Stock futures erase gains, Wal-Mart falls after results

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stock index futures were flat on Thursday, with investors again finding few reasons to buy amid weak results from retail giant Wal-Mart and tensions in the Middle East.

Futures were off their highs of the session, continuing a trend of equities having difficulty holding onto gains. Futures had also indicated gains Wednesday morning, but stocks turned lower midday and ended down more than 1 percent.

Eroding gains in Dow futures, Wal-Mart Stores fell 3.2 percent to $ 69 in premarket trading after reporting third-quarter revenue that missed expectations and saying macroeconomic conditions continued to pressure its customers.

“This is troubling because it flies in the face of other retail data we’ve seen lately, which has been positive,” said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst, Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh. “There’s not much out there convincing investors that things are getting any better.”

Target Corp eased back to $ 61.36 before the bell even as the company reported higher quarterly profit.

Overseas, Israel launched a major offensive against Palestinian militants in Gaza, killing the military commander of Hamas in an air strike and threatening an invasion of the enclave. Egypt said it recalled its ambassador from Israel in response.

Crude oil may be the most directly impacted by the tensions in the region, with any disruption to oil supply leaving crude vulnerable to a spike in prices. Brent crude rose 1 percent and is up 4.7 percent over the past two weeks.

“Nothing over there seem stable, and investors are concerned other countries could be pulled into the conflict. You’re going to see oil jump on that threat,” Forest said.

S&P 500 futures were flat but still slightly above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 25 points and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 2.75 points.

With Wednesday’s drop, both the Dow and Nasdaq ended at their lowest levels since late June. The S&P 500 is down 5.1 percent in the six sessions since election night. Wednesday marked the benchmark index’s lowest close since July 25.

Investors may seek bargains at these levels, and a round of stronger economic data could prove to be a catalyst, but many analysts say strong gains may be hard to come by until at least one of the many global macroeconomic headwinds have been resolved.

“There’s all this uncertainty out there, and the market is unbalanced because those who want to buy can be very discriminate about the price they want to buy at,” Forest said.

The market will also watch the latest economic data, with weekly jobless claims, October consumer prices and a November read on New York manufacturing all due out at 8:30 a.m. (1330 GMT). The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank releases its November business activity survey at 10 a.m.

Claims are seen rising by 20,000 to 375,000 while consumer prices are seen up 0.1 percent, compared with a 0.6 percent rise in September, according to a Reuters poll. The Empire State manufacturing survey is seen coming in at -6.7, compared with -6.16 in October. The Philly Fed survey is seen dropping to 2 from 5.7 in October.

While the President and Congress are unlikely to reach a definitive agreement for weeks, investors will continue to monitor the situation regarding the fiscal cliff, a series of mandated tax increases and spending cuts will start to take effect early next year that could push the U.S. economy into a recession.

President Barack Obama Wednesday reiterated his position that marginal tax rates would have to rise to tackle the nation’s deficits. Taxes on capital gains and dividends also could rise as part of the negotiations, pushing investors to sell this year and pay lower taxes on their gains.

(Editing by Theodore d’Afflisio)

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Canada’s Carney says rate hikes “less imminent”

TORONTO (Reuters) – Interest rate hikes have become less imminent than the Bank of Canada once expected, although rates are still likely to rise, central bank Governor Mark Carney said in an interview published on Saturday.

“Over time, rates are likely to increase somewhat, but over time, so a less imminent timing relative to our expectation,” Carney said in an interview with the National Post newspaper.

Canada’s economy rebounded better than most from the global economic recession, and the Bank of Canada is the only central bank in the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations that is currently hinting at higher interest rates.

But Carney has also made clear that there will be no rate rise for a while, despite high domestic borrowing rates that he sees as a major risk to a still fragile economy.

“We’ve been very clear in terms of lines of defense in addressing financial vulnerabilities,” he said in the interview. “And the most prominent one, obviously, in Canada, is household debt.”

He said the bank was monitoring the impact of four successive government moves to tighten mortgage lending, which aimed to take the froth out of a hot housing market without causing a damaging crash in prices.

A Reuters poll published on Friday showed the majority of 20 forecasters believe the government has done enough to rein in runaway prices, preventing the type of crash that devastated the U.S. market.

The experts expect Canadian housing prices to fall 10 percent over the next several years, but they do not expect the recent property boom to end in a U.S.-style collapse.

