That ‘70s Show star Lisa Robin Kelly died of multiple drug intoxication, the Los Angeles County coroner’s department said Friday.
Lisa Robin Kelly died at age 43 in August 2013, after entering a rehab facility in an effort to clean up. Her rehab stay was preceded by a history of legal and substance-abuse woes.
Lisa Robin Kelly died at age 43 in August 2013, after entering a rehab facility in an effort to clean up
Further details from the coroner’s department were scant, aside from the fact that the fatal intoxication took place by oral ingestion, and that the manner of death was accidental.
The coroner’s report, which requires additional time for transcription, is not yet available to the public.
Lisa Robin Kelly played bad girl Laurie Forman on the Fox’s sitcom.
BlackBerry has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the company co-founded by Ryan Seacrest that makes a keyboard case for the iPhone.
On Friday, BlackBerry filed a lawsuit against Typo Products LLC, a company that makes a slip-on keyboard designed to fit the iPhone 5 and 5S.
The company Los Angeles-based company was founded by entrepreneur Laurence Hallier and television personality Ryan Seacrest. The company’s flagship product, the “Typo Keyboard,” was conceived to make typing on the iPhone quicker and less prone to typos.
Now the company might be wishing it went a little slower. The keyboard, BlackBerry alleges, violates the company’s intellectual property rights for copying BlackBerry’s own keyboard designs.
BlackBerry has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the company co-founded by Ryan Seacrest that makes a keyboard case for the iPhone
Instead of developing its own design, “Typo chose to copy BlackBerry’s iconic keyboard design as embodied in, among others, BlackBerry’s Q10 smartphone,” the lawsuit alleges, which was filed Friday in the U.S. district court in the Northern District of California.
“This is a blatant infringement against BlackBerry’s iconic keyboard, and we will vigorously protect our intellectual property against any company that attempts to copy our unique design,” said Steve Zipperstein, BlackBerry’s general counsel and chief legal officer, in a statement.
The suit seeks a trial by jury to obtain compensation for the copyright violation.
On Saturday, Typo issued a statement in response to the suit: “We are aware of the lawsuit that Blackberry filed against Typo Products. Although we respect Blackberry and its intellectual property, we believe that Blackberrys claims against Typo lack merit and we intend to defend the case vigorously. We are excited about our innovative keyboard design, which is the culmination of years of development and research.”
The statement added that the company plans to go ahead with its launch at International CES in Las Vegas and is on track to begin shipping pre-orders at the end of January.
Iraqi army has lost control of the strategic city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, eyewitnesses say.
Al-Qaeda-linked militants now control the south of the city. An Iraqi reporter there says tribesmen allied with al-Qaeda hold the rest of Fallujah.
Fighting there erupted after troops broke up a protest camp by Sunni Arabs in the city of Ramadi on Monday.
They have been accusing the Shia-led government of marginalizing the Sunnis.
The recent fighting in Fallujah and Ramadi has pitted government troops on the one hand and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis), which is affiliated with al-Qaeda, and Sunni tribesmen on the other.
Local Sunni Arabs have been angered by they perceive as discrimination by the government of PM Nouri Maliki.
They also say their minority community is being targeted by anti-terrorism measures implemented to stem the surge in sectarian violence.
Iraqi army has lost control of the strategic city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad
Late on Saturday, eyewitnesses said al-Qaeda militants were in evidence on the streets of Fallujah, riding pick-up trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns.
Reuters news agency said saying troops were shelling parts of the city to try to retake it.
Iraqiya state television quoted Nouri Maliki as saying: “We will not back down until we end all terrorist groups and save our people in Anbar.”
On Tuesday, he agreed to withdraw the army from towns and cities in Anbar province, to allow police to resume control of security.
But as soon as soldiers left their posts, militants aligned to al-Qaeda appeared in Ramadi, Fallujah and Tarmiya, storming police stations, freeing prisoners and seizing weapons.
Nouri Maliki reversed his decision the next day, sending soldiers back to Anbar.
But on Thursday, militants in Ramadi and Fallujah raised black flags on buildings and used the loudspeakers of mosques to call on people to join their struggle and support a “peaceful takeover”.
In recent months Sunni militants have stepped up attacks across Iraq, while Shia groups began deadly reprisals – raising fears of a return to full-scale sectarian conflict.
