Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/01/27/aubrey-plaza-bill-murray-charles-swan/
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Not ready to let go?
On Wednesday, Heidi Klum was photographed for the first time since she and Seal shocked the world Monday with news of their separation after 7 years of marriage.
PHOTOS: Heidi's incredible body evolution
Out and about in Los Angeles, the supermodel and Project Runway hostess, 38, looked somber and kept her head down. Clad in black, Klum wore her gold wedding band. Her estranged husband Seal, 48, has similarly kept on his wedding ring as well.
PHOTOS: Heidi and Seal's sweet romance
For his part, the "Kiss from a Rose" crooner explained to Ellen DeGeneres why the ring will remain on his finger. "I think it's just pretty much a token of how I feel about this woman. We have eight years. Eight wonderful years together," Seal told DeGeneres, 53. "Just because we have decided to separate doesn't necessarily mean you take off your ring and you're no longer connected to that person."
The couple, who wed in 2005, have three biological children: Henry, 6, Johan, 5, and Lou, 2. In 2009, Seal adopted Klum's 7-year-old daughter, Leni, from her previous relationship with Flavio Briatore.
PHOTOS: Heidi's out-of-this-world Halloween costumes
"I think our priority was to remain civil and do this thing with dignity," Seal said. "We still very much love each other."
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Bebeto Matthews / AP
Yep, I'm about to make you late for work
By Allison Linn
The most common excuse for being late to work is also the most predictable one: Traffic.
The least common excuses for being late to work? Now, those are much more interesting.
CareerBuilder.com recently asked Harris Interactive to survey employees and employers on workplace tardiness.
While employees said traffic, lack of sleep and bad weather were the chief causes of being late to work, hiring mangers shared some more unusual excuses they?d heard for not showing up on time.
Among them:
*Employee's cat had the hiccups
*Employee?s angry roommate cut the cord to his phone charger, so it didn?t charge and his alarm didn?t go off.
*Employee?s leg was trapped between the subway car and the platform (turned out to be true).
*Employee thought she had won the lottery (she didn?t).
And our favorite:
*Employee got distracted watching the TODAY Show.
Now that?s totally understandable.
Apparently, getting to work on time is still a problem, even in this economy. The survey found that 16 percent of workers are late to work at least once a week, a tiny increase from last year.
It?s also not always a laughing matter: About one-third of hiring managers said they had fired an employee for being late.
Readers, tell us your most unusual reason for being late to work in the comments section?below or on our Facebook page. We?ll feature some of the responses in an upcoming post.
Related:
Help wanted: Must be able to show up to work on time
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Before tonight, we knew a few things about the ?psychopharmacology thriller? that Steven Soderbergh and his Contagion writer Scott Z. Burns are developing:
A lot has changed.? First the addition: Catherine Zeta-Jones joined the cast.? Now the subtraction: the latest reports omit the article, referring to the project as just Side Effects.? More notably, Annapurna has pulled out of the project, which puts the involvement of the aforementioned cast in jeopardy.? More after the jump:
According to the timestamps, Variety published their report about Annapurna backing out first, suggesting that the commitment of Lively, Law, and Tatum are unclear.? Encouragingly, a spokesperson for Open Road confirmed, ?The Open Road deal to release the picture is in place.?? Phew.
Deadline was up next?seemingly unconcerned by parallel reporting?with a post that states Zeta-Jones is on board, Annapurna is financing, and the $30 million production is scheduled for April in New York.? We?ll take the Zeta-Jones casting at face value and chuck the rest aside for now.
The Playlist heaps intrigue to the mix.? Sources tells the site that Annapurna backed out because they didn?t like Lively in the lead, ?a troubled young woman who develops a dangerous love triangle between her doctor (Law) and her newly paroled husband (Tatum).?? The project did have other suitors, so Soderbergh can probably land new financing soon, and maybe even make that April start date.? But based on what they?re hearing, The Playlist wonders if Lively will still be involved in Side Effects 2.0, and passes along a few possible replacements from their sources: Rooney Mara, Michelle Williams, Emily Blunt, and Imogen Poots.
We are entering into more speculative territory than I am comfortable with.? And I am pretty distraught at the idea that the fate of a Steven Soderbergh film depends on who wins the fight over Blake Lively.? So if you don?t mind, let?s press pause, and check back in when we know more.? I sincerely hope we only have good news next time around.
Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1924374/news/1924374/
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MOBERLY, Mo. ? After 19 years running state unemployment offices across northern Missouri, Steve Moore can rattle off the names of shuttered factories in this old railroad town with ease.
There's Matcor Automotive, a parts manufacturer that at its peak employed 300 workers but closed in June 2010 in response to declining production by General Motors. Textbook publisher Scholastic Inc. is closing its Moberly packaging center, costing the town another 100 jobs.
Then there's the biggest blow of all: the failed promises of Mamtek U.S. Inc., a Chinese-owned artificial sweetener factory offered about $17 million in state tax incentives and $39 million of local bonds that went belly up in 2011 when the company couldn't make the bond payments. More than 600 promised jobs went up in smoke, with the deal now facing scrutiny by Missouri lawmakers and a pair of investigations by the state's attorney general and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
"There was a lot of anticipation, and then a lot of disappointment," Moore said. "Let's be honest. Everybody had hoped that something was going to come out of it."
As President Barack Obama again pledged to repair the American economy in his annual State of the Union address Tuesday night, some Moberly residents chalked up his pronouncements as just more rosy rhetoric by a politician ? not unlike the July 2010 day when Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and former Gov. Bob Holden came to the town of nearly 14,000 and hailed the Mamtek project's potential.
Others blamed an intractable Congress for not working more closely with the president to lift the country's economy. Still more held out hope that manufacturing companies lured by the region's low cost-of-living and central location would once again seek out Moberly, a 136-year-old railroad hub that became known as the Magic City in the late 19th century for its seemingly overnight emergence on once-empty prairie.
"We got a promise that he didn't keep," said business owner Diane Harlan. "He promised our economy was going to be better, and it's not. In this small community, we were under the false hope that everything was going to be OK, and it's not."
Harlan spent seven years as executive director of Main Street Moberly, which represents downtown business owners, before opening the Darn It Yarn store seven months ago after the business group cut her full-time job to 20 hours a week. She voted for John McCain in 2008 but hasn't yet made up her mind about the 2012 election.
While vacant storefronts dot downtown Moberly, Harlan said her business has succeeded beyond expectations, allowing her to drop that part-time job starting next week. A handful of similar small businesses have sprouted nearby, from a sewing shop to a secondhand furniture store.
