Auto sales race to five-year high for November

(Reuters) – Auto sales in November raced to a five-year high for that month on a rebound from storm-ravaged October and the need to replace aging vehicles, leaving industry executives optimistic about 2013.

Sales in November rose 15 percent to 1.14 million vehicles, the highest level for that month since 2007, before a recession caused a dramatic decline in demand and led to the bankruptcy filings of General Motors Co and Chrysler.

“Vehicle sales are one of the encouraging spots of our economy,” said Gary Bradshaw, portfolio manager with Hodges Capital Management in Dallas.

Ford Motor Co , Honda Motor Co <7267.T> and Nissan Motor Co <7201.T> posted better-than-expected sales, while Chrysler Group LLC, Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> and Hyundai Motor Co <005380.KS> also reported strong increases that industry executives and investors said should continue through the end of the year.

However, sales for GM came in short of expectations. The No. 1 U.S. automaker said it benefited less than its rivals from the November recovery after Superstorm Sandy hit the U.S. Northeast as a smaller share of GM‘s sales come from that region. It also relied less on incentives.

Auto sales are an early indicator each month of U.S. consumer demand, and the improving housing market and rising consumer confidence have industry executives optimistic heading into 2013.

“Looking at the national picture, the apparent recovery in housing that we talked about last month and the encouraging new data on consumer sentiment and confidence are all positive factors,” Kurt McNeil, GM‘s vice president of U.S. sales operations, said on a conference call.

He declined, however, to provide a 2013 industry sales forecast until a deal is reached to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, a combination of federal spending cuts and steep tax increases that could tip the U.S. economy back into recession.

“Exactly how much growth we can expect next year will depend in part on how Congress and the president resolve the fiscal cliff issue,” McNeil added. “Consumers hate the uncertainty, so an agreement on ways to reduce long-term federal budget deficits could remove an impediment to growth.”

POST-SANDY SALES

The 15 percent sales gain in November easily surpassed the gain of 11 to 13 percent most analysts had expected. The annual sales rate in November of 15.54 million was the industry’s strongest for any month since the 15.55 million rate of February 2008.

Superstorm Sandy hurt the last few days of sales in October, which finished below expectations, but many consumers simply shifted their purchases to November. In addition, the average age of cars on the road has risen to just above 11 years, and industry officials say that will continue to drive demand.

McNeil said the auto industry is clearly heading this year toward the high end of GM‘s forecasted range of 14 million to 14.5 million. Many analysts expect the industry to finish 2012 with 14.4 million sales, which would mark the strongest year since the 16.1 million of 2007.

TrueCar.com analyst Jesse Toprak expects U.S. auto sales to rise to 15.4 million next year. “Stable growth is really the motto of the industry.”

STEADY RECOVERY

Jonathan Browning, CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, sees a continuation of a steady recovery for the economy as well as for U.S. December and early 2013 auto sales, but expressed concern about the negative impact on consumer confidence if the fiscal cliff occurs. VW brand sales rose more than 29 percent in November.

Ken Czubay, Ford’s vice president of U.S. sales, agreed, saying “the clock is kind of ticking,” in reference to the Washington talks on avoiding the fiscal cliff.

Ford’s November sales rose 6.5 percent to 177,673 vehicles, better than even some of the most optimistic forecasts for the No. 2 U.S. automaker. In a more positive sign for consumer demand, Ford’s retail sales rose 12 percent.

The company had its strongest small-car sales for the month in 12 years. Demand for Ford’s popular F-150 full-size pickup truck increased 17 percent, while GM‘s Chevrolet Silverado pickup saw sales drop 10 percent.

GM, with 139 days’ worth of Silverado inventory at the end of November, blamed aggressive incentives by Chrysler, Nissan and Ford for the decline, and said it would focus on curtailing production of trucks rather than risk becoming trapped in a price war.

GM, with 96 days’ worth of Cruze small cars in inventory at the end of November, plans to idle the Lordstown, Ohio, plant where the car is built for two weeks in December instead of the planned one week to reduce supplies, said two people with knowledge of the plans who asked not to be identified. A spokesman did not confirm the plans.

Ford’s shares closed down 0.3 percent at $ 11.41, while GM shares fell 1.4 percent to $ 25.51 on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.

Ford said it planned to build 750,000 vehicles in North America in the first quarter of 2013, which would be an 11 percent increase from 2012. That would be the highest first-quarter production level since 2006.