On Wednesday, the UN said at least 7,818 civilians and 1,050 members of the security forces had been killed in 2013.
Paul Walker’s Fast & Furious character, Brian O’Conner, will be retired, not killed off, in the seventh installment of the hit franchise, according to a report.
Vin Diesel announced on Facebook last month, that production on Fast & Furious 7 would move forward and Paul Walker, who died in a fiery car crash in November in California, would appear in the film.
Paul Walker’s Fast & Furious character, Brian O’Conner, will be retired, not killed off, in the seventh installment of the hit franchise
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Brian O’Conner will be “retired in a way… [which] will satisfy fans of the franchise and make use of the existing footage of Paul Walker.
“[Movie bosses] devised a plan to tweak the existing script so that Walker would remain a part of the story but could be written out, allowing the franchise to continue without him.”
Fast & Furious 7 is set to hit theatres on April 10th, 2015.
This weekend will bring a deep freeze that could prove fatal for the ill-equipped across the Midwest.
States such as Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin will see lows in the minus teens and minus 20s. And with sub-zero winds whipping through some areas, it could feel more like the minus 50s and minus 60s, meteorologists warn.
The Weather Channel warned that “one of the coldest arctic air masses in nearly 30 years” was likely to hit the Plains and Midwest this weekend. Some all-time cold records appeared to be in jeopardy, forecasters said.
Snow is expected to begin falling throughout the Midwest on Sunday, also reaching parts of Tennessee and Alabama. Along the East Coast, the storm will bring rain but be accompanied by warmer weather.
Minnesota isn’t taking any chances on Monday. Governor Mark Dayton said all public schools will be closed for the day.
Minneapolis will see a high of minus-14 degrees and a low of minus 27 degrees through Monday – but with the wind chill it would feel like the minus 40s.
“The safety of Minnesota’s schoolchildren must be our first priority,” Mark Dayton said in a statement.
One of the coldest arctic air masses in nearly 30 years is likely to hit the Plains and Midwest this weekend
“I have made this decision to protect all our children from the dangerously cold temperatures now forecasted for next Monday. I encourage Minnesotans of all ages to exercise caution in these extreme weather conditions.”
Temperatures won’t be any better in Chicago, which will come close to a high of minus 11 degrees – a record mark previously reached in December 1983 and January 1994.
Perhaps the most foolhardy will be football fans in Wisconsin. Sunday’s NFC wild-card game between the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers will play out in bone-chilling minus-5-degree temperatures.
Meanwhile, cities across the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast will see milder temperatures with rain Sunday into Monday. New York City will see highs in the lower 40s. Boston, digging out from as much as two feet of snow, could reach 50 degrees.
While airports in the areas hardest hit by Friday’s big storm still grappled with some residual flight problems, less than 800 into or out of the U.S. had been canceled as of 11 a.m. ET Saturday, according to FlightAware. More than 2,600 flights into or out of the U.S. were canceled by midday Friday.
New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, which reported 192 cancelled flights due to “zero visibility and high winds” at midday Friday, cut that number to 37 on Saturday morning. The trend carried to other area airports; La Guardia only reported 25 canceled flights on Saturday as compared with Friday’s 271, and Newark slashed its numbers from 285 to 37.
Boston’s Logan International Airport reported 23 cancellations Saturday morning and most other U.S. airports reported cancellations in the teens or single digits.
While the next wave of northeast weather might not affect air travel, another frigid plunge is forecast for Tuesday: New York City is expected to see a high of around 10 degrees, while Philadelphia and Boston will be in the teens.
Former First Lady Barbara Bush was released from Houston Methodist Hospital late Saturday morning, the family spokesman, Jim McGrath has announced.
Barbara Bush, the wife of former President George H.W. Bush, has been discharged from a Texas hospital where she spent nearly a week being treated for pneumonia.
Barbara Bush spent nearly a week in a Houston hospital being treated for pneumonia
Barbara Bush, 88, had been hospitalized since Monday.
Barbara and George H.W. Bush, the nation’s longest-married presidential first couple, will celebrate their 69th wedding anniversary Monday.
Michael Schumacher’s manager Sabine Kehm has warned about “invalid” health reports, after one was quoted as saying the F1 champion’s life was no longer at risk.
Michael Schumacher, 45, remains “critical but stable” in hospital in Grenoble after a skiing accident.
