“Hunger Games” sticks with director Lawrence for sequels

affiliate marketing LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Francis Lawrence has signed on to direct the final two installments of the hit movie “The Hunger Games,” movie studio Lionsgate said on Thursday.The announcement follows months of rumors that Lionsgate might go with a different director to helm the “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay,” – the final...

Read More..

Merkel seeks coalition unity for 2013 election challenges

affiliate marketing BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel is under pressure to resolve a dispute on taxes and welfare between her centre-right coalition partners this weekend in order to present a united front before elections in 2013.The challenge for Merkel’s conservatives and their junior Free Democrat (FDP) partners...

Read More..

Tempers rise as temps fall after Sandy

Tempers are beginning to flare as Sandy's victims woke in cold, dark homes today to face yet another grinding day of waiting for help while temperatures are forecast to drop into the 30s with a possible Nor'easter on the way.Nearly 4 million people spent a fourth day without power and were told some will have to wait weeks.In the meantime, they waited for hours in line yet again for scarce gasoline...

Read More..

Mexico’s Day of Dead brings memories of missing

affiliate marketing MEXICO CITY (AP) — Maria Elena Salazar refuses to set out plates of her missing son’s favorite foods or orange flowers as offerings for the deceased on Mexico‘s Day of the Dead, even though she hasn’t seen him in three-and-a-half years.The 50-year-old former teacher is convinced that Hugo Gonzalez Salazar, a university...

Read More..

Apple's Cook fields his A-team before a wary Wall Street

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook's new go-to management team of mostly familiar faces failed to drum up much excitement on Wall Street, driving its shares to a three-month low on Wednesday. The world's most valuable technology company, which had faced questions about a visionary-leadership vacuum following the death of Steve Jobs, on Monday stunned investors by announcing...

Read More..

Hurricane Sandy: outdoor filming in NYC halted until at least Friday

affiliate marketing LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – The cameras still aren’t rolling Wednesday on many television and film productions in New York City, and the devastation left by Hurricane Sandy may push delays further into the week.For the time being, those films and shows that do resume shooting will have do so on a set and not on the...

Read More..

Washington pot activists push for driving curbs to help pass bill

affiliate marketing OLYMPIA, Washington (Reuters) – Marijuana activists in Washington state hope voters will be reassured by strict new “stoned driving” standards, despite opposition from medical cannabis users who say the limits would make it hard for them to ever drive legally.Washington is among three states voting on Tuesday on whether...

Read More..

Storm-crippled subway creaks back to life

NEW YORK (AP) — Subways started rolling in much of New York City on Thursday for the first time since Superstorm Sandy crippled the nation's largest transit system. Traffic crawled over bridges, where police enforced mandatory carpooling.Ridership was light in the morning, and the trains couldn't take some New Yorkers where they needed to go. There were no trains in downtown Manhattan and other hard-hit...

Read More..

Syrian air force on offensive after failed truce

affiliate marketing AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian warplanes bombed rebel targets with renewed intensity on Tuesday after the end of a widely ignored four-day truce between President Bashar al-Assad‘s forces and insurgents.State television said “terrorists” had assassinated an air force general, Abdullah Mahmoud al-Khalidi, in a Damascus suburb,...

Read More..

In hurricane, Twitter proves a lifeline despite pranksters

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - As Hurricane Sandy pounded the U.S. Atlantic coast on Monday night, knocking out electricity and Internet connections, millions of residents turned to Twitter as a part-newswire, part-911 hotline that hummed through the night even as some websites failed and swathes of Manhattan fell dark. But the social network also became a fertile ground for pranksters who...

Read More..