GM’s sales rose 3 percent to 186,505 cars and trucks, below the expectations of several analysts. The company said the average price paid per vehicle rose $ 750 from last year.

TrueCar estimated that the industry’s average vehicle selling price in November rose 1.1 percent, or $ 335, from last year, and rose a similar amount from October to $ 30,832.

Chrysler, majority-owned by Fiat SpA , said sales rose 14 percent to 122,565 cars and trucks, its strongest result since 2007.

Toyota’s sales rose more than 17 percent to 161,695 vehicles. Honda and Nissan both reported better-than-expected results, with the former jumping about 39 percent and the latter increasing 13 percent.

Hyundai said sales increased 8 percent to the company’s all-time high for the month. November marked the first sales results since the South Korean automaker and its Kia Motors Corp <000270.KS> affiliate announced they had overstated the fuel economy ratings by at least a mile per gallon on more than 1 million recently sold vehicles.

In the battle for the luxury sales title for the U.S. market, Daimler’s Mercedes brand leads last year’s winner, BMW , by fewer than 2,000 vehicles with one month to go.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman and Bernie Woodall in Detroit; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Maureen Bavdek and Matthew Lewis)

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Official: Syria moving chemical weapons components

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. and allied intelligence have detected Syrian movement of chemical weapons components in recent days, a senior U.S. defense official said Monday, as the Obama administration strongly warned the Assad regime against using them.

A senior defense official said intelligence officials have detected activity around more than one of Syria‘s chemical weapons sites in the last week. The defense official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about intelligence matters.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in Prague for meetings with Czech officials, reiterated President Barack Obama‘s declaration that Syrian action on chemical weapons was a “red line” for the United States that would prompt action.

“We have made our views very clear: This is a red line for the United States,” Clinton told reporters. “I’m not going to telegraph in any specifics what we would do in the event of credible evidence that the Assad regime has resorted to using chemical weapons against their own people. But suffice it to say, we are certainly planning to take action if that eventuality were to occur.”

Syria said Monday it would not use chemical weapons against its own people. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Syria “would not use chemical weapons — if there are any — against its own people under any circumstances.”

Syria has been careful never to confirm that it has any chemical weapons.

The use of chemical weapons would be a major escalation in Assad’s crackdown on his foes and would draw international condemnation. In addition to causing mass deaths and horrific injuries to survivors, the regime’s willingness to use them would alarm much of the region, particularly neighboring states, including Israel.

At the White House, press secretary Jay Carney said, “We are concerned that in an increasingly beleaguered regime, having found its escalation of violence through conventional means inadequate, might be considering the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people. And as the president has said, any use or proliferation of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime would cross a red line for the United States. “

Administration officials would not detail what that response might be.

Although Syria is one of only seven nations that have not signed the Chemical Weapons Treaty, it is a party to the 1925 Geneva Protocol that bans the use of chemical weapons in war. That treaty was signed in the aftermath of World War I, when the effects of the use of mustard gas and other chemical agents outraged much of the world.

Clinton didn’t address the issue of the fresh activity at Syrian chemical weapons depots, but insisted that Washington would address any threat that arises.

An administration official said the trigger for U.S. action of some kind is the use of chemical weapons or movement with the intent to use or provide them to a terrorist group like Hezbollah. The U.S. is trying to determine whether the recent movement detected in Syria falls into any of those categories, the official said. The administration official was speaking on condition of anonymity this person was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue.

The senior defense official said the U.S. does not believe that any Syrian action beyond the movement of components is imminent.

An Israeli official said if there is real movement on chemical weapons, it would require a response. He didn’t say what that might be and spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal government response to the reports of the latest activities.

Israeli officials have repeatedly expressed concerns that Syrian chemical weapons could slip into the hands of Hezbollah or other anti-Israel groups, or even be fired toward Israel in an act of desperation by Syria.

Syria is believed to have several hundred ballistic surface-to-surface missiles capable of carrying chemical warheads.

Its arsenal is a particular threat to the American allies, Turkey and Israel, and Obama singled out the threat posed by the unconventional weapons earlier this year as a potential cause for deeper U.S. involvement in Syria’s civil war. Up to now, the United States has opposed military intervention or providing arms support to Syria’s rebels for fear of further militarizing a conflict that activists say has killed more than 40,000 people since March 2011.

