Neeson's 'The Grey' tops box office with $20M (AP)

NEW YORK ? Beware the Liam in Winter.

Liam Neeson's "The Grey" topped the weekend box office with $20 million, according to studio estimates Sunday, continuing the actor's success as an action star in the winter months.

The Alaskan survivalist thriller opened above expectations with a performance on par with previous Neeson thrillers "Taken" and "Unknown." Those films, both January-February releases, opened with $24.7 million and $21.9 million, respectively.

But the R-rated "The Grey," which has received good reviews, drove home the strong appeal of Neeson, action star. It's an unlikely turn for the 59-year-old Neeson, previously better known for his dramatic performances, like those in "Schindler's List" and "Kinsey."

"Liam is a true movie star, period," said Tom Ortenberg, CEO of Open Road Films. It's the second release for the newly formed distributor, created by theater chains AMC and Regal.

"My guess is that Liam Neeson in action thrillers would work just about any time of year."

January is often a dumping ground for less-stellar releases, a tradition held up by two badly reviewed new wide releases: "Man on a Ledge," with Sam Worthington, and "One for the Money" with Katherine Heigl.

"One for the Money" fared better, earning $11.8 million, while "Man on a Ledge" opened with $8.3 million.

Those were reasonably solid returns, and, in an unusual twist, were both ultimately for Lions Gate Entertainment. Its film studio, Lionsgate, released the romantic comedy "One for the Money." The action thriller "Man on a Ledge" was released by Summit Entertainment, which Lions Gate bought for $412.5 million earlier this month.

"One for the Money" was helped by a promotion with Groupon, the Internet discount site, with which Lionsgate previously partnered for "The Lincoln Lawyer." David Spitz, head of distribution for Lionsgate, said the large number of older, female subscribers of Groupon matched well with the audience of "One for the Money."

Groupon email blasts, he said, had a significant promotional effect.

Last week's box-office leader, "Underworld: Awakenings," Sony's Screen Gem's latest installment in its vampire series, came in second with $12.5 million, bringing its cumulative total to $45.1 million.

The unexpectedly large haul for "The Grey," strong holdovers (such as the George Lucas-produced World War II action film "Red Tails," which earned $10.4 million in its second week) and the bump for Oscar contending films following Tuesday's nominations added up to a good weekend for Hollywood. The box office was up about 15 percent on the corresponding weekend last year.

So far, every weekend this year has been an "up" weekend, after a somewhat dismal fourth quarter in 2011.

"`Mission: Impossible,' I think, really helped reinvigorate the marketplace, and that's carried over into the first part of the year," said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "That's good news for Hollywood after the down-trending box office of 2011."

Oscar favorites "The Descendants," "Hugo" and "The Artist" sought to capitalize on their recent Academy Awards nominations. Each expanded to more theaters and saw an uptick in business.

Fox Searchlight's "The Descendants," which is nominated for five Oscars including best picture, added 1,441 screens in its 11th week of release. It added $6.6 million and has now made $58.8 million, making it one of Fox Searchlight's most successful releases.

Sheila DeLoach, senior vice president of distribution for Fox Searchlight, said the film's nominations and its recent Golden Globes wins (for best drama and best actor, George Clooney) "played a big role" in its weekend box office.

Paramount's "Hugo," which led Oscar nominations with 11 including best picture, saw a 143 percent jump in business over its last weekend. In its tenth week of release, it earned $2.3 million, bringing its total to $58.7 million.

The Weinstein Co.'s "The Artist," with 10 Oscar nominations including best picture, expanded a modest 235 screens to bring it to a total of 897 screens in its 10th week of release. It earned $3.3 million, with a total of $16.7 million.

The Weinstein Co. is being careful with the black-and-white, largely silent film. Thus far, it has appealed particularly to older audiences.

"It's not the same type of picture as any other picture in the marketplace," said Erik Loomis, head of distribution for the Weinstein Co. "Now that the nominations are out, we're going to look to capitalize on it as best we can. ... We're being very, very meticulous with it. We're not throwing it out there and grabbing every theater we can. At some point, we'll open the floodgates on the movie, maybe closer to the awards."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "The Grey," $20 million.

2. "Underworld: Awakening," $12.5 million.

3. "One for the Money," $11.8 million.

4. "Red Tails," $10.4 million.

5. "Man on a Ledge," $8.3 million.

6. "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," $7.1 million.

7. "The Descendants," $6.6 million.

8. "Contraband," $6.5 million.

9. "Beauty and the Beast," $5.3 million.

10. "Haywire," $4 million.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com/boxoffice

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_en_ot/us_box_office

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Summary Box: Commodities fall on European crisis (AP)

BROAD DECLINES: Most commodity prices declined as signs of slower economic growth emerged in Europe, where leaders worked to resolve the crippling debt crisis. They met to discuss ways to jump-start economic growth and create jobs.

EYES ON GREECE: Investors awaited news that a debt agreement for Greece had been finalized. Meanwhile, France lowered its 2012 economic growth forecast, and Spain said its economy shrank in the fourth quarter.

UP FOR THE MONTH: Despite the broad sell-off, most commodities are higher for the month. The main exceptions are wheat, corn, soybeans and natural gas.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_bi_ge/us_commodities_review_summary_box

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Afghans blast French plan to withdraw troops early (AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan ? France's plans to withdraw its combat troops from Afghanistan a year early drew harsh words Saturday in the Afghan capital, with critics accusing French President Nicolas Sarkozy of putting domestic politics ahead of Afghans' safety.

