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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

'G.I. Joe' commands No. 1 at box office with $41M

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? After a nine-month delay, "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" deployed to the top spot at the box office.

The action film starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Bruce Willis and Channing Tatum as the gun-toting military toys brought to life marched into the No. 1 position at the weekend box office, earning $41.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. "Retaliation" opened Wednesday at midnight, which helped bring its domestic total to $51.7 million.

Paramount postponed the sequel to 2009's "G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra" last May from its original June opening date to convert the film to 3-D. The last-minute switcheroo came just weeks after "Battleship," another movie based on a Hasbro toy, sank at the box office. At that time, Paramount already began its advertising campaign for "Retaliation."

"It certainly vindicates the decision," said Don Harris, the studio's head of distribution. "Any time you make those sorts of moves, people always assume the worst. The truth is I'd seen this movie a long time ago in 2-D, and the movie worked in 2-D. It's not trying to be 'Schindler's List.' This movie is intended to be enjoyed as a big, action spectacle."

Internationally, Harris said "Retaliation" earned $80.3 million, making it the biggest international opening of the year. The film opened in 53 markets outside of the U.S. and Canada, including Russia, South Korea and Mexico.

After debuting in the top spot last weekend, the 3-D animated prehistoric comedy "The Croods" from DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox slipped to the No. 2 spot with $26.5 million in its second weekend. The film features the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone and Catherine Keener as a cave family on the hunt for a new home.

Among the other new films this weekend, "Tyler Perry's Temptation" starring Jurnee Smollett-Bell and Lance Gross opened above expectations at No. 3 with $22.3 million, while the sci-fi adaptation "The Host" featuring Saoirse Ronan, Max Irons, and Jake Abel as characters from the Stephenie Meyer novel landed at No. 6 in its debut weekend with a modest $11 million.

Overall, the weekend box office was on par with last year when "The Hunger Games" continued to dominate in its second weekend of release with $58.5 million. After a slow start, Hollywood's year-to-date revenues are still 12 percent behind last year, heading into next month when summer movie season unofficially kicks off with "Iron Man 3" on May 3.

"It's getting us back on track after many weekends of down trending box office," said Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for Hollywood.com. "Last weekend was a turning point with the strength of 'The Croods' and 'Olympus Has Fallen' doing better than expected. We're heading toward the summer movie season on solid footing. It's been a tough year so far."

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

1. "G.I. Joe: Retaliation," $41.2 million ($80.3 million international).

2. "The Croods," $26.5 million ($52.5 million international).

3. "Tyler Perry's Temptation," $22.3 million.

4. "Olympus Has Fallen," $14 million.

5. "Oz the Great and Powerful," $11.6 million ($22.2 million international).

6. "The Host," $11 million ($6 million international).

7. "The Call," $4.8 million.

8. "Admission," $3.2 million.

9. "Spring Breakers," $2.7 million.

10. "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone," $1.3 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. "G.I. Joe: Retaliation," $80.3 million.

2. "The Croods," $52.5 million.

3. "Jack the Giant Slayer," $25.2 million.

4. "Oz the Great and Powerful," $22.2 million.

5. "Dragon Ball Z: Kami to Kami," $7 million.

6. "The Host," $6 million.

7. "Identity Thief," $5.5 million.

8. "Wreck-It Ralph," $4 million.

9. "A Good Day to Die Hard," $3.6 million.

10. "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters," $3.3 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.

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/g-joe-commands-no-1-box-office-41m-162245228--finance.html

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South Africa: Mandela in hospital on Easter

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? Former South African President Nelson Mandela had a restful day in a hospital Sunday and is improving following treatment for a recurrence of pneumonia, the government said.

The office of President Jacob Zuma thanked South Africans who prayed for 94-year-old Mandela at Easter church services this weekend, as well as people at home and around the world who showed their "love and support in various ways" for the anti-apartheid leader and his family.

"We also thank foreign governments for their messages of support," Zuma's office said in a statement.

The government "is satisfied that the doctors are providing the former president with the best medical care possible to enable his recovery and comfort. They have reported a further improvement in his condition," the statement said.