Clinton said that while the actions of President Bashar Assad‘s government have been deplorable, chemical weapons would bring them to a new level.

“We once again issue a very strong warning to the Assad regime that their behavior is reprehensible, their actions against their own people have been tragic,” she said. “But there is no doubt that there’s a line between even the horrors that they’ve already inflicted on the Syrian people and moving to what would be an internationally condemned step of utilizing their chemical weapons.”

Activity has been detected before at Syrian weapons sites, believed to number several dozen.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in late September the intelligence suggested the Syrian government had moved some of its chemical weapons in order to protect them. He said the U.S. believed that the main sites remained secure.

Asked Monday if they were still considered secure, Pentagon press secretary George Little declined to comment about any intelligence related to the weapons.

Senior lawmakers were notified last week that U.S. intelligence agencies had detected activity related to Syria’s chemical and biological weapons, said a U.S. intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door meetings. All congressional committees with an interest in Syria, from the intelligence to the armed services committees, are now being kept informed.

“I can’t comment on these reports but I have been very concerned for some time now about Syria’s stockpiles of chemical weapons and its stocks of advanced conventional weapons like shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles,” said House intelligence committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich. “We are not doing enough to prepare for the collapse of the Assad regime, and the dangerous vacuum it will create. Use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime would be an extremely serious escalation that would demand decisive action from the rest of the world,” he added.

Syria is believed to have one of the world’s largest chemical weapons programs, and the Assad regime has said it might use the weapons against external threats, though not against Syrians. The U.S. and Jordan share the same concern about Syria’s chemical and biological weapons — that they could fall into the wrong hands should the regime in Syria collapse and lose control of them.

___

Klapper reported from Prague. Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Albert Aji in Damascus and Matthew Lee, Kimberly Dozier, and Julie Pace in Washington contributed to this report.

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Four Things Google’s Nexus 4 Has in Common with the iPhone 4

Besides being each company’s flagship smartphone (and having the number 4 in their names), Google‘s new Nexus 4 and the 2010 iPhone 4 have a fair bit in common with each other.

This could be a good thing, if you remember just how popular the iPhone 4 was. Unfortunately, in this case it’s more of a bad thing, and hearkens back to “Antennagate” and the iPhone 4′s other problems. Do any of these features remind you of anything?

​A glass back

With the iPhone 5, Apple finally moved from a crack- and scratch-prone glass backplate to a solid, aluminum unibody construction. Google doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo that the former may have been a bad idea, however, and the Nexus 4 has a sparkly glass back surface.

While sparkly things obviously have their fans, the Nexus 4′s chassis also seems to lean towards the brittle side. Joshua Topolsky, who reviewed the Nexus 4 for The Verge, managed to crack the glass when he accidentally knocked his phone off the table. Meanwhile, Droid-Life’s Kellex found that setting the phone on a stone countertop caused its glass back to fracture in two.

​No 4G

Even Topolsky’s glowing review of the Nexus 4 said “It feels slow,” and “There’s simply no way to ignore this deficit.” That’s because, like the iPhone 4, the Nexus 4 lacks a 4G radio (even though it has the chip to support one if it had it).

The iPhone 4, however, was released in 2010, when 4G was still a new thing and the Android “superphones” which supported it had enormous screens and horrible battery life. Today, even the iPhone has 4G. Possibly because of bad blood between Google and the wireless carriers, which appear to resent Google’s selling phones unsubsidized and sans “customizations,” the Nexus 4 does not.

​Selling out fast

Every one of Apple’s iPhone models has sold out faster, and more dramatically, than the one before. Google’s Android devices, in contrast, haven’t tended to do so … although the new Nexus smartphones and tablets are starting to have this problem.

How bad is it? After Google finally got a new wave of Nexus 4s up for sale, they sold out in about a half-hour. Google claims that it hasn’t actually sold out, but even if you spotted the Nexus 4 on Google Play, chances are you ran into technical glitches which kept it out of your shopping cart. Tipster “Syko Pompos” told the Android Police blog how to get around this and place your order, but expect to wait months to receive it.

