Second book on fake Holocaust love story cancelled

A second book featuring a Holocaust love story between Florida-based Herman and Roma Rosenblat was cancelled on Tuesday after the publisher found out that the couple's amazing tale was not true.
For over a decade, Herman Rosenblat, 79, told newspapers, magazines and twice appeared on the Oprah Winfrey TV show to tell the story of how he met his wife-to-be when she threw apples and bread to him over the fence of a Nazi concentration camp.
He said they met again by chance on a blind date in New York years later, fell in love and got married.
But under scrutiny from scholars writing in The New Republic, Rosenblat admitted this week that he invented the love story, prompting Penguin Book's (PNGN.PK) imprint Berkley Books to cancel publication of his memoir due out in February.
Lerner Publishing Group, which specialises in children's books, on Tuesday said it was also recalling a newly released picture book "Angel Girl" based on the Rosenblat's story after being "shocked and disappointed" to learn the story was not true.
"While this tragic event in world history needs to be taught to children, it is imperative that it is done so in a factual way that doesn't sacrifice veracity for emotional impact," said Lerner Publishing's President Adam Lerner in a statement.
"We have been misled by the Rosenblats."
Lerner said the company had recalled the book from the market, cancelled all pending reprints and was issuing refunds on all returned books bought since its publication in September.
Scholars in The New Republic said the story could not be true as it would have been impossible to throw food over the fence at the camp at Schlieben, Germany, where Rosenblat was held as a teenager, putting pressure on the Rosenblats to explain.
Under public scrutiny, Rosenblat's agent Andrea Hurst said the writer had revealed to her that he invented the crux of the love story although his story about being in the concentration camps and the survival of the writer and his brothers was true.
Polish-born Rosenblat, a retired electrical contractor from North Miami Beach, Florida, could not be contacted for comment. While both books related to the Rosenblats have now been cancelled, Harris Salomon, president of Atlantic Overseas Pictures is pushing ahead with plans to make a $25 million movie about Herman, with filming to start in Hungary in March.
"The documented fact, acknowledged by his critics, is that Herman is a survivor of concentration camps. He found a way to tell his story and bring a message against hate. It is his story," Salomon said in a statement on Tuesday.
Rosenblat's book, "Angel at the Fence, the True Story of a Love that Survived," is the latest in a list of memoirs found to have been fabricated.
In 2006, U.S. author James Frey admitted he made up key parts of his drug and alcohol memoir "A Million Little Pieces."
This year Misha Defonseca admitted most of her eve online iskbestselling autobiography, about a young Jewish girl saved by wolves, was made up while "Love and Consequences" by a Margaret B. Jones about a mixed-raced girl growing up with U.S. gangs was recalled.star wars galaxies

Mangini is jettisoned

The New York Jets fired coach Eric Mangini yesterday, a day after a team that harbored Super Bowl hopes with five games left failed to make the playoffs.
The Jets started the season 8-3 under quarterback Brett Favre, beating New England and Tennessee on the road in consecutive weeks and raising visions among fans of the team's first Super Bowl trip since 1969.
"I don't think it was one thing," owner Woody Johnson said at a news conference. "We had to go in a different direction. There's nothing specific. It's just a call we made. Hopefully, it's correct."
The 37-year-old Mangini was called by Johnson one of the league's up-and-coming coaches, but he went 23-26 in three seasons in his first head coaching job. He had another year remaining on his contract.
"For the current New York Jets organization, we've made the decision to move on," Johnson said. "It's a judgment call."
Mangini held a team meeting yesterday morning to say farewell.
"I appreciate the opportunity that Woody and [GM] Mike [Tannenbaum] gave me for the past three years as the head coach of the New York Jets," Mangini said in a statement. "The organization has terrific people and I wish the Jets nothing but success. The time and effort invested by the coaches and players was tremendous and I value that beyond words.
"We worked hard to achieve two winning seasons out of the past three. I regret that we could not reach our goals for this year. I will always appreciate the passion and support of the fans as our focus was trying to build them a championship-caliber foundation and team."
"I feel that we let him down and we could have done a better job of making plays," wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery said. "It's tough."
The Jets went 1-4 in their final five games, losing to Denver, San Francisco, Seattle, and Miami and barely beating Buffalo.
They did not reach the postseason for the second straight year despite an offseason spending spree that included a trade for Favre after his retirement and return at Green Bay.
The 39-year-old Favre had just two TD passes and nine interceptions in those final five games.
Favre led the league in interceptions with 22 and complained after Sunday's 24-17 loss to Miami of pain in his right shoulder and neck.
The win gave the Dolphins the AFC East title under Chad Pennington, the Jets' longtime quarterback who was cut when the team obtained Favre.
As a rookie coach, Mangini took a team that had been 4-12 the previous year to the playoffs with a 10-6 record in 2006 and earned the nickname "Mangenius" from the tabloids. However, the Jets went 4-12 last season.

Same Old Jets should dump Favre, Mangini

No matter the coach, no matter the quarterback, no matter the owner, no matter the December, it always comes to this for the Jets.The only thing that changes are the names. The results are always the same. Always gut-wrenchingly the same.Now it's time for a new coach and time for a new quarterback.Same as it's always been. Same ... Old ... Jets. Again.
A home loss to the quarterback who was thrown in the garbage less than five months earlier. You knew it would come to this. You knew it would be Chad Pennington to drive home the dagger and, for good measure, give it a twist.Dolphins 24, Jets 17.No playoffs - again - for a franchise whose post- Super Bowl III curse is now 40 years old and shows no sign of relenting.No Brett Favre miracle on the final day of the season to somehow pull the Jets out of the muck of the previous month.Even if Favre had summoned one last magnificent performance, it would have gone for naught. By virtue of wins by the Patriots and Ravens, the Jets wouldn't have made the playoffs if Favre had thrown 10 touchdown passes.Instead, he provided more proof that he is finished as an NFL quarterback. With one touchdown pass, three interceptions, a 45.1 rating and a damaged throwing shoulder, Favre had only two TDs and nine INTs in his last five games. After getting to 8-3 with impressive road wins over New England and Tennessee, Favre lost four of them, and was fortunate that he didn't lose all five.After the collapse was completed yesterday, he explained exactly where his arm hurt: in the back of his shoulder, down his biceps and near his neck. Other than that, he's just fine.He's done, people. Finished. Had the Jets had any foresight, they'd have concluded the same thing before trading for him in August instead of wishing upon a star and pulling the trigger on a deal that left Pennington free as a bird and bound for Miami.This one's on everyone: owner Woody Johnson, general manager Mike Tannenbaum and coach Eric Mangini.Fellas, you blew it.And it isn't revisionist history to say I told you so. While the rest of the New York media and most of the fan base were fawning over the prospects of acquiring the aging Favre, I said at the time that it wouldn't work, that Pennington still was the best option.Sure, I'll admit to wondering about that notion at 8-3, but the way Favre has fallen off a cliff the last five weeks, it's obvious the Jets lost their gamble. In hideous fashion.That Pennington orchestrated the final indignity at the stadium where he was never appreciated enough by the fans and his employers only added to the disgrace.Favre said he'll take the next few weeks to decide whether he wants to come back next season. But what's to decide? He is 39 years old, has a bum shoulder and ended just like the aging quarterbacks before him.It is over. And if the Jets think for a minute that Favre is worth bringing back next season, they're in greater denial than anyone could have imagined.He has enjoyed a mostly terrific 18-year career, accompanied by the boyish enthusiasm we all love to see from professional athletes. But for three of the last four seasons, he has been a descending player, and this year, he bottomed out. Given Favre's 22 touchdown passes, his NFL-worst 22 interceptions and his aching shoulder that could very well require surgery, it is time for the Jets to move on.

Lakers put an end to Celtics' winning streak

Kobe Bryant (27 points), Pau Gasol (20 points, including seven in the final three minutes) and solid defense lead the way in victory over Boston, which had won 19 in a row.

It might not have been revenge, but for the Lakers and their adoring and fanatic fans, it was sweet nonetheless.And for Pau Gasol, who withered during the NBA Finals against Boston and who was withering again in the first half against the Celtics this afternoon, it was even sweeter.
Gasol's strong play in the fourth quarter pushed the Lakers to a 92-83 victory over the Celtics, breaking Boston's NBA-best 19-game winning streak Thursday at Staples Center.Gasol had nine of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, including seven in the final three minutes, doing so with drive and determination. He also blocked two shots late in the game.The Celtics defeated the Lakers last spring in the NBA Finals. They dropped a 39-point loss on the Lakers in Game 6 in Boston, the second-most lopsided game in a game-clinching contest in Finals history.
The Lakers blew a 24-point lead in Game 4 at home, allowing the Celtics to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.This time, the Lakers built a 10-point lead on Christmas Day and held on, thanks to Gasol.His basket with 2:48 left broke a tie and gave the Lakers an 83-81 lead.His floater over Kevin Garnett gave the Lakers an 85-81 lead with 2:00 left.After Kevin Garnett (22 points, 9 rebounds) scored, Gasol came through again for the Lakers.His left-handed layup and free throw gave the Lakers an 88-83 lead with 1:28 left.Then Gasol stepped up on defense.He blocked Ray Allen's three-point attempt and then blocked Paul Pierce's three-point attempt.Gasol and the rest of the Lakers began to rejoice over their victory.maple story mesosThe Lakers and Celtics will meet again Feb. 5 in Boston.Boston still has the best record in the NBA at 27-3.The Lakers have won three straight to improve to 24-5.dofus kamas

Santa Claus Has Taken Off

Santa Claus is coming to town, after a fast flight around the world dropping off presents for little boys and girls. Find a link inside the story to NORAD's track of Santa's Christmas flight.
Santa Claus is coming to town, after a fast flight around the world dropping off presents for little boys and girls.
He's already taken off and is working on the world's eastern most time zones in Russia.
Kris Kringle should probably hit Wisconsin sometime around the traditional 12:00 a.m. Christmas morning time.
There should be no delays, especially since the recent airline and economic crises haven't affected his reindeer, particularly Rudolph.
There also won't be any weather delays in Southeastern Wisconsin after a final blanket if snow hits the area today.
"Skies will clear tonight," said Storm Team 4Caster Craig Koplien.
"Anybody who's got to travel around during the day today, and I know that's lots of people, are really going to have a challenge, but the weather is going to improve just in time for Santa."warhammer gold