A wider proposal by Sarkozy for NATO to hand over all security to Afghans by the end of next year also came under fire, with one Afghan lawmaker saying it would be "a big mistake" that would leave security forces unprepared to fight the Taliban insurgency and threaten a new descent into violence in the 10-year-old war.

Sarkozy's decision, which came a week after four French troops were shot dead by an Afghan army trainee suspected of being a Taliban infiltrator, raises new questions about the unity of the U.S.-led military coalition.

It also reopens the debate over whether setting a deadline for troop withdrawals will allow the Taliban to run out the clock and seize more territory once foreign forces are gone.

"Afghan forces are not self-sufficient yet. They still need more training, more equipment and they need to be stronger," said military analyst Abdul Hadi Khalid, Afghanistan's former interior minister.

Khalid said the decision by Sarkozy was clearly political. Sarkozy's conservative party faces a tough election this year, and the French public's already deep discontent with the Afghan war only intensified when unarmed French troops were gunned down by an Afghan trainee Jan. 20 at a joint base in the eastern province of Kapisa.

Sarkozy announced France's new timetable on Friday alongside Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who was in Paris for a previously planned visit. He also said Karzai had agreed with him to ask for all international forces to hand security over to the Afghan army and police in 2013, a plan he would present at a Feb. 2-3 meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels. He said he would call President Barack Obama about his plan on Saturday.

Afghan lawmaker Tahira Mujadedi said Afghan security forces will not be ready in time for any early NATO withdrawal, saying the current timetable already is rushing the training of national forces.

"That would be a big mistake by the Afghan government if they accept it," Mujadedi said of Sarkozy's plan. "In my view, they should extend 2014 by more years instead of cutting it short to 2013."

She said she sympathizes in the matter of the French soldiers' deaths, but argued that they present no logical reason for France to deviate from the U.S. timetable for NATO to hand over security by 2014.

"When military forces are present in a war zone, anything can happen," Mujadedi said. The French troops "are not here for a holiday."

France now has about 3,600 soldiers in the international force, which is mostly made up of American troops.

Afghan forces started taking the lead for security in certain areas of the country last year and the plan has been to add more areas, as Afghan police and soldiers were deemed ready to take over from foreign troops.

According to drawdown plans already announced by the U.S. and more than a dozen other nations, the foreign military footprint in Afghanistan will shrink by an estimated 40,000 troops at the close of this year. Washington is pulling out the most ? 33,000 by the end of the year. That's one-third of 101,000 U.S. troops that were in Afghanistan in June, the peak of the U.S. military presence in the war, Pentagon figures show.

Sarkozy also said France would hand over authority in the province of Kapisa, where the French troops were killed this month, by the end of March. Karzai's office confirmed that decision Saturday, saying it was made at the French president's request.

The NATO coalition has started to hand over security in several areas of Afghanistan, aiming to transfer about half of the country in the coming months. But Kapisa was not one of the provinces earmarked for handover, according to U.S. Navy Lt. James McCue, a coalition spokesman.

Mujadedi, a lawmaker who represents Kapisa, argued that Afghan forces in her province are not ready to go it alone in fighting the Taliban insurgency, which is especially strong in several of the province's districts. She warned that if NATO forces do pull back from Kapisa, it could also destabilize nearby Kabul.

"We have had so many attacks, ambushes and also suicide attacks in Kapisa," Mujadedi said. "Unfortunately, our national police and army, while present in Kapisa, are unable to provide good security for people."

France's early withdrawal announcement could step up pressure on other European governments like Britain, Italy and Germany, which also have important roles in Afghanistan.

Karzai, who praised the role of France and other NATO allies, didn't object at Friday's joint news conference when Sarkozy said the 2013 NATO withdrawal timetable was sought by both France and Afghanistan.

However, the Afghan leader appeared to suggest that it was a high-end target.

"We hope to finish the transition ... by the end of 2013 at the earliest ? or by the latest as has been agreed upon ? by the end of 2014," Karzai said.

Nick Witney, a senior policy fellow at the Paris-based European Council on Foreign Relations, said public support of the war in Europe started sliding fast after the coalition agreed to end the combat mission in 2014.

"It has become more and more difficult to justify every single casualty, since it's now clear that these are wasted lives," said Witney, a former head of the European Defense Agency.

"Most European policymakers realize that on a purely cost-benefit assessment, we would all leave Afghanistan tomorrow," Witney said.

___

Associated Press writer Slobodan Lekic in Brussels contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

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"So You Think You Can Dance" Salsa Instructor Sentenced For Rape: Alex Da Silva Gets 10 Years

LOS ANGELES ? A salsa dance instructor who worked on the TV show "So You Think You Can Dance" has been sentenced in Los Angeles to 10 years in prison for raping one woman and assaulting another.

Prosecutors say Alex Da Silva gave dance lessons at salsa clubs where he met aspiring dancers he assaulted.

He was convicted of raping a 22-year-old woman in 2002 and attacking another woman with intent to commit rape in 2009.

The jury deadlocked on four other counts, including two more alleged rapes. Those counts were dismissed.

A defense attorney says the women who accused Da Silva were not telling the truth.

Da Silva will be required to register as a sex offender for life.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/28/so-you-think-you-can-dance-rape-conviction_n_1238973.html

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Can economy help Obama reelection? One statistic gives him hope.

Since 1948 only one incumbent president has won reelection with joblessness over 7 percent. There is another unemployment statistic, however, that could play in President Obama's favor.

With the nation's jobless rate edging downward and news Friday that the economy grew at a 2.8 percent pace in the fourth quarter, it's possible that the state of the economy may now be transforming from a political millstone into less of a losing issue for President Obama.

Skip to next paragraph

Polls released this week show President Obama ahead in potential match-ups against Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich.

