Malaysian charged with Facebook insult of sultan

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The sister of a Malaysian man who has been charged with insulting a state sultan on Facebook said Friday that he is innocent and will lodge a complaint over his detention.

Anisa Abdul Jalil said her brother Ahmad Abdul Jalil was charged Thursday with making offensive postings on Facebook last month. But she said there is no evidence linking Ahmad to the posts in question, which were made by someone using the name “Zul Yahaya.”

“This is ridiculous as they have failed to build a case against him. We are very angry. It is a dirty game and an abuse of power, an abuse of the court process,” Anisa told the Associated Press.

Ahmad was freed on bail Thursday after six days of detention, during which he was denied access to lawyers and family members.

Anisa said Ahmad told the family that police tried to force a confession from him but he stood firm. She said Ahmad will file a complaint with police for unlawful detention and intimidation.

Defense lawyer Fadiah Nadwa Fitri said they would appeal to throw out the charges against Ahmad when the case is next heard Nov. 28.

The posts in question were directed at Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar of southern Johor state. Fadiah said that according to the charge sheet, the postings likened the sultan’s skin and behavior to that of a pig, which is viewed as a dirty animal in Islam.

“The charges are unfounded. Ahmad is vocal and is critical about political matter but he didn’t write the postings. It seems that Ahmad is being prosecuted for exercising his rights,” Fadiah said. Ahmad faces up to a year in jail if convicted, she added.

Nine Malaysian states have sultans and other royal figures. Though their roles are largely ceremonial, they command wide respect after centuries of hereditary rule.

Under Malaysian law, acts that provoke hatred against royal rulers are considered seditious. Only a few people have been charged with the crime in recent years.

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Bond soars with record $87.8M ‘Skyfall’ debut

LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Bond‘s “Skyfall” has extended its worldwide box-office rule to North America, hauling in a franchise-record $ 87.8 million in its first weekend at U.S. theaters.

Adding in $ 2.2 million from Thursday night previews at IMAX and other large-format theaters, “Skyfall” has taken in $ 90 million domestically, according to studio estimates Sunday.

That lifts the worldwide total for “Skyfall” to $ 518.6 million since it began rolling out overseas in late October. Internationally, the 23rd Bond flick added $ 89 million this weekend to raise its overseas revenue to $ 428.6 million.

The third installment starring Daniel Craig as British super-spy Bond, “Skyfall” outdid the $ 67.5 million U.S. debut of 2008′s “Quantum of Solace,” the franchise’s previous best opening. “Skyfall” more than doubled the $ 40.8 million debut of Craig’s first Bond film, 2006′s “Casino Royale.”

“Skyfall” already has passed the $ 407.7 million overseas total for “Quantum of Solace” and by Monday, it will top the $ 432.2 million international haul for “Casino Royale.”

The Craig era has reinvigorated one of Hollywood‘s most-enduring franchises, whose first big-screen Bond adventure, “Dr. No,” debuted 50 years ago.

“It’s quite a testament to Bond, considering it’s the 50th anniversary. What a great anniversary present,” said Rory Bruer, head of distribution at Sony, which produces the Bond films along with MGM.

“Skyfall” was the weekend’s only new wide release, but Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” had a huge start in a handful of theaters. Starring Daniel Day-Lewis as the 16th president, “Lincoln” took in $ 900,000 in 11 theaters for a whopping average of $ 81,818 a cinema. By comparison, “Skyfall” averaged $ 25,050 in 3,505 theaters.

“Lincoln” centers on the months leading up to the president’s assassination in April 1865, as he maneuvers to pass the 13th amendment abolishing slavery and end the Civil War. Distributor Disney will expand “Lincoln” into nationwide release of about 1,600 theaters Friday and may widen the film further over Thanksgiving week.

The film has strong Academy Awards prospects for two-time directing winner Spielberg, two-time acting recipient Day-Lewis and the rest of the cast, which includes Oscar winners Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones.

“The performances are some of the greatest of recent time,” said Dave Hollis, head of distribution for Disney. “I don’t know if you’re ever going to think about it again without seeing our actor as Lincoln. Daniel is extraordinary in the role.”

