FILE - In this Aug. 30, 2012 file photo, a man demonstrates the new Samsung Galaxy Note II smart phone during a media preview at the Samsung stand at the IFA consumer electric fair in Berlin. Corning Inc., maker of the Gorilla Glass featured on many mobile devices, including the Galaxy Note II, on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 announced a tie-up with a Samsung Electronics subsidiary that will boost the glass maker's earnings immediately and guarantees that it will supply Samsung with liquid crystal display glass through 2023. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 30, 2012 file photo, a man demonstrates the new Samsung Galaxy Note II smart phone during a media preview at the Samsung stand at the IFA consumer electric fair in Berlin. Corning Inc., maker of the Gorilla Glass featured on many mobile devices, including the Galaxy Note II, on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 announced a tie-up with a Samsung Electronics subsidiary that will boost the glass maker's earnings immediately and guarantees that it will supply Samsung with liquid crystal display glass through 2023. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
CORNING, N.Y. (AP) — Shares of Corning Inc. jumped Tuesday after it announced a new tie-up with a Samsung Electronics subsidiary that will boost the glass maker's earnings immediately and guarantees that it will supply Samsung with liquid crystal display glass through 2023.
Corning, the maker of Gorilla Glass screens for smartphones and tablets, will acquire the South Korean company's 43 percent stake in Samsung Corning Precision Materials, an LCD glass joint venture in Korea, and will buy out other minority shareholders.
The joint venture makes glass substrates, the key material in high-end LCD televisions, monitors and mobile devices.
In exchange for giving up its stake in the venture, Samsung Display will receive $1.9 billion worth of Corning preferred shares. It will also invest another $400 million in preferred shares of Corning. If converted, the shares would give Samsung Display a 7.4 percent stake in Corning. They are not convertible for seven years.
The transactions are expected to close in the first quarter of 2014.
Corning said its board had also approved buying back $2 billion worth of its shares, which it expects will cover the dilutive effect of issuing preferred shares to Samsung Display.
Taking over the venture gives Corning immediate access to $1.2 billion in cash on the joint venture's balance sheet. The company believes it will add $2 billion in annual sales and 20 percent to earnings, excluding one-time items, in 2014 and 2015.
Part of the benefit comes from the share buyback as well as $100 million in expected cost savings in 2015.
Shares of the Corning, N.Y.-based company rose 25 percent to $19.24 in after-hours trading.
Corning also said Tuesday that it expects to earn 33 cents per share in the third quarter, excluding one-time items. That beats Wall Street's prediction by a penny. It also said revenue rose 5 percent to $2.1 billion, in line with analysts' expectations. The company will release full results for the July-September quarter on Oct. 30.
CU awarded $48.4 million from NIH to advance translational research from bench to bedside
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
22-Oct-2013
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Contact: Jackie Brinkman jackie.brinkman@ucdenver.edu 303-724-1525 University of Colorado Denver
AURORA, Colo. (Oct. 22, 2013) Research has found that what is most important to an aging senior citizen is independence. A collaborative study through the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) and the Center for African American Health is working with African American women to discuss the importance of walking. Yes, the simple act of walking allows seniors to keep their independence, keep their balance, keep them in their homes and keep them healthy.
This is one of many programs that the CCTSI is helping to fund. And that funding just got a big addition.
CCTSI has received a $48.4 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue to accelerate the translation of research discoveries into improved patient care and public health. CU is just one of 15 institutions in the U.S. selected this month to receive an NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award, or CTSA.
"This award allows us to continue seamless and safe translation of biomedical research. The clinical discoveries that are made will help improve human health," said Richard Traystman, PhD, vice chancellor of research.
"The CCTSI has made great strides and we fully support the work facilitated by both clinical and research scientists which ultimately impact the lives of our community," said Richard D. Krugman, MD, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine.
The CCTSI is a collaborative enterprise between the University of Colorado Denver|Anschutz Medical Campus, CU Boulder, Colorado State University and six major hospitals. These hospitals are: University of Colorado Hospital, Children's Hospital Colorado, Denver Health, National Jewish Health, Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Kaiser Permanente of Colorado. CCTSI also includes health care organizations and local communities, both rural and inner city.
"We appreciate the NIH's continued support and commitment to our Institute. This award allows us to be a continuous voice in the broader discussion of improving health while reducing costs," said Ronald J. Sokol, MD, principal investigator and CCTSI director.
Some of the goals of the CCTSI are to:
Expand the statewide academic home for clinical and translational research.
Implement new clinical research management strategies to improve quality, safety, efficiency, cost-effectiveness and innovative team science as well as introduce new software systems and workflows.
Centralize the delivery of resources, services and technologies.
Incorporate key concepts of community engagement into the full spectrum of translational research.
Increase the translational research workforce capacity through a broad curriculum of education, training and career development opportunities.
A rigorous tracking, assessment and evaluation program with a formal quality and process improvement component will ensure the best use of resources while protecting the safety of research study participants. These programs are centralized at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus.
The NIH started the CTSA program in 2006 as a research vehicle in the health care reform movement to provide higher quality and more affordable health care. CU received its first round of CTSA funding in 2008.
Since 2008, the CCTSI has
Established new infrastructure and improved resources and services for investigators
Tripled the number of training and education programs supporting the lifespan of an investigational career;
Administratively centralized and expanded the breadth of clinical research capacity and expertise;
Established system-wide informatics capabilities
Promoted team science and encouraged interdisciplinary research through pilot grant programs and technology cores;
Established an extensive community engagement program, from small towns to the inner city, from professors to farmers.
