Netherlands latest to ban Samsung smartphones

“Samsung’s smart phones cannot be sold. That goes for the Samsung S, the Samsung S II and the Samsung Ace,” Saskia Panchoe, spokeswoman for the Hague-based court told AFP.

The court banned sales from mid-October onwards.

US-based Apple filed papers before the Dutch court on June 27, asking for an injunction on sales of three smartphone models and three tablet models including Samsung’s newly-released Galaxy Tab 10.1, accusing the Asian manufacturer of infringing on its design and patents.

“The court has judged that there indeed was an infringement regarding the smartphones, but not in relation to the tablets, which can still be sold,” Panchoe added.

“The patents also apply to other (European) countries, which means the ban on sales applies to other countries where the patents are valid,” the spokeswoman said, but she could not state the exact countries.

The infringements relate to the way users scrolled through photo galleries on their devices and how phones were unlocked by touching its screens.

A trial on the merits of the case is not expected before 2012, while other summary proceedings on several phone models are to be considered by the Hague-based tribunal in September.

The case before the Dutch court is the latest episode in the battle between Samsung and Apple, manufacturer of the iPad, who have been pursuing legal action against one another since April over design rights.

A German court earlier this month lifted a European ban on the sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, while keeping it in place in Germany, as Apple pursued a separate case there.

Earlier this month, Apple also launched legal proceedings in Australia against Samsung, accusing it of infringing its patents with the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Google TV to launch in Europe early next year

Google TV, which allows viewers to mix Web and television content on a TV screen via a browser, was launched in the United States in October but received mixed reviews and was swiftly blocked by three of the top U.S. broadcast networks.

Large parts of the television industry, like the news and telecoms industries, view Google with suspicion and accuse it of stealing their advertising revenues without contributing to the costs of making programmes.

Schmidt sought to allay the fears of Britain’s broadcasting elite in a speech to the Edinburgh television festival, the first time a non-TV executive had been invited to give the keynote MacTaggart lecture at Britain’s premier industry event.

“Some in the US feared we aimed to compete with broadcasters or content creators. Actually our intent is the opposite,” he told an audience who quickly warmed to his friendly style and liberal compliments to the quality of British television.

“We seek to support the content industry by providing an open platform for the next generation of TV to evolve, the same way Android is an open platform for the next generation of mobile,” he said.

“We expect Google TV to launch in Europe early next year, and of course the UK will be among the top priorities.” Google TV has gained little traction so far in the United States, and its set top box provider Logitech International SA slashed prices to $99 in July from an initial price of $299.

Schmidt also included a warning to British television regulators, who he said were far more stringent than their US counterparts and threatened to throttle the development of British television companies in an increasingly global market.

“Stifling the Internet – whether by filtering or blocking or just plain turning the ‘off’ switch – appeals to policy makers the world over,” he said. “Instead, policy makers should work with the grain of the Internet rather than against it.” OPPORTUNISTIC Google has long held ambitions in the television arena, hoping to extend its online advertising business