Asia stocks down as euro debt woes multiply (AP)

BANGKOK ? Asian stock markets faltered Friday amid worries over the health of Europe's banks and fears that the continent's debt crisis might be spreading beyond a handful of small economies.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell 1 percent to 8,401.32. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.4 percent at 18,556.38. South Korea's Kospi fell 1.6 percent to 1,834.70.

Benchmarks in mainland China, Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia also fell.

Investment sentiment soured Thursday after Europe ? which dominated so many of 2011's financial headlines ? became a concern again.

Trading in UniCredit, a large Italian bank, was halted after the stock lost a quarter of its value. The bank said Wednesday that it would need to offer huge discounts to investors to raise money.

And a financial crisis deepened in Hungary, which had to pay a staggeringly high interest rate of 10 percent on its 12-month debt. That is far above the 7 percent level that forced Greece and Portugal to seek bailouts.

Taken together, the news raised fears that Europe's debt crisis would spread from small countries such as Greece and infect much larger ones such as Italy that are too big to be bailed out.

In the U.S. on Thursday, investors were encouraged by a report on the U.S. job market. Weekly unemployment claims declined again, one day before a crucial report on the national jobs picture in December.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average had a tiny decline to end at 12,415.70. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.3 percent to close at 1,281.06. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 2.5 percent to 2,669.86.

Benchmark oil for February delivery fell 40 cents to $101.38 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell by $1.41 to end Thursday at $101.81 in New York.

In currency trading, the euro rose to $1.2795 from $1.2782 late Thursday in New York. The dollar was steady at 77.18 yen.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120106/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets

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500 Startups? McClure on Investing in India, Brazil, and China

01.4.2012

500 Startups' McClure Investing in India? by Bloomberg

In this video, Dave McClure from 500 Startups talks about security for Internet security and why he is investing in India and Brazil.

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'Descendants,' 'Bridesmaids' earn writers noms (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? George Clooney's "The Descendants," Brad Pitt's "Moneyball," Kristen Wiig's "Bridesmaids" and Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" are among nominees for the Writers Guild of America Awards.

Clooney's family drama "The Descendants" earned an adapted-screenplay nomination Thursday for director Alexander Payne and co-writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash. Pitt's sports tale "Moneyball" is up for the same prize for writers Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin.

Zaillian has a second adapted-screenplay nomination for director David Fincher's thriller "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara.

"Bridesmaids" star Wiig shared an original-screenplay nomination for her wedding comedy, which she co-wrote with Annie Mumolo. Director Allen also was nominated for original screenplay for his romantic fantasy "Midnight in Paris."

Other contenders for original screenplay: Will Reiser for the cancer story "50/50," starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen; Tom McCarthy for the family tale "Win Win," featuring Paul Giamatti; and Diablo Cody for the dark comedy "Young Adult," with Charlize Theron.

Also nominated for adapted screenplay: writer-director Tate Taylor for the Deep South drama "The Help," with Viola Davis, Emma Stone and Octavia Spencer; and John Logan for filmmaker Martin Scorsese's Paris adventure "Hugo," featuring Ben Kingsley and child stars Chloe Grace Moretz and Asa Butterfield.

Some acclaimed films, including the silent movie "The Artist," were ineligible because they were not made under the guild's contract guidelines.

Nominated for documentary screenplay: Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega, "Better This World"; Marshall Curry and Matthew Hamachek, "If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front"; Patricio Guzman, "Nostalgia for the Light"; Wim Wenders, "Pina"; Hetty Naaijkens-Retel Helmrich and Leonard Retel Helmrich, "Position Among the Stars"; and Manish Pandey, "Senna."

Honors from Hollywood trade groups such as the writers, actors and directors guilds help sort out likely contenders for the Academy Awards, whose nominations come out Jan. 24.

Writers Guild winners will be announced Feb. 19.

___

Online:

http://www.wga.org

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120105/ap_en_mo/us_writers_guild_awards

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Nikon announces D4 DSLR camera: full-frame 16.2 MP sensor, 204,000 extended ISO, $6,000 price tag

More than two years after the D3S began shipping and roughly a half-decade after we first got a peek at the D3, Nikon has finally announced the full-frame DSLR's long-awaited successor. As expected, the Nikon D4 boosts both megapixel rating (to 16.2) and extended ISO (204,800 at Hi-4), and includes a brand new full-frame FX-format sensor. Video capture also jumped from 720/24p to 1080/30p, but so did the camera's somewhat-out-of-reach price tag -- you'll be dropping $5,999.95 when the D4 hits stores in late February. You're clearly not spending all that hard-earned photo dough for nothing, though. There's also a 91k-pixel RGB 3D Color Matrix Meter III, compared to a 1,005-pixel meter in the D3S, enabling the camera to evaluate the color and brightness of a scene with much greater precision, yielding much more accurate results. And since the D4 reportedly offers phenomenal low-light performance, you'll probably be using it quite often in the dark -- letting you get good use out of the new back-lit controls.

