`Underworld' sinks teeth into box office with $25M (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Kate Beckinsale is back with a vengeance, with her latest "Underworld" movie opening at No. 1 this weekend.

"Underworld Awakening" made an estimated $25.4, distributor Sony Screen Gems reported Sunday.

This is the fourth film in the vampire action saga. Beckinsale starred in the first two movies as the warrior Selene, then bowed out of part three but returned for this latest installment. "Underworld Awakening" was shown for the first time in 3-D as well as on IMAX screens, where it made $3.8 million. That's 15 percent of the film's weekend gross, which is a record for an IMAX digital-only run.

Sony had hoped the film would end up in the low-$20 million range. But Rory Bruer, the studio's president of worldwide distribution, says the fact that it did even better ? despite a snow storm that hit much of the Midwest and East Coast ? primarily has to do with Beckinsale's return.

"She is such a force. Her character ? you just can't take your eyes off of her. I know the character is very dear to her, as well, and she just kills it," Bruer said. "The 3-D aspect of the film also brings something, makes it a fun, visceral ride."

Opening in second place was "Red Tails" from executive producer George Lucas, about the Tuskegee Airmen who were the first black fighter pilots to serve in World War II. It made an estimated $19.1 million, according to 20th Century Fox, which was well above expectations; the studio had hoped to reach double digits, said Chris Aronson, executive vice president of domestic distribution.

"I believe what George Lucas has stated all along: This is an important story and a story that must be told. It is a true story of American heroism and valor and audiences have really responded to this message," Aronson said. "People want to feel good about themselves, they want to be uplifted. We have enough hard crud going on in this country right now. Times are tough, and if we look back and are told a story of some really fantastic deeds, that's really compelling moviegoing."

Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian said a grass-roots effort to get groups of people into the theaters to see "Red Tails," along with positive word-of-mouth, helped its strong showing. The film saw an uptick from about $6 million on Friday to $8.65 on Saturday.

Overall box office is up 31 percent from the same weekend a year ago, Dergarabedian said, thanks to new releases as well as movies like "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," which had limited runs for awards consideration at the end of 2011 and are now expanding nationwide. The 9/11 drama from Warner Bros., starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, came in fourth place with $10.5 million.

Last week's No. 1 film, the Universal smuggling thriller "Contraband" starring Mark Wahlberg, dropped to the No. 3 spot with $12.2 million. It's now made $46.1 million in two weeks. Meanwhile, Steven Soderbergh's international action picture "Haywire" from Relativity Media, starring mixed martial arts superstar Gina Carano in her first film role, opened in fifth place with $9 million, which was above expectations.

"This is a great, perfect January weekend. You've got these holdover films and newcomers creating an overall marketplace that people are really responding to," Dergarabedian said. "It sounds clich? but this marketplace really has something for everyone."

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. "Underworld Awakening," $25.4 million.

2. "Red Tails," $19.1 million.

3. "Contraband," $12.2 million.

4. "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," $10.5 million.

5. "Haywire," $9 million.

6. "Beauty and the Beast (3-D)," $8.6 million.

7. "Joyful Noise," $6.1 million.

8. "Mission: Impossible ? Ghost Protocol," $5.5 million.

9. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," $4.8 million.

10. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," $3.75 million ($15.7 international).

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

___

AP Movie Writer Christy Lemire can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/christylemire/

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_en_mo/us_box_office

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Dave McClure Isn?t Worried About The ?Series A Crunch?

In recent months, there's been some hand-wringing about a "Series A Crunch" ? namely, a glut of startups raising seed and angel funding, then struggling once they need to raise a proper Series A. But in a recent interview, 500 Startups founder Dave McClure said the complaints are misguided.

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

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Manning, Giants heading to Indy to face Pats again

New York Giants Eli Manning lifts the George Halas Trophy in the locker room after the Giants won in overtime at the NFC Championship NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, in San Francisco. The Giants won 20-17 to advance to Super Bowl XLVI. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

New York Giants Eli Manning lifts the George Halas Trophy in the locker room after the Giants won in overtime at the NFC Championship NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, in San Francisco. The Giants won 20-17 to advance to Super Bowl XLVI. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady wears a championship hat and t-shirt after their AFC Championship NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, in Foxborough, Mass. The Patriots defeated the Ravens 23-20 to win the AFC Championship. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin, center, celebrates with players in the locker room after the NFC Championship NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, in San Francisco. The Giants won 20-17 in overtime to advance to Super Bowl XLVI. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick tips his hat to the crowd during the trophy presentation after the AFC Championship NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, in Foxborough, Mass. The Patriots defeated the Ravens 23-20 to win the AFC Championship. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

Hey, Indianapolis. A Manning will be playing in your Super Bowl, after all.

