Jackson's 'Hobbit' doubles film speed to 48 frames (AP)

PARK CITY, Utah ? Peter Jackson is making his hobbits and dwarves march double-time in his "The Lord of the Rings" prequel, which he's shooting in a faster film speed than the Hollywood standard.

Jackson hopes the 48-frames-a-second rate ? twice the 24 frames that has been the custom since the 1920s ? will help bring about a gradual transition to faster speeds that can bring more life-like images and action to the screen.

Digital cameras allow for shooting at 48 frames or faster, reducing the blurry effect known as strobing that can come with 24-frame filming.

Jackson said he hopes there will be a fair number of theaters equipped with digital projectors that can handle the faster film speeds by December, when Warner Bros. will release "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," the first chapter in his two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy classic.

"You shoot at 48, project at 48 and you get an illusion of life that's remarkable. You don't realize just how strobing and how flickery 24 frames is," Jackson said at the Sundance Film Festival, where he presented the documentary "West of Memphis," produced by him and his wife, "Hobbit" co-writer Fran Walsh. "You look at something at 48 frames, and it looks gorgeous. It looks like real life. It's amazing."

Other digital pioneers are making the same push for higher film speeds. "Avatar" creator James Cameron has said he will shoot the sequel to his science-fiction blockbuster at 48 or 60 frames a second.

At the CinemaCon convention for theater owners in Las Vegas last March, Cameron showed footage he shot at 24, 48 and 60 frames a second. The faster speeds noticeably reduced or eliminated blurriness in action sequences or when the camera panned and dollied down the length of a crowded banquet table.

As Hollywood moved into the digital age, movie makers generally have stuck with the 24-frame speed at which celluloid film moves through cameras and projectors. "The Hobbit" will show that it's an outdated way to shoot films, Jackson said.

"I'm hoping it'll be just the first gentle step into changing film rates because we can change them, especially with all the digital technology now," Jackson said. "Twenty-four is irrelevant. It doesn't mean anything anymore. It's just a traditional thing. It's far from the best visual way to present a film."

"The Hobbit" has had a hard road to the screen after Jackson's blockbuster "Lord of the Rings" trilogy," whose 2003 finale, "The Return of the King," swept the Academy Awards with 11 trophies, including best picture and director.

Jackson planned only to co-write and co-produce "The Hobbit," but he stepped in to direct after Guillermo del Toro dropped out because of delays caused by the bankruptcy of MGM, which owned half of the project.

"It's actually been a reasonably joyous thing to do," said Walsh, who returned as a co-writer and co-producer. "I'm surprised to say that because I thought it would be very hard. Certainly, it was a difficult birth of this film. It was protracted and fought. ... But it's surprisingly pleasant, if I can use that word. Pleasant. So far. So I hope I haven't jinxed it."

The two films are being shot simultaneously in 3-D, with the second one, "The Hobbit: There and Back Again," due in theaters in December 2013.

British actor Martin Freeman stars as Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit who acquires the evil ring that sets the action of "The Lord of the Rings" in motion. Cast members returning from that trilogy include Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving and Andy Serkis.

Jackson joked that the snowy mountains surrounding Sundance's home in the ski resort of Park City remind him of the heavy workload still ahead on "The Hobbit."

"We have a hundred days of shooting to go, which still feels like we're at the bottom of a mountain. I kind of don't like being in Park City because I look up the mountain, and I kind of think, well, `The Hobbit's' at the top of that mountain. I've got to kind of climb this. It looks pretty daunting," Jackson said.

Yet Jackson said he's having a great time revisiting Tolkien's Middle-earth.

"If I show up at work every day happy to be there and excited about what we're shooting, to me, that's always a good sign," he said. "So I think we're making a couple of pretty entertaining movies."

___

Online:

http://www.sundance.org

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_en_ot/us_film_sundance_the_hobbit

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Alleged Uzbek terrorist arrested in Chicago

By Reuters

A refugee from Uzbekistan has been arrested in Chicago and charged with providing support to a suspected Islamic terrorist group that U.S. authorities say is seeking to overthrow the secular government of his Central Asian home country.

Jasmshid Muhtorov, 35, who resides in Colorado, was taken into custody on Saturday at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport by FBI agents and made his initial court appearance in federal court on Monday, the U.S. Justice Department said.

