Ben Affleck Wins Critics Choice Best Director, Thanks the Academy That Snubbed Him









01/11/2013 at 12:50 PM EST



Take that, Academy!

Hours after Ben Affleck was snubbed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which did not give him a Best Director nomination for his film Argo, he won in the same category at Thursday night's 18th Annual Critics Choice Movie Awards in Santa Monica.

"I'd like to thank the Academy," joked Affleck, 40, while on stage to collect his hardware. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! This is the one that counts."

Affleck's victory was greeted by thunderous applause and a standing ovation from the crowd. His absence from the field of Best Director Oscar nominees was considered one of the biggest shocks when the nominations were announced Thursday morning. Meanwhile, Argo was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.

"It actually is very, very cool for me," Affleck said while accepting his Critics Choice Award. "There was a time where the Ben Affleck Critics Award was a Saturday Night Live sketch, so this is a very, very cool and exciting thing."

Affleck, who attended the show without wife Jennifer Garner, went on to thank his family by saying, "My daughter wrote my name on my hand for luck. I don't know how that works, but I guess it worked," he said. "I want to thank my kids and I want to thank my wife, without whom I would not be anywhere, much less here."

When Affleck returned to his table, George Clooney – a producer on Argo – greeted him with a congratulatory hug and smile, while fellow nominee David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) offered his congrats by rubbing Affleck's back.

Argo also was named best picture at the Critics Choice Awards.

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Flu more widespread in US; eases off in some areas


NEW YORK (AP) — Flu is more widespread across the nation, but the number of hard-hit states has declined, health officials said Friday.


Flu season started early this winter, and includes a strain that tends to make people sicker. Health officials have forecast a potentially bad flu season, following last year's unusually mild one.


The latest numbers, however, hint that the flu season may already have peaked in some spots.


Flu was widespread in 47 states last week, up from 41 the week before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday. Many cases may be mild. The only states without widespread flu are California, Mississippi and Hawaii


The hardest hit states dropped to 24 from 29. Those are states where large numbers of people have been treated for flu-like illness.


Those with less activity include Florida, Arkansas and South Carolina in South, the first region hit in the current flu season.


Nationally, 20 children have died from the flu. There is no running tally of adult deaths, but the CDC estimates that the flu kills about 24,000 people in an average year.


Flu vaccinations are recommended for everyone 6 months or older. Health officials are still recommending vaccinations, even in areas with widespread flu reports.


Nearly 130 million doses of flu vaccine were distributed this year, and at least 112 million have been used, according to CDC officials.


Vaccine is still available, but supplies may have run low in some locations, health officials say.


Also on Friday, CDC officials said a recent study of more than 1,100 people has concluded the current flu vaccine is 62 percent effective. That's in line with how effective the vaccine has been in other years.


The flu vaccine is reformulated each year, and officials say this year's version is a good match to the viruses going around.


Flu usually peaks in midwinter. Symptoms can include fever, cough, runny nose, head and body aches and fatigue. Some people also suffer vomiting and diarrhea, and some develop pneumonia or other severe complications.


Most people with flu have a mild illness. But people with severe symptoms should see a doctor. They may be given antiviral drugs or other medications to ease symptoms.


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Online:


CDC flu: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/index.htm


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Wall Street slips, weighed by Wells Fargo, banks

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks dipped on Friday, weighed by losses in the banking sector, after Wells Fargo & Co reported a decline in net interest margin despite a record profit in the latest quarter.


"It (Wells Fargo results) is weighing on the sector. We are keeping our fingers crossed that this won't be a sector thing and more confined to Wells Fargo, but it's definitely playing a factor today," said Larry Peruzzi, senior equity trader at Cabrera Capital Markets LLC in Boston.


Wells Fargo, the fourth-biggest U.S. bank and the nation's largest home lender, said its fourth-quarter net interest margin - a key measure of how much money banks make from loans - fell, even as profit jumped 24 percent. The bank also made fewer mortgage loans than in the third quarter.


