CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is in a “complex” and delicate condition after his latest surgery for cancer in Cuba, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday.
Looking grave-faced in an address to the nation, he urged Venezuelans to unite in prayer for their 58-year-old president, and to keep faith that Chavez would return soon.
(Reporting by Caracas newsroom; Editing by Will Dunham)
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SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) – North Korea successfully launched a rocket on Wednesday, boosting the credentials of its new leader and stepping up the threat the isolated and impoverished state poses to its opponents.
The rocket, which North Korea says put a weather satellite into orbit, has been labeled by the United States, South Korea and Japan as a test of technology that could one day deliver a nuclear warhead capable of hitting targets as far as the continental United States.
“The satellite has entered the planned orbit,” a North Korean television news-reader clad in traditional Korean garb triumphantly announced, after which the station played patriotic songs with the lyrics “Chosun (Korea) does what it says”.
The rocket was launched just before 10 a.m. Korea time (9 p.m. ET on Tuesday), according to defense officials in South Korea and Japan, and easily surpassed a failed April launch that flew for less than two minutes.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said that it “deployed an object that appeared to achieve orbit”, the first time an independent body has verified North Korean claims.
North Korea followed what it said was a similar successful launch in 2009 with a nuclear test that prompted the United Nations Security Council to stiffen sanctions that it originally imposed in 2006 after the North’s first nuclear test.
The state is banned from developing nuclear and missile-related technology under U.N. resolutions, although Kim Jong-un, the youthful head of state who took power a year ago, is believed to have continued the state’s “military first” programs put into place by his deceased father Kim Jong-il.
North Korea lauded Wednesday’s launch as celebrating the prowess of all three Kims to rule since it was founded in 1948.
“At a time when great yearnings and reverence for Kim Jong-il pervade the whole country, its scientists and technicians brilliantly carried out his behests to launch a scientific and technological satellite in 2012, the year marking the 100th birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung,” its KCNA news agency said.
Washington condemned Wednesday’s launch as a “provocative action” and breach of U.N. rules, while Japan’s U.N. envoy called for a Security Council meeting. However, diplomats say further tough sanctions are unlikely to be agreed at the body as China, the North’s only major ally, will oppose them.
“The international community must work in a concerted fashion to send North Korea a clear message that its violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions have consequences,” the White House said in a statement.
Japan’s likely next prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who is leading in opinion polls ahead of an election on December 16 and who is known as a North Korea hawk, called on the United Nations to adopt a resolution “strongly criticizing” Pyongyang.
BEIJING BLOCK
China had expressed “deep concern” prior to the launch which was announced a day after a top politburo member, representing new Chinese leader Xi Xinping, met Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang.
On Wednesday its tone was measured, regretting the launch but calling for restraint on possible counter-measures, in line with previous policy when it has effectively vetoed tougher sanctions.
“China believes the Security Council’s response should be cautious and moderate, protect the overall peaceful and stable situation on the Korean peninsula, and avoid an escalation of the situation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told journalists.
Bruce Klingner, a Korea expert at the Heritage Foundation, told a conference call: “China has been the stumbling block to firmer U.N. action and we’ll have to see if the new leadership is any different than its predecessors.”
A senior adviser to South Korea’s president said last week it was unlikely there would be action from the U.N. and that Seoul would expect its allies to tighten sanctions unilaterally.
Kim Jong-un, believed to be 29 years old, took power when his father died on December 17 last year and experts believe the launch was intended to commemorate the first anniversary of the death.
The April launch was timed for the centennial of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of its current ruler.
Wednesday’s success puts the North ahead of the South which has not managed to get a rocket off the ground.
“This is a considerable boost in establishing the rule of Kim Jong-un,” said Cho Min, an expert at the Korea Institute of National Unification.
There have been few indications the secretive and impoverished state, where the United Nations estimates a third of the population is malnourished, has made any advances in opening up economically over the past year.
North Korea remains reliant on minerals exports to China and remittances from tens of thousands of its people working on labor projects overseas.
