "In Time," $1.7 million.
10. "The Descendants," $1.2 million.
___
Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:
1. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 1," $144 million.
2. "The Adventures of Tintin," $21.7 million.
3. "Immortals," $11.9 million.
4. "Real Steel," $6.9 million.
5. "Moneyball," $5.4 million.
6. "Arthur Christmas," $5 million.
7. "Tower Heist," $4.5 million.
8. "In Time," $4.2 million.
9. "The Lion King," $3.6 million.
10. "Paranormal Activity 3," $3.4 million.
___
Online:
http://www.hollywood.com
http://www.rentrak.com
___
Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.
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