Democrats spend big in Oregon special election

FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2012, file photo, Oregon 1st Congressional District Democratic candidate Suzanne Bonamici speaks during a debate with her Republican opponent Rob Cornilles in Portland, Ore. Voters have until Tuesday to cast a ballot in the all-mail election to replace former Rep. David Wu.(AP Photo/Don Ryan, file)

FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2012, file photo, Oregon 1st Congressional District Democratic candidate Suzanne Bonamici speaks during a debate with her Republican opponent Rob Cornilles in Portland, Ore. Voters have until Tuesday to cast a ballot in the all-mail election to replace former Rep. David Wu.(AP Photo/Don Ryan, file)

FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2012, file photo, Oregon 1st Congressional District Republican candidate Rob Cornilles, right, speaks during a debate with his Democratic rival Suzanne Bonamici in Portland, Ore. Voters have until Tuesday to cast a ballot in the all-mail election to replace former Rep. David Wu.(AP Photo/Don Ryan, file)

PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) ? Determined not to lose another friendly district because of a sex scandal, Democrats and their allies have pumped more than $1 million into an Oregon special election race for a House seat that has turned into a vicious exchange of attacks over the airwaves.

Voters are deciding who should replace former Taiwan-born Rep. David Wu, a seven-term Democrat who was the first Chinese-American to serve in the House of Representatives. Wu resigned last year following a string of bizarre news stories that began with photos of the congressman wearing a tiger costume and ended with a young woman's accusation that he made an unwanted sexual advance.

Voters have until 8 p.m. Tuesday to return their ballots in the all-mail election.

Republican Rob Cornilles, a sports business consultant, has tried hard to extend the scandal that brought down Wu to the Democrat who wants to take his place, former state Sen. Suzanne Bonamici. She says the race is about the future, not about Wu.

Bonamici and independent groups that support her have gone after Cornilles for missing tax payments for his business and for inconsistent statements about the number of jobs his company has created.

Oregon's 1st Congressional District is the state's economic engine, encompassing downtown Portland and the fast-growing western suburbs that are home to the Silicon Forest high-tech hub and the global headquarters for athletic-wear giants Nike Inc. and Columbia Sportswear Company. It stretches across agricultural communities to the Pacific coast. Democrats have represented the district since 1975, and its voters overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential race.

But Democrats do not want to see a repeat of what happened last year in a heavily Democratic New York City district, when a Republican won a special election after Rep. Anthony Weiner acknowledged sending provocative text messages and resigned.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has spent $1.3 million to boost Bonamici. Political committees for a union, abortion-rights groups and a super political action committee allied with Democrats have also chipped in with their own mail or television ads.

Democrats insist they're not scared. They've likened their investment to an insurance policy to avoid any doubts about the party's strength that would inevitably follow a loss in a liberal state like Oregon. The National Republican Congressional Committee has spent just $85,000 on the race.

Cornilles, 47, is making his second bid for the seat after losing to Wu in 2010. He's centered his pitch on his experience running a sports-marketing firm, hoping to swing an upset with a relentless focus on jobs and a run toward the center. Unemployment in the Portland area dropped to 7.8 percent in November 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Bonamici, 57, is mixing traditional Democratic themes of protecting Social Security retirement payments and Medicare health care coverage for the elderly with a pledge to tackle the national debt by getting Washington's priorities in order.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-29-Oregon-Congressional%20Election/id-679b0562b5ab4fb793cdf45e9000e995

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99% A Separation

All Critics (87) | Top Critics (32) | Fresh (87) | Rotten (1) | DVD (2)

Asghar Farhadi's emotionally epic movie is not just a masterpiece dramatically, it is a movie dramatically of its moment.

It's small. It's real. And it's deeply moving.

This is a trenchant emotional thriller that you watch in dread, awe, and amazing aggravation.

Some films wear their artistry so lightly they appear simply to be happening, the inner workings of the story guided by an unseen hand.

The film involves its audience in an unusually direct way, because although we can see the logic of everyone's position, our emotions often disagree.

This is primarily a human story about a marriage unraveling, the husband torn between love for his daughter and devotion to his father, the daughter torn between one parent and the other.

Sometimes, in an attempt to do the best we can for the people we love, we end up wreaking irreparable damage.

[The film] puts us in the uncomfortable role of the adjudicator.

Culturally specific but universally relatable, this slowly escalating Iranian drama boasts incredibly impressive motivational clarity.

For all the stifled truths of its characters, Farhadi's film feels like a gust of brisk air.

...like being caught in a barbed-wire fence of ethical dilemmas.

Feels like a peek through a neighbor's window.

The progressively tedious atmosphere ultimately prevents the film's final scenes from making any real emotional impact...

Estabelece definitivamente Asghar Farhadi como um dos diretores mais consistentes e fascinantes do Cinema contempor?neo.

More Critic Reviews

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_separation_2011/

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Chris Weidman takes UFC on Fox 2 decision

CHICAGO -- On 11 days notice, Chris Weidman took a less-than-stellar split decision over Demian Maia. The judges saw it 29-28, 29-28, 29-28 for Weidman at the United Center on Saturday night.

Though both men are accomplished grapplers, the first round started with nothing but stand-up. Neither fighter truly got an edge in striking, though it was Maia who got the first takedown. The two got back to their feet quickly, and Maia followed up with aggressive strikes.

Weidman got the takedown to start the second round, but again, they did not stay there for long. Maia's face started to show damage from the repeated hits Weidman delivered, but Weidman's movement around the cage slowed as the round went on. As Weidman slowed, Maia delivered more kicks and punches. Weidman tried for a takedown with a minute left, but Maia easily avoided it. In the final 20 seconds, Weidman was able to get the takedown, and turned over for a choke, but the round ended before he could secure it.

Weidman return to the clinch in the third round, moving towards Maia and landing knees and punches. They continued their evenly matched striking fest, though both fighters were clearly exhausted.

The crowd in Chicago was unenthused about the action, but that's what happens when two grappling aficionados deciced to engage in a grappling match.