A criminal complaint charging him with providing and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization was unsealed on Monday in federal court in Denver.

Court documents filed in the case said Muhtorov indicated that he planned to travel overseas to fight on behalf of the Islamic Jihad Union, a Pakistan-based extremist group that opposes secular rule in Uzbekistan and seeks to replace the current regime there with a government based on Islamic law.

Federal prosecutors said his arrest, capping a "long-term investigation," highlights "the continued interest of extremists residing in the United States to join and support overseas terrorists."

If convicted of the charge against him, Muhtorov faces up to 15 years in prison.

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/23/10217960-alleged-uzbek-terrorist-arrested-in-chicago

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FM says Syria has duty to confront armed groups

An anti-Syrian regime protester colors his fingers with the revolutionary flag colors during a protest outside the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. Arab League foreign ministers, meeting in Cairo, extended the much-criticized observers mission for another month, officials from the 22-member organization said. The League decided to add more observers and provide them with additional resources, the officials said. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

An anti-Syrian regime protester colors his fingers with the revolutionary flag colors during a protest outside the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. Arab League foreign ministers, meeting in Cairo, extended the much-criticized observers mission for another month, officials from the 22-member organization said. The League decided to add more observers and provide them with additional resources, the officials said. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Anti-Syrian regime protesters carry revolutionary flags while performing a traditional dance during a protest outside the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. Arab League foreign ministers, meeting in Cairo, extended the much-criticized observers mission for another month, officials from the 22-member organization said. The League decided to add more observers and provide them with additional resources, the officials said. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syria's foreign minister said Tuesday that "half the universe" is conspiring against his country, as Gulf Arab nations withdrew from a monitoring mission in Syria because the government has failed to stop 10 months of violence.

International pressure is building on Syria, not only from the West but increasingly from Arab nations as well. The U.N. estimates more than 5,400 people have been killed since Syria's uprising began in March, sparked by the arrest of a group of teenagers who scrawled anti-government graffiti on a wall in the country's south.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem on Tuesday signaled the crackdown will continue, saying in Damascus that the government will take any steps necessary to defend against chaos.

Syria has long held that armed gangs acting out a foreign conspiracy are behind the revolt, not protesters seeking change in one of the most authoritarian states in the Middle East.

"It is the duty of the Syrian government to take what it sees as necessary measures to deal with those armed groups that spread chaos," al-Moallem said during a televised news conference.

He also said it was clear that some Arab countries have joined the conspiracy against Syria ? a clear reference to the Gulf countries and to Sunday's call by the Arab League for Syria to create a national unity government in two months.

The plan also provides for Assad to give his vice president full powers to cooperate with the proposed government to enable it to carry out its duties during a transitional period.

Damascus has rejected the plan as a violation of national sovereignty.

Tuesday's decision by Gulf nations to pull out their monitors is a blow to an Arab League observer mission that has been mired by controversy, but which for many represented the only hope for an Arab solution to the crisis in Syria, away from outside intervention.

Now, the Gulf Cooperation Council has called on the U.N. Security Council to take all "necessary measures" to force Syria to implement the Arab League's peace plan.

"The decision was made after careful and thorough monitoring of events in Syria and the conviction by the GCC that the bloodshed and the killing of innocent people there is continuing," the statement by the six-nation GCC said.

Al-Moallem brushed off the threat of the Security Council.

"If they go to (U.N. headquarters in) New York or the moon, as long as we don't pay their tickets, this is their business," he said.

But he acknowledged there is little hope for an Arab solution.

He said some (Gulf) Arabs have "assassinated" the role of the Arab League in ending the crisis in Syria, and went to the Security Council instead. He tried to portray confidence, however, saying Syria had the strong support of powerful allies in Iran and Russia.

An official at the Cairo-based Arab League said an emergency meeting of permanent representatives of the group's 22 members will be held later Tuesday in the Egyptian capital to "review the situation" following the GCC's decision.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The GCC ? which includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates ? has long advocated referring Syria to the Security Council, putting it in conflict with other Arab states.

The Arab League's observer mission, which includes 52 monitors from the Gulf nations, has encountered heavy criticism for its failure to stop the Assad regime's crackdown. The GCC withdrawal will leave about 110 observers on the ground, League officials said.