Mark Felt

Mark Felt, who has died at the age of 95, was appalled by the sleazy echoes of the pseudonym jokingly wished on him by Howard Simons, the managing editor of the Washington Post. But long after memories of Linda Lovelace's pornographic film have vanished, Felt will live on in American political history as Deep Throat, the mysterious insider whose leaks to journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein brought well-deserved ruin to the Nixon presidency. There was a neatly ironic touch about Felt's decision in 2005 to reveal his central role in exposing the background to the 1972 burglary of the Democrat Watergate office. "Follow the money," he enjoined the two Washington Post reporters when they briefly stumbled in their investigation into the White House conspiracy. And it was Felt's daughter's dire need for funds, allied to her father's failing health and memory, that fueled the family's decision to unmask him after 31 years of speculation. The revelation unleashed a torrent of further information, including Woodward's own account of how he originally established Felt as a contact in 1970. They met by chance at the White House, where Woodward, a young naval officer, was sent to deliver admiralty documents. Felt, a senior FBI agent, was also in the waiting room and they got chatting. Felt gave Woodward his office phone number, which the budding reporter later used from time to time to check odd news tips that came his way. It was evident, even at this early stage, that Felt had little love for the Nixon administration and was prepared to break the law to damage it. In 1971 he tipped off Woodward that the Vice-President, Spiro Agnew, had received a cash bribe of $2,500, a claim that could not be substantiated at the time but that turned out to be accurate when Agnew was forced to resign two years later. There was considerable ambivalence about Felt's attitudes. He seemed to have accepted the agency's persistent clandestine illegalities and played an active role in them. (They were eventually exposed in 1971 after activists stole thousands of incriminating documents from one of the bureau's field offices in Pennsylvania.) But he also harbored a visceral loathing of the Nixon administration for the unconstitutional threat he thought it posed to American society at large, and to the independence of the FBI in particular. Felt joined the bureau in 1942 at the relatively late age of 29. He had grown up in Twin Falls, Idaho, and had a fairly tough early life during the Depression. He worked his way through the local university by doing a variety of menial jobs, from waiting in restaurants to stoking boilers, but his luck changed after he married a fellow student in 1938. He was taken on to the staff of the state's Democratic Senator, David Clark, and the couple moved to Washington where, in addition to his work on Capitol Hill, Felt studied law in the evenings at George Washington University. He had just gained his degree when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Felt's age may have been a factor in his decision to opt for service with the FBI; within a short time he was immersed in counter-espionage against German agents, an activity he continued into the late 1940s, with Russian agents as his new target. He was a great admirer of the FBI's legendary boss J Edgar Hoover and fitted seamlessly into the template of sober-suited, short-haired, clean-cut professionals that Hoover established for his staff. The admiration appeared to be mutual and Felt was assigned to increasingly important postings in San Antonio, Seattle, Houston, Salt Lake City, New Orleans and Kansas. His reputation was greatly enhanced in this last posting when he vigorously smashed the city's notorious organized crime syndicate. He was brought back to Washington as second-in-command of agent training. Two years later he became chief of the inspection division, responsible for checking the performance of agents in the bureau's many field offices — and widely feared as the Goon Squad. Meanwhile, around him in the Washington headquarters, the aging Hoover's internal manoeuvres to maintain his tight control of the organization became ever more Byzantine. In 1971, in a palace coup designed to outflank his too-ambitious associate director, William Sullivan, Hoover created a new post for Felt which in effect made him the organization's third-ranking officer. Since Clyde Tolson, Hoover's deputy, was seriously ill and frequently absent, it put Felt in charge of the organization's day-to-day operations. There followed a train of events that could have been scripted for a bad melodrama. On 2 May 1972 Hoover, aged 77, was unexpectedly found dead of a heart attack at his Washington home. Felt saw himself as the obvious successor and was stunned when the White House announced the following day that President Nixon had nominated assistant attorney-general Patrick Gray - regarded as a supine flunky of the administration - to take over. Then, with the FBI still in shock over Gray's hostile opening moves, five men were arrested on 17 June for breaking into the offices rented by the Democratic party in the Watergate complex. Within days the FBI had deployed 150 agents on the case and Woodward had made his first contact with Felt, who confirmed that the burglary had wider political implications than were immediately apparent. Meanwhile, within the bureau, Gray had quickly forced the resignation of several of Hoover's closest associates, disbanded one of the key divisions which he thought hostile to himself, and made moves to reassign several other senior officials, including Robert Kunkel, agent in charge of the Washington field office. That, of course, was the office handling the Watergate investigation, and it quickly became apparent to Kunkel that Gray was helping the White House to obstruct the inquiry. After Deep Throat's identity had emerged, Paul Daly, a former FBI agent, broke cover to tell a newspaper in New York state that Felt had collaborated closely with Kunkel and two other senior agents to pass information to the Washington Post. This dissident group included Richard Long, who dealt with white-collar crime, and Charles Bates, responsible for all the bureau's criminal investigations. (By the time Daly told his story, Felt's reputed collaborators had all died). According to Daly, Felt would meet his colleagues at the end of each day to review new investigative material (there were eventually thousands of pages) and decide what could be passed on without giving clues to the source. Woodward and Bernstein later detailed the elaborate precautions that Felt had required Woodward to take before arriving at the underground garage where their discussions took place - routines apparently based on Felt's counter-espionage years. In a wonderfully improbable twist to the tale, Gray first ordered Bates to find the culprit and, when he predictably failed, put Felt in charge of the hunt. Felt had an inventive period as he searched for himself, successively throwing suspicion on the county prosecutor in Miami (where some of the White House's illegal money had been laundered), on the US Attorney's office in Washington, and even on someone in the White House. In fact, as eventually revealed in the Oval Office tape for October 19 1972, Felt's cover had already been blown. Bob Haldeman, the White House chief of staff, told Nixon that he had discovered that Felt was responsible for the leaks. He went on: "If we move on him he'll go out and unload everything. He knows everything that's to be known in the FBI. He has access to absolutely everything." No action was taken. The campaign to get rid of Gray succeeded when he was forced to admit at his Senate confirmation hearing that, at the behest of the White House, he had destroyed documents belonging to one of the Watergate conspirators. Nixon saw him off with the graceless comment, recorded on the tape for March 22 1973, that "the problem with him is that he is a little bit stupid". But it did not help Felt achieve his ambition to run the bureau. Gray was succeeded by William Ruckelshaus, a much tougher nut who discovered that Felt had leaked details of the FBI's illegal wiretapping to the New York Times. He forced Felt, then aged 60, to resign. It was not to be a quiet retirement. In 1978 Felt was indicted with Edward Miller, another FBI agent, for organizing the illegal burglary of people connected with the Weather Underground, a terrorist group accused of several US bombings. The FBI men claimed that their actions had been lawful because they believed the Underground had ties to foreign powers. Their conviction and fine in 1980 brought an unprecedented public demonstration by other FBI agents on the steps of the Washington courthouse. In 1981 the two were pardoned by President Ronald Reagan with the comment that "they had served the nation with great distinction". Felt remained an enigma to the end. On the face of it, he conformed to the classic stereotype of the ideal FBI man, and certainly shared many of Hoover's prejudices (he was, for example, deeply opposed to the recruitment of women agents). His colleagues saw him as tough but fair, and he also had a reputation of being all things to all men. He was, however, a notorious gossip and it may have been this that first drew him to an eager young journalist. He grew disgusted with the nature of the Nixon administration and its clear ambition to seize every available lever of power. It had already subverted the CIA and the Internal Revenue service and, with the death of Hoover, seemed determined to move in on the FBI. (The tape of March 13 1973 records Nixon saying to his White House counsel, John Dean: "Could we go after the bureau? How bad would it hurt the country?"). buy lineage 2 adenaWith Hoover's implacable bureaucratic muscle now gone, Felt and his colleagues apparently decided that the time for action had arrived. Fortunately for the bureau and for America at large, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were waiting handily in the wings. cheap ffxi gilFelt's wife, Audrey, died in 1984. He is survived by his son and daughter. • William Mark Felt, FBI agent, born 17 August 1913; died 18 December 2008 kamas dofus

Woods addresses health, caddie's comments

Tiger Woods spoke publicly Wednesday from the Chevron World Challenge, a tournament hosted by Woods that benefits the Tigers Woods Foundation, about the health of his surgically-repaired knee and addressed recent comments by caddie Steve Williams about fellow PGA-tour star Phil Mickelson.
Woods underwent season-ending reconstructive left knee surgery in June following a memorable win in a 19-hole playoff against Rocco Mediate at last year's U.S. Open, earning a 14th career major championship.
Second all-time only to Jack Nicklaus who has 18, Woods discussed his current state of health and was noncommittal about when he plans to resume his PGA schedule.
"The legs are strong. I'm still in the healing process. I can't tell you when (coming back to play competitively) -- my surgeons can't tell you when. There's some uncertainty in how it's (knee) going to respond. Everyone heals at different rates. I learn to live with it day-by-day. I have to think short term -- more goal-oriented," Woods stated.
In addition to the knee surgery, Woods also revealed in June that his time away would allow for the healing of a double stress fracture of his left tibia that was discovered prior to the Memorial Tournament last May. The stress fractures were attributed to Woods' rehabilitation from previous arthroscopic knee surgery and preparations for the U.S. Open.
Woods noted in June he originally ruptured the ACL in 2007 following the British Open when he was running at his home in Orlando. At that point, he elected not to have surgery, and instead attempted to play through the pain. Woods won nine of 12 tournaments after the discovery of the torn ACL -- including two majors.
There was more than just the nuances of rehabilitation to discuss, though, as recent comments by Woods' caddie about his relationship with Mickelson was also front and center.
"I communicated with Phil and we discussed it. I talked to Steve and he feels badly about it," Woods said. "It's over and done with."
Williams didn't hide his feelings for Mickelson earlier in the week when disparaging comments from the former surfaced in New Zealand newspapers.
"I wouldn't call Mickelson a great player 'cause I hate the (expletive)," Williams was quoted as saying.
He further clarified his position after coming under scrutiny for the statement.
"I don't particularly like the guy myself," Williams said. "He pays me no respect at all and hence, I don't pay him any respect. It's no secret we don't get along, either."
The Chevron World Challenge is taking place from December 17-21 at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California. The 16-man field competing in the off-season event are vying for a share of the $5.75 million purse.buy warhammer gold