UPDATE: After the bout, UFC president Dana White tweeted that the scores were read wrong. Weidman actually won by a unanimous decision.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/chris-weidman-takes-ufc-fox-2-split-decision-014653119.html

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Fielder: Joining Tigers 'kind of a dream'

Jadyn Fielder, 7, answers a question next to his father, Prince Fielder, who agreed to a $214 million, nine-year contract with the Detroit Tigers, during his introduction to reporters as a member of the team at a baseball news conference at Comerica Park in Detroit, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Jadyn Fielder, 7, answers a question next to his father, Prince Fielder, who agreed to a $214 million, nine-year contract with the Detroit Tigers, during his introduction to reporters as a member of the team at a baseball news conference at Comerica Park in Detroit, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Prince Fielder, who agreed to a $214 million, nine-year contract with the Detroit Tigers, sits next to his son, Jadyn, during his introduction to reporters as a member of the team at a baseball news conference at Comerica Park in Detroit, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Prince Fielder stands next to Detroit Tigers team owner Mike Ilitch during his introduction to reporters at a baseball news conference after agreeing to a $214 million, nine-year contract with the Tigers, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, at Comerica Park in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Detroit Tigers president, CEO and general manager Dave Dombroski, left, helps new Tigers first baseman Prince Fielder with his uniform as team owner Mike Ilitch looks on during a baseball news conference at Comerica Park in Detroit, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Fielder agreed to a $214 million, nine-year contract with the Tigers. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Prince Fielder is introduced to the media after agreeing to a $214 million, nine-year contract with the Detroit Tigers during a baseball news conference at Comerica Park in Detroit, on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

DETROIT (AP) ? Prince Fielder was born in 1984, the last time Detroit won the World Series.

After luring Fielder to Michigan with the fourth-largest contract in baseball history, the Tigers are hoping he will help usher in a new championship era for the Motor City.

"This is awesome," Fielder said Thursday after finalizing a $214 million, nine-year deal with Detroit. "It's kind of a dream come true. I'm excited."

Detroit began seriously pursuing Fielder after designated hitter Victor Martinez tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during offseason conditioning. Now the Tigers have three of baseball's biggest stars ? Fielder, Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander ? all in their primes. Detroit won the AL Central by 15 games last year but lost to Texas in the AL championship series.

When the Tigers introduced Fielder on Thursday, the message was clear:

"We're trying to win right now," general manager Dave Dombrowski said. "We tried to win last year. We were close. I think we've reached a point now, on a yearly basis, we feel that way. When you look at the core of our group of players, there's a lot of guys that are on that field right now that are quality players."

Fielder's father Cecil became a big league star when he returned to the majors from Japan and hit 51 home runs with Detroit in 1990. Cecil played with the Tigers into the 1996 season, and young Prince made a name for himself with his prodigious power displays during batting practice at Tiger Stadium.

Detroit plays at Comerica Park now, and times have changed. The Fielders' strained relationship has been well documented, and Prince didn't elaborate on it Thursday.

"I'm just ecstatic about being with the Tigers," Prince Fielder said. "I'm just here to enjoy the day."

It will be up to manager Jim Leyland to figure out where to play all of his powerful hitters. He said Thursday the Tigers will move Miguel Cabrera from first base to third to make room for Fielder. He also listed a possible batting order, with Cabrera hitting third and Fielder fourth.

It's a lineup based on power, not speed.

"If they hit it where they're supposed to hit 'em, they can trot," Leyland said. "We're going back to the old-fashioned baseball. We've got big-time power on the corners."

Fielder's contract includes a limited no-trade provision. He can be traded to 10 clubs without his consent before 2017, when he gains rights to block all trades under baseball's labor contract as a 10-year veteran who has been with a team for at least five years.

He will earn $23 million in each of his first two years with Detroit, then will make $24 million annually in the final seven seasons of his contract, according to terms obtained by The Associated Press.

The move carries plenty of risk for the Tigers. Fielder is 27 and has been extremely durable during his career, but Detroit is committing to him for almost a decade.

"I go by my instinct, like everybody else does," said owner Mike Ilitch, the Little Caesars pizza mogul who signed off on this massive deal after what had been a quiet offseason for the Tigers. "My instincts told me that this is going to work out fine."

Leyland sounded as taken aback as anyone with his club's sudden change.

"This boggles my mind, to be honest with you," he said. "I was kidding somebody. I said ? I'm being funny ? 'About three weeks ago we were talking about maybe getting an extra pitcher or bullpen guy or something. Well, we didn't know if we had the finances to get a guy.' I said, 'I don't know what happened in three weeks. Little Caesars did good, evidently.'"

The hardest adjustment might be for Cabrera. He's returning to a position he played while with the Florida Marlins, but he's played only 14 games at third base with the Tigers ? all in 2008 right after he joined the team.

Fielder made 15 errors last year, the most in baseball by a first baseman.

"Mr. Ilitch and Dave have given me a lot of nice pieces to this puzzle. It's my job, along with coaches, to figure out how to put that puzzle all together," Leyland said. "(Cabrera) is not going to have the agility, most likely, defensively that Brandon Inge had. You give up a little something, but you get a whole lot in return."

Leyland said he talked to Inge, who lost his job as Detroit's everyday third baseman last season.

"He's not the happiest camper," Leyland said. "He certainly understands."

Dombrowski indicated he's satisfied with his roster heading into spring training, although it's hard to rule out any more moves after the Tigers shockingly emerged with Fielder.

The pitching rotation is anchored by Verlander, who won the Cy Young Award and MVP last year, but Detroit's fifth starter spot is still uncertain. Dombrowski said the Tigers could bring in some non-roster invites to compete for that job.

"I think positional player-wise, we're pretty well set," he said.

___

AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-27-BBA-Tigers-Fielder/id-b53b8207f0454b6d9fdd56d2a3a84ac3

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Critics Consensus: The Grey is Certified Fresh

Plus, Man on a Ledge is too contrived, and guess One For the Money's Tomatometer.

Also opening this week in limited release:

• Declaration of War, a based-on-true-events dramedy about a young couple whose child is suffering from brain cancer, is at 85 percent.
• How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?, a documentary about unconventional British architect Norman Foster, is at 47 percent.
• After Fall, Winter, a drama about a pair of damaged souls who find love in Paris, is at 20 percent.

