Analysis: Tax strategy may be key to Verizon Wireless deal

By Kevin Drawbaugh and Nanette Byrnes

(Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc's chances of buying the 45-percent stake in Verizon Wireless owned by the UK's Vodafone Group Plc will hinge, at least in part, on the quality of tax advice it is getting.

Verizon, the No. 2 U.S. telecommunications company, may have found a way to structure a purchase of the stake so that Vodafone can avoid a multi-billion dollar U.S. capital gains tax bill, sources familiar with Verizon's plans said. The possibility of a huge tax bill has previously been regarded by analysts as a big hurdle to any such deal.

Reuters reported last Wednesday that Verizon was preparing a bid worth about $100 billion to take full control of Verizon Wireless - it already owns the other 55 percent - by buying the stake, according to people familiar with the matter. There are no guarantees that Vodafone will want to sell its stake or that Verizon will pursue the plan.

Vodafone declined to comment on the possibility of a Verizon bid for its stake or on the tax question.

One person familiar with the situation said Vodafone cannot consider the size of any tax payout in a possible transaction until the company has received an offer, which it has not.

A Verizon spokesman declined to comment.

Verizon hopes that if it structures a transaction to eliminate much of the tax bill, it can encourage Vodafone to come to the table for talks. Some analysts and investors say Verizon may have to pay as much as $130 billion to clinch the deal.

The tax bill on $100-billion deal, based on a simple acquisition of the stake, would be about $38 billion, according to UBS Investment Research. It could be much higher if the deal's price-tag rises above that figure, UBS noted.

That tax bill is based on the massive growth Verizon Wireless has experienced since it was established 13 years ago. The 45-percent stake that Verizon Communications wants to buy is owned by Vodafone Americas, a U.S. holding company. Given it is a U.S. entity, if Vodafone Americas were to sell that stake outright it would have to pay the full capital gains tax on the stake.

But the sources said Verizon Communications is contemplating a two-part deal that could avoid this. Instead of buying the stake outright, the sources said, Verizon Communications would buy the Delaware-based Vodafone Americas. Analysts said the seller of Vodafone Americas would not be a U.S.-based entity, so no U.S. capital gains tax would be due.

Vodafone's international structure is complicated, involving many holding companies, and the precise ownership of some assets is unclear. Vodafone Americas also owns some of Vodafone's non-US assets, the sources said, probably including some in Germany and Spain. These would be sold back to Vodafone by Verizon Communications, which would keep the Verizon Wireless stake, they said.

The two transactions could be done simultaneously or one after the other.

While the sale of the Verizon Wireless stake would not incur capital gains tax, the sale of the international assets back to Vodafone would. This is because it would involve the sale of assets by Verizon Communications, a U.S. entity.

Compared to Verizon Wireless, the smaller international assets are thought to have gained little in value. Analysts estimated their sale could hit Verizon Communications with a U.S. tax bill of about $5 billion or less.

The sources said that Verizon would seek to pass any tax hit onto Vodafone in the two-part transaction.

LONG COURTSHIP

Verizon has long coveted its partner Vodafone's stake in the Verizon Wireless joint venture, which started operations in 2000.

The last time the two came close to a deal was in 2004, when Vodafone bid for AT&T Wireless. The British company, the world's second-largest mobile operator, however, lost that bid to Cingular and has since held on to the Verizon Wireless stake for its exposure to the U.S. wireless market.

Wall Street analysts had previously seen it as unlikely that Verizon would want to do a deal involving Vodafone Americas' international assets. But those assets have underperformed in recent years when compared with the growth of Verizon Wireless, and are now a smaller part of the holding company, reducing the potential tax hit.

However, the timing of Verizon's interest in doing the deal has more to do with the gains in its stock price and low interest rates, the sources stressed.

Verizon is considering paying about half of the purchase price in cash and half in stock, Reuters reported on Wednesday. That means it may look to raise around $50 billion in debt.

UK TAX QUESTION

The kind of deal structure envisaged would still leave Vodafone with another tax question, said UK academics and analysts: Should it leave the proceeds from any sale offshore or bring them home to the UK?

Leaving the money offshore might invite scrutiny from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, which sometimes questions transactions if they seem designed solely to avoid tax and are not based in an underlying economic logic, said Prems Sikka, professor of accounting at the University of Essex in the UK.

If the transaction were shaped the way the sources have described it, Vodafone would probably repatriate the proceeds into Britain, said Charles Merriman, managing director at Merriman Capital Transactions, a consultancy in London.

Once that was done, he said, the company might be able to reduce its tax bill by taking advantage of the UK's substantial shareholdings exemption. Under certain conditions, this exempts from UK corporation taxation any gains realized when one company disposes of shares in another company.

More broadly, though, Vodafone could face a political backlash in the UK from any deal that was clearly structured to avoid taxation, said Robin Bienenstock, senior analyst at Bernstein Research.

U.S. companies such as Starbucks, Amazon and Google have come under fire from British lawmakers for using legal maneuvers to cut their tax bills in the UK.

"The problem with tax is not just the technical ability to avoid it, but the scorched earth that trying to avoid it could leave with the UK government afterwards," said Bienenstock. "Recent tax cases in the UK ... suggest that an attempt to avoid tax on such a large and high profile deal would be very badly received."

(Reporting by Kevin Drawbaugh in Washington, D.C. and Nanette Byrnes in Chapel Hill, N.C.; Additional reporting by Kate Holton and Tom Bergin in London; So Young Kim and Paritosh Bansal in New York; Editing by Martin Howell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-tax-strategy-may-key-verizon-wireless-deal-050341644.html

ice t new york knicks president day lin j.r. smith espn jeremy lin sleigh bells

Pain and Gain Review: A Roided-Out Crime Movie

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/pain-and-gain-review-a-roided-out-crime-movie/

cyber monday lupus iCarly banana republic gap Victoria Secret Bath And Body Works

Vertus Bluetooth kit adds stereo streaming to any pair of ordinary speakers

Nowadays we're spoiled with options in the Bluetooth speaker market, and many of the high-end ones -- especially those from Soundfreaq and Nokia -- even feature dual-system streaming (DSS) that lets one speaker pair with another to enable true stereo playback. But if you already have a pair of old but nice-sounding speakers with 3.5mm input on both, then here's a quick and easy way to add Bluetooth to them. Dubbed Vertus, this Kickstarter project features the above pair of receivers based on CSR's TrueWireless Stereo, a nifty technology that's been made available since early 2009.

Similar to any DSS system, one of the Vertus dongles (the right channel, in this case) acts as the master to receive the stereo stream from a Bluetooth source, and then it'd throw the left-channel stream to the other dongle. So provided that your speakers have their own power source, it's just a matter of charging these aluminum dongles up (a single charge lasts up to 10 hours), plugging them in and then pair the right receiver with your audio source. Simple! That said, at $120 this kit may struggle to gain traction in retail, so hopefully the audio quality will somewhat justify the price. Introductory video after the break.

Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Wireless

Comments

Source: Kickstarter

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/2HW-SJ0ONXs/

Perez Hilton Michelle Obama Oscars Wissam Al Mana seth macfarlane oscar winners anne hathaway Castel Gandolfo

Officials: Suspect admits role in bombings

BOSTON (AP) ? The surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings acknowledged to the FBI his role in the attacks but did so before he was advised of his constitutional right to keep quiet and seek a lawyer, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

Once Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was read his rights on Monday, he immediately stopped talking, according to four officials of both political parties who were briefed on the interrogation but insisted on anonymity because the briefing was private.

After roughly 16 hours of questioning, investigators were surprised when a magistrate judge and a representative from the U.S. Attorney's office entered the hospital room and read Tsarnaev his rights, the four officials and one law enforcement official said. Investigators had planned to keep questioning him.

It is unclear whether any of this will matter in court since the FBI says Tsarnaev confessed to a witness and U.S. officials said Wednesday that physical evidence, including a 9 mm handgun and pieces of a remote-control device commonly used in toys, was recovered from the scene.

But the debate over whether suspected terrorists should be read their Miranda rights has become a major sticking point in the debate over how best to fight terrorism. Many Republicans, in particular, believe Miranda warnings are designed to build court cases, and only hinder intelligence gathering.

Christina DiIorio Sterling, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz, said in an email, "This remains an ongoing investigation and we don't have any further comment."

Before being advised of his rights, the 19-year-old suspect told authorities that his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, only recently had recruited him to be part of the attack, two U.S. officials said.

The CIA, however, named Tamerlan to a terrorist database 18 months ago, officials said Wednesday, an acknowledgment that will undoubtedly prompt congressional inquiry about whether investigators took warnings from Russian intelligence officials seriously enough.

The U.S. officials who discussed the terrorist database and other details of the investigation are in addition to those who discussed the Miranda warning. They were close to the investigation and insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case with reporters.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, whom authorities have described as the driving force behind the plot, was killed in a shootout with police. Dzhokhar is recovering in a hospital from injuries suffered during a getaway attempt.

Authorities had previously said Dzhokhar exchanged gunfire with them for more than an hour Friday night before they captured him inside a boat covered by a tarp in a suburban Boston neighborhood backyard. But two U.S. officials said Wednesday that he was unarmed when captured, raising questions about the gunfire and how he was injured.

More than 4,000 mourners at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology paid tribute to a campus police officer who authorities say was gunned down by the bombing suspects.

Among the speakers in Cambridge, just outside Boston, was Vice President Joe Biden, who condemned the bombing suspects as "two twisted, perverted, cowardly, knockoff jihadis."

Investigators have said the brothers appeared to have been radicalized through jihadist materials on the Internet and have found no evidence tying them to a terrorist group.

Dzhokhar told the FBI that they were angry about the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the killing of Muslims there, officials said.

Dzhokhar's public defender had no comment on the matter Wednesday. His father has called him a "true angel," and an aunt has insisted he's not guilty.

Investigators have found pieces of remote-control equipment among the debris and were analyzing them, officials said. One official described the detonator as "close-controlled," meaning it had to be triggered within several blocks of the bombs.

That evidence could be key to the court case. And an FBI affidavit said one of the brothers told a carjacking victim during their getaway attempt, "Did you hear about the Boston explosion? I did that."

Officials also recovered a 9 mm handgun believed to have been used by Tamerlan from the site of a Thursday night gunbattle that injured a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officer, two U.S. officials said.

The officials told the AP that no gun was found in the boat. Boston police Commissioner Ed Davis said earlier that shots were fired from inside the boat.

Asked whether the suspect had a gun in the boat, Davis said, "I'm not going to talk about that."

Kurt Schwartz, director of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, did respond to the report.

"Within half a mile of where this person was captured, a police officer was shot. And I know who shot him." Schwartz said. "And there were three bombs that went off, and I know where those bombs came from. ... To me, it does not change anything. This guy was captured alive and will survive. True or not true, it doesn't change anything for me."

The suspects' parents, Anzor Tsarnaev and Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, plan to fly to the U.S. from Russia on Thursday, the father was quoted as telling the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. The family has said it wants to take Tamerlan's body back to Russia.

In Russia, U.S. investigators traveled to the predominantly Muslim province of Dagestan and were in contact with the brothers' parents, hoping to gain more information.

Investigators are looking into whether Tamerlan, who spent six months in Russia's turbulent Caucasus region in 2012, was influenced by the religious extremists who have waged an insurgency against Russian forces in the area for years. The brothers have roots in Dagestan and neighboring Chechnya but had lived in the U.S. for about a decade.

While in the U.S., the brothers received welfare benefits.

The Office of Health and Human Services in Massachusetts confirmed a Boston Herald report Wednesday that Tamerlan, his wife and daughter had received welfare benefits up until last year, when he became ineligible based on family income.

The state also says Tamerlan and his brother received welfare benefits as children through their parents while the family lived in Massachusetts.

Neither was receiving benefits at the time of the bombing.

At MIT, bagpipes wailed as students, faculty and staff members and throngs of law enforcement officials paid their respects to MIT police Officer Sean Collier, who was ambushed in his cruiser three days after the bombing.

Biden told the Collier family that no child should die before his or her parents, but that, in time, the grief will lose some of its sting.

"The moment will come when the memory of Sean is triggered and you know it's going to be OK," Biden said. "When the first instinct is to get a smile on your lips before a tear to your eye."

The vice president also sounded a defiant note.

"The purpose of terror is to instill fear," he said. "You saw none of it here in Boston. Boston, you sent a powerful message to the world."

In another milestone in Boston's recovery, the area around the marathon finish line was reopened to the public, with fresh cement still drying on the repaired sidewalk. Delivery trucks made their way down Boylston Street under a heavy police presence, though some damaged stores were still closed.

"I don't think there's going to be a sense of normalcy for a while," Tom Champoux, who works nearby, said as he pointed to the boarded-up windows. "There are scars here that will be with us for a long time."

___

Jakes and Dozier reported from Washington. Associated Press writers David Crary, Bridget Murphy and Bob Salsberg in Boston, Lynn Berry in Moscow and Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Eric Tucker, Pete Yost and Eileen Sullivan in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/officials-suspect-stopped-talking-miranda-044858309.html

gavin degraw gavin degraw alec time 100 bob beckel anna paquin warren buffett

Motherlode Blog: Study Links Autism With Antidepressant Use During Pregnancy

A cautiously worded study based on data collected in Sweden has found that ?in utero exposure to both selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (S.S.R.I.?s) and nonselective monoamine reuptake inhibitors (tricyclic antidepressants) was associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorders, particularly without intellectual disability.?