But Obama is still struggling with low approval ratings, and forecasters generally envision a tight race for the White House, with still-high unemployment offsetting Mr. Obama's status as the incumbent.

It certainly doesn't look like he'll coast to an easy win.

Consider that in the time period since 1948 (for which monthly unemployment data are available) only one incumbent president has won reelection with joblessness over 7 percent. That was Ronald Reagan in 1984. Today the unemployment rate is higher than it was then, and many economists expect it to remain above 8 percent through much or all of 2012.

But here's another data point to consider: No incumbent seeking reelection has lost with unemployment falling for two years prior to the vote.

It may be the relative direction of the economy, rather than the absolute level of unemployment, that most determines voters perceptions of how a president is doing on pocketbook issues.

If that's the case, Obama's reelection hopes look brighter.

When Reagan was reelected, joblessness was high but had been falling for two full years.

When George H. W. Bush lost in 1992, unemployment had barely begun to edge down after a recession the year before. When Gerald Ford lost in 1976, the jobless rate was falling for about a year and half. Another big factor in that vote: Americans were disillusioned with Washington after the?Watergate scandal, and outsider Jimmy Carter promised change.

Obama can point to more than two years of decline in the jobless rate, with more than nine months still to go before the election. (Unemployment peaked at 10 percent in October 2009.)

At the same time, what's distinctive is the depth of the recession from which the nation is still recovering. It was the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The president chose his words carefully earlier this week in a State of the Union speech that was, as much as anything, an official launching point for his year-long campaign. "The state of our Union is getting stronger," he said, acknowledging the financial stress millions of Americans feel but pointing to progress in job creation and factory-floor expansion.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/4sAVdv5PaXM/Can-economy-help-Obama-reelection-One-statistic-gives-him-hope

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Facebook, Washington state target online spam

SEATTLE (AP) ? Facebook is partnering with Washington state to combat a type of spam called "clickjacking" that is plaguing the social networking site, company and state officials announced Thursday.

Two separate lawsuits were filed in federal courts in California and Washington state against Delaware-based Adscend Media LLC, which officials say is behind the spamming.

"The way we think about it, security is an arms race," Facebook's general counsel, Ted Ullyot, said alongside Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna at the social media company's Seattle offices. "It's important to stay ahead of spammers and scammers."

In "clickjacking," links on Facebook promising shocking or salacious videos have code embedded in them that spreads the link to the user's page. That makes it seem like the user "liked" the link, with the aim of attracting more clicks from the user's friends. The links eventually lead users to a survey or information from an advertiser.

Adscend Media is spreading spam through misleading and deceptive tactics and has encouraged others to do the same, McKenna's office said.

An email inquiry sent to Adscend was not immediately returned, and an attorney for the company had not yet been listed in federal court records.

Social networking sites are popular targets for spammers because people are more likely to trust and share content that comes from people they know. This makes spam, scams and viruses easy to spread.

Still, Facebook says less than 4 percent of content shared on the site is spam. By comparison, about 74 percent of email is spam, according to security company Symantec Corp., though the bulk of it gets filtered out before reaching someone's inbox.

Facebook has more than 800 million users.

Named in Washington state's lawsuit are Adscend co-owners Jeremy Bash, of West Virginia, and Fehzan Ali, of Texas. The lawsuit says Adscend violated several state laws, as well as the federal CAN-SPAM act, which makes it unlawful to procure or initiate transmission of misleading commercial communication.

McKenna said Adscend has annual revenue of $20 million.

Washington state is the only state partnering with Facebook. The company said it partnered with Washington state because of a history in the state of technology consumer protection.

The attorney general said Washington state has been a leader in technology consumer protection since his predecessor, now Gov. Chris Gregoire, began filing suits against malware and spyware users.

"As spammers adjust their tactics, we adjust ours," McKenna said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-26-Facebook%20Scam/id-7414ecdfb88743c080961a953dddc7e6

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Prada phone by LG 3.0 gets VIP treatment from Phones 4u, launches in UK tomorrow

Ready to make heads turn with its monochromatic stylings, LG and Prada's latest baby is presumably putting on a night-mask, ready to be unleashed on well-heeled types in the UK on Friday. Alongside the aforementioned custom Android skin (atop a Gingerbread OS), the Prada Phone by LG 3.0 packs a respectable dual-core processor, 8 megapixel camera and LG's NOVA display -- stretching up to 4.3 inches on this fashionista phone. It's set to launch on both Vodafone and O2, free on a £31 two-year contracts, while it'll also be making an appearance on T-Mobile next month. We're planning on getting these unmanicured paws on one for review very soon, but Prada fans will be able to queue up get their assistants to queue up for the handset at Phones 4u stores tomorrow.

Continue reading Prada phone by LG 3.0 gets VIP treatment from Phones 4u, launches in UK tomorrow

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Starbucks 1Q profit up 10 percent on strong sales

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) ? Starbucks Corp. reported its biggest quarterly revenue gain since the recession began, but investors worried after the company issued a modest forecast for the year.

The Seattle-based coffee company reported on Thursday after the stock markets closed that fiscal first-quarter revenue grew 16 percent ? the largest quarterly gain since 2007. It attracted new customers by adding stores in China and Morocco, upgrading locations in the U.S. and rolling out single-serve coffee and other new items at grocery stores.

"Starbucks is firing on all cylinders and taking full advantage of the many global opportunities that lie ahead," CEO Howard Schultz said in a statement.

Profit rose 10 percent to $382.1 million, or 50 cents per share, for the quarter that ended Jan. 1. That's up from $346.6 million, or 45 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. Revenue increased to $3.44 billion with growth from all its business lines.