​Public relations nightmares

It hasn’t quite reached Antennagate levels yet, perhaps partly because the Nexus brand isn’t as well-known as the iPhone (the iPhone 4′s antenna problems were actually shared by many smartphones). But most of the press coverage of the Nexus 4 lately has been about how you can’t get one. Or else, how if you want one you’ll have to either buy it on contract or pay a lot more to get it unsubsidized from T-Mobile.

On the plus side (for the Nexus), this problem is only partly caused by the Google Play store’s technical errors. The biggest reason it’s taking so long to get out to people is, like with the iPhone 4, simply how popular it is.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

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“Silver Linings” David O. Russell on how Jennifer Lawrence skyped her way to Oscar front-runner

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Jennifer Lawrence is at the forefront of best actress Oscar talk for her lead role in “Silver Linings Playbook.” But, as writer-director David O. Russell explained to the audience at TheWrap screening series Thursday night, he was so convinced she wasn’t right for the role that he only had her audition via Skype.

“Quite frankly, it was like a formality,” Russell told the capacity crowd at the Landmark Theatre. “I didn’t think she was really a contender. We had three very serious contenders (already). We had a lot of major actresses in town interested in the role, from Angelina Jolie to some other big stars, because it’s a dimensional role for a young woman. Jennifer we frankly thought was too young” -until she pointed the tiny camera at herself at her parents’ home in Kentucky.

“She kind of has an ageless quality about her, which is remarkable,” said Russell. “Harvey (Weinstein) said, ‘Isn’t she too young?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, she could be 20, she could be 40. Look for yourself’- and I showed him the Skype (audition), and he said ‘Wow.’ So that was a blessing for us to find our Tiffany. She came onto the set saying to Bradley Cooper, ‘Wow, what’s it like for people to take pictures of you?’ By the end of the shoot, I think she knew for herself. Now she can’t get rid of people taking pictures of her.”

Russell added that “we saw her become a woman before our eyes. She has a presence about her and an emotion that’s very available. She’s a little bit like her character. But she’s not neurotic; she’s direct, she speaks her mind. And she’s kind of confident and fearless – but so far, not in an obnoxious way. She has a lot of power coming her way she’s going to have to deal with.”

Russell’s five-year quest to make the film involved a lot of casting turnover and near-misses. “I originally wrote it for other people. But as Matt Damon very graciously said to me about the Christian Bale role in ‘The Fighter’–which he was originally intended to play – ‘It just goes to show, the right people play the right role at the right time.’”

With “Silver Linings,” “I wrote it with Vince (Vaughn) and Zooey (Deschanel) in mind, because I love Vince’s cadences.” But these developments are “in the hands of the movie gods. And then Mark Wahlberg, who I love and made three movies with, there was a moment where he was going to do it. That didn’t work out with Harvey and him, and it was out of my hands.”

Few of the movie’s champions (who seem, with the exception of New Yorker critic David Denby, nearly universal) would argue that the casting didn’t end up exactly as it should, however many disagreements there were between Russell and Weinstein about it along the way.

(“There were instances where Harvey really wanted somebody and I did not. We had about a one or two year standoff about that at one point,” Russell admitted.) But moderator Steve Pond, TheWrap’s awards editor, confessed that, like many, he “didn’t know Bradley Cooper had it in him” until the proof was on the “Silver” screen.

“I did know,” said Russell, “the way I knew Amy Adams had it in her for ‘The Fighter.’ People said, ‘Amy Adams, the princess from “Enchanted”? I’m not gonna believe her as a barmaid bitch in Lowell, Massachusetts.’ Or Christian Bale having a goofy warmth to him. So I welcome as a director the opportunity to surprise audiences with a performance that they don’t see coming, and to turn out an actor in new ways.”

It was seeing Cooper in “Wedding Crashers” that convinced Russell the actor could be a convincing bipolar rageaholic in his off-the-meds scenes. “From that role, I thought, this seems like an angry guy – I mean, the guy off the camera as well as the guy on the camera. I told him that when I met him, and his reaction was not at all defensive. He said that he had been an angry guy, at the time, and less happy, and that he had weighed 30 pounds more – and so far I’m the character, the character, the character! He had substance issues, which is different. But he was so open and vulnerable and honest about it. And I saw that, combined with the scary/angry thing he had done. There’s nothing like the hunger in an actor when he really, really, really wants it bad. Because that matched up to the hunger of the character. The character wanted to get his life back really bad.”