Streamlined processes and reduced the regulatory burden for investigators
Created an academic home for clinical and translational scientists and trainees.
Eventually, though innovative research and dissemination, CCTSI should help improve the health care of all of Colorado's more than 4 million residents and the 1,300 physician practices and 300 hospitals that serve them.
###
A recognized national leader in health care and life sciences, the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus provides 21st century education, collaboration and research opportunities to more than 3,900 students across six schools and colleges, receives over $400 million in annual research awards, and contributes to invaluable research and innovation that fuels Colorado's economy. Learn more at ucdenver.edu/anschutz.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
CU awarded $48.4 million from NIH to advance translational research from bench to bedside
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
22-Oct-2013
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Contact: Jackie Brinkman jackie.brinkman@ucdenver.edu 303-724-1525 University of Colorado Denver
AURORA, Colo. (Oct. 22, 2013) Research has found that what is most important to an aging senior citizen is independence. A collaborative study through the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) and the Center for African American Health is working with African American women to discuss the importance of walking. Yes, the simple act of walking allows seniors to keep their independence, keep their balance, keep them in their homes and keep them healthy.
This is one of many programs that the CCTSI is helping to fund. And that funding just got a big addition.
CCTSI has received a $48.4 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue to accelerate the translation of research discoveries into improved patient care and public health. CU is just one of 15 institutions in the U.S. selected this month to receive an NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award, or CTSA.
"This award allows us to continue seamless and safe translation of biomedical research. The clinical discoveries that are made will help improve human health," said Richard Traystman, PhD, vice chancellor of research.
"The CCTSI has made great strides and we fully support the work facilitated by both clinical and research scientists which ultimately impact the lives of our community," said Richard D. Krugman, MD, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine.
The CCTSI is a collaborative enterprise between the University of Colorado Denver|Anschutz Medical Campus, CU Boulder, Colorado State University and six major hospitals. These hospitals are: University of Colorado Hospital, Children's Hospital Colorado, Denver Health, National Jewish Health, Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Kaiser Permanente of Colorado. CCTSI also includes health care organizations and local communities, both rural and inner city.
"We appreciate the NIH's continued support and commitment to our Institute. This award allows us to be a continuous voice in the broader discussion of improving health while reducing costs," said Ronald J. Sokol, MD, principal investigator and CCTSI director.
Some of the goals of the CCTSI are to:
Expand the statewide academic home for clinical and translational research.
Implement new clinical research management strategies to improve quality, safety, efficiency, cost-effectiveness and innovative team science as well as introduce new software systems and workflows.
Centralize the delivery of resources, services and technologies.
Incorporate key concepts of community engagement into the full spectrum of translational research.
Increase the translational research workforce capacity through a broad curriculum of education, training and career development opportunities.
A rigorous tracking, assessment and evaluation program with a formal quality and process improvement component will ensure the best use of resources while protecting the safety of research study participants. These programs are centralized at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus.
The NIH started the CTSA program in 2006 as a research vehicle in the health care reform movement to provide higher quality and more affordable health care. CU received its first round of CTSA funding in 2008.
Since 2008, the CCTSI has
Established new infrastructure and improved resources and services for investigators
Tripled the number of training and education programs supporting the lifespan of an investigational career;
Administratively centralized and expanded the breadth of clinical research capacity and expertise;
Established system-wide informatics capabilities
Promoted team science and encouraged interdisciplinary research through pilot grant programs and technology cores;
Established an extensive community engagement program, from small towns to the inner city, from professors to farmers.
Streamlined processes and reduced the regulatory burden for investigators
Created an academic home for clinical and translational scientists and trainees.
Eventually, though innovative research and dissemination, CCTSI should help improve the health care of all of Colorado's more than 4 million residents and the 1,300 physician practices and 300 hospitals that serve them.
###
A recognized national leader in health care and life sciences, the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus provides 21st century education, collaboration and research opportunities to more than 3,900 students across six schools and colleges, receives over $400 million in annual research awards, and contributes to invaluable research and innovation that fuels Colorado's economy. Learn more at ucdenver.edu/anschutz.
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Share
]
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Zeffy-poo and all his gorgeous, gentlemanly glory hole have done it again!
The last That Awkward Moment clip we thrusted in your face was chock-full of Zac Efron's brilliant bonerz and beautifully bare ass; watching it was pretty much the most glorious two minutes of our life!
This latest trailer isn't quite as fabulously raunchy, but it's still triple HIGHlarious and legitimately safe to view at work!!!
What, with this tough economy and all, we'd hate for you to get fired from the real bank while making a deposit in the spank bank!!!
So, ch-ch-check out the new and improved family friendly trailer (above)!
Yum!!! Even partially clothed, this hot hunk is pretty much the most delicious meal in the Universe!
That Awkward Moment hits theaters January 31, 2014.
Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee says he insinuated that Tiger Woods cheated and gave the world's No. 1 player an "F'' for his five-win season in a column he wrote for Golf.com because "ethics matter more than athletics."
Chamblee saved Woods for last in his report card of 14 players in a column posted last week. He told of getting caught cheating on a math test in the fourth grade, and how the teacher crossed a line through his "100" and gave him an "F."
Chamblee followed that anecdote by writing, "I remember when we only talked about Tiger's golf. I miss those days. He won five times and contended in majors and won the Vardon Trophy and ... how shall we say this ... was a little cavalier with the rules." He then gave Woods a "100" with a line through it, followed by the "F."
Mark Steinberg of Excel Sports Management, the agent for Woods, was so incensed that he released a statement to ESPN.com that accused Chamblee of a desperate attempt to garner attention. In an interview with ESPN.com, Steinberg said he would "have to give some thought to legal action."