The Swedish medical birth register (which contains data on current drug use reported by mothers early in their pregnancies), along with a system of publicly funded screenings for autism spectrum disorders and extensive national and regional registers of various health issues, make a detailed, population-based case-control study possible ? one that controls for other variables like family income, parent educational level, maternal and paternal age and even maternal region of birth (all factors the authors note have been previously associated with autism).

This is the second study in two years to associate antidepressant use during pregnancy with an increased incidence of autism in exposed children. An earlier, smaller study in California also found a modest increase in risk. The Sweden-based study could not (and did not) exclude the possibility that it was the severe depression, rather than the use of antidepressants, that created the association, but the smaller California study (which considered only S.S.R.I.?s) found ?no increase in risk? for mothers with a history of mental health treatment in the absence of prenatal exposure to S.S.R.I.?s.

The authors of the current study took a very cautious approach to their findings:

The results of the present study as well as the U.S. study present a major dilemma in relation to clinical advice to pregnant women with depression. If antidepressants increase the risk of autism spectrum disorder, it would be reasonable to warn women about this possibility. However, if the association actually reflects the risk of autism spectrum disorder related to the nongenetic effects of severe depression during pregnancy, treatment may reduce the risk. Informed decisions would also need to consider weighing the wider risks of untreated depression with the other adverse outcomes related to antidepressant use. With the current evidence, if the potential risk of autism were a consideration in the decision-making process, it may be reasonable to think about, wherever appropriate, nondrug approaches such as psychological treatments. However, their timely availability to pregnant women will need to be enhanced.

Others working in the field are more inclined to draw a line between the prenatal drug exposure and the increased risk of autism. ?It really shouldn?t come as that much of a surprise given that numerous animal studies have shown that exposure during development leads to changes in the brain and changes in behavior ? often that mimic autism,? said Dr. Adam C. Urato, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Tufts University School of Medicine and chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham, Mass. (Dr. Urato obviously didn?t speak in links, but you can find the animal studies he refers to here and here.)

?And why should it surprise us that medications that can change brain chemistry and function might alter the development of the brain and behavior?? Dr. Urato argues that the risks of antidepressant use during pregnancy outweigh what he sees as the limited benefits.

One conclusion that is simple to draw is that it?s extraordinarily difficult for a pregnant woman with clinical depression to find some definitive answer about what?s best for her in her situation. I?ve spoken to other researchers in the past who have described for me how difficult it is to put together a study that separates the risks of depression itself in pregnancy from the risks, if any, of the drugs used to treat it. As the researchers in Sweden note, it?s unlikely that conclusive evidence on this issue will ever be available.

If you?ve been pregnant with clinical depression, where did you go to find the information and advice you needed?

Updated | April 23, 2013: In re-reading this post, I?ve realized I should have included exactly how ?modest? the increase in attributable risk was (an increase that, again, wasn?t ?caused? by prenatal exposure to either form of antidepressant but rather associated with it). In this study, the increase was just 0.6 percent in the studied population. I?ve been surprised by the number of readers who, in the comments, took this cautiously observed association and blew it up into something rather larger. Happily, the entire study (unlike many) is freely available at the link above. You?ll find other, more extensive (but still far from conclusive) discussions of what these numbers do and don?t mean for individual women here, here, and here.

---

Source: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/22/study-links-autism-with-antidepressant-use-during-pregnancy/?partner=rss&emc=rss

URI Facebook Home Ncaa Basketball Tournament 2013 Robert Ebert blake shelton chelsea handler hannibal

National Secular Society - Despite secular constitution, Fiji ...

With Fiji set to become a secular state when the new constitution comes into effect, it has been confirmed that "general prayers acceptable to all" will be said in government organised functions.

In the draft constitution, it is clearly stated that religious belief is personal. It said that the State and all persons holding a public office must treat all religions equally and they must not dictate any religious belief.

The draft further said that the State and all persons holding a public office must not prefer or advance, by any means, any particular religion, religious denomination, religious belief or religious practice over another, or over any non-religious belief.

When asked on how the government departments will handle prayers at functions when the constitution is adopted, Acting Prime Minister and Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said a prayer can be said that is acceptable to all.

Source: http://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2013/04/despite-secular-constitution-fiji-government-wont-rule-out-prayer-at-official-functions

acm awards 2012 january jones ncaa final game reba mcentire acm awards the killing global payments

Life on Mars? Finding It May Require Humans on Red Planet

Life may well lurk beneath the Martian surface today, but it'll be tough to detect without sending humans to the Red Planet, some experts say.

It could be a long time before robots are able to drill deep into the Martian underground, explore caves and investigate other potentially life-supporting habitats on the Red Planet. So if humanity wants to satisfy its curiosity about potential life on Mars?anytime soon, it should work to get boots in the red dirt, advocates say.

"We might be lucky and confirm life with robots over the next one to two decades, but it's probably going to take people to do, literally, the heavy labor to be able to do it," said Chris Carberry, co-founder and executive director of Explore Mars, a nonprofit organization dedicated to human exploration of the Red Planet. [The Search for Life on Mars (A Photo Timeline)]

Subsurface sanctuaries?

Most scientists think the frigid, dry and radiation-bombed Martian surface is unlikely to host life as we know it today. But conditions could be much more benign in underground environments such as caves or lava tubes, providing potential refuges for microbes.

"The subsurface is going to be radically different from the surface," astrobiologist and cave scientist Penny Boston, a professor at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, told SPACE.com late last year. "Every indication we have from caves of all different kinds?all over this planet [Earth] shows that it doesn't take much separation vertically for a radically different environment."

Indeed, the Martian subsurface is known to harbor water ice, and several recent studies suggest that pockets of liquid water may exist beneath the red dirt as well. Here on Earth, life thrives pretty much anywhere liquid water is found, so the possibility of current Martian aquifers excites astrobiologists.

Adding to the intrigue, Carberry said, is the fact that several different ground-based and space-based instruments have detected small amounts of methane in Mars' air. The gas could be an indicator of Red Planet life, some researchers say, since 90 percent of Earth's methane is biologically derived.

Further, scientists think methane disappears rapidly from the Martian atmosphere, meaning any of the stuff swirling there today was likely produced in the recent past.

"There is a strong, growing body of evidence that there could be subsurface life on Mars," Carberry told SPACE.com. "However, we may not be able to confirm that unless we send people."

Exploring the Martian underground

Carberry lauded the work of Red Planet robots such as the car-size Curiosity rover, whose mission team recently determined that Mars could have supported microbial life billions of years ago.

But he said the search for extant Martian life is really a job for human explorers, at least for the near future. Current robots just aren't capable of drilling several meters beneath the Red Planet's surface, for example, or rappelling down into a lava tube by themselves.

"There are so many different things, so many complicated processes, that a human could do as long as they had a backup, a partner, to help them," Carberry said, "but robots can't ? or if they can, it's going to take them an awful long time."