(Reporting by Janet Guttsman; Editing by Vicki Allen)

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Microsoft and Google financials could surface at trial

(Reuters) – Microsoft and Google‘s Motorola Mobility unit squared off on Tuesday at a trial with strategic implications for the smartphone patent wars and which could reveal financial information the two companies usually keep under wraps.

The proceeding in a Seattle federal court will determine how much of a royalty Microsoft Corp should pay Google Inc for a license to some of Motorola‘s patents. Google bought Motorola for $ 12.5 billion, partly for its library of communications patents.

If U.S. District Judge James Robart decides Google deserves only a small royalty, then its Motorola patents would be a weaker bargaining chip for Google to negotiate licensing deals with rivals.

Apple Inc and Microsoft have been litigating in courts around the world against Google and partners like Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, which use the Android operating system on their mobile devices.

Apple contends that Android is basically a copy of its iOS smartphone software, and Microsoft holds patents that it contends cover a number of Android features.

Motorola had sought up to $ 4 billion a year for its wireless and video patents, while Microsoft argues its rival deserves just over $ 1 million a year. A federal judge in Wisconsin last week threw out a similar case brought by Apple against Google just before trial.

In court on Tuesday Microsoft called Jon DeVaan, a veteran software manager in the Windows division, as its first witness. He said Motorola‘s wireless and video patents at issue covered only a small part of the overall Windows architecture.

During the run-up to trial in Seattle, both Microsoft and Google asked Robart to keep secret a range of financial details about the two companies, including licensing deals and sales revenue projections. Google requested that Robart clear the courtroom when witnesses discuss those details.

However, in an order on Monday, Robart rejected that request. The public will not be able to view the documents describing patent deals or company sales during trial, Robart ruled, but testimony will be in open court.

“If a witness discloses pertinent terms, rates or payments, such information will necessarily be made public,” the judge wrote.

Additionally, any documents the judge relies on for his final opinion will be disclosed, Robart wrote on Monday.

Before trial began on Tuesday, Robart said in court that he wanted to take the most “expansive” interpretation of the public’s right to know. Several outside companies besides Microsoft and Motorola, like Research in Motion Inc, have also asked him to keep secret their royalty deals.

Robart said he would consider a request to refer to those third party companies by code names, known only to the lawyers and the judge.

The case in U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington is Microsoft Corp. vs. Motorola Inc., 10-cv-1823.

(Reporting By Bill Rigby in Seattle and Dan Levine in San Francisco; editing by Jim Marshall and Carol Bishopric)

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Anne Hathaway reveals oatmeal paste diet for ‘Les Miserables’

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hollywood starlet Anne Hathaway credits a strict diet of dried oatmeal paste for helping her shed some 25 pounds (11 kg) for her role in the forthcoming big screen musical “Les Miserables.”

“I had to be obsessive about it – the idea was to look near death,” Hathaway told Vogue about preparing for her role as the consumptive prostitute Fantine in the musical version of Victor Hugo‘s classic 19th century French novel.

Hathaway, 30, told the December edition of the magazine, that she first lost 10 pounds (5 kg) to begin filming and then later dropped another 15 pounds (7 kg) by eating nothing but two thin pieces of oatmeal paste a day.

“Looking back on the whole experience – and I don’t judge it in any way – it was definitely a little nuts,” said “The Dark Knight Rises” actress. “It was definitely a break with reality, but I think that’s who Fantine is anyway.”

Extreme body changes have become part of Hollywood lore, even factoring into the marketing of films. Natalie Portman received much publicity for dropping some 20 pounds (9 kg) for her Oscar-winning role as a ballerina in 2010′s “Black Swan.”

Jennifer Lawrence, who plays the famished star of the life-or-death thriller “The Hunger Games,” made waves last week vowing never to diet for a role.

Hathaway said it was a rocky transition back into everyday life after filming.

“I was in such a state of deprivation – physical and emotional,” she said. “When I got home, I couldn’t react to the chaos of the world without being overwhelmed. It took me weeks till I felt like myself again.”

Directed by Tom Hooper (“The King’s Speech”), “Les Miserables” is scheduled to be released on December 25 in the United States and is seen as a strong contender for Oscar nominations. The film version of the stage musical also stars Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe.

