Mad Men Review: MLK's Death Opens "The Flood" of Personal Demons

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/mad-men-review-martin-luther-king-jrs-death-opens-the-flood-of-p/

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'Misha', blamed for radicalizing Boston bomber, says he's innocent

The New York Review of Books says it has found the mysterious Misha. Mikhail Allakhverdov says he's no Svengali

When Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev's family members started mentioning a mysterious man named Misha, and suggested he was a driving force behind Tamerlan's descent into radical, violent Islam, it didn't seem like it should be too hard to find the man: How many balding, red-bearded Armenian Muslim converts live in the Boston area?

Then days passed, with no news but lots of speculation. Many Armenians protested that no such figure could exist, since the stalwartly Christian nation's bloody history with its Muslim neighbors would prevent any Armenian from converting to Islam. In The Week, Walter Katz suggested that Misha may be an FBI informant who started grooming Tamerlan for a federal sting operation before giving up (prematurely).

SEE MORE: The Tsarnaev brothers' Chechnya connection

On Saturday, anonymous law enforcement sources released a dribble of news: The FBI had identified Misha, they told The Associated Press, but found he had no ties to terrorism generally or the Boston bombings specifically. On Sunday evening, Christian Caryl at the New York Review of Books introduced the world to the man he says is Misha:

Today I was able to meet "Misha," whose real name is Mikhail Allakhverdov. Having been referred by a family in Boston that was close to the Tsarnaevs, I found Allakverdov at his home in Rhode Island, in a lower middle class neighborhood, where he lives in a modest, tidy apartment with his elderly parents. He confirmed he was a convert to Islam and that he had known Tamerlan Tsarnaev, but he flatly denied any part in the bombings. "I wasn't his teacher. If I had been his teacher, I would have made sure he never did anything like this," Allakhverdov said.

A 39-year-old man of Armenian-Ukrainian descent, Allakhverdov is of medium height and has a thin, reddish-blond beard.... Allakhverdov said he had known Tamerlan in Boston, where he lived until about three years ago, and has not had any contact with him since. He declined to describe the nature of his acquaintance with Tamerlan or the Tsarnaev family, but said he had never met the family members who are now accusing him of radicalizing Tamerlan. He also confirmed he had been interviewed by the FBI and that he has cooperated with the investigation. [New York Review]

That seems pretty cut and dry ? Allakhverdov wouldn't be the first person wrongly accused of involvement in this case. But also on Sunday, the AP's David Caruso, Michael Kunzelman, and Max Seddon published their report on the recent radicalization of another character in this drama: The suspected bombers' mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva. And Tsarnaeva says she became religious thanks to the influence of, yes, Misha:

In photos of her as a younger woman, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva wears a low-cut blouse and has her hair teased like a 1980s rock star. After she arrived in the U.S. from Russia in 2002, she went to beauty school and did facials at a suburban day spa. But in recent years, people noticed a change. She began wearing a hijab and cited conspiracy theories about 9/11 being a plot against Muslims....

Zubeidat said she and Tamerlan began to turn more deeply into their Muslim faith about five years ago after being influenced by a family friend, named "Misha." The man, whose full name she didn't reveal, impressed her with a religious devotion that was far greater than her own, even though he was an ethnic Armenian who converted to Islam. "I wasn't praying until he prayed in our house, so I just got really ashamed that I am not praying, being a Muslim, being born Muslim. I am not praying. Misha, who converted, was praying," she said. [AP]

Both these accounts can't be true. Caryl, for example, talks to a "close friend of the family in Boston" who says that "Misha was not known to have visited Tamerlan at home" ? a point contradicted now by Tamerlan's mom, uncle, and former brother-in-law. Maybe it was always inevitable that the media would find Misha, and it's probably good for Allakverdov that a Russian-speaking journalist was the first to break the story. But now that his name and state of residence are out there, it's safe to say this isn't the last we've heard about Misha.

SEE MORE: 5 ways the Samsung Galaxy S4 stunned an iPhone user

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boston-bombings-misha-red-herring-070000283.html

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92% Jurassic Park: An IMAX 3D Experience

All Critics (96) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (97) | Rotten (8) | DVD (39)

The enthralling man-vs.-nature parable based on the late Michael Crichton's best-selling novel hasn't aged one bit.

The 3-D process adds not just dimension but depth - a technological extension of cinematographer Gregg Toland's deep-focus innovations in The Grapes of Wrath and Citizen Kane. The change in perspective creates greater intensity.

I'm a fan of this movie. It is thrilling, and the 3-D treatment is a nice enhancement.

This movie doesn't just stand the test of time, it transcends it.

"Jurassic Park" remains an absolute thrill from a Spielberg in top form: Funny, scary, fast-moving and full of just-right details.

"Jurassic Park" was impressive in 1993. Twenty years later, it's flawless.

A classic gets even better.

Steven Spielbeg's 1993 tale of an island plagued dinosaurs running amok holds up surprisingly well in the special effects category.

The film is a classic and the chance to see it on the big screen again (or for the first time) should not be missed

Sentiment is explained by science as the family impulse that motivates so many Steven Spielberg stories is revealed to be an evolutionary imperative in this near-perfect action-adventure.

[Looks] better not only than effects-driven movies of the same period, but better, frankly, than half of what gets released nowadays.

Kids who love dinosaurs will love it. And who doesn't?

confirms both Spielberg's mastery of cinematic thrills and the comparatively empty bombast of today's summer tentpole movies, even the better ones.

Jurassic Park shows us a director in transition, and the film captures his transformation in its own kind of cinematic amber.

[The] 3D [conversion] provides the definitive version of this classic film. Jurassic Park has been transformed with with artistry, nuance and sophistication, and it's an absolute must-see during this brief run.

The 3D effects had me nearly jumping out of my seat. Some say Hollywood is converting too many old films to 3D. But, "Jurassic Park" was the perfect choice. There's nothing more fun than sharing a seat with a snapping dinosaur.

Spielberg treats us as he does his characters, leading us into a strange land and expecting us to make it out with all our faculties intact; it's a tall order, given the heart-stopping, bloodcurdling, limbs-numbing excitement packed into the second hour.

It is as if time has passed the movie by. "Jurassic Park" remains solid entertainment, but the awe and wonder have faded.

The thrill of seeing live dinosaurs on screen is not as acute today as it was 20 years ago admittedly, but there is still some 3D awe left in the creations that roared 65 billion years ago...

The 3D isn't pushed on the audience, but it does reveal the amount of depth that Spielberg actually put into the film 20 years ago.

While it's not the most profound of Spielberg's works or the most entertaining from a popcorn perspective, it's one of the most technically flawless movies he's ever produced.

Jurassic Park 3D is like being reunited with an old friend; an old friend that wants to eat you and maul you to death, but still. A classic is reborn in glorious IMAX with a vibrantly stunning use of 3D.