The 22 million population often needs handouts from defectors who have escaped to South Korea in order to afford basic medicines.
Given the puny size of its economy – per capita income is less than $ 2,000 a year – one of the few ways the North can attract world attention is by emphasizing its military threat.
Pyongyang wants the United States to resume aid and to recognize it diplomatically, although the April launch scuppered a planned food deal.
It is believed to be some years away from developing a functioning nuclear warhead although it may have enough plutonium for around half a dozen nuclear bombs, according to nuclear experts.
The North has also been enriching uranium, which would give it a second path to nuclear weapons as it sits on vast natural uranium reserves.
“A successful launch puts North Korea closer to the capability to deploy a weaponized missile,” said Denny Roy, a senior fellow at the East-West Center in Hawaii.
“But this would still require fitting a weapon to the missile and ensuring a reasonable degree of accuracy. The North Koreans probably do not yet have a nuclear weapon small enough for a missile to carry.”
Pyongyang says that its development is part of a civil nuclear program, but has also boasted of it being a “nuclear weapons power”.
(Additional reporting by Jumin Park and Yoo Choonsik in SEOUL; David Alexander, Matt Spetalnick and Paul Eckert in WASHINGTON; Linda Sieg in TOKYO; Sui-Lee Wee in BEIJING; Rosmarie Francisco in MANILA; Writing by David Chance; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Civil War saga “Lincoln,” the musical “Les Miserables” and the comic drama “Silver Linings Playbook” boosted their Academy Awards prospects Wednesday with four nominations apiece for the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
All three films were nominated for overall performance by their casts. Also nominated for best ensemble cast were the Iran hostage-crisis thriller “Argo” and the British retiree adventure “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.”
Directed by Steven Spielberg, “Lincoln” also scored individual nominations for Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role as best actor, Sally Field for supporting actress as Mary Todd Lincoln and Tommy Lee Jones for supporting actor as abolitionist firebrand Thaddeus Stevens.
“Les Miserables,” from “The King’s Speech” director Tom Hooper, had nominations for Hugh Jackman for best actor as Victor Hugo’s long-suffering hero Jean Valjean and Anne Hathaway for supporting actress as a woman fallen into prostitution, plus a nomination for its stunt ensemble.
“Silver Linings Playbook,” made by “The Fighter” director David O. Russell, also had lead-acting nominations for Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence as lost souls who find a second chance at love and Robert De Niro for supporting actor as a football-obsessed dad.
Besides Lawrence, best-actress nominees are Jessica Chastain as a CIA analyst pursuing Osama bin Laden in “Zero Dark Thirty”; Marion Cotillard as a woman who finds romance after tragedy in “Rust and Bone”; Helen Mirren as Alfred Hitchcock’s strong-willed wife in “Hitchcock”; and Naomi Watts as a woman caught in the devastation of a tsunami in “The Impossible.”
Joining Cooper, Day-Lewis and Jackman in the best-actor field are John Hawkes as a polio victim aiming to lose his virginity in “The Sessions” and Denzel Washington as a boozy airline pilot in “Flight.”
SAG nominees are almost all familiar names in Hollywood’s awards season. Eighteen of the 20 film acting contenders are past Academy Awards nominees and 13 have won Oscars, among them five two-time winners. Only Cooper and Jackman have never before earned Oscar nominations.
One of the year’s most-acclaimed films, Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master,” earned only one nomination, supporting actor for Philip Seymour Hoffman as a mesmerizing cult leader. The film was snubbed on nominations for ensemble, lead actor Joaquin Phoenix and supporting actress Amy Adams.
Other individual performances overlooked by SAG voters include Anthony Hopkins in the title role of “Hitchcock,” Keira Knightley in the title role of “Anna Karenina,” Bill Murray as Franklin Roosevelt in “Hyde Park on Hudson” and “Argo” director Ben Affleck, who also starred in the film.
The SAG Awards will be presented Jan. 27. The guild nominations are one of Hollywood’s first major announcements on the long road to the Feb. 24 Oscars Awards, whose nominations will be released Jan. 10.