Mandela was admitted to a Pretoria hospital near midnight Wednesday. It was his third trip to a hospital since December, when he was treated for a lung infection and also had a procedure to remove gallstones. Earlier in March, he spent a night in a hospital for what officials said was a scheduled medical test.

"The whole world must come together and pray for him," Zacheus Phakathi, a security guard, said Sunday at an outdoor service on a hill overlooking Johannesburg.

In Pretoria, the capital, Henry Hyar, a restaurant waiter, standing by a hospital where Mandela is believed to be, said it was unfortunate that Mandela could not be with his family at home during Easter.

"I'm not happy about it," Hyar said. "We're praying for him to get better as soon as possible."

On Saturday, Zuma's office reported that Mandela was breathing without difficulty after having a procedure to clear fluid in his lung area.

Mandela became South Africa's first black president in 1994 after elections were held, bringing an end to the system of white racist rule known as apartheid. After his release from prison in 1990, Mandela was widely credited with averting even greater bloodshed by helping the country in the transition to democratic rule.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been particularly vulnerable to respiratory problems since contracting tuberculosis during his 27-year imprisonment for fighting white racist rule in his country.

The elderly are especially vulnerable to pneumonia, which can be fatal. Its symptoms include fever, chills, a cough, chest pain and shortness of breath. Many germs cause pneumonia.

The office of President Jacob Zuma has said doctors were acting with extreme caution because of the Mandela's advanced age.

___

Associated Press television cameraman Bram Janssen contributed to this report from Pretoria.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-africa-mandela-hospital-easter-112931330.html

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Google's Director Of Privacy Alma Whitten Steps Down

As Forbes first reported this afternoon, Alma Whitten, Google’s director of privacy for product and engineering, has decided to step down from her current position. Google has now confirmed this. Whitten joined Google ten years ago and oversaw the company’s privacy policies during a tumultuous time where its Street View cars were accused of spying on people’s WiFi networks and Google decided to consolidate its over 70 privacy policies under a single document. Whitten has a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon, where her thesis looked into “Making Security Usable.” She spent seven years as an engineer at the company before she was promoted to director of privacy right after the WiFi Street View story broke and Google had been severely criticized for the privacy controls of Buzz, its pre-Google+ attempt at launching a social network. At the time, Google described her as “an internationally recognized expert in the computer science field of privacy and security. She has been our engineering lead on privacy for the last two years, and we will significantly increase the number of engineers and product managers working with her in this new role.” Whitten, Forbes reports, will be replaced by Lawrence You, a Google engineer who previously worked at Pixo, Apple and Taligent. Forbes reports Whitten will remain at the company to oversee the transition.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/4UeqQxNU9dI/

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Monday, April 1, 2013

3 killed in 95-vehicle pileup at Virginia-NC line

This image provided by WXII Channel 12 news, shows the scene following a 75-vehicle pileup on Interstate 77 near the Virginia-North Carolina border in Galax, Va., on Sunday, March 31, 2013. Virginia State Police say three people have been killed and more than 20 are injured and traffic is backed up about 8 miles. (AP Photo/WXII, William Bottomley) MANDAORY CREDIT: WXII,WILLIAM BOTTOMLEY

GALAX, Va. (AP) ? Police are now saying 95 vehicles were involved in 17 separate crashes along a mountainous, foggy stretch of interstate near the Virginia-North Carolina border.

Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corrine Geller says three people were killed Sunday and 25 people were taken to hospitals with injuries ranging from serious to minor.

The wrecks occurred on Interstate 77 in southwest Virginia in the Fancy Gap Mountain area. Geller says message boards along the interstate warned drivers of severe fog in the area. She says the crashes happened about 1:15 p.m., mostly because drivers were going too fast for conditions.

Traffic backed up for about 8 miles in the southbound lanes, which is where the wrecks occurred. Authorities also closed the northbound lanes so that emergency vehicles could get there.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-31-Virginia%20Interstate%20Pileup/id-56b1f10855b1435fbb1344bd3c43ce0d

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Riding in style: The evolution of the popemobile

Alessandro Di Meo / EPA

Images of the automobiles that have transported popes over the years.

By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News

Comes outfitted in protective bullet-proof glass. Draws a crowd wherever it goes. A driver is included; gold trim is optional.