If releasing the film in 3-D is the only way to get it back in theaters, then the gimmick is an acceptable addition. The 3-D is good. But when a movie is this near flawless, nothing is needed to make it better.

The 3D conversion ruins everything, like the comet that killed the dinosaurs, making Jurassic Park the rare amusement I'd prefer to revisit at home.

A beast of a movie is gifted a superfluous-but-superb rouging of the cheeks, offering fanatics something new to study while newcomers will be ruined for any future television airings.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jurassic_park_an_imax_3d_experience_1993/

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Forced exercise may still protect against anxiety and stress

Apr. 25, 2013 ? Being forced to exercise may still help reduce anxiety and depression just as exercising voluntarily does, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Past studies have shown that people who exercise are more protected against stress-related disorders. And scientists know that the perception of control can benefit a person's mental health. But it has been an open question whether a person who feels forced to exercise, eliminating the perception of control, would still reap the anxiety-fighting benefits of the exercise.

People who may feel forced to exercise could include high school, college and professional athletes, members of the military or those who have been prescribed an exercise regimen by their doctors, said Benjamin Greenwood, an assistant research professor in CU-Boulder's Department of Integrative Physiology.

"If exercise is forced, will it still produce mental health benefits?" Greenwood asked. "It's obvious that forced exercise will still produce peripheral physiological benefits. But will it produce benefits to anxiety and depression?"

To seek an answer to the question Greenwood and his colleagues, including Monika Fleshner, a professor in the same department, designed a lab experiment using rats. During a six-week period, some rats remained sedentary, while others exercised by running on a wheel.

The rats that exercised were divided into two groups that ran a roughly equal amount of time. One group ran whenever it chose to, while the other group ran on mechanized wheels that rotated according to a predetermined schedule. For the study, the motorized wheels turned on at speeds and for periods of time that mimicked the average pattern of exercise chosen by the rats that voluntarily exercised.

After six weeks, the rats were exposed to a laboratory stressor before testing their anxiety levels the following day. The anxiety was quantified by measuring how long the rats froze, a phenomenon similar to a deer in the headlights, when they were put in an environment they had been conditioned to fear. The longer the freezing time, the greater the residual anxiety from being stressed the previous day. For comparison, some rats were also tested for anxiety without being stressed the day before.

"Regardless of whether the rats chose to run or were forced to run they were protected against stress and anxiety," said Greenwood, lead author of the study appearing in the European Journal of Neuroscience in February. The sedentary rats froze for longer periods of time than any of the active rats.

"The implications are that humans who perceive exercise as being forced -- perhaps including those who feel like they have to exercise for health reasons -- are maybe still going to get the benefits in terms of reducing anxiety and depression," he said.

Other CU-Boulder authors include Katie Spence, Danielle Crevling, Peter Clark and Wendy Craig. All the authors are members of Monika Fleshner's Stress Physiology Laboratory in the Department of Integrative Physiology.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Colorado at Boulder, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Benjamin N. Greenwood, Katie G. Spence, Danielle M. Crevling, Peter J. Clark, Wendy C. Craig, Monika Fleshner. Exercise-induced stress resistance is independent of exercise controllability and the medial prefrontal cortex. European Journal of Neuroscience, 2013; 37 (3): 469 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.12044

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/t1WiQj6G-qk/130425160212.htm

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UK shale gas bonanza 'not assured'

25 April 2013 Last updated at 19:25 ET By Roger Harrabin Environment analyst

Shale gas in the UK could help secure domestic energy supplies but may not bring down prices, MPs report.

The US boom in shale gas has brought energy prices tumbling and revitalised heavy industry, but the Energy and Climate Change Committee warns conditions are different in Britain.

The MPs say the UK's shale gas developers will face technological uncertainties with different geology.

And public opinion may also be more sceptical, they add.

The UK is a more densely populated landscape and shale gas operations will be closer to settlements as a consequence.

'Cash sweeteners'

The MPs believe operators will have to overcome potentially tighter regulations.

What is more, the extent of recoverable resources in the UK is also unknown, so the report concludes that it is too soon to say whether shale gas will achieve US-style levels of success.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

Fracking is dirty and unnecessary - it's little wonder so many communities are in opposition?

End Quote Tony Bosworth Friends of the Earth

The MPs argue that this means the Treasury cannot afford to base the UK?s energy strategy on the expectation of cheap British shale gas.

They urge the government to stop "dithering" over energy policy, though, and to ensure there is a system to rebut what "scare stories" may arise over the environmental impacts of shale gas.

And they applaud the government's decision to offer cash sweeteners to people near shale gas facilities.

Success with shale gas will reduce dependence on imports and increase tax revenues, they say, but there is a downside: if it takes off, shale gas will shatter the UK's statutory climate change targets unless the government moves much faster with carbon capture and storage technology.

Tim Yeo, chairman of the Energy and Climate Change Committee, said: "It is still too soon to call whether shale gas will provide the silver bullet needed to solve our energy problems.

"Although the US shale gas has seen a dramatic fall in domestic gas prices, a similar 'revolution' here is not certain."

Tony Bosworth, from Friends of the Earth, responded: "This does little to back the case for a UK shale gas revolution.

"Fracking is dirty and unnecessary ? it's little wonder so many communities are in opposition. We should be building an affordable power system based on our abundant clean energy from the wind, waves and sun.?

'Front and centre'

And Jenny Banks from WWF-UK said: "It's simply impossible to keep global warming below 2C and burn all known fossil fuel reserves ? let alone exploit unconventional reserves like shale gas.

"In other words, the climate impacts of new fossil fuel developments must be front and centre of any decision on shale gas, not a secondary concern."

But the government's chief energy scientist, David MacKay, has warned that the UK would need to increase its nuclear fleet four-fold or its wind energy 20-fold to decarbonise heavy industry.

Both these options appear improbable, so government will most likely continue to afford gas a prominent role in its energy strategy.

Follow Roger on Twitter @rharrabin

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22300050#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Global Center for Childhood Obesity Funds Projects to Improve ...

April 24, 2013

The Johns Hopkins Global Center on Childhood Obesity has awarded funding to two intervention projects aimed at preventing childhood obesity. The research is part of the third round of funding focused on ?rapid response projects.?

The Global Center on Childhood Obesity reviewed research proposals from around the world and selected the following:

Using Point of Sale (POS) Systems to Measure Changes in Purchases Before and After Environmental Interventions in Corner Stores

Principal Investigator: Allison Karpyn, PhD, The Food Trust, Philadelphia, Pa.
The Food Trust, through a partnership with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health?s ?Get Healthy Philly program, has been at the forefront of a growing national movement to increase healthy food access in corner stores in low-income urban areas as an environmental strategy to reduce obesity. In 2012, The Food Trust worked with owners at five corner stores to install point of sale (POS) systems to measure product sales. The overall goal for this pilot study is to evaluate the efficacy of environmental interventions on corner store purchases, using the POS system.