Steinberg did not reply to an email from The Associated Press.
No other golfer evokes such a mixture of praise and criticism than Woods, the main attraction of any sport for nearly 20 years. Chamblee's column struck a nerve with many, however, because of the implication that three rules violations and a penalty drop involving Woods amounted to cheating — the strongest accusation possible in golf.
Woods accepted a two-shot penalty in Abu Dhabi for taking relief from an embedded ball in a sandy area covered with vegetation. Augusta National gave him a two-shot penalty for taking the wrong drop in the second round of the Masters. And the PGA Tour gave him a two-shot penalty after his second round of the BMW Championship when video evidence showed that his ball moved slightly from behind the first green.
Also in question — at least on Internet blogs — was the drop Woods took on the 14th hole of the TPC Sawgrass during the final round of The Players Championship. Woods checked with playing partner Casey Wittenberg on where to take the penalty drop, which is standard procedure. Wittenberg said it was the correct spot.
Chamblee never says outright he thinks Woods cheated. That was by design.
"I think 'cavalier with the rules' allows for those with a dubious opinion of the BMW video," Chamblee said Tuesday in an email to the AP. "My teacher in the fourth grade did not have a dubious opinion of how I complete the test. But she was writing to one, and as I was writing to many, I felt it important to allow for the doubt some might have, so I chose my words accordingly.
"What people want to infer about that is up to them," he said. "I have my opinion, they can form theirs."
Video shows Woods' ball move as he tried to remove a small branch from in front of it at the BMW Championship. He maintained it only wobbled and returned to its original position. Woods watched the video in the rules trailer after the round, but still maintained it only oscillated. The tour docked him two shots.
"I don't feel I'm the one that needs to justify the 'F.' The BMW video does it for me, followed by Tiger's silence — until confronted — and then by his denials in the face of incontestable evidence to the contrary of his petitions," Chamblee said. "To say nothing of the fact that he was disrespecting his position in golf, the traditions of golf and his fellow competitors, in my opinion."
Chamblee, who has developed a reputation of being critical of Woods' swing and golf game, is a contributor to "SI Golf Plus," which is not affiliated with Golf Channel.
Golf Channel declined to comment.
"I suspected there would be the usual assortment of divisive banter about me giving Tiger an 'F,' but as it turns out, it was a slow week in golf, so with no much to do, my column got more attention than it should have," Chamblee said.
He was most surprised by Steinberg's comments to ESPN.com.
Woods' longtime agent told the website, "There's nothing you can call a golfer worse than a cheater. This is the most deplorable thing I have seen. I'm not one for hyperbole, but this is absolutely disgusting. Calling him a cheater? I'll be shocked, stunned, if something is not done about this. Something has to be done. There are certainly things that just don't go without response. It's atrocious. I'm not sure if there isn't legal action to be taken. I have to give some thought to legal action."
Asked if he was rattled by Steinberg's consideration of legal action, Chamblee replied, "No."
"I thought it incomprehensible that anyone with the slightest understanding of libel laws wouldn't know the definition of and the difference between libel and opinion," Chamblee said.
Woods was voted PGA Tour player of the year by his peers for the 11th time. He is not expected to play again until a European Tour event Nov. 7-10 in Turkey, followed by his Northwestern Mutual World Challenge on Dec. 5-8 in California.
Chamblee said he did not consider whether the column would jeopardize — or enhance — his position at Golf Channel.
"I'm paid to have and give an opinion, and I work hard to form those opinions based upon facts, not agenda," he said. "I don't always get it right but I'm always trying to get it right. And I know the people I work for know that."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Gov. Chris Christie's decision to stop fighting gay marriage in New Jersey was pragmatic — same sex weddings had already begun and a court warned that the state would have little chance of overturning them. But the move also reflects Christie's bid to cast himself as leader of a welcoming GOP as he seeks re-election and ponders a White House bid.
Friends and foes describe the move simply as Christie being Christie.
The tell-it-like-it-is governor is signaling that he won't be intimidated by a vocal conservative minority that usually wields great influence in Republican presidential politics. And with political divisions deepening in the Republican Party, Christie is betting his political future that the GOP and the nation ultimately would embrace an unapologetic compromiser capable of attracting a broad coalition of voters — as he's expected to do in gubernatorial voting in two weeks.
There are clear risks.
While national public opinion is evolving, Republicans who oppose gay marriage traditionally dominate GOP politics in early-voting states on the presidential calendar such as Iowa and South Carolina.
"Abandoning foundational principles that go beyond politics is not the way to get positive attention in South Carolina," said Bob McAlister, a veteran South Carolina-based Republican strategist, adding that Christie's latest move "is absolutely going to hurt him."
Christie remains personally opposed to gay marriage.
He vetoed a bill approved by the legislature last year to legalize the practice. When a trial-level judge ruled last month that the state must allow same-sex couples to wed, Christie appealed that ruling to the state Supreme Court.
The high court agreed to take up the case but unanimously refused to delay the start of gay weddings in the meantime, saying the state had little chance of prevailing in its appeal. And just hours after gay couples began exchanging vows on Monday, Christie announced that he was withdrawing his appeal.
The decision makes New Jersey the 14th state to legalize gay marriage.
Advisers to the governor said that in dropping the appeal, Christie stayed true to his principles.
"Although the governor strongly disagrees with the court substituting its judgment for the constitutional process of the elected branches or a vote of the people, the court has now spoken clearly as to their view of the New Jersey Constitution and, therefore, same-sex marriage is the law," Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said in a statement.
Some Republicans wanted Christie to fight harder.