(Reporting By Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Mohammad Zargham)

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New Hope For ‘Man on Fire Syndrome’

Pamela Costa has never known a day without agonizing pain in her legs and feet.

At age 11, the Seattle native was diagnosed with inherited erythromelalgia, a genetic condition that causes such severe pain and redness some call it “Man on Fire Syndrome.”

“Think of the feeling that you get when you come in from the cold and your hands and feet are rewarming too fast,” said Costa, 47. “I have that feeling all of the time.”

Inherited erythromelalgia is a disease of small nerves and blood vessels that causes severe pain in response to heat, pressure, exertion or stress.

“These people feel excruciating, scalding pain while putting on shoes or putting on a sweater,” said Dr. Stephen Waxman, a neuroscientist at Yale University and the West Haven Veterans Affairs Hospital. “They will keep their feet on ice to the point of getting gangrene, just to relieve the sensation.”

When Costa was growing up, playing outside would trigger the unbearable burning sensation.

“I used to come in from recess and just hold my hands on the cool metal of my school desk,” said Costa, who has more than two dozen relatives with the same affliction. “I have had cousins suffer devastating injuries from over-cooling themselves.”

Although the disease is rare, researchers are searching for clues to its cause with hopes of uncovering treatments for chronic pain of all kinds. The story starts at the molecular level within tiny nerves that conduct pain signals.

An Overactive Channel Protein

Pain comes in different forms, depending on the type of nerve that senses it. And for chronic pain patients, the pain is not quick and specific, but instead slow and sharp.

This slow pain is transmitted from the limbs and body to the brain along small nerves in the spinal cord called C-fibers. Messages move along these nerve fibers due to the action of special proteins in their membranes called channels. One specific type of channel is the Nav1.7 sodium channel, which is present in great numbers in the C-fibers of the spinal cord.

Work by Waxman and others has shown that patients with inherited erythromelalgia have a defect in their Nav1.7 channels that allows too many sodium ions to enter the C-fibers, causing an increase in the sensitivity of the nerves.

The specific atomic structure of the Nav1.7 channel has been modeled by Waxman’s lab, and the results are detailed in the current issue of Nature Communications. Armed with this new model of the Nav1.7 channel, the lab has been able to show why some patients with inherited erythromelalgia respond well to an anti-epileptic drug called Carbamazepine.

Furthermore, in studying the channel structure in many different people, Waxman and colleagues have found variations in the channel from person to person. These variations may cause some people to be more likely to experience chronic pain than others.

A New Drug Target

Patients with a completely defective Nav1.7 suffer from the opposite condition, known as congenital indifference to pain. These people do not experience pain at all, with case reports of being able to walk on hot coals without pain.

As the role of Nav1.7 in the mechanism for pain sensation becomes clearer, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies will likely take notice, according to Waxman.

“I anticipate a race to develop Nav1.7 specific blockers,” he said.

Current drug therapies for pain include medicines like morphine, as well as aspirin and ibuprofen. While all of these decrease the sensation of pain, they also interact with other tissues such as the brain, heart and stomach, causing side effects.

Nav1.7 does not appear to be present in large quantities outside of the C-fibers of the spinal cord. As such, new drugs targeting this protein could herald a new class of pain treatments with many fewer side effects than our current drugs for pain.

Costa said she hopes to see a day where such a medicine would be available to her, providing her with full relief for the first time in her life.

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Stock futures rise, helped by Cisco results

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stock index futures rose on Wednesday, indicating that equities could rebound after a series of weak sessions on strong results from Cisco and two retail chains.

The S&P 500 has fallen 3.8 percent over the past five trading days, with most of the losses driven by uncertainty over the looming U.S. “fiscal cliff” and concerns about Europe‘s economic troubles.

The index closed below its 200-day moving average for a fourth day in a row on Tuesday, a technical indicator that suggests recent declines could gain momentum.

Trading has been volatile, with positive momentum difficult to sustain.

“It seems as if every minor rally we get, gets sold into, a trend that has been both consistent and concerning,” said Christian Wagner, chief executive officer at Longview Capital Management in Wilmington, Delaware. “This could be the new normal until the fiscal cliff gets resolved, and that will make for a difficult environment.”