This spring, The Food Trust and the Department of Public Health will implement a new Healthy Corner Store Certification policy, along with physical renovations to the store environment that will employ marketing and pricing strategies to increase healthier food and beverage sales. The Food Trust will utilize POS data from corner stores to examine customers? purchases, before and after implementation of policy and environmental interventions. These analyses will add to an understanding of the impact of corner stores on shopping patterns, dietary intake, and on overweight and obesity, leading to more informed decisions for implementing policies for childhood obesity prevention in underserved areas.

Examining the Outcomes of Collaborative Networks to Improve School Nutrition Environments

Principal Investigator: Donna Johnson, PhD, Department of Health Services, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash.
Across the United States, school districts are working to improve failing wellness policies. In King County Washington, the county health department is funding a School Learning Network (SLN) that supports district nutrition directors in developing new school system food policies. This project will apply social network analysis to determine: the extent to which the SLN fosters the development of ties between directors and the characteristics of those ties; the extent to which the position of the directors in the network and the strength of their ties is related to the quality of district wellness policy revisions; and how best practices are diffused through the network. Data will be collected in the spring/summer of 2013 and one year later in 2014.

The Johns Hopkins Global Center for Childhood Obesity was established with a $16 million U54 cooperative agreement from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Based at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Global Center for Childhood Obesity emphasizes the integration of geospatial analysis with a systems science and transdisciplinary approach to childhood obesity, bringing together basic science, epidemiology, nutrition, medicine, engineering, and environmental and social policy research, among other fields, in an unprecedented, innovative way.

The Center will fund approximately 4 to 5 new research projects each year over the next several years.

For more information about the Johns Hopkins Global Center for Childhood Obesity, visit http://www.jhgcco.org

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health media contact: Tim Parsons at 410-955-7619 or tmparson@jhsph.edu.

Source: http://www.jhsph.edu/news/stories/2013/obesity-grants.html

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Kenya Reinsurance 2012 pretax profit jumps 45 pct

By Steve Slater LONDON (Reuters) - British bank Barclays' investment banking division beat expectations in the first quarter, outshining the wider group's earnings drop and sending its shares to a 6-week high. Overall profits at Britain's third-largest bank were down a quarter from a year ago, it said on Wednesday, due to the costs of new Chief Executive Antony Jenkins' plan to overhaul the lender after a series of scandals involving interest rate fixing, mis-selling of products and boardroom excess. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kenya-reinsurance-2012-pretax-profit-jumps-45-pct-075022347--sector.html

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Jenelle Evans: In Bad Shape, But "Sober" After Arrest; Teen Mom 2 Star Still in Custody

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/jenelle-evans-in-bad-shape-but-sober-after-arrest-teen-mom-2-sta/

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Gut Microbe Makes Diesel Biofuel

Welding bits and pieces from various microbes and the camphor tree into the genetic code of Escherichia coli has allowed scientists to convince the stomach bug to produce hydrocarbons, rather than sickness or more E. coli. The gut microbe can now replicate the molecules, more commonly known as diesel, that burn predominantly in big trucks and other powerful moving machines. "We wanted to make biofuels that could be used directly with existing engines to completely replace fossil fuels," explains biologist John Love of the University of Exeter in England, who led the research into fuels. "Our next step will be to try to develop a bacterium that could be deployed industrially." Love?s work was published April 22 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. That means harnessing E. coli's already high tolerance for harsh conditions, such as the high acidity and warmth of the human digestive tract. That hardiness also seems to be helping the bacterium survive its own production of such longer-chain hydrocarbons, which could have proved toxic to the microbes, in the way brewer's yeast cells are killed off by the alcohol they ferment. The engineered E. coli used genetic code from the insect pathogen Photorhabdus luminescens and from the cyanobacterium Nostoc punctiforme as well as its fellow gut microbe Bacillus subtilis to make the fuel molecules from fatty acids, along with a gene from the camphor tree?Cinamomum camphora?to cut the resulting hydrocarbon to the right length. The E. coli are currently fed on sugar and yeast extract, which suggests that the resulting fuel would be expensive compared with the kind refined from oil found in the ground. "We are hopeful that we could change their diet to something less valuable to humanity," Love suggests. "For example, organic wastes from agriculture or even sewage." Exactly how the E. coli microbes expel the diesel fuel molecules is unknown at this point. The researchers have found them floating in the growth medium, suggesting the microbes are somehow secreting the hydrocarbons from their cells once produced. "We don't know how they get there yet," Love admits. But that may solve a problem posed to other would-be biofuels produced in microbes; algal oils have proved difficult to extract cheaply and effectively from inside the algae themselves, among other challenges. Besides a better grasp of the process itself, fine-tuning the genetic engineering may one day yield other useful hydrocarbons, such as jet fuel or even gasoline (a short-chained hydrocarbon). Similar work at the University of California, Berkeley, has tinkered with E. coli genetics to allow the bacteria to digest the inedible parts of plants known as cellulose and turn them into microbial diesel that can be used in place of fossil-fuel diesel or other useful hydrocarbons. And E. coli has been harnessed in the past to make specialty oils for cosmetics; the company Amyris makes the moisturizing oil known as squalane from E. coli fed sugarcane and grown in vats in Brazil. The synthetic biologists at Amyris have also coaxed yeast to produce the antimalarial drug artemisinin, a technology that is currently being commercialized with drugmaker Sanofi. Regardless, industrial-scale fuel production from microbes remains a much tougher proposition than making specialty oils or medicines, given the low cost and high volumes required to compete with the fuels made from fossil sources. "Fuel is actually a lot cheaper than artemisinin, so it has to be made in significantly larger quantities," Love notes. "That in itself is a challenge." Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
? 2013 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gut-microbe-makes-diesel-biofuel-100000754.html

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92% Jurassic Park: An IMAX 3D Experience

All Critics (95) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (95) | Rotten (8) | DVD (38)

The enthralling man-vs.-nature parable based on the late Michael Crichton's best-selling novel hasn't aged one bit.

The 3-D process adds not just dimension but depth - a technological extension of cinematographer Gregg Toland's deep-focus innovations in The Grapes of Wrath and Citizen Kane. The change in perspective creates greater intensity.

I'm a fan of this movie. It is thrilling, and the 3-D treatment is a nice enhancement.

This movie doesn't just stand the test of time, it transcends it.

"Jurassic Park" remains an absolute thrill from a Spielberg in top form: Funny, scary, fast-moving and full of just-right details.

"Jurassic Park" was impressive in 1993. Twenty years later, it's flawless.