“Skyfall” took over the top spot at the weekend box office from Disney’s animated comedy “Wreck-It Ralph,” which fell to No. 2 with $ 33.1 million, raising its domestic total to $ 93.7 million.

While “Skyfall” marked a new high for Bond‘s opening-weekend revenue, the film has a long way to go to match the biggest audiences 007 has ever drawn. Adjusted for inflation, Sean Connery’s 1965 Bond adventure “Thunderball” would have taken in an estimated $ 508 million domestically in today’s dollars, with its 1964 predecessor “Goldfinger” not far behind at $ 444 million, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com.

The Bond films over the last two decades have come in around the $ 200 million range domestically in inflation-adjusted dollars.

Still, Craig’s Bond is setting a new critical standard for the franchise. While “Quantum of Solace” had a so-so critical reception, “Skyfall” and “Casino Royale” are among the best-reviewed Bond films, with critics and fans enjoying the darker edge Craig has imprinted on 007.

“‘Skyfall’ is to the Bond franchise what ‘The Dark Knight’ was to the Batman franchise,” said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “By taking it to a whole other level, this is a different kind of Bond that can be taken really seriously.”

Directed by Sam Mendes, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker behind “American Beauty” and Craig’s director on “Road to Perdition,” ”Skyfall” continues the current franchise’s exploration into the emotional traumas that have shaped Bond‘s cool, aloof manner.

The film reveals secrets out of the past of Bond’s boss, British spymaster M (Judi Dench), and pits 007 against a brilliant but unstable former agent (Javier Bardem) who’s out for revenge.

Hollywood remains on a brisk pace this fall as the busy holiday season approaches. Overall domestic revenues totaled $ 172 million, up 26 percent from the same weekend last year, when “Immortals” led with $ 32.2 million.

For the year, domestic revenues are at $ 9.1 billion, up 4.3 percent from 2011′s, according to Hollywood.com.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Skyfall,” $ 87.8 million.

2. “Wreck-It Ralph,” $ 33.1 million.

3. “Flight,” $ 15.1 million.

4. “Argo,” $ 6.7 million.

5. “Taken 2,” $ 4 million.

6. “Here Comes the Boom,” $ 2.6 million

7. “Cloud Atlas,” $ 2.53 million.

8. “Pitch Perfect,” $ 2.5 million.

9. “The Man with the Iron Fists,” $ 2.49 million.

10. “Hotel Transylvania,” $ 2.4 million.

___

Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:

1. “Skyfall,” $ 89 million.

2. “Argo,” $ 12 million.

3. “Wreck-It Ralph,” $ 11.2 million.

4. “Hotel Transylvania,” $ 11.1 million.

5. “A Werewolf Boy,” $ 10.5 million.

6. “Cloud Atlas,” $ 8.7 million.

7. “Paranormal Activity 4,” $ 6 million.

8 (tie). “Asterlix and Obelix: God Save Britannia,” $ 4.4 million.

8 (tie). “Confession of Murder,” $ 4.4 million.

10. “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted,” $ 4.1 million.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

http://www.rentrak.com

___

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

Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Digging work suspended at Barrick’s Pascua Lama mine

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Barrick Gold Corp, the world’s biggest gold producer, said on Saturday it had halted earth-moving works at its Pascua Lama mine on the Chile-Argentina border following concerns about the health of workers at the site high in the Andes.

Inspectors from the Chilean Mining Ministry‘s Sernageomin geology unit ordered the suspension of excavation works at the site on the grounds that excessive dust might pose a health risk, La Tercera newspaper reported.

The newspaper said all construction work at the site had been suspended, but Barrick said later that the order from officials applied only to earth-moving operations and that other construction activities continued.

“We voluntarily decided to stop earth-moving work, including pre-stripping activities, on Saturday, October 27,” the company said in a statement, adding that measures had been put in place in an effort to resolve the dust problem.

“These decisions were made prior to the notification we received from the authorities on October 31,” it added, without saying how long the disruption could last.

No one at Sernageomin could immediately be reached to comment.

The delay to work at the site is the latest in a series of setbacks at the vast mine.

Earlier this month, Barrick again raised its cost estimate for building the mine to between $ 8 billion and $ 8.5 billion from an earlier budget of $ 7.5 billion to $ 8 billion. It also pushed back the date when production at the project will begin.