Economic reports on Wednesday include October retail sales, which are on tap for 8:30 a.m. (1330 GMT) and are seen dropping 0.2 percent. In September, sales climbed 1.1 percent. Also, the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting will be released later on Wednesday.

Cisco Systems Inc reported first-quarter earnings and revenue late Tuesday that beat expectations, sending the stock soaring 7.3 percent to $ 18.08 in premarket trading Wednesday. The networking company and Dow component also forecast flat earnings and slower revenue growth for the current quarter.

Cisco, viewed as a harbinger for spending on information technology because of its global reach and customers across all sectors, could lend support to the tech sector.

Technology shares <.GSPT> have dropped almost 10 percent over the past two months, dragged down by earnings disappointments from Google and others. Tech was the worst performing sector on Tuesday.

“For Cisco to beat expectations in an environment like this is great and speaks to the solid management at the company,” Wagner said. “Hopefully this will do something for the tech sector, which has been so hurt by Apple lately.”

Apple , the most valuable U.S. company, has tumbled in recent months by 20 percent from its peak.

S&P 500 futures rose 4 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures added 57 points and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 10.5 points.

Macroeconomic issues will likely play a major role in how stocks trade as investors grapple with the impact of Europe‘s debt crisis and the fiscal cliff, a series of large, mandated tax hikes and spending cuts that start to take effect next year.

Analysts say serious fiscal negotiations are still weeks away, but that the failure to reach a deal in Congress could tip the world’s largest economy into recession.

European shares <.FTEU3> were 0.5 percent lower as Greece’s unresolved crisis raised questions about the region’s potential for economic growth, while anti-austerity strikes across southern Europe added to concerns that fiscal reforms would be politically difficult to implement.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said she expected a real solution for Greece rather than a quick fix.

In earnings news, Abercrombie & Fitch Co soared 25 percent to $ 39 before the bell after posting a steep rise in its third quarter. Staples Inc rose 5 percent to $ 11.81 after posting earnings that beat expectations.

U.S. stocks fell in a volatile session Tuesday, pressured by Microsoft Corp which fell after the surprise departure of a key executive. However, retail names outperformed after Home Depot raised its outlook.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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Beating tax cheats key to Italy’s recovery plan

ROME (AP) — Good plumbers may be worth their weight in gold, but when one was spotted zipping around in a bright red Ferrari, Italian tax police were fast on his trail.

Stamping out entrenched tax evasion is crucial to Premier Mario Monti‘s quest to keep Italy from succumbing to the European debt crisis, and it is critical to fellow eurozone members in more dire straits, such as Greece and Spain — which are also notorious for making cheating the taxman a way of life.

Indeed, Greece’s international rescue creditors have been pressing Greece for two years to reform its ailing tax system, citing poor collection as a key factor keeping the country mired in crisis. In Spain, where tax fraud is rampant, as much as €90 billion ($ 150 billion) is lost each year to tax fraud — the equivalent of the country’s national debt, according to Spain’s main tax inspectors union.

To succeed in Italy, authorities will have to catch the legions of self-employed and small business owners who brazenly lie about their earnings, like the plumber in the eastern town of Pescara, who socked away undeclared income in 30 bank accounts, or a successful pastry shop owner in Calabria, who on his tax return claimed he was earning next to crumbs.

And those are the less sophisticated schemers.

Tax police officials say that wealthy Italians, their companies and foreigners who make their money in Italy are increasingly trying to avoid taxes by using such strategies as falsely declaring that their base of operations or residence is abroad.

Another daunting challenge is the so-called “submerged” economy, a term embracing Italians who declare only a fraction or nothing at all of their earnings — and dentists, lawyers, doctors and other big-earning professionals are frequently among the worst offenders.

Tax evasion of all types in Italy totals about euros 240 billion ($ 300 billion), or 15 percent of the country’s gross domestic product of €1.6 trillion ($ 2 trillion), tax police estimate. Winning the war on tax cheats could therefore more than wipe out the country’s budget deficit, which is expected to increase to euros 42 billion ($ 53 billion), or 2.6 percent of GDP this year. That would start knocking away at the nation’s colossal public debt of €2 trillion ($ 2.5 trillion), or 125 percent of GDP.

But “big international frauds are up,” lamented Lt. Col. Gianluca Campana, in charge of the income tax unit revenue protection office at the Guardia di Finanza, Italy’s financial police corps which reports to the Economy Ministry.