Results beat the 49 cents per share on revenue of $3.29 billion that analysts expected, according to FactSet.

Starbucks said revenue from its stores open at least a year ? an important measure because it strips away the impact of recently opened or closed stores ? increased 9 percent as more customers visited its cafes and spent more each trip. It was the company's most successful holiday season ever, with customers buying more peppermint mochas, gingerbread lattes and Starbucks gift cards.

Starbucks also benefited from the addition of 241 new stores during the quarter. It now operates 17,244 stores worldwide, with plans to open another 800 in the coming year.

Additionally, Starbucks delivered major gains in its consumer products business, which sells its new single-serve coffee products, Via instant coffee, Starbucks ice cream and other items for sale in grocery stores and other retailers. Revenue from this segment increased 72 percent and Starbucks expects the business to continue to grow.

The solid quarterly performance was followed by a full-year forecast that was slightly below Wall Street expectations as Starbucks acknowledged that it continues to struggle with higher costs for coffee beans, dairy products and other ingredients it needs.

Starbucks said these costs were $105 million higher for the quarter than this time last year, sending its operating margins down from 17 percent to 16.2 percent for the quarter. Starbucks said commodity costs will add up to $230 million in costs for the full fiscal year but it anticipates the pressure will lesson in the second-half of the year.

Starbucks nudged up the lower-end of its earnings guidance. It now expects to earn $1.78 to $1.82 per share for the full year, up from prior guidance of $1.75 to $1.82 for the year. But it falls just short of analyst expectations of $1.83 per share, according to FactSet.

Jack Russo, an analyst with Edward Jones, said the modest outlook and lower margins drove some investors away in after-hours trading. On the news, the company's shares fell 54 cents to $47.80 after the markets closed.

Starbucks remains a strong growth company, Russo said, but the stock is already rich. It has hovered near record highs this week. Its shares have traded between $30.75 and $48.39 in the past 52 weeks.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-26-Earns-Starbucks/id-3da91072f0bb43aebaa795d6c8ec631a

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Schweinsteiger ends training with knee discomfort

Associated Press Sports

updated 11:21 a.m. ET Jan. 24, 2012

MUNICH (AP) -Bayern Munich midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has cut short a training session because of a recurring problem with his left knee.

Bayern spokesman Markus Hoerwick says Schweinsteiger felt discomfort in the knee on Tuesday but there is no tendon damage.

Schweinsteiger, who recently missed more than two months due to a broken collarbone, hurt the same knee last week.

Any possible absence of Schweinsteiger would be a blow to Bayern, with central defender Daniel van Buyten set to miss two months with a broken foot.

Schweinsteiger played as Bayern lost 3-1 at Borussia Moenchengladbach on Friday to drop into a three-way tie atop the Bundesliga.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Barca awaits Real Madrid again

Real Madrid probably will abandon its defensive strategy and go on the attack against Barcelona in the second leg of the Copa del Rey quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Stefano Rellandini / Reuters

That's a reason?

AC Milan's Kevin-Prince Boateng is hurt again, and his girlfriend says it's because they have sex "7-10 times a week." Oh.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45089271/ns/sports-soccer/

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How an embargo of Iranian oil could affect markets

NEW YORK (AP) ? The U.S. and Europe are trying to stop Iran, the world's third-biggest oil exporter, from selling crude. Iran's response is to threaten to disrupt shipments from the entire Middle East.

Yet oil prices have hardly budged. They're at $98.95, up just 12 cents since the start of year.

Just a year ago, uprisings in far less important oil-producing countries such as Egypt and Libya sent oil and gasoline prices to their highest levels in three years and prompted Western nations to release millions of barrels of oil from emergency supplies.

The reason for such calm this year: No oil has been blocked, and there's a good chance none will be.

The U.S. and Europe want to deprive Iran of the oil income it needs to run its government and, most importantly, fund what the West believes is an effort to build a nuclear weapon. Last year, Iran generated $100 billion in revenue from oil, up from $20 billion a decade ago, according to IHS CERA, an energy consulting firm.

The European Union announced Monday it would ban the import of Iranian crude starting in July. The U.S. already doesn't buy Iranian oil, but last month it placed sanctions on Iran's banks to make it harder for that nation to sell crude. The U.S., however, has delayed implementing those sanctions for at least six months because it is worried about sending oil prices higher at a time when the world economy is struggling.

Iran, in retaliation, has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow Persian Gulf waterway between Iran and Oman through which one-fifth of the world's oil passes. If that were to happen, experts say oil prices could soar toward $200 per barrel and deliver a blow to already wobbly Western economies. Drivers would pay more for gasoline, airlines would spend more on fuel and shippers would pay more for diesel. That would leave people and companies with less money to spend and invest.

Using oil as a political weapon is an old tactic, but it may not be effective this time. If either side blocks the sale of oil in a meaningful way, it hurt itself. Iran's economy depends on the sale of oil. The economies of Western nations depend on reasonably priced oil.

Here are key questions and answers about what the European ban on Iranian oil could mean for energy markets.

Q: What is Iran's role in the world oil market?

A: Iran exports 2.5 million barrels of oil per day, about 3 percent of world supplies. About 500,000 barrels go to Europe and most of the rest goes to China, India, Japan and South Korea. These Asian customers do not plan to stop buying Iranian oil.

Iranian fields produce a type of oil known as heavy, sour crude. This is a common type of crude that contains more sulfur than so-called light, sweet crude. Heavy crudes are harder and more expensive to refine into valuable fuels such as gasoline and therefore generally command a lower price.