The bank's shares were down more than 1 percent at $35.02. The S&P 500 financial sector index <.gspf> fell 0.5 percent and the KBW Banks index <.bkx> fell 0.9 percent.


Wells Fargo was the first big U.S. bank to report fourth-quarter results. Bank of America Corp , JPMorgan Chase & Co and Citigroup Inc are due to report next week.


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 0.70 points, or 0.01 percent, at 13,471.92. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 2.56 points, or 0.17 percent, at 1,469.56. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 4.49 points, or 0.14 percent, at 3,117.27.


Keenly watched Friday were also shares of Dow component Boeing , which fell 2.4 percent to $75.25 after a cracked cockpit window and an oil leak on separate flights in Japan added to other mishaps earlier in the week, compounding safety concerns about its new 787 Dreamliner. The US Department of Transportation said the jet would be subject to a review of its critical systems by regulators.


Best Buy shares rallied after its results showed a bit of a turnaround in its U.S. stores, though same-store sales were flat during the key holiday season. Shares jumped 11.4 percent to $13.60.


Basic materials shares were pressured after China's annual consumer inflation rate picked up to a seven-month high, narrowing the scope for the central bank to boost the economy by easing monetary policy. The S&P basic materials sector <.gspm> fell 0.6 percent.


Dendreon Corp shares jumped 15.3 percent to $5.89 after Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded the drugmaker's stock to "outperform" from "market-perform" and said it could be one of the best performers in 2013.


(Editing by Bernadette Baum)



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Syria denounces peace envoy who hinted Assad must go


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria denounced international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi as "flagrantly biased" on Thursday, casting doubt on how long the U.N.-Arab League mediator can pursue his peace mission.


The Syrian Foreign Ministry was responding to remarks by Brahimi a day earlier in which he ruled out a role for President Bashar al-Assad in a transitional government and effectively called for the Baathist leader to quit.


"In Syria...what people are saying is that a family ruling for 40 years is a little bit too long," Brahimi told the BBC, referring to Assad, who inherited his post from his father Hafez al-Assad, who seized power in 1970 and ruled for 30 years.


"President Assad could take the lead in responding to the aspiration of his people rather than resisting it," the veteran Algerian diplomat said, hinting the Syrian leader should go.


The Foreign Ministry in Damascus said it was very surprised at Brahimi's comments, which showed "he is flagrantly biased for those who are conspiring against Syria and its people".


The ministry later said it was nevertheless still willing to work with the envoy to find a political solution to the crisis.


Brahimi has had no more success than his predecessor Kofi Annan in his quest to resolve the 21-month-old conflict in which more than 60,000 people have been killed.


British Foreign Secretary William Hague warned that violence in Syria might worsen and said the international community must "step up" its response if it does.


So far regional rivalries and divisions among big powers have stymied any concerted approach to the upheaval, one of the bloodiest to emerge from a series of revolts in the Arab world.


Russian and U.S. diplomats, who back opposing sides of the war, will meet Brahimi in Geneva on Friday.


Ahead of the meeting, Russia repeated its insistence that Assad must not be pushed from power by external forces and that his exit must not be a precondition for negotiations.


"Only the Syrians themselves can agree on a model or the further development of their country," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.


"MASK OF IMPARTIALITY"


Syria's al-Watan newspaper said Brahimi had removed his "mask of impartiality" to reveal his true face as a "a tool for the implementation of the policy of some Western countries".


On Sunday Assad, making his first public speech in six months, offered no concessions and said he would never talk to foes he branded terrorists and Western puppets.


As peace efforts floundered, rebels battled for a strategic air base for a second day, pursuing a civil war that had briefly receded for some Damascus residents who set aside their differences to play in a rare snowfall that blanketed the city.


For a few hours, people in the capital dropped their weapons for snowballs and traded hatred for giggles.


"Last night, for the first time in months, I heard laughter instead of shelling. Even the security forces put down their guns and helped us make a snowman," Iman, a resident of the central Shaalan neighborhood, said by Skype.