He's in much the same situation as 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who was governor when the Massachusetts Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage almost a decade ago.
Romney, too, said he was forced to comply with the rule of law once it was settled by the courts. But that wasn't enough to win over many skeptical conservatives. Their skepticism helped force a long and expensive primary fight against former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, whose underdog campaign was largely fueled by his opposition to gay marriage and abortion.
Rudy Giuliani, the former Republican presidential contender and New York City mayor, also struggled to gain traction in 2008 after embracing abortion rights and legal benefits for same-sex couples. That same year, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, won the Iowa caucuses riding an aggressive social conservative agenda. He later fizzled in states like New Hampshire, where moderate Republicans and independents hold more sway.
Republicans across the political spectrum concede that public opinion on same-sex marriage in 2016 is likely to be dramatically different than 2008 or even 2012.
A CNN-ORC poll found in June that 34 percent of Republicans supported legal recognition of same sex marriage, a number that had jumped more than 10 points from a year earlier. The poll found strong majorities of independents and Democrats in favor as well.
While conservative leaders in early voting states lashed out at Christie's decision, there are signs even in social conservative strongholds that Christie's bet is a smart one.
Susan Geddes, an Iowa Republican activist and devout social conservative, says voters, including Republicans, care far less about opposing gay marriage than even 10 years ago.
"You have to explain to people, people like me, that the rest of the world doesn't think the way we do," said Geddes, who served as a top campaign consultant to strict conservative Republican candidates for the past several years. "That's upsetting for people. But if we want to have our party be effective, we have to accept opinions like that."
Indeed, Iowa mainstream Republicans, led by Gov. Terry Branstad, are trying to swell the ranks of more economically minded conservatives, in hopes of increasing attendance at the Iowa GOP caucuses in 2016. The caucuses have been flooded by social conservatives who disproportionately oppose gay rights and abortion rights.
David Kochel, who served as Romney's top Iowa strategist, came out in favor of gay marriage earlier in the year. "Opposing the freedom to marry is a loser for our party and serves to drive away a growing number of voters who have turned the page," he said Monday.
A number of New Hampshire Republicans, former Rep. Charlie Bass among them, also have come out in favor of gay marriage, backed by Republican leaders elsewhere such as Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and former Vice President Dick Cheney.
In New Hampshire, where independent voters are allowed to vote in GOP primaries, there is a sense that Christie's move could actually help him in a prospective presidential bid.
Ultimately, some strategists said it's unlikely that Christie's decision on gay marriage will be a make-or-break issue. Many critics of his gay marriage policy didn't like him to begin with, particularly since his embrace of President Barack Obama weeks before the last election after Superstorm Sandy ravaged much of the East Coast.
"He has fallen out of favor with social conservatives around Iowa. But it probably doesn't change anything," said Darryl Kearney, GOP treasurer in Polk County and a devout social conservative. "A big win in his re-election bid will help him make him a strong national candidate, which will have a strong appeal in Iowa, but not with social conservatives."
The Wolverine clawed its way to the top of the Chinese box office charts this week, taking $18.17 million (111.2 million yuan) in its first week despite bowing weeks after it originally premiered in Hong Kong and other overseas markets.
The China haul helped to push Twentieth Century Fox International's global ticket sales for 2013 past the $2 billion mark.
The movie opened in July in most other markets. Normally, a late release in China means viewers will have already accessed the film via pirate DVDs and illegal downloads, hurting ticket sales.
However, the movie's spectacular action scenes and strong performance by Hugh Jackman seem to have successfully lured the local fanboy audiences into China's cinemas. Jackman came to China for the premiere and made a big splash in the local press.
There were 2.96 million admissions for the film in the first week.
According to data from Beijing-based Entgroup, for the week of Oct. 14-20, Wolverine beat out Donnie Yen's Shenzhen-set cop movie Special ID, which took $10.9 million (66.52 million yuan), while LouisLeterrier's Now You See Me continued its respectable if unspectacular run, taking in another $7.95 million to bring its total to $17.91 million.
Love Will Tear Us Apart appeared to pick up pace during the week, taking in $6.36 million. The movie features martial arts specialist Feng Shaofeng and Ni Ni, best known internationally for her role in ZhangYimou's Flowers of War.
Meanwhile, Tsui Hark's Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon continued to edge closer to the $100 million box office mark. The fantasy prequel took $5.92 million during the week, bringing its cumulative total in the first 23 days on release to $94.7 million.
Just 20 channels available for streaming when outside your home network, however
Building on the announcement earlier this month that it would be bringing live TV streaming to mobile devices, AT&T U-verse has just announced that Android users now have access to over 100 channels in its app. The service lets U-verse TV subscribers authenticate within its app on either a phone or tablet and have access to live TV along with On Demand programming and the ability to manage your DVR remotely.
There is a caveat, however. The quoted 100 live TV channels are only available when streaming on your home network, and the number of available channels dips to about 20 when you're out-and-about. We can likely blame this on media rights holders, but it still stinks to see such a pared-down offering out of the house where you're most likely to take advantage of such a service.
TOKYO (AP) — Dressed in white hazmat coveralls and carrying a dosimeter, documentary film director Robert Stone ventured into the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant's exclusion zone a year after a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered meltdowns in three reactors.
As he encountered abandoned homes, shops and toppled cars in the scene in his new film "Pandora's Promise," Stone asked a traveling companion, "So, are you still pro-nuclear?"
Stone, a British filmmaker based in New York, confronts viewers with the thorny question of whether nuclear energy should be abandoned because of the Fukushima disaster. His answer is no, because he believes nuclear energy can help solve climate change.