Q. With all the saber rattling, why aren't oil prices soaring?

A: Because oil will likely keep flowing. Asian countries, already Iran's biggest customers, aren't joining the Europeans in banning Iranian crude. Also, the European embargo doesn't start until July, so markets will likely have time to adjust.

As Europe turns away from Iran to other markets, though, it could push up prices for certain types of global crudes. And the brinkmanship between Iran and the West may already be having some effect on prices, analysts say. "It could already be baked into the price (of oil)," says, Michael Levi, Director of the Program on Energy Security and Climate Change at the Council on Foreign Relations

Q: Will the embargo hurt or help Iran?

If Iran can no longer sell to Europe, it will have to find other buyers. That won't likely be difficult, especially given Asia's rising demand for oil. But Asian nations may be able to negotiate a discount for Iranian oil. "In the oil market, a little discount goes a long way," says Bhushan Bahree, a Middle East oil expert at IHS CERA.

On the other hand, if global oil prices rise and Iran can sell its oil for somewhat higher prices, Iran's oil revenue will grow.

Q: If Iranian oil is prevented from getting to market, will other nations be able to make up the difference?

A: Eventually, yes. The U.S. is pressuring other Middle East and African nations to increase production to help keep Europe and the world well-supplied as the embargo slowly takes effect. Saudi Arabia says it could increase its supplies to make up for any lost Iranian crude. Iran's relatively heavy crude is easier to replace than the Libyan light, sweet crude that was cut off during last year's uprising.

Still, an increase in production from other nations would leave little wiggle room for those countries to increase supplies further if needed. The oil market gets nervous, and sends prices higher, if it thinks producing nations don't have capacity to pump more oil to make up for a supply interruption somewhere in the world.

Jonathan Fahey can be reached at http://twitter.com/JonathanFahey

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-24-Iran-Oil-QandA/id-d825bbe8e41343d088282e1005755867

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AUTOMOTIVE - AUTOS: Shelby GT500 WInner Named

AUTOS: Shelby GT500 Winner Named

A SPEED fan from nearby Tucson, Arizona, has his name picked at random to win the top Hagerty Fantasy Bid Prize.

The winner of the biggest sweepstakes prize ever in Hagerty Fantasy Bid history ? a one-of-a-kind Ford Racing Champions Shelby GT500 Special Edition Mustang ? was announced today after the last of the week?s 28 Fantasy Bid cars went over the block at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction.

The lucky winner is Chris Cherryholmes of Tucson, Arizona, which is about 100 miles from the Scottsdale auction site, whose user name in the Fantasy Bidding was ?Papcholmes.?

The ecstatic Cherryholmes, who calls himself a huge SPEED fan and regular Fantasy Bidder, had to call his wife to the phone when he received the call from SPEED to make sure nobody was playing a trick on him.

The sweepstakes was open to every participant in the Hagerty Fantasy Bid game during SPEED?s nearly 40 hours of live broadcasting of the Scottsdale event with the name chosen at random. A record 1,591,910 bids were received in the game, compared with about 699,000 during last year?s Scottsdale auction.

The 2011 GT500 Special Edition is described as a ?one-of-one? high-performance version with a Ford Racing Supercharger boosting the 5.4-liter V8 engine to 750 horsepower, and a six-speed manual transmission. Collaborating on the build were 2011 Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne and 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., and an autographed plaque signifies their involvement.

Bob Golfen, Automotive Editor for SPEED.com, is a veteran auto writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, with a passion for collector cars, car culture and the automotive lifestyle. SPEED.com fans can email Bob Golfen at

Source: http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/autos-shelby-gt500-winner-named/

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Romney Paid 13.9% (talking-points-memo)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

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Romania PM sacks foreign minister for protest remarks (Reuters)

BUCHAREST (Reuters) ? Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc sacked his foreign minister Monday for calling anti-government protesters "inept and violent slum-dwellers" following more than a week of sometimes violent demonstrations.

Protesters in the capital Bucharest and some other cities have pelted police with bricks and Molotov cocktails during 11 days of rallies demanding Boc and President Traian Basescu resign over the introduction of economic austerity measures.

Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi last week likened the violent protesters to miners who, in the 1990s, descended on the capital to demand change, though he did distinguish between a minority of troublemakers and the peaceful majority.

Baconschi's dismissal was a gesture to defuse what have become Romania's most violent protests in more than a decade, analysts said, but they doubted it would prove effective.

"I have taken the decision to recall Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi and have forwarded a proposal to the Romanian president to remove him from his functions for the comments he made," Boc told parliament.

Romania has suffered little of the unrest that has struck other countries hit by rising economic hardship. However, anger at Basescu and his close ally Boc, who cut state salaries by a quarter and raised sales taxes, has now spilled over.

The measures to cut Romania's deficit and help rebalance the books have put it on a more solid economic footing but have cut deep in the European Union's second poorest member, where some villages and city districts still have no electricity or running water.

"This looks like a ritual sacrifice performed to calm those who are protesting," said independent political commentator Mircea Marian. "But this move is not going to yield the desired result. I expect attendance numbers at protests to rise significantly tomorrow."

ELECTIONS PENDING

Monday, several hundred demonstrators - a mixture of students, pensioners, public sector workers and professionals - gathered in the melting snow in University Square, the place where the anti-communist revolution unfolded in 1989.

A rally by some 7,000 supporters of the opposition USL last week was Bucharest's biggest since 2010 and more protests are planned for this week, most notably a demonstration by teachers and nurses Tuesday.

Romania's austerity measures have helped keep an aid deal led by the International Monetary Fund on track and maintained market confidence. But they may also have delayed the country's recovery from a deep recession and have left Boc's PDL party trailing in opinion polls on 18 percent.