N.B.A. Coaches Find There’s No Time to Lose

N.B.A. coaches are quickly finding out that the only job security they hold is when they actually hold a job. Reggie Theus followed a rapidly growing line on Monday when he was fired by the Sacramento Kings.
Theus is the sixth coach to be fired this season, which is in only its second month. The 76ers fired Maurice Cheeks last Saturday, and P. J. Carlesimo of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Eddie Jordan of the Washington Wizards, Sam Mitchell of the Toronto Raptors and Randy Wittman of the Minnesota Timberwolves had already been let go.
Lonnie Cooper and his Atlanta-based Career Sports and Entertainment represent all six of the fired coaches. They also represent Celtics Coach Doc Rivers, Portland Trail Blazers Coach Nate McMillan and Kenny Natt, the Kings assistant who ascended to Theus’s job on an interim basis.
The dismissals account for 20 percent of all N.B.A. coaches; last off-season, eight organizations changed coaches.
In the N.B.A., as the Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers distance themselves from the rest of the league, owners and general managers are not sitting back and hoping to catch up. Instead, they are looking to inject their teams with new leadership, an easier tactic than shifting rosters of multimillion-dollar athletes.
“It just shows you the lack of patience with coaches,” said Jeff Van Gundy, a former coach of the Knicks and the Houston Rockets and now an ESPN analyst. “We have great patience with players, we have great patience with G.M.’s and we have great patience with owners, but we have next to none for coaches.”
Clearly, all the firings were the results of teams off to disappointing starts; the fired coaches were a combined 29-78 this season. Still, the dismissals of Jordan and Mitchell particularly rankled some around the league. Jordan guided the Wizards to the playoffs the previous three years and their first postseason series win since 1982. The league tabbed Mitchell as the coach of the year for the 2006-7 season after the Raptors tied a franchise record by winning 47 games.
“No coach is perfect,” Van Gundy said. “The question you have to ask yourself is if, in a year from now, are you better off coaching now than a year ago? Stability wins. You get a guy that you believe in and you ride him through that, from the good to the bad.”
To a degree, even the firing of Theus appeared disconcerting to some. In 2007-8, his first season as an N.B.A. coach, Theus led a ragtag Kings group to 39 wins, perhaps establishing unrealistic expectations this season after the Kings traded Ron Artest to Houston.
Among the league’s anomalies in longevity is Utah’s stalwart coach, Jerry Sloan. The N.B.A. has had 225 coaching changes since Sloan took the Jazz’s helm in December 1988.
“It’s always intriguing to me that everyone preaches we’re all in this together, we’re a family,” Van Gundy said. “The difference is we are in this together only when it’s going good.
“In some of these organizations, it’s about rapid-fire change of coaches, and the thing is, it just doesn’t work. The teams that are constantly in upheaval rarely are the successful ones.”
Now, Van Gundy said, “It’s championship or bust.”

'The Day the Earth Stood Still' launches to the top

The sci-fi remake takes in $31 million to lead the weekend box office. 'Four Christmases' takes second place.

Despite some far-from-stellar reviews, 20th Century Fox's remake of the sci-fi classic "The Day the Earth Stood Still" dominated the weekend box office, taking in $31 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters.With Keanu Reeves as an alien who must judge the human race and Jennifer Connelly as an astrobiologist on whom the world's fate depends, "Day" opened on 3,560 screens, with a per-screen average of $8,708, according to data tracker Media by Numbers.
"It's interesting that mid-December turns out to be a nice time to release summer-style action movies," said Media by Numbers President Paul Dergarabedian. "People are receptive to these types of movies in the middle of the holiday season. It gives them a little taste of summer."The big holiday-themed winner continued to be Warner Bros.' "Four Christmases," a romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn as a couple paying holiday visits to all four of their divorced parents. It held strong in its third week in release, earning $13.3 million in the No. 2 slot for total ticket sales so far of nearly $88 million.The only other traditional December fare in the top 10 was Overture Films' "Nothing Like the Holidays," which took in $3.5 million to rank seventh. The movie, which opened on about half as many screens as "Day," stars John Leguizamo, Debra Messing, Alfred Molina and Elizabeth Pena as an often contentious Latino family gathering for Christmas.
The overall box-office take for the weekend was down 41% from a year earlier, when the unlikely combination of "I Am Legend" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks" led the industry to its biggest-ever December weekend. Media by Numbers reported solid results this last weekend across a wide spectrum of films, including late-season openings angling to catch the attention of Academy Awards voters.Rounding out the top five were Summit Entertainment's "Twilight" with $8 million (and $150.1 million in four weeks), Walt Disney Co.'s "Bolt" with $7.5 million and Fox's "Australia" with $4.3 million.The biggest winner among openers on a per-screen basis was Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino," released by Warner Bros. with Oscar hopes, which grossed $284,000 on six screens for an average of $47,333. Also opening strong were Miramax's "Doubt," with $525,000 on 15 screens, and IFC's "Che" with $60,000 on two screens. Other limited-release films doing solid business in the pre-Oscar season included Fox Searchlight's "Slumdog Millionaire," $2.2 million on 169 screens; Focus' "Milk," $2.6 million on 328 screens; and Universal's "Frost/Nixon," $630,240 on 39 screens.The $31-million domestic opening of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" was augmented by an additional $39 million in foreign release, Fox executives said. "It really did exceed our expectations -- globally," said Chris Aronson, Fox's senior vice president of distribution. He said the film's theme -- whether humans could deal with climate change, substituting for the Cold War in the 1951 original -- attracted more women and older viewers than a typical science-fiction movie. "Day" benefited from showings on 123 Imax big screens, which accounted for $3.8 million, or 12.3%, of the total take for the film, Dergarabedian said. Imax movies generally cost about one-third more than regular showings."It just shows you that people are still willing to pay a premium, even in this tough economic time, to see something you can't see anywhere else," said Greg Foster, chairman of Imax Filmed Entertainment. "There's no home-theater equivalent." E. Scott Reckard is a Times staff writer. wow gold

Hollywood Foreign Press rewards old favorites with Golden Globe nominations

No freshman network show is recognized, but HBO's 'In Treatment' and 'True Blood' get nods.

A raft of familiar names in the television industry were nominated for Golden Globes on Thursday, underscoring the difficulty new shows have had gaining traction this season.Among the series nominated for the awards, which recognize the best programming in 2008, there was not a single freshman show that debuted on broadcast television this fall. The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. ignored "The Mentalist," the one significant hit of the season, as well as programs like "Fringe" and "Life on Mars" that were launched with high expectations.Instead of crowning hot new shows, the organization focused largely on returning programs such as "House," "30 Rock" and "Brothers & Sisters." The actors singled out for recognition included many past nominees such as Tony Shalhoub, Sally Field, Kyra Sedgwick, Alec Baldwin and Steve Carell.

NBC's Leno move has biz talking

The sour economy, mass industry layoffs, threat of a SAG strike and fall ratings implosion already had producers, agents and execs in a funk.
Then came NBC's Monday move to blow scripted programming out of the 10 p.m. hour in favor of "The Jay Leno Show."
For the industry players whose livelihood depends on the health of TV's scripted biz, it was yet another lump of coal in an already ugly holiday-season stocking.
"It's a bummer for the writers who are writing for drama," said one agent. "Five less scripted drama shows at 10 p.m. is bad for the business ... Some leaders at NBC said there hasn't been a 10 p.m. drama that's worked in three or four years. But no, they just haven't developed the best dramas."
Writers have already felt the primetime pinch in recent years, as the networks devote more hours to reality programs -- as well as repeats on dead nights such as Fridays and Saturdays.
"The more reality shows and talkshows the broadcast networks do, the more that dramas will go to cable, where they can be done properly," "The Closer" exec producer James Duff said this week at a Hollywood Radio and TV Society panel.
Veteran producer Steven Bochco, who's latest series, "Raising the Bar," airs on TNT, said the move may actually benefit producers - by convincing them to move to cable.
"I think what NBC's done is smart for them, at least in the short term," he said. "And, contrary to a lot of doom and gloomers, I actually think what they've done is good for drama producers. It will, of necessity, force them to cable, where the atmosphere is far friendlier and the creative environment more conducive to doing original work."
Cable has indeed picked up some of the slack as broadcasters move away from scripted fare, but there's still no substitute for a major hit primetime franchise.
Talent with projects in the works at NBC now wonder whether there will be room for their wares next fall. For its part, NBC claimed the answer was yes: "We're still doing as much development," NBC Entertainment/Universal Media co-chair Ben Silverman said Tuesday. "Overall the load will be similar."
But with the 10 p.m. slot gone, and NBC having earlier proclaimed that it would focus mostly on low-cost fare at 8 p.m., that just leaves the 9 p.m. hour. And with tentpoles like "Law and Order: SVU," "Heroes" and "The Office" all battling for that spot, there may not be much room left for anyone else.
At the Peacock, that means high-profile projects in development -- such as David E. Kelley's new legal drama, as well as the Dick Wolf crime drama "Lost and Found" -- now don't have a shot at the once-marquee 10 p.m. slot (when producers have a bit more content leeway) and will have to duke it out for what few 9 p.m. hours are available.
Even for the shows that remain, "The Jay Leno Show" may offer the kind of halo effect that NBC isn't exactly looking for: The aging up of its viewership. "The Tonight Show's" median age is currently 56 -- about 10 years older than the network's primetime median age (46). Leno would likely dramatically bump up that primetime median -- and perhaps age other shows as well.
"You have to look at how (does NBC) sell itself as a home for the top talent in town," one agent said. "What are you doing to the intrinsic, long-term value of NBC? It's definitely going to be a tricky place."
It doesn't help that the Peacock's mass executive layoff and restructure this week has also left talent and reps confused over whom to pitch -- and who's in charge.
"You're pitching to (new NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios primetime prexy) Angela Bromstad, but Ben helps pick the schedule -- yet he didn't hire Angela," one insider said. "And (NBC U topper) Jeff Zucker makes the final decision, but he's not in any of the pitches. Who's the boss? And is there any chance of finding a champion to get your show on the air?"
Meanwhile, others wonder whether the NBC move will lead its competitors to make similarly drastic moves amid the depressed advertising market.
"It's scary," said one rival network exec. "It puts the pressure on the rest of us. Any time a network does something drastic like that, there's the possibility of someone else doing something."
Among the other drastic steps that one or more networks may kick around: returning time, such as Saturday nights, to the affiliates. (In another recent unprecedented move, Fox just gave half of its Saturday morning slot to stations and will program the other half with infomercials.)
Reaction from NBC affiliates -- some of whom had been campaigning to take back the 10 p.m. hour for local newscasts -- was mixed.
"It's a pioneering move, and pioneers get a lot of arrows in the back," said WTHR Indianapolis general manager Jim Tellus, who called the Leno announcement "a bold move." "I think there are general managers who see it as an exciting opportunity, and others who are concerned about moving away from a traditional lineup.
"Is there some concern out there? I'm sure there is," Tellus added. "But I have heard more from my counterparts that 'You know, at least they did something.'?
Analyzing all the scripted shows running on the networks at 10 p.m. over the past few seasons, Carat USA senior VP-director of programming Andy Donchin conceded that a Leno-hosted gabber "will be at the bottom of the list" in terms of ratings. wow gold
"But that's still greater than what most cable networks deliver in primetime," he added.buy wow gold

