"It" girl Jennifer Lawrence is getting a lot of attention this year, and with good reason!
The recent Golden Globe nominee has proven herself worthy of the big-screen hype thanks to the box office success of The Hunger Games and Silver Linings Playbook. On top of that, the beauteous bombshell has become a fashion-forward phenomenon.
Related: Five Things You Don't Know About Jennifer Lawrence
Join us as we look back at Jennifer's best and worst looks of red carpet past.
PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korea said Friday that it has detained an American citizen who has confessed to unspecified crimes.
State media said in a short dispatch that someone named Bae Jun Ho entered North Korea on Nov. 3 as a tourist but was detained because of crimes.
The North said the crimes were "proven through evidence" but didn't elaborate.
Pyongyang has detained and eventually released several Americans in recent years. Some have been Christians accused of religious proselytizing.
Two journalists were also detained after crossing into the North from China while on a reporting trip but were later released.
South Korean activists have told local media in Seoul that Bae is a Korean American and was detained after entering North Korea to guide tourists. Bae operates a tourism company that specializes in North Korea, the reports said.
The North Korean dispatch said officials from the Swiss Embassy met Bae on Friday, but there were no other details about the meeting. The United States doesn't have diplomatic relations with Pyongyang so American citizens are given aid by the Swiss.
Bae is undergoing "legal treatment" according to North Korea's criminal law, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said.
The Cuban government Thursday denounced what it called the “unjust and illegal” multi-million dollar fines the U.S. government slapped on two foreign banks for violating Washington’s sanctions on the island.
The U.S. actions show that its “ferocious persecution of financial and commercial transactions by Cuba and those with legitimate relations … has only changed but has hardened,” a Foreign Ministry official said in a statement.
The British-based HSBC bank agreed to pay $1.9 billion to the U.S. government last week to settle accusations that it laundered drug money through its Mexican and other branches, and violated U.S. economic sanctions on Cuba.
The next day Washington announced that Japan’s Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ bank had agreed to pay $8.6 million to settle what the Cuban statement called “a supposed violation of the unilateral sanctions of the United States against various countries, including Cuba.”
Under the trade embargo, banks cannot move Cuban funds through U.S. financial institutions or handle U.S. dollar deposits for Cuban entities or citizens. Cuba is subject to other sanctions as well because it is on the U.S. list of countries that support international terrorism.
The Foreign Ministry statement noted that the sanctions came one month after the U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for the 21st time to condemn the 50-year-old trade embargo against Cuba.
While the HSBC settlement was reported to be one of the largest ever, the U.S. Treasury Department has hit several other foreign banks in recent years for violating sanctions on Cuba and other countries, especially Iran.
The Netherlands’ ING bank agreed to a $619 million settlement earlier this year. Credit Suisse agreed to pay $539 million in 2009. And the Swiss UBS bank was hit with a $100 million settlement in 2004.
Record executive Ted Lucas and Miami Heat star James Jones joined forces to bring holiday cheer to Miami Gardens kids — and motivate them to achieve academically — earlier this month
The All-Star Holiday weekend started with a toy distribution at North County K-8 Center on Dec.13
Lucas and Jones, who got good grades when growing up in Miami Gardens, got some help Santa Claus and Heat mascot Burnie to distribute bicycles, iPod Nanos and gift cards to those students who did well on their FCAT scores.
Later that evening, Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones and Miami Beach Commissioner Jonah Wolfson hosted a kick-off party at W Hotel Miami Beach. Lucas and Jones each received the key to the City of Miami Beach from Wolfson. Lucas is president of Slip-N-Slide Records, located on South Beach.
The weekend’s festivities also included a DREAM reception at Mercedes-Benz of Miami that highlighted talented local youth and honored teachers and included live performances by the Miami Norland High School drumline, DJ Elle and recording artist Sebastian Mikael.