The USL, a fragile leftist alliance which has also committed itself to working with the IMF, has about 50 percent support and is set to win a parliamentary election late this year.

"I totally agree with this decision," USL co-leader Victor Ponta said of Baconschi's dismissal. "But Romanians had expected much more."

(Additional reporting by Sam Cage and Luiza Ilie; Editing by Ben Harding)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/wl_nm/us_romania_protests

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Kristin Cavallari Is Pregnant!

The former reality star and fiance Jay Cutler are expecting! See more stars who are expecting

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Anonymous knocks out FBI, DOJ sites

By msnbc.com staff and news services

Hacking group Anonymous said Thursday it knocked out the websites of the FBI, U.S. Department of Justice, and several entertainment industry sites as retribution for anti-piracy efforts by both the government and the entertainment industry. The group said it was "the largest attack ever," with 5,635 participants involved in bringing down the sites.

In addition to the FBI and DOJ, the Recording Industry of America, Motion Picture Association of America, Universal Music and BMI.com websites were also attacked. Said the DOJ in a statement: "The Department of Justice web server hosting justice.gov is currently experiencing a significant increase in activity, resulting in a degradation in service. The department is working to ensure the website is available while we investigate the origins of this activity, which is being treated as a malicious act until we can fully identify the root cause of the disruption."

An MPAA spokesman said, in an emailed statement to the AP, that despite the attack, the site was working by Thursday evening. "The motion picture and television industry has always been a strong supporter of free speech," the spokesman said. "We strongly condemn any attempts to silence any groups or individuals."

The RIAA confirmed its site had been attacked, but said it was operating normally by evening.

The FBI's site, as of 9 p.m. ET Thursday, was back up. About 45 minutes earlier, however, it could not be accessed and resulted in an error message:

The FBI.gov site could not be accessed at at 8:15 p.m. ET Thursday.

"Get some popcorn," Anonymous said on Twitter. "It's going to be a long lulzy night," indicating more was to come. "Lulz" is Internet slang for "laughs," and the hacking group LulzSec, or Lulz Security, is allied with Anonymous.

Anonymous' actions, its biggest in a single swoop, comes a day after an Internet protest against two proposed anti-piracy bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act, and the Protect IP Act, before Congress, and on the same day as a federal indictment of employees of a major Internet content-hosting site, Megaupload.com.

Universal Music's home page was not accessible Thursday afternoon.

Megaupload employees are accused of taking $500 million from copyright holders and generating $175 million in criminal proceeds via illegal downloads of films, music and other content, according to the indictment. Although the website is based in Hong Kong, some of the alleged pirated content was hosted on leased servers in Ashburn, Va., which gave federal authorities jurisdiction, the indictment said.

The Justice Department said in a statement said that Kim Dotcom, 37, and three other employees were arrested Thursday in New Zealand at the request of U.S. officials. Three other defendants are at large.

Before the site was taken down, it posted a statement saying allegations that it facilitated massive breaches of copyright laws were "grotesquely overblown."

"The fact is that the vast majority of Mega's Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay," the statement said. "If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch."

Anonymous and LulzSec have taken down several private industry and government websites in the past year, largely through distributed denial-of-service attacks like the ones launched Thursday.

Members of Anonymous may have been particularly angered by the government action against Mega sites "which were massively popular among Anonymous? young, copyright-flouting contingent of the Web," notes Andy Greenberg of Forbes.

Said Anonymous on Twitter: "Censors & copyright terrorists beware!"

Megaupload is considered a "cyberlocker," in which users can upload and transfer files that are too large to send by email. Such sites can have perfectly legitimate uses. But the MPAA, which has campaigned for a crackdown on piracy, estimated that the vast majority of content being shared on Megaupload was in violation of copyright laws.

According to the federal indictment, Megaupload was estimated at one point to be the 13th most frequently visited website on the Internet. Current estimates by companies that monitor Web traffic place it in the top 100. The site has 150 million registered users. Megaupload allowed users to download films, TV shows, games, music and other content for free, but made money by charging subscriptions to people who wanted access to faster download speeds or extra content. The website also sold advertising.

Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.

The Justice Department said it was illegal for anyone to download pirated content, but that its investigation is focused on the leaders of the company, not users who may have downloaded a few movies for personal viewing.

Congress is weighing anti-piracy legislation largely backed by the entertainment industry and opposed by the tech world for the way it would alter the Internet and companies' roles in policing it. Wikipedia led the way Wednesday with an Internet blackout, while other websites, including Google, provided links to online petitions against the bills. Some senators and members of Congress did pull their support because of the protest. Both bills are due to be considered in the next several weeks.

On Thursday, Mitch McConnell, Republican leader in the Senate, asked the Senate majority to reconsider the Protect IP Act bill before moving ahead with it because of the "serious issues" with the legislation.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and Comcast/NBC Universal. Comcast/NBC Universal is listed as a supporter of the Stop Online Piracy Act on the House Judiciary Committee website. Microsoft itself said it opposes SOPA as it is "currently drafted.")

Related stories:

Source: http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/19/10193724-anonymous-says-it-took-down-government-riaa-mpaa-sites

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Ricki Lake: 'DWTS' led to post-traumatic stress

Adam Taylor / ABC

With renewed famed came stress for former "Dancing With the Stars" hopeful Ricki Lake.

By Ree Hines

The broken rib Ricki Lake sustained during her stint on "Dancing With the Stars" wasn't the worst of her woes from her time on the show. After all, the season-13 finalist bounced back from her broken bone enough to finish the competition in third place. The emotional stress she suffered from her "Dancing" days, however, still affects her.