No, not that one.

It'll be Eli Manning leading the New York Giants to a Super Bowl rematch against the New England Patriots ? and this time on older brother Peyton's home field.

"It doesn't matter to me where you're playing it or the fact that it's in Indianapolis," Eli Manning said. "I'm just excited about being in one."

And if the Giants can pull this one off, Eli will have sibling bragging rights with one more Super Bowl ring than Peyton, who missed this season for the Colts after having neck surgery.

It sure won't be easy for the Giants, though. Four years after New York stunned previously undefeated New England in the Arizona desert, they'll play a Super sequel.

Eli vs. Brady. Coughlin vs. Belichick. The Giants vs. the Patriots.

Sound familiar? Here we go again.

"It's awesome and we look forward to the challenge," Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora said. "They are a great football team. They have always been a great football team. We are looking forward to it, and it's going to be a great game."

Well, judging from the last time these teams met in the Super Bowl ? David Tyree's jaw-dropping, helmet-pinning catch and all ? it just might be.

"Being in this situation is a great moment," Patriots nose tackle Vince Wilfork said. "You have to cherish this moment."

New England (15-3) opened as a 3-point favorite for the Feb. 5 game against New York (12-7), but the Patriots know all about being in this position. They were favored by 12 points and pursuing perfection in 2008, but New York's defense battered Brady, and Manning connected with Plaxico Burress on a late touchdown to win the Giants' third Super Bowl.

That TD came, of course, a few moments after one of the biggest plays in playoff history: Manning escaping the grasp of Patriots defenders and finding Tyree, who put New York in scoring position by trapping the football against his helmet.

"Hopefully, we will have the same result," Umenyiora said. "We still have one more game to go, but this is truly unbelievable."

Especially since the Giants appeared on the verge of collapsing with Tom Coughlin's job status in jeopardy just a month ago, when they fell to 7-7 with an embarrassing loss to the Washington Redskins on Dec. 18.

"We've been here before," linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka said at the time, "and we'll get back."

Boy, was he right.

The Giants were facing elimination against the rival Jets and Rex Ryan, who boldly declared that his team ruled New York. Well, Coughlin's crew silenced Ryan with a 29-14 victory. The Giants followed that with a 31-14 win over Dallas in the regular-season finale to clinch the NFC East and get to the playoffs for the first time since the 2008 season.

New York dominated Atlanta at home in the opening round. Then came a stunner: a 37-20 victory at Green Bay ? knocking out the defending Super Bowl champions.

On Sunday, Manning extended the best season of his career with one more solid performance, and Lawrence Tynes kicked the Giants past the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 in overtime for the NFC title.

"I'm just proud of the guys, what we've overcome this year, what we've been through," Manning said, "just never having any doubts, keep believing in our team that we could get hot and start playing our best football."

The Patriots are rolling into the Super Bowl having won 10 straight, with their last loss being to ? you guessed it ? the Giants, 24-20 back in early November.

"We know they're a great team," Manning said. "We played them already this year. They've been playing great football recently."

They sure have. And now Brady and the Patriots are in familiar territory, playing in the Super Bowl for the fifth time in 11 years ? and first since the stunning upset in Arizona.

New England hopes to avoid all that sort of drama this time around. Unless it goes in the Patriots' favor, as it did in the AFC title game.

Brady was unusually subpar in the Patriots' 23-20 victory over Baltimore, throwing for 239 yards with two interceptions and, for the first time in 36 games, no TD passes. But he got some help from the Patriots' much-maligned defense, which made some crucial stops down the stretch.

A few mistakes by the Ravens helped greatly, too, as Billy Cundiff shanked a 32-yard field goal attempt with 11 seconds left ? soon after Lee Evans had a potential winning touchdown catch ripped out of his hands in the end zone.

"Childlike joy. It's all about childlike joy," linebacker Jerod Mayo said. "Last night felt like the day before Christmas for me and I haven't had that feeling in a long time."

New England last won the Super Bowl in 2005, a long drought considering that the Patriots took home Lombardi trophies three times in four years. There are only a handful of players left from that team, with guys like Corey Dillon, Tedy Bruschi and Rodney Harrison replaced by young up-and-comers such as Mayo, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.

"It doesn't even feel right, especially playing with the veterans here," Gronkowski said. "I watched them go to the Super Bowl as I was growing up, and now I'm part of it? It is an unreal moment."