A statement from Sabine Kehm said reports not from managers or doctors “must be treated as pure speculation”.
The statement also rejected reports a camera fixed to Michael Schumacher’s ski helmet had not been handed over voluntarily.
Michael Schumacher, who retired in 2012, is in a medically induced coma after suffering head injuries during a fall in the resort of Meribel last Sunday.
His helmet cracked on impact when he hit a rock while skiing off-piste.
Sabine Kehm’s statement read: “Michael’s condition remains critical but stable. We would like to clearly stress that any information regarding Michael’s health not coming from the doctors treating him or from his management must be treated as invalid and pure speculation.”
Michael Schumacher remains critical but stable in Grenoble hospital after skiing accident
“The family cares only for Michael’s health.”
On Friday, some media quoted Michael Schumacher’s friend, former F1 driver Philippe Streiff, as saying that he had been told by the Schumacher family doctor, Gerard Saillant, that Michael’s life was no longer in danger.
Sabine Kehm’s statement continued: “Michael’s helmet camera was voluntarily given to the investigating authorities by the family. That this should have been done against the wishes of the family is untrue.”
Investigators in France are examining the camera.
The French authorities are hoping the device may reveal clues about the circumstances of the accident, although it remains unclear whether the camera was switched on at the time.
Police also interviewed Michael Schumacher’s teenage son, who witnessed the crash.
Michael Schumacher management’s statement concluded by saying: “In consultation with the doctors treating Michael, it is not expected that there will be any press conference before Monday.”
Nuns in a convent in southern Spain have been surprised by Pope Francis with a message left on an answer machine on New Year’s Eve.
Pope Francis was previously archbishop of Buenos Aires and knew some of the nuns at the convent as they also are from Argentina.
The nuns were at prayer when the Pope rang.
On hearing the message, they rang their bishop to try to get back in contact, but Pope Francis rang back in the evening.
Since taking up his post last year, Pope Francis has struck a more informal note than his predecessor, underlining his reputation for simplicity and humility
Sister Adriana, the prioress of the convent, told COPE radio “she wanted to die” on hearing the message.
“Our friendship goes back 15 years but I never thought the Pope would remember us,” she said.
A recording of the message has been played on Spanish media.
“What can the nuns be doing that they can’t answer?” the message begins.
“Pope Francis speaking, I wanted to say hello to you at the end of the year. I’ll see if I can call you again later. God bless you.”
Since taking up his post last year, Pope Francis has struck a more informal note than his predecessor, underlining his reputation for simplicity and humility.
A post-mortem examination has found that neither Paul Walker nor driver Roger Rodas were under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of their deaths in the fatal car accident.
Their Porsche was travelling at an “unsafe speed” when it hit a pole and burst into flames in California on November 30, a coroner’s report stated.
Both deaths have since been ruled accidents, authorities say.
Paul Walker was best known for the car racing films Fast and Furious.
Authorities estimate the car was travelling at nearly 100 mph at the time of the fatal accident, according to the coroner’s report released on Friday.
Paul Walker was best known for the car racing films Fast and Furious
But sheriff’s officials say the investigation into the accident has yet to be completed.
A previous post-mortem examination determined Paul Walker, 40, was killed by impact and injuries related to a fire.
The Los Angeles County coroner found that the driver, Roger Rodas, died from impact injuries alone.
Both men are said to have died within seconds of the crash, according to media reports.
Paul Walker starred in the Fast & Furious blockbuster films that celebrated high-speed car chases.
Production on the seventh installment of the Fast and Furious franchise was temporarily halted following his death.Universal Pictures later announced the film’s release date would be pushed back several months to April 2015.
Al-Qaeda’s chief in Lebanon, Majid al-Majid, has died in custody in a Beirut hospital, Lebanese army announces.
The Saudi, who led the Abdullah Azzam Brigades and was on Saudi Arabia’s most-wanted-terrorists list, was arrested in Lebanon recently.
An army general told Associated Press the militant died of kidney failure.
The group has carried out attacks across the Middle East and claimed a bomb attack on Iran’s Beirut embassy in November that killed 23 people.
The Iranian cultural attaché was among the dead.
A Lebanese army statement said Majid al-Majid died in a military hospital in Beirut on Saturday, as he was receiving medical treatment.
Security sources said he had gone into a coma suffering from kidney failure.