"The 'Dancing With the Stars' thing, I sort of have post-traumatic stress a little bit from it because I haven't been used to that kind of level of fame," Lake confessed during a Wednesday interview on "The Rosie Show." "You know, (fans) root for you, and then there are these expectations. You're on the cover of a magazine. You've lost so much weight, and you want to maintain it, but you're not dancing six hours a day anymore. So, it's just? I felt like I wanted to stay home a lot after it was over. We went to Paris for Christmas, and it was nice not to be noticed, to be under the radar."

But the actress-turned-TV-host-turned-dancer will have to get used to being back in the spotlight. Later this year, she returns to TV with a new syndicated talk show.

"I'm grateful (for 'Dancing), and I loved the experience -- and I think it's great because I'm going to get back to TV in September -- but it was strange," she insisted.

Are you surprised by Lake's post-traumatic, post-"Dancing" experience? Will you tune in to see her on her new talk show in the fall? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

?

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Source: http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/19/10190821-ricki-lake-dancing-gave-me-post-traumatic-stress

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German court knocks down one Samsung patent claim against Apple (Digital Trends)

The long-running tit-for-tat legal battle between Samsung and Apple logged another entry today, with Judge Andreas Voss of the Mannheim Regional Court in Germany ruling that Apple does not infringe on a Samsung patent involving 3G/UMTS technology. The judge did not offer any detailed reasoning, but overall the ruling likely represents only a small setback in Samsung?s ongoing battle with Apple in Germany: It still has four more lawsuits pending there, spanning a total of six patent infringement claims against Apple.

Apple is also suing Samsung in Germany over six patents.

Apple and Samsung are suing and counter-suing each other over Android and iOS on a worldwide basis, with cases ongoing in the United States, Europe, Australia, and Asia. Although neither company has chalked up a distinct victory in the litigation, the German cases have been among the most high-profile for Samsung, since Apple managed to get Samsung devices removed from the IFA trade show last September. However, even where Apple has managed to gain injunctions on Samsung products, they?ve been hollow victories, with the injunctions being overturned on appeal or side-stepped with product modification.

The reasons for Judge Voss?s ruling that Samsung?s 3G/UMTS patent is invalid could become significant later. As noted by Florian Mueller in his FOSS Patents blog, if the judge?s reasoning was that Samsung had exhausted its rights to assert the patent, the rationale could effect three of Samsung?s four remaining lawsuits against Apple in Germany. In effect, Apple would have a license to use the technology. However, if the judge found that Apple didn?t infringe on Samsung?s patent on technical grounds, it likely won?t have any impact on Samsung?s remaining suits.

Earlier this week, Apple filed a new lawsuit against Samsung in Germany?seeking to have sales of ten Samsung smartphones banned. Apple and Samsung are also back in German court today, where Apple is arguing Samsung products violate a German utility model Apple applied for regarding iOS?s slide-to-unlock mechanism. (In Germany, a ?utility model? is somewhat less than a patent. It?s quick to apply for, but has a number of limitations.) Apple also applied for a German patent on slide-to-unlock, which it also claims Samsung (and Motorola) infringe upon. Those accusations are being handled separately). Does this sound like minutia? Recall that these actions follow on Samsung suing Apple over how the iPhone displays emoticons.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

More from Digital Trends

Motorola chomps Apple in German patent victory, now what?

Australian Galaxy Tab ban extended another week

Apple loses patent battle with small Spanish tablet maker

Apple wins temporary ban on sales of Samsung tablet in Australia

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20120120/tc_digitaltrends/germancourtknocksdownonesamsungpatentclaimagainstapple

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Angel dust back in New York, drug ring busted (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Angel dust, the scourge of New York City in the 1970s, is back in the hands of drug dealers, including one Harlem ring that used an 8-year-old boy as a lookout while it operated out of neighborhood apartment houses, police said on Wednesday.

Authorities arrested 35 men in the drug ring that made $1.5 million in profit from street sales of $10 PCP bags from October 2010 to January 2012, said police commissioner Raymond Kelly at a news conference.

Two brothers, Lamont Moultrie, 41, and Bernard Moultrie, 39, were indicted on a charge of operating as a major trafficker under a recent drug kingpin law that carries a potential life sentence.

The drug bust was the result of a 15-month investigation that culminated in a search of Lamont Moultrie's apartment in Harlem on Wednesday, Kelly said.

Police found $39,000 and 2.5 gallons of liquid PCP in Hawaiian Punch bottles, he said.

"Now that is a lot of PCP," Kelly said.

The Department of Justice said PCP, also known as angel dust, was originally developed in the 1950s as an anesthetic, but was quickly discontinued because it often gave patients violent hallucinations.

It was a popular street drug sold in New York City in the 1970s and Kelly was asked if the drug bust indicates angel dust is back as the narcotic of choice.

"It sort of ebb and flowed," Kelly said. "I don't think it ever went away, but it seems it has gained favor and come back."

Prosecutor Cyrus Vance Wednesday said 15 shootings, four of them murders, have taken place around the same time and place of the PCP operation. Though none of the people arrested Wednesday have been charged with the shootings, the "simply unacceptable" violence is related to drug spikes in the neighborhood, he said.

"Neighbors told us directly that they walked in their hallways in fear as their community filled up every afternoon with people who were selling and buying drugs," Vance said at the news conference.

Drug dealing often took place in neighborhood apartment houses around the time local schools let out. Among those in the drug ring was an 8-year-old boy who kept a lookout for police and steered customers to dealers, authorities said.