And finally, mad props to RedTuna for coming the closest to guessing Underworld Awakening's 30 percent Tomatometer.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1924390/news/1924390/

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EU, IMF press Greece on reforms before aid flows (Reuters)

ATHENS (Reuters) ? The European Union and IMF want Greece to push through more budget cuts and implement a series of long-agreed austerity reforms before they agree on a new bailout the country needs to avert bankruptcy, a report obtained by Reuters shows.

All eyes have been on Athens' tortuous debt swap talks with its private creditors over the past week, but Greece also needs to convince its euro zone partners and the International Monetary Fund to release a 130-billion euro package if it is to avoid a chaotic default.

Athens' partners have grown increasingly exasperated with its repeated fiscal slippages and delays on reforms and want to see progress before they wrap up Greece's second multi-billion euro bailout in three years.

The EU, IMF and ECB lenders - known as the troika - have drawn up a report this week which includes a list of measures they want to see enacted by Athens.

Top of the list is passing a supplementary budget with more cuts to reach fiscal targets in 2012. The troika suggests large spending cuts in defense and health spending as well as cutting redundant state entities. The document does not specify the amount of cuts needed.

The EU and IMF are also pressing Greece to adopt a much-delayed reform of supplementary pensions, ensure that a plan to replace only 1 out of 5 civil servants leaving the workforce is enacted and want Greece to finalize the opening up of its many closed professions such as lawyers and pharmacists, which they have been demanding for years, the document shows.

They also want the Bank of Greece to complete its assessment of Greek banks' capital shortfall and they expect the government to enact legslation to improve wage flexibility and further liberalize product and service markets, the document says.

The list of measures is not final and could change after discussions with the Greek authorities, the document says.

Government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis said the government would try to negotiate some of the points on the list but repeated that Athens needed the bailout loan to stay afloat.

Asked if Greece would default without the aid, he told Skai TV: "It's obvious, if we don't get the loan, how are we going to find the money?"

But he added: "This is not what we will finally pass, we should keep that in mind. It's a list by the troika that opens up all those issues ... Some of them are past obligations, some are up for negotiation."

Talks with EU, IMF and ECB inspectors on the new bailout program are expected to go well into next week, sources close to the talks say, with slow process so far on fleshing out reforms required by the lenders on areas such as cutting the public sector workforce and making wage rules in the public and private sector more flexible.

Looming elections are distracting senior Greek officials and politicians from enacting the unpopular austerity reforms.

Greece's co-ruling conservative New Democracy party wants snap elections as a new bailout deal is clinched and no later than April 8.

Greece and its private creditors made progress on Thursday in talks on restructuring its debt, both sides said, and they will continue negotiating on Friday with the aim of sealing an agreement within a few days. There was no set time yet for Friday's meetings.

(Reporting by Ingrid Melander, editing by Mike Peacock)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/bs_nm/us_greece

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Israel says Iran 'drifting' toward nuke goal line

Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak gestures as he speaks during a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. The meeting lasts until Jan. 29. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak gestures as he speaks during a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. The meeting lasts until Jan. 29. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak, left, attends a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. The meeting lasts until Jan. 29. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak gestures as he speaks during a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. The meeting lasts until Jan. 29. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) ? Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Friday the world must quickly stop Iran from reaching the point where even a "surgical" military strike could not block it from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Amid fears that Israel is nearing a decision to attack Iran's nuclear program, Barak said tougher international sanctions are needed against Tehran's oil and banks so that "we all will know early enough whether the Iranians are ready to give up their nuclear weapons program."

Iran insists its atomic program is aimed only at producing energy and research, but it has refused to consider giving up its ability to enrich uranium.

The United Nations has imposed four rounds of sanctions against Iran, but veto-wielding Russia and China say they see no need for additional punitive measures. That has left the U.S. and the European Union to try to pressure other countries to follow their lead and impose even tougher sanctions.

"We are determined to prevent Iran from turning nuclear. And even the American president and opinion leaders have said that no option should be removed from the table and Iran should be blocked from turning nuclear," Barak told reporters during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.

"It seems to us to be urgent, because the Iranians are deliberately drifting into what we call an immunity zone where practically no surgical operation could block them," he said.

But while Barak called it "a challenge for the whole world" to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran, he stopped short of confirming any action that could further stoke Washington's concern about a possible Israeli military strike.

Iran has accused Israel of masterminding the killing of Iranian scientists involved in the nuclear program, but Barak declined to comment on that.

Earlier, he told a panel discussion that "a stable world order" is incompatible with a nuclear-armed Iran because countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt will all want the bomb.

"This will be the end of any nonproliferation regime," Barak said. "The major powers in the region will all feel compelled to turn nuclear."

Separately, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urged a resumption of dialogue between Western powers and Iran on the nuclear issue.

He said Friday that Tehran must comply with Security Council resolutions and prove conclusively that its nuclear program is not directed at making arms.

"The onus is on Iran," Ban said at a press conference. "They have to prove themselves that their nuclear development program is genuinely for peaceful purposes, which they have not done yet."

Ban expressed concern about the most recent report of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which strongly suggested Iran's nuclear program has a military purpose.

On Thursday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran is ready to revive talks with the U.S. and other world powers but suggested that Tehran's foes will have to make compromises to prevent negotiations from again collapsing in stalemate.

Iran says it won't give up its right to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel, but it has offered to allow IAEA inspectors to visit its nuclear sites to ensure that the program won't be weaponized.

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said at a Davos session that "we do not have that much confidence if Iran has declared everything" and its best information "indicates that Iran has engaged in activities relevant to nuclear explosive devices."

"For now they do not have the capacity to manufacture the fuel," he said. "But in the future, we don't know."

Amano added that an IAEA mission would be sent Saturday to address this issue.

"If the enrichment to higher levels is in a declared facility, we can find it very quickly," he said. "The problem is we do not know if these are all the declared facilities."

Richard Haass, a former top U.S. diplomat who heads the Council on Foreign Relations, said international law justifies a pre-emptive strike only to stave off an "imminent" attack.

"The real question is can Iran assure us what it is not doing?" he said.

Israeli defense officials said Friday that new European sanctions on Iran could constrain Israel. They said any Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities may lack international legitimacy while the world waits to see the effects of the new measures.

The officials spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss sensitive military matters.

Much of the West agrees with Israel that Iran, despite its denials, is developing nuclear weapons technology. But the United States clearly worries that a military attack could backfire, by dividing international opposition to Iran ? and send oil prices skyrocketing.