The film is a classic and the chance to see it on the big screen again (or for the first time) should not be missed

Sentiment is explained by science as the family impulse that motivates so many Steven Spielberg stories is revealed to be an evolutionary imperative in this near-perfect action-adventure.

[Looks] better not only than effects-driven movies of the same period, but better, frankly, than half of what gets released nowadays.

Kids who love dinosaurs will love it. And who doesn't?

confirms both Spielberg's mastery of cinematic thrills and the comparatively empty bombast of today's summer tentpole movies, even the better ones.

Jurassic Park shows us a director in transition, and the film captures his transformation in its own kind of cinematic amber.

[The] 3D [conversion] provides the definitive version of this classic film. Jurassic Park has been transformed with with artistry, nuance and sophistication, and it's an absolute must-see during this brief run.

The 3D effects had me nearly jumping out of my seat. Some say Hollywood is converting too many old films to 3D. But, "Jurassic Park" was the perfect choice. There's nothing more fun than sharing a seat with a snapping dinosaur.

Spielberg treats us as he does his characters, leading us into a strange land and expecting us to make it out with all our faculties intact; it's a tall order, given the heart-stopping, bloodcurdling, limbs-numbing excitement packed into the second hour.

It is as if time has passed the movie by. "Jurassic Park" remains solid entertainment, but the awe and wonder have faded.

The thrill of seeing live dinosaurs on screen is not as acute today as it was 20 years ago admittedly, but there is still some 3D awe left in the creations that roared 65 billion years ago...

The 3D isn't pushed on the audience, but it does reveal the amount of depth that Spielberg actually put into the film 20 years ago.

While it's not the most profound of Spielberg's works or the most entertaining from a popcorn perspective, it's one of the most technically flawless movies he's ever produced.

Jurassic Park 3D is like being reunited with an old friend; an old friend that wants to eat you and maul you to death, but still. A classic is reborn in glorious IMAX with a vibrantly stunning use of 3D.

If releasing the film in 3-D is the only way to get it back in theaters, then the gimmick is an acceptable addition. The 3-D is good. But when a movie is this near flawless, nothing is needed to make it better.

The 3D conversion ruins everything, like the comet that killed the dinosaurs, making Jurassic Park the rare amusement I'd prefer to revisit at home.

A beast of a movie is gifted a superfluous-but-superb rouging of the cheeks, offering fanatics something new to study while newcomers will be ruined for any future television airings.

The tasteful Jurassic Park 3D conversion injects new wonder and excitement into one of the most captivating adventure movies ever made.

There is nothing like experiencing this fabulous, larger-than-life, groundbreaking movie where it was meant to be experienced. And in 3D!

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jurassic_park_an_imax_3d_experience_1993/

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Rocket Internet-Backed Fashion Portal Zalora Launches iOS App ...

Zalora, Rocket Internet?s pan-Asian fashion retail site, has launched an iOS app, as it seeks to capture the growing base of consumers in Asia who are using smartphones as their primary, and sometimes only, way of getting online.

The Zalora app was quietly released to the Apple App Store on the 17th of April before the wider announcement today, and was built by the company?s Singapore operations. It said last month it started building a regional software development center here to work on its Web platform and mobile apps, so it?s likely we?ll see more apps coming out for the store.

The iOS app allows you to browse and buy items on the store organized by brand or category, and rate favorites as well. Zalora says the app?s catalog is pulled from the store?s various collections across its inventory for different countries, so it sounds like you might be able to view more items in the app than on its country-specific sites.

Zalora is Singapore-based, and is barely a year old. It?s gone through an aggressive expansion in the region, and is in now eight markets in Asia: Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines. It?s most recent round of funding was $26 million in March led by German retail conglomerate Tengelmann, just six months after an undisclosed, double-digit million sum from JP Morgan.

Given its focus on Asia, it?s curious that Zalora decided to debut on the iPhone instead of Android phones, which are more popular in the region. According to a consumer study done in Southeast Asia by Ericsson, by the third quarter last year?31 percent of phones here were Android-based. The iPhone had about 19 percent of the overall handset market.

One country does buck that trend, however. Zalora?s headquarters of Singapore?has a 46 percent adoption of iOS, and just 29 percent for Android. Singapore has a smartphone penetration of around 90 to 92 percent, depending on who you ask, so those numbers are generally higher than neighboring countries.

Zalora has also been diverting some resources to the mobile interface. This is its first native app, but it launched a mobile site in January.

We?ve reached out to Zalora for more details on its mobile strategy, and will update as we hear from it.

Rocket Internet GmbH invests in the development of innovative companies in the internet industry. Their passionate, dynamic, highly motivated team works to establish promising business models in the market.

? Learn more

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/24/zalora-launches-ios-app-no-word-of-android-yet/

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Insight: Battered by war, Syrian army creates its own replacement

BEIRUT (Reuters) - In Syria, for scores of men called each month to join the army for deadly combat, there is a more attractive alternative: stay home, join a loyalist paramilitary group, and get a share of the loot in raids on President Bashar al-Assad's enemies.

Now into the third year of the uprising against Assad, which began with peaceful protests and became an armed rebellion, Syria's regular army has been weakened. Sectarian faultlines that are increasingly dividing the nation are now fragmenting an army whose strength was already eroded by desertions and defections to rebels.

Army officers belonging mainly to the minority Alawite sect, to which Assad himself belongs, sit uncomfortably in charge of a conscript army of men who are mostly from Syria's majority Sunni Muslims.

Officers wary of their own recruits say they can create a more reliable force out of irregular loyalist militias spread across the country.

"After the events began, our leadership started to lose faith in the army and its effectiveness on the ground in a war like this. The Syrian army is an aging one. There is a lot of routine. A lot of soldiers fled. Some joined armed gangs (the opposition)," said a 35-year old military commander by telephone from Damascus. He withheld his name for safety reasons.

"So we got the idea to make the National Defence Forces. They started out as popular committees patrolling their neighborhoods. Then they became armed groups. And in late 2012, they were legitimized under the name National Defence Forces (NDF)."

Pro-Assad militias used to be called 'shabbiha', derived from the Arabic word for ghost. Since their inception, they have had a sectarian bent. They were feared by the Sunni majority, who accuse the shabbiha of several massacres of Sunnis.

These once shadowy groups are being reorganized, trained and transformed. They have branded themselves as a volunteer reserve army. NDF fighters say the military even pays their salary.

But the creation of this parallel wing to the army could have dangerous consequences. The NDF system may reinforce the sectarian dimensions of a bloody conflict that has already killed more than 70,000 people and driven millions from their homes.

Sunni Islamists now lead the insurgency against four decades of Assad family rule, and minorities are flocking to the NDF to avoid recruitment into an army still comprised mostly of Sunnis. Most NDF fighters are Alawites, but many Christians and Druze have joined as well.