Saudi Arabia had announced Monday that it would pull out its observers.

"This is their business," al-Moallem said. "Maybe the Saudi brothers in the mission don't want to see the realities on the ground, which don't satisfy their plots," he added.

Activists, meanwhile, reported more violence Tuesday.

Syrian troops opened fire to disperse hundreds of people in al-Barra village in the Jabal al-Zawiya region of northern Syria who had gathered for the funeral of Radwan Rabih Hamadi, a 46-year-old prominent opposition figure who was ambushed and assassinated by gunmen on Monday, activists said.

Activists say Hamadi was instrumental in the uprising against Assad in the northern Idlib province.

Six people were reported wounded in Tuesday's shooting.

___

Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue and Elizabeth A. Kennedy in Beirut, and Abdullah al-Shihri in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-24-ML-Syria/id-cfe291c51c904702a4ca897d17b43432

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Chinese vice president Xi to visit White House February 14 (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama will meet Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, the country's likely next ruler, at the White House on February 14, the White House said on Monday.

Obama and Xi will discuss "a broad range of bilateral, regional, and global issues," it said in a statement, but gave no further details.

Xi said last week he hoped the visit would help to defuse friction and the risk of international crisis. But the two nations have some delicate issues to work through, ranging from currency policy to a U.S. military buildup in the Asia-Pacific.

Obama, facing a tough re-election in November, is expected to renew his call for China to allow its yuan currency to appreciate during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, as he highlights U.S. exports among his proposals to boost jobs.

Beijing, for its part, has voiced misgivings about U.S. plans to beef up its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region and is angry about U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, the self-ruled island that China calls an illegitimate breakaway province.

In August Xi hosted U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on a visit that gave Washington policymakers a chance to size up China's president-in-waiting. Biden will also host Xi when he visits the United States.

Xi, who is also set to travel to Iowa and California, is seen as virtually certain to replace Hu Jintao as Chinese Communist Party chief in late 2012, and then replace him as state president in early 2013.

(Reporting By Alister Bull; Editing by Xavier Briand)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/ts_nm/us_usa_china_xi

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Exclusive: Office Depot tests PayPal's new point-of-sale system (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Office Depot Inc, the second-largest U.S. office supply retailer, is testing PayPal's new point-of-sale system in a few stores, a top executive told Reuters.

The news comes just days after eBay Inc's PayPal unit said it had started testing in-store payments in 51 Home Depot stores, as the online payments provider moves to expand into the physical world of brick and mortar.

PayPal has talked about its plans to offer the service at 20 major retailers by the end of the year, but not named other chains participating in the initiative.

"It's at this point in a small number of stores ... because there are still some rough spots in that experience. There are some limitations on who can use it, service carriers that support that," said Kevin Peters, president of Office Depot's North American unit. PayPal declined comment on Saturday.

PayPal's "wallet in the cloud" initiative lets shoppers who have a PayPal account pay by simply typing their mobile numbers and PINs at checkout counters. They can also pay by swiping a PayPal card and entering a PIN.

Office Depot's Peters said he was eager to experiment with anything that would help faster checkout in stores, but that the chain would take its time before rolling out the initiative to more stores.

"At this point, we are walking very, very slowly. The last thing we want to do is to roll out technology that doesn't appreciably change the customer experience," Peters said.

Home Depot is much more optimistic about the PayPal test.

"We believe PayPal's solution has the potential to improve the checkout experience as we know it today by making it fast, secure and more convenient for the customer while providing savings for Home Depot," said Dwaine Kimmet, Home Depot's treasurer and vice president of financial services.

"We intend to stay at the forefront of POS technologies like PayPal's in-store checkout using an empty hand interface," Kimmet said, adding that PayPal point-of-sale systems would help improve the checkout and customer service experience "all at a lower transaction cost than traditional payment networks."

PayPal is a dominant player in online payments, with over 100 million users. But the business is trying to expand into offline payments, a much larger market, pitting the eBay unit against payments giants, including Visa Inc, MasterCard Inc and American Express Co.