"People are finally figuring out, we can't depend on our leader to get us out of something that we've created," she said. "We've got to go back to the grassroots. More self-sufficiency, doing things on our own, teaching our children, instead of depending on a man sitting in a white castle to take care of us and make things right."
David Gaines, a vice president with the Moberly Area Economic Development Commission, is among the local officials who helped court Mamtek in a deal given the code name "Project Sugar" before it was publicly disclosed. Count him among those looking for more leadership from those in the audience at Tuesday night's speech.
"It's not so much what he says but what they do," Gaines said, referring to Congress. "They need to quit talking and do something.
"That's what is holding consumer confidence down, is the inability of Congress on both sides of the aisle to do what the people elected them to do," he added.
After the speech, Gaines said he was heartened to hear the president urge lawmakers to work together, not against one another.
"I do like the fact that he said it's time to stop the divisiveness between the two parties," Gaines said. "If they set the right tone, everyone will follow along. If they don't, the nation will just drift."
Political affiliation aside, Moberly residents interviewed Tuesday tended to agree that improving the economy and creating more local jobs are the most important issues facing their community and the country. Look no further than a commuter parking lot along U.S. 63 packed with cars while their owners work 35 miles south in the college town of Columbia. Moberly, in turn, attracts workers from dozens of surrounding rural towns.
"Folks are regularly commuting 40 or 50 or 60 miles to go to work every day," Gaines said. "When we share that with the folks we talk to in Atlanta and Chicago and LA, they are quite amazed that people are willing to commute that far for a good job. But they have to."
Elsewhere in Moberly, Obama's speech was met with disinterest, if not outright scorn. At Nelly's Someplace Else restaurant, dozens of Republicans filed past a pair of televisions showing the president's address as the monthly meeting of the Randolph Area Pachyderms Club. Few stopped to listen, though some jeered as they walked past.
___
Follow Alan Scher Zagier at http://twitter.com/azagier
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FILE - In this Aug. 24, 2010 file photo, R. Allen Stanford arrives in custody at the federal courthouse for a hearing in Houston. On Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, after much delay, federal prosecutors in Houston are due to begin laying out their case against Stanford, telling jurors that the 61-year-old?s business empire was built on smoke and mirrors and that he bilked investors out of more than $7 billion over 20 years as part of a massive Ponzi scheme. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 24, 2010 file photo, R. Allen Stanford arrives in custody at the federal courthouse for a hearing in Houston. On Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, after much delay, federal prosecutors in Houston are due to begin laying out their case against Stanford, telling jurors that the 61-year-old?s business empire was built on smoke and mirrors and that he bilked investors out of more than $7 billion over 20 years as part of a massive Ponzi scheme. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
HOUSTON (AP) ? A former employee of Texas financier R. Allen Stanford told jurors at Stanford's fraud trial Wednesday that he believes he saw the former billionaire making up accounting figures used in an annual report to woo investors.
Leo Mejia, who worked for an advertising company created by Stanford to promote his various businesses, testified that he became uneasy working for the financier because he lost confidence in the accuracy of financial information he was given to include in advertising materials.
Prosecutors allege Stanford bilked investors out of more than $7 billion through a scheme centered on sales of certificates of deposit from a bank Stanford owned on the Caribbean island of Antigua, which promised substantially higher rates of return on the CDs than U.S. banks and promised investors their money was safe. The financier's businesses were headquartered in Houston.
Authorities say Stanford, 61, sank investors' money in a variety of his own businesses, including two airlines, and that he used up to $2 billion of investors' money as personal loans to buy homes and yachts and fund cricket matches.
Stanford's attorneys contend he was a savvy businessman whose financial empire was legitimate and who never failed to pay what was owed to investors.
Stanford is on trial for 14 counts, including mail and wire fraud, and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. He was once considered one of the United States' wealthiest people, with an estimated net worth of more than $2 billion.
Mejia testified that one of his responsibilities was to help put together the bank's annual report, which was used to promote the bank and attract new customers. He said that when he was preparing the bank's 1988 annual report, he saw Stanford and his chief financial officer, James Davis, use a calculator to make various faulty changes to figures related to the bank's finances just before the report was sent off to be printed.
"Did you notice any problem with the numbers Stanford was getting by punching into the calculator?" prosecutor Gregg Costa asked Mejia.
"Yes. When I was working I noticed very easily that some of those numbers didn't add up correctly. I mentioned they didn't add up. They laughed and corrected those numbers," Mejia said.
At the time, the bank was in Caribbean island nation of Montserrat. It later moved to neighboring Antigua.
Mejia described the errors he saw as an "obvious mistake. Like nine plus one does not give you five."
Davis has pleaded guilty in the case and is expected to testify against Stanford.
Mejia also told jurors he was surprised that after those figures were submitted to the bank's auditor, they were approved and sent back to him in 15 minutes.
"It took me more to do my checkbook. I thought that was quick," he said.
Prosecutors allege Stanford bribed the auditor as well as Antiguan regulators to hide the true condition of the bank's financial health and promote the fraud.
Mejia also told jurors Stanford described investors as "greedy" and that the bank's office in Montserrat was mostly an empty building that had a couple of computers that were not plugged in. Mejia said he was fired in 1992 for receiving an overpayment of $750.
The prosecution's first witness, Michelle Chambliess, who had worked for Stanford selling CDs to investors, testified earlier Wednesday that she had also become uneasy with how the financier ran the bank, including using deposits for personal loans. She also said the bank's insurance policy was from a company set up by Stanford.
Ali Fazel, one of Stanford's attorneys, tried to suggest to jurors that both Mejia and Chambliess, who was also fired, were not experts in the complexities of the financier's various businesses and were not qualified to assess if there was any wrongdoing.
"You're just guessing? You're just speculating?" Your entire testimony is speculation," Fazel told Mejia.
Testimony resumes Thursday in Stanford's trial, which will likely last at least six weeks.
