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| Judge rejects ABC News bid to throw out 'pink slime' lawsuit Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 07:15 PM PDT  ABC News has failed to persuade a South Dakota state judge to dismiss a $1.2 billion defamation lawsuit by a meat processor complaining about a series of reports that referred to its signature product as "pink slime." Judge Cheryle Gering of the Union County Circuit Court ruled on Thursday that Beef Products Inc may pursue most of its case against ABC, a unit of Walt Disney Co, and others including news anchor Diane Sawyer and reporter Jim Avila. BPI claimed that ABC harmed its reputation and cost sales by mischaracterizing its "lean finely textured beef" as "pink slime" in reports aired in March and April 2012. "For example, the use of the term 'pink slime' with a food product can be reasonably interpreted as implying that the food product is not meat and is not fit to eat, which are objective facts which can be proven," the judge wrote. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. warns of increasing militant links between Iraq, Syria Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 05:31 PM PDT By Mirjam Donath UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations on Thursday warned about Islamist militant networks increasingly forging links across the border of Syria and Iraq, which is fueling sectarian tensions in a region that has suffered from years of bloodshed. Violence in Iraq reached new highs in 2013, when nearly 8,000 civilians were killed. Its political elite remains deeply divided along sectarian lines, as it has been since after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq 11 years ago this month. "The ongoing conflict in Syria has added a regional dimension to sectarian tensions and is affording terrorist networks the occasion to forge links across the border and expand their support base," U.N. special envoy to Iraq Nickolay Mladenov told the 15-nation Security Council. Full Story | Top |
| Time Warner Cable rates targeted by 'professional' hagglers Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 02:27 PM PDT  Time Warner Cable customers looking to lower their bills would be able to hire "professional negotiators," to squeeze discounts out of the cable provider under a trial service being offered by Yipit, a New York-based daily deals startup. Yipit sent out an email on Thursday to a small group of people on its distribution list directing them to a link to submit their Time Warner Cable account information. Then Yipit said it would have employees who are "professional negotiators" try to haggle for better rates with the cable company. The service is being tested as consumers are being hit with cable bills rising faster than the rate of inflation and as cable companies find it harder to hold onto customers who are defecting to newer entrants such as Verizon FiOS. Full Story | Top |
| Pledge to return Nazi-looted art welcomed, but with skepticism Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 01:10 PM PDT  The legal custodian of Cornelius Gurlitt, who inherited the paintings drawings and sculptures from his father, said on Wednesday his client would return all works looted by the Nazis to their owners or owners' descendants. But the lawyer representing the heirs of Alfred Flechtheim, a Jewish art patron and collector who lost everything to the Nazis, questioned whether Gurlitt was in a position to make such a promise given that the art has been confiscated by the authorities. "Gurlitt can make an announcement that he wants to return the art works but the prosecutor has to agree." Gurlitt's trove, which includes Modernist and Renaissance masterpieces valued at about 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion), according to media reports, was discovered when authorities raided his Munich apartment in February 2012 investigating possible tax evasion. He inherited the collection from his father, who took orders from Hitler to buy and sell so-called 'degenerate art' to fund Nazi activities during World War Two. Full Story | Top |
| Comcast's Cohen to testify on Time Warner Cable merger Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 01:04 PM PDT  By Alina Selyukh WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Comcast Corp's Executive Vice President David Cohen will testify at a hearing in the U.S. Senate on April 9 about his company's plans to buy Time Warner Cable Inc, a Comcast spokeswoman said on Thursday. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold the first congressional hearing on the proposed $45.2 billion merger between Comcast, the No. 1 U.S. cable operator, and its biggest rival, No. 2 cable services provider Time Warner Cable. Cohen is Comcast's top lobbyist and helped orchestrate the cable company's landmark acquisition of NBC Universal in 2011. Comcast's proposed merger is subject to approval by the Justice Department, the antitrust regulator, and the Federal Communications Commission, which reviews whether deals are in the public interest. Full Story | Top |
| Actress Gayet wins privacy lawsuit versus tabloid in Hollande affair Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 09:53 AM PDT  A French court ordered Closer magazine on Thursday to pay actress Julie Gayet 15,000 euros ($20,700) for publishing photos that revealed an affair between her and President Francois Hollande, her lawyer told Reuters. The 7-page photo spread published on January 10 showed the comings and goings outside a Parisian apartment rented by Gayet. Hollande chose not to sue. Gayet's lawyer Jean Ennochi, who had been asking for a larger sum of 50,000 euros, said his client's life had been "turned upside down" by the publication. Full Story | Top |
| L'Wren Scott leaves $9-million estate to Mick Jagger Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 09:09 AM PDT  Fashion designer L'Wren Scott, who committed suicide earlier this month, left her entire estate of $9 million to her long-time boyfriend, Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger, according to a will filed in New York court. Scott, 49, a favorite designer of Hollywood stars such as Nicole Kidman and Amy Adams, left jewelry, clothing, furniture, automobiles and property to Jagger, whom she had dated since 2001. "I give the rest and residue of my estate to Michael Philip Jagger," the will said. Full Story | Top |
| Prodigal son returns, Lachlan Murdoch back in News Corp Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 05:55 AM PDT  By Jane Wardell and Byron Kaye SYDNEY (Reuters) - Lachlan Murdoch's appointment to senior positions within his father Rupert Murdoch's media empire marks the return of the prodigal son. Nearly a decade after walking away from the News Corp inner circle in New York to set up his own investment company and settle in Sydney with his young family, it appears Lachlan has accepted the mantle of successor, whether alone or jointly with younger brother James. "It's like the royal family," said Alan Knight, professor of journalism at the University of Technology in Sydney. "Murdoch senior has always treated News Corp as a family business and this guy is just basically accepting his inheritance." Lachlan, 42, will become non-executive co-chairman of both entertainment company 21st Century Fox and publishing operation News Corp, sharing both roles with his father. Full Story | Top |
| In Canada snowdrifts, Coen brothers' 'Fargo' gets cable TV treatment Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 04:04 AM PDT  By Scott Haggett CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - A particularly punishing winter, even by Canadian standards, has served well the new cable television series "Fargo," a reimagining of the blood-soaked black comedy film of the same name by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. The 10-episode single-season series, which debuts on April 15 on Twenty-First Century Fox Inc's FX cable network, is a new story with different characters, but leans heavily on the frigid Minnesota setting, death, Midwestern folksiness and deadpan humor of its Oscar-winning namesake. The gift of Calgary's coldest and snowiest winter in years made it easy to emphasize the bone-chilling Minnesota winter the detail-oriented Coen brothers made central to their film. "The winter is just perfect for this," said Keith Carradine, who plays the father of rookie cop Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman), the woman who takes over law enforcement when her boss is murdered in sleepy Bemidji, Minnesota. Full Story | Top |
| Rising Israeli maestro Wellber loves Strauss, accordion too Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 01:06 AM PDT By Michael Roddy DRESDEN, Germany (Reuters) - Omer Wellber says it's usually after the second question that journalists start asking him what it's like to be an Israeli-born conductor. He doesn't say how long it takes them to start quizzing him about his love for the accordion. At 32, Wellber is undoubtedly the first "sabra" - an Israeli-born Jew - to make a huge hit conducting Verdi's "Aida" in Padua, Italy, where he stepped in at short notice in 2008. He also has conducted at the Israeli Opera, the Valencia Opera House, the Dresden Semperoper and will make his debut at England's posh summer opera showcase at Glyndebourne in May conducting Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin". Full Story | Top |
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