Steve Squyres of Cornell University, principal investigator for NASA's highly accomplished Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers, has acknowledged the slow pace of robotic explorers.

"The unfortunate truth is that most things our rovers can do in a perfect sol [Martian day], a human explorer on the scene could do in less than a minute," Squyres wrote in his 2005 book "Roving Mars: Spirit, Opportunity, and the Exploration of the Red Planet."

Protecting potential Mars life

Sending people to search for Martian life would raise some ethical concerns, however.

Every astronaut who lands on the Red Planet will bring with him or her a swarming mass of 100 trillion microbes ? the diverse "microbiome" that has evolved with humans for eons and provides a number of services, from aiding food digestion to keeping pathogenic bacteria at bay.

Some of these microbes would invariably jump ship on Mars, potentially swamping or destroying the organisms their human hosts were sent to detect.

"When you send humans to the next planet, you will always contaminate that planet, because you cannot sterilize a human like you can sterilize [NASA's 1970s-era] Viking spacecraft," Bas Lansdorp, co-founder and CEO of the Netherlands-based nonprofit Mars One, said during a news conference Monday (April 22).

Mars One aims to land four humans on the Red Planet in 2023 to jump-start a permanent colony there. The organization does not plan on aggressively seeking out Mars life; rather, it will try to put its settlement in a spot that minimizes the risks to potential indigenous organisms, Lansdorp said. [Mars One's Red Planet Colony Project (Gallery)]

Scientists and space agencies around the world are well aware of the planetary protection issue. In 2008, the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) drew up a set of guidelines that seeks to safeguard Earth from "back contamination" from Mars, and to protect potential Red Planet life?from an interplanetary invasion as well.

The COSPAR guidelines ? which NASA and the European Space Agency, among others, are committed to follow ? advise steering clear of gullies, possible geothermal sites and other "special regions" on Mars where Earth life might be able to get a foothold.

Such restrictions could make a manned life hunt difficult, since these places are also the most likely to harbor Red Planet life.

Carberry said future manned missions should take strict precautions to minimize their impact on the Red Planet and any potential indigenous lifeforms. But he doesn't think planetary protection concerns should keep humanity away from the Red Planet entirely.

"That's not a good reason not to go," Carberry said. "If we used that rationale for not going to Mars, we pretty much could eliminate all human exploration anywhere from now on."

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter?@michaeldwall.?Follow us?@Spacedotcom,?Facebook?or?Google+. Originally published on?SPACE.com.

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/life-mars-finding-may-require-humans-red-planet-120610927.html

Anne Stringfield paczki lent la times heart attack grill KTLA Ash Wednesday 2013

Sean Lowe Falters on Dancing With the Stars, Catherine Giudici Boos Judges

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/sean-lowe-falters-on-dancing-with-the-stars-catherine-giudici-bo/

Mcdonalds Restaurants Open on Christmas Day jessica simpson santa tracker happy holidays Stores Open On Christmas Day Santa Claus

Netflix has good hand with "House of Cards", shares soar 24 percent

By Lisa Richwine

(Reuters) - Netflix Inc impressed investors with solid subscriber growth and better-than-expected profits in the first quarter, sending shares of the video subscription service soaring 24 percent higher in after-hours trade.

A big push into original shows, a strategy aimed at hooking new customers with content they can't get anywhere else, seems to be working, with its February release of the series "House of Cards", a drama starring Kevin Spacey, generating plenty of buzz.

It was the second quarter in a row that Netflix has surprised on the upside, and its shares have become one of Wall Street's hottest performers this year, rising more than 80 percent. On Monday, its shares climbed to $216.62 in after-hours trade after closing at $174.37 on Nasdaq.

The results could help alleviate some analysts' concerns that Netflix may not grow fast enough to pay the costs of its international expansion and its bills from Walt Disney Co, Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros, CBS Corp and other Hollywood studios that provide it with movies and TV shows to stream to subscribers over the Internet.

The Los Gatos, California-based company beat Wall Street analysts' forecasts with $19 million in net income, excluding a loss for retiring debt, and adjusted earnings per share of 31 cents. Analysts had forecast an average of 19 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue for the quarter was $1.0 billion, up 17 percent from a year earlier.

Netflix said it signed up 2 million new customers for its $8-a-month U.S. streaming service, the largest part of its business, with a total of 29.2 million members.

"The launch of 'House of Cards' provided a halo effect on our entire service," Netflix Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings and Chief Financial Officer David Wells said in a letter to shareholders.

Hastings, in an interview, said "House of Cards" provided a "very modest, positive impact" on subscriber growth in the first quarter, and its value would increase with future seasons.

Viewing for another only-on-Netflix show, horror series "Hemlock Grove" exceeded the first few days of "House of Cards" Hastings said. The company did not provide specific viewing numbers.

Investors pushed shares higher on Monday in response to the subscriber numbers, as well as higher profit margins from the U.S. streaming business, said BMO Capital Markets analyst Edward Williams.

"You had solid subscriber growth," Williams said.

Netflix said it added 1 million streaming subscribers in its markets outside the United States, which include Canada and parts of Europe and Latin America, bringing the global total to 36 million. It said it would launch the service in a new European market in the second half of 2013.

The company also said it will introduce a new plan in early May for $11.99 a month to allow four simultaneous streams from the same account, instead of the current limit of two for which it charges $7.99 a month. It expects less than 1 percent of members to sign up for it.

Netflix forecast in a letter to its shareholders that subscriber growth would slow from the first quarter's 2 million new streaming customers in the United States to up to 880,000 in the current quarter. That's slightly more than the same period a year ago, helped by the May 26 release of one-time Fox TV comedy "Arrested Development."

Some Wall Street analysts are still on the fence about Netflix. Prior to the results, 19 of 35 analysts rated Netflix "hold", nine rated it a "buy" and six recommended "sell".

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Bernard Orr and Edwina Gibbs)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/netflix-good-hand-house-cards-shares-soar-24-020150657--finance.html

Columbine shooting Ryan Lanza Facebook Connecticut shooting Nancy Lanza school shootings Jenni Rivera Adam Lanza Facebook

Apple posts $9.5 billion net profit in Q2 2013: sells 19.5 million iPads, 37.4 million iPhones

Apple has been on a roll for, well, almost as long as we can remember. Basically since the debut of the iMac, the company has been riding a rocketship back from brink of irrelevance. The iPod, iPhone and iPad have all led it to post record quarter, after record quarter, after record quarter. Now we're in the second quarter of financial year 2013 and it doesn't appear to be slowing down much. The company posted $43.6 billion in revenue during the quarter and net itself a handsome profit of $9.5 billion. While those numbers do represent the slowest rate of growth Cupertino has seen in years, it's hardly the fall from grace that some analysts were predicting. Compared to the same time last year, revenues are up from $39.2 billion though net income has dropped from the Q2 2012 mark of $11.6 billion. Still, the company managed to move more iPhones and iPads than it did during that quarter, and the drop Q1's holiday boosted numbers isn't particularly alarming. In total it moved 19.5 million iPads and 37.4 million iPhones during the three months ending on March 30th, 2013. In Q1 those numbers were an admitedly more impressive 22.9 milion and 47.8 million, respectively. But, compared to Q2 of 2012, things are still looking up from the 35.1 million iPhones and 11.8 million iPads shipped.