Israel has attacked nuclear sites in foreign countries before. In 1981, Israeli warplanes destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor. In 2007, Israeli aircraft destroyed a site in Syria that the U.N. nuclear watchdog deemed to be a secretly built nuclear reactor.

But Israel is unlikely to strike without coordinating with the Americans, who maintain forces on aircraft carriers and military bases in the Gulf.

In spite of his tough words to Iran, Ban said that dialogue among the "three-plus-three" ? Germany, France and Britain plus Russia, China and the United States ? is the path forward.

"There is no other alternative for addressing this crisis than peaceful ... resolution through dialogue," said Ban.

Ban noted that there have been a total of five Security Council resolutions so far on the Iranian nuclear program, four calling for sanctions.

It's not just the West that is concerned.

"We take it for granted Iran would want nuclear weapons," Yan Xuetong, dean of the Institute of Modern International Studies at Tsinghua University, said of China. "Certainly, China is working very hard with the international community to prevent this."

___

John Daniszewski in Davos and Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-27-EU-Davos-Forum-Iran/id-1ae0a9f4175446dca0d01337da075655

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Automator Your iPhone, Sing-A-Long, Make Commitments, and Take Quality iPhone Photos [Iphone Apps Of The Week]

Automating your tasks on the iPhone seems like a wonderful dream that'll never come true. Well wake up dream warrior, because it's a reality. Also, follow through with your commitments, sing to the world, and take amazing photos.

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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Dz7SDP6m04I/

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FACT CHECK: Debate over 'ghetto language' ad (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Mitt Romney accuses Newt Gingrich of calling Spanish a "ghetto language." Close, but not quite.

Gingrich denies doing so and said he merely promoted the use of English, "period." That's even more of a stretch.

The last Republican presidential debate before the GOP Florida primary Thursday brought viewers a blitz of charges and countercharges over immigration, the financial lives of the candidates and more. Here are how some of the claims compare with the facts:

GINGRICH: "It's taken totally out of context.... I did not say it about Spanish. I said in general about all languages. We are better for children to learn English in general, period."

THE FACTS: At issue is Romney's Spanish-language radio ad running in Florida that says Gingrich branded Spanish a ghetto language in a 2007 speech. In the contentious remarks in question, much more came after Gingrich's "period."

In his speech to the National Federation of Republican Women, Gingrich advocated making English the official language, a position he still holds, and added: "We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto."

He did not explicitly call Spanish a ghetto language. But at the time, the remark was widely taken to mean Spanish, overwhelmingly the main foreign language spoken in the United States and the primary language of many immigrants.

Gingrich recognized as much when, in response to a Hispanic backlash against his remark, he made an online video days after the speech in which he more or less apologized for his choice of words and for producing "a bad feeling within the Latino community."

___

ROMNEY on the same topic: "I doubt that's my ad, but we'll take a look and find out."

THE FACTS: It's his ad.

___

RICK SANTORUM: "You had a president of the United States that held (up) a Colombian free trade agreement. Colombia, who's out there on the front lines working with us against the narco-terrorists, standing up to Chavez in South America ? and what did we do? ... The president of the United States sided with organized labor and the environmental groups and held Colombia hanging out to dry for three years."

THE FACTS: When President Barack Obama took office, he actually tried to revive a free-trade deal with Colombia that had been negotiated by his Republican predecessor but left to languish without congressional approval, just as he tried to make similar progress with South Korean and Panamanian free-trade pacts. He bucked considerable opposition from organized labor and fellow Democrats in doing so.

Obama did hold off on submitting the three deals to Congress as his administration tried to negotiate more palatable terms to Democrats. He finally submitted them in 2011 and Congress approved them in the fall ? with substantial GOP support and a fair amount of Democratic opposition.

___

ROMNEY: Fannie and Freddie are "offering mortgages again to people who can't possibly repay them. We're creating another housing bubble, which will hurt the American people."

THE FACTS: If there is another housing bubble forming, most homebuilders, mortgage lenders and real estate agents would like to find it. Instead, the housing market remains depressed, with sales low and home prices falling.

Fannie and Freddie don't sell or offer any mortgages. Their function has always been to support the housing market by purchasing mortgages from banks, packaging them into bonds and guaranteeing the bonds against default. This proved costly when the housing bubble burst: The two entities were formally taken over by the government in 2008 and have since cost taxpayers $150 billion.

The two mortgage giants are still functioning under government receivership, and now own or guarantee nearly all new mortgages, because banks are reluctant to make loans without the agencies' support. But banks have significantly toughened their credit standards since the housing bubble and are requiring higher credit scores and bigger down payments. That is causing an increasing number of home sales contracts to fall through as would-be buyers are unable to get mortgage loans.

___

SANTORUM: Criticized the Obama administration for its "abysmal treatment" of allies in Latin America, and said Obama has a "consistent policy of siding with the leftists, siding with the Marxists, siding with those who don't support democracy."

THE FACTS: Obama has not sided with the leading leftists, such as those ruling Cuba and Venezuela, and instead has roundly criticized them.

It's true that Latin America has been on the back burner for much of Obama's tenure, as he concentrated on other parts of the world, including the Middle East. But Obama visited three countries in Latin America last year, and the Panamanian and Colombian trade agreements were part of the biggest round of trade liberalization since the North American Free Trade Agreement and other pacts of that era.

___

ROMNEY: "My investments are not made by me. My investments for the last 10 years have been in a blind trust, managed by a trustee."

THE FACTS: Not all of his investments have been in a blind trust. Romney's personal financial disclosure forms show he owned between $250,001 and $500,000 in the Federated Government Obligation Fund, which contained mutual-fund notes of politically sensitive Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. An addendum to Romney' disclosure forms says that certain assets ? including the federated fund ? were outside the scope of his blind trust.

The investment was not on Romney's 2007 financial form, making it a relatively new one ? just as the housing and financial crises were hitting Americans full force.

___

RON PAUL: Obama "promises to end the wars, but the wars expand."

THE FACTS: By the most obvious measures, the wars are shrinking. Last month, the U.S. pulled its last troops out of Iraq, fulfilling a pledge by Obama to end the war there.