The entrenched practice by many cafes, eateries, hair dressers and similar small business of neglecting to give customers mandatory cash register receipts commonly grabs the attention in crackdowns on tax evasion in Italy.

But, cautioned Campana, “one false (big business) invoice can equal no cash register receipts for coffees for two months.”

Over all of 2011, the total of non-declared income discovered by tax police amounted to some €50 billion ($ 65 billion), of which some 20 percent was due to international tax evasion, he said. By comparison, in the first nine months of this year, tax police discovered some €40 billion in undeclared income, with 30 percent of that blamed on international tax evasion, Campana said.

With the economic crisis shrinking bottom lines, and Italy increasingly on the hunt for big-time evasion, especially by big businesses, “there is a tendency to move capital abroad, using maneuvers apparently legal but which really are not,” Campana said. A classic technique consists of declaring one’s formal residence abroad in tax havens like Monte Carlo. Also common are companies that clearly have their business base in Italy but claim it is abroad in countries with far lower tax brackets.

Campana is armed with three degrees, including a masters in tax law from Milan’s Bocconi University, the prestigious economics institute formerly headed by Monti. He brings skills to this specialized police corps that are as finely tuned as sharp-shooting.

“We are going after the big cases (of evasion) in order to rake in more money,” Campana said.

The Ferrari-driving plumber hid some €2 million ($ 2.6 million) of his income over several years by giving his customers invoices — for jobs ranging from fixing leaks to installing new bathrooms — for the actual cost of his work, but kept a second, false registry of much lower figures for tax purposes, said Pescara tax police Col. Mauro Odorisio.

Armed with a 2008 law, authorities confiscated assets belonging to the plumber equivalent to the approximately €1 million ($ 1.3 million) they contend he owed in taxes, Odorisio said.

With Ferraris in red or yellow, and snazzy Porsches parked inside, Guardia di Finanza garages practically resemble luxury car dealerships.

The cars get sold to help recoup unpaid taxes and interest.

Overall, tax revenues in Italy were up by 4.1 percent, says the Economy Ministry, when comparing figures from the first eight months of 2012 with the same period in 2011, but much of that was due to new taxes, and not necessarily a revolution in citizens’ consciences about tax obligations.

Monti’s recipe relies heavily on taxes that are nearly impossible to avoid, such as sales tax. He also revived a property tax that his populist predecessor, Premier Silvio Berlusconi, had abolished in a promise to voters.

The ministry’s report last month noted that the property tax figured prominently in the “tendency toward growth” in tax revenues. But sales tax revenue dropped slightly despite higher sales tax rates, indicating that consumers were feeling the pinch of the stagnant economy.

The heavier fiscal burden seems to have driven some honest citizens to rebel against the engrained culture of tax evasion.

The number of phone calls from the public to the tax police’s hotline to report stores, restaurants and other businesses that didn’t give customers sales receipts has almost doubled in the first nine months of this year, compared with the same period in 2011.

It’s apparently dawning on Italians that shirking taxes in the end only costs them, in terms of ever-higher levies and cutbacks in public services.

Citizens now increasingly understand that “the lack of revenue over time caused by tax evaders forced the government to stiffen the tax burden on categories where you can’t evade taxes,” Campana said, referring to workers whose taxes are deducted from paychecks. Another area where evasion is close to impossible is real estate ownership.

Odorisio noted the crackdown included extending the statute of limitations on tax evasion from six to eight years and establishing prison as a penalty for big-time evasion.

Other weapons include a measure promoted by the Monti government that limits cash payments to no more than €1,000. Paying by credit card or personal check is a relatively new habit for Italians, who are used to carrying wads of cash in their pockets, even for big-ticket items like home renovations or vacations.

Past governments in Italy sometimes resorted to tax amnesties to try to boost revenues. But critics, contending some Italians counted on such a possibility, described that strategy as only perpetuating the tax cheat culture.

Spain hasn’t had much success with its own tax amnesty introduced by the conservative government in March. That measure, expiring soon, allows undeclared assets or those hidden in tax havens to be repatriated by paying a 10 percent tax without criminal penalty. The amnesty is estimated to recuperate far less than the expected €2.5 billion ($ 3.25 billion).

Greece saw demands for tax system reform from international rescue creditors added on to conditions for future rescue loan payments, as Greek authorities acknowledged that a high-profile campaign to crack down on major tax cheats has produced disappointing results.