Photographers can preview images using the 921k-dot 3.2-inch LCD, which offers a 170-degree viewing angle and ambient light sensor. HD video can be previewed on the display as well, or directly through the HDMI port, which also supports uncompressed 8-bit preview video output with optional overlay. Naturally, the D4 is fast. It can power on and be ready to shoot in approximately 0.012 seconds, and can capture 10 fps stills at full resolution with full auto focus and exposure. Willing to lock both AF and AE? The D4 goes to 11. A new 51-point AF system offers full cross-type focusing that's compatible with all Nikon lenses, even when paired with a teleconverter. The D4 includes two card slots with support for both UDMA-7 CF and the recently-announced XQD format, which brings write speeds of up to 125 MB/s -- enough to capture 105 consecutive RAW images at 10 fps. You'll find full details and specs on the D4 just past the break, along with an overview of Nikon's new AF-S NIKKOR 85mm f/1.8G FX-format lens, which is set to ship in March for $499.95.

Gallery: Nikon D4

Continue reading Nikon announces D4 DSLR camera: full-frame 16.2 MP sensor, 204,000 extended ISO, $6,000 price tag

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Kanye West's 3-hour Twitter rant: 'The adrenaline is running'

On Wednesday (Jan. 4), Kanye West -- who'd been somewhat absent from Twitter of late -- embarked on a marathon session of tweets that covered much territory -- from his new design company to his thoughts on "London riots" and "Chicago murders."

"The adrenaline is running," tweets West. "I don't know if I can even get to sleep now."

West sent several 140-character missives about Donda, the new design company he's establishing named after his late mother, Donda West.

Donda will, he tweets, "pick up where Steve Jobs left off." He also added that the company is releasing a "semi sci-fi film" in 2012 and that he may become creative director of a "Jetsons" film. West also expressed an interest in designing an upcoming MTV Video Music Awards. (Hey, if you can't win 'em, may as well be involved somehow.)

"I know this is not a very rapper thing to say but I haven't bought a new car or piece of jewelry in about 2 years," he adds.

He also condemned the American educational system, tweeting, "Help education. School systems were designed to turn people into factory workers." He went on to suggest that kids be encouraged to use iPhones in school, not punished. He also details months he spent working undercover at Fendi and the Giuseppe Zanotti factory learning to design women's shoes.

To get the full experience, click on over to Kanye's Twitter feed.

Photo/Video credit: Getty Images

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Source: http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/2012/01/kanye-wests-3-hour-twitter-rant-the-adrenaline-is-running.html

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Last-minute positioning as GOP candidates finally hear from voters in Iowa (CNN)

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Gay nativity scene vandalized at Southern California church

LOS ANGELES - An unusual nativity display at a Claremont church that conveyed a gay couple was vandalized over the weekend in an incident authorities are investigating as a hate crime.

Claremont United Methodist Church has a Christmas tradition of unusual nativity displays, intended to carry a social or political message.

Despite some of the controversial topics, the scenes had never been vandalized or defaced, according to church officials and John Zachary, the artist who created the scenes.

But this year, suspects vandalized a nativity scene that included wooden light boxes with three couples holding hands - a man and a woman, two women and two men - under a star of Bethlehem and a sign that said "Christ is Born."

Church officials came in before the Christmas morning service to find that someone had pushed over the two gay couples and left the heterosexual couple standing.

The vandalism occurred sometime between 11 p.m. on Christmas Eve and 9 a.m. on Christmas Day, police said. No suspects have been identified.

The church has never shied away from controversial topics, including a scene of war in the Middle East, a mother and baby in prison and a depiction of the U.S./Mexico border fence.

One year, the nativity depicted a homeless family. The scene prompted an impromptu outpouring of giving, with congregation members leaving donations of food, clothing and money.

"Christ?s birth in a stable had a lot to do with poverty and being marginalized," said Pastor Sharon J. Rhodes-Wickett. "What this church has tried to do through these scenes is say, ?What would that look like today??"

In 1993, the church made a decision to be a "reconciling congregation" which welcomes gay, lesbian and trasngender members. This year?s nativity display was intended to convey that message, Rhodes-Wickett said.

Ed Kania, 60, an openly gay member of the church, called the act of vandalism disappointing, especially because Claremont is a generally progressive college town.

"It?s a reminder that although there are pockets of acceptance, not everybody is accepting," he said. "We?re all kind of disappointed, but we?re using it as a rallying point."

Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bostonherald/news/~3/gyNbv9CMZFM/view.bg

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