The constants, though, are Brady and Bill Belichick. And that's been a winning combination for New England, combining to become the first QB-coach combination to win five conference championships in the Super Bowl era.

Belichick did perhaps his finest coaching job this season, piecing together a defense that ranked second-to-last in the league during the regular season. That led to plenty of shootouts, and Brady was more than up to the task, throwing for a career-high 5,235 yards while tossing 39 touchdown passes.

"They're an amazing team," Patriots owner Robert Kraft said. "They're a great brotherhood; they're a family."

And they're all looking to lift another Super Bowl trophy together. Patriots-Giants. One more time.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-23-Super%20Bowl/id-7c8e3e914fdc432ab4abeea2ef0e79c8

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Gold Coins Investing and Selling Gold Bullion in Kenner | FINANCE ...

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Source: http://finance-web-guide.com/?p=126920

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Philly Fed factory activity ticks up in January (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? The pace of factory activity in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region ticked up in January, though it was not as strong as expected as new orders slipped, a survey showed on Thursday.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank said its business activity index rose to 7.3 from a revised 6.8 in December. That was shy of economists' expectations for 10.0, according to a Reuters poll.

December was originally reported as 10.3.

Any reading above zero indicates expansion in the region's manufacturing. The survey covers factories in eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware.

It is seen as one of the first monthly indicators of the health of U.S. manufacturing leading up to the national report by the Institute for Supply Management.

New orders slipped to 6.9 from 10.7, while inventories improved to minus 6.3 from minus 11.5.

"The economy is slowly accelerating; we're not moving fast," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co. in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

"We're moving in the right direction but not with enough speed to create lots of jobs real fast."

U.S. stocks cut gains immediately after the data, while Treasuries trimmed losses and the euro pared its advance against the U.S. dollar.

The employment components improved modestly, with the gauge of the number of employees edging up to 11.6 from 11.5 and the average work week index gaining to 5.0 from 2.8.

Survey respondents' view on the coming months also strengthened with the gauge of business conditions for the next six months rising to its highest since March 2011 at 49.0 from 40.0.

(Reporting By Leah Schnurr, additional reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120119/bs_nm/us_usa_economy_phillyfed

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Suspicion grows China was behind hack of U.S. commission (Reuters)

WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) ? Suspicion is growing that operatives in China, rather than India, were behind the hacking of emails of an official U.S. commission that monitors relations between the United States and China, U.S. officials said.

News of the hacking of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission surfaced earlier this month when an amateur "hacktivist" group purporting to operate in India published what it said was a memo from an Indian Military Intelligence unit to which extracts from commission emails were attached.

But U.S. officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said the roundabout way the commission's emails were obtained strongly suggests the intrusion originated in China, possibly by amateurs, and not from India's spy service.

A large cache of raw email data from the security breach, reviewed by Reuters, indicates that the principal target of the intruders was not the commission, but instead a Washington-based non-governmental pro-trade group called the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC).

The trade council is headed by William Reinsch, a former top U.S. Commerce Department official who until recently served as the U.S.-China commission's chairman.

A large proportion of the raw email traffic downloaded by the hackers consists of messages to and from Reinsch at his NFTC email address. Many of the emails were spam, but some related to the work of the commission, which was set up by Congress to take a critical look at a wide range of U.S. dealings with China.

Reinsch told Reuters that the NFTC first became aware in November that large quantities of its message traffic had been hacked. He said that law enforcement authorities, including the FBI, had been quickly notified. The FBI has declined comment.

Reinsch said he could think of "no particular reason" why the Indian government or Indian hackers would be interested in him. By contrast, he and several other U.S. officials said that Chinese hackers, whether amateur or directly affiliated with Chinese government, would have great interest in the U.S.-China commission's activities, both public and private.

SOFT TARGET

Sources familiar with the hacking and the related investigation said they draw two inferences from the fact that the principal target of the hack appears to have been Reinsch's email account at NFTC.

First, the sources said they found it difficult to believe anyone connected with India would have taken the time or effort to track down Reinsch or his NFTC account, whereas his chairmanship of the U.S.-China commission made him a potential major target for Chinese hackers.

Secondly, said the sources, the fact that Reinsch's NFTC emails were the principal target suggests that whoever hacked them was hunting for a soft target with poor cyber-security.

That fits a pattern of what is known as a blended attack: sophisticated hackers often plan attacks in multiple stages, targeting the systems of government officials and corporate executives by first breaching less-secure systems of people with whom they regularly communicate.