Things are a little less rosy around its non-iOS departments, but we'd hardly say the company was in dire straights. Mac sales were more or less flat both sequentially and year-over-year, falling just under four million units. Meanwhile, the iPod continued its steady decline, moving only 5.6 million units. That's not only more than a 50 percent drop from last quarter, but a 27 percent drop from the same period last year. The biggest contributor to Apple's revenue stream continues to be the iPhone, but the iPad is gaining fast and income from iTunes and its other software offerings continues to grow at an impressive rate.

The company's war chest now sits at a healthy $145 billion in cash, up from the $121 billion and change it had at the end of Q4 2012.

Developing...

Filed under: Misc, Mobile, Apple

Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/23/apple-posts-q2-2013-earnings/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

alicia sacramone Don Grady ann curry euro 2012 Colorado Springs Nora Ephron mario balotelli

Michael Smith at the Antiques and Garden Fair + Treasures from the ...

Image of Michael Smith via online.wsj.com

Michael Smith, one of America?s premier interior designers (and the one chosen by First Lady and President Obama to redecorate the White House family quarters), gave a fantastic lecture on Friday at the Chicago Botanic Garden?s Antiques and Garden Fair.? I?ve been a huge admirer of Smith?s work, particularly his ability to layer textures, ages, and cultures seamlessly throughout his interiors as well as his extraordinary attention to detail, but given his success and his rolodex of beyond A-list clients, I had preconceived notions of him taking himself a bit too seriously.? Right?? Wouldn?t you think?? I couldn?t have been more wrong, and feel comfortable saying that everyone in the room fell in love with him and secretly wished he was their best friend, present company included.? Not only is Smith thoroughly knowledgeable about art, history, and architecture (which I expected) and wickedly funny (which I did not expect), he is also disarmingly genuine.

Smith?s new book, available May 7th.

A big part of Smith?s lecture revolved around the upcoming April 23-24th Christie?s sale of a breathtaking Palladian villa he designed on the largest privately held piece of California coastline (click here to view the auction catalogue).? He also documented this phenomenal home in the above book Building Beauty (click here to pre-order, available May 7th).? Smith spent half a decade working on this house, searching the globe for treasures both humble and grand to fill the vast space.? Upon completion, his clients inhabited the home for a short time until someone knocked on their door and offered them 70 million dollars, which they accepted.? Thus the Christie?s sale.? If you have the time, you really should look through the catalogue.? Sure, there are exceptional pieces with exceptional auction estimates to match (including a to-die-for Helen Frankenthaler) but there are also several lovely objets d?art estimated at less than $1000.? They may not sell for less than $1000, but a girl can dream.

After his talk, my friend Cynthia McCullough (who happens to be a brilliant designer in her own right) and I walked around and took in the booths of antique dealers from the U.S. and Europe.? We almost lost our minds when we spied a vintage leather trunk trimmed in brass, painted one of my favorite colors, with the most outrageously perfect patina I have ever seen.? I debated for less than a minute, knowing if I went home without it that I?d regret it for the rest of my life.? It has taken up residence in the living room, adjacent to my antique Chippendale chairs that we had upholstered serendipitously in Michael Smith?s Grace fabric in Willow a few years ago.

This is my other treasure from the antiques fair, a great little crab-handled cachepot. How could I resist?

Like this:

Like Loading...

Source: http://theaestheteandthedilettante.com/2013/04/22/michael-smith-at-the-antiques-and-garden-fair-treasures-from-the-day/

south by southwest i want to know what love is courtney mercury retrograde bath salts heart shaped box lucid

Reese Witherspoon, husband arrested in Atlanta

By Randee Dawn, TODAY contributor

Updated: 7:10 a.m. ET Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon was arrested and jailed for a short time in Atlanta early Friday morning, according to an incident report originally obtained by Variety.?Her husband, CAA agent James Toth, was also arrested and jailed.

Toth was spotted by an Atlanta police officer while driving in the wrong lane, and now faces one DUI charge, and a second for "failure to maintain lane," according to the report, which was also obtained by TODAY.com. Witherspoon faces a charge of disorderly conduct.?

The actress has since said in a statement that she is "deeply embarrassed" about the incident, in which "I clearly had one drink too many."

The pair were pulled over when Toth's failure to maintain his lane was cause for suspicion of driving while intoxicated, and Witherspoon found herself handcuffed after refusing to stay in the car while the officer administered a field sobriety test on her husband.

Atlanta Department of Correction

Reese Witherspoon and James Toth after their Atlanta arrest.

"Mrs. Witherspoon began to hang out the window (of her car) and say that she did not believe that I was a real police officer," Officer J. Pyland noted in his report. "I told Mrs. Witherspoon to sit on her butt and be quiet."

The back-and-forth between Witherspoon and Officer Pyland escalated until he arrested her and put her in the rear of his vehicle.

The report also quoted Witherspoon as asking, "Do you know my name?" The officer says he answered that he didn't need to know her name "right now," and she told him, "You're about to find out who I am," later adding, "You are going to be on national news."

The couple were released at around 3:30 a.m. on Friday morning. A court appearance is scheduled for 8 a.m. Monday morning in Atlanta Municipal Court, but Variety said their attorney is likely to request a postponement.?

"Out of respect for the ongoing legal situation, I cannot comment on everything that is being reported right now," said Witherspoon in a statement. "But I do want to say, I clearly had one drink too many and I am deeply embarrassed about the things I said. It was definitely a scary situation and ?I was frightened for my husband, but that is no excuse. I was disrespectful to the officer who was just doing his job. The words I used that night definitely do not reflect who I am. I have nothing but respect for the police and I'm very sorry for my behavior."?

Witherspoon has been in Atlanta recently filming an independent film, "The Good Lie." The pair have been married since 2011 and she gave birth to their son Tennessee James Toth last September.

Related content:

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/04/21/17852106-reese-witherspoon-and-husband-arrested-in-atlanta?lite

ricky rubio day light savings time peter paul and mary edgar rice burroughs dallas clark litter marinol

China criticizes US for its human rights record

BEIJING (AP) ? China slammed the human rights record of the United States in response to Washington's report on rights around the world, saying that U.S. military operations have infringed on rights abroad and that political donations at home have thwarted the country's democracy.

The report released Sunday in China ? which defines human rights primarily in terms of improving living conditions for its 1.3 billion people? also cited gun violence in the U.S. among its examples of human rights violations, saying it was a serious threat to the lives and safety of America's citizens.