The All-Star Holiday Weekend concluded with a special community fair at Buccaneer Park in Miami Gardens. Hundreds of residents from the surrounding area attended the free celebration for a day of games, activities, music, treats and giveaways.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google is selling Motorola Mobility‘s TV set-top business for $ 2.35 billion, lightening the load that the Internet search leader took on earlier this year when it completed the biggest acquisition in its history.
The cash-and-stock deal announced late Wednesday will turn over Motorola‘s set-top division to Arris Group Inc., a relatively small provider of high-speed Internet equipment that is looking to become a bigger player in the delivery of video. Investors applauded the move, driving up Arris‘ stock by nearly 17 percent.
Google‘s decision to jettison the set-top boxes comes seven months after the Mountain View, Calif., company took control of Motorola Mobility Holdings in a $ 12.4 billion purchase.
The set-top boxes were never a big allure for Google, although the company is interested in finding ways to pipe its service on to TVs so it can sell more advertising.
Google prized Motorola for its portfolio of more than 17,000 mobile patents. Those form an arsenal that it can use in a fierce battle that has broken out over intellectual property as smartphones and tablet computers have emerged as hot commodities in recent years.
Motorola also makes smartphones and tablets, a manufacturing business that Google will retain, despite lingering concerns on Wall Street about the hardware shrinking Google‘s profit margins and possibly alienating other device makers that use the company’s Android software.
Besides not being a natural fit for Google, Motorola‘s set-top box also has become a potentially expensive liability. Digital video recorder pioneer TiVo Inc. is seeking billions of dollars in damages in a lawsuit alleging that Motorola‘s boxes infringed on its patents. Those claims are scheduled to go to trial next year in federal court in Texas.
Although they declined to provide specifics, Arris Group executives told analysts in a Wednesday conference call that Google still must cover most of the bill for any damages or settlement that TiVo might win.
TiVo already has negotiated about $ 1 billion in combined settlements in other patent-infringement cases it has brought against other companies, including Dish Network Corp., AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications.
The proposed sale of Motorola‘s set-top division calls for Google to receive $ 2.05 billion in cash and $ 300 million worth of Arris stock. If the deal wins regulatory approval, Arris Group expects to take over the division before the end of June.
Google will also pare its expenses, something likely to please investors concerned about Motorola being a drag on the company’s earnings. Arris said about 7,000 people work in Motorola‘s set-top division. Google ended September with about 53,500 employees, including 17,400 who worked on the Motorola side of its operations. More than 20,000 people worked at Motorola Mobility when Google became the owner in late May, but the payroll was slashed as part of an effort to pare the losses that have been piling up within Motorola as its once popular cellphones lost market share to Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics.
But Motorola‘s set-top business had been making money, according to Google, though the company didn’t say how much.
In the past year ending in September, Motorola‘s set-top operations generated $ 3.4 billion in revenue. That makes it twice as big as Arris Group, whose revenue totaled $ 1.3 billion during the same period. Arris Group, which is based Suwanee, Ga., had earned $ 39 million through the nine months of last year after suffering a loss of nearly $ 13 million for all of 2011.
“This represents a great leap forward for Arris,” CEO Bob Stanzione said during Wednesday’s conference call.
Arris’ stock surged $ 2.46 to $ 17 in extended trading Wednesday while Google‘s stock dipped $ 2.61 to $ 717.50.
The other half of the old Motorola Inc., Motorola Solutions Inc., remains an independent company. Based in Schaumburg, Ill., it sells communications equipment to government and corporate customers.
Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News
Veteran TV newsman Sam Donaldson was arrested on DUI charges in Delaware, police said yesterday.
Donaldson (pictured), a former White House reporter for ABC, was stopped on Dec. 1 by cops in Lewes, Del., after his car was spotted swerving onto the shoulder of the road.
Lewes is a resort town on the Chesapeake Bay, across the Delaware River from Cape May, NJ.
Donaldson allegedly failed a field-sobriety test and was arrested and taken to the local police station.
The 78-year-old newsman was later released and given an unspecified date to return for a court appearance.
A new start-up accelerator focused on the intersection of healthcare and technology is coming to Miami next year.