Williams Powers Panthers Past Tampa Bay

DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart proved a dominating tandem, and the Panthers seized control of the competitive NFC South with a 38-23 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
Williams rushed for a career-high 186 yards and two touchdowns, Stewart added 115 yards and two more scores and the Panthers set a team record for yards rushing for the second time in a month.
And this time it was against the NFL's fourth-rated defense that came in having allowed only one rushing TD all season.
The Panthers (10-3) avenged their worst loss of the season and grabbed the top spot in the division, moving one game ahead of the Buccaneers (9-4).
"People remember what you do in December," Panthers coach John Fox said. "This was a big stage and I like the way our guys met that challenge."
The Monday nighter featuring the top teams in the NFC South was billed as a chance for the division to emerge from the shadow of the tough NFC East.
The overlooked contenders played even through three quarters, before the Panthers wore down the Buccaneers' highly regarded defense in the final period behind their emerging stars in the backfield.
"Those guys are that good," said coach Jon Gruden, whose Bucs had their four-game winning streak snapped. "Those guys are going to make guys miss. Both of them."
Steve Smith added nine catches for 117 yards and a touchdown, and the Panthers overcame Jake Delhomme's two interceptions behind their dominating ground game, an area Carolina targeted in the offseason by drafting Stewart and overhauling its offensive line.
"It's kind of what we're built around," Fox said. "I think we got bigger and more physical up front and both of those back are pretty special."
They powered the Panthers within a game of the New York Giants for the best record in the NFC. At the Giants in two weeks, the Panthers _ yes the Panthers _ hold their own destiny for the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.
The Buccaneers wasted a career day from Antonio Bryant, who caught nine passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns, including an outstanding one-handed TD grab with 2:29 left.
Matt Bryant's extra-point attempt after Antonio Bryant's final score was blocked by Julius Peppers. The Panthers then recovered the onside kick, and Williams scored his 13th touchdown _ breaking Stephen Davis' single-season team record _ to put it away.
"The O-line and the fullback did an outstanding job blocking for us today," Williams said. "They did an outstanding job getting us to the second level."
It was a frustrating night for the Bucs, who roughed up Carolina 27-3 in October _ holding Carolina to 40 yards rushing. A win would have given them control of the division.
Instead, their offense couldn't keep up. Jeff Garcia lost to Carolina for the first time in six starts despite throwing for 321 yards and two touchdowns. Garcia was sacked five times.
"Our defense has bailed us out so often this season," Garcia said. "This was one of those nights were offensively we needed to be better."
In his first game back in Carolina since suffering a career-threatening knee injury 14 months ago, Carnell "Cadillac" Williams had a 4-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter to tie it at 17.
DeAngelo Williams and Stewart then took over.
Stewart rumbled over tackles for an 18-yard gain before his 4-yard TD run with 13:21 left put the Panthers ahead to stay.
After Peppers sacked Garcia to end the Buccaneers' next drive, Williams and Stewart dazzled.
Williams gained 41 yards, Stewart picked up 3 and 30, and then Williams raced 16 yards for the decisive four-play TD drive.
"Some of the plays were plays we'd seen before," Bucs linebacker Derrick Brooks said. "They did a good job of blocking us this time. I've got to give them credit for breaking tackles and making us miss."
Williams became only the third player in Carolina's 14-year history to surpass 1,000 yards rushing in a season when he rumbled 40 yards up the middle. That set up Stewart's 2-yard TD run with 1:56 left before halftime that gave Carolina a 10-3 lead.
Carolina finished with 299 yards rushing, surpassing the team-record 264 it had last month against Detroit. The total was only 7 yards shy of the most allowed by Tampa Bay.
"It is embarrassing, definitely," linebacker Barrett Ruud said. "Especially since you don't get many opportunities to have that national audience and this was by far our worst game." buy warhammer gold
Notes:@ Tampa Bay extended its streak of not scoring a first-quarter TD to six games. ... Stewart's two TDs gave him eight, breaking the Panthers' single-season record for rookies held by the late Fred Lane. ... Bucs DT Jovan Haye (knee) did not play, replaced by Ryan Sims in the starting lineup.cheap wow gold

Guitarist Satriani sues Coldplay

Grammy nominees Coldplay have been sued by rock guitarist Joe Satriani, who claims the band's song Viva La Vida uses one of his riffs.
In court papers filed in Los Angeles on Thursday, he said the song used "substantial original portions" of his 2004 instrumental If I Could Fly.
Satriani, 52, wants a jury trial and is seeking damages and "any and all profits" for the alleged plagiarism.
Coldplay are shortlisted for seven Grammys, including song of the year.
Viva La Vida is credited to the band's four members - singer Chris Martin, bass player Guy Berryman, guitarist Johnny Buckland and drummer Will Champion. buy wow gold
The song's title was inspired by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
It appeared on the album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends - which was released in June and went to number one in 36 countries - and was also one of their hit singles.
Satriani's track appears on his album Is There Love in Space?

Plaxico Burress' season is over as Giants suspend him

The New York Giants fined and suspended Plaxico Burress on Tuesday for four games -- the rest of the regular season -- after he accidentally shot himself in the right thigh over the weekend at a Manhattan nightclub. The team also placed him on the reserve non-football injury list, which means the wide receiver couldn't come back for the playoffs.The team punished Burress a day after he was charged with illegal weapons possession, which carries a penalty of 3 1/2 to 15 years in prison.
Dr. Scott Rodeo, a team physician, examined Burress and told the Giants that the gunshot wound would have sidelined him for four to six weeks.Six players, including the heart of the Minnesota Vikings' defensive line, were suspended for four games without pay by the NFL for violating the league's anti-doping policy.All six were punished for using a diuretic, which can serve as a masking agent for steroids.
The players were running back Deuce McAllister and defensive linemen Charles Grant and Will Smith of the New Orleans Saints; defensive linemen KevinWilliams and Pat Williams of the Vikings; and long snapper Bryan Pittman of the Houston Texans.
COLLEGE FOOTBALLMumme fired by New Mexico St.New Mexico State fired Coach Hal Mumme after four years. The Aggies lost seven consecutive games to end the season at 3-9, 1-7 in the Western Athletic Conference.Oregon has picked offensive coordinator Chip Kelly to be Coach Mike Bellotti's eventual successor. Bellotti will become the school's athletic director when Pat Kilkenny steps down. Asked if that would happen after this season, Bellotti told reporters he didn't believe so. . . . Coach Charlie Weis will return for a fifth season at Notre Dame despite another disappointing year, several media outlets reported. . . . Cincinnati Coach Brian Kelly said he plans to stay at the school after acknowledging that other schools had expressed an interest in him.
BASEBALLVazquez appears headed to BravesJavier Vazquez is likely headed from the Chicago White Sox to the Atlanta Braves in a multiplayer trade.The teams reached a tentative agreement that would send the 32-year-old pitcher to Atlanta, two people familiar with the deal said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the trade had not been finalized.A source told ESPN that the deal will include four other players, including reliever Boone Logan, who would also go from the White Sox to the Braves.
ETC.Fairfax's Hill commits to USCLos Angeles Fairfax High senior forward Solomon Hill, who had committed to Arizona before Lute Olson retired as coach because of health concerns, confirmed that he has switched his commitment to USC.The 6-foot-6 standout said there was a breakdown in communication between Arizona's new coaching staff and recruits. Hill also said he believed Wildcats assistant Mike Dunlap should have been awarded the job that went to Russ Pennell on an interim basis."There was no communication," said Hill, who averaged 15.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists last season. "We heard everything through the media. That was kind of bad on their part."Hill said USC was always his second choice and that he liked the idea of playing for an up-tempo team that keeps improving under Coach Tim Floyd.-- Ben Bolch The NHL has suspended Dallas Stars forward Sean Avery indefinitely pending a hearing with Commissioner Gary Bettman.The league says the suspension was imposed after Avery made "inappropriate public comments, not pertaining to the game."Swimmer Michael Phelps was named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year after winning a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics. He is the first swimmer to receive the honor. . . . Police divers in Quebec, Canada, recovered the body of Hubert "Pit" Martin, 64, a four-time NHL All-Star in the 1960s and '70s, who drowned after the snowmobile he was driving plunged into an icy lake near his home. . . . Golf great Seve Ballesteros underwent more surgery, this time to drain fluid from his brain. . . . The postseason bonus pool shares for the World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies was $351,504, and a full share for the Tampa Bay Rays was $223,390.wow gold