The company blamed the increase on delays and higher labor and project-management costs.

(Reporting by Felipe Iturrieta; Writing by Helen Popper; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Goldman in settlement talks with U.S. over trading loss

(Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc is in settlement talks with the U.S. government over an $ 8.3 billion position that one of the investment bank’s traders had concealed five years ago, according to a published report.

The Financial Times said a settlement with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates U.S. futures and options markets, is expected in the coming weeks, citing two sources familiar with the plans.

Goldman declined to comment and the CFTC could not be reached for comment.

The planned settlement follows Thursday’s announcement from the regulator that accused ex-Goldman trader Matthew Marshall Taylor of hiding a large position in S&P 500 e-mini futures contracts. Taylor has denied the accusations, his lawyer said on Thursday.

(Reporting by Debra Sherman; Editing by Jackie Frank)

Business News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Twin explosions strike southern Syrian city

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria‘s state-run news agency says two large explosions have struck the southern city of Daraa, causing multiple casualties and heavy material damage.

SANA did not immediately give further information or say what the target of Saturday’s explosions was.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the blasts went off near a branch of the country’s Military Intelligence in Daraa.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, says the explosions were followed by clashes between regime forces and rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad.

Middle East News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Steam for Linux Launches Its Beta; 60,000 Sign Up in First Week

The creators of Portal, Team Fortress 2, and a ton of other AAA titles announced a few months ago that they were planning to bring their Steam digital distribution service to Linux. It’s basically an app store just for games, and it’s one of the most popular places to buy games for PC or Mac. Now the first wave of outside beta testers has been accepted, and gamers are buying and playing Steam games — including Valve’s — on Linux.

Buy why Linux?

Gabe Newell, Steam’s co-founder, isn’t optimistic about Steam’s future on Microsoft’s new version of Windows, Windows 8. In an interview with VentureBeat, he called it “a catastrophe for everyone” who works with PCs, and said that “margins are going to be destroyed” and they should “have alternatives to hedge against that.”

Why is Windows 8 a “catastrophe?”

From Newell’s perspective, one big reason is probably the new Windows Store. Both Windows 8 and OS X (on Macs) now have built-in app stores, which threaten to make Steam redundant. That’s because you have to go out of your way to install Steam and buy games from them, whereas on Windows 8 and OS X you can just click a button to buy from their stores.

Isn’t Valve unlikely to sell many games on Linux?

You’d think! Linux has always been pretty obscure, and there haven’t been comparatively many brand-name games or apps made for it.

A Linux OS called Ubuntu, however, has made it a lot more attractive to developers, by making Linux more popular and easier to use. Since then, the Humble Indie Bundle made pretty much all of its games run on Linux, and its publicly available sales figures show that a big chunk of its profits come from Linux gamers.

Newell said in the interview that “we’re trying to make sure that Linux thrives.” Valve is staking its reputation on helping make Linux a world-class gaming platform, and it’s been at this for longer than most people probably realize.

How many people would actually use Steam on Linux, though?

Well, as of right now more than 60,000 people have signed up to test out the beta. Not all of them have been accepted yet, but in true Linux fashion some of the ones who haven’t been accepted have figured out how to get in anyway (which may or may not violate Valve’s terms of service).

But what games are there? Aren’t they all Mac and Windows games?

A lot of the games on Steam already have Linux versions, thanks to the Humble Indie Bundle (which gives out Steam keys for all of its games). Meanwhile, Valve’s been working behind the scenes for awhile now to bring the Source engine, which powers many of its games, to Linux. There’s already an official Linux version of Team Fortress 2, Valve’s free-to-play multiplayer first-person shooter, and there are 25 titles in all which are supported for the Linux beta right now.

More games will almost definitely be available soon, as the title Valve’s internal testers were using to work out the bugs in the Steam client — Left 4 Dead 2 — hasn’t appeared in their Linux store yet. And, for the record? It ran faster on Linux than on Windows 7.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

Linux/Open Source News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

“Hunger Games” star Jennifer Lawrence will not diet for role

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “The Hunger Games” star Jennifer Lawrence will not be dieting for a role any time soon.