The cash-strapped government over the last 10 months recovered just €19 million ($ 25 million) of the €13 billion ($ 17 billion) of arrears on the list. A prominent Greek magazine publisher recently tapped anger over rich tax evaders by publishing a list of people allegedly holding Swiss bank accounts. He was acquitted this month of breaching privacy laws.

Meanwhile, Italian tax police are chasing after cheats who have shown some of the most chutzpah about not paying their fair share of taxes, like the Padua woman who advertised on the Internet that she had a couple of “cash-only” bed and breakfast rooms to let.

Tax police discovered the lodgings are part of an apartment in public housing she was given after falsely declaring she was indigent on her annual tax forms.

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AP reporters Derek Gatopoulos in Athens and Ciaran Giles in Madrid contributed to this report.

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RIM to introduce new BlackBerry 10 devices on January 30

(Reuters) – Research In Motion Ltd plans to introduce its new line of BlackBerry 10 smartphones on January 30, the company said on Monday, giving investors a measure of confidence the long-awaited devices are approaching the finish line.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company, a one-time pioneer in the smartphone industry, is betting its future on the new line of products, which will be powered by its new BlackBerry 10 operating system.

RIM has struggled over the last two years as its devices lost ground to snazzier and faster smartphones such as Apple Inc’s iPhone and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd‘s Galaxy line.

In a brief statement, RIM said the twice-delayed devices will be launched simultaneously in multiple countries. It will introduce two BlackBerry 10 smartphones, along with the platform that powers them at the event.

“While it is clearly an uphill battle for RIM given the recent launch of the iPhone 5 device and the aggressive marketing dollars being pushed toward Windows 8, we view it as a modest positive that a date is now officially set for the launch of the new BB10 devices,” Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche wrote in a note to clients.

RIM has said it plans initially to roll-out touchscreen devices. Phones with the mini QWERTY keyboards that many long-time BlackBerry users rave about will come a few weeks later, while lower-end versions of both devices will be launched later in the year.

The company did not say when the devices will be available in stores. That will be announced at the event.

Evercore Partners analyst Mark McKechnie believes the BB 10 devices will be available within two to four weeks of the launch event, but some such as Peter Misek of Jefferies expect the devices to go on sale only in March.

RIM’s Nasdaq-listed shares were up 3.2 percent at $ 8.82 in late afternoon trading on Monday. Its Toronto-listed shares rose nearly 3 percent to C$ 8.81.

ALL OR NOTHING

RIM says its new devices will be faster and smoother and have a large catalog of applications that are now crucial to the success of any new line of smartphones.

Last week, the new platform and devices won U.S. government security clearance, potentially allowing both U.S. and Canadian government agencies to deploy the new smartphones as soon as they are available.

These were the first BlackBerry products to win Federal Information Processing Standard 140-2 certifications ahead of their introduction, the company said.

RIM began carrier tests on the BB10 devices last month. The Canadian company hopes they will help it win back some of the market share it lost to the iPhone and devices that run on Google Inc’s Android operating system.

RIM’s stock has fallen more than 90 percent from a peak of over $ 148 in 2008. But at Friday’s close, the shares were up about 20 percent over the last two months on signs that the BlackBerry 10 devices are finally likely to make it to market.

(Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Janet Guttsman and Andre Grenon)

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‘Skyfall’ brings record Bond debut of $88.4M

LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Bond is cashing in at the box office.

“Skyfall,” the 23rd film featuring the British super-spy, pulled in a franchise-record $ 88.4 million in its U.S. debut, bringing its worldwide total to more than $ 500 million since it began rolling out overseas in late October.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:

1. “Skyfall,” Sony, $ 88,364,714, 3,505 locations, $ 25,211 average, $ 90,564,714, one week.

2. “Wreck-It Ralph,” Disney, $ 33,012,796, 3,752 locations, $ 8,799 average, $ 93,647,405, two weeks.

3. “Flight,” Paramount, $ 14,785,097, 2,047 locations, $ 7,223 average, $ 47,455,396, two weeks.

4. “Argo,” Warner Bros., $ 6,617,229, 2,763 locations, $ 2,395 average, $ 85,583,187, five weeks.