Project Lift Miami, designed to help develop young companies and prepare them for investment opportunities, is a partnership between Lift1428, an innovation design, strategy and communications firm; the Miami Innovation Center at the University of Miami Life Science & Technology Park and its developer, Wexford Science + Technology; and the UM Miller School of Medicine, said Robert Chavez, the project’s executive director. “We’re being proactive and trying to support innovative ideas and companies. … We’d like to keep them here and really help to transform the area into a healthcare innovation hub.”
The accelerator will offer entrepreneurial teams a structured 100-day program of classes, workshops and training directed by national and local healthcare experts as well as mentoring and strategic support that will continue well beyond the program, said David McDonald, CEO of Lift1428 and co-founder of Project Lift Miami.
“This meets a critical unmet need in innovation,” said Norma Kenyon, chief innovation officer at UM’s Miller School, explaining that novel ideas often don’t find appropriate mentors and funding until they are pretty far along. “Where do you go if you have a great idea that really could be transformative? This provides much-needed support for these very early-stage technologies.”
Ten to 15 start-ups will be selected for the first class, which will start in May. Each will be offered seed funding — probably $20,000 to $30,000 in cash and services in exchange for a small equity stake — and will get free office space at the research park, Chavez said. The program will run through August, closing with a Demo Day, when entrepreneurs present their businesses to potential investors.
“There’s so much regulation and there are privacy issues and other barriers to entry that are different in the healthcare industry. Having the access to the environment we have here to test your idea and prove your concept is a great advance,” said Chavez, who is also executive director of business intelligence at UM’s Miller School. “That kind of mentoring you won’t get at a general accelerator.”
If Miami’s program goes well, future Project Lift programs could be rolled out at other Wexford science and technology parks across the country, said Bill Hunter, Wexford’s regional director of leasing. “Project Lift is directly aligned with our mission to cultivate innovation in our community. You need investment in those early-stage opportunities.”
Entrepreneurs interested in applying for the inaugural 2013 class can contact Chavez at rchavez@lift1428.com or 305-345-8670, or stop by the Miami Innovation Center at the UM Life Science & Technology Park, 1951 NW Seventh Ave., Suite 300. There is also more information at www.lift1428.com/projectlift.
Angelina Jolie is in final negotiations to direct her second film, Unbroken, based on the story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympian-turned-World War II prisoner of war, according to Deadline.
Video: Angelina Jolie Talks Kids, 'Blood and Honey'
"I was so moved by Louie Zamperini's heroic story, I immediately began to fight for the opportunity to make this film," said The Oscar-winning actress in a statement. "Louie is a true hero and a man of immense humanity, faith and courage. I am deeply honored to have the chance to tell his inspiring story."
Adapted from Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption, the feature film will tell the real-life tale of American Olympic distance runner Louis Zamperini, who was captured and imprisoned by the Japanese Navy during World War II.
Unbroken will be the second film directed by Jolie. The 37-year-old made her debut in 2011's In The Land Of Blood And Honey.
WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers mostly fell in line yesterday behind President Obama’s proposal to cut Social Security payments as part of a fiscal-cliff deal, despite outrage from the party’s liberal base.
Obama’s offer to change the method of calculating annual cost-of-living adjustments for federal benefits would reduce Social Security checks by about 0.3 percent a year, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a liberal think tank.
“This loss would be cumulative through time so that after 10 years, the cut would be roughly 3 percent, after 20 years 6 percent,” fumed Dean Baker, the director of the center. “These benefits average less than $15,000 a year.”
AARP estimated the change would snatch $112 billion out of seniors’ pockets over the next 10 years.
“We understand the president is at the negotiating table,” said Rep. Joe Crowley (D-Queens). “We also know these [deals] can be difficult and not everything we want will be in the bill and not everything they want will be in the bill.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who previously said Social Security should be off the table, vouched for Obama’s negotiating position.
“I admire and appreciate very much the president showing the American people how reasonable he’s trying to be: significant tax increases, significant cuts,” Reid said.