Rising sectarianism is plaguing both sides of a conflict that has become a civil war.

Rebel groups lacking experience have turned to hardline but effective Islamist fighters for support, including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front that says it wants to create an Islamic theocracy. That has radicalized some elements of a movement that started out calling for secular democracy.

FRAGMENTING ARMY?

After months of violence that has torn the country apart, both the opposition and pro-Assad groups are splintered. The creation of the NDF may be a sign that fragmentation is picking up pace, and that militias will one day take over the army's role in protecting Assad and the minorities that fought with him.

"Most of the soldiers in my unit are Sunnis. They don't trust me, and I don't trust them. That's the problem," said the commander in Damascus.

Like most of the elite in Syria's armed forces, he is Alawite. He says many officers now only use their Alawite soldiers as personal guards or special combat units.

"The soldiers are good guys, but I still worry each night. That's why the NDF is better. No one defects, no one flees."

For many, like 38-year-old Ali, an Alawite, joining the NDF was a necessity. He has a young daughter and wife to support. His small company based in the Gulf collapsed in late 2011 when he returned to his hometown of Homs after his brother, a soldier, was shot dead by rebels.

"I had no idea how to use a gun anymore; it had been two years since I did my compulsory army service. But my cousin was the head of an armed group," he said, referring to the shabbiha.

"He told me I should make a group, too, and he'd arm us ... Six months later, we organized ourselves into a unit of the NDF. Now we get a fixed salary with receipts for expenses. It's very organized."

The NDF has offices in government-controlled cities across Syria. Residents say many have training centers run by Syrian officers. The NDF gives fighters a monthly salary and weapons.

Training can last two weeks to a month, depending on whether it is for basic combat, sniping, or intelligence gathering.

FIGHTING FOR HOME AND SPOILS

For many fighters, the main attraction is fighting for their own home towns and the chance to accumulate extra wealth at a time when the country's economy is collapsing. Unlike soldiers, they say they are allowed and even encouraged to loot houses when attacking rebel-held areas.

"I get 15,000 lira ($158) a month, and I am allowed to keep a percentage of the loot from any battle I fight in," said Nader, a 30-year old Alawite from Homs who studied English literature before the conflict.

"I don't want to die anywhere other than Homs ... I want to be fighting for my own land. So when I got called up for service, I went to join the NDF. They gave me a stamped form, and I took that to the army recruitment office."

Tall and bulky with piercing blue eyes, Nader makes his own personal uniform of green camouflage pants and shirts. For the NDF, uniforms are more a fashion statement than a requirement - in loyalist villages, they sport camouflage bullet vests loaded with ammunition over jeans and t-shirts.

"There's no military routine where I have to wake up at 6 a.m. for drills. This is much more comfortable. Also, you know everyone in your group because you're all from the same area," he told Reuters by phone.

NDF fighters say they can choose to only work checkpoints and are not forced to join the army on raids - but if they don't, they don't get any of the spoils.

Loot is sold to makeshift markets, residents say, where the best goods are sent on to coastal cities or neighboring Lebanon.

Like the rebels who hold much of the northern and southern border regions, the NDF is scattered across the country wherever the army has a foothold. The NDF and army have nearly total control of the coast, home to a large Alawite enclave.

Many people from minorities, including Alawites, have suffered as much poverty and repression as the Sunnis who lead the uprising, but the community has embraced the president as their only protection against a Sunni backlash after decades of Assad family rule dominated by an Alawite elite.

MILITARISED SOCIETY

Military experts originally estimated Assad's army as a force of 300,000 to 500,000, but deserters and defectors have taken their toll.

The army sees many benefits to localized militias. They know every alley in their town, every village in their countryside.

An officer in Homs, who asked not to be identified, said the army was increasingly playing a logistical and directive role, while NDF fighters act as combatants on the ground.

"We direct artillery and air strikes ... Usually NDF fighters stay in their own areas, but if we have a shortage of manpower, sometimes we do send the guys to other provinces if their own areas are calm," the Homs officer said, speaking by phone.

Not all residents look on the growth of the NDF with approval. Its fighters run checkpoints and practically administer smaller towns now, creating resentment among local leaders.

"They take over a government office or a school and make it their base. No one can say or do anything about it," said an elderly Alawite cleric from the village of Masyaf in central Syria, who asked not to be named.

"The head of the NDF here is a dirty man. Two years ago he had nothing. Now he has land, cars, houses. That is all from stealing under the name of 'nationalism'."

Other residents complain the creation of the NDF has inextricably connected minorities to pro-Assad militias, giving them a stark choice.

"Either you become a part of it, or you leave," says Fadi, an Alawite whose family lives in Tartous.

He says he wants to move with his wife and daughter to neighboring Lebanon. "We've become complicit in the militarization of our society."

(Writing by Erika Solomon; Editing by Will Waterman)

(The name of the journalist has been withheld for security reasons)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/insight-battered-war-syrian-army-creates-own-replacement-081013152.html

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HTG Explains: What is Cloud Gaming and Is it The Future?

?Cloud gaming? has been a tech buzzword for years. The idea is that we?ll no longer need gaming PCs or consoles with powerful graphics hardware. All the heavy lifting will be done ?in the cloud.?

Cloud gaming has much in common with streaming videos. Essentially, the cloud-gaming server runs a game and streams a video of the gameplay to you. Your keyboard, mouse, and controller input actions are sent over the network to the cloud gaming server.

The remote server does all the heavy work, while your computer just receives streaming video (and audio) and sends input commands. Essentially, cloud gaming is like a streaming video service, but interactive.

Theoretical Advantages to Cloud Gaming

In theory, cloud gaming has a lot going for it:

• No Need for Expensive Hardware Investments or Upgrades ? With cloud gaming, you wouldn?t need to upgrade your PC or console. Instead of buying an expensive gaming hardware, you?d just use your existing hardware. You could also buy a cheap streaming box and controller that plugs into your television and home network.
• Play Games on Any OS or Device ? The majority of high-end, non-mobile games are currently chained to PCs (often Windows) or consoles. Cloud gaming would allow games to become more platform-independent, allowing PCs and tablets running Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Chrome OS, Windows RT, and other operating systems to play games that might otherwise only run on Windows.
• Integrate Gaming Into TVs and Other Devices ? Television manufacturers could integrate support for cloud-gaming services into their smart TVs. The TV wouldn?t need any powerful, expensive gaming hardware ? any TV with the correct software and a controller could work for gaming without any additional boxes required. Some smart TVs already include this feature via their OnLive integration.
• Instant Playing ? Some games may require a download of 10GB, 20GB, or even more before you can play them. Cloud gaming would allow you to start playing games instantly, as the server already has the game installed and can start playing it immediately.
• Easy Spectating ? Cloud gaming services would allow for very easy spectating of games, such as professional gaming matches. Spectators wouldn?t need the game installed, as the video stream could be easily duplicated for many users.
• DRM ? If games ran on remote servers instead of your own computer, they?d be almost impossible to pirate. This makes cloud gaming an attractive form of DRM to publishers, if not to gamers.