Stone was clear about that when he started making the film before the March 2011 meltdowns at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. He raises the question as he interviews respected environmentalists who are pro-nuclear, and visits Chernobyl and Fukushima himself to see the aftermath of their disasters. He also travels to major cities around the world, carrying his dosimeter and comparing radiation figures.
"As somebody who was making a documentary that is advocating for more nuclear power, going to Fukushima was deeply disturbing and very emotional," Stone told The Associated Press in a recent interview during a visit to Japan to promote his film ahead of its Japanese opening in February.
"You read the dosimeter, you take the readings around and it's not what it should be," he said of his Fukushima visit. "What disturbs people there is that they want everything to be as it was, and it's not."
He found himself torn between his rational half which said nuclear energy makes sense, and his emotional half which warned him of radiation and told him he should leave the zone immediately. He compared that reaction to the people he met in Fukushima during his visit, including evacuees who nonchalantly smoked cigarettes outside their temporary homes but refused to let their children play outdoors.
The film incorporates such mixed feelings "because those are my own feelings as well," he said, acknowledging that he used to be anti-nuclear until he decided that the movement against climate change wasn't going anywhere. His 1987 Academy Award-nominated first documentary "Radio Bikini" was an anti-nuclear film.
Stone said many people expected him to abandon his latest film after the Fukushima disaster, but he continued with it "to say what a lot of people believe but they haven't stood up and said." He now thinks that the Fukushima crisis even reinforces his case.
In the 87-minute film, environmental activists, authors and experts including Stewart Brand, Gwyneth Cravens, Michael Shellenberger and Mark Lynas argue that nuclear power can be safer and more pro-environment than fossil fuel. Anti-nuclear activists like physician Helen Caldicott are portrayed as alarmists and given little space.
He urges Japan to use the Fukushima crisis as a chance to refine its technology, science and engineering to build the world's best reactors instead of withdrawing from nuclear power.
Stone said he hopes the film, which was much talked about at the Sundance film festival in June, will be well received and prompt a discussion in Japan.
"I suspect there are a lot of people in Japan who will quietly acknowledge that this is the way to go, but they are just waiting for somebody to stand up and say it. So I think we'll get support," he said.
Traveling Across the Pond to the delight of UK fans, George Clooney arrived at the airport in London on Monday (October 21).
The "Up in the Air" star flashed a smile to bystanders in a long black coat, gray hooded sweatshirt, and blue jeans as he made his way outside.
Recently, the 52-year-old silver fox got some high praise from his "The Monuments Men" co-star (whom he also directs in the film), John Goodman.
In an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, John gushed, "Working with George is like working for your favorite 5-year-old kid. He knows what he wants. It’s like play. It was great.”
Burton Snowboards puts a lot of recourses towards giving their riders pristine parks to play around on, which shows in this teaser for the fourth installment of their [Snowboarding] series, Resort. When the Burton team steps up to a big jump or hip, you can exect to see airs well over four stories high, and the kind of grabs and spins more commonly seen in video games. The full edit drops this Friday.
CHRIS WALLACE, FNC: President Obama is pushing a new agenda for the rest of the year and one of the key items is he wants to renew his push for immigration reform, which is stalled in the House.
Congressman Raul Labrador, who at point was supporting immigration reform now says this, "It would be crazy for the House Republican leadership to enter into negotiations with him, Obama, on immigration because his goal now is to destroy the Republican Party."
Do you agree with Congressman Labrador?
SEN. MARCO RUBIO: Well, I'll make two points in that regard. Number one, immigration reform is something the country needs. I don't think anyone would disagree that we have a broken legal immigration system. We do not have mechanisms in place to effectively enforce our immigration laws. These issues have to be addressed. What Congressman Labrador is addressing is something that I hear from opponents of our efforts all the time, and I think that's a valid point, and that is this: you have a government and a White House that has consistently decided to ignore the law and how to apply it. Look at the health care law. The law is on the books, they decide which parts of it to apply and which parts not to apply. They issue their own waivers without any congressional oversight.
And what they say is, you're going to pass an immigration law that has both some legalization aspects and some enforcement. What's not to say that this White House won't come back and cancel the enforcement aspects of it?
And that's what he means by lack of trust, and quite frankly, it's difficult to find a good answer to that. I think they make a very legitimate point.
WALLACE: But do you agree --
RUBIO: But certainly, the president has undermined this effort. Absolutely. The president has undermined these efforts.
(CROSSTALK)
RUBIO: -- over the last three weeks.
WALLACE: But do you agree it would be crazy to deal with them and to press forward with immigration reform because of that lack of trust?
RUBIO: Well, I don't think that's what he was saying. I think what he was saying and it's my position as well, is that the House deserves the time and space to craft their own solution.
Now, this notion that they're going to get in a room and negotiate a deal with the president on immigration is much more difficult to do for two reasons. Number one, because of the way that president has behaved towards his opponents over the last three weeks, as well as the White House and the things that they've said and done. And number two, because of what I outlined to you.
So, I certainly think that immigration reform is a lot harder to achieve today than it was just three weeks ago because of what's happened here. Again, I think the House deserved the time and space to have their own ideas about how they want to move forward on this. Let's see what they can come up with. It could very well be much better than what the Senate has done so far.
WALLACE: Well, let me ask you about the Senate plan. You were one of the architects to the plan that passed that Senate. But there has been speculation that because of political backlash against the plan, that perhaps you have backed away from it.
So, let me ask you directly: as part of a comprehensive plan that does include tougher enforcement measures, do you still support an earned path to citizenship?