There was no respite on other battlefronts, with heavy fighting around the Taftanaz base in northwestern Syria, which insurgents are trying to capture to extend their grip on Idlib province and weaken Assad's control of the skies.


Rebels assaulted the airport's main buildings and armory using heavy guns, tanks and other weapons and appeared to have overrun half the area of the base, said Rami Abdelrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition group that monitors the conflict from abroad.


"Now, it's serious," he said.


The air base has been used to launch helicopter attacks in the region, and its loss would be a blow to the government's ability to defend its positions there, Abdelrahman said.


MISSILE LAUNCH


Insurgents have tried to take the base for months, but have been bolstered by the recent arrival of Islamist fighters including the al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, he added.


There was no immediate government account of the fighting, which could not be confirmed independently.


Opposition forces have seized swathes of territory in northern Syria in recent months, but remain vulnerable to attack by the military's planes and helicopters - hence their strategy of trying to capture air bases such as the one at Taftanaz.


There was no word on whether the firing of a short-range ballistic missile inside Syria on Wednesday, reported by a NATO official, was linked to the fighting at Taftanaz.


NATO could not confirm the type of missile used, but the description fit the Scuds that are in the Syrian military's armory, the official added, describing the latest launch and similar ones last week as "reckless".


A NATO official said that since the start of December 2012, the alliance had detected at least 15 launches of unguided, short-range ballistic missile inside Syria.


Neither side has gained a clear military advantage in the war pitting mostly Sunni Muslim rebels against security forces dominated by Assad's minority, Shi'ite-linked Alawite sect.


The Observatory also reported fighting between rebels and troops in the Sayyida Zeinab area of Damascus, and air raids were reported in the capital's Maleiha area and eastern suburbs.


Despite some support from Sunni regional powers including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the rebels remain largely disorganized, fragmented and ill-equipped. Poor discipline, looting and insecurity in some insurgent-held areas have also eroded their support from civilians.


Turf wars between rebel units and with Kurdish groups have also beleaguered the armed opposition. On Thursday, a senior Islamist commander was assassinated near the border with Turkey, Syrian rebels and political opposition sources said.


Thaer al-Waqqas, northern commander of al-Farouq Brigades, had been suspected of involvement in the killing four months ago of a member of al-Nusra Front.


He was shot dead at a rebel position in the town of Sermin, a few kilometers from Turkey, the sources said.


(Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes, Mariam Karouny and Erika Solomon in Beirut, Steve Gutterman in Moscow, Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman and Mohammed Abbas in London; Editing by Alistair Lyon and Jason Webb)



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Justin Timberlake: 'I'm Ready' to Release New Music















01/10/2013 at 12:20 PM EST



Is Justin Timberlake bringing music back?

Despite reports in August that a new album wasn't forthcoming soon, the musician and actor revealed on Twitter Thursday he'll be releasing new music.

"I think I'M READY," he Tweeted before posting a link to a YouTube video which shows him walking into a studio and explains his absence from releasing new songs.

While he doesn't explicitly state what he's releasing – the video ends with a countdown that expires on Sunday at midnight – the pop star says in the clip, "I don't want to put anything out that I feel like is anything I don't love. You just don't get that every day. You have to wait for it. ... I'm ready."

Timberlake, who wed Jessica Biel in Italy in October, teased fans online about his announcement Wednesday night. "Thursday, January 10th, 2013 at 9:01 am PST…" he posted cryptically. That Tweet caused him to become a top trending topic almost immediately.

Despite the denial of a new album, a source told PEOPLE this summer that he had been cooking up new material with longtime collaborator Timbaland. The source added he was waiting for "the right time" to put it out. It seems that moment has come.

Since the release of Futuresex/Lovesounds in 2006, Timberlake has focused primarily on acting projects as well as MySpace, in which he took on a major role in June for the social networking site's re-launch.

