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| U.S. author George Saunders wins Story Prize for short fiction Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 06:36 PM PST (Reuters) - American author George Saunders on Wednesday won the Story Prize for his best-selling short story collection "Tenth of December," which has been lauded for its formal innovation and keen eye to people's darker aspects. Saunders, 55, topped finalists Andrea Barrett's "Archangel" collection and Rebecca Lee's "Bobcat" for the $20,000 prize, the richest among annual literary fiction honors in the United States. Saunders, who lives in New York and teaches creative writing at Syracuse University, was given the award at a ceremony at the New School in New York. "George Saunders offers a vision and version of our world that takes into account the serious menace all around us without denying the absurd pleasures that punctuate life," the judges said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: DirecTV in talks with Disney on deal for Internet rights Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 05:27 PM PST  DirecTV is in talks with Walt Disney Co to license the rights to offer Disney's broadcast and cable channels as part of an Internet-based product, DirecTV said on Wednesday. The deal would mirror a first-of-its kind agreement that Disney and satellite rival Dish Network Corp announced earlier this week. The Internet rights being discussed are part of a large-scale programming agreement that would replace a deal between the companies that expires in late December. Disney and Dish are in negotiations but the timing of the new deal could be not be learned. Full Story | Top |
| U.S.-based TV anchor quits Russian station during newscast Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 05:16 PM PST A Washington-based news anchor for the Russia Today television network quit her job on air on Wednesday, telling viewers she could not be part of a Russian government-funded station "that whitewashes the actions of Putin." Citing on-air comments earlier this week by another U.S.-based Russia Today presenter, Abby Martin, that Russian intervention in Ukraine's Crimea region was "wrong," Liz Wahl told viewers that "as a reporter on this network, I face many ethical and moral challenges." "My grandparents came here as refugees during the Hungarian revolution, ironically to escape the Soviet forces," Wahl said, adding she was "very lucky to have grown up here in the United States." Wahl added she was the daughter of a military veteran and her partner was a doctor at a military base "where he sees everyday the first-hand accounts of the ultimate prices that people pay for this country." "And that is why personally I cannot be part of a network funded by the Russian government that whitewashes the actions of Putin," she said. "I'm proud to be an American and believe in disseminating the truth and that is why after this newscast, I'm resigning." Russia Today could not be reached for comment. Full Story | Top |
| ScHoolboy Q knocks 'Frozen' from top spot on Billboard 200 Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 01:27 PM PST By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hip hop artist ScHoolboy Q knocked Disney's juggernaut soundtrack "Frozen" from the top spot of the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday. "Oxymoron," the third studio album from ScHoolboy Q and the first to be released through a major label, Universal Music Group's Interscope Records, sold 139,000 copies in its first week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan. The "Frozen" soundtrack, which features the hit Oscar-winning song "Let It Go" and previously topped the Billboard chart for five non-consecutive weeks, dropped to No. ... Full Story | Top |
| Comedian Conan O'Brien to host MTV Movie Awards Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 11:07 AM PST  Comedian and late-night talk-show host Conan O'Brien will host this year's MTV Movie Awards, the unbuttoned show that irreverently honors Hollywood's best kisses and best fight scenes, the MTV network said on Wednesday. It will be the first time that O'Brien, 50, has hosted the annual show, which will take place on April 13 at the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles and which serves as lead-in to the summer movie season. "After eight years of intense negations, I am honored to announce I am hosting MTV's second most prestigious awards show," the flame-haired comedian quipped in a statement. MTV, which is owned by Viacom Inc, said the show will also feature unseen clips from upcoming summer films. Full Story | Top |
| Winklevoss twins use bitcoins to book space trip Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 10:43 AM PST  By Noel Randewich SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - You can't spend bitcoins at Amazon.com or to pay your mortgage but, as the Winklevoss twins showed on Wednesday, you can use the digital currency to book a trip into suborbital space. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who famously accused Facebook Inc founder Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their idea, said they used bitcoins to buy tickets for a high-altitude voyage on billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic commercial spaceflight venture. The brothers, Olympic rowers who earned MBA degrees from Oxford University, have become bitcoin evangelists and investors and are planning to launch a fund to make it easy to trade the digital currency on the stock market. In a blog post, Tyler Winklevoss compared Branson's space endeavor and bitcoin entrepreneurs to major historical figures who changed the way the world was perceived, like Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama and Nicolaus Copernicus. Full Story | Top |
| Brooks denies phone-hacking cover-up at Murdoch's UK arm Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 09:28 AM PST  By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's former British newspaper boss, Rebekah Brooks, denied on Wednesday she was part of a cover-up to conceal the extent of phone-hacking at one of his tabloids, but agreed she had paid 1 million pounds ($1.67 million) to buy the silence of one outraged victim. Brooks, who ran News Corp.'s British arm, News International, until 2011, also said she could not explain why the editor of one of its papers had said to her all was "going so well" on the day his royal editor had pleaded guilty to phone-hacking. Under cross examination, Brooks was asked why News International had publicly stated phone-hacking was limited to a "rogue" reporter jailed in 2007 until that position no longer became tenable two years later when she became its boss. "As of that date did you know News International were covering up the extent of the phone hacking at the News of the World," prosecutor Andrew Edis said to her. Full Story | Top |
| News reader company Flipboard buys rival Zite from CNN Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 08:53 AM PST News reader company Flipboard said on Wednesday it has bought rival app Zite from CNN and struck a content partnership with the cable news network. The deal is valued at $60 million, according to the CNN Money website. Time Warner Inc's CNN bought Zite, a news reader application that aggregates content for tablets like Apple Inc's iPad in 2011, for around $20 million, according to reports at the time. Full Story | Top |
| Israel's prime minister visits Hollywood for premiere of tourism film Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 09:40 PM PST  By Jeffrey Heller LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Hollywood on Tuesday for the premiere of a film to promote tourism to the Holy Land, shifting the spotlight away from his frequent focus on dangers facing his country. Netanyahu attended the premiere at Paramount Studios of "Israel: The Royal Tour," a one-hour U.S. public television special that is being broadcast this week. The U.S.-educated Israeli leader played tour guide to the program's host, U.S. travel journalist Peter Greenberg when the project was shot in Israel in 2012. Netanyahu attended the event a day after White House talks with President Barack Obama that focused on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and international efforts to prevent Iran, Israel's arch-enemy, from developing nuclear weapons. Full Story | Top |
| Dr. Sherwin Nuland, author of 'How We Die,' dead at 83 Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 09:18 PM PST (Reuters) - Dr. Sherwin Nuland, the author of the bestseller "How We Die," which talks candidly about how life ends in disease and old age, has died at the age of 83, his daughter said on Tuesday. Nuland died Monday of prostate cancer at his home in Hamden, Connecticut, his daughter Amelia Nuland confirmed by telephone. Nuland was a professor at the Yale School of Medicine, where he had received his medical degree in 1955, according to the university's website. Nuland won the National Book Award for "How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter" in 1994. Full Story | Top |
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