Popemobiles also include such amenities as a handrail to let the pope easily stand and wave while in motion, a built-in stereo and arctic-cool air conditioning.

Eight popes have had their own set of holy wheels since Pope Pius XI got a stretch 460 Nurburg edition Mercedes-Benz in 1930, but the eighth, Pope Francis -- known for?taking the bus to work?before he was named pope -- may not want all the frills and custom built-ins that popemobiles offer.?

By retiring, Benedict XVI has passed along a white armored Mercedes SUV, which has a white leather interior with gold trim and a white leather turret that can be raised by hydraulic lift high enough for crowds to see the pope, if he wants to sit. (For longer trips around Italy, Benedict enjoyed his own helicopter.) Bullet-proof?Plexiglas?that's strong enough to withstand explosions surrounds the turret on three sides. There's an emergency oxygen supply built in, according to?The Telegraph.?

"The pope must feel comfortable. People must be able to see him. People have traveled very far; they want to be able to get a good look at him," said Christoph Horn, Director of Global Communications of Mercedes-Benz, from Stuttgart, Germany. "This is about creating a comfortable and safe environment for the pope to travel in and be seen in.?

The pre-mobile
Popes didn't have to wait for the invention of automobiles to be mobile. For centuries, popes traveled by throne when going out on local outings. The popes were carried by 12 bearers (representing the 12 disciples of the church) as they moved through crowds, Ronald Rychlak, a University of Mississippi law school professor who has written numerous books on religion,?said.

Daimler

The first car used by a pope.

All that changed when Pope Pius XI got his Benz. The limousine was a gift from the car company, which would provide vehicles for many popes after that.

"Usually more than one vehicle was provided, especially for the popes in the 1930s," Horn said. "They were traveling a lot, so many popemobiles were built for them."

Back then, popes traveled in limousines with open tops, he said. Over the years, more than 12 different models of cars and trucks would be provided for popes. Pope John XXIII ushered in a new era of pope cars in 1960 with a Mercedes 300D Landaulet, which had a throne that rose high in the back, The New York Times reported. His successor switched to a 1964 Lincoln model before he went back to the preferred Mercedes brand a year later.

But don't call it 'popemobile'
When popes travel abroad for state visits, it's not always possible for the vehicles they use at home to make the journey with them. Instead, customized cars are prepared ahead of the visit, submitted for Vatican approval from the country he will visit.

"The primary level of security is assigned to the host nation,"?Rychlak said. "If they want to have something like a popemobile for a major parade, let's say they're doing Mass at Yankee stadium or something like that, they would have to make arrangements to ship something over, or that's the kind of situation where there may be a gift made to the pope" by a major car company.

That was how the car that officially became known for the first time as the "popemobile" came into existence: Pope John Paul II had visited Ireland in 1979, and a boxy yellow Ford Transit van awaited him as his chariot. Last November, The Telegraph reported an Irish businessman had acquired the van from the Dublin Wax Museum, where it had been since the papal visit, and was transforming it into a party bus.

Many other popemobiles have stayed in the countries they were used in. In 2008, Newsweek got a peek at the popemobile Benedict used for his U.S. tour, describing it as "by far the fanciest and sleekest papal car ever built ... The papal handlers can shift their passenger from zero to 60 in less than eight seconds, but the drivers probably won't exceed 10 mph along the parade routes."

In 2002, John Paul II asked the media to stop using the term "popemobile," insisting it sounded "undignified."

A clear need for better security
John Paul II survived an assassination attempt in 1981 while in St. Peter's Square. A Turkish man was later convicted of firing the shots, which punctured the pope's car and struck him four times. John Paul II survived, but it was clear his wide-open truck wouldn't suffice to protect him. From then on, bulletproof glass has encased popemobiles, although popes have occasionally ridden around without covering for brief periods.

Arturo Mari / AP

A 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square.

Since adding bulletproof glass, popemobiles have added other necessary features, including ultra-powerful air conditioning to cool down the glass dome that popes sit in, reports The Telegraph.

Other protection measures include heavy-metal reinforcement on the bottom of the vehicle as well as the other sides, and the driver is always a trusted longtime Vatican employee. There's no partition between the pope and his driver; a microphone enables him to broadcast messages to crowds through speakers outside the popemobile.