And, Russell added, “it didn’t hurt” that Cooper had made “Limitless” with Robert DeNiro and the two had developed “a father/son-type thing.” As for “Mr. DeNiro,” as Russell always refers to him, “He has had family experiences such as I had, and it was very personal to him as well. When I met him at his home to discuss the script and my own life, he cried. I thought this meant he was really taking this project seriously and it was personal to him. And it did mean that. It shows up on the screen.”

The filmmaker was explicit about just what kind of “family experiences” he was referring to, and that there’s nothing glib or unknowing about the film’s treatment of mental illness, however many the laughs or however happy the denouements.

“I did it because my son has bipolar issues,” Russell said, “and I had long been looking for a project that would invite his world into the world and put it on the screen for him — which you want to do for your kids — so he didn’t feel so different, and so he could also feel like he was part of my work.

Bradley Cooper and Mr. DeNiro are in a world that is about things he can relate to very directly. And he earned a role in the picture. He had to do very good at school and in his behavior. So he was the guy who rings the doorbell” – playing a pesky student who wants to interview the family for a school project on mental illness.

The source novel immediately connected with Russell when should-have-been producers Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella gave it to him “the year they both died.” “I think the sensibility of the book is a sensibility I understand: It’s emotional and it dares to be romantic but it’s also funny – and based in reality. I think those are the big lessons I’ve learned in what I call the second phase of my filmmaking life: do it from the heart, really make it life or death emotionally, and make it real. So if something’s funny, it has to be because it’s real. I think ‘Raging Bull’ is one of the funniest films I’ve ever seen, because of how real the people are.”

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Bad Boys And Gals Present As More Attractive

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MPs in minority women job warning

2 December 2012 Last updated at 02:29 ET

Black and minority ethnic women face “catastrophic” levels of unemployment and are discriminated against at “every stage” of the recruitment process, a group of MPs has warned.

The BBC has seen a report from the all-party parliamentary group on race and community which says racial bias holds some women back from getting a job.

Labour MP David Lammy, the committee’s chairman, says the situation is “deeply worrying”.

The report will be published on Friday.

The inquiry examined written and verbal evidence through the summer.

Despite latest official figures showing, nationally, unemployment has continued to fall, the report says racial bias is holding some women back from getting a job.

One woman said she changed her Muslim-sounding name after using a different one secured her more job interviews.

And a black African woman said she was overlooked for a law-based job in favour of two less qualified white women, but then offered the job when the women were sacked for incompetence.

Mr Lammy said: “There have been a lot of cuts to the public sector. Black and minority ethnic women have been traditionally employed in the public sector and are losing their jobs in droves at this time.

“They complain of struggling with no support around child care and around helping them to stay in work. Many are doing just casual employment, so the picture is bleak and depressing.”

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Egypt’s anti-Morsi rebellion of judges is complete

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt‘s rebellion of the judges against President Mohammed Morsi became complete on Sunday with the country’s highest court declaring an open-ended strike on the day it was supposed to rule on the legitimacy of two key assemblies controlled by allies of the Islamist leader.

The strike by the Supreme Constitutional Court and opposition plans to march on the presidential palace on Tuesday take the country’s latest political crisis to a level not seen in the nearly two years of turmoil since Hosni Mubarak‘s ouster in a popular uprising.

Judges from the country’s highest appeals court and its sister lower court were already on an indefinite strike, joining colleagues from other tribunals who suspended work last week to protest what they saw as Morsi‘s assault on the judiciary.

The last time Egypt had an all-out strike by the judiciary was in 1919, when judges joined an uprising against British colonial rule.

The standoff began when Morsi issued decrees on Nov. 22 giving him near-absolute powers that granted himself and the Islamist-dominated assembly drafting the new constitution immunity from the courts.

The constitutional panel then raced in a marathon session last week to vote on the charter’s 236 clauses without the participation of liberal and Christian members. The fast-track hearing pre-empted a decision from the Supreme Constitutional Court that was widely expected to dissolve the constituent assembly.

The judges on Sunday postponed their ruling on that case just before they went on strike.

Without a functioning justice system, Egypt will be plunged even deeper into turmoil. It has already seen a dramatic surge in crime after the uprising, while state authority is being challenged in many aspects of life and the courts are burdened by a massive backlog of cases.

“The country cannot function for long like this, something has to give,” said Negad Borai, a private law firm director and a rights activist. ‘We are in a country without courts of law and a president with all the powers in his hands. This is a clear-cut dictatorial climate,” he said.

Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, a rights lawyer, said the strike by the judges will impact everything from divorce and theft to financial disputes that, in some cases, could involve foreign investors.

“Ordinary citizens affected by the strike will become curious about the details of the current political crisis and could possibly make a choice to join the protests,” he said.

The Judges Club, a union with 9,500 members, said late Sunday that judges would not, as customary, oversee the national referendum Morsi called for Dec. 15 on the draft constitution hammered out and hurriedly voted on last week.

The absence of their oversight would raise more questions about the validity of the vote. If the draft is passed in the referendum, parliamentary elections are to follow two months later and they too may not have judicial supervision.

The judges say they will remain on strike until Morsi rescinds his decrees, which the Egyptian leader said were temporary and needed to protect the nation’s path to democratic rule.

For now, however, Morsi has to contend with the fury of the judiciary.

The constitutional court called Sunday “the Egyptian judiciary’s blackest day on record.”

It described the scene outside the Nile-side court complex, where thousands of Islamist demonstrators gathered since the early morning hours carrying banners denouncing the tribunal and some of its judges.

A statement by the court, which swore Morsi into office on June 30, said its judges approached the complex but turned back when they saw the protesters blocking entrances and climbing over its fences. They feared for their safety, it added.

“The judges of the Supreme Constitutional Court were left with no choice but to announce to the glorious people of Egypt that they cannot carry out their sacred mission in this charged atmosphere,” said the statement, which was carried by state news agency MENA.

Supporters of Morsi, who hails from the Islamic fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, claim that the court’s judges remain loyal to Mubarak, who appointed them, and accuse them of trying to derail Egypt’s transition to democratic rule.

In addition to the high court’s expected ruling Sunday on the legitimacy of the constitution-drafting panel, it was also expected to rule on another body dominated by Morsi supporters, parliament’s upper chamber.

Though Morsi’s Nov. 22 decrees provide immunity to both bodies against the courts, a ruling that declares the two illegitimate would have vast symbolic significance, casting doubt on the standing of both.

The Brotherhood’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice party, sought to justify the action of its supporters outside the court as a peaceful protest. It reiterated its charge that some members of the judiciary were part and parcel of Mubarak’s autocratic policies.

“The wrong practices by a minority of judges and their preoccupation with politics … will not take away the respect people have for the judiciary,” it said.

Its explanation, however, failed to calm the anger felt by many activists and politicians.

“President Morsi must take responsibility before the entire world for terrorizing the judiciary,” veteran rights campaigner and opposition leader Abdel-Halim Kandil wrote in his Twitter account about the events outside the constitutional court.

Liberal activist and former lawmaker Amr Hamzawy warned what is ahead may be worse.

“The president and his group (the Muslim Brotherhood) are leading Egypt into a period of darkness par excellence,” he said. “He made a dictatorial decision to hold a referendum on an illegal constitution that divides society, then a siege of the judiciary to terrorize it.”

Egypt has been rocked by several bouts of unrest, some violent, since Mubarak was forced to step down in the face of a popular uprising. But the current one is probably the worst.

Morsi’s decrees gave him powers that none of his four predecessors since the ouster of the monarchy 60 years ago ever had. Opposition leaders countered that he turned himself into a new “pharaoh” and a dictator even worse than his immediate predecessor Mubarak.

Then, following his order, the constituent assembly rushed a vote on the draft constitution in an all-night session.

The draft has a new article that seeks to define what the “principles” of Islamic law are by pointing to theological doctrines and their rules. Another new article states that Egypt’s most respected Islamic institution, Al-Azhar, must be consulted on any matters related to Shariah law, a measure critics fear could lead to oversight of legislation by clerics.

Rights groups have pointed out that virtually the only references to women relate to the home and family, that the new charter uses overly broad language with respect to the state protecting “ethics and morals” and fails to outlaw gender discrimination.

At times the process appeared slap-dash, with fixes to missing phrasing and even several entirely new articles proposed, written and voted on in the hours just before sunrise.

The decrees and the vote on the constitution draft galvanized the fractured, mostly secular opposition, with senior leaders setting aside differences and egos to form a united front in the face of Morsi, whose offer on Saturday for a national dialogue is yet to find takers.