In September, PayPal pitched its new in-store payments system to about 120 retailers, including Sports Authority, at an event in Los Angeles. EBay CEO John Donahoe spoke about the initiative several times last year, but the company had not disclosed which retailers agreed to test it first.

Donahoe told analysts on Wednesday the in-store point-of-sale trial was being rolled out at 51 Home Depot stores this week, mainly in California's Bay Area.

During a conference call after eBay results, Donahoe said he bought a hammer and tape measure from a Home Depot in San Jose, California, without his wallet or cell phone. At checkout, the CEO pressed a "Pay with PayPal" option on the terminal, put in his mobile number and a PIN and "boom, I was done."

In an interview with Reuters, Donahoe compared the point-of-sale, or POS, initiative to the early days of PayPal's Merchant Services business. PayPal used to be used almost entirely on eBay's main online marketplace. But about seven years ago, the service began to expand on other websites.

That off-eBay business grew to annual payment volume of more than $70 billion in seven years, according to Donahoe.

"If we get just 2 percent share of checkout at point-of-sale locations, that's another $70 billion business," Donahoe said. "That's the opportunity."

(Reporting By Dhanya Skariachan in New York and Alistair Barr in San Francisco; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120121/bs_nm/us_officedepot_paypal

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RIM names new CEO as Lazardis, Basillie step down (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Research In Motion's co-chief executives Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have bowed to investor pressure and stepped down, handing the job to an insider with four years at the struggling BlackBerry maker.

Thorsten Heins, a former Siemens executive who has risen steadily at the Canadian company to become one of two chief operating officers, took over as CEO on Saturday, RIM said.

Barbara Stymiest, an independent board member who once headed the Toronto Stock Exchange, will take over as chairman, a role that Lazaridis and Balsillie had also shared. Lazaridis and Balsillie will remain board members.

COMMENTARY

SHAW WU, ANALYST AT STERNE AGEE

"It's a start. On the positive side, I think people might be positive on the fact they're actually doing something. But we'll have to wait and see.

"They might need someone with consumer electronics expertise, because they're a consumer company whether they like it or not. It started out as an enterprise business and even for RIM, it's going to be a consumer business.

"That they both remain part of the board might be the right move. I'm not sure people wanted them to be totally uninvolved.

"I'm not sure this is what people really wanted to see - it might have a little too bold. It seems a bit aggressive.

"Heins has been introduced at their events, I remember hearing him speak about the company. But he's not a well-known quantity.

"I think there's going to be a learning period.

"It remains to be seen whether these moves are going to be effective or not."

EDWARD SNYDER, ANALYST AT CHARTER EQUITY RESEARCH

"It's the first positive thing that they have done in months. It's a step in the right direction.

"With them (Laziridis and Balsillie) still in the game, is their strategy going to continue with the new CEO? Is it a change in direction, or is it a move to the shareholders and investors off their backs? Is it a real change, or is it window-dressing?

"It sounds like it might be a first good step, but ... I have my doubts. My feeling is that it's a figure-head change.

"The stock will probably rally a bit."

MICHAEL URLOCKER, ANALYST AT GMP SECURITIES IN TORONTO

"I am not sure that an engineer as new CEO really gets to the central issues faced by RIM."

(Reporting by Alastair Sharp in Toronto and Edwin Chan in Los Angeles, compiled by Tiffany Wu)

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

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Ship search finds 12th body, captain's documents

An Italian fireman descends from an helicopter to the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. The cruise captain who grounded the Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast with 4,200 people on board did not relay correct information either to the company or crew after the ship hit rocks, the cruise ship owner's CEO said as the search resumed for 21 missing passengers. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

An Italian fireman descends from an helicopter to the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. The cruise captain who grounded the Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast with 4,200 people on board did not relay correct information either to the company or crew after the ship hit rocks, the cruise ship owner's CEO said as the search resumed for 21 missing passengers. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

A woman checks if her clothes are dry as the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia is seen in background, off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. The cruise captain, Capt. Francesco Schettino, who grounded the Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast with 4,200 people on board did not relay correct information either to the company or crew after the ship hit rocks, the cruise ship owner's CEO said as the search resumed for 21 missing passengers. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

The grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia lays off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. The cruise captain who grounded the Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast with 4,200 people on board did not relay correct information either to the company or crew after the ship hit rocks, the cruise ship owner's CEO said as the search resumed for 21 missing passengers. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