Nominations for the Golden Globes, the second-biggest film honors after the Oscars, come out Thursday.
Maggie Smith had four individual and ensemble nominations. Along with sharing the ensemble honor for “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” Smith joined the cast of “Downton Abbey” among TV ensemble contenders and had nominations for supporting film actress as a cranky retiree in “Marigold Hotel” and TV drama actress for “Downton Abbey.”
Nicole Kidman earned two individual nominations, as supporting film actress as a woman smitten with a prison inmate in “The Paperboy” and best actress in a TV movie or miniseries as war correspondent Martha Gellhorn in “Hemingway & Gellhorn.”
Bryan Cranston had three overall nominations, as best actor in a TV drama for “Breaking Bad,” an ensemble honor for that show and a film ensemble honor for “Argo.”
Along with “Breaking Bad” and “Downton Abbey,” best TV drama ensemble contenders are “Boardwalk Empire,” ”Homeland” and “Mad Men.” TV comedy ensemble nominees are “30 Rock,” ”The Big Bang Theory,” ”Glee,” ”Modern Family,” ”Nurse Jackie” and “The Office.”
___
Online:
http://www.sagawards.org
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CANBERRA (Reuters) – The Australian radio station behind a prank call to a British hospital will donate its advertising revenue until the end of the year to a fund for the family of the nurse who apparently took her own life after the stunt, the company said on Tuesday.
Southern Cross Austereo, parent company of Sydney radio station 2Day FM, said it would donate all advertising revenue, with a minimum contribution of A$ 500,000 ($ 525,000), to a memorial fund for the nurse, Jacintha Saldanha, who answered the telephone at the hospital treating Prince William’s pregnant wife, Kate.
The company has suspended the Sydney-based announcers, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, scrapped their “Hot 30″ programme and suspended advertising on the station in the wake of the Saldanha’s death. Southern Cross said it would resume advertising on its station from Thursday.
“It is a terrible tragedy and our thoughts continue to be with the family,” Southern Cross Chief Executive Officer Rhys Holleran said in a statement.
“We hope that by contributing to a memorial fund we can help to provide the Saldanha family with the support they need at this very difficult time.”
(Reporting by James Grubel; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – FX has ordered the Middle Eastern drama pilot “Tyrant” from “Homeland” producers Howard Gordon and Gideon Raff, as well as “Six Feet Under” and “Lost” producer Craig Wright.
The pilot follows an American family drawn into the troubles of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation. The series, written and created by Raff, was developed by Gordon and Wright. The pilot comes from Gordon’s shingle at 20th Century Fox Television, Teakwood Lane.
Gordon, Raff and Wright are executive producers in association with Keshet Broadcasting. If “Tyrant” becomes a series, Wright will serve as showrunner.
“We are thrilled to bring ‘Tyrant’ to FX,” said Nick Grad, FX’s executive vice president of original programming. “The brilliant and wholly original concept just blew us all away. It’s pretty amazing when you read a script and can instantly imagine it becoming one of the best shows on television. We’re grateful to the producers for choosing to bring it to FX and look forward to continuing our partnership with our friends at Fox 21.”
“‘Tyrant’ is exactly the type of project we aim to do at Fox 21 – working with extremely talented writer/creators to create provocative material with big, breakout characters and themes,” said Bert Salke, president of Fox 21. “This script has excited everyone who’s read it and it’s particularly gratifying to be back working with FX, with whom we have had such a successful partnership on the fantastic ‘Sons of Anarchy.’”
Production is tentatively slated to begin in the spring.
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(Reuters) – Go Daddy, one of the world’s biggest Internet hosting firms, appointed Yahoo Inc‘s former Chief Product Officer Blake Irving as chief executive.
He will take over from interim CEO Scott Wagner on January 7. Irving left Yahoo, where he headed a centralized products group that straddled several client types, on April 27.