"It's all about trust relationships and getting inside the trust ecosystems -- whether they be digital ecosystems or interpersonal relationships," said Tom Kellermann, a cyber security expert who has served as a policy advisor to the Obama administration.

"Individuals many times are targeted not just for the network of computers to which they have access, but to the network of individuals to which they have access," said Kellermann, chief technology officer of a company known as AirPatrol Corp.

Pinning down the origin and perpetrator of a particular cyber-intrusion can be very difficult, if not impossible, as hackers frequently take steps to mask their identity or appear that they are from a third country.

INDIAN MEMO

The purported Indian intelligence memo implied that the commission emails had somehow been hacked using know-how supplied to the Indian government by mobile phone companies who, as payback, were afforded greater access to the Indian market.

One of the mobile phone manufactures named in the purported memo, Apple, denied giving the Indian government backdoor access to its products. A second, Research in Motion, said the company does not typically comment on rumor or speculation, and a third manufacturer, Nokia, declined to comment.

Indian government officials and agencies declined repeated requests for comment on the alleged government document, although some former Indian officials labeled the memo a fabrication.

Two U.S. officials familiar with the hacking incident said they were puzzled why India would go to the trouble of hacking emails related to the U.S.-China commission, since its work had little if anything to do with India, and Indian officials and diplomats had never showed much interest in its activities.

By contrast, the commission has been a regular target for what officials describe as persistent attempted hacking intrusions, many through the technique of "phishing," which involves sending bogus but convincing emails which purport to come from insiders but contain malicious code. Investigators strongly suspect these intrusions were launched by people from, or operating on behalf of, China.

China's Foreign Ministry issued its standard response to hacking allegations in a faxed message to Reuters on Thursday, saying it "consistently and strongly opposed" the practice.

"Hacking is a common problem faced by the international community, and all related parties, with a professional and cooperative spirit, should jointly tackle the problem and avoid groundless criticism and speculation," it added.

A large proportion of the hacked traffic examined by Reuters appeared to be what could be categorized as spam, including summaries of news articles and political fundraising pitches.

Some hacked traffic from the U.S.-China commission had potentially sensitive implications, however, including messages in which commission personnel discuss matters under deliberation by the organization. These issues included the commission's attitude toward alleged Chinese theft of intellectual property and congressional deliberations about alleged Chinese currency manipulation.

U.S. officials said there was no indication hackers managed to gain access to electronic files related to the commission's most sensitive project - a classified version of its annual public report. Electronic materials related to this project are kept on classified servers, isolated from the Internet, which are operated by agencies other than the commission itself, one official said.

(Additional reporting by Jim Finkle, and Sally Huang in Beijing; Editing by Eric Beech, Philip Barbara and Nick Macfie)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120119/wr_nm/us_usa_china_hacking

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Gingrich appeals for SC voters to block Romney

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich takes part in a TV interview during a campaign event at the Grapevine Restaurant in Spartanburg, S.C., on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, the unpredictable voting day of the South Carolina presidential primary. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich takes part in a TV interview during a campaign event at the Grapevine Restaurant in Spartanburg, S.C., on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, the unpredictable voting day of the South Carolina presidential primary. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich takes part in a TV interview during a campaign event at the Grapevine Restaurant in Spartanburg, S.C., on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, the unpredictable voting day of the South Carolina presidential primary. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, center, meets with patrons during a campaign event at the Grapevine Restaurant in Spartanburg, S.C., on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, the unpredictable voting day of the South Carolina presidential primary. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, center, meets with patrons during a campaign event at the Grapevine Restaurant in Spartanburg, S.C., on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, the unpredictable voting day of the South Carolina presidential primary. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich makes remarks during an event at the Grapevine Restaurant, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Spartanburg, S.C., on the unpredictable voting day of the South's first 2012 presidential primary. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

BOILING SPRINGS, S.C. (AP) ? Newt Gingrich has a message to South Carolina voters on primary day: Come out and vote for me if you want to stop Mitt Romney from winning the Republican presidential nomination.

Gingrich stopped by The Grapevine restaurant in Boiling Springs not long after the polls opened Saturday morning. He told diners who were enjoying plates of eggs and grits that he's the "the only practical conservative vote" if Republicans want to stop Romney. Gingrich says Romney is a Massachusetts moderate.

Gingrich says he would put a stop to federal actions against South Carolina's voter ID and immigration laws.

The former House speaker has seen his support rise in South Carolina in the days before the primary. He says that "polls are good, votes are better."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-21-Gingrich/id-ae757ab9fc7c4b6b85968373c830000d

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