Obama did escalate America's fight in Afghanistan, announcing in December 2009 that he was sending an additional 33,000 troops.

The U.S. and its NATO partners in late 2010 agreed to end the combat mission in Afghanistan by the end of 2014. As part of that plan, Obama fulfilled his promise to bring 10,000 troops home from Afghanistan by the end of last year, and is moving ahead with plans to pull an additional 23,000 out by this fall. There are now about 90,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

___

Associated Press writers Tom Raum, Lolita C. Baldor, Jim Drinkard, Christopher S. Rugaber and Jack Gillum contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_el_pr/us_republicans_debate_fact_check

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Kindle Fire gets its own Hotmail app

John Brecher / msnbc.com

By Suzanne Choney

Hotmail users who own Amazon's Kindle Fire now have their own app for the Microsoft email program. If it sounds weird to think of a Windows app on Android, it's not; it's smart business, and Microsoft has done the same with many of its programs for iOS, Apple's mobile operating system, as well as for Android mobile devices.

The Kindle Fire is Android-based, but Amazon has its own app store and approval system for apps that make it onto the Kindle Fire. Apple, Android, Amazon ?no matter, says David Law, director of Hotmail product management.

"We think it?s critical that our customers can use Hotmail from any device they choose," wrote Law on a Windows Live blog announcing Hotmail for the Kindle Fire. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBCUniversal.)

"In addition to making Hotmail work great on devices running Windows, we?ll continue to invest in great experiences on other major device platforms," Law wrote. "The recent release of iOS5 and our Hotmail application for Android has made it even easier to use Hotmail on those devices, and the result has been over 12 million active Hotmail users on iOS and over 3 million active users of our Android application."

While you can get to Hotmail via the Kindle Fire's Amazon Silk Web browser, the free Hotmail app for Kindle Fire should offer some advantages, he said.

"Whereas the native Kindle application simply downloads your mail via POP3, with the new Hotmail app you can sync all your mail, contacts, folders, and subfolders via the more robust Exchange Active Sync protocol."

You can download the app at the Kindle store here.

Related stories:

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on?Facebook,?and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Source: http://gadgetbox.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/25/10234781-kindle-fire-gets-its-own-hotmail-app

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Dow stirs some bad publicity in London Olympics

By msnbc.com staff and news services

A member of the body that oversees?sustainability issues for the London Olympics?has resigned in protest over?a sponsorship deal with Dow Chemical, an act reflecting?the company's latest setback in trying to generate goodwill as a Games partner.

Meredith Alexander, who sat on the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, said she had decided to quit the independent body because she "didn't want to be party to a defense of Dow,"?the American company's ties to the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster, which killed 25,000 in India.

"People should be free to enjoy London 2012 without this toxic legacy on their conscience," she said in a statement released by rights group Amnesty International. "It is appalling that 27 years on, the site has still not been cleaned up and thousands upon thousands of people are still suffering."

Related: Complete Olympics coverage

Dow has denied any responsibility for the pesticide plant accident. The former owner, Union Carbide,?settled its liabilities with the Indian government by paying $470 million. Dow merged with the Union Carbide Corp. in 2001.

Almost all publicity resulting from Dow becoming one of the 11 major games sponsors has been negative, the BBC reported.

Dow in 2010 signed on as one of 11 Worldwide Olympic Partners in a multimillion-dollar deal lasting until 2020, the BBC said. However, almost every story written about Dow associates the company's name with Bhopal, one of the world's worst industrial disasters.

Rights groups, athletes and Indian and British politicians have spoken out against Dow and signed petitions against Dow's participation.

Related: From al-Qaida to Occupy, UK preps for Olympics security

The company paid?7 million pounds (nearly $11 million) for?fabric panels to wrap around the London Olympic stadium, but to assuage public protest, Dow?agreed not to put its logo on the decoration, the BBC said.

But the world's second-largest chemical manufacturer isn't giving up, George Hamilton, vice president for Dow Olympic Operations, told the BBC.

Dow wants to talk about?what chemistry brings to the world in terms of supplying solutions in the field of water transportation, agriculture and energy, he said.

Dow materials are in the urethane foam in the track, polymer fibers in the super-fast hockey pitches, materials in stadium walls, floors and roofs, and insulation technology in the broadcast and electrical?cables, the BBC said.

Additionally, Dow is looking ahead?to?the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi,?Russia,?and the Youth Olympic Games in?Nanjing, China,?and?to the?2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the BBC said.

"We're well known in the U.S. and Western Europe, but our profile is not that high in growth economies like Brazil, China and India,"?Hamilton told the BBC.

This article includes reporting from Reuters and msnbc.com staff.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/25/10237536-dow-sees-more-negative-publicity-from-london-olympics-sponsorship

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It takes a primate supermom to raise twins

The first occurrence of twins for free-ranging Tibetan macaques has just been documented, revealing how rare survivorship of twins can be in many primate species, and how important mothers are to their success.

It?s possible that only supermom primates, humans included, can properly raise twins. In the wild, twins often die shortly after birth, or only one lives into adulthood.

PHOTOS: Monkey Faces Reveal a History

In the case of the Tibetan macaque mother of twins, described in the latest issue of the journal Primates, there is little doubt that she was qualified for the task.

?She appeared to remain quite healthy,? co-author Megan Matheson told Discovery News. ?I was very impressed when I observed her in August of 2010 running with two, by now quite large, infants hanging on!?

?At last check, the twins were still alive,? added Matheson, an associate professor of psychology at Central Washington University. ?They would be not quite 2 years old now, so still in the young juvenile stage. The twins were males, so they are not considered to be adults until 7 years of age.?

Matheson and her colleagues discovered the twins among a group of free-ranging Tibetan macaques at Huangshan, China. They studied the mother for 5 months after the birth, comparing her activities to those of other adult females with single or no offspring.

The researchers found that the mother monkey with twins spent more time foraging and resting, but that the quality of her social interactions did not seem to differ much from that of other macaque females.

In fact, she seemed to enjoy showing off her twins to others, who displayed an interest in the youngsters. For some reason, she tended to present one twin more frequently than its sibling. The researchers are not certain if that was because she is right handed, and simply handed over the twin on her right side more, or if she preferred that particular individual.

Males for this primate species, and many others, do not share parental duties. Female Tibetan macaques may mate with multiple males during the primary mating season.