Reporting by JESSICA HERNDON

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Retooling Pap test to spot more kinds of cancer


WASHINGTON (AP) — For years, doctors have lamented that there's no Pap test for deadly ovarian cancer. Wednesday, scientists reported encouraging signs that one day, there might be.


Researchers are trying to retool the Pap, a test for cervical cancer that millions of women get, so that it could spot early signs of other gynecologic cancers, too.


How? It turns out that cells can flake off of tumors in the ovaries or the lining of the uterus, and float down to rest in the cervix, where Pap tests are performed. These cells are too rare to recognize under the microscope. But researchers from Johns Hopkins University used some sophisticated DNA testing on the Pap samples to uncover the evidence — gene mutations that show cancer is present.


In a pilot study, they analyzed Pap smears from 46 women who already were diagnosed with either ovarian or endometrial cancer. The new technique found all the endometrial cancers and 41 percent of the ovarian tumors, the team reported Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine.


This is very early-stage research, and women shouldn't expect any change in their routine Paps. It will take years of additional testing to prove if the so-called PapGene technique really could work as a screening tool, used to spot cancer in women who thought they were healthy.


"Now the hard work begins," said Hopkins oncologist Dr. Luis Diaz, whose team is collecting hundreds of additional Pap samples for more study and is exploring ways to enhance the detection of ovarian cancer.


But if it ultimately pans out, "the neat part about this is, the patient won't feel anything different," and the Pap wouldn't be performed differently, Diaz added. The extra work would come in a lab.


The gene-based technique marks a new approach toward cancer screening, and specialists are watching closely.


"This is very encouraging, and it shows great potential," said American Cancer Society genetics expert Michael Melner.


"We are a long way from being able to see any impact on our patients," cautioned Dr. Shannon Westin of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She reviewed the research in an accompanying editorial, and said the ovarian cancer detection would need improvement if the test is to work.


But she noted that ovarian cancer has poor survival rates because it's rarely caught early. "If this screening test could identify ovarian cancer at an early stage, there would be a profound impact on patient outcomes and mortality," Westin said.


More than 22,000 U.S. women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year, and more than 15,000 die. Symptoms such as pain and bloating seldom are obvious until the cancer is more advanced, and numerous attempts at screening tests have failed.


Endometrial cancer affects about 47,000 women a year, and kills about 8,000. There is no screening test for it either, but most women are diagnosed early because of postmenopausal bleeding.


The Hopkins research piggybacks on one of the most successful cancer screening tools, the Pap, and a newer technology used along with it. With a standard Pap, a little brush scrapes off cells from the cervix, which are stored in a vial to examine for signs of cervical cancer. Today, many women's Paps undergo an additional DNA-based test to see if they harbor the HPV virus, which can spur cervical cancer.


So the Hopkins team, funded largely by cancer advocacy groups, decided to look for DNA evidence of other gynecologic tumors. It developed a method to rapidly screen the Pap samples for those mutations using standard genetics equipment that Diaz said wouldn't add much to the cost of a Pap-plus-HPV test. He said the technique could detect both early-stage and more advanced tumors. Importantly, tests of Paps from 14 healthy women turned up no false alarms.


The endometrial cancers may have been easier to find because cells from those tumors don't have as far to travel as ovarian cancer cells, Diaz said. Researchers will study whether inserting the Pap brush deeper, testing during different times of the menstrual cycle, or other factors might improve detection of ovarian cancer.


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Wall Street slightly higher on China data; S&P near resistance level

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks inched higher on Thursday, helped by stronger-than-expected exports in China, the world's second-biggest economy, but gains were capped as the S&P 500 hovered near a 5-year high.


Financial and telecommunications stocks were the day's top gainers, while the material sector was the biggest drag. The S&P 500 material sector index <.gspm> was off 0.3 percent. The financial sector index <.gspf> rose 0.6 percent and the telecom sector <.gspl> was up 0.5 percent.


The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index was near a five-year closing high of 1,466.47. On Friday, the index had ended at the highest close since December 2007.