Majid al-Majid led the Abdullah Azzam Brigades and was on Saudi Arabia’s most-wanted-terrorists list
He was believed to have required dialysis for the condition.
It was only on Friday that the Lebanese authorities said that DNA tests had confirmed his identity.
Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn earlier confirmed the commander was being held by army intelligence in Beirut and was “being interrogated in secret”. He refused to say when and how the arrest took place.
However, a Lebanese security source told the Reuters news agency that he had been captured with another Saudi militant and had been living in the southern city of Sidon.
Majid al-Majid had led the Brigades since 2012.
Based in both Lebanon and the Arabian Peninsula, the group is named after a Palestinian jihadist ideologue who recruited mujahideen for the fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
The group has attracted hardline Islamist militants who fought in the Iraqi insurgency and has based itself in the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, near Sidon.
The US designated the group a terrorist organization in 2012, freezing its assets.
November’s Iranian embassy bombing was believed to be its first major attack.
Iran and the Hezbollah militant group are allied with the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Media reports said Majid al-Majid had pledged allegiance to the leader of the al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.
Chinese ice-breaker Xue Long that helped rescue passengers stranded on the Akademik Shokalskiy vessel in Antarctica is now stuck itself.
An Australian ice-breaker carrying the rescued passengers is no longer on standby and is returning to shore.
On Thursday, a helicopter from the Xue Long transferred 52 passengers from the Akademik Shokalskiy to the Aurora Australis.
Russian scientific mission Akademik Shokalskiy has been trapped by thick floes of ice since 24 December.
“Xue Long’s attempt to manoeuvre through the ice… was unsuccessful. Xue Long has confirmed to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) [that] it is beset by ice,” AMSA said in a statement on Saturday.
“The master of Xue Long has confirmed to AMSA that the ship is safe, it is not in distress and does not require assistance at this time,” AMSA said, adding that there was no immediate danger to the ice-breaker’s crew.
Chinese ice-breaker Xue Long that helped rescue passengers stranded on the Akademik Shokalskiy vessel in Antarctica is now stuck itself
It is the latest twist in what has become a complicated rescue operation in the Antarctic.
The Australian Aurora Australis had been asked to remain in open water nearby in case the Xue Long needed help – but AMSA said this was no longer needed and it had been released from its search and rescue mission.
The authority added that the Australian vessel was travelling to the Casey research base on the Windmill Islands, just outside the Antarctic Circle, to complete a re-supply task before continuing to Hobart – the capital of the Australian state of Tasmania.
Andrew Peacock, an Australian doctor and photographer who was rescued from the Russian ship, spoke of his fellow passengers’ frustration aboard the Aurora over the latest delay in their journey home, according to the Associated Press.
“So our time down south is not over yet and we are going to be delayed in our return to friends and family by some time yet, which is frustrating,” Andrew Peacock said before the Aurora was given permission to continue.
The Akademik Shokalskiy became trapped by thick floes of ice driven by strong winds, about 1,500 nautical miles south of Hobart.
The Akademik Shokalskiy was being used by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) 2013 to follow the route explorer Douglas Mawson travelled a century ago.
Russia has decided to set up a special zone for protest rallies at the Sochi Winter Olympics, where security will be tight.
A special security regime will be in place in and around the southern city from January 7 until March 21.
The Russian authorities announced last year that a ban on rallies would be imposed in the Games area.
But a decree now says protests during the Games in February can be held if agreed with the authorities.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said all public gatherings and demonstrations must be agreed in advance with the municipal authorities as well as regional divisions of the interior ministry and the Federal Security Service, the FSB.
“The president has issued an instruction to the organizers of the Olympic Games, together with the leadership of Krasnodar Territory and the Sochi mayor’s office, to select a venue in the city where rallies, demonstrations and other events, including, if necessary, protests, could be freely held,” Dmitry Peskov said.
Russia has decided to set up a special zone for protest rallies at the Sochi Winter Olympics
But limits can be placed on the number of people taking part in demonstrations, according to the presidential decree.
Protests groups, such as those campaigning for gay rights and political reform, had complained at the restrictions on the right to stage demonstrations at the Games.
Security has been a major concern in the run-up to the event, with fears of attack by militant groups.
Two suicide bomb attacks killed 34 people in the southern city of Volgograd on December 29 and 30. Russian investigators say the perpetrators are believed to be two men who arrived in the city from the restive North Caucasus region.