The opposition brought out at least 200,000 protesters to Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Tuesday and a comparable number Friday to press demands that the decrees be rescinded. The Islamists responded Saturday with massive rallies in Cairo and across much of Egypt.

The opposition is raising the stakes with plans to march on Morsi’ palace on Tuesday, a move last seen on Feb. 11, 2011 when tens of thousands of protesters marched from Tahrir Square to Mubarak’s palace in the Heliopolis district to force him out. Mubarak stepped down that day, but Morsi is highly unlikely to follow suit on Tuesday.

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Here’s How to Turn Nicki Minaj into Jay-Z

We realize there’s only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today:

RELATED: It’s Sort of Fun Watching Pippa Middleton Squirm

This is silly, but it’s Friday and a unicorn lair has been found in North Korea, rendering all other silliness moot. But the folks over at Reddit seem to dig the idea of slowing down Nicki Minaj’s songs so much that they sound like an over-enunciating Jay-Z. And well, it’s oddly relaxing: 

RELATED: ‘Roseanne’ Predicted Internet Addiction; A Weather Alert from Hell

RELATED: The Honey Boo Boo Nature Special; Everyone’s Favorite Sleepwalking Mom

Another week has passed by and we still haven’t figured out the Fiscal Cliff situation. Let’s fix it—and not just because we want to avoid getting downgraded (again). Because honestly, we just don’t think CNBC’s Rick Santelli can make it another two weeks: 

RELATED: Cookie Monster Takes a Bite Out of ‘Call Me Maybe’

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James Lipton, let’s hang out: 

Finally, it’s Friday. What are you still doing here?  Go enjoy the weekend or something or … watch this video of a husky which sort of sounds like Dame Edna at time imitating a baby until 6 p.m. rolls around: 

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“Hobbit” may bring a Hollywood ending to 2012 box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – It took more than a decade, two directors and a lawsuit before “The Hobbit” made it to the big screen. Hollywood executives are crossing their fingers that the culmination of that journey will help smash movie box office records this year.

The film, which opens on December 14, is expected to contribute to the first annual box office increase in North America in three years, a sign that big movie studios have made more films enticing enough to get people into theaters and away from their TVs, games and the Internet.

“The Hobbit” follows this year’s other big box office successes “The Avengers,” which became the industry’s third-largest film with $ 623 million in U.S. sales, and “The Dark Knight Rises” and “The Hunger Games” which both passed $ 400 million.

Hollywood analysts predict the two months of the year that include “The Hobbit” and the finale of the “Twilight” vampire series may lift U.S. and Canadian ticket sales above the $ 10.6 billion record set in 2009.

“The fourth quarter is just gangbusters,” said box office watcher Phil Contrino, editor of the boxoffice.com website. “One movie after the other is exceeding expectations.”

Annual receipts are on track to end 5 percent above last year at $ 10.8 billion or more, projects Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for Hollywood.com. Ten films have already passed $ 200 million in ticket sales, compared to seven last year, when no film passed the $ 400 million mark.

That would be the first yearly box office increase in three years, and would be from a jump in admissions rather than a hike in ticket prices that traditionally fuel box office growth. Ticket prices are averaging $ 7.94, a penny increase from last year, according to the National Association of Theatre Owners.

Hollywood has raked in $ 9.7 billion so far in ticket sales and sold more than 1.2 billion tickets in the North American (U.S. and Canadian) market, 5.5 percent up on a year ago.

The industry thought it had a record in sight last year, only to see underwhelming performances from holiday releases such as thriller “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and animated movie “Hugo,” which left ticket sales at a three-year low.

OFF THE COUCH

Studios face a difficult entertainment landscape in which consumers have an array of competing outlets for movie watching that includes DVR recordings, game players and movies streamed over computers and mobile phones.

Services like Netflix Inc have also made a dent in trips to the theater by offering cheap monthly rentals that make it easier to stay on the couch.

What has got people out of their homes, Hollywood moguls say, is a rise in the quality and variety of what is on screen.

This year, studios offered up a rush of big-budget blockbusters including “Skyfall,” the highest grossing of the 23 James Bond films that is still selling well with $ 227 million in domestic sales.

“Ted,” about a foul-mouthed stuffed bear, was a surprise winner with $ 219 million. Several mid-sized hits that won critical acclaim, including Steven Spielberg’s historical drama “Lincoln” and the Iran hostage thriller “Argo,” became box office darlings.