Lawrence, 22, who plays the famished Katniss Everdeen in the life-or-death thriller series, told Elle magazine in an interview to be published on November 13 that dropping a few pounds will not be part of her script.

“I’m never going to starve myself for a part,” Lawrence said, a view out of step with many in diet-obsessed Hollywood.

Lawrence’s figure in “The Hunger Games” raised eyebrows of some critics, who believed the actress looked a little too healthy for a character struggling to eat.

“I don’t want little girls to be like, ‘Oh, I want to look like Katniss, so I’m going to skip dinner,” Lawrence said. “That’s something I was really conscious of during training…I was trying to get my body to look fit and strong – not thin and underfed.”

Suffering for a role by rapidly losing or gaining weight is part of Hollywood lore.

Natalie Portman was applauded for dropping some 20 pounds for her Oscar-winning role as a ballerina in 2010′s “Black Swan”. Likewise Robert De Niro nabbed an Oscar after packing on 60 extra pounds in 1980 boxing film “Raging Bull”.

Lawrence’s figure did not hurt the first installment of the “The Hunger Games” series, which was released in March and has grossed some $ 670 million worldwide. The actress has signed on for three sequels.

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by David Gregorio)

Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Acetaminophen in infancy again tied to asthma

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Babies given acetaminophen for fevers and aches may have a heightened risk of asthma symptoms in their preschool years, a new study suggests.

The findings, from a study of 411 Danish children, add to a mixed bag of research into whether there’s a link between acetaminophen – better known by the brand-name Tylenol – and kids’ asthma risk.

Researchers found that the more acetaminophen kids were given as infants, the more likely they were to develop asthma-like symptoms in early childhood.

That statistical link does not prove that acetaminophen causes airway trouble, according to senior researcher Dr. Hans Bisgaard, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

“We think it is too early to conclude a causal relationship,” he told Reuters Health in an email.

Still, Bisgaard said, the findings should encourage further research into a “plausible biological mechanism” by which acetaminophen could promote asthma.

The study, reported in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, included 336 children who were followed from birth to age seven. All had mothers with asthma, which put them at increased risk for the lung disease themselves.

Overall, 19 percent of the children had asthma-like symptoms by the age of three – meaning recurrent bouts of wheezing, breathlessness or coughing.

Bisgaard’s team found that the risk generally went up the more often a child was given acetaminophen in the first year of life. For each doubling in the number of days a baby received the drug, there was a 28 percent increase in the risk of asthma symptoms.

The link disappeared, though, by the time the children were seven years old. At that point, 14 percent of kids had asthma, and the risk was no greater for those given acetaminophen as babies.

With that, the new findings actually paint a less worrisome picture than some past research has, according to Dr. Henry Milgrom, a professor of pediatrics at National Jewish Health in Denver who was not involved in the study.

But this study’s not the last word, Milgrom said. “I don’t think this answers the question. It raises more questions.”

Weeding out specific effects of acetaminophen on asthma risk is tricky. The biggest reason is that children with asthma tend to get more severe respiratory infections. Compared with other kids, their colds may more often turn into bronchitis or pneumonia.

So it would make sense that they’d be given the fever reducer acetaminophen more often than other kids would.

Bisgaard said his team did have information on other factors – including kids’ rates of pneumonia and bronchitis, body weight and parents’ smoking. And they did not seem to account for the acetaminophen-asthma connection.

Still, it’s possible that there are other explanations, according to Bisgaard.

And if acetaminophen does have an effect, the researchers say, it might be “temporary,” since there was no link at age seven.

A number of past studies have suggested that young children given acetaminophen are at increased of asthma. But some others have doubted that.

One recent study found that children given other common pain medications – including ibuprofen and naproxen – also had an increased asthma risk. And the researchers said that suggested children with asthma symptoms were simply more likely to need the medications.

Bisgaard said that few babies in this study were given other painkillers, so it wasn’t possible to see whether those medications were related to asthma symptoms.

The study had other limitations. It included only kids at higher-than-normal risk of asthma, so it’s not clear whether the findings would be the same for children at average risk.

Milgrom said that for now, parents may want to avoid acetaminophen if their baby or young child is at increased risk of asthma.

Ibuprofen would be an alternative; experts say parents should avoid giving aspirin to children because the drug is linked to Reye syndrome – a rare but serious disease that affects the brain and liver.