The bombings prompted President Vladimir Putin to order further security measures and personally inspect Olympic sites.
Security measures in Sochi are reported to include surveillance by drones and strict limits on road access to the city.
French investigators are examining a camera which had been fixed to Michael Schumacher’s ski helmet, media reports say.
Authorities were hoping the device may reveal clues about the circumstances of his skiing accident in the French Alps, a source told the AFP news agency.
Police also interviewed Michael Schumacher’s teenage son, who witnessed the crash.
Fans earlier held a vigil outside the French hospital treating the F1 legend, to mark his 45th birthday.
Ferrari supporters gathered at the clinic in the city of Grenoble and held a one-minute silence on Friday afternoon.
French investigators are examining a camera which had been fixed to Michael Schumacher’s ski helmet
Michael Schumacher’s family said in a statement they had been moved to tears and “utterly overwhelmed” by the “incredible sympathies” shown by the fans.
The seven-time F1 champion, who retired in 2012, is in a medically induced coma after suffering head injuries during a fall in the resort of Meribel last Sunday.
His helmet cracked on impact when he hit a rock while skiing off-piste.
Michael Schumacher remains in a stable but critical condition after two operations to remove blood and pressure from his brain.
News of the camera’s existence emerged late on Friday afternoon.
AFP said Michael Schumacher’s family had handed both the device and helmet to the authorities for investigation.
It remains unclear whether the camera was switched on at the time of the accident.
The news comes after members of Ferrari clubs in France and Italy travelled to Grenoble to mark Michael Schumacher’s birthday on January 3rd.
Phil Everly, one half of the Everly Brothers, has died, aged 74, in California, his family announces.
Phil Everly died in the Los Angeles suburb of Burbank of complications from lung disease, his wife, Patti, told the Los Angeles Times.
“We are absolutely heartbroken,” Patti Everly said, adding that the disease was the result of a lifetime of smoking.
Phil Everly and his brother Don made up the Everly Brothers, one of the biggest pop acts of the 1950s and early 1960s.
They had a string of close-harmony hits including Wake Up Little Suzie, Cathy’s Clown, Bye Bye Love, and All I Have To Do Is Dream.
Phil Everly died on Friday of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, his son Jason Everly told AP.
Phil Everly died in the Los Angeles suburb of Burbank of complications from lung disease
The Washington Post quoted a woman at Don Everly’s home as saying he was too upset to talk about the death of his brother.
“He expected to go first,” she told the newspaper.
Rolling Stone magazine calls the Everly Brothers “the most important vocal duo in rock”.
In its biography of the pair, the magazine says Phil and his older brother Don were the children of Midwestern country music singers Ike and Margaret Everly and performed on the family radio show while growing up.
In their heyday between 1957 and 1962, the Everly Brothers had 19 Top 40 hits, according to the Associated Press. They influenced acts such as the Beatles and the Beach Boys.
Don and Phil Everly had an onstage breakup in 1973 that led to a decade-long estrangement, but Phil later told Time magazine the brothers’ relationship had survived this.
“Don and I are infamous for our split,” Phil Everly said, “but we’re closer than most brothers.”
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The Everly Brothers were elected to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in its first year, 1986, and they were given a lifetime achievement award at the Grammys in 1997.
Robert De Niro said he’s happy to play supporting roles as his time as a leading actor is over.
Robert De Niro, 70, admitted it is rare to land a big role at his age.
The actor told Britain’s Metro newspaper: “That’s just life. We can’t play certain parts any more. We’re playing the father or the grandfather or the great-grandfather, and that can be written in a funny way, so it’s fine. But you’re not carrying the movie as the young romantic lead – those days are gone.”
Robert De Niro said he’s happy to play supporting roles as his time as a leading actor is over
He credits the baby-boomer generation with keeping him in work as older movie fans continue to visit theaters.
Robert De Niro added: “I don’t go to see enough films. But I’m told that since baby-boomers will still actually go to see a movie in a theater – because it’s a communal experience that our generation is used to – there’s now a trend towards making some movies that those people could possibly identify themselves in.”
The White House has announced measures aimed at limiting access to firearms for the mentally ill.
The changes clarify ambiguous regulations and allow hospitals to provide more information for background checks, officials said.
The actions come more than one year after the Newtown school shooting, which sparked a national gun debate.