5. “Taken 2,” Fox, $ 4,012,829, 2,487 locations, $ 1,614 average, $ 131,300,000, six weeks.

6. “Cloud Atlas,” Warner Bros., $ 2,658,250, 2,023 locations, $ 1,314 average, $ 22,844,956, three weeks.

7. “The Man With the Iron Fists,” Universal, $ 2,592,705, 1,872 locations, $ 1,385 average, $ 12,821,030, two weeks.

8. “Pitch Perfect,” Universal, $ 2,573,350, 1,391 locations, $ 1,850 average, $ 59,099,993, seven weeks.

9. “Here Comes the Boom,” Sony, $ 2,522,790, 2,044 locations, $ 1,234 average, $ 39,033,885, five weeks.

10. “Hotel Transylvania,” Sony, $ 2,400,226, 2,566 locations, $ 935 average, $ 140,954,208, seven weeks.

11. “Paranormal Activity 4,” Paramount, $ 1,980,033, 2,348 locations, $ 843 average, $ 52,600,612, four weeks.

12. “Sinister,” Summit, $ 1,524,448, 1,554 locations, $ 981 average, $ 46,578,686, five weeks.

13. “Silent Hill: Revelation,” Open Road Films, $ 1,300,137, 1,902 locations, $ 684 average, $ 16,383,406, three weeks.

14. “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” Summit, $ 1,132,924, 607 locations, $ 1,866 average, $ 14,614,770, eight weeks.

15. “Lincoln,” Disney, $ 944,308, 11 locations, $ 85,846 average, $ 944,308, one week.

16. “Alex Cross,” Summit, $ 911,973, 1,090 locations, $ 837 average, $ 24,603,042, four weeks.

17. “Fun Size,” Paramount, $ 757,223, 1,301 locations, $ 582 average, $ 8,800,336, three weeks.

18. “Looper,” Sony, $ 582,150, 491 locations, $ 1,186 average, $ 64,669,383, seven weeks.

19. “The Sessions,” Fox, $ 545,550, 128 locations, $ 4,262 average, $ 1,655,222, four weeks.

20. “Seven Psychopaths,” CBS Films, $ 404,812, 356 locations, $ 1,137 average, $ 14,098,469, five weeks.

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

___

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War uproots 2.5 million Syrians, aid groups say

GENEVA (Reuters) – At least 2.5 million Syrians are believed to have fled their homes because of civil war, aid groups said on Tuesday, more than double previous estimates.

The figure comes from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, whose volunteers are on the frontlines of the 20-month conflict, delivering aid supplies and evacuating wounded.

“The figure they are using is 2.5 million. If anything, they believe it could be more, that this is a very conservative estimate,” Melissa Fleming, chief spokeswoman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a news briefing.

“So people are moving, people are really on the run, hiding. They are difficult to count and to access,” she said.

Aid agencies had previously thought there were around 1.2 million internally displaced Syrians.

Only 5 percent of the 2.5 million are believed to be living in public facilities, including warehouses and schools, said Fleming. The rest are staying with host families, making it more difficult to count them.

In recent days, air strikes on the town of Ras al-Ain near the Turkish border have caused some of the biggest refugee movements of the conflict.

The United Nations said on Friday that up to 4 million people inside Syria will need humanitarian aid by early next year when the country is in the grip of winter, up from 2.5 million now whose needs are not fully met.

For now, the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) says its food rations are reaching some 1.5 million. The UNHCR aims to provide assistance to 500,000 in Syria by the end of the year, mainly blankets, clothing, cooking kits and jerry cans, Fleming said.

“Unfortunately the recent deliveries have been very difficult, marred by violence and insecurity also spreading to parts of the country that used to be relatively calm,” she said.

A Syrian Arab Red Crescent warehouse in Aleppo was apparently hit by a shell, burning 13,000 blankets, she said. Unknown armed men hijacked a truck carrying 600 blankets on its way to Adra, outside Damascus.

The UNHCR has temporarily withdrawn about half of its 12 staff from north-eastern Hassaka province due to fierce fighting and insecurity, Fleming said.

“We see corresponding movement of populations there, Syrian Kurds for the most part, across the border into Iraq,” she said.

More than 407,000 Syrian refugees have registered or await registration in the surrounding region – Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq – and more are fleeing every day, according to UNHCR.

(Editing by Tom Pfeiffer)

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