Disadvantages to Cloud Gaming

However, there are some significant downsides to cloud gaming:

• Video Compression - Just as videos we watch on YouTube or Netflix are compressed to make them take up less bandwidth, the gameplay ?video? you receive from a cloud-gaming service is compressed. It won?t be as sharp and high-detail as what could be rendered by a high-end gaming PC. However, the compressed video you receive may look better than a game rendered at lower detail locally.
• Bandwidth - Cloud gaming services require a large amount of bandwidth. Playing a game on OnLive may use more than 3GB per hour in bandwidth. If you have bandwidth caps on your Internet connection, this could be a serious problem. If everyone played games using cloud services, bandwidth usage would increase dramatically.
• Latency ? There?s no getting around it ? games can react to your actions much more quickly when they?re running on your local computer. Reaction time is faster when your mouse movement just has to reach your computer than when it has to travel over an Internet connection, be rendered and compressed, and then travel back to you. Cloud-gaming services will always have more latency than powerful local hardware.
• DRM ? Publishers love the DRM results of cloud gaming, but many gamers would be at a disadvantage if cloud gaming became the primary way to play games. Just as it?s impossible for people living in certain areas to play always-online games like Diablo 3, cloud gaming would have even higher Internet connection requirements.

Cloud Gaming Today

Several cloud gaming services are currently in operation. OnLive is the most talked-about one, although its user base is reportedly quite low, with about 1800 users at peak times before its restructuring in August 2012.

While a proper gaming PC or console is superior to the OnLive experience, OnLive works surprisingly well considering the immense technical challenges it faces. Latency and image compression are both noticeable, but aren?t anywhere near as bad as you might expect.

If you?re interested in trying it, you can download the OnLive client (currently available for Windows, Mac, Android, certain TVs, and a dedicated OnLive Game System device). You can play the full version of each supported game as a ?free trial? for 30 minutes, which is more than enough time to see just how well OnLive works.

OnLive?s biggest competitor was Gaikai, which used its technology to provide streaming game demos that you could play in your browser ? a much more convenient way to try a game before buying it, with no long downloads required. However, Gaikai was purchased by Sony for $380 million in July 2012 and its streaming game demos are currently offline. Sony will probably do something with Gaikai, and rumors indicate they may use Gaikai to provide instant streaming demos for PlayStation 4 games. Other rumors indicate that they could use Gaikai to stream PlayStation 3 games, offering backwards compatibility without the PS4 itself having the ability to play PS3 games.

Is it the Future?

So far, cloud gaming has failed to really catch on, as OnLive?s user numbers show us. However, Sony?s purchase of Gaikai demonstrates that big names are interested in this technology.

NVIDIA is currently working on Project Shield, an Android-powered handheld game console with the ability to stream PC games from your PC ? assuming the PC has a powerful enough NVIDIA graphics card. This would allow you to have a single gaming PC and use its hardware to play games wirelessly on a handheld game console and your TV. Latency would be much lower because you?re streaming from your home network, and bandwidth caps wouldn?t matter if it was all local. NVIDIA seems to be betting on this vision, which could offer some of the benefits of cloud gaming without some of the drawbacks ? as long as you have powerful enough PC gaming hardware.

Valve, developers of the Steam application that defines PC gaming for many people, aren?t too keen on cloud gaming. Gabe Newell, who runs Valve, has given his thoughts:

?Let?s say our industry had never done consoles or consumer clients. Even if we just started out with cloud gaming, you?d actually go in the direction of pushing intelligence out to the edge of the network, simply because it?s a great way of caching and saving you on network resources.?

In other words, if all gaming was curently cloud gaming, we?d be moving to local gaming for its many advantages.

OnLive?s streaming-only game system costs $99 with a controller, while a forthcoming Ouya with the ability to run local games as well as OnLive games beats it on functionality at the same $99 price point. As local gaming hardware gets cheaper, cloud gaming becomes less attractive.

---

It?s impossible to predict the future. It?s clear that OnLive isn?t killing gaming PCs or consoles, but Sony made a $380 million bet on cloud gaming and we may see cloud-gaming features in the PS4. Just as tablets haven?t killed the PC (in spite of all the media reports otherwise), cloud gaming won?t kill local gaming any time soon ? but it may offer an alternative in certain situations.

Image Credit: JD Hancock on Flickr, NVIDIA

Chris Hoffman is a technology writer and all-around computer geek. He's as at home using the Linux terminal as he is digging into the Windows registry. Connect with him on Google+.

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/160851/htg-explains-what-is-cloud-gaming-and-is-it-the-future/

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Life in India: Girl vanishes. Police are called. Nothing happens.

NEW DELHI (AP) ? A child disappears. Police are called. Nothing happens.

Child rights activists say the rape last week of a 5-year-old girl is just the latest case in which Indian police failed to take urgent action on a report of a missing child. Three days after the attack, the girl was found alone in locked room in the same New Delhi building where her family lives.

More than 90,000 children go missing in India each year; more than 34,000 are never found. Some parents say they lost crucial time because police wrongly dismissed their missing children as runaways, refused to file reports or treated the cases as nuisances.

The parents of the 5-year-old said that after their daughter disappeared, they repeatedly begged police to register a complaint and begin a search, but they were rejected.

Three days later, neighbors heard the sound of a child crying from a locked room in the tenement. They broke down the door and rushed the brutalized girl to the police station.

The parents said the police response was to offer the couple 2,000 rupees ($37) to keep quiet about what had happened.

"They just wanted us to go away. They didn't want to register a case even after they saw how badly our daughter was injured," said the girl's father, who cannot be identified because Indian law requires a rape victim's identity be kept secret.

Delhi's Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar admitted Monday that local police had erred in handling the case.

"There have been shortfalls, so the station house officer and his deputy have been suspended," Kumar told reporters.

Other poor parents of missing children say they also have found police reluctant to help them.

In 2010, police took 15 days to register a missing-persons case for 14-year-old Pankaj Singh. His mother is still waiting for him to come home.

"Every day my husband and my father would go wait at the police station, but they would shoo them away," Pravesh Kumari Singh said as she sat on her son's bed, surrounded by his pictures and books.

One morning in March 2010, she fed her son a breakfast of fried pancakes and spicy potatoes, then left for a community health training program.

"He told me he would have a bath and settle down to study for his exams," said Singh, clutching the boy's photograph to her heart.

When she returned, he was gone. "The neighbors said some boys had called him out. We searched everywhere, went to the police, but they refused to believe that something had happened to our son."