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New York ? Reporter Ryan Lizza is out with a "monster" 11,000-word investigation into hundreds of pages of secret White House memos. A look at the highlights
When Barack Obama entered the White House in 2009, he really believed that bipartisanship was viable in Washington, that he could overcome 40 years of increasingly bitter division between Republicans and Democrats, and that American politics is played "between the 40-yard lines," says Ryan Lizza in?The New Yorker. Now, Lizza's review of hundreds of previously unreleased internal White House documents details Obama's rude awakening, and how he gave up his audacious hopes of transforming Washington in favor of getting things done as a "post-post-partisan" president. Here, five takeaways from Lizza's "monster" 11,000-word look at "the Obama memos":
1. The stimulus was too small ? by design
Lizza's big score is a December 2008 memo from Larry Summers and Obama's other top economic advisers, says Ezra Klein at?The Washington Post. The 57-page memo (which Lizza posted in full) "contains the economic team's first thoughts on almost everything the White House would go on to do," from the $787 billion stimulus package to health care reform. The memo acknowledged that the economy faced a $2 trillion hole, but suggested a stimulus no larger than $890 billion. That's because the government could only manage "about $225 billion of actual spending on priority investments" in the short term; less-stimulative components like tax cuts and aid to states offered diminishing returns; "an excessive recovery package could spook markets or the public and be counterproductive"; and Obama could ask Congress for more stimulus later if needed. They really got that last bit wrong, and grossly underestimated the depth of the financial crisis, says Derek Thompson at?The Atlantic. But there's still "quite a lot that Summers and his team got right" in their "rich and complicated report."
SEE MORE: Obama's recess appointments: Unconstitutional?
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2. Obama wanted a "moon shot" in the stimulus
After reading Summers' memo, Obama didn't push for a $1 trillion stimulus. But he still wanted something "bold and iconic" in the package, says Lizza: An "inspiring 'moon shot' initiative, such as building a national 'smart grid.'" Obama's economic team shot the idea down, arguing that large initiatives were too expensive and too long-term to jolt the economy. Instead, Obama requested $20 billion for high-speed trains. Two years later after Obama gave up on his "metaphorical moon-shot idea," he agreed to cut his predecessor's NASA Constellation project, designed to return astronauts to the moon, and America's "actual moon-shot program was dead, too."
3. He really, really wanted GOP support for health care reform
When Obama arrived in Washington, his idea of forming a centrist coalition didn't seem far-fetched ? "after all, the pillars of his agenda seemed to enjoy bipartisan support," says Lizza. His health care reform plan, for example, "had been designed and employed by a Republican governor, Mitt Romney." The memos show Obama so gung-ho "to secure Republican cooperation and support" that he backed GOP-favored ideas like tort reform and scrapped good "initiatives like the public option, end-of-life counseling, and a host of other provisions that Republicans found repugnant," says Igor Volsky at?ThinkProgress. He learned too late that Republicans would oppose any idea to keep Obama from scoring a big win.
SEE MORE: It's time for Eric Holder to resign
?
4. The White House pivoted to austerity out of political consideration
By late 2009, after a year of Tea Party agitation and slipping polls, Obama's political team urged him to start talking up a "new era of responsibility." They advised that his upcoming State of the Union address was "an opportune moment to pivot to themes of restraining government spending." After the bank bailout, auto bailout, and stimulus, Obama's political team thought it "better to channel the anti-government winds than to fight them." So Obama froze non-defense federal spending and formed a presidential deficit-reduction commission, "learning the same lesson of many previous occupants of the Oval Office: He didn't have the power that one might think he had," says Lizza.
5. Obama is wary of the right-wing media
The president rejected at least one idea ? paying federal employees to participate in a pilot program to study the most effective health care treatments ? because it "could prove a target for Fox News," says ThinkProgress' Volsky. Obama liked the low-cost, high-reward idea, but was swayed by his political advisers, whose argument was summarized in a memo from Obama's secretary: The plan "is not politically viable," in part because "it could easily be caricatured by the right-wing press." In an almost apologetic memo to the plan's authors, Obama wrote, "Unfortunately I think the political guys are right about how it would be characterized. Let's go back at it in future years, when the temperature on health care and the economy has gone down."
SEE MORE: William Daley's resignation: Will it help Obama?
?
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You may wish to consider the chinchilla as an family pet. They?re with the mouse family, (nevertheless it does not seem like that).
Also referred to as ?chins? they have incredible velvety 1, and so they resemble a chubby rabbit with Donald duck kind hearing. They?re nocturnal, even though they don?t realize upwards and also play a large amount throughout the day. Chins are very intelligent and also playful, and i am told may be trained. They?re also really clear,therefore their own crate area does not often stink as much other kinds of caged creatures can easily.
I received my initial set of chinchillas, because grownups, a proven mating set. These were great sufficient however they in no way actually do connection with us. We all ended up possessing 3 litters overall. They often possess 1-3 infants cardtohave (also known as products), as well as their being pregnant is 111 days (about Four weeks), which can be lengthy pregnancy time period for an dog in which dimensions.
The particular infants are created totally formed, ?ready to be able to go? somehow. Completely furred, face opened, running around. They even consume mature foods almost from evening One, even though they would rather nurse.
Chinchillas consume well prepared chinchilla foods which comes in a pellet kind. In addition they will need One raisin each day (which they Really like!). Each and every couple of days it?s a wise decision to provide them the airborne dirt and dust bath. It is possible to purchase?chinchilla dust? at a pet store. Putting it in a bowl and so they take a look, move and also spice up the bother, and is genuine delight to view. Organization always love to watch ?Ittle bittle? take her bath.
The true joy for us emerged once we held one of many infants, we all later sold mom and dad. She fused effectively with us, the lady has been taken care of so much from creatice start upon. She?s got already been one of the BEST animals That i?ve ever had (of any kind regarding dog). She actually is playful, helpful, in no way attacks, whenever the lady ?barks? its a basic, sweet type of start barking. A great deal of personality and also persona she is.
Chins are more playful kind animals, than a take a seat clapboard kind dog. I would recommend getting a baby if you decide to get a chinchilla. They often run about $100. in the usa to get a family pet, however in which value can differ a lot. Attempt to purchase one from the reliable breeder.
An additional very nice top quality about chins because animals, is that they don?t have any nails or perhaps claws. They have these kinds of tiny gentle pads on the bottom of the feet, so that you avoid getting damaged. My partner and i probably would not advise them with young children however, because young children might easily hurt the chinchilla.
There is a life span of approximately 25-30 years. They actually do gared cars must stay inside, or perhaps local weather kind controlled establishing. Chins are available in a number of
shades but the regular grey shade is easily the most typical, as well as the some other, scarcer shades will cost more typically. Because of their lengthy life span, make sure you?re all ready for that commitment prior to getting one however.
I discovered once i has been marketing the particular infants that many individuals had no idea of the the chinchilla has been, or perhaps had even seen them. In which made it a little difficult to get houses sometimes, but with these kinds of couple of infants,
this wasn?t a problem. Those who do come to buy a face had this One thing in typical: them all had possibly owned the chinchilla formerly, or perhaps had a good friend who do and had existed them.