“Blake Irving’s deep technology experience and his history of developing new cutting-edge products and leading large global teams make him a … compelling choice to drive Go Daddy to the next level of its … growth,” said Bob Parsons, Go Daddy’s executive chairman and founder.
Irving also served in various positions at Microsoft Corp from 1992 to 2007.
Go Daddy, which describes itself as the top provider of domain names, filed to go public in 2006 but withdrew its IPO due to poor market conditions.
(Reporting by Neha Alawadhi in Bangalore; Editing by Joyjeet Das, Maju Samuel)
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LANSING, Michigan (Reuters) - Michigan legislators on Tuesday approved laws that ban mandatory membership in public and private sector unions, dealing a stunning blow to organized labor in the home of the U.S. auto industry.
Republican Governor Rick Snyder was poised to sign the bills into law within days. That would make Michigan the 24th U.S. state with so-called right-to-work laws that prohibit unions from establishing a "closed shop" requiring employees to join unions and contribute dues.
As more than 12,000 unionized workers and supporters protested at the capitol in Lansing, the Republican-dominated House of Representatives gave final approval to the bills. In less than a week, Michigan was transformed from a bastion of union influence to the verge of joining states, mostly in the South, that have weakened legal protections for unions.
While labor leaders decried the legislation, Republican Representative Lisa Lyons said during the debate in the House that the right-to-work laws are not an attack on unions.
"This is the day Michigan freed its workers," she said.
Opponents argue that they undermine a basic union tenet of bargaining collectively with employers for better wages, benefits and working conditions. They also allow workers to opt out of a union, potentially reducing membership.
By weakening unions, Republicans also could hurt the Democratic Party, which traditionally receives a significant portion of its funding and grassroots support from labor unions.
Supporters of right-to-work say some unions have become too rigid and workers should be given a choice of whether to join. They also say that a more flexible labor market encourages businesses to invest and open plants in right-to-work states.
CRIES OF "SHAME"
Right-to-work was approved to cries of "shame" from protesters inside the Capitol building, which was closed to visitors when it reached capacity of 2,200, Michigan State Police Inspector Gene Adamczyk said.
An estimated 10,000 more people demonstrated outside in cold and snowy conditions, including members of the United Auto Workers union, and teachers, who shut down several schools in the state to attend the rally.
A few protesters were ejected from the Capitol after they chanted slogans from the gallery during the debate. Protesters tore down two tents set up for supporters of right-to-work on the grounds of the Capitol but Adamczyk said two people were arrested after scuffling with officers.
The show of force by unionized workers recalled huge rallies in Wisconsin two years ago when Republicans voted to curb public sector unions.
Teamsters union national president, Jim Hoffa Jr., whose father Jimmy Hoffa Sr. was one of the nation's most famous labor leaders and disappeared in 1975 in Michigan, denounced Republican leaders in a speech to the protesters.
"Let me tell the governor and all those elected officials who vote for this shameful, divisive bill - there will be repercussions," Hoffa said. "Some day soon, they will face the voters of Michigan and they will have to explain why they sided with the billionaires to back this destructive legislation."
Unions have accused Snyder of caving in to wealthy Republican business owners who wanted right-to-work passed.
The right-to-work movement has grown in the United States in recent years. Indiana earlier this year became the first state in the industrial Midwest to approve right-to-work and several other states are watching the Michigan action closely.
LEGAL CHALLENGES LOOM
Wisconsin Republicans in 2011 passed laws severely restricting the power of public sector unions. While Wisconsin did not attempt to pass right-to-work, the success of Republicans there in curbing powerful unions such as teachers and state workers encouraged politicians in other states to follow suit.
Republicans in Michigan also were emboldened by the defeat in the November election of a ballot initiative backed by unions that would have enshrined the right to collective bargaining in the state constitution.
Michigan is home of the heavily unionized U.S. auto industry, with some 700 manufacturing plants in the state. The state has the fifth highest percentage of workers who are union members at 17.5 percent. Only New York, Alaska, Hawaii and Washington state are more heavily unionized.