The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2012 said the U.S. government continues to strengthen the monitoring of its people and that political donations to election campaigns have undue influence on U.S. policy.

"American citizens do not enjoy a genuinely equal right to vote," the report said, citing a decreased turnout in the 2012 presidential election and a voting rate of 57.5 percent.

The report from the information office of the State Council, or China's Cabinet, which mostly cited media reports, said there was serious sex, racial and religious discrimination in the U.S. and that the country had seriously infringed on the human rights of other nations through its military operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen.

The U.S.'s annual global human rights report issued Friday by the State Department said China had imposed new registration requirements to prevent groups from emerging that might challenge government authority. It said Chinese government efforts to silence and intimidate political activists and public interest lawyers continued to increase, and that authorities use extralegal measures such as enforced disappearance to prevent the public voicing of independent opinions.

It also said there was discrimination against women, minorities and people with disabilities, and people trafficking, the use of forced labor, forced sterilization and widespread corruption.

China's authoritarian government maintains strict controls over free speech, religion and political activity ? restrictions that the U.S. considers human rights violations.

__

Online: Report (in Chinese): http://bit.ly/17b8hnh

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-criticizes-us-human-rights-record-054853559.html

hepatitis c symptoms david bradley david foster wallace pinterest attwireless taylor swift zac efron the scream

Reese Witherspoon will produce modern-day adaptation of 'Great Expectations'

Reese Witherspoon's modern-day take on 'Great Expecations' has received a script order from The CW. Another Reese Witherspoon-produced project, a 'Peter Pan' update, was picked up by Fox.

By Scott Stoute,?Screen Rant / April 22, 2013

Reese Witherspoon would be an executive producer for the series 'Expectations,' which received a script order from The CW.

Danny Moloshok/Reuters

Enlarge

Youth-centric network The CW is sticking with its dramatic-romance roots by commissioning a script order for Expectations ? which is described as a modern re-imagining of Charles Dickens? Great Expectations, with Legally Blonde actress Reese Witherspoon attached to executive produce.

Skip to next paragraph Screen Rant

Screen Rant had a humble start back in 2003 as a place to rant about some of the dumber stuff related to the movie industry. Since then, the site has grown to cover more and more TV and movie news (and not just the dumb stuff) along with sometimes controversial movie reviews. The goal at Screen Rant is to cover stories and review movies from a middle ground/average person perspective.

Recent posts

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of
The Christian Science Monitor
Weekly Digital Edition

The CW?s revamped take on the literary classic, (first published in the late 1860s)?will center on a small-town girl who moves to San Francisco with big dreams of making it in the city. Unfortunately for her she is quickly slammed by the harsh reality of living away from her humble home, until her fortunes unexpectedly switch, thanks to a mysterious and anonymous benefactor.

The original Dickens story was first released in serial form via Dickens? weekly periodical ?All the Year Round?, from December 1860 to August 1861 and revolves around Pip, an orphan who assists an escaped convict while visiting the grave site of his parents and siblings. Years later, the now-wealthy ex-con returns the favor.

Lethal Weapon 4 co-producer J. Mills Goodloe, who also wrote and directed the award-winning Gary Sinise film A Gentleman?s Game and co-wrote the 2007 Terrence Howard swim drama Pride, will write the script for the hour-long drama with Reese Witherspoon, Bruna Papandrea, Meghan Lyvers and Evelyn O?Neill all executive producing through Witherspoon?s production company, Pacific Standard.

Great Expectations has been adapted many times into film ? with the latest being the upcoming British version written by David Nicholls and directed by Mike Newell (Harry Potter 4), starring War Horse actor Jeremy Irvine as Pip and Helena Bonham Carter as the ill-fated Miss Havisham.

As for Witherspoon (born Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon) Expectations marks the latest in her small-screen producing endeavors using literally classics. Recently, Fox has picked up another Witherspoon-produced project titled Wendy & Peter. While still in the early stages,?Wendy & Peter is a comedic retelling of Peter Pan that centers on a single mom who lands a gig as a nanny taking care of a bunch of ?lost boys ?.

Expectations joins the CW?s plans for a contemporary dramatic version of Alice in Wonderland, currently dubbed Wunderland, from The Playboy Club creator Chad Hodge. The drama will center on a young female detective in modern-day Los Angeles, who discovers another world that exists under the surface of this ultra-modern city.

Scott Stoute blogs at Screen Rant.

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of music, film, and television bloggers. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by The Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own and they are responsible for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/xJZ2_LI1iiM/Reese-Witherspoon-will-produce-modern-day-adaptation-of-Great-Expectations

cleveland news daytona race the cutting edge fox 8 news indy 500 angelina jolie leg daytona

European shares, oil higher but growth worries linger

By Marc Jones

LONDON (Reuters) - World stocks and oil prices edged back up on Friday but remained on course for one of their worst weeks of the year following a sell-off triggered by global economic growth concerns.

Surprisingly weak Chinese and U.S. economic data, on top of the International Monetary Fund's decision to trim its global growth forecast, hit commodities from gold to oil this week and brought the recent rally in equity markets to an abrupt halt.

Top European shares opened 0.4 percent on Friday, as London's FTSE <.ftse>, Frankfurt's DAX <.gdaxi> and the Paris CAC-40 <.fchi> rebounded 0.2, 0.1 and 0.6 percent respectively.

But four straight days of losses left them down 2.5 percent on the week, their worst since November last year and a fall that has pushed them back below where they started the year.

"The weaker Chinese data has combined with the numbers from the U.S. and it has been translated by people as that the global economy is actually at a much weaker stage than has been price in," said Daiwa Securities economist Tobias Blattner.

"I think the correction could continue if we get a snap election in Italy, but if you ignore the political risk I think we are going to go into a phase of muddling through where shares stay roughly where they are, but with a lot of volatility."

In the currency market, the yen fell back to 99.10 yen to the dollar after Japan said the Group of 20, which is meeting in Washington, had accepted that the Bank of Japan's sweeping monetary expansion is aimed at beating deflation rather than competitively weakening the yen.

The prospect of lower global growth, and with it weaker demand for goods used in industrial production, has weighed most heavily on commodity markets this week.

Investors in U.S.-based funds pulled a record $2.7 billion out of commodities and precious metals funds in the week ended April 17, Thomson Reuters Lipper data showed.

Oil? was 0.5 percent higher to $99.59 a barrel as European trading began to gather pace but like a broad range of commodities was set for its third drop in as many weeks having started on Monday at $103.

Copper, a gauge for manufacturing and China-related growth, was hovering at $7,000 a ton have broken below the threshold for the first time since late 2011 on Thursday.

In Asian trading, spot gold ticked back above $1,400 an ounce as buyers continued to filter back into the market, but the brutal sell-off at the start of the week left it heading for a fourth week of losses.