"Obviously this young boy is a victim of the operations of others, but it just goes shows you the pernicious impact an organization like this can have on a community and how important it is for us to end it," Vance said.

Police inspector Lori Pollock said the boy, a nephew of one of the men arrested Wednesday, is now under care of child protective services.

(Editing By Barbara Goldberg and Paul Thomasch)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120118/us_nm/us_crime_angeldust_newyork

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Video: Matthews: ?Republicans sure don?t act like Democrats?

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/46046884#46046884

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Scanner Dock for iPad Wins Ugly Contest

You probably don;t need yet another iPad dock, but if you have gone computer-less and still need to scan the occasional sheet of dead treeware, then the iConvert Scanner Dock might be just the thing for you.
It’s a front-feed, 300dpi document digitizer with a slot up top for your iPad 1 or 2. The gap [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/mO6-_a3QRpU/

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Samsung says not interested in buying RIM (Reuters)

SEOUL (Reuters) ? Samsung Electronics Co said on Wednesday it was not interested in taking over Research In Motion after shares of the BlackBerry smartphone maker jumped more than 10 percent following a tech blog report that it was seeking to sell itself to the South Korean firm.

"We haven't considered acquiring the firm and are not interested in (buying RIM)," Samsung spokesman James Chung said.

Chung also said Samsung had not been approached by the Canadian firm for a takeover.

The Boy Genius Report website cited an unidentified source as saying that RIM co-chief executive Jim Balsillie was meeting with companies interested in either licensing its software or buying a part or all or RIM, with Samsung leading the pack.

(Reporting by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120117/tc_nm/us_rim

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CSN video: Epstein doesn't believe in rebuilding

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Taiwan and China to grow closer with Ma's reelection

The reelection of Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou heralds closer ties with China, leaving one less trouble spot in East Asia for the US.

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou?s smooth reelection over the weekend is likely to lead to closer ties with China, which is already on the island?s good side, and allow Washington to relax as it seeks friendly relations with both.

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Mr. Ma won another four years on Saturday with about 51 percent of the vote. China-leery opposition candidate Tsai Ing-wen came in second with 46 percent. Voters also gave Mr. Ma?s Nationalist Party a 57 percent majority in the Taiwanese parliament.

The presidential outcome, which analysts say shows voters played safe by choosing the incumbent over an opponent whose China and economic policies were murkier, augers a deepening of China-Taiwan ties plus a reduced threat of war.

US officials will turn to more pressing foreign policy issues as long as the two sides keep peace but don?t reunify, political analysts say.

?In a general sense, Washington and Beijing both feel relieved with this election result,? says Alexander Huang, strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan. ?I think from China?s side, Taiwan?s election was a kind of indirect referendum to examine whether their China policy worked. For Washington, it?s a bigger picture. The Taiwan Strait is now proven to be a stable region compared to Korean peninsula and South China Sea.?

In a rainy nighttime victory speech, Ma pledged to step up links with China, which have buoyed Taiwan?s $425 billion export-dependent economy as a massive market and low-cost manufacturing base.

?The people have approved of my setting aside disputes [with China] to strive for peace, turning danger into business opportunities,? he said. ?In the next four years, relations will become more harmonious and more interdependent.?

China is likely to work that pledge to the limit, seeking political concessions from Taiwan after the 16 tourism, trade, and transit deals signed since Ma took office in 2008. Those deals benefit primarily Taiwan, but Beijing eagerly signed them in hopes they would advance its goal of political unification.

Beijing has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s, when the Nationalist Party fled to the island. China has not ruled out the use of force, with its much larger military, to bring Taiwan into the fold, though it prefers peaceful means. The Nationalists today back Ma?s presidency.

Ms. Tsai?s camp, which advocates Taiwan?s formal independence from China, wants more distance from Beijing to ensure China doesn?t swallow the island without public approval. Ma, meanwhile, has less of a popular mandate this time around.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/CP3npQImeb4/Taiwan-and-China-to-grow-closer-with-Ma-s-reelection

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Golden Globes Draw Nearly 17 Million Viewers

Ratings down a bit from last year's show.
By Gil Kaufman

Ricky Gervais at the 2012 Golden Globes
Photo: Getty Images

Ricky Gervais
 has said that his third go-round as host of the Golden Globes
 would be his last. And while his latest Hollywood-tweaking gig on Sunday night didn't draw the same headlines as last year's scorched-earth takedown of Tinsel Town pomposity, ratings for the broadcast were steady.

According to the Nielsen Co. the 69th annual Globes was seen by 16.8 million viewers, which is just below the 17 million who tuned in last year. And though some critics dented Gervais for being more controlled than he was last year, the Globes has already set the high-water mark for awards programs so far this season, beating out both the American Music Awards and the Emmys.

MTV's Movies team gave Gervais both a thumbs up and down
 on his performance, praising him for "winning over Hollywood frenemies and delivering a very funny opening monologue." But there was some bad news as well. "The comedian might have talked a big game heading into the show, but Gervais' performance was a restrained one after last year's hullabaloo. What's great about the comedian is how he coats a witty mean-spiritedness with kindly, winking, you-know-I-still-love-you sugar. When your biggest dig is a fish-in-the-barrel attack on 'The Tourist,' you know you've caved to the worrywarts in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association."

With big wins for George Clooney for "The Descendants" and a boost for the silent film "The Artist," both movies solidified their spots as front-runners
 of the awards season.

Check out the 2012 Golden Globes winners, and don't miss all the fashion from the Golden Globes red carpet!

Related Videos

• 2012 Golden Globes: Highlights From The Show
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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677377/golden-globes-ratings.jhtml

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