Sooners win Big 12 South thanks to BCS computers

Texas defeated Oklahoma, 45-35, earlier this season in Dallas.
But it's the Sooners, not the Longhorns, who will represent the Big 12 South in the conference's championship game, against Missouri on Saturday night in Kansas City.
Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech finished in the three-way tie for the division title, but the Sooners (11-1, .9351) were awarded the spot after finishing second behind Alabama (12-0, .9713) but ahead of Texas (11-1, .9223) in Sunday's BCS standings, which the Big 12 opted to use to break the deadlock created by Texas beating Oklahoma, Oklahoma beating Texas Tech and Texas Tech beating Texas.
If Oklahoma defeats Missouri, the Sooners likely will head to the BCS national championship game and face either Alabama or Florida on Jan.8 in Miami. If Oklahoma loses, Texas could still back into the national championship game without playing for its conference championship. Texas Tech appears destined for a non-BCS bowl after a one-loss season that included the Red Raiders' signature win over the Longhorns and a 56-20 throttling of Oklahoma State.
Florida, USC, Utah, Texas Tech, Penn State, Boise State and Ohio State round out the Top 10.
Texas coach Mack Brown, as you might imagine, was not happy. "We don't like it, we don't agree with it or think it's fair," he said "But, like anything else, we'll handle it and move forward."
In the future, Brown would like the Big 12 to follow the lead of the SEC, ACC or Conference USA in the case of three-way ties. That conference eliminates the lowest of the three teams in the BCS rankings, then determines the winner by head-to-head competition.
"I think their systems are fairer and give more credit to how the two highest teams performed against each other on the field," he said, not noting that such a solution would have given the division title to his team.
While Brown is a likeable guy, and his decision to put sportsmanship first was admirable when he pulled quarterback Colt McCoy with 11 minutes left in the Longhorns' 49-9 victory over Texas A&M on Thursday night, it is hard to argue with the conference's decision, as two teams were going to be left out no matter what in this flawed system.
The Sooners got their big boost from the BCS' six computers, which ranked them No.1 ahead of Texas, Alabama and Florida. The computers gave Oklahoma credit for playing two non-league opponents - TCU and Cincinnati - in the BCS top15. Texas played just one non-league opponent - Rice - with a winning record.
IRISH CREAMED: The calls for Charlie Weis' dismissal grow louder from the Irish faithful after a demoralizing 38-3 loss to USC on Saturday night in L.A.
But nothing apparently will be decided until Dec.8, after Weis - who has a 28-21 record through four seasons - meets with new AD Jack Swarbrick.
Weis' winning percentage (.571) is lower than both Bob Davie and Ty Willingham - both of whom were fired - and Weis' offense totally imploded against the Trojans, finishing with just 93 total yards. Irish quarterback Jimmy Clausen completed 11 of 22 passes for 41 yards, was intercepted twice and sacked four times, and the Irish never crossed midfield until the second play of the fourth quarter. Cheap warhammer gold
Technically, Notre Dame (6-6) is bowl eligible and Weis has said he would accept, if only to give him 14 more days of practice time. But isn't a bowl supposed to be a reward for a good season?

James Lifts, Then Crushes Knicks’ Hopes

There was a lot to cheer Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden: LeBron James being introduced, LeBron James throwing talc in the air, LeBron James slamming two-handed breakaway dunks and LeBron James refusing to rule out playing for the Knicks.
It was a night to cheer for the future, for the possibilities that come with salary-cap space and for the fantasy that James, a potential free agent in 2010, may some day pull on a blue and orange jersey.
James was as splendid and occasionally dominant, although he hardly needed to exert himself in a game that was never close as the Cleveland Cavaliers dismantled the retooled Knicks, 119-101. He finished with 26 points and had ample support from Zydrunas Ilgauskas (11 points) and Delonte West (16 points).
The Cavaliers were as crisp and efficient as the Knicks were dull and disoriented. Al Harrington and Tim Thomas, acquired in a pair of salary-purging trades last week, seemed shaky in their debuts. The rest of the Knicks looked no better, as the team shot 41.4 percent from the field and turned the ball over 17 times.
The Knicks put James in their sights last Friday when they made two trades to clear cap space in 2010. One of those deals remains unresolved, however.
Cuttino Mobley, the third player acquired last week, remains in limbo because of concerns over his heart, which surfaced during routine testing this week. The Knicks allowed the trade to become final Tuesday, so Mobley is theirs regardless of what happens.
Mobley visited a specialist in Boston on Tuesday and is scheduled for more tests on Wednesday. Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, the Knicks do not expect him to be cleared this week. That means he will miss at least two more games, against Detroit and Golden State.
So the Knicks played another game with an incomplete roster and a jumbled rotation. The lineup took another blow in the first half, when Nate Robinson left with a strained right groin muscle.
Robinson, who had started every game since the trade, injured himself when he landed awkwardly after converting a fast-break layup. His status is uncertain.
Although Harrington and Thomas have experience playing the run-and-gun, they seemed uneasy in Coach Mike D’Antoni’s offense. They were guilty of stopping the offense at times while trying to become acclimated.
Harrington, who had 13 points, took 16 shots, the second most on the team, and made just five. Thomas (16 points) went 4 for 9. Quentin Richardson led the Knicks with 22 points.
The Knicks sorely missed Zach Randolph’s rebounding, particularly on the offensive end, and Jamal Crawford’s instant offense. Mostly, the Knicks missed the offensive flow they had established before making the two trades.
They looked a lot like the Knicks of Isiah Thomas, with no evidence of chemistry or organization. They were booed frequently in the first half, as the Cavaliers pushed the lead to 20 points, then 30. Cleveland led by 67-38 at halftime and never looked back.
The only consolation in any of this was James’s gracious praise of New York and the Garden, and his graceful avoidance of any predictions about his future. He swatted away a direct question about playing for the Knicks.
“To bring that type of distraction to our team right now would be unfair to my team, my teammates, coaching staff and the rest of the organization,” James said.
During an eight-minute session with a room packed with 60 reporters, James clarified a few of his career priorities. He said he was not concerned with a team’s market size, noting that Tim Duncan has fared quite well in San Antonio.
He said he considered defense a critical factor in winning titles, which would conceivably rule out the Knicks. He said his greatest priority was collecting championships.
James said he was flattered by all of the speculation tying him to the Knicks (and the Nets and the Detroit Pistons), but said it was too early to contemplate free agency. James would be the biggest prize in 2010, when Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Amare Stoudemire can also be free agents.
“July 1 of 2010 is a very big day,” James said. “It’s probably going to be one of the biggest days in free-agent history in the N.B.A.”
But James left Knicks fans with two valentines to hold for the next 19 months. He said he was “really close” to D’Antoni, one of his coaches with the USA Basketball team last summer, whom he called an “offensive mastermind.”
And he said he loved playing at the Garden.
“Every time I come here it’s a warm feeling, because you know the history,” he said. “Being a basketball junkie like myself, how could you not love it, being in this building.”
REBOUNDS
Team officials have given no indication that Cuttino Mobley’s career is in jeopardy, but they cannot say when, or if, he will be cleared to play. “I don’t know yet,” said Donnie Walsh, the team president, declining to say whether Mobley had failed his physical examination. “I’m saying right now that he’s undergoing further tests and we’ll make a determination when we get more information.” The team will not confirm widespread reports that Mobley is being tested for heart issues, although multiple people have confirmed that is the case. The Knicks chose Tuesday to waive the physical examination requirements, thus allowing their trade with the Los Angeles Clippers to become final. Clippers officials were frustrated by the delays, which forced them to play Monday’s game without Zach Randolph. “All I know is if he has had anything, he has been asymptomatic," Coach Mike Dunleavy told Los Angeles reporters. “He’s never had any issue with us.” Walsh declined to say whether the Knicks would be entitled to compensation if Mobley could not play. “I did the trade, we’re happy with the trade, it’s a good trade for us,” he said.warhammer gold

Rockets pull away from Heat

Yao Ming scored 28 points and pulled down 12 rebounds to lead the Rockets to their third straight victory, 107-98, over the Miami Heat.
Houston won despite a rough offensive night for Tracy McGrady, who was limited to six points on 2-of-7 shooting in 31 minutes of court time.
Ron Artest added 20 points, while Luis Scola contributed 11 points and 13 rebounds for Houston, which moved to 7-3 on the road and beat the Heat for the fourth time in the last five matchups. It was the perfect finish of a three- game road trip for the Rockets, who also beat Washington and Orlando during the swing.
"On this trip we learned something. We could which way we are going to play basketball," said Yao. "We are going to use the advantage we have on the team. For the first 10 games we played without team discipline. We passed the ball to the weak side very well on this trip. We need to keep doing that the rest of the season."
Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers each scored 23 for the Heat, who have alternated losses and wins in their last 10 games. Shawn Marion scored 17 to go with seven rebounds, but Wade struggled by going 7-of-23 from the field.
"We bit ourselves in the foot too early," said Marion. "I think when we scramble like that, we are not in position to get some of those loose rebounds and that's what killed us tonight, and our inactivity in the first half."
A three-pointer by Chalmers had the Heat within 95-90 with nearly 4 1/2 minutes remaining, but Carl Landry responded with a three-point play and Miami never got closer than seven the remainder of the game.
Rafer Alston's three-ball expanded Houston to a 25-14 lead with three minutes remaining in the opening quarter, and it was 30-21 going to the second.
It was 56-48 at the half, but the Heat rallied to close the deficit to 58-56 on a Michael Beasley layup with nearly eight minutes remaining in the third. Houston came back with the ensuing 11 points, capped by a Yao three-point play. Yao had 10 consecutive Houston points at one juncture in the quarter, finishing that spurt with a rare three-point jumper, expanding the lead to 71-59.
Miami closed the gap to 80-75 going into the fourth, but the Rockets got quick baskets from Landry and Aaron Brooks to start the last quarter. warhammer gold
Game Notes
The Rockets are 5-0 when breaking the century mark this season, while the Heat are 1-7 when allowing at least 100 points...Erik Spoelstra had his first technical foul as Heat head coach...Miami is 5-3 at home...Haslem has at least five rebounds in 71 straight games...Marion is expected to miss Miami's next game, Wednesday at Portland, to attend a family funeral...The Rockets host Indiana on Wednesday.