"This gives us some confidence that as panic selling passes, prices can rebound by $100-150 an ounce and trade in the $1,400-$1,550 range over the next 3-6 months," said Mark Pervan, global head of commodity strategy at ANZ, referring to a pickup in physical gold sales in India and China.

(Reporting by Marc Jones; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/global-growth-worries-cap-asian-share-prices-002632669--finance.html

the glass castle jennifer hudson trial north korea threat brandon jacobs brandon jacobs brian dawkins emma roberts

Floodwaters rising after deluge from storms

ST. LOUIS (AP) ? Flood fighters from small Mississippi River hamlets to the suburbs of Chicago staged a feverish battle Friday to hold back raging rivers, after days of torrential rains soaked much of the Midwest.

Mississippi River communities in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri are expected to see significant flooding ? some near-record levels ? by the weekend, a sharp contrast to just two months ago when the river was approaching record lows. Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana had flooding, too. All told, dozens of Midwestern rivers were well over their banks after rains that began Wednesday dumped up to 6 inches of new water on already saturated soil.

In Quincy, Ill., the normally slow to swell Mississippi River rose nearly 10 feet in 36 hours, National Weather Service hydrologist Mark Fuchs said. One bridge in the town about 120 miles north of St. Louis was closed Friday, leaving one open.

"That's pretty amazing," Fuchs said of the fast-rising river. "It's just been skyrocketing."

Smaller rivers in Illinois seemed to be causing the worst of the flooding. In suburban Chicago, which got up to 7 inches of rain in a 24-hour period ending Thursday, record levels of water were moving through the Des Plaines River past heavily populated western suburbs and into the Illinois River to the south.

As many as 1,500 residents of the northern Illinois city of Marseilles were evacuated Thursday night when fears of a levee breach were heightened as seven barges broke free from a towing vessel and came to rest against a dam on the Illinois River.

And in the central Illinois town of London Mills, the swollen Spoon River topped a levee, forcing about half of the 500 residents to evacuate. Police Chief Scott Keithley said some homes were half under water, and abandoned cars were sent floating in the torrent of water.

Mississippi River flooding wasn't as pronounced as its water level varies greatly but is typically highest in the spring, so minor flooding is not uncommon. "Flood stage" is a somewhat arbitrary term that the National Weather Service says is the point when "water surface level begins to create a hazard to lives, property, or commerce."

When river levels exceed flood stage by several feet, serious problems can occur. Just days ago, the Mississippi was well below flood stage. Forecasters now expect it to climb up to 12 feet above flood stage at some spots in Missouri and Illinois.

Already, high water has closed hundreds of roads and swamped hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland as planting season approaches. Transportation officials are planning to close the bridge at Louisiana, Mo. ? about 75 miles north of St. Louis ? at noon Saturday, citing rising water on the eastern approach.

After the devastating Mississippi River floods of 1993, the government bought out thousands of homes that were once in harm's way, tore them down and replaced them with green space where development is not allowed. New and bigger levees have been built, and flood walls reinforced.

Clarksville, Mo., is one of the few places at the mercy of the river. The quaint community of 442 filled with century-old historic homes has no flood wall or levee. But in 2008, it purchased a flood protection system that allows for a levee to be constructed ? aluminum slats filled with sand ? if the river rises.

The waters have risen too quickly to install the system this time, so volunteers are using gravel, plastic overlay and sandbags to protect the business district, and they're layering sandbags around threatened homes, the American Legion hall and the Catholic church.

"This just shocked us all because it just came up so quickly," alderwoman Sue Lindemann said. "We found out about the crest prediction Wednesday and we started sandbagging that night. It's going to be touch and go but we're hoping."

Lindemann said Clarksville has opted against a levee or flood wall partly because of the cost, and partly because residents like the view.

Also unprotected is Grafton, Ill., a tourist town near St. Louis that sits at the convergence of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. But flooding happens so often there that people are taking it in stride.

"If you live here, you understand the river," Mayor Tom Thompson said. "We'll get through this."

The main thoroughfare leading into town ? the Great River Road ? was expected to be closed off by midday Saturday, and riverside merchants were clearing out merchandise. Among them was Laurie Wild, 51, who scrambled with volunteers to save her artisan shop's wares ? jewelry, pottery, textiles and wood carvings.

"It's a mess," the St. Louis transplant said. "We knew what we were getting into when we moved here. It's a beautiful town, and we'll be here after."

On Friday afternoon, the Army Corps of Engineers said most of the locks and dams from the Quad Cities to near St. Louis were closed due to the flood, effectively halting barge and other traffic on that part of the Mississippi. Four Illinois River locks were also shut down.

Widespread flash-flooding accompanied the week's rains. An 80-year-old woman died in De Soto, Mo., about 40 miles southwest of St. Louis, when a creek flooded a street and swept away her car.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency because of "rapidly rising rivers" and activated the Missouri National Guard for deployment to threatened Mississippi River towns.

And in Michigan, Midland County Sheriff Scott Stephenson said a "major" rupture emerged in the Kawkawlin Dam, a 12-foot breach sending water through the structure. There were no reports of injuries.

___

Associated Press reporters Don Babwin, Jason Keyser and Tammy Webber in Chicago contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/floodwaters-rising-storms-deluge-heartland-072052919.html

doonesbury padma lakshmi daughtry lakers trade ann arbor news nick young elizabeth smart

NBC pulls drama episode after Boston violence

This publicity image released by NBC shows Mads Mikkelsen as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in a scene from the TV series, "Hannibal," airing Thursdays at 10 p.m. EST on NBC. NBC says it's pulling an episode of its serial killer drama out of sensitivity to recent violence, including the Boston bombings. The episode, the fourth for the freshman series, will be replaced by another "Hannibal" hour. (AP Photo/NBC, Brooke Palmer)

This publicity image released by NBC shows Mads Mikkelsen as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in a scene from the TV series, "Hannibal," airing Thursdays at 10 p.m. EST on NBC. NBC says it's pulling an episode of its serial killer drama out of sensitivity to recent violence, including the Boston bombings. The episode, the fourth for the freshman series, will be replaced by another "Hannibal" hour. (AP Photo/NBC, Brooke Palmer)

This undated publicity photo released by NBC shows Laurence Fishburne, left, as Jack Crawford and Mads Mikkelsen as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in episode 105, 'Potage," from the TV series, "Hannibal." NBC says it's pulling an episode of its serial killer drama "Hannibal" out of sensitivity to recent violence, including the Boston bombings. NBC said Friday, Friday, April 19, 2013, that the episode, which was to air next week, features a character who brainwashes children to kill other children. (AP Photo/NBC, Brooke Palmer)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? NBC said Friday that it's pulling an episode of its serial killer drama "Hannibal" out of sensitivity to recent violence, including the Boston bombings.

The episode that was to air next week features a character, played by guest star Molly Shannon, who brainwashes children to kill other children.