The Detroit area is headquarters for General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler, which is majority owned by Fiat SpA.
The UAW was founded in Michigan after a 1932 protest at a Ford plant in Dearborn left five people dead, increasing public sympathy for industrial workers during the Great Depression and leading to national legislation protecting unions.
Democrats and unions have vowed to challenge the new laws in the courts, to try to overturn them in a ballot initiative and possibly oust some Republicans who voted for right-to-work through recall elections.
Democratic Representative Douglas Geiss said right-to-work laws would lead to a resumption of the protests that led to unions some 70 years ago.
"There will be fights on the shop floor if many workers announce they will not pay union dues," Geiss said.
(Additional reporting by Robert Carr and David Bailey; Editing by Greg McCune and Bill Trott)
LANSING, Michigan (Reuters) - The Republican-majority Michigan legislature gave final approval on Tuesday to "right-to-work" restrictions on public sector unions in a state considered a stronghold of organized labor, as protesters chanted in the gallery and thousands rallied outside.
The House passed the measure making membership and payment of union dues voluntary for public sector employees such as teachers by a 58-51 vote. The Senate approved the same bill last week so it will now go to Republican Governor Rick Snyder, who has promised to sign it into law.
The public sector law was the first of two expected to be approved by the House on Tuesday. The other covers private sector workers, including the large auto industry in Michigan.
More than 12,000 workers from throughout Michigan and the U.S. Midwest protested as the legislature voted, most gathered in freezing temperatures and a light snow outside the building to show their displeasure.
Michigan State Police Inspector Gene Adamczyk said the Capitol was closed to visitors when it reached capacity of 2,200. An estimated 10,000 people demonstrated outside.
A few protesters were ejected from the Capitol after they chanted slogans from the gallery during the debate. Outside of the building, protesters tore down two tents set up for supporters of right-to-work as the crowd applauded but Adamczyk said there had been no arrests by late morning.
The show of force by unionized workers recalled huge rallies in Wisconsin two years ago when Republicans voted to curb public sector unions.
The right-to-work movement has been growing in the United States in recent years. Indiana earlier this year became the first state in the industrial Midwest to approve right-to-work and several other states are watching the Michigan action closely.
Michigan would become the 24th state to enact right-to-work provisions in a stunning blow to the power of organized labor in the United States, which has suffered a series of setbacks in recent years.
Wisconsin Republicans in 2011 passed laws severely restricting the power of public sector unions. While Wisconsin did not even attempt to pass right-to-work, the success of Republicans there in curbing powerful unions such as teachers and state workers emboldened politicians in other states to follow suit.
Michigan is home of the heavily unionized U.S. auto industry, with some 700 manufacturing plants in the state. It is also the birthplace of the United Auto Workers, the richest U.S. labor union. Michigan has the fifth highest percentage of unionized workers in the United States at 17.5 percent.
Detroit area is headquarters for General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler, which is majority owned by Fiat SpA.
(Additional reporting by Robert Carr; Editing by Greg McCune and Bill Trott)
CANBERRA (Reuters) – The Australian radio station behind a prank call to a British hospital will donate its advertising revenue until the end of the year to a fund for the family of the nurse who apparently took her own life after the stunt, the company said on Tuesday.
Southern Cross Austereo, parent company of Sydney radio station 2Day FM, said it would donate all advertising revenue, with a minimum contribution of A$ 500,000 ($ 525,000), to a memorial fund for the nurse, Jacintha Saldanha, who answered the telephone at the hospital treating Prince William’s pregnant wife, Kate.
The company has suspended the Sydney-based announcers, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, scrapped their “Hot 30″ programme and suspended advertising on the station in the wake of the Saldanha’s death. Southern Cross said it would resume advertising on its station from Thursday.
“It is a terrible tragedy and our thoughts continue to be with the family,” Southern Cross Chief Executive Officer Rhys Holleran said in a statement.
“We hope that by contributing to a memorial fund we can help to provide the Saldanha family with the support they need at this very difficult time.”
(Reporting by James Grubel; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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