An Italian Coast Guard boat patrols the area around the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. The cruise captain who grounded the Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast with 4,200 people on board did not relay correct information either to the company or crew after the ship hit rocks, the cruise ship owner's CEO said as the search resumed for 21 missing passengers. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Fuel spilling experts work on the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. The cruise captain who grounded the Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast with 4,200 people on board did not relay correct information either to the company or crew after the ship hit rocks, the cruise ship owner's CEO said as the search resumed for 21 missing passengers. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

GIGLIO, Italy (AP) ? Divers plumbing the capsized Costa Concordia's murky depths pulled out the body of a woman in a life vest Saturday, while scuba-diving police swam through the captain's cabin to retrieve a safe and documents belonging to the man who abandoned the cruise liner after it was gashed by a rocky reef on the Tuscan coast.

Hoping for a miracle ? or at least for the recovery of bodies from the ship that has become an underwater tomb ? relatives of some of the 20 missing appealed to survivors of the Jan. 13 shipwreck to offer details that could help divers reach loved ones while it is still possible to search the luxury liner. The clock is ticking because the craft is perched precariously on a rocky ledge of seabed near Giglio island.

"We are asking the 4,000 persons who were on board to give any information they can about any of the persons still missing," said Alain Litzler, a Frenchman who is the father of missing passenger Mylene Litzler. "We need precise information to help the search and rescue teams find them."

The death toll rose to at least 12 Saturday after a water-logged body was extracted from a passageway near a gathering point for evacuation by lifeboats in the rear of the vessel, Coast Guard Cmdr. Filippo Marini said. It was not immediately clear if the woman was a passenger or crew member. A female Peruvian bartender and several adult female passengers were among the 21 people listed as missing before the latest corpse was found.

Relatives of the bartender and of an Indian crewman, along with two children of an elderly couple from Minnesota who are among the missing, boarded a boat Saturday to view the wrecked Concordia Saturday, said a maritime official, Fabrizio Palombo.

Family members tossed flowers near the site while islanders standing on the rocky edge of the island also strew bouquets on the water in a tribute to the victims.

Another Coast Guard official, Cosimo Nicastro, said the woman's body was found during a particularly risky inspection.

"The corridor was very narrow, and the divers' lines risked snagging" on furniture and objects floating in the passageway, Nicastro said. To help the coast guard divers reach the area, Italian navy divers had preceded them, setting off charges to blast holes for easier entrance and exit.

Meanwhile, police divers, carrying out orders from prosecutors investigating Captain Francesco Schettino for suspected manslaughter and abandoning the ship, swam through the cold, dark waters to reach his cabin. State TV and the Italian news agency ANSA reported that the divers located and remove his safe and two suitcases. His passport and several documents were also pulled out, state media said.

Searchers inspecting the bridge Saturday also found a hard disk containing data of the voyage, Sky TG24 TV reported.

Three bodies were found in waters around the ship in the first hours after the accident. Since then, divers have gone inside the Concordia to recover all the remaining victims, who were apparently unable to escape the lurching ship during a chaotic evacuation launched almost an hour after the liner hit a reef.

Some survivors who couldn't board lifeboats waited for hours aboard the capsizing craft for rescue by helicopters while others jumped into the water and swam to safety.

The last survivor, found aboard 36 hours after the crash, was an Italian crewman who broke his leg in the confusion and couldn't leave the ship.

The Concordia hit the reef, well-marked on maritime and even tourist maps, while most of the passengers sat down to dinner in the main restaurant, about two hours after the ship had set sail from the port of Civitavecchia on the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Costa Crociere, the ship's operator and subsidiary of U.S.-based Carnival Cruise Lines, has said the captain had deviated without permission from the vessel's route in an apparent maneuver to sail close to the island of Giglio and impress passengers.

Schettino, despite audiotapes of his defying Coast Guard orders to scramble back aboard, has denied he abandoned ship while hundreds of passengers were desperately trying to get off the capsizing vessel. He has said he coordinated the rescue from aboard a lifeboat and then from the shore.

The effort to find survivors and bodies has postponed an operation to remove heavy fuel in the Concordia's tanks; specialized equipment has been standing by for days.