President Barack Obama’s push for stricter gun controls stalled after the incident.
In a statement released on Friday, the White House said the two new actions “will help strengthen the federal background check system and keep guns out of the wrong hands”.
The first proposed regulation, from the Department of Justice, aims to clarify who is prohibited under federal law from possessing a firearm for reasons related to mental health.
That change includes clarifying the term “committed to a mental institution” to include involuntary inpatient as well as outpatient commitments, the White House said.
Barack Obama’s push for stricter gun controls stalled after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
The second proposed action, brought by the Department of Health and Human Services, lifts certain privacy provisions preventing states from forwarding relevant information to the background check system.
The change could give medical entities covered by federal health privacy law permission to disclose “limited information necessary to help keep guns out of potentially dangerous hands”, the White House said.
“The proposed rule will not change the fact that seeking help for mental health problems or getting treatment does not make someone legally prohibited from having a firearm,” the White House said.
The proposed changes follow the one-year anniversary of the December 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 children and six school staff members were killed.
The gunman, Adam Lanza, is believed to have had severe mental health issues at the time of the crime.
Barack Obama proposed several federal gun control measures in the wake of the shooting, including tightening the background check system to make it harder for convicted criminals to buy guns, but Congress declined to act under pressure from the powerful gun lobby.
The president has continued to press Congress for further restrictions, although skeptics note that if the murder of 20 children failed to goad Congress to action, it is unclear what could.
“Passing common-sense gun safety legislation – including expanding background checks and making gun trafficking a federal crime – remains the most important step we can take to reduce gun violence,” the White House statement concluded.
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones reunited once again.
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones spent the holidays skiing with their two children on New Year’s Day, just four months after announcing their separation.
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones spent the holidays skiing with their two children on New Year’s Day
Author and economics broadcast commentator George Goodman, best known by his pseudonym Adam Smith, has died at the age of 83.
His son, Mark Goodman, says that he died Friday at his home in Miami after a long battle with the bone marrow disorder myelofibrosis.
George Goodman was best known by his pseudonym Adam Smith
For years, George Goodman was known to PBS viewers as the personable host of Adam Smith’s Money World, a multiple Emmy winner.
George Goodman’s books included the best-selling The Money Game, a children’s story and a novel, The Wheeler Dealers, later adapted into a movie of the same name starring James Garner and Lee Remick.
New York Magazine editor Clay Felker convinced George Goodman to call himself Adam Smith, after the 18th century economist.
American Hustle and Gravity are among the 10 movies up for the Producers Guild of America’s best picture prize.
12 Years a Slave and Nebraska are also nominated for its ‘outstanding producer of theatrical motion pictures’ award.
The Butler and Coen brothers’ movie Inside Llewyn Davis are notably absent from the 10 films, one of which will collect the prize on 19 January.
The guild’s decision comes six weeks before the Oscars on March 2nd.
In the last six years, the recipient of the PGA’s top award has gone on to be named best picture at the Academy Awards.
Argo, which took the main prize at last year’s ceremony, was also the top dog at the 2012 Oscars.
Eight of the 10 films nominated by the PGA Awards 2013 went on to be nominated in the Academy Awards’ best picture category.
Other cinematic releases in contention include Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine, Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street and Tom Hanks’ thriller Captain Phillips.
Dallas Buyers Club, Spike Jonze’s oddball romance Her and Saving Mr. Banks, in which Tom Hanks also appears, round out the PGA shortlist.
But there is no place for August: Orange County, a darkly comic family drama starring Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep, or Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom biopic starring Idris Elba as Nelson Mandela.
The 25th annual PGA Awards winners will be announced during a ceremony on January 19 at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles
Despite this, producer Harvey Weinstein – whose company is distributing both films as well as Judi Dench’s drama Philomena – remained upbeat about their Oscar chances.
BAFTA – the British Academy of Film and Television Arts – announce the nominations for their 2014 film awards on Wednesday.
Five more titles make the cut for the PGA’s animated film producer prize, among them The Croods, Frozen and Monsters University.
Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, the producers of the James Bond films, will receive a special award at this year’s ceremony, to be held at Los Angeles’ Beverly Hilton Hotel.
So far in the awards season, critics’ groups have bestowed their honors upon American Hustle, Gravity and Her.