That basically states some thing about this form of dog to get a family pet.
I would however, should you end up buying the chinchilla, obtain just one and never some. If you have one, they will connection greater for their human owner (you), compared to when you have some. That?s most likely the biggest reasons why the initial set in no way fused a lot to be able to all of us, since they have been therefore strongly fused to themselves.
Source: http://lorencospizzeria.com/?p=2510
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WASHINGTON ? The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that police must get a search warrant before using GPS technology to track criminal suspects.
The decision was a defeat for the government and police agencies, and it raises the possibility of serious complications for law enforcement nationwide, which increasingly relies on high tech surveillance of suspects, including the use of various types of GPS technology.
A GPS device installed by police on Washington, D.C., nightclub owner Antoine Jones' Jeep helped them link him to a suburban house used to stash money and drugs. He was sentenced to life in prison before the appeals court overturned the conviction.
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia said that the government's installation of a GPS device, and its use to monitor the vehicle's movements, constitutes a search, meaning that a warrant is required.
"By attaching the device to the Jeep" that Jones was using, "officers encroached on a protected area," Scalia wrote. He concluded that the installation of the device on the vehicle without a warrant was a trespass and therefore an illegal search.
All nine justices agreed that the GPS monitoring on the Jeep violated the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable search and seizure, a decision the American Civil Liberties Union said was an "important victory for privacy."
Washington lawyer Andy Pincus called the decision "a landmark ruling in applying the Fourth Amendment's protections to advances in surveillance technology." Pincus has argued 22 cases before the Supreme Court and filed a brief in the current case on behalf of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a civil liberties group with expertise in law, technology, and policy.
The Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, said the court's decision is "a victory for privacy rights and for civil liberties in the digital age." He said the ruling highlights many new privacy threats posed by new technologies. Leahy has introduced legislation to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, a 1986 law that specifies standards for government monitoring of cell phone conversations and Internet communications.
Scalia wrote the main opinion of three in the case. He was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor.
Sotomayor also wrote one of the two concurring opinions that agreed with the outcome in the Jones case for different reasons.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote, in the other concurring opinion, that the trespass was not as important as the suspect's expectation of privacy. Police monitored the Jeep's movements over the course of four weeks after attaching the GPS device.
"The use of longer term GPS monitoring in investigations of most offenses impinges on expectations of privacy," Alito wrote in an opinion joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan. Sotomayor in her concurring opinion specifically said she agreed with Alito on this conclusion.
Alito added, "We need not identify with precision the point at which the tracking of this vehicle became a search, for the line was surely crossed before the four-week mark."
Regarding the issue of duration, Scalia wrote that "we may have to grapple" with those issues in the future, "but there is no reason for rushing forward to resolve them here."
Alito also said the court should address how expectations of privacy affect whether warrants are required for remote surveillance using electronic methods that do not require the police to install equipment, such as GPS tracking of mobile telephones. Alito noted, for example, that more than 322 million cellphones have installed equipment that allows wireless carriers to track the phone's location.
"If long-term monitoring can be accomplished without committing a technical trespass ? suppose for example, that the federal government required or persuaded auto manufacturers to include a GPS tracking device in every car ? the court's theory would provide no protection," Alito said.
Sotomayor agreed. "It may be necessary to reconsider the premise that an individual has no reasonable expectation of privacy in information voluntarily disclosed to their parties," she said.
A federal appeals court in Washington had overturned Jones's drug conspiracy conviction because police did not have a warrant when they installed a GPS device on his vehicle and then tracked his movements for a month. The Supreme Court agreed with the appeals court.
The case is U.S. v. Jones, 10-1259.
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KANO, Nigeria ? People in this north Nigeria city once wore surgical masks to block the dust swirling through its sprawling neighborhoods, but swarming children hawked the masks for pennies apiece Sunday to block the stench of death at a hospital overflowing with the dead following a coordinated attack by a radical Islamist sect.
The Nigerian Red Cross now estimates more than 150 people died in Friday's attack in Kano, which saw at least two suicide bombers from the sect known as Boko Haram detonate explosive-laden cars. The scope of the attack, apparently planned to free sect members held by authorities here, left even President Goodluck Jonathan speechless as he toured what remained of a regional police headquarters Sunday.
"The federal government will not rest until we arrest the perpetrators of this act," Jonathan said earlier. "They are not spirits, they are not ghosts."
However, unrest continued across Nigeria as unknown assailants in the northern state of Bauchi killed at least 11 people overnight Saturday in attacks that saw at least two churches bombed, a sign how far insecurity has penetrated Africa's most populous nation.
Friday's attacks by Boko Haram hit police stations, immigration offices and the local headquarters of Nigeria's secret police in Kano, a city of more than 9 million people that remains an important political and religious center in the country's Muslim north. The assault left corpses lying in the streets across the city, many wearing police or other security agency uniforms.
On Sunday, soldiers wearing bulky bulletproof vests stood guard at intersections and roundabouts, with bayoneted Kalashnikov rifles at the ready. Some made those disobeying traffic directions do sit-ups or in one case, repeatedly raise a bicycle over their head.
Signs of the carnage still remained. Police officers wearing surgical masks escorted a corpse wrapped in a white burial shroud out of Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital, the city's biggest. Hospital officials there declined to comment Sunday, but the smell of the overflowing mortuary hung in the air.
An internal Red Cross report seen Sunday by an Associated Press reporter said that hospital alone has accepted more than 150 dead bodies from the attacks. That death toll could rise further as officials continue to collect bodies.
At least four foreigners were wounded in the attack, the report showed. Among the dead was Indian citizen Kevalkumar Rajput, 23, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
Jonathan arrived to the city late Sunday afternoon, traveling quickly by a motorcade to meet with the state governor and the Emir of Kano, an important Islamic figure in the country. His motorcade later rushed to what used to be the regional command headquarters for the Nigeria police, with an armed personnel carrier trailing behind, a soldier manning the heavy machine gun atop it.
The Christian president, wearing a Muslim prayer cap and a black kaftan, looked stunned as he stood near where the suicide car bomber detonated his explosives. Officers there said guards on duty shot the tires of the speeding car, forcing it to stop before it reached the lobby of the headquarters.
However, it didn't matter in the end as the powerful explosives in the car shredded the cement building, tore away its roof and blew out its windows. Blood stained the yellow paint near a second-story window, just underneath a 10-foot-tall tree uprooted and tossed atop the building by the blast.