?Dominant males have priority of access, but more subordinate males may sneak copulations,? Matheson said. As a result, paternity can be uncertain.

?Generally speaking, in these species where paternity uncertainty is the norm, adult males will be protective of all infants if they are threatened, but don?t necessarily favor any one for special contact,? she continued.

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Some female primates help out in what?s called ?aunting behavior,? but that doesn?t happen much among Tibetan macaques. Matheson suspects it?s because ?the mothers are not overly protective, and thus give the infants a lot of freedom once they?re able to move about independently. Even when they?re still nursing, the mother will retrieve infants when she leaves an area, but the infant is often exploring or playing with others while his or her mother forages.?

Successful parenting of twins among all non-human primates is rare, save for one family of South American monkeys, the Callitrichidae, which includes tamarins and marmosets. Females of this primate family routinely give birth to twins, with males providing substantial care. Sometimes mothers and dads of these primates will even raise triplets.

Among humans, studies reveal that women who deliver twins live longer, have more children than expected, bear babies at shorter intervals over a longer time, and are older at their last birth.

NEWS: Twin Births Doubled in U.S.

Shannen Robson, who led a recent study of human mothers of twins, theorizes that sturdy females are more likely to give natural birth to two instead of one.

?Having twins will not make you stronger or healthier, but stronger, healthier women are more likely to have twins naturally,? explained Robson, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Utah.

Robson's colleague Ken Smith added, ?The prevailing view is that the burden of childbearing on women is heavier when bearing twins. But we found the opposite: women who naturally bear twins in fact live longer and are actually more fertile.?

"She also appeared to be energetically challenged by the task, and adjusted her time budget by insisting that they nurse at the same time," said Carol Berman, a professor of anthropology at the University of Buffalo. "When one approached her for nursing, she would not allow the infant to get on her nipple until the other also arrived."

The macaque mom with twins gave birth when she was still relatively young, so it?s possible that she might produce another set in future.

? 2012 Discovery Channel

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46117509/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Digitize Film Movies With Your iPhone Using the LomoKino Adapter

Man, this gadget has to be the niche-est of niche gear we’ve seen in a while, but it’s certainly neat enough to get a mention. It’s the LomoKino Adapter, and it helps you digitize film movies with your iPhone. That actually sounds pretty handy, until you realize that it requires you to have both an [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/aqPM3niJ_is/

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US military raid in Somalia frees American, Dane

This undated photo taken at an unknown location and released by the Danish Refugee Council on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 shows American Jessica Buchanan from the Danish Refugee Council's de-mining unit. U.S. military forces helicoptered into Somalia in a nighttime raid Wednesday and freed two hostages, American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, while killing nine pirates, officials and a pirate source said. (AP Photo/Danish Refugee Council)

This undated photo taken at an unknown location and released by the Danish Refugee Council on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 shows American Jessica Buchanan from the Danish Refugee Council's de-mining unit. U.S. military forces helicoptered into Somalia in a nighttime raid Wednesday and freed two hostages, American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, while killing nine pirates, officials and a pirate source said. (AP Photo/Danish Refugee Council)

This undated photo taken at an unknown location and released by the Danish Refugee Council on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 shows Dane Poul Hagen Thisted from the Danish Refugee Council's de-mining unit. U.S. military forces helicoptered into Somalia in a nighttime raid Wednesday and freed two hostages, American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, while killing nine pirates, officials and a pirate source said. (AP Photo/Danish Refugee Council)

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) ? U.S. Special Forces troops flew into Somalia on a nighttime helicopter raid early Wednesday, freed an American and a Danish hostage and killed nine of the kidnappers in a mission that President Barack Obama said he personally authorized.

The Danish Refugee Council confirmed that the two aid workers, American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, were freed and "are on their way to be reunited with their families."

The raiders came in very quickly, catching the guards as they were sleeping after having chewed the narcotic leaf qat for much of the evening, a pirate who gave his name as Bile Hussein told The Associated Press by phone. Hussein said he was not present at the site but had spoken with other pirates who were, and that they told him nine pirates had been killed in the raid and three were missing.

A second pirate who gave his name as Ahmed Hashi said two helicopters attacked at about 2 a.m. about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the Somali town of Adado where the hostages were being held.

Buchanan, 32, and Thisted, 60, were working with a de-mining unit of the Danish Refugee Council when they were kidnapped in October.

The U.S. military's Africa Command, based in Stuttgart, Germany, confirmed that nine kidnappers were killed.

"Last night's mission, boldly conducted by some of our nation's most courageous, competent, and committed special operations forces, exemplifies United States Africa Command's mission to protect Americans and American interests in Africa," said Gen. Carter F. Ham, commander of U.S. Africa Command.

Obama seemed to refer to the mission before his State of the Union address in Washington Tuesday night. By then it was already Wednesday morning in Somalia. As he entered the House chamber in the U.S. Capitol, Obama pointed at Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in the crowd and said, "Good job tonight."

"As Commander-in-Chief, I could not be prouder of the troops who carried out this mission, and the dedicated professionals who supported their efforts," Obama said in a statement released by the White House Wednesday. He said he had authorized the rescue mission on Monday.

"Jessica Buchanan was selflessly serving her fellow human beings when she was taken hostage by criminals and pirates who showed no regard for her health and well-being," Obama said. "The United States will not tolerate the abduction of our people, and will spare no effort to secure the safety of our citizens and to bring their captors to justice."

A Western official said the helicopters and the hostages flew to a U.S. military base called Camp Lemonnier in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti after the raid. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been released publicly.

The timing of the raid may have been made more urgent by a medical condition. The Danish Refugee Council had been trying to work with Somali elders to win the hostages' freedom but had found little success.

"One of the hostages has a disease that was very serious and that had to be solved," Danish Foreign Minister Villy Soevndal told Denmark's TV2 channel. Soevndal did not provide any more details.

Soevndal congratulated the Americans for the raid and said he had been informed of the action.

Panetta visited Camp Lemonnier just over a month ago. A key U.S. ally in this region, Djibouti has the only U.S. base in sub-Saharan Africa. It hosts the military's Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.

The Danish Refugee Council said both freed hostages are unharmed "and at a safe location." The group said in a separate statement that the two "are on their way to be reunited with their families."