Steve McQueen’s historical drama 12 Years a Slave has also figured highly, collecting seven nominations for this year’s Golden Globe awards.
The Golden Globes, a key Los Angeles awards ceremony for both cinema and television, will be held on January 12, one week before the PGA event.
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Directors Guild of America (DGA) are also set to announce the nominees for their own film awards.
GM has reported a fall in car sales in December in what was a disappointing month for US car makers.
GM stocks fell 2.4% after it reported a 6.3% fall in sales compared with December 2012.
Ford and Chrysler both reported rising sales, but not the increases that industry analysts were expecting.
Chrysler sold 161,000 cars and trucks in December, up 5.7% on the same period in 2012 and Ford reported a 1.8% rise in December sales.
Analysts said that poor weather in parts of the US kept customers away from dealerships in December.
“At the very beginning of the month the pace of buying was slow because there were so many storms around the country,” said Edmunds.com senior analyst Michelle Krebs.
“Now what we’re seeing is some of the automakers are stretching their December deals into January.”
2013 is expected to be the best year for US auto market since 2007, with total annual sales of about 15.6 million
Kurt McNeil, vice president, of US sales for GM, said: “December started a little slow but sales were stronger later in the month, especially in the week between Christmas and New Year.”
Meanwhile Ford said that a four-day weekend for Thanksgiving late in November may have brought forward sales that would have fallen in December.
For Chrysler the Jeep brand continued to be a strong performer with a 34% rise in sales last month.
With a 9% rise in annual sales, 2013 was the strongest year for Chrysler since 2007.
“Our Jeep and Ram truck brands had a strong finish led by the all new 2014 Jeep Cherokee and the Ram pickup truck,” said Reid Bigland, head of US sales.
Overall, sales in 2013 were strong for the big three Detroit car manufacturers, who were helped along by strong sales of their truck offerings.
Truck sales tend to increase in relation to home sales, which were strong for much of the year as the US economic recovery spurred long-delayed housing activity.
“Trucks on the road are even older than cars on the road,” said Michelle Krebs.
However, Toyota, the third biggest player in the US market, didn’t do as well as the US manufacturers.
Toyota saw sales in December decline by 1.7% from a year ago to 190,843.
Analysts had been expecting Toyota to report rising sales.
However, 2013 is expected to be the best year for US auto market since 2007, with total annual sales of about 15.6 million.
That would be a strong recovery from 2009 when sales fell to 10.4 million during the depths of the recession.
A new virtual currency inspired by Kanye West is set to be launched, and has been dubbed Coinye West.
The rapper is not involved and has yet to comment on Coinye West’s inception.
Coinye West will follow in the footsteps of Dogecoin, another virtual currency based on the popular Doge meme.
The value of Bitcoin, the most famous virtual currency, peaked at over $1000 at the end of 2013, but is currently worth around $850.
Various alternatives to Bitcoin have sprung up, such as Litecoin, Namecoin and PPCoin.
Virtual currencies are often linked to the purchase of illegal items, namely drugs, thanks to transactions being extremely difficult to trace.
However, more humorous currencies like Dogecoin are used for more tongue-in-cheek transactions.
One user, posting on Dogemarket, a section on popular link sharing site Reddit, offered Dogecoins in exchange for ideas to name a company.
Coinye West will be launched on January 11
“I thought the whole Dogecoin thing was interesting,” said Jeremy Bonney, from virtual currency news site Coindesk.
“It grew into something somewhat legitimate. There are people that genuinely believe in it out there.”
The makers of Coinye West have lofty ambitions for the currency which they described as a “cryptocurrency for the masses”.
Speaking anonymously to music site Noisey, they said: “I can picture a future where Coinye is used to buy concert tickets, with cryptographically verified virtual tickets, and other ideas I can’t give away just yet.”
They said they planned to give away a number of Coinye to early users when the currency launches on January 11.
“It will get people who are on the fence interested and help them to start using the currency, and we hope they’ll share it with their friends, too.”
However, one Bitcoin expert urged caution in investing in new virtual currencies that were as yet untested in public use.
“There’s been a number of people who have put out ‘joke’ currencies in the past,” said Johnathan Turrall, chief technology officer at Metalair, a cryptocurrency start-up based at the University of Sussex.
“There were some coins in the past that seemed to be a <<pump and dump>> operation.