Clinton fans, foes weigh in on secretary of state post

Illinois Senator Barack Obama and New York Senator Hillary Clinton. (Getty Images Photo)Barack Obama may be the new leader of the free world, but Topic A this week has become the will-she-or-won't-she speculation about Hillary Rodham Clinton and the secretary of state's job.So superheated is interest in the question that the Gallup Organization conducted a national poll on it, which found that 57 percent of Americans and eight of 10 Democrats favor Obama naming her to the post.A Marist poll released Wednesday found 55 percent of New Yorkers want to see Clinton named to the post, and 72 percent think she'll do a good or excellent job at it.As transition team lawyers vet the complex dealings of former President Bill Clinton - and as Clinton herself is said to be weighing whether she really wants to surrender her Senate seat for a job as the nation's top diplomat - ordinary citizens, pundits and pols have joined their voices in a rising cacophony of opinion on the topic.
Out in Mentor, Ohio, a die-hard Hillary backer who has been following news accounts yesterday called her "an excellent choice."She and her husband would be wonderful around the world - but I do have some concerns that the media starts treating her with a little respect," said Jeff Dameron, an unemployed banker who went door-to-door for Clinton in the cold winter months before Ohio's primary, and still won't say how he voted in November. "I am hoping maybe this was the happy ending I was looking for after all this mess."Clinton surrogates and some analysts are publicly and privately circulating her strong doubts about whether she should take the job."She has to evaluate whether she's comfortable closing down her political operation," said one person familiar with the situation.Syndicated columnist David Broder, who calls himself a fan, argues the job would be a "mistake" for Clinton because she would find it hard to subordinate her views to those of her new boss, and her husband would be "unlikely to remain silent."Dick Morris, a onetime Bill Clinton adviser who is now a poison-pen critic of the couple, contends the public is witnessing Hillary's "brazen" and "desperate" efforts to get the job. She may have discussed it with Obama in Chicago last week, Morris wrote on his Web site yesterday, then tried to lock that into an "offer" by leaking an account of their meeting to the media. Obama, Morris argues, is seeking to escape the trap by having allies talk about the legal problems and lining up Senate jobs for her."In the world of Hillary and Bill, predictions are almost impossible," Morris wrote. "But Obama and the world would be well served if Hillary did not get the job."At the other end of the spectrum are posts on the Web site of the New Agenda, an organization set up by Clinton backers who believe her primary campaign was undermined by rampant sexism in the media and her own party."Hillary on Obama's leash as SOS? . . . I would want her out of the Senate too if I were him," posted one reader. And psychotherapist Barbara Schlachet contributed a piece expressing irritation at those who fear Clinton will "suck up the limelight" in an Obama administration.And then, "Will secretary of state be enough for Hillary's army?" asks The Daily Beast, a news-buzz site founded by Tina Brown, which yesterday released a poll finding 61 percent of American women see gender bias in the media, and eight in 10 women see it in politics as well.When the going gets rough, Brown wrote, Obama will need Clinton "like Batman needs Robin. . . . And God help Bill if he screws it up for her."wow goldStella O'Leary, president of the Irish-American Democrats, a political action committee, said Clinton as secretary of state would be "absolutely wonderful from our perspective; she's such a friend of Ireland." . . . It's always nice to have a friend in high places. But now I'm hearing in these last hours that she may not want it," O'Leary said. "She likes politics a great deal, she and Bill Clinton, they like the rough and tumble of political argument, and she also seems to really love New York."

Residents return to devastated LA mobile home park

Stacks of charred bricks, blackened shells of cars and burned tree trunks were all that remained Monday in much of the community some residents once called the "Beverly Hills of mobile home parks."
The mostly retired residents returned to see what was left of their homes at Oakridge Mobile Home Park, where winds with hurricane intensity blew a wall of fire through hundreds of manufactured homes and set them ablaze so quickly that even firefighters had to drop their hoses and run.
"It looks like a war zone — no trees, no buildings," said Michele Warneck, 54, who burst into tears after returning from the park. She had watched her two-bedroom house burn on the television news. "Everything that was porcelain just blew up."
Once considered a paradise with swimming pools and tennis courts, the park was now roamed by cadaver-sniffing dogs in search of anyone who didn't escape. That search ended Monday afternoon with investigators finding no evidence anyone perished.
The inferno destroyed 484 homes in the park Saturday. Firefighters were able to save about 120 homes, but many were badly damaged and the park is flattened except for charred trees with blackened branches bent in one direction by the hot winds. Twisted metal foundations and pipes are all that is left of many homes.
The fire was one of three in Southern California that have destroyed about 1,000 homes and apartments and burned 41,000 acres, or 64 square miles, forcing thousands to flee.
Most evacuation orders were lifted by Monday, when clear skies and calm winds allowed firefighters to make some gains, but officials warned of another bad air day and classes were canceled at dozens of schools near fire zones in Orange County.
In Sylmar, scores of residents stood in line outside a high school gymnasium for tours of the charred mobile home park where retirees once played tennis, took a dip in a jacuzzi and played Mah-Johng and poker.
Those whose homes were destroyed were shuttled through the neighborhood in a black van. Authorities were still investigating the fire, so people weren't allowed to get out and sift through the ashes for scraps of their belongings.
"It's gone," said Ed Hurdle, 82, after taking one of the first park tours. "The car is gone. The house is gone. It's twisted metal. It's totally charred there. There's no hope at all. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing."
A separate set of white police vans ferried residents whose homes were still standing so they could gather medication and other essentials.
"My house was in great shape. All it was was dirty," said Betty Glassman, 78. "I feel like I'm in a dream. Pinch me."
Cadaver dogs searched the burned units, but found only the cremated remains of a man who died several years ago.
Animal control recovered several dead animals and three live cats. Los Angeles County Assistant Coroner Chief Ed Winter said the cats could have been hiding under one of the units that wasn't damaged.
Neighbors huddled together inside the gymnasium, which has been turned into a Red Cross shelter for evacuees, hugging each other and comparing notes about what they saw and what they were able to salvage.
"It's a disaster. It looks like Hiroshima," said Joan Costa, carrying plastic bags filled with makeup and medicines she had pulled from her home.
The fire left a local hospital in darkness, and nurses used hand-cranked ventilators to keep patients alive when the fire knocked out power to Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar. Authorities are investigating why the emergency generator failed. No patients were harmed during the 3 1/2-hour outage early Saturday.
Elsewhere, the largest of the fires has burned more than 28,000 acres in Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties and has destroyed more than 250 homes and apartment units. San Bernadino became the fourth county declared a state of emergency.
Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Frank Garrido warned residents returning their homes in the Diamond Bar area to watch for snakes, mountain lions and other wildlife who fled the flames into more populated areas.
In the Orange County suburb of Yorba Linda, residents returned to find more than 100 homes destroyed. Some hung signs thanking firefighters for saving their homes, others snapped photos of the scorched community.
Lindey Lindholm sifted through the rubble of his home, searching for family heirlooms. It's all gone," Lindholm said.
The first of the wildfires broke out in the Montecito area of Santa Barbara County, about 90 miles northwest of Sylmar.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said President-elect Barack Obama contacted him Sunday night to offer what help he could. Obama has turned his campaign Web site home page into a plea to help fire victims that includes a link to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's site, where people can sign up to volunteer or donate to the Red Cross or Salvation Army.
Schwarzenegger on Monday asked the Bush administration to declare Southern California a federal disaster site.
The governor also requested disaster loans for the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Santa Barbara and San Bernardino. He said many of the residents affected by the fires — particularly mobile home owners — lacked insurance or are seriously underinsured.
The causes of all three fires were under investigation, although officials labeled the Santa Barbara-area fire "human-caused," said Doug Lannon, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Lannon said the fire started in a Montecito landmark known to be a popular hangout for teenagers. He said it was possible someone was smoking in the brush or started a campfire there.
Oakridge park resident Steve Fisher, 58, said he'd eventually like to move back there but doesn't know if he will — especially since he didn't have insurance on his home that burned.
"I've never lived in a place with such a communal spirit," Fisher said. "It was just like paradise."