Bisgaard did not advise avoiding acetaminophen. But he did urge parents to use it only when warranted – like when a child has a fever – to avoid unnecessary doses.

“We would like to stress,” Bisgaard said, “that the use of this drug indeed is beneficial in the appropriate circumstances.”

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/ZeQrfo Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, online October 26, 2012.

Diseases/Conditions News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Consumer sentiment at five-year high; inventories jump

NEW YORK (Reuters) – An increasingly upbeat view of the economy and jobs market drove U.S. consumer sentiment to a more than five-year high in early November, while a jump in wholesale inventories suggested the economy grew more than initially estimated last quarter.

It was the fourth month that Americans adopted a rosier economic outlook, even as financial markets show increasing anxiety about the approach of the “fiscal cliff” of spending cuts and tax increases set to take effect in the new year, on fears they could push the country back into recession.

Separate data from the government also released on Friday showed wholesale inventories rose in September by the most in nine months, prompting economists to raise their forecasts for third-quarter growth. Inventories are a key element of the government’s measure of economic growth and can highlight underlying strength or weakness.

The index of consumer sentiment from Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan rose to 84.9 in November from 82.6, topping economists’ expectations for a reading of 83.

It was the highest level since July 2007. The measure of consumer expectations also hit a more than five-year high, rising to 80.8 from 79.0. Most interviews for the survey were done before Tuesday’s presidential election.

“It shows that the U.S. economy is on a decent footing heading into the so-called fiscal cliff,” said Joe Manimbo, market analyst at Western Union Business Solutions in Washington.

“There’s a lot at stake, and there’s a lot of momentum that could be lost if lawmakers don’t get their act together.”

Survey director Richard Curtin said the re-election of President Barack Obama should not have an impact on overall expectations going forward, but if Washington does not act quickly to avoid the fiscal cliff, with its $ 600 billion in automatic spending cuts and tax rises, consumers could face a shock.

Friday’s data came a week after the government‘s monthly labor market report showed job growth picked up in October. The unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9 percent, though it held below 8 percent for the second month in a row.

But the chances of a comprehensive legislative solution to the fiscal cliff before January 1 are considered slight, and members of Congress have been looking for a temporary fix to buy time.

While a negative conclusion to the discussions poses a risk to confidence and spending, “uncertainty over the ultimate outcome doesn’t appear to have troubled consumers unduly thus far,” Barclays economist Peter Newland wrote.

Obama was expected to make a statement at 1:05 p.m. EST (1805 GMT).

The consumer sentiment survey is now consistent with a gain in consumer spending of 2.5 percent next year, the report said.

“Unless the congressional Grinch steals Christmas, prospects for the holiday shopping season have improved markedly,” said Curtin.

U.S. stocks bounced higher after the data as equities tried to recoup some of the steep losses of the past two days.

INVENTORIES RISE

The Commerce Department reported that total wholesale inventories gained 1.1 percent to $ 494.2 billion, beating even the highest estimate in a Reuters poll of analysts.

JPMorgan and Barclays raised their estimates for third-quarter gross domestic product growth to 3.2 percent from 2.8 percent following the report.

The government’s first reading of growth for the third quarter showed the economy expanded at a 2.0 percent rate, though other recent economic reports, including data on trade and factory orders, have suggested a faster pace of growth.

Still, some economists cut their expectations for growth in the fourth quarter, according to a separate survey released on Friday.

Economists expect to see growth at an annual rate of 1.8 percent in the current quarter, down from the previous estimate of 2.2 percent growth, according to the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank’s fourth-quarter survey of 39 forecasters.

(Additional reporting by Edward Krudy in New York and Jason Lange in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Business News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Syria opposition bloc elects Christian as leader

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Syria‘s main opposition group in exile has elected a Christian Paris-based former geography teacher as its new president.

George Sabra said Friday that his election as head of the Syrian National Council is a sign that the opposition is not plagued by sectarian divisions.

Sabra says the SNC‘s main demand is to receive weapons from the international community. The U.S. and some other foreign backers of rebels fighting the regime of President Bashar Assad have so far refused to send weapons for fear they can fall into the wrong hands.

Middle East News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..