RUBIO: Well, again, number one, the answer is yes, depending on the way that it's outlined in a comprehensive package. I still continue to believe, as I always have, that the best way to address immigration reform is in individual bills that build on each other sequentially. I've always believed that.
Now, the Senate wanted a different direction. I wanted to influence what the Senate came up with. I felt it was important for the Senate to take the first step in this debate.
We have House colleagues. They have their own ideas about how to pursue this. And, ultimately, you know, Chris, we have been lectured now for the last three weeks about being realistic. We've been told that you're not going to get rid of Obamacare. You're not going to repeal it. You're not going to defund it, because Barack Obama is in the White House. You have to be realistic. We've been lectured about that.
Well, I think they need to be realistic about immigration reform.
The fact of the matter is, the House and many of its members have very strong opinions on what a reform effort should look like. And without them onboard, there won't be reform.
So, I think many Democrats are going to have to make the decision about immigration. Do they want it as a political talking point or are they looking for a result? And if they're looking for a result, they're going to have to show a little bit more flexibility on some of the key points, like the one you've outlined.
WALLACE: Senator, some conservatives, as you well know, call your plan -- even though it takes 13 years to become a citizen and you have to go through a lot of steps to do so -- still call your plan amnesty. And the fact is, in these early presidential horse race polls, you have taken a hit. I want to put up one of them.
In April, you led the Quinnipiac poll with 19 percent, followed by Ryan, Rand Paul, and Christie. But this month, Paul leads, followed by Christie, and you're back in third place.
Has your support for comprehensive immigration reform hurt you with conservatives?
RUBIO: Again, obviously, you're citing a poll that shows that that might be the case. But that's not why I did it. So, clearly, if someone is only looking at everything through a lens of what the future could hold politically, they probably would never have undertaken this issue. I knew that going in.
I remain convince this is an important issue for our country to confront and to solve. I felt like I was in a position to try to make a positive difference. Any time you pass any law or any bill, it's not going to be perfect. It's going to have parts of it you agree with strongly. It's going to have parts of it you perhaps wish were different, as is the case with this bill. But, ultimately, I continue to believe it's an important issue for our nation to confront, because the alternative is to leave things the way they are right now and I would continue to argue that the way things are right now is a de facto amnesty.
Now, is there a way to improve upon what the Senate did? Probably. I'm sure there is. And that's why I hope the House will work on here and they deserve the time and space to be able to do that.
Dizzy dames don't age well. An attractive young thing doing prat falls is disarming; an older woman stumbling around for laughs spells hip replacement. Sad to say, Bridget Jones has hung on to her once-endearing daffiness, self-deprecation, and wine dependency far past their collective expiration date. That's one of the big reasons why her latest outing, called Mad About the Boy, is painful to read.
Speaking as an original Bridget fan, I would have hoped that by 51, the age she is here, Bridget would have become more grounded. She doesn't need to love her loosening skin, but, by now, she should be more at home in it. (I think, of course, of Nora Ephron, who so famously felt bad about her neck, but was also sharp about the cultural pressures that made her feel like she should always cover it up with a scarf.)
This older incarnation of Bridget, however, is still swamped by unattractive insecurities: As ever, she records every pound gained or lost in order to squeeze herself into stretch jeans and thigh-high boots and go out trolling for love. Helen Fielding's first Bridget Jones novel, which debuted in 1996 — as well as the 2001 movie made from it — were fun riffs on Pride and Prejudice, with Bridget in the role of beloved heroine, Elizabeth Bennet. Mad About the Boy, however, unintentionally calls to mind another British literary classic, Great Expectations, with Bridget as a grotesque Miss Havisham, eternally aping the frozen-in-amber giddiness of her youth.
The premise of Mad About the Boy is Bridget's dish-y husband, Mark Darcy, has died four years earlier while on a human rights mission. Bridget, a self-described "geriatric mum" of two small children, now finds herself vaguely yearning to shed her celibacy and plunge into the dating game again. I'll admit there are isolated passages in this third Bridget Jones book that made me laugh, as of old. When, for instance, Bridget decides to get a Twitter account and 75 followers magically appear, she resolves to show leadership by sending out a welcome tweet. It reads: "Welcome followers. I am thy leader. Ye art most welcome to my cult." Dopey, sure, but preferable to, say, the humiliating scene where an eternally awkward Bridget is stuck dangling from a tree in her thong underwear.
The earlier novels also had scenes like that: Bridget often lost clothing and awaited rescue by the buttoned-up Mr. Darcy. The feminism of the Bridget Jones books certainly didn't derive from their traditional romantic plots or any conscious resistance on Bridget's part. Instead it was the humor of those novels that made them mildly anarchic. Bridget's goofy failures in fitting into the prescribed female roles subverted them. This third book is depressing precisely because Bridget is still trying to fit in at an age when she should know better. The joke is all on Bridget here.
If you're looking for jolly feminist cultural commentary, give Mad About the Boy a pass and, instead, pick up The Book of Jezebel. This is a lavish encyclopedia composed of contributions from the writers and artists who've helped shape the Jezebel website, which was created in 2007 by award-winning writer, Anna Holmes. The Book of Jezebel is packed with gorgeous graphics and photos, as well as witty and unruly entries on everything from Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House on the Prairie" books to speculums. Most gloriously, this is an encyclopedia with a voice.
Take, for instance, the entry on conservative commentator Ann Coulter, which notes that she "subsists on a diet of kittens." There's even a prophetic entry for Bridget Jones's Diary, which observes that the enormous popularity of the first novel inspired the mostly "crappy" chick lit craze, which eventually cannibalized the genre's original heroine. They got that right without even seeing this most recent Bridget Jones sequel.