"Hannibal" executive producer Bryan Fuller asked NBC to pull the episode, citing the Newtown, Conn., school shooting in December and this week's Boston Marathon attack, NBC spokesman Stuart Levine said.

The episode, the fourth for the freshman series, will be replaced by another "Hannibal" hour. Viewers will not see a plot continuity issue, Levine said.

But a "clip package" with scenes from the unaired episode will be available at NBC.com next week, without the scenes of child violence and with commentary by Fuller.

"Hannibal" stars Mads Mikkelsen as the title character, the brilliant cannibalistic killer seen on the big screen in "The Silence of the Lambs" and its sequel and introduced in the Thomas Harris novel "Red Dragon." Hugh Dancy and Laurence Fishburne also star in the drama.

There have been other instances of networks responding quickly to the potentially difficult overlap between fact and fiction.

ABC has delayed airing an episode of the crime drama "Castle" in which a main character, New York police Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic), steps on a pressure-sensitive bomb. It had been scheduled to air next Monday, one week after two bombs exploded near the Boston Marathon finish line, killing three people and injuring more than 180.

"Out of respect," Katic tweeted Wednesday.

Last December, after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, the Syfy channel pulled an episode of the series "Haven" that featured a campus violence story line.

___

Online:

http://www.nbc.com

___

Lynn Elber can be reached at lelber(at)ap.org and on Twitter (at)lynnelber.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-04-19-TV-Hannibal-Episode%20Pulled/id-305a23dba9e241eda90732d00623d2b3

grok cirque du freak paul pierce pope joan pope joan strikeforce tate vs rousey strawberry festival

Patton Oswalt Star Wars Episode VII Filibuster: Epic! Improvised!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/patton-oswalt-star-wars-episode-vii-filibuster-epic-improvised/

whitney houston will toyota recall northern lights sign of the times keystone pipeline purim acc tournament

NBA Odds - Miami Heat vs Milwaukee Bucks in Playoffs

The BetDSI Sportsbook has all of the side and total odds on the NBA as well as the rest of the sports lineup. Be sure to open your account today for a great bonus and the best in pro basketball wagering excitement!

Mediocre Milwaukee Bucks

The Milwaukee Bucks are the number 8 seed for the Eastern Conference playoffs and were not only a losing team straight up but they covered the spread at a rate of just 44% with the NBA Odds. It was interesting to note that they were an even worse boar value at home with a payout rate of 37%. The Milwaukee Bucks ranked 12th in the NBA for scoring offense but ranked a poor 20th in the league for points allowed.

Magnificent Miami Heat

The Miami Heat are the top seed for the Eastern Conference playoffs and have been one of the better balanced teams with the NBA Odds this season as they ranked 5th in the NBA for scoring offense and ranked 6th in the league for scoring defense. LeBron James led with 27 points, 7 assists, and 8 rebounds per game. The Miami Heat were covering the spread at a +70% rate since March 24.

The Matchup

The Milwaukee Bucks have little shot of survival in this series but may prove to be a potentially good board value as they have covered 5 out of their last 7 road games against the Miami Heat. They have also paid out in 3 out of their last 5 home games in this head to head series.

Be sure to check out the NBA Eastern and Western Conference playoff previews!

Source: http://www.betdsi.com/articles/basketball/nba/nba-odds-miami-heat-vs-milwaukee-bucks-in-playoffs-20668

Dorothy Hamill american idol hard boiled eggs derrick rose Red Equal Sign maundy thursday Mexico vs USA

No arrest in bombing, authorities say

Authorities have identified a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings and forcefully denied news reports that an arrest had been made in the attack Wednesday afternoon.

The Associated Press and the Boston Globe reported a suspect had been arrested and was en route to the Moakley Federal Courthouse in South Boston. CNN also reported that a suspect was in custody, before backtracking from its earlier report and saying no suspect had been nabbed. The Boston Police Department and the US Attorney's office in Boston denied those reports on Wednesday afternoon, saying no arrest had been made.

The FBI issued a sternly worded rebuke to the press for reporting that a suspect was in custody.

"Contrary to widespread reporting, no arrest has been made in connection with the Boston Marathon attack," Special Agent Greg Comcowich said in the statement. "Over the past day and a half, there have been a number of press reports based on information from unofficial sources that has been inaccurate. Since these stories often have unintended consequences, we ask the media, particularly at this early stage of the investigation, to exercise caution and attempt to verify information through appropriate official channels before reporting."

The Associated Press says its original source stands by the information.

This image from a Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security joint bulletin issued to law enforcement and obtained by The Associated Press, shows the remains of a pressure ... more? This image from a Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security joint bulletin issued to law enforcement and obtained by The Associated Press, shows the remains of a pressure cooker that the FBI says was part of one of the bombs that exploded during the Boston Marathon. The FBI says it has evidence that indicates one of the bombs was contained in a pressure cooker with nails and ball bearings, and it was hidden in a backpack. (AP Photo/FBI) less? Meanwhile, the Moakley Federal Courthouse was evacuated around 3:10 p.m. Wednesday. People, some of whom had gathered out front to see if a suspect would be brought there, could be seen calmly evacuating the building and walking across the street. Reuters reported that staff, media and attorneys were ordered to leave the building. A small portion of the Brigham & Women's Hospital was also evacuated due to an unknown threat, a spokeswoman confirmed, but they've been given the all clear and are back in the building.

Authorities combed through video footage to find an image of "a suspect carrying, and perhaps dropping, a black bag at the second bombing scene," The Boston Globe reported. CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reported that the video showed a man in a black jacket talking on his cell phone "placing a black bag at the second bomb site outside of the Forum restaurant on Boylston Street and then leaving the area before that explosion." Police used the time stamp on the video to scan all the calls made in the area and track him down.

The FBI is scheduled to hold a press conference Wednesday afternoon. CNN reported that the breakthrough in the investigation came from analyzing department store surveillance video and video from a news station.

An FBI spokesman in Boston and a spokeswoman for Boston Mayor Tom Menino declined to comment on the reports to Yahoo News.

The twin bombs, which were detonated close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday afternoon, sent 176 people to the hospital and killed three, including an eight-year-old boy. Several of the injured needed amputations.

Police have said the bombs were fashioned from debris-filled pressure cookers and stuffed in black bags. They were located about 100 yards apart.

A Boston-area federal agent told Yahoo News that he suspects there will be more than one arrest in the case eventually.

?To carry one heavy bag in is one thing, but a single suspect having two bags would have stood out,? the law enforcement source told Yahoo News.

--Holly Bailey and Jason Sickles contributed to this report from Boston.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/boston-marathon-investigation-fbi-announce-substantial-progress-probe-170749073.html

Webster Ny Mcdonalds Restaurants Open on Christmas Day jessica simpson santa tracker happy holidays Stores Open On Christmas Day