The police insisted he had run off with friends and would return, she said.

"They said we must have scolded him or beaten him, which is why he had run away from home," she said.

Formal police complaints were registered in only one-sixth of missing child cases in 2011, said Bhuwan Ribhu, a lawyer with Bachpan Bachao Andolan, or the Save the Childhood Movement. He said police resist registering cases because they want to keep crime figures low, and that parents are often too poor to bribe them to reconsider.

Ribhu said the first few hours after a child goes missing are the most crucial. "The police can cordon off nearby areas, issue alerts at railway and bus stations, and step up vigilance to catch the kidnappers," he said.

Activists say delays let traffickers move children to neighboring states, where the police don't have jurisdiction. There is no national database of missing children that state police can reference.

Police have insisted that most of missing children are runways fleeing grinding poverty.

"It's easy enough to blame the police for not finding the children. Some of the parents do not even possess a photograph of the child. Or they will come up with a years-old picture. It becomes difficult when there's not even a photograph to work with," Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said last month when asked about complaints on police inaction in investigating case of missing children.

Many cases involved poor migrant construction workers who move from site to site around the city, Bhagat said.

"The children are unfamiliar with the place and once they lose their way, they wouldn't know how to return," he said.

India's Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath told Parliament last month that the problem of missing children had assumed "alarming" proportions. The National Crime Records Bureau reported that 34,406 missing children were never found in 2011, up from 18,166 in 2009.

Activists say some children are trafficked and forced to beg on the streets. Some work on farms or factories as forced labor and others have their organs harvested and sold. The activists say young girls are pushed into the sex trade or sold for marriage.

"The government is just not ready to confront the issue of trafficking or missing children. And this gets reflected in the apathy of the police in dealing with cases of missing children," said Ribhu, the lawyer.

In 2006, the Central Bureau of Investigation said at least 815 criminal gangs were kidnapping children for begging, prostitution or ransom.

The Save the Childhood Movement said police have not cracked a single one of those syndicates.

"Despite our providing the police with all the details of where a child was picked up from, where he was taken, the police are simply not willing to act," said Ribhu.

Two streets away from Singh, in a tiny windowless room crammed with clothes, bedding and a stove, Pinky Devi keeps a prized possession locked away in a drawer: a faded color photograph of her son Ravi Shankar.

One afternoon in November 2011, she says, the 11-year-old went off with other children to a neighborhood fair. He never returned.

Devi said the police visited her home a couple of times and spoke to her neighbors, but their interest soon wore out.

"I'm sure if we had money to spend on them, the police would have been more active in tracing my son," said Devi, her two younger sons and infant daughter clinging to her sari in their one-room tenement in southeast Delhi.

Shantha Sinha, who heads the government's National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, acknowledged that much remained to be done to make police take cases of missing children seriously.

"There has to be a strong message that in every incident of a missing child, a criminal case has to be registered and the case is properly investigated," Sinha said.

Kunwar Pal, a construction worker, fears police indifference crushed his efforts to find his son Ravi Kumar.

Since the 12-year-old disappeared three years ago, the distraught father has cycled across India's sprawling capital, visiting police and railway stations, children's homes and hospitals, handing out posters and photographs of his missing son. Every time he hears of a child found anywhere in the city, he cycles to the police station, hoping it's Ravi.

Pal, a lean 45-year-old with haunted eyes, refuses to think the worst. He believes Ravi was taken by a childless couple who wanted a child of their own.

"If they were to let me know somehow that my son is alive, I would be happy," said Pal, his spare frame wracked by dry heaves. "They can keep him. Just let me see his shadow. Just let me know he's safe."

He also believes police would have worked harder if he had not been poor.

"If I were rich, my son would have been found by now. If I had money, the police would have taken the case more seriously," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/indian-girls-rape-highlights-police-apathy-103156990.html

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Fans sink into Cruise's 'Oblivion' in $38.2M debut

This film publicity image released by Universal Pictures shows Tom Cruise in a scene from "Oblivion." (AP Photo/Universal Pictures)

This film publicity image released by Universal Pictures shows Tom Cruise in a scene from "Oblivion." (AP Photo/Universal Pictures)

This film publicity image released by Universal Pictures shows Tom Cruise in a scene from "Oblivion." (AP Photo/Universal Pictures)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Movie fans slipped into "Oblivion" as the Tom Cruise sci-fi thriller led Hollywood with a $38.2 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.

That domestic haul comes on top of $33.7 million "Oblivion" added in overseas markets, where the film began rolling out a week earlier. "Oblivion" raised its overseas total to $112 million and its worldwide receipts to $150.2 million.

Though many people Friday were caught up in coverage of the manhunt for the suspect in the Boston Marathon explosions, it seems to have had little effect on how the film fared.

"Oblivion" took in $13.3 million on opening day Friday and $14.9 million on Saturday. That 12 percent increase is not unusual for big new releases, which typically do better business on Saturday than Friday.

While Boston was on lockdown much of Friday, that market only accounts for about 1 percent of the nationwide box office, said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal, which released "Oblivion." The manhunt mainly affected matinee business, with theaters reopening Friday night, when Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was taken into custody.

"Once the guy was arrested, I think people got back into their regular routine," Rocco said.

The previous weekend's top film, the Warner Bros. baseball drama "42," held up well, slipping to second-place with $18 million in its second weekend. The Jackie Robinson biography starring Chadwick Boseman and Harrison Ford raised its domestic total to $54.1 million and is on its way to the $100 million mark, said Dan Fellman, Warner's head of distribution.

Overseas, Paramount's "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" got a lift with $40 million, most of it coming from a $33 million debut in China. The action sequel has topped $200 million internationally and $300 million worldwide.

"Oblivion" came in a bit higher than industry expectations. But despite its strong opening, Hollywood's 2013 revenue funk continued, with overall domestic receipts at $109 million, down 19.4 percent from the same weekend last year, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com.

A year ago, two new romances ? the comedy "Think Like a Man" and the drama "The Lucky One" ? combined for $56 million that weekend, while the blockbuster "The Hunger Games" remained strong with nearly $15 million.

"Even Tom Cruise was unable to beat the strength of two really strong newcomers that were devoid of stars anywhere near in his league," said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian. "That tells you the difference between last year and this year. Even when we have a good weekend like this in 2013, generally these weekends, they pale by comparison to what happened last year."

Domestic revenues in 2013 total $2.76 billion, down 11.2 percent from where business was at last year, when Hollywood took in record cash.

Business slumped a bit in summer 2012 with some high-profile duds, so studios have a shot at gaining ground over last year with this season's upcoming blockbusters, which include "Iron Man 3," ''Star Trek Into Darkness," ''The Hangover Part III" and "Man of Steel."

Still, the gap almost certainly will continue to rise in the early part of the summer season.