Democrats’ sudden warming to Social Security reforms is a sign that a deal could be near.
Annual increases in Social Security benefits are currently indexed to the consumer price index (CPI), which measures the change in prices of consumer goods.
Under the proposed deal, the benefits would be indexed to the so-called chained consumer price index (CCPI), which takes into account how consumer buying habits change in response to rising prices and therefore reflects a slightly lower rate of inflation.
Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) are locked in tough negotiations but have slowly moved toward a debt-cutting deal.
If they fail, automatic tax hikes for every American and deep spending cuts, mostly to the military, will take effect on Jan. 1. Economists predict it would trigger a recession.
Obama’s latest offer included tax hikes for those earning more than $400,000 a year and spending cuts, including to Social Security.
Boehner offered a plan to block tax hikes for all but those making more than $1 million a year.A vote on the bill could come as soon as today.
He described it as a backup plan in case a broader deal can’t be struck in time.
“It’s important that we protect as many American taxpayers as we can,” said Boehner.
Obama immediately rejected it.
In the portable electronic world, stocking stuffers are easy to find. Here are some for those last-minute holiday gifts on everyone’s list.
• WATER-POWERED CLOCK: Aside from telling time, the eco-friendly Bedol Water Clock is a portable alarm that is also waterproof in the event you feel like standing in a rain storm or showering with it.
It’s battery-free so all you do to keep the clock running indefinitely is just fill it with water.
A natural chemical reaction between two of its internal metallic plates generates enough power to keep it running indefinitely.
Details: www.bedolwhatsnext.com $17
• CHAT OR SCROLL: Logitech’s Apple-friendly Broadcaster Wi-Fi webcam is great for online chatting and its wireless functionality makes it a great companion as a second angled video camera beyond what your computer, iPhone or iPad’s camera will do.
The camera has an internal battery, which is charged via USB for 2 hours of life and has a built-in mono microphone along with a port to add an external mic.
Video is captured in HD 720p and can be moved to any angle since it’s wireless.
Logitech has designed the camera to let users press a button to switch to the camera, giving your chatting partner a different angle.
The Broadcaster ($199.99) works with Mac video applications including QuickTime, Photo Booth, iMovie, Final Cut Pro or chatting with FaceTime, iChat or Skype.
• Logitech also has a few cool high tech-looking Windows 8 friendly mice with the t400 and t620.
The Logitech Zone Touch Mouse t400 ($39) has the functionality of a traditional mouse along with a touch strip to support horizontal and vertical scrolling.
Just click on the top of the touch zone for instant access the Windows 8 Start Screen and clicking on the bottom of the touch zone will scroll you through all your open applications.
The Touch Mouse t620 ($49) features a full touch surface letting you scroll horizontally and vertically from anywhere on the mouse, and to access the Windows 8 start screen you just swipe the edges of the mouse.
Details: www.Logitech.com
• EARBUDS WITH A MIC: iFrogz EarPollution Plugz with Mic noise isolating earbuds are as simple as they get and work just fine.
You get three sizes of ear pieces to get the right fit along with an in-line microphone for cellphone use and most any portable electronic device.
The sound is decent and it makes a great hands-free choice.
Details: www.iFrogz.com $9.99 — in a big selection of colors.
• TRAVEL POWER: Bracketron’s Universal USB Travel Power Kit ($26) includes an Apple 30-pin and Micro USB connections 3-foot cable for charging just about any device on the go.
The cable can be connected to a computer or the included USB AC adapter for 2.1 Amp charging, which includes power hungry tablets.
A 12V car charging USB adapter is also included.
Bracketron’s MetalDock ($18.91) is a contemporary-looking charging dock for the iPhone 4/4S, built with heavy-duty metal construction resulting in a lightweight and portable design.
It connects to any USB port for charging/syncing with its embedded 3-foot cable and works in landscape or portrait modes.
A company representative has emailed me that Dec. 12-17 everything on the Bracketron site is 40 percent off.
Details: www.Bracketron.com
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