"The market is technically right at the level of resistance, near 1,465-1,467. A solid breakthrough above the level would be the start of a next leg higher, but it looks like it is going to be difficult to break above that level for now," said Randy Frederick, managing director of active trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab. He cited concerns about the earnings season and upcoming debt ceiling talks.


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 9.84 points, or 0.07 percent, at 13,400.35. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 2.55 points, or 0.17 percent, at 1,463.57. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 2.01 points, or 0.06 percent, at 3,103.80.


In company news, shares of upscale jeweler Tiffany dropped 3.6 percent to $60.98 after it said earnings for the year through January 31 will be at the lower end of its forecast.


U.S.-traded Nokia shares jumped 17.3 percent to $4.40 after the Finnish handset maker said its fourth-quarter results were better than expected and that the mobile phone business achieved underlying profitability.


Herbalife Ltd stepped up its defense against activist investor Bill Ackman, stressing it was a legitimate company with a mission to improve nutrition and help public health. The stock was up 1.4 percent to $40.47.


Data showed China's export growth rebounded sharply to a seven-month high in December, a strong finish to the year after seven straight quarters of slowdown, even as demand from Europe and the United States remained subdued.


In the U.S., claims for unemployment benefits rose last week, though seasonal volatility made it difficult to get a clear picture of the labor market's health.


Also, U.S. wholesale inventories rose more than expected in November and sales rose by the most in more than 1-1/2 years. The market's reaction to both reports was muted.


(Reporting By Angela Moon; Editing by Nick Zieminski)



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Freed Iranians arrive in Damascus after prisoner swap


DAMASCUS/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Forty-eight Iranians freed by Syrian rebels in exchange for more than 2,000 civilian prisoners held by the Syrian government arrived in central Damascus on Wednesday, a Reuters witness reported.


The Syrian government has not referred to the prisoner swap and the whereabouts of the civilian prisoners was not immediately known.


Opposition groups accuse it of detaining tens of thousands of political prisoners during his 12 years in office and say those numbers have spiked sharply during the 21-month-old civil war.


The Syrian rebel al-Baraa brigade seized the Iranians in early August and initially threatened to kill them, saying they were members of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sent to fight for President Bashar al-Assad.


The Islamic Republic, one of his staunchest allies, denied this, saying they were Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims visiting shrines, and it asked Turkey and Qatar to use their connections with Syrian insurgents to help secure their release.


The freed Iranians arrived at a Damascus hotel in six small buses, looking tired but in good health, each carrying a white flower, and they were welcomed by Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Reza Sheibani. They did not speak to reporters.


Bulent Yildirim, head of the Turkish humanitarian aid agency IHH which helped broker the deal, told Reuters by telephone from Damascus shortly beforehand that the reciprocal release of 2,130 civilian prisoners - most of them Syrian but also including Turks and other foreign citizens - had begun.


Syrian government forces have struck local deals with rebel groups to trade prisoners but the release announced on Wednesday was the first time non-Syrians were freed in an exchange.


The Damascus government has periodically freed hundreds of prisoners during the conflict but always stressed such detainees "do not have blood on their hands."


Given the number of political prisoners held during the course of Assad's rule, missing persons became a key issue when street protests against him first erupted in March 2011.


Turkey is one of Assad's fiercest critics, a strong backer of his opponents and proponent of international intervention. It has denounced Iran's stance during the Syrian uprising, which has killed around 60,000 people according to a U.N. estimate.


Turkey, Gulf Arab states, the United States and European allies support the mainly Sunni Muslim Syrian rebels, while Shi'ite Iran supports Assad, whose Alawite minority is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.


A pro-government newspaper said on December 31 that Syrian forces arrested four Turkish fighter pilots who were trying to sneak into a military airport with an armed group in the northern province of Aleppo.


The Damascus-based al-Watan newspaper said the arrests at the Koers military base, 24 km (15 miles) east of Aleppo city, proved "scandalous Turkish involvement" in Syria's crisis.