Shuttle Endeavour links with space station

Space shuttle Endeavour linked with the international space station on Sunday, kicking off a huge home makeover that will allow twice as many astronauts to live up there beginning next year.
Commander Christopher Ferguson guided the shuttle to a smooth docking as the two spacecraft soared 212 miles above India. His ship's radar worked just fine, despite earlier trouble with the antenna.
"We understand that this house is in need of an extreme makeover and that you're the crew to do it," the space station's skipper, Mike Fincke, said as he welcomed the seven shuttle astronauts aboard.
His crewmate, Gregory Chamitoff, was especially excited to see Endeavour. He's been living on the space station for almost six months, and the shuttle is his ride home.
"Wow," Chamitoff exclaimed. "You look beautiful ... I am smiling from ear to ear."
Earlier in the afternoon, before Endeavour began its final approach from eight miles out, Fincke and his crew captured striking video of it and the moon, which was also prominent in many of the launch-night photos.
"It's a big day here today," Fincke said.
Once Endeavour closed to within several hundred feet, Ferguson guided it through a 360-degree backflip so Fincke and Chamitoff could take zoom-in photos of all its thermal shielding. About 200 digital images will help NASA determine whether Endeavour sustained any damage during liftoff Friday night. Fincke said he noticed nothing amiss.
Only one piece of debris has been spotted so far in launch pictures. It was probably ice and did not strike Endeavour, said LeRoy Cain, chairman of the mission management team. Flight controllers initially thought it might be one of the shuttle's thermal blankets.
NASA officials were delighted with how everything was going.
"The team down here on the Planet Earth wanted to compliment you on a well-done, very nicely done rendezvous and docking," Mission Control radioed up.
The first priority for the 10 astronauts was a crew member swap.
Astronaut Sandra Magnus moved into the space station for a 3 1/2-month stay, replacing Chamitoff. The two greeted each other with a bear hug. "Welcome to your new home," Fincke told her.
As soon as everyone embraced, Fincke declared: "On to work. Man, this place just got smaller."
Besides Magnus, Endeavour was delivering thousands of pounds of home improvement gear: an extra bathroom, kitchenette and exercise machine, two more sleeping compartments, and a fancy new recycling system for converting urine and condensation into drinking water.
NASA cannot double the size of the space station crew — currently at three — until all the new equipment is installed, checked out and working properly. The goal is to have six people living permanently on the orbiting outpost by June.
Most of the new stuff is inside a giant cylinder that Endeavour's astronauts will attach to the space station on Monday.
Endeavour and its crew will spend almost two weeks at the space station, cheap wow gold a little longer than usual. Four spacewalks will be carried out beginning Tuesday, primarily to clean and lubricate a solar wing-rotating joint that broke down more than a year ago. It's clogged with metal shavings from grinding parts.

Friends defend Paula Abdul fan who committed suicide

The Paula Abdul fanatic who police believe committed suicide outside the star's mansion had cased the "American Idol" judge's block as far back as January, cops said Thursday.
But a good friend has rushed to the defense of 30-year-old Paula Goodspeed, telling the Daily News that the aspiring singer wasn't a suicidal, "looney freakazoid" still obsessing over the mocking she received at her September 2005 "American Idol" audition.
Instead, Goodspeed was upbeat and planning for the future when she last communicated with pal Brianna Schlanger less than 24 hours before cops recovered her body Tuesday.
"She sent me a text at 10:22 the night before about meeting for a latte and movie. She ended the message with a happy face," said Schlanger, a model from Reseda, Cali. "She seemed fine. Something must have happened after that. It needs to be further investigated."
Goodspeed's mother, Sandra McIntyre, reported Goodspeed missing on Tuesday, telling cops she last saw her daughter at 11 p.m. Monday.
McIntyre, who's been living recently at Goodspeed's Thousand Oaks, Calif., apartment, declined to comment when reached by phone late Thursday.
Schlanger said Goodspeed mentioned having a doctor's appointment in Burbank at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and promised to arrive at Schlanger's house after that.
"I'll be at your house at 5:30, and we can get a latte and go to the theater," Goodspeed said in a text message.
"I'm still in disbelief, waiting for her to show up at my door," Schlanger, who met Goodspeed while taking singing lessons, told the Daily News. "I knew she admired (Paula Abdul). But there's no way she was stalking her or had any bad intentions."
Schlanger said Goodspeed had a fiance she was planning to marry on Valentine's Day, and that the aspiring singer never took drugs and didn't touch alcohol when they went to karaoke bars.
The detective handling Goodspeed's case said the woman had a history on Abdul's block.
"There have been prior incidents involving Paula Goodspeed on the street. One was in January of this year and another in June," said Los Angeles Police Det. Robert Bub.
Bub said neither event was serious enough to generate a formal report.
Still, the June call apparently led LAPD to ask Ventura County Sheriff's deputies to check on a potentially "suicidal" Goodspeed in her Thousand Oaks apartment on June 24, a sheriff's spokesman said.
Goodspeed was found dead with no signs of trauma and no note at 6 p.m. Tuesday in her Toyota, a few doors down from Abdul's Sherman Oaks home.
The Abdul fan came face to face with her when she tried out for "American Idol" three years - and was sent home after being roundly mocked in her tryout.
Goodspeed's niece Sonja McIntyre, 20, denied her aunt was suicidal - or a stalker. And said Goodspeed even told her that she and Abdul once had coffee together at a Starbucks.warhammer gold
"Not an ounce of truth to this," said Abdul publicist Jeff Ballard. "Paula met her only at 'Idol.'"
An autopsy is schedule for today, the coroner's office said.
A final cause of death could take weeks pending toxicology tests.wow gold

Ahead of the Bell: Mortgage hearing

As the mortgage crisis deepens and the government joins with the lending industry in a new effort targeting struggling homeowners, Congress is examining the roles played by investors, lenders and loan servicers in the process.
Representatives of those three sectors are scheduled to testify at a House Financial Services Committee hearing Wednesday morning.
Democratic lawmakers have expressed frustration with the scope of industry cooperation. Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., and five other Democrats accused hedge fund investors of blocking mortgage modifications.
"For the hedge fund industry, which has flourished for much of the past decade, to take steps so actively in opposition to what is currently in the national economic interest is deeply troubling," they said in a recent letter to industry representatives.
On Tuesday, the government and the mortgage industry mounted the most sweeping effort yet to help troubled homeowners by speeding the process for renegotiating hundreds of thousands of delinquent loans held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which seized control of the two mortgage finance companies in September, announced the plan along with other government and industry officials. Officials said they hoped the new approach, which goes into effect Dec. 15., will become a model for loan servicing companies, which collect mortgage payments and distribute them to investors.
Expected to appear at Wednesday's hearing are: Benjamin Allensworth, senior legal counsel of the Managed Funds Association, which represents hedge funds; Thomas Deutsch, deputy executive director of the American Securitization Forum, representing Wall Street institutions that transform mortgages and other debt into bonds that are traded; Michael Gross, managing director of loan administration loss mitigation at Bank of America Corp.; and Molly Sheehan, senior vice president in the home lending division at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. last month expanded its mortgage modification program to an estimated $70 billion in loans, which could aid as many as 400,000 customers. The New York-based bank already has modified about $40 billion in mortgages, helping 250,000 customers since early 2007. Bank of America has said that starting Dec. 1, it will modify an estimated 400,000 loans held by newly acquired Countrywide Financial Corp. as part of an $8.4 billion legal settlement reached with 11 states in early October.
The government said last week it expects that only 20,000 troubled borrowers will apply to refinance into more affordable home loans by next fall under a new mortgage aid program enacted by Congress over the summer.warhammer goldThe $300 billion "Hope for Homeowners" program was launched Oct. 1. Designed by lawmakers eager to respond to the mortgage crisis, the Congressional Budget Office had projected it would let 400,000 troubled homeowners swap risky loans for conventional 30-year fixed rate loans with lower rates.
But the early results have been discouraging: the government received only 42 applications in the program's first two weeks, according to the Federal Housing Administration.

Aides: Obama suggested more help for auto industry

President-elect Obama suggested to President Bush that the administration immediately help struggling U.S. automakers, aides to the Democrat say, in the first face-to-face meeting the pair had since Obama's election victory.
Obama's aides said the president-elect on Monday brought up the issue with Bush and discussed with him the need for urgent action. The Illinois senator's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said only that the talks during Obama's first post-election victory to the White House were mostly "about the broad health of the industry" and were not just limited to any one of the three largest car makers.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asked the administration over the weekend to consider expanding the $700 billion bailout for financial firms to include car companies. At a news conference last Friday, Obama said he hoped the Bush administration would "do everything it can to accelerate the retooling assistance that Congress has already enacted." He also said that helping the auto industry was a high priority for his transition team.
The White House did not reject such an idea. Presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush would listen to lawmakers if, when they come back for a post-election session, "they decide to try to do something more on the auto industry." She said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson would review the rescue plan again, but also suggested the administration needs Congress' help to determine which industries might qualify for help under the new law.
Regarding any new economic stimulus plan, the White House has repeatedly stressed that its main priority is passage of a free trade agreement with Colombia.
The president and Obama also talked about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and financial crisis. At the same time, Laura Bush and Michelle Obama talked about raising daughters in the nation's most famous house. Then Obama flew back to Chicago to work on setting up the new administration that will take over on Jan. 20.
The 43rd president and the man who will be the 44th — and first black — commander in chief met alone in the Oval Office, with no handlers or staff. It was Obama's first time in the storied workspace, even though he had been to the White House previously for events.
Neither the Bushes nor the Obamas spoke to reporters. Aides who described the discussion about the auto industry did so on grounds of anonymity, citing the private nature of the meeting.
Perino said that Bush described the meeting as "constructive, relaxed and friendly," covering problems at home and abroad, and said he personally pledged a smooth transition. Bush gave Obama a sneak peek at White House highlights, such as the Lincoln Bedroom and the president's office in the residence, after their hour-plus in the Oval Office.
Such White House meetings have a history going back decades. They are discussions that can range wherever the two men choose, whether on specific issues, how best to make decisions, the extraordinary resources that accompany any American president, the special weight of the office or even the secrets about the building that few people are privy to. It's also a chance to establish personal rapport between near-strangers, though that is by no means guaranteed.
Outside, crowds built throughout the day with people pressing their noses through the fencing around the White House complex in hopes of getting a glimpse of the first family to be. Street vendors operating nearby were already stocked with Obama-related merchandise.
Bush and Obama met as the main transition news of the day was the Democratic team's preparations to rescind many of the incumbent's executive orders. Obama transition chief John Podesta said that the senator's aides were poring over all of them and will make such reversals among the new president's first acts.
Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said in a statement that no decisions have yet been made on executive orders. "Before he makes any decisions on potential executive or legislative actions, he will be conferring with congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle, as well as interested groups," she said.
Said Podesta, delivering a concrete rebuke of Bush only about 24 hours before the two men sat down together: "We need to get off the course that the Bush administration has set."