"Whether you are a policeman or not a policeman, when you see this kind of thing, definitely you'll be worried," said Aminu Ringim, a senior police officer. "You'll be touched."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the multiple attacks Sunday.
"The secretary-general is appalled at the frequency and intensity of recent attacks in Nigeria, which demonstrate a wanton and unacceptable disregard for human life," a statement from his office read. He also expressed "his hope for swift and transparent investigations into these incidents that lead to bringing the perpetrators to justice."
A Boko Haram spokesman using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa claimed responsibility for the attacks in a message to journalists Friday. He said the attack came because the state government refused to release Boko Haram members held by the police.
The coordinated attack in Kano represents Boko Haram's deadliest assault since beginning a campaign of terror last year that saw a suicide bomber strike the United Nations headquarters in Abuja and at least 510 people killed by the sect, according to an AP count. So far this year, the group has been blamed for 226 killings, according to an AP count.
Nigeria's weak central government repeatedly has been unable to stop attacks by Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north. The group has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law and avenge the deaths of Muslims in communal violence across Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people split largely into a Christian south and Muslim north.
While the sect has begun targeting Christian living in the north, the majority of those killed Friday appeared to be Muslim, officials have said.
Violence continued Sunday in Nigeria's north. In Bauchi state, local police commissioner Ikechukwu Aduba said at least 11 people were killed in assaults there that also saw two churches attacked.
It was unclear what started the violence, though communal violence remains occurs between the area's different ethnic groups. Bauchi, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) from Kano, is also a region where Boko Haram has staged attacks before.
___
Shehu Saulawa in Bauchi, Nigeria; Salisu Rabiu in Kano, Nigeria and Carley Petesch in Johannesburg contributed to this report.
___
Jon Gambrell can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
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After a bruising year and growing calls for their resignation, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, the co-chief executives and co-chairmen of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, announced Sunday they were stepping down from their posts and would be replaced by a new CEO, RIM veteran Thorsten Heins, on Monday.
Lazaridis founded RIM in 1985 and, together with Balsillie, oversaw its growth into a multibillion-dollar company in Waterloo, Ontario, that claimed $20 billion in sales last year and, in the early part of this decade, helped pioneer a new class of devices that was at the forefront of the smartphone revolution. RIM's BlackBerry smartphones, which preceded the iPhone by four years, helped make on-the-go email and Web access the rule not the exception among executives. The signature device proved so addictive it earned its own nickname, the CrackBerry.
Yet the company's fortunes have declined steadily in recent years in the face of an onslaught from competing devices such as Apple's iPhone, and Google's Android software, which now powers more than 250 million devices worldwide.
And 2011 was a particularly bruising year for the BlackBerry maker. Last year, Balsillie and Lazardis oversaw a 75 percent drop in the company's stock price. The company's share of the U.S. smartphone market declined by nearly half from January to November 2011, from 30.4 percent to 16.6 percent. Over the same period, Android's share jumped from 31.2 to 46.9 percent. RIM also suffered crippling network outages that left millions around the world without messaging services for days. And the company's attempt at a rival to the iPad, the BlackBerry Playbook, was a disappointment for the company, a flop that it has been forced to offer at steep discounts.
But RIM's new CEO, a four-year veteran of the company, may not provide the breath of fresh air the company needs.
Heins, 54, has worked at RIM since 2007 and most recently served as one of the company's chief operating officers, overseeing the company's hardware, software and sales. The New York Times noted that Heins "pledged during an interview on Sunday to follow the strategy Mr. Balsillie and Mr. Lazaridis set in place" -- a strategy that has so far yielded a series of losses and damaging delays for the company. Before joining RIM, Heins spent more than two decades at Munich-based Siemens, where he rose through the ranks to become chief technology officer.
Balsillie and Lazaridis will stay on the sidelines of the company, with Lazaridis assuming the role of vice chairman and head of the board's newly created innovation committee. Balsillie will not have an operational role, but will remain as a member of RIM's board. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Lazaridis said Sunday that he would provide counsel to Heins and work closely with the new CEO, news that will no doubt cause worry to some investors.
Last June during an earnings call, Balsillie and Lazardis congratulated each other on their performance as co-CEOs, suggesting that, despite criticism from investors, they planned to stick it out in their roles.
"Jim and I have the perfect balance to make the hard decisions," Lazaridis said, according to All Things D.
Their optimism did little to reassure investors, however, and in December, RIM shareholder Jaguar Financial Corp. issued a press release calling for a "substantial corporate governance change and for a sale of RIM."
"At this point we believe investors have lost faith in the ability of the RIM management team to carry out a proper game plan to restore value. Unless the independent directors push to replace management or change RIM's strategic focus, Jaguar believes that the road map to value restoration lies in a sale of RIM whether as a whole or in separate parts," Jaguar chairman and CEO Vic Alboini said in the release.
Balsillie and Lazardis claimed on Sunday in a group interview with reporters that the leadership change had been part of a succession plan formulated the previous year.
"There comes a time in the growth of every successful company when the founders recognize the need to pass the baton to new leadership. Jim and I went to the board and told them that we thought that time was now," Lazaridis said, according to Reuters.
Heins now faces the challenge of ensuring that RIM's next great white hope -- the forthcoming BlackBerry 10 operating system that is to power new smartphones and tablets -- helps usher in the turnaround RIM so desperately needs. Already, the production of BlackBerry 10 has experienced delays. Lazaridis acknowledged in December the first BlackBerry 10 smartphones would not be released until the second half of 2012, which gives rivals plenty of leeway to prep the competition.
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Protesters chant slogans at a rally honoring those killed in clashes with security forces in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, nearly a year after the 18-day uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Activists are now trying to energize the public to demand that the ruling military step down. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Protesters chant slogans at a rally honoring those killed in clashes with security forces in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, nearly a year after the 18-day uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Activists are now trying to energize the public to demand that the ruling military step down. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Protesters seen through the Syrian national flag chant slogans during an anti-regime protest in front of the Syrian embassy in Amman, Jordan, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)
CAIRO (AP) ? The United States and other Western governments must accept the new reality that Islamists have emerged to fill the power vacuum in the Arab world after a wave of popular uprisings, Human Rights Watch said in its annual report Sunday.
The New York-based group also urged Islamist parties, which have emerged as the biggest winners in recent elections in Tunisia and Egypt and are expected to fare well in Libya, to respect the rights of women and religious minorities, saying they cannot "pick and choose" when it comes to human rights.