TURKEY, QATAR INTERVENE


The al-Baraa brigade, part of the umbrella rebel organization, the Free Syrian Army, said in October it would start killing the Iranians unless Assad freed Syrian opposition detainees and stopped shelling civilian areas.


But Qatar, following a request from Iran, urged the rebels not to carry out the threat.


Insurgents fighting to topple Assad accuse Iran of sending fighters from the Revolutionary Guards to help his forces crush the revolt, a charge the Islamic Republic denies.


The rebels now control wide areas of northern and eastern Syria, most of its border crossings with Turkey and a crescent of suburbs around the capital Damascus.


But Assad's government is still firmly entrenched in the capital and controls most of the densely populated southwest, the Mediterranean coast and the main north-south highway.


The IHH has been involved in previous negotiations in recent months to release prisoners, including two Turkish journalists and Syrian citizens, held in Syria.


The humanitarian group came to prominence in May 2010 when Israeli marines stormed its Mavi Marmara aid ship to enforce a naval blockade of the Palestinian-run Gaza Strip and killed nine Turks in clashes with activists on board.


(Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes in Beirut and Marcus George in Dubai; Writing by Nick Tattersall)



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Why bother with a Facebook phone? Facebook’s app is already on 86% of iPhones and iPads






Rumors suggesting Facebook (FB) is working on a smartphone have resurfaced a number of times over the past year. Each time, Facebook denied the various claims. Facebook may indeed still be working on its own phone but as a new report from market research firm NPD Group shows, it probably doesn’t need to.


[More from BGR: Is Samsung the new Apple?]






Facebook makes money by gathering information about its users and serving targeted ads based on that data. Allowing users to update Facebook with fresh data as often as possible is obviously beneficial to the company, and smartphones present a terrific opportunity to give users access to their Facebook accounts from anywhere. The more people using Facebook’s mobile apps, the better, and Facebook’s smartphone penetration is absolutely staggering right now.


[More from BGR: iPhone 5 now available with unlimited service, no contract on Walmart’s $ 45 Straight Talk plan]


According to data published by NPD Group on Tuesday, Facebook’s iOS application was used by 86% of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch owners as of November 2012. On the Android platform, 70% of smartphone and tablet owners used Facebook’s mobile app in November.


No other third-party app even comes close to approaching Facebook’s mobile penetration. Google’s (GOOG) YouTube app is the next most popular third-party app on iOS with 40% penetration and Amazon’s (AMZN) mobile application is the second most popular third-party Android app with just 28% penetration.


So why would Facebook bother making its own phone?


One answer — perhaps the obvious one — is that an own-brand smartphone with custom software would give Facebook access to far more personal data than it can reach using third-party applications. Considering Facebook’s track record with matters relating to privacy, however, users may be reluctant to buy a Facebook phone.


In any case, a Facebook phone certainly doesn’t seem like a necessity for the time being. Instead, focusing on ways to effectively monetize the hundreds of millions of users who interact with Facebook from a smartphone or tablet each month might be a wiser use of resources.


This article was originally published on BGR.com


Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News




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Chasing the Saturdays: First Look at the British Girl Group's U.S. Reality Show



From the Beatles in the '60s to the Spice Girls in the '90s and One Direction these days, American music fans have a long-running infatuation with British singing groups.

Now: meet The Saturdays!

The pop quintet – Rochelle Humes, Frankie Sandford, Mollie King, Vanessa White and Una Healy, who's Irish – are bringing their vivacious music and sexy dance moves to the U.S., and they're getting a boost from E!

Chasing the Saturdays, a new reality show on the network premiering Jan. 20, will follow the group's attempt to break into the U.S. market after their success at home.

"It's been our dream as a band since day one to actually come to America and try and break it," says Vanessa, the youngest member of the group, in a first look their series.

"It's a little bit like starting over for us," Frankie says.

"It's scary," adds Rochelle, "and a little bit daunting."

Their first U.S. single, "What About Us," featuring Sean Paul, is out now. The video is due out on Friday.

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