The current weighs five tons and was just presented to Benedict last December by Mercedes-Benz.

"We work with the members of the Vatican and with the people in charge of the garages of the Vatican," Horn said. "These are all individual vehicles that are built to specifications."

The new pope's desire to get up close and personal with his faithful has presented challenges for his security detail.

"The pope's going to want to be up close hugging and touching and meeting people and that's going to be a tremendous concern for his security people,"?Rychlak said. "His security forces have taken him aside, or probably already have, and are going to say, 'Holy Father, you're putting us in a horrible situation if you don't go along with these things.'"

They're used to having to say that, though: Benedict didn't always like the feeling of a "shield between him and the people,"?Rychlak said. Most popemobiles are designed so the glass can be lowered, though.

This story was originally published on Sun Mar 31, 2013 4:36 AM EDT

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653387/s/2a2d2254/l/0Lworldnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C310C175184590Eriding0Ein0Estyle0Ethe0Eevolution0Eof0Ethe0Epopemobile0Dlite/story01.htm

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Exxon continues cleanup of Arkansas oil pipeline spill

(Reuters) - Exxon Mobil on Sunday continued cleanup of a pipeline oil spill in Arkansas that loosed thousands of barrels of heavy Canadian crude and forced the evacuation of 22 homes.

Exxon's Pegagus pipeline, which can carry more than 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Pakota, Illinois to Nederland, Texas, was shut after the leak was discovered late Friday afternoon in a subdivision near the town of Mayflower.

The company did not have an estimate for the restarting of the pipeline, which was carrying Canadian Wabasca Heavy crude at the time of the leak. The spill comes as environmentalists are pressing the State Department to reject plan to build the 800,000 bpd Keystone pipeline, which would carry oil from Canada's oil sands to the Gulf Coast.

Exxon said that by 3 a.m. Saturday there was no additional oil spilling from the pipeline. Images from local media showed crude oil snaking along the road in a neighbourhood.

"Cleanup efforts are progressing 24 hours a day," said Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers, who added the oil had not leaked into nearby Lake Conway.

"We were very fortunate that the local responders made sure the oil did not enter the water."

(Reporting by Matthew Robinson in New York; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exxon-shuts-oil-pipeline-major-005905765.html

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Pats 'don't need Ed Reed' with Wilson

Getty Images

Collin Klein, the Kansas State quarterback who was a star in a spread-option offense in college but whose abilities as a passer leave much to be desired in the eyes of NFL scouts, remains committed to playing quarterback at the next level. And he thinks NFL teams are starting to come around to the idea that he can do it.

Klein told the Topeka Capital-Journal that he believes he has impressed scouts at the Combine and at Kansas State?s Pro Day.

?I felt like I had two good days,? Klein said. ?I made progress and really improved, before the Combine first and then in the time between the Combine and Pro Day we made some strides, too. We?re moving in the right direction. It?s different not being in school, but it gives me a little extra time to focus and work on little things here and there. It?s a pretty all-inclusive process, but we?re enjoying it. I just love the game. We?re getting better and having fun with it.?

Klein said his workouts with former NFL quarterback Jake Plummer have helped get him ready to play the game at the next level.

?We did everything,? Klein said. ?We worked on footwork, core strength, flexibility with the shoulder . . . lots of different things. It was pretty all-inclusive and he taught me a lot. He gave great insight from him having been there [the NFL] and doing that for a very long time. I really appreciated his time and his effort working with me.?

Although Klein still believes he is going to get drafted, he acknowledged that it?s possible he?ll have to settle for being an undrafted free agent.

?I think we?ll definitely get a chance and it?s just being ready and making the most of it,? Klein said. ?We?ll see where the best fit is going to be. Teams are out there trying to figure out who?s the best fit for them, too. It will all settle out. If that doesn?t happen, we?ll try to get picked up as a free agent on some level. We?ll cross that bridge when we get there.?

So just a few months after the Heisman Trophy voters considered Klein the third-best player in college football, Klein is just hoping NFL teams consider him one of the 254 best players available in the draft.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/31/rodney-harrison-thinks-pats-got-it-right-with-adrian-wilson/related

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