Disney's Marvel Studios sequel "Iron Man 3" is expected to open with a whopping $125 million-plus domestically over the first weekend in May, Dergarabedian said. But that would fall far short of the record-breaking $207.4 million debut for the Marvel ensemble smash "The Avengers" over the same weekend last year.

Even so, Cruise's "Oblivion" provides a solid action lead-in to summer. The film stars Cruise as a repairman fixing machines in the wastelands of Earth after an alien attack.

Despite upheavals and odd behavior in Cruise's personal life in the last six or seven years, he remains one of Hollywood's surest box-office draws. Universal reported that in exit polls, fans cited Cruise as the No. 1 reason they saw the film.

"He's a global star," Rocco said. "People love Tom Cruise. If you put him in the right vehicle, they love him even better."

In narrower release, Rob Zombie's latest horror tale "The Lords of Salem" flopped with $622,000 in 355 theaters, for a dismal average of $1,752 a cinema. That compared to an average of $10,085 in 3,783 theaters for "Oblivion."

The low-budget hip-hop drama "Filly Brown" opened solidly with $1.4 million in 188 theaters, for an average of $7,250. The film stars Gina Rodriguez and the late Jenni Rivera in the story of a young talent with a shot at stardom on Los Angeles' hip-hop scene.

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. "Oblivion," $38.2 million ($33.7 million international).

2. "42," $18 million.

3. "The Croods," $9.5 million ($23.4 million international).

4. "Scary Movie 5," $6.3 million.

5. "G.I. Joe: Retaliation," $5.8 million ($40 million international).

6. "The Place Beyond the Pines," $4.7 million.

7. "Olympus Has Fallen," $4.5 million.

8. "Evil Dead," $4.1 million.

9. "Jurassic Park" in 3-D, $4 million ($420,000 international).

10. "Oz the Great and Powerful," $3 million ($1.5 million international).

___

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.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-04-21-Box%20Office/id-034560eb097f4fa7a933d848179b8c9e

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Transit officer still critical after shootout

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) ? Doctors say the Boston transit police officer wounded in a shootout with the marathon bombing suspects had lost nearly all his blood and his heart had stopped from a single gunshot wound that severed three major blood vessels in his right thigh.

Surgeons at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge say 33-year-old Richard Donohue is in stable but critical condition. He is sedated and on a breathing machine but opened his eyes, moved his hands and feet and squeezed his wife's hand Sunday.

Emergency workers started CPR on the scene to restart his heart. Doctors say he is expected to make a full recovery and that nerves and muscles in his leg are intact.

Transit officials say Donohue had gotten out of his cruiser and was shooting at the suspects when he was hit.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/transit-officer-still-critical-shootout-194025425.html

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Marathon bomb suspect eludes police, hunt paralyzes Boston

WATERTOWN, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Black Hawk helicopters and heavily armed police descended on a Boston suburb Friday in a massive search for an ethnic Chechen suspected in the Boston Marathon bombings, hours after his brother was killed by police in a late-night shootout. The normally traffic-clogged streets of Boston were empty as the city went into virtual lockdown after a bloody night of shooting and explosions. Public transport was suspended, air space restricted and famous universities, including Harvard and MIT, closed after police ordered residents to remain at home.

Pakistani police arrest former president Musharraf

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani police arrested former president Pervez Musharraf on Friday to face allegations he overstepped his powers while in office, marking a dramatic break with a political culture in which military rulers have remained untouchable. The one-time army chief had hoped to rekindle a degree of influence by standing in a general election in May, but has instead become ensnared in a showdown with judges who fought bruising battles with him while he was still in office.

Drop in gasoline prices help keep Canada inflation benign

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's annual inflation rate in March slowed to 1.0 percent from 1.2 percent in February, further underlining how little pressure there is on the Bank of Canada to raise rates any time soon. The main reason for the drop in the annual rate was lower gas prices, Statistics Canada said on Friday. The March rate was slightly less than the 1.1 percent predicted by economists.

Italy center-left leader Bersani quits after vote debacle

ROME (Reuters) - Center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani announced his resignation on Friday after party rebels sabotaged two separate candidates he had backed for state president, deepening Italy's political chaos. Bersani told a meeting of parliamentarians he would quit as Democratic Party (PD) leader as soon as the election of the next head of state was completed, following two dramatic days of parliamentary voting in which successive center-left candidates were scuppered in secret ballots.

U.S. assures Japan of defense against North Korean threat

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden assured Japan's deputy prime minister on Friday that the United States is committed to the defense of Japan against the threat posed by North Korea. North Korea in recent weeks has engaged in threatening rhetoric and is believed to have been taking steps toward a missile test launch, actions that have raised tensions in the Asia-Pacific.

Maduro sworn in, Venezuela to review disputed vote

CARACAS (Reuters) - Nicolas Maduro was sworn in as Venezuela's president on Friday at a ceremony attended by leaders from Iran to Brazil after a decision to widen an electronic audit of the vote took some of the heat out of a dispute over his election. Maduro, a bus driver-turned-foreign minister who became the late Hugo Chavez's chosen successor, narrowly beat opposition challenger Henrique Capriles in the election last Sunday.

Youths and police skirmish in Bahrain before Grand Prix

MANAMA (Reuters) - Bahrain police fired tear gas in clashes with rioting youths after thousands of opposition supporters rallied peacefully for democracy on Friday, two days before a Formula One car race that puts the Gulf Arab kingdom in the global spotlight. An authorized rally attended by men, women and children west of the capital Manama was orderly but as it broke up, dozens of young men skirmished with security forces firing tear gas.

Georgia's Saakashvili holds out olive branch to prime minister

TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili held out an olive branch to Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili on Friday, proposing an end to months of friction that threatens stability in the former Soviet republic. Saakashvili struck a conciliatory tone in remarks to thousands of supporters at their first big rally since his party was swept from power by Ivanishvili's opposition movement in a parliamentary election last October.

Rios Montt genocide trial up in air as Guatemalan judges squabble

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - The genocide trial of former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt was mired in uncertainty on Friday as judges squabbled over who should hear the case following an order to annul nearly a year-and-a-half of proceedings. The trial was suspended on Thursday when Judge Patricia Flores, who was originally assigned to the case, ruled all actions taken since she was recused in November 2011 were void, citing an order from the country's top courts.

Ukraine government beats off no confidence vote

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's government survived a no-confidence vote in parliament on Friday despite its unpopularity over pension reform and charges of corruption - an outcome that reaffirmed President Viktor Yanukovich's grip as he eyes a second term in office. Opposition politician Arseny Yatsenyuk, a former foreign minister and ex-minister of economy, pushed the opposition motion, charging Prime Minister Mykola Azarov's government with pursuing policies that only enriched those in power.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-news-summary-001040344.html

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