Ann Mary Olsen, head of the Danish Refugee Council's international department, was the one who informed the family of Hagen Thisted of the successful military operation.

"They (the family) were very happy and incredibly relieved that it is over," she said.

The two aid workers appear to have been kidnapped by criminals ? sometimes referred to as pirates ? and not by Somalia's al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab. As large ships at sea have increased their defenses against pirate attacks, gangs have looked for other money making opportunities like land-based kidnappings.

The Danish Refugee Council had earlier enlisted traditional Somali elders and members of civil society to seek the release of the two hostages.

"We are really happy with the successful release of the innocents kidnapped by evildoers," said Mohamud Sahal, an elder in Galkayo town, by phone. "They were guests who were treated brutally. That was against Islam and our culture ... These men (pirates) have spoiled our good customs and culture, so Somalis should fight back."

Buchanan and Hagen Thisted were seized in October from the portion of Galkayo town under the control of a government-allied clan militia. The aid agency has said that Somalis held demonstrations demanding the pair's quick release.

Their Somali colleague was detained by police on suspicion of being involved in their kidnapping.

The two hostages were working in northern Somalia for the Danish Demining Group, whose experts have been clearing mines and unexploded ordnance in conflict zones in Africa and the Middle East.

Several hostages are still being held in Somalia, including a British tourist, two Spanish doctors seized from neighboring Kenya, and an American journalist kidnapped on Saturday.

___

Associated Press reporters Jason Straziuso in Nairobi, Kenya, and Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark contributed to this report. Houreld reported from Nairobi.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-25-AF-Somalia-Helicopter-Raid/id-be3bed123c714f9bae0ea093f001d235

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SEC, SIPC to argue in court over Stanford claims (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Securities regulators are due in court on Tuesday to argue that a brokerage industry-backed protection fund should let thousands of victims of Allen Stanford's alleged Ponzi scheme file claims for compensation.

The Securities Investor Protection Corp, which has handled liquidation proceedings for Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme and the MF Global failure, has said the 40-year-old Securities Investor Protection law does not apply in the Stanford case.

The unprecedented legal face-off between SIPC and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could have far-reaching consequences for how investors are compensated if their brokerage firm fails.

Stanford, 61, was arrested in 2009 over charges that he ran a $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme linked to certificates of deposit issued by his Antigua-based bank.

Tuesday's hearing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia will come just a day after Stanford's criminal trial gets under way in another federal court in Texas.

The SEC asked the District of Columbia court in December to uphold its authority to order SIPC to help Stanford's victims after negotiations between the two entities had failed. It is unclear how soon Judge Robert Wilkins could rule.

SIPC is standing by its decision not to intervene on behalf of Stanford investors and has created a website to explain its position at http://www.stanford-antigua-sec-lawsuit.com/

It argues that it is limited by law to protecting customers against the loss of missing cash or securities in the custody of failing or insolvent SIPC-member brokerage firms.

While Stanford's Texas-based brokerage was a SIPC member, its offshore bank was not. And in any case, SIPC says it was not chartered by Congress to combat fraud or guarantee an investment's value.

"I think as a general policy matter, SIPC probably should win," said Seton Hall University School of Law professor Stephen Lubben. "If they don't, we are turning this insurance fund... into basically fraud protection across the board in all kinds of investments, which is going to be a lot more expensive."

Initially, some staff at the SEC seemed to agree with SIPC's view.

Former SEC General Counsel David Becker is quoted in a report released in September as saying "the law is the law" and that Stanford victims did not qualify.

Then in June, just one day after Senator David Vitter threatened to block the nominations of two SEC commissioners until the agency made a decision on Stanford claims, it announced that it was siding with the victims.

In a 195-page document, the SEC said that for SIPC to conclude that these customers did not actually deposit cash with Stanford Group "would elevate form over substance by honoring a corporate structure designed by Stanford in order to perpetrate an egregious fraud."

The timing of the SEC's announcement has raised some eyebrows at SIPC.

But Angela Shaw, the founder and director of the Stanford Victims Coalition, said the SEC's decision was not based on politics. It came, she said, after she turned over thousands of documents that helped convince the agency that investor money never went to the bank, but was instead spent by the brokerage.

"We have a broker-dealer that was a SIPC member that stole customers' funds," she said. "SIPC covers theft of investor funds when they are stolen by the broker-dealer, and the SEC has not alleged that this foreign bank stole our money."

TECHNICAL ARGUMENTS

It is not clear whether Tuesday's hearing will explore the merits of the arguments for or against SIPC coverage for Stanford investors.

The SEC, which has oversight authority over SIPC, plans to tell the judge that its position is "not subject to judicial review." It wants the court to simply weigh whether it has met the requirements to compel SIPC to launch a liquidation proceeding.

Stephen Harbeck, president and CEO of SIPC, rejects that argument entirely.

"I think it is fair to say that the SEC's position is as follows: The court may not look at the facts, the court may not look at the law, SIPC may not present any counter-argument, there is no appeal, and the court must do as we say," he said. "I am unaware of any jurisprudence that allows that."

SEC spokesman John Nester said Harbeck "apparently misunderstands our position, which is based on the facts and the law."

(Reporting By Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/bs_nm/us_sec_sipc_suit

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Panetta: US won't cut carrier fleet to fix budget

ABOARD THE USS ENTERPRISE?? The United States will not cut America's fleet of 11 aircraft carriers to help trim the budget deficit, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Saturday, citing tensions with Iran as an example of why the massive ships are so critical to national security.

Panetta was addressing about 1,700 sailors headed to the Gulf this spring aboard the USS Enterprise, which after a half-century of service is about to embark on its final tour before being taken offline in November.

The Enterprise's last deployment comes at a moment of heightened tensions with Iran, which has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important oil shipping lane. That's something the United States says it will not allow.

"You're part of what keeps our force agile and flexible and quickly deployable and capable of taking on any enemy, anywhere in the world," Panetta said, speaking about 100 nautical miles off the coast of the U.S. state of Georgia.

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"For that reason that the President of the United States and all of us . have decided that it is important for us to maintain our carrier presence at full strength. And that means we'll be keeping 11 carriers in our force," he said to applause.