Poor training behind Russian sub deaths: ex-officer

ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Some of the 20 men killed on a Russian nuclear submarine this weekend may have died because they lacked adequate training in how to respond in a fire drill, a former submarine officer said on Monday.
Russian prosecutors said the victims on board the Nerpa nuclear submarine died from asphyxiation when the fire extinguishing system was set off unexpectedly, releasing toxic freon gas -- used as a fire suppressant -- into the submarine.
The accident, the worst to hit Russia's navy since an explosion on the Kursk submarine eight years ago killed all 118 sailors on board, raised questions about the capability of the Russian military.
Alexander Nikitin, a former navy captain who worked as a chief engineer on Russian nuclear submarines, said civilian technicians on board the vessel to take part in sea trials may have not known how to react when the gas was released.
"When the system for releasing fire suppressant is switched on, an alarm sounds, but they may not have heard the alarm or understood it was an alarm to indicate fire suppressant is being released into the compartment," Nikitin told Reuters.
"Since it is quite a rare alarm, they could have assumed it was some kind of different alarm," said Nikitin, who now monitors nuclear safety in Russia for the Norwegian environmental group Bellona.
Nikitin said everyone on board the vessel would have had access to breathing apparatus. "Most likely, they did not use it according to the procedures or as they were supposed to."
The governor of Russia's Primorye region on the Pacific coast, where the vessel docked after the accident happened, on Monday declared November 11 a day of mourning in the region.
A Russian navy spokesman declined to comment further on the accident, which happened on Saturday in the Pacific Ocean.
About two thirds of the 208 people on board the submarine were civilians checking the vessel before handing it over to the navy for active service. Civilians accounted for 17 of the 20 dead.
"In the chaos that you have on these kinds of sea trials with a handover team, lots of things can happen," said Nikitin. "These are not military people who strictly follow instructions.
"In situations like these, there is a danger of more serious incidents, there are always heightened risks."
The navy did not identify the submarine. Russian news agencies quoted naval sources as saying it was the Nerpa, classified by NATO as an Akula-class attack submarine.

China envoy ends historic Taiwan visit amid violent protests

A senior Chinese envoy left Taiwan on Friday after a historic visit that paved the way for closer cooperation between the former bitter rivals, but which was marred by huge protests that left scores injured.
Chen Yunlin -- the most senior Chinese official to visit the island since it split from China at the end of a civil war in 1949 -- made history on Thursday when he met Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou.
But angry protests followed his five-day visit at every turn, culminating in violent clashes in the early hours of Friday between police and protesters that left more than 110 people injured, according to officials and local media.
About 2,200 riot police backed by water cannon were dispatched to Taipei's Grand Hotel where Chen was staying to control 1,000 rowdy protesters, police said.
Some threw eggs, rocks, bottled water and petrol bombs at police in an attempt to get past barbed wire barricades. Twelve demonstrators were handcuffed and taken away.
Police said 64 officers were hurt in the clashes, while local media said more than 50 protesters and journalists were also injured.
Later Friday around 100 people, most of them college students, staged a sit-in outside the main government building to protest police handling of the earlier demonstrations. The group was later dispersed by police.
The ruling Kuomintang and the pro-independence opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which organised the demonstrations throughout Chen's visit, traded barbs over the violence -- the worst protest clashes in 10 years.
DPP parliamentarian Lai Ching-teh claimed the party had kept its promise to stage a peaceful protest on Thursday, when Ma and Chen were meeting.
"Those who used violence were sent by the Kuomintang," Lai told reporters.
But the accusation was flatly rejected by the Kuomintang.
"Since DPP chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen led her supporters into the streets, she has to take full responsibility for the violence," the KMT said in a statement.
At a press conference shortly before his departure, Chen, his eyes red, appeared close to tears as he thanked Taiwanese security officials.
"I would like to express our thanks to the police," he told reporters.
"They made many sacrifices and shed blood during the tense protests. Words cannot describe our appreciation," Chen said, bowing briefly.
On Thursday, thousands of mainly DPP-supporting demonstrators rallied in central Taipei to protest Chen's brief meeting with Ma.
Organisers put the turnout at more than 100,000 while police estimated the size of the crowd to be 10,000.
The cacophony could be heard for kilometres (miles) around the central government plaza as they moved off, on foot and in vans equipped with loudspeakers, towards the Grand Hotel.
During Chen's visit, the two sides signed four deals that will see them cooperate in air travel, post and cargo shipping.
Taipei and Beijing insist the accords will bring enormous economic benefit to both sides, but protesters fear that money and jobs will flood out of Taiwan as businesses seek to take advantage of cheap labour and resources in China.
Tung Chen-yuan, a political science professor of National Chengchi University in Taipei, said Taiwan "swiftly signed agreements with Beijing, but a lot of people here felt that he had made too many concessions to Beijing."
"It will become more difficult for the Ma administration to reach a consensus with the opposition on the future of the cross-Strait relationship," Tung said.warhammer gold
A survey of around 800 people carried out by Taipei's Apple Daily found nearly a third thought the DPP were to blame for the violence, while a quarter pointed the finger at Ma, saying he had failed to safeguard Taiwan's sovereignty. wow gold

Barack Obama wins presidency, making history

Barack Obama, the son of a father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, was elected the nation’s 44th president Tuesday, breaking the ultimate racial barrier to become the first African American to claim the country’s highest office.
A nation that was founded by slave owners and seared by civil war and generations of racial strife delivered a smashing electoral college victory to the 47-year-old first-term senator from Illinois, who forged a broad, multiracial, multiethnic coalition. His victory was a leap in the march toward equality: When Obama was born, people with his skin color could not even vote in parts of America, and many were killed for trying.
Obama was winning in every state his party carried four years ago, including Pennsylvania, which McCain had worked vigorously to pry from the Democratic column. Obama was also making significant inroads into Republican turf, carrying Ohio and Virginia, the latter voting Democratic for the first time in more than 40 years. He was also winning the swing states of New Hampshire, Iowa and New Mexico, which backed President Bush in 2004.
The major TV networks and the Associated Press called the race for Obama within minutes of the polls closing, sparking a raucous celebration in Chicago, where hundreds of thousands of celebrants gathered in Grant Park along the city’s waterfront.
Giant video screens at the scene were tuned to CNN. Each time the network projected a state as an Obama win, the crowd erupted in cheers. The battleground states produced the loudest roars – first Pennsylvania, then New Hampshire, then Ohio, then, finally, victory.
Moments later, the Obama campaign announced that McCain had called the president-elect to concede.
Voters also handed Obama a fortified congressional majority, as Democrats picked up several seats in the Senate and in the House. The party knocked off at least two GOP incumbents, including North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole.
McCain, burdened by his party’s toxic image, prevailed in a band of states that comprise a shrinking Republican base, mainly in the South, the Plains and parts of the interior West.
In winning the White House, Obama to a large degree remade the electorate: About one in 10 of those casting ballots Tuesday were doing so for the first time. Though that number was about the same as four years ago, most of the newcomers were under age 30, about a fifth were black and a fifth were Latino. That was greater than their share of the overall population, and those groups voted overwhelmingly for Obama.
Overall, he won large majorities of women, black and Latino voters. Although he lost among white voters, Obama narrowed the margin significantly from 2004.
For most voters, the sagging economy was the topmost concern – a dynamic that played strongly to the Democrat’s favor. Six in 10 voters said the economy was the most important issue facing the nation, according to exit polls – far more than cited energy, Iraq, terrorism or healthcare.
Voters flocked to the polls in record numbers Tuesday, continuing a pattern of electoral exuberance that started in the primary season. There were scattered voting problems reported throughout the day, including long lines, malfunctioning voting machines and mislaid ballots.
But there was nothing like Florida’s infamous “butterfly ballot” fiasco, which sent the 2000 presidential contest into several weeks of overtime before the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in to settle the race.
Mostly, there was patience, good cheer, and for many, pride in taking part in a slice of history, whatever the result; had he won, McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, would have been the first woman to serve as vice president.
Lines began forming across the country before the sun had risen, with queues starting at 4 a.m. in New York City. The outcome across most of the Democratic-leaning Northeast was never in doubt, but many felt it was their responsibility – and privilege – to vote.
“I needed to cast my own ballot today, not just because it’s my duty as a citizen but because for once it feels like it counts,” said Eric Schwartz, 36, a computer specialist on New York’s Upper West Side. “It’s a more global feeling. Like I needed to make a mark on a day when things matter. Today, everyone matters.”
In Arlington, Va., Takia Williams, 25 and African-American, wrestled with her frustrated 2-year-old, who wanted to play on the slide in the back seat of their car. But nothing could dampen Williams’ spirits after casting a ballot for Obama. “I couldn’t wait to vote,” she said.
Obama will be one of the youngest presidents in American history, the first born outside the continental United States (in Hawaii) and only the third to move directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House.
He burst on the national political scene just over four years ago, with an electrifying keynote address to the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Obama’s soaring speech previewed themes he would reprise in his presidential bid, including a call to end the partisanship symbolized by a country divided into Republican red and Democratic blue.
Months after that address, Obama won his U.S. Senate seat, and there was immediate talk of a run for president. The speculation, however, vastly understated the challenge facing Obama, who by his own admission entered the crowded Democratic field as a decided underdog. His victory over New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton after a long, contentious primary season was in itself one of the great political upsets of all time.
Contrary to the wisdom at the time, the battle did not sap but rather strengthened Obama. He built campaign organizations in traditionally Republican states, like Nevada, North Carolina, Colorado and Indiana, that came into play in the fall thanks to the groundwork laid in the spring.
Obama also became a better, more substantive candidate and a much stronger debater, which served him well in his three matchups with McCain. Obama’s unflappable performance on stage and steady response to the Wall Street meltdown helped allay voter concerns about his judgment, maturity and readiness to assume office, undercutting what was perhaps McCain’s strongest argument against the freshman lawmaker.
For all the wild celebration in Chicago, there were quieter moments that captured the full weight of history.
Former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, a veteran of protests in Selma, Birmingham and other racial flash-points, was among hundreds of black Atlantans who crowded the pews for an election-watch party at the Rev. Martin Luther King’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. When CNN called the state of Pennsylvania, an early harbinger, Young pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed away tears