Islamist parties are "genuinely popular" in the Arab world, said HRW's executive director, Kenneth Roth, warning that "ignoring that popularity would violate democratic principles."
"Being a political Islamic government should not be a reason to turn a government into a pariah," Roth told reporters in Cairo, where the group released its annual report.
The Arab Spring revolts began in Tunisia in late 2010 and quickly spread to Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain, deposing or challenging authoritarian rulers as citizens who long seemed incapable or unwilling to rise against decades of repression took to the streets in a stunning awakening.
Since the collapse of the regimes in Egypt and Tunisia a year ago, Islamist groups once largely confined to the political sidelines, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, have formed parties and contested parliamentary polls, winning the greatest share of seats.
Even the ultraconservative Salafis, who abstained from politics under Egypt's ousted President Hosni Mubarak, have fared well, winning more than 20 percent of the vote in the country's first post-uprising ballot.
Roth was cautious when asked about concerns about potential human rights violations under Islamist rule. He said that so far, Islamists have said "a lot of right things," but said the true test will be how they deal with the full sweep of human rights once in power.
"These are the big questions," he said.
The Muslim Brotherhood, for example, has been most interested in political freedoms, but Roth noted that "it is very difficult to secure political freedom if you are not respecting religious and women rights."
In some ways, the unexpected Arab uprisings have amounted to a slap to the United States and other Western governments, which had supported autocratic regimes that served as bulwarks against Islamists hostile to the West and appeared to offer stability in a volatile region.
"The West backed an array of autocrats as long as they, in turn, supported Western interests," Roth said. "The West is still adjusting to this historic transformation."
He added that the wave of uprisings "show that the forced silence of people living under autocrats should never have been mistaken for popular complacency."
Roth acknowledged Western governments were re-evaluating their policies as new governments emerge in the region.
Western nations have been accused of being selective in supporting the protesters, with NATO airstrikes proving key to the ouster of slain Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi. Meanwhile, the West has stood largely on the sidelines amid continued crackdowns in Bahrain, Yemen and Syria.
"The people driving the Arab Spring deserve strong international support to realize their rights and to build genuine democracies," Roth said in the group's annual report, which covers some 90 countries. He added that the Arab world is in a "transformative moment," and it will not be an easy one.
Human Rights Watch pointed to five main issues that dominated the relationship between Western governments and their Arab autocratic friends: the threat of political Islam, the fight against terrorism, support for Israel, protection of the oil flow and cooperation in stemming immigration.
Even after the leaders of Egypt, Libya and Tunisia were toppled, Western governments remained hesitant to lean too hard on other shaky authoritarian leaders, the group said. China and Russia acted "obstructionist," using their veto power at the U.N. security council to halt pressure on Syria to stop killings of protesters.
The popular uprisings also have alarmed other repressive regimes such as China, Zimbabwe, North Korea, Ethiopia, Vietnam, and Uzbekistan, where rulers were worried about facing similar fates.
"The worst response to the Arab Spring is the dictatorial world who are living in fear of the precedents set in this region," Roth said. "China greatly deepened its repression in an effort to avoid jasmine rallies."
Saudi Arabia also continues to discriminate against its citizens and workers, according to HRW, which said 9 million women, 8 million foreign workers and 2 million Shiite citizens are either suppressed or lacking rights in the country.
Outside the Arab world, the last year did not witness significant progress in countries with poor human rights records, including China and North Korea, according to the report.
Corruption, poverty and repression still prevail in Equatorial Guinea, the tiny, oil-rich nation off the western coast of Africa, which has been ruled by Africa's longest-serving ruler, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the group said.
Eritrea continues to be governed by "one of the world's most repressive governments," and its citizens are subjected to torture, detentions and restrictions on freedom of speech, HRW said.
It also cited Colombia, saying armed conflict in the South American country has displaced millions while paramilitary groups with ties to the security apparatus are on the rise.
Cuba, HRW said, remains "the only country in Latin America that represses virtually all forms of political dissent."
The group also claimed that even member states of the European Union have violated human rights through restrictive asylum and migration policies.
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TV host Stephen Colbert and former GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain hold a rally in Charleston, S.C.
By Denise Hazlick
Late-night comedian Stephen Colbert brought his "exploratory committee" to South Carolina's College of Charleston?on Friday and teamed up with?former presidential candidate Herman Cain?-- and perhaps more importantly, with?Cain's bus.
Colbert announced on "The Colbert Report" on Jan. 12 that he was?laying the groundwork for his possible candidacy for "president of the United States of South Carolina."?One problem -- South Carolina does not allow for write-in candidates on its primary ballots. So in order to pursue his satirical campaign, he needed help. Enter Cain.
While no longer in the race for president, Cain is?still on the South Carolina ballot. In a series of ads produced by the Super PAC Colbert used to run, but which now, for legal reasons, is being controlled by friend and fellow political satirist Jon Stewart, Colbert called on South Carolina voters to vote for Cain as a proxy for himself.
?Mr. Colbert could not get on the ballot. I could not get off the ballot. That?s how this came about," Cain?said Friday.?"And Mr. Colbert mentioned that there was one thing that I had that he did not have, which is a bus with my face on it. But there?s another thing that I have that Mr. Colbert does not have. ... He does not have my complexion perfection. .. That was a joke, y?all."
So why did Cain become?Colbert's?willing foil??In order to help Americans "lighten up," and also to further his campaign mission to "take back America." During Friday's rally, he invited the crowd of 3,300? to help him continue that drive.
"This event?... helps to bring attention to the crisis of the situation we are in," Cain said.?"Every vote counts. Now Stephen Colbert asks you to vote for Herman Cain. I?m going to ask you not to vote for Herman Cain. I don?t want you to waste your vote. ... Because every vote counts and you count, which has been my message."
And why did some of the crowd turn out?
Drew Katchen / msnbc.com
A Stephen Colbert fan shows her support during the comedian's rally in Charleston, S.C., on Friday.
?I thought it would be interesting to come," said Adam Harris of Charlotte, N.C.,?"The way they?re doing the whole Super PAC thing, it?s just amazing how they?re shedding light on how it all works.?
?I just wanted to see what was going on," said Dale Erickson of Charleston, who identified himself as a fan of Colbert's, but?not of the Republican Party.
?My mom told me to skip class for the rally,? said Caroline Reppe, 19, a College of Charleston student.
Colbert has used his "presidential" run as part of his continuing comedic attacks on campaign finance, and Super PACs in particular.?Saturday's South Carolina primary falls on the second anniversary of the Supreme Court's?Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission decision, which removed the limit on how much?corporations and unions?could give to campaigns,?which?has in turned powered the rise of?PACs. Colbert didn't miss the?opportunity to make the connection.