Light fuel, apparently from machinery aboard the capsized ship, was spotted in nearby waters, authorities said Saturday.

But Nicastro said there was no indication that any of the nearly 500,000 gallons (2,200 metric tons) of heavy fuel oil has leaked from the ship's double-bottomed tanks, seen as a risk if the ship's position changes. He said the leaked substance appears to be diesel, which is used to fuel rescue boats and dinghies and as a lubricant for ship machinery.

There are 185 tons of diesel and lubricants on board the crippled vessel, which is lying on its side just outside Giglio's port. Nicastro described the fuel in the sea as "very light, very superficial" and appearing to be under control.

But an official leading rescue, search and anti-pollution efforts for the ship suggested that the luxury liner would have leaked contaminants on board when it tipped over.

"We must not forget that on that ship there are oils, solvents, detergents, everything that a city of 4,000 people needs," Franco Gabrielli, the head of Italy's civil protection agency, told reporters in Giglio.

Gabrielli was referring to the roughly 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew who were aboard the cruise liner when it ran into the reef and, with seawater rushing into a 230-foot (70-meter) gash in its hull, listed and fell onto its side. "Contamination of the environment, ladies and gentlemen, already occurred" when the liner capsized, Gabrelli said.

Vessels equipped with machinery to suck out the light fuel oil were in the area. Earlier on Saturday, crews removed oil-absorbing booms used to prevent environmental damage in case of a leak. Originally white, the booms were grayish.

Schettino, is under house arrest for investigation of alleged manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship before all were evacuated.

The search had been suspended Friday after the Concordia shifted, prompting fears the ship could roll off a rocky ledge of sea bed and plunge deeper into the pristine waters around Giglio, part of a seven-island Tuscan archipelago.

___

D'Emilio reported from Rome. Colleen Barry contributed from Milan and Andrea Foa from Giglio.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects misspelling 11th and 16th paragraphs. AP Video. This story is part of AP's general news and financial services.)

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-21-EU-Italy-Cruise-Aground/id-1befd625faad4df0ad7831de4eeb1d6f

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Poll: Would You Waterslide While Expecting Like Elsa Pataky?

While vacationing in St. Barts with Matt and Luciana Damon, the couple was spotted riding an inflatable slide off the group's yacht - prompting a few Moms & Babies readers to chime in.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/d_SyOoLsSyQ/

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WATCH: Dogs Bark 'Star Wars' Theme in VW Super Bowl Ad

The force is strong with Volkswagen this year. The company has some big shoes (well, little Darth Vader ones) to step into after last year's adorable Star Wars-themed Super Bowl ad became the most-shared commercial of 2011. Turns out the company is sticking with the working formula, and has released another Star Wars-themed advertisement to stoke anticipation for the reveal of their big ad on game day (which is Feb. 6). Called "The Bark Side," the teaser features a medley of dogs barking Darth Vader's theme, "The Imperial March." It's the same song that was used for last year's ad, although that one was the orchestral version. Watch the new (ridiculously cute) video below!

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/vw-super-bowl-ad-teaser-2012-dogs-bark-star-wars-theme/1-a-420449?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Avw-super-bowl-ad-teaser-2012-dogs-bark-star-wars-theme-420449

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Fewer layoffs, lower inflation give economy a lift

Mei Chou, left, a sales director with Mary Kay Cosmetics, interviews Liza Cruz, right, at a Career Fair event in San Francisco, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. The number of people seeking unemployment benefits plummeted last week to the lowest level since April 2008, an optimistic sign that the recovery in the job market is picking up. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Mei Chou, left, a sales director with Mary Kay Cosmetics, interviews Liza Cruz, right, at a Career Fair event in San Francisco, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. The number of people seeking unemployment benefits plummeted last week to the lowest level since April 2008, an optimistic sign that the recovery in the job market is picking up. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Job seekers stand in line to learn more information about working at Goodwill Industries at a Career Fair event in San Francisco, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. The number of people seeking unemployment benefits plummeted last week to the lowest level since April 2008, an optimistic sign that the recovery in the job market is picking up. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

In this Jan. 12, 2012 photo, David Morgan 58, of Oregon City (center) waits with other job applicants to talk with recruiters during a Safeway Job Fair, in Portland, Ore. The number of people seeking unemployment benefits plummeted last week to the lowest level since April 2008, an optimistic sign that the recovery in the job market is picking up. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

In this Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 photo, work progresses at a new home construction site in Little Rock, Ark. Builders ended 2011 with a third straight year of dismal home building and the worst on record for single-family home construction. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

(AP) ? The economy is off to a fast start in 2012.