“There is something for everyone,” said Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution at News Corp’s 20th Century Fox studio. “When we achieve that as an industry and the movies are of good quality, that’s when good things happen.”

Sony oiled up its Spider-Man franchise and collected $ 262 million by rebooting it with new stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone in “The Amazing Spider-Man.” Disney’s Pixar unit struck it big again with the animated movie “Brave.”

Hollywood did not escape some box office bombs. Two big-budget bets – board-game inspired thriller “Battleship” and outer space adventure “John Carter” – ranked among the most costly flops in movie history.

The mass killing at a Colorado movie theater in July marred the release of Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises.” But the film eventually grossed $ 448 million domestically, ranking as the year’s second-biggest.

Hollywood also overcame summer doldrums. The season that accounts for the bulk of yearly sales slumped 5 percent behind 2011. The second weekend in September produced the lowest-grossing weekend since 2001.

The pace quickened at the start of the holidays – the second-biggest movie going period – with “Twilight” finale “Breaking Dawn – Part 2″ and James Bond movie “Skyfall” leading record Thanksgiving sales of $ 291 million over five days.

“FOUR QUADRANT” FILM

That has got the industry’s hopes up for the Christmas season when families gather and shoppers fill malls. Comcast Corp’s Universal Pictures is releasing the musical adaptation “Les Miserables,” and The Weinstein Company offers up the Leonardo DiCaprio thriller “Django Unchained.” A street-brawling Tom Cruise returns in “Jack Reacher” from Viacom Inc’s Paramount Pictures.

But it is the dwarves and wizards from “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” that Hollywood is banking on to generate movie going mania. Set 60 years before the Oscar-winning “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, the movie is the kind that studios love – a “four quadrant” film that appeals to male, female, young and old, said Contrino of Boxoffice.com. He projects $ 137 million in opening weekend domestic sales, rising to $ 475 million through its theatrical run.

The film, based on the fantasy novel by J.R.R. Tolkien about the travels of hobbit Bilbo Baggins, almost did not make it to the screen at all. Director Peter Jackson made the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy when producers could not get “The Hobbit” rights that were held by MGM’s United Artists unit.

“The Hobbit“, also a trilogy, has been produced by MGM and Time Warner Inc but only after Jackson settled a lawsuit against Time Warner’s New Line Cinema unit in a dispute over profits from the “Rings” trilogy.

Now all the film has to do is delight fans with a new hobbit adventure across Middle Earth and deliver a record year for Hollywood.

(Reporting By Lisa Richwine. Editing by Jane Merriman)

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Investigation underway into N.J. train derailment, chemical leak

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Federal transportation investigators have begun interviewing the crew of a train that was carrying hazardous materials when it derailed on a railroad bridge in New Jersey, officials said on Saturday.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Deborah Hersman said the agency would spend the next two weeks preparing a preliminary report on Friday’s accident in the industrial town of Paulson

A bridge collapse derailed seven of the 82 Conrail freight train cars, and a tanker car that fell into Mantua Creek leaked vinyl chloride into the waterway, which feeds into the Delaware River near Philadelphia.

More than 12,000 gallons (45,425 liters) of the highly toxic and flammable industrial chemical vinyl chloride leaked from a gash in the tanker car’s side following the derailment on Friday morning.

Twenty-two people were examined at a nearby hospital, but air monitors in the area did not register any problem, officials have said. Exposure to vinyl chloride can cause a burning sensation in the eyes or respiratory discomfort.

Investigators are in the process of obtaining records from Conrail on inspections of the bridge over the Mantua Creek. They are also examining a derailment on the bridge in 2009, as well as any possible impact on the bridge from the high winds and rising waters that accompanied Superstorm Sandy.

“We are continuing to question the crew to get additional information,” Hersman said at a press briefing. “We still have some work to do.”

State Senator Steve Sweeney, whose district includes Paulsboro, told Reuters on Saturday that 106 residents who live close to the crash scene were evacuated from the area on Friday night in case any more of vinyl chloride escaped into the air or water.

“What it really was was just to be cautious,” Sweeney said. The residents will be out of their homes for several days, and are staying with friends and relatives or hotels, he said.

Conrail is jointly owned by rail operators CSX Corp and Norfolk Southern Corp.

(Editing by Paul Thomasch and Sandra Maler)

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