"Now some of you might be too young to remember, but years ago, back in 2010, there were still limits on how much corporations could spend on elections," Colbert said. "... And faced with this tragic lack of corporate influence in our government, two years ago, five courageous, unelected justices on the Supreme Court took a stand. ? They ruled, since corporations are people, and people have the right to free speech, and money equals speech, corporations have the constitutional right to spend unlimited money on political speech.
"With the stroke of a gavel, these brave men leveled the playing field, and then sold the naming rights to that playing field to Bank of America.
"But these wise men know there had to be some reasonable restrictions, to protect all that innocent money from the corrupting influence of politicians. So they declared that unlimited corporate and union and billionaire bucks had to be completely independent of the campaigns, and so Super PACs were born unto us," Colbert said.
He went on to explain how he had?his own Super PAC -- and read a legal disclaimer reminding all that his former Super PAC had nothing to do with Friday's rally.
"Giving up that Super PAC was not easy," he said. "It was like giving up my baby. Do you know who hard that is? Now imagine that baby had a whole lot of money."
Colbert has been criticized by some?for using the primary as the backdrop for a running joke on his show. He addressed that criticism during Friday's rally.
"If they are calling being allowed to form a Super PAC, and collecting unlimited and untraceable amounts of money from individuals, unions, and corporations and spend that money on political ads and for personal enrichment, and then surrender that Super PAC to one of my closest friends while I explore a run for office, if that is a joke, then they are saying that our entire campaign finance system is a joke. And I don't know about you, but I have been paid to be offended by that.
"We fought a great Civil War to ensure that all people are people. Like Abraham Lincoln said at Gettysburg -- give me some money."
Colbert said a vote for Herman Cain would ensure that rights of corporations, and would serve as a thank you to the Supreme Court on the Citizens United anniversary.
As for what the voters of South Carolina will do? We'll find out tomorrow.
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People shovel snow off a sidewalk in The Heights section of Jersey City, N.J., Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. An overnight storm blanketed Jersey City with snow for the first time this winter. The previous snow accumulation happened during the rare snowfall on Oct. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
People shovel snow off a sidewalk in The Heights section of Jersey City, N.J., Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. An overnight storm blanketed Jersey City with snow for the first time this winter. The previous snow accumulation happened during the rare snowfall on Oct. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
A man walks on a snow covered sidewalk in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. A weekend snowstorm is blanketing the Northeast, creating treacherous travel conditions and some delays at airports. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
A JetBlue plane is deiced, as seen through the window of the plane at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in New York. A weekend snowstorm is blanketing the Northeast, creating treacherous travel conditions and some delays at airports. (AP Photo/Aaron Jackson)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? A weekend storm blanketed the Northeast with a few inches of snow Saturday, just the second significant snowfall of the season for many in the region, including Philadelphia and New York City.
The National Weather Service predicted 4 to 6 inches in New York City before the snow stops in the afternoon. Early Saturday morning flurries and freezing rain showers were expected for the Washington area. Philadelphia is under a winter weather advisory and could receive up to 4 inches of snow.
Up to 7 inches was predicted for southeastern Massachusetts, not much by the standards of a New England winter but noteworthy in a season marked by a lack of snow throughout the Northeast, aside from a rare October snowstorm that knocked out power to nearly 3 million homes and businesses in the region.
"We've been very lucky, so we can't complain," said Gloria Fernandez of New York City, as she shoveled the sidewalk outside her workplace. "It's nice, it's fluffy and it's on the weekend," she said of the snow.
Road conditions were fair Saturday morning, officials said. Crews in Pennsylvania and New Jersey began salting roads around midnight and plowing soon after. By midmorning, the snow had turned to sleet in Philadelphia north through central New Jersey.
"It's a fairly moderate snowstorm, at best," said weather service forecaster Bruce Sullivan.
Few accidents were reported on the roads, helped by the weekend's lack of rush hour traffic, but New Jersey transportation spokesman Joe Dee cautioned drivers to build in more time for trips. Though temperatures will warm up this afternoon he said, forecasters expect the wet ground to freeze again overnight.
Flights arriving at Philadelphia Airport were delayed up to two hours because of snow and ice accumulation, but most departing flights were leaving on time, a spokeswoman said.
New York City had 1,500 snow plows at the ready, each equipped with global positioning systems that will allow supervisors to see their approximate location on command maps updated every 30 seconds, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a morning news conference.
The equipment was installed last year following a disaster of a storm that struck the day after Christmas of 2010, when even the city's plows were stuck and stranded in drifts, and streets remained impassable for days. Bloomberg said the GPS system has already led to "vastly improved communication" between supervisors and plow operators.
In Connecticut, where the October storm had its biggest impact and some were without power for more than a week, about 6 inches of snow was forecast. State police had responded to dozens of accidents by midmorning but said none appeared to be serious.
As always, some welcomed the snow.
Enough accumulated through the week for snowmobiling and ice fishing in New Hampshire, where cross-country ski trails and snowshoeing were open at Bretton Woods and other trails.
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Tonight at 8/7 CT, the squared circle will once again take the entertainment capital of the world by storm, as WWE presents ?Sin City SmackDown? from Las Vegas! (FULL SMACKDOWN COVERAGE)
Whenever WWE passes through Vegas, things always end up taking a turn for the unusual. In the advent of Raw Roulette in 2002, then-General Manager Eric Bischoff placed a variety of match stipulations on a roulette wheel, spinning it to decide the fate of each match that night. Superstars quickly found themselves at the cruel mercy of the wheel, whether they were made to compete in?brutal matches like Tables, Ladders and Chairs or something much stranger. (RAW ROULETTE PHOTOS)
Take William Regal, for example. In the same Raw Roulette event, The English Superstar pleaded with Bischoff to skip the spin of the wheel and let him just have a normal match?against Goldust. The General Manager would not bend, spinning the wheel to determine the fate of the two opponents. When it landed on ?Vegas Showgirl Match,? Bischoff, with a wry smile, explained that the competitors would be doing battle in gaudy showgirl outfits.
While The Bizarre One reveled in the opportunity to put a few extra feathers on, Regal tried mightily to avoid the embarrassment. Security had to drag the British Superstar into the arena, where he struggled to walk down the ramp in ruby-red heels while adjusting his sparkling bra as the Las Vegas crowd laughed.