“In one case, the original developers launched on obscure websites, but when they took it mainstream, and the price spiked, they sold up and disappeared. Estimated earnings in one instance were $800,000.”
A massive winter storm has blanketed the Northeast with up to 2 ft snow and ushered in dangerously cold temperatures Friday, leaving travelers stranded and a cutting a deadly path across several states.
The storm has been blamed for 11 deaths and forced the cancellation of more than 4,000 flights since Wednesday.
Authorities warned residents to remain indoors, both for their own safety and to keep roads clear for snow removal.
Fatal traffic accidents occurred in New York, Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. Authorities said a woman suffering from Alzheimer’s disease froze to death after she wandered away from her rural western New York home.
And in suburban Philadelphia, as the storm approached, a worker at a salt storage facility was killed when a 100-foot-tall pile of road salt fell and crushed him. Falls Township police said the man was trapped while operating a backhoe.
The big storm followed closely the blueprint meteorologists drew up, slamming the Northeast overnight Thursday with as much as two feet of snow and sub-zero wind chills through Friday. The biting wind and blowing snow shut down interstates and airports alike and gave millions of school children a snow day.
John F. Kennedy Airport in New York was officially closed at 6:12 a.m. Friday and reopened four hours later, while Boston’s Logan International was effectively shut down, as well.
Interstate 84 in New York and the Long Island Expressway, closed at midnight as the storm roared in, remained so until 8 a.m.
The Northeast snowstorm has been blamed for 11 deaths and forced the cancellation of more than 4,000 flights since Wednesday
Snowfall reports varied widely, with New York City receiving 7 inches in some areas, Baltimore seeing 3 to 6 inches, Philadelphia closing in on 9 inches, Hartford 6 to 10 inches and Boston as much as 15 inches.
Some 20 inches fell on other parts of Massachusetts. Boxford, northwest of Boston, reported 23 inches.
The brutal storm blasted at least 22 states – stretching from Chicago through the New York tri-state region into New England – and affected an area home to more than 100 million people.
The high temperature in New York City reached the 20s on Friday during the day and was expected to drop to the single digits in the evening, with the wind chill making it feel well below zero.
“It’s deceptively cold outside. If you stay outside too long it could be dangerous,” New York City’s new mayor, Bill de Blasio, said at a news conference Friday morning, while hundreds of plows and salt spreaders continued to clear the roads.
Temperatures from upstate New York to Maine were below zero, and wind chills — the “feels like” effect — were minus-30 in some spots.
Across the Northeast, residents were fretting about the blast of bitter cold.
The weather was affecting air travel, with more than 2,600 flights cancelled Friday and another 8,800 delayed, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.
The delays and cancellations in storm-socked parts of the country created a logjam in other areas, including causing flights in Los Angeles to be delayed or scrapped Friday.
According to new reports, the NSA is building a quantum computer to break the encryption that keeps messages secure.
The NSA project came to light in documents passed to the Washington Post by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
The agency hopes to harness the special qualities of quantum computers to speed up its code-cracking efforts.
The NSA is believed to have spent about $80 million on the project but it has yet to produce a working machine.
If the NSA managed to develop a working quantum computer it would be put to work breaking encryption systems used online and by foreign governments to keep official messages secure, suggest the documents excerpted in the Post.
The quantum computer is being developed under a research program called Penetrating Hard Targets and is believed to be conducted out of a lab in Maryland.
The NSA is building a quantum computer to break the encryption that keeps messages secure
Many research groups around the world are pursuing the goal of creating a working quantum computer but those developed so far have not been able to run the algorithms required to break contemporary encryption systems.
Current computers attempt to crack encryption via many different means but they are limited to generating possible keys to unscramble data one at a time. Using big computers can speed this up but the huge numbers used as keys to lock away data limits the usefulness of this approach.
By contrast, quantum computers exploit properties of matter that, under certain conditions, mean the machine can carry out lots and lots of calculations simultaneously. This makes it practical to try all the possible keys protecting a particular message or stream of data.
The hard part of creating a working quantum computer is keeping enough of its constituent computational elements, called qubits, stable so they can interact and be put to useful work.
The NSA is not believed to have made significant breakthroughs in its work that would put it ahead of research efforts elsewhere in the US and Europe. However, the documents passed to the Post by Edward Snowden suggest the NSA’s researchers are having some success developing the basic building blocks for the machine.