The outlook for hiring has brightened as applications for unemployment benefits near a four-year low.

Adding to the optimism, inflation remains low, business travel is up and the home market is showing slight gains after three dismal years.

That's the picture sketched by a flurry of data Thursday. It followed other reports that show the economy began the year with vitality: Companies are hiring more, consumer confidence is up, more people are buying cars and factories are making more goods.

Even bank lending, which all but froze during the depths of the financial crisis, is on the rise.

Many economists caution that it's too early to conclude that the recovery is accelerating.

"There's no doubt that the economy is getting better; we just shouldn't get carried away," Mark Vitner, an economist at Wells Fargo, said. "We haven't shifted into a higher gear."

Despite six months of solid job growth, unemployment remains painfully high at 8.5 percent. And inflation-adjusted wages fell over the past year.

Housing is still slowing the economic recovery. And a recession in Europe would weaken growth in the United States and elsewhere.

Still, Thursday's reports were encouraging:

? Fewer people sought unemployment benefits last week than at any time in nearly four years. The seasonally adjusted drop was the steepest in more than six years. It reduced the week's total to just 352,000. The four-week average dropped to 379,000. When applications fall consistently below 375,000, it usually signals that hiring is strong enough to lower the unemployment rate.

? Manufacturing expanded in the Northeast in January, according to surveys by the Federal Reserve banks of New York and Philadelphia. That followed a report from the Fed that factory output across the country surged in December by the most in a year.

? Inflation appears to be peaking after surging last year. Consumer prices were unchanged in December, in part because gas is cheaper. Lower inflation gives consumers more spending power. It also gives the Fed leeway to keep interest rates low to help the economy.

? Spending on business travel rose 7.6 percent last year, the Global Business Travel Association said last week. More business travel benefits companies like Southwest Airlines, which reported higher fourth-quarter net income and revenue.

? Union Pacific Corp., the nation's largest rail operator, says it transported more cars, oil, industrial parts and chemicals in the final quarter of 2011. CEO Jim Young says he expects the railroad's revenue to continue growing in 2012

? JPMorgan Chase, the nation's largest bank, said its lending to businesses rose 12 percent in the October-December quarter compared with the same period a year earlier. Its lending to mid-size companies picked up. And at Bank of America, average loans to mid-size businesses grew 4 percent in the last three months of 2011. Tight credit has been a major reason why smaller businesses have been unable to expand and hire more.

The stock market has rallied in response to the news. The Dow Jones industrial average has reached its highest point since July.

A recovery hinges on strong job growth. Hiring was solid in the final six months of last year, capped by December's net increase of 200,000 jobs.

The job market still has a long way to go before it fully recovers from the damage of the Great Recession, which wiped out 8.7 million jobs. More than 13 million people remain unemployed. Millions more have given up looking for work and so are no longer counted as unemployed.

And wages aren't keeping up with inflation. Average inflation-adjusted hourly earnings dropped 0.9 percent last year.

Without more jobs and higher pay, consumers might have to cut back on spending. That would weigh down growth next year. Consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of the economy.

In December, home builders ended their third straight year of dismal home construction. And 2011 was the worst on record for single-family home building.

Signs of improvement surfaced toward the end of the year, when builders started more single-family homes in each of the final three months of 2011.

And the average rate on the 30-year mortgage fell to a record low of 3.88 percent this week, according to Freddie Mac.

So far, low rates have done little to boost home sales. But a survey of homebuilders this week showed that builders are growing more optimistic about this year after seeing a rise in the number of people looking to buy.

"We expect further sustained gains in starts and permits over the next few months; a real recovery is getting started," said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics.

___

AP Real Estate Writer Derek Kravitz contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-19-Economy/id-2d378a21fed74a71a30b9372949ba9b7

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