Not even The Game was safe from the wheel. On that same night in Vegas, then-World Heavyweight Champion Triple H was forced to face D?Lo Brown in a Blindfold Match, something only seen a handful of times throughout WWE history. The Cerebral Assassin lived up to his nickname that night, outsmarting his opponent ? with an assist from Ric Flair that allowed him to lift his blindfold and claim victory.
Nearly nine years later, the Raw Roulette wheel would still be wreaking havoc in Vegas. It provided a favorable position for Kofi Kingston, giving The Dreadlocked Dynamo a ?Player?s Choice? of stipulations for his match against Dolph Ziggler. The high flyer chose to ban Vickie Guerrero from ringside, evening the odds and helping Kingston gain a victory over his rival in Sin City.
Still, the most infamous moment in Raw Roulette would have nothing to do with the spin of a wheel. CM Punk had promised that he would be doing something major as the expiration of his WWE contract approached. The Straight Edge Superstar lived up to that promise on this night. After costing WWE Champion John Cena his Tables Match against R-Truth during the main event of Raw Roulette 2011, Punk grabbed a microphone.
The Second City Saint then marched to the top of the stage, sat down, crossed his legs and went on a tirade, targeting WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon, COO Triple H and the WWE Universe. The shockwaves of Punk?s rant are still being felt to this day and have brought the Chicago native two WWE Championship reigns. 
If Raw Roulette is any indication of what can happen when the WWE comes to Las Vegas, then expect the unexpected this Friday night. There?s already two major contests set to take place. Daniel Bryan will defend his World Heavyweight Championship against Mark Henry and Wade Barrett will try to tame the wild temper of The Great White, Sheamus.
Anything can happen in WWE, and that seems to be especially true in Las Vegas. Tune in to see what weird, wild and exciting things will take place on ?Sin City SmackDown,? tonight at 8/7C on SyFy.
Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/2012-01-13/what-happens-to-wwe-in-vegas
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WASHINGTON ? Comedian Stephen Colbert says that just because his name won't appear on Saturday's ballot in South Carolina's Republican primary doesn't mean he couldn't become president, or even pope, someday.
In an oftentimes awkward, meandering interview on Sunday, Colbert told ABC's "This Week" that he established a presidential exploratory committee last week that consists of "someone who is good with explosives," a mountain climber and a brain in a jar. He likened himself to a "one-man Louis and Clark" expedition looking for his Sacagawea.
Colbert said if his quest for presidency doesn't work out, he would be willing to throw his weight behind one of the other candidates. He said: "All they have to do is come kiss my ring like they did Donald Trump's."
Colbert grew up in South Carolina.
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Altec Lansing Live 5000 WiFi music system makes its debut, plays nice with Android and iOS (ears-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Jan 2012 11:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Nicole Kidman takes on the role of gender groundbreaking real-life war correspondent Martha Gellhorn in the upcoming HBO film ?Hemingway and Gellhorn,? but she has no interest in ever having a movie made about her own life.
?No, please no,? she said on Friday during HBO?s portion of the Television Critics Association Winter Session, when asked how she?d feel about having her own life chronicled by a film in 50 years? time.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Nicole Kidman & Keith Urban: Hollywood & Country Music Power Couple!
Kidman said she prefers to keep her life private so she can get into character better.
?Part of the reason of being an actor is you like playing other people?s lives and exploring all the psychologies in that and the emotions,? the actress, who stars opposite Clive Owen (Ernest Hemingway) in the historically based film about the famed writers? relationship, added. ?I think having my life be as private and quiet as possible is a way in which then I can go and play characters. I like the privacy of my life and I protect it quite vigilantly.?
VIEW THE PHOTOS: They Dated? Surprising Former Couples!
In ?Hemingway and Gellhorn,? which premieres in May on HBO, Owen said taking on the bigger than life personalities of two people, whose relationship spanned the 30s and 40s, and crossed through various global conflicts and wars, was an immense task.
?When I took this on, it was a huge challenge,? Owen said, noting he took off a lot of time before shooting began to ?immerse? himself into preparing to play the iconic writer, whose works included ?The Sun Also Rises? and ?The Old Man and the Sea.?
Kidman said she was able to dig into the meat of Gellhorn as a true ?trailblazer.?
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Clive Owen
?She was the first female, really, war correspondent ... and she wrote with such direct truth ... and that is so hard to do," Kidman said. ?She?s not Hemingway, she doesn?t want to write novels, she wants to be a correspondent and I love that she was the first woman to do that ... She was a trailblazer.?
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Nicole Kidman - From The Outback To The Oscars!
Copyright 2012 by NBC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45991672/ns/today-entertainment/
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BANGKOK ? Asian stock markets rose Friday, driven higher by a successful bond issue in Europe that eased worries over the continent's sovereign debt crisis.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index gained 1 percent to 8,471.55 and South Korea's Kospi index added 0.6 percent at 1,875.68. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.4 percent to 19,163.56 and Australia's S&P ASX 200 was 0.3 percent higher at 4,194.40.
Raw materials and industrial companies posted solid gains, following their U.S. counterparts higher. Japanese heavy equipment maker Komatsu Ltd. jumped 3.8 percent and Hitachi Construction Machinery gained 3.4 percent.
Energy Resources of Australia soared 7.2 percent and Paladin Energy Ltd., an Australian uranium miner, gained 3.4 percent.
On Wall Street, stocks ended higher after oil prices dropped below $100 per barrel for the first time this year. Oil fell on rumors that Europe will delay an embargo on Iran. Crude plunged $2 a barrel in just eight minutes, ending at $99.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.2 percent to end at 12,471.02. The S&P 500 finished up 0.2 percent at 1,295.50. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.5 percent to 2,724.70.
Strong bond auctions in Italy and Spain also pushed stocks higher. Italy was able to sell one-year bonds at a rate of just 2.735 percent, less than half the 5.95 percent rate it had to pay last month. Spain was able to raise double the amount of money it had sought to raise in its own bond sale as demand for its debt was strong.
Investors have been worried that Italy and Spain might get dragged into the region's debt crisis. Greece, Ireland and Portugal have been forced to get relief from their lenders after their borrowing costs spiked to levels the countries could no longer afford.
Benchmark oil for February delivery rose 24 cents to $99.34 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract tumbled $2 to finish at $99.10 per barrel in New York on Thursday.
In currency trading, the euro fell to $1.2822 from $1.2827 late Thursday in New York. The euro hit a 16-month low of $1.2661 on Wednesday after Germany predicted that its economy shrank in the last three months of last year.
The dollar rose to 76.80 yen from 76.76 yen.
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