Rest in Peace, Bridget Jones; Live Long and Prosper, Jezebel.
The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.
Alice Munro, the 82-year-old short story writer who won this year's Nobel Prize in Literature, will miss the Dec. 10 Nobel awards ceremony in Stockholm for health reasons. Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy Peter Englund wrote in a blog post that "her health is simply not good enough." He added that "all involved — including Mrs. Munro herself — regret this." (Englund's post, in Swedish, is here). Munro said in 2009 that she has been treated for cancer in the past, and had had heart bypass surgery. She announced earlier this year that she plans to retire from writing. Munro, who the Academy called "master of the contemporary short story," is known for her spare accounts of life in small Canadian towns. As NPR's Lynn Neary said at the time of the Nobel announcement: "In a really short space of time, she can provide a fully realized story that provides remarkable insight into human beings, their shortcomings, their complexities, their loves, their lives."
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer speaks about Marcel Proust and how reading fiction can engender empathy in a wide-ranging French interview in La Revue des Deux Mondes, which was translated into English and published in The New York Review of Books. Breyer says that: "Reading makes a judge capable of projecting himself into the lives of others, lives that have nothing in common with his own, even lives in completely different eras or cultures. And this empathy, this ability to envision the practical consequences on one's contemporaries of a law or a legal decision, seems to me to [be] a crucial quality in a judge."
British publisher Granta is rush-printing an extra 100,000 copies of The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton's Booker-winning mystery novel set during the New Zealand Gold Rush.
The Best Books Coming Out This Week:
After an unforgettable first novel and a fairly forgettable second novel, Donna Tartt has returned with The Goldfinch, a massive, moving monolith of a third book. The narrator Theo Decker is 13 and on a visit to the Met when a bomb goes off, killing his mother and a man who, as he is dying, begs Theo to take a small painting out of the museum's ruins. Tartt spoke to NPR's Scott Simon about the painting at the heart of the novel: "The word priceless is only really ever used in connection with two things, with art and with human life."
An "encyclopedia of lady things" from the editors of the popular feminist website, The Book of Jezebel covers everything from abortion and Abigail Adams to zits, zombies and Erica Jong's famous "zipless f—-." It's engaging and witty, though unquestionably guilty of the sins of that imaginary feminist website from 30 Rock: "Joan of Snark." That's the "really cool feminist website where women talk about how far we've come and which celebrities have the worst beach bodies." Editor Anna Holmes spoke to NPR's Arun Rath over the weekend.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Hurricane Raymond strengthened to a Category 3 storm early Monday and threatened to hurl heavy new rains onto a sodden region of Mexico's Pacific Coast already devastated by last month's Tropical Storm Manuel.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the newly formed storm had nearly stalled offshore, with winds of about 120 mph (192 kph). Raymond was centered about 115 miles (185 kilometers) south of the beach resort of Zihuatanejo, and it was expected to move only a little closer to the coast by Tuesday before veering back out to sea on Wednesday.
In Zihuatanejo, next to the neighboring resort of Ixtapa, authorities went door-to-door in hillside communities, warning residents about the risks of floods and mudslides, but nobody had voluntarily evacuated yet to the three storm shelters set up in the town's schools and athletic facilities, said municipal firefighter Jesus Guatemala.
Amid light, intermittent rains, tourists continued to stroll the town, albeit under cloudy skies.
Mexican authorities rushed to deploy emergency crews and said they were considering evacuations of low-lying areas. About 10,000 people already were living away from their homes a month after Manuel inundated whole neighborhoods and caused landslides that buried much of one village. It left behind drenched hillsides that posed serious landslide risks.
David Korenfeld, head of Mexico's National Water Commission, said Sunday that officials were pinning their hopes on a cold front moving from the north that could help steer Raymond away from the coast.
"The cold front coming down is what makes it (Raymond) turn to the left, but that is a model," Korenfeld said. "If that cold front comes down more slowly, this tropical storm ... can get closer to the coast."
Forecasters said that even if Raymond stays offshore, the storm could dump heavy rain and cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides along the south-central Mexican coast.
"There will be rain for the next 72 hours along the Pacific coast — very heavy rain, torrential rain," Korenfeld said.
A hurricane warning was in effect from Tecpan de Galeana, up the coast from Acapulco, north to the port of Lazaro Cardenas. A tropical storm warning was posted from Acapulco to Tecpan.
Authorities in the southern state of Guerrero, where Manuel caused about 120 deaths from flooding and landslides in September, closed seaports, set up 700 emergency shelters and urged residents in risk areas to take precautions. Officials were expected to decide soon whether to order more evacuations, including from low-lying areas of Acapulco that flooded during Manuel.
The state cancelled classes in most coastal communities west of Acapulco, including Zihuatanejo. Schools are often used as emergency shelters in Mexico.
The potential for damage from such rains is high. About 50 dams in the area are still over capacity, and officials began releasing water to make room for expected rainfall.
Some villages high in the mountains of Guerrero were still without electricity and phone service following Manuel.
In Zihuatanejo, near the Ixtapa resort, authorities sent emergency personnel into low-lying areas to warn people to seek safer ground, said Miguel Quiroz, a local Red Cross dispatcher.
In Barra de Potosi, a beach area just outside Zihuatanejo, a light rain began falling Sunday but tourists were largely undisturbed by the storm's proximity.
"We've got bookings coming in, people are coming in," said London native Les Johnson, an employee at the Our House bed and breakfast. "There's people on the beach, it's quite nice ... there's no problem at the moment."
When Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz began his 21-hour speech on the Senate floor in protest of Obamacare, the Republican National Committee, seeing an opportunity to rally supporters and donors, quickly got behind him.
The party's website launched a Stand With Ted page to collect signatures, and RNC Chairman Reince Priebus penned a letter in support of the freshman lawmaker.
“In a fight between Harry Reid and Ted Cruz, I will stand with Ted Cruz any day,” Priebus wrote. “Today, Senator Cruz has taken the fight to defund ObamaCare to the Senate floor. I hope you will join me in standing with him in solidarity.”
Cruz had recently led a coalition of conservative lawmakers to persuade House GOP leaders to scrap their original plans and adopt his quixotic scheme to refuse to fund the government unless Obamacare was defunded. The government shut down for 16 days as a result.
Even after the shutdown began, the RNC continued to offer support for lawmakers who wanted to keep up the fight against Obamacare. But it had to do so without appearing to take sides when an internal spat broke out in the GOP over tactics. A group of Republicans who were growing disenchanted with the Cruz strategy wanted to strike a deal and reopen the government.
Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the RNC, told Yahoo News that the committee’s intention was to offer support for the opposition movement against the health care law but not to take sides on strategy.
“There was one goal that united all Republicans, which was to defund Obamacare,” Spicer told Yahoo News. “Our job was to provide support for that effort while it was going on without supporting a tactic.”
Not an easy needle to thread. By embracing Cruz — who became a symbol of GOP resistance against party leaders — the RNC risked being caught in the middle of a Republican debate over policy strategy, a position that party committees aren't built for.
"I've got to be the chairman for everybody," Preibus said in an Oct. 14 interview with The 405 Radio. "That means for Ted Cruz, that means for Mitch McConnell. ... I've got to keep a huge family together that doesn't agree all the time, but we know we agree on the main things."
There are a few reasons why the RNC would want to attach itself to Cruz, despite the risk. The first is practical. Love him or hate him, Cruz, a fresh face in the GOP, is the most dynamic thing the party has going for it right now. He has proved himself a star on the tea party speaking circuit; he’s a pro at getting media attention; and he’s a partisan fundraiser’s dream. National Republicans believed — correctly — that the most passionate supporters and donors would respond well to his cause.
“Parties are always chasing for the hot message of the day. They’re always looking for something that drives engagement,” veteran Republican strategist Rick Wilson told Yahoo News. “It’s not surprising” that the RNC would use Cruz's protest speech to raise money, he added.
Another reason the RNC latched on to Cruz could have to do with a deeper problem facing both parties: competition. As the Atlantic’s Molly Ball has reported, the past few years have seen an enormous growth in the rise of advocacy groups — particularly on the right — that in part are competing with official party committees over donations, volunteers and messaging. Many of these groups, most notably Heritage Action, the Club for Growth and FreedomWorks, take strict positions on conservative strategy, and they actively seek to punish lawmakers who don’t adopt their tactics.
Promoting Cruz during his moment in the spotlight gave the RNC an opportunity to offer an olive branch to tea party elements within the party and prove it still had the resolve to fight Obamacare. At the time, Cruz was the highest-profile fighter against the health care law, but there was little indication that he would become a lightning rod that would temporarily divide the party.
Now that the shutdown is over, an experience Republicans look back on with mixed emotions, the RNC is not distancing itself from Cruz.
“We embrace him,” Spicer said in an interview Thursday with Al-Jazeera. “What Ted Cruz and a lot of his members did is frankly respond to what the American people and their districts and their states want them to be talking about. I think they’ve seen people in Washington walking lockstep, saying, 'Let’s make deals, let’s increase the debt ceiling.' I think what Ted Cruz and a lot of our members in the House are doing is responding to what constituents and people outside the Beltway are actually talking about.”
GarageBand could be the next built-in app to go free on new iOS devices. Apple recently updated the icons for its iLife and iWork apps, and according to MacRumors the update page also notes that Apple's music making suite will become a complimentary download. However, to flesh out the application you'll have to pony up for individual instruments and sounds via in-app purchases. This possible price change should let almost anyone live out their music-production dreams, but we hope it doesn't cost more than the app's current $5 price to get the full experience. If Tim Cook and friends follow tradition, we should know more later this week.
If your company isn't fully taking advantage of social media, it might be missing out on opportunities to connect with customers, gain market share, and bring needed talent into the organization.
Experts say virtually every type of business can benefit from using social media as a business tool.
"We really are seeing interest and the potential for business value across the board," says Jeffrey Mann, research vice president at Gartner. "No one is immune, although it will be easier for some than others."
The most likely to see value, Mann says, are knowledge-based and highly collaborative industries, such as media, education, consulting, and high technology; industries or organizations that aren't hamstrung by regulation; and organizations with younger employees who are accustomed to working with social media.
The new trailer for the Spike Lee-directed HBO title Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth shows the boxer confessing, joking and sharing about his life -- while on stage.
In the clip, Mike Tyson figures that he was arrested "over 38 times" by the time he was 12-years-old, dishes about infamous anger problems and takes a few mock swings.
The film is drawn from the show that Tyson performed in Las Vegas, New York and on tour.
While a previously released teaser had set a serious tone, the new trailer showcases more humor. The clip trots out a memorable one-liner from the boxer: "I know many are probably wondering, what the hell is Mike Tyson going to do up here onstage here tonight -- you know, frankly, I'm wondering the same thing."
In a review of the show in New York in 2012, The Hollywood Reporter's Frank Scheckfound the production to be "weirdly fascinating, and actually in keeping with a long tradition of pugilists retreating to the stage after their fighting days are over."
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