Next week, the Pentagon is due to announce a five-year budget plan that will cut about $260 billion from projected defense spending, scaling back the military after a decade of costly land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Some analysts have speculated that the Pentagon could slightly shrink the carrier fleet, perhaps by slowing construction of new ships to replace older ones like the Enterprise, the world's first nuclear-powered carrier. Its missions date back to the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 and the Vietnam war.

THREE-YEAR GAP

There will already be a nearly three-year gap between the time that the Enterprise goes offline in November and its replacement, the USS Gerald R. Ford, comes online in 2015.

But Panetta insisted that the U.S. commitment to a fleet of 11 carriers was long-term and was quick to cite Iran as one of the important reasons that aircraft carriers were important in projecting American military power anywhere in the world.

Asked about Iran by one of the crew, Panetta said the United States would forge ahead with efforts to tighten sanctions isolating Iran over its nuclear program - sending a clear message that the international community will not let it obtain a nuclear weapon. Iran says its uranium enrichment is peaceful.

"But the most important way we make those messages clear is to show that we are prepared, and that we are strong. And that we will have a presence in that part of the world. And that's what this carrier is all about," he said.

"And better for them to deal with us through diplomacy and through international rules and regulations - and not other ways. Because they ain't going to win."

Panetta's trip to the Enterprise came as its strike group ran drills confronting a hostile, hypothetical nation named "Garnet." Panetta sat in the captain's chair as a fictitious enemy ship trailed the Enterprise, and spoke to a pilot as he attempted to land on the deck. After more training, the Enterprise will deploy in March and eventually head to the Gulf.

"They are going to a critical area of the world," Panetta told reporters later. "They're going to be traveling through the Straits of Hormuz and they will represent the naval presence and power projection that we've made clear that we're going to maintain in the Middle East."

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45673582/ns/politics/

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Robert Pattinson's 'Cosmopolis' Wins MTV Movie Brawl

More than 3 million votes were cast to push the David Cronenberg-directed indie over brand-new franchise 'The Hunger Games.'
By Eric Ditzian, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

Robert Pattinson and Sarah Gadon in "Cosmopolis"
Photo: David Cronenberg

The final buzzer has sounded, the brawl for it all is over, and Robert Pattinson is the last man standing: "Cosmopolis" has won MTV Movie Brawl 2012.

His indie drama made for one hell of a Cinderella story in the vote-driven tournament to pick the must-see movie of the year. Entering the bracket as a #4 seed (following an impressive showing in the play-in round), "Cosmopolis" appeared to be facing an unavoidable Elite Eight ouster. What were the chances Pattinson's cerebral film about a young finance wiz taking a day-long limo ride though New York City would beat "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2"? Apparently pretty good. Fans banded together, choosing to support RPattz's post-vampire career rather than the franchise that made him a star. "Breaking Dawn" was sent packing.

And so, after easily fighting off "The Dark Knight Rises," "Cosmopolis" came to face "The Hunger Games," a brand-new franchise that had waltzed through the tournament and seemed to be the odds-on favorite to win the whole tourney. But it was not to be. After more than 3 million votes and a slew of lead changes, Pattinson's film beat back Jennifer Lawrence's series to become the undisputed champion of the Movie Brawl.

Hours before voting closed Monday afternoon (January 23), with "Cosmopolis" staking out an insurmountable lead and the MTV Movies team at the Sundance Film Festival, we broke the news to Pattinson's co-star, Paul Giamatti, that their film had won the tournament.

"Holy cow, that's astounding!" he said. "The fact of that is amazing. ... That's a really cool thing that it brings that visibility to that movie."

It's been a whirlwind few weeks in the tournament, so we'd like to thank all the fans who voted. The Brawl broke bigger than we could have ever hoped. Well over 5 million votes were cast. The competition spread wildly over Twitter and Facebook. Our comments sections caught fire as fans debated, argued and rallied. In the end, though, only one film could stand as the undisputed champion of the MTV Movie Brawl. Pattinson, Giamatti, director David Cronenberg and everyone connected to "Cosmopolis" — we salute you!

See the results of the matches In MTV's Movie Brawl 2012!

Check out everything we've got on "Cosmopolis."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677752/robert-pattinson-cosmopolis-mtv-movie-brawl.jhtml

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Egypt army pardons 1,959 detainees, prominent activist (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) ? Egypt's military ruler has pardoned 1,959 people convicted by military courts in the year since President Hosni Mubarak's ouster, including activist Michael Nabil whose hunger strike had brought him close to death.

The state Al Nil television channel said the convicts had been pardoned by Hussein Tantawi, head of the military council that has ruled Egypt since Mubarak's removal in February 2011 in the midst of the Arab Spring protests that swept the region.

The pardon comes just four days before the first anniversary of the 18-day Egyptian uprising which began on January 25, though it was not clear if any of the detainees had yet been released.

Nabil, jailed by a military court for defaming the army, had his prison term reduced to two years from three in December following criticism from international human rights groups.

The 25-year-old was arrested in March and began a hunger strike to protest against his conviction for posting remarks saying the army had tried to quell the uprising against Mubarak.

The generals now ruling Egypt say the army took no part in a police crackdown on protesters and have pledged to hand over to civilian rule by June.

Activists say Nabil's case highlights the Egyptian army's heavy-handed approach to dissenters who criticize its top generals for using tactics reminiscent of Mubarak's regime.

"We can only say the revolution has succeeded when they release all activists, besides Michael, who are still being held in military courts and retry all civilians who have been prosecuted by courts they shouldn't have been prosecuted by," Nabil's brother Mark told Reuters.

No To Military Trials, a pressure group set up after the uprising, says at least 12,000 cases have come before the military courts since February. The group says sentences are often handed out swiftly behind closed doors and without proper legal representation.

It is not clear exactly how many activists and protesters convicted by military courts in the past year remain in jail.

The pardon comes as youth groups plan to hold major demonstrations to mark the anniversary of a revolt they say will not be complete until the generals hand power to civilians.

"The family has only received word of the decree but Michael is still in custody and they are waiting to hear of his movements," Mark Nabil said.

"The revolution must continue as long as any civilian is still being held unjustly in a military prison."

(Reporting by Lin Noueihed and Dina Zayed; editing by Myra MacDonald)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/usmilitary/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120121/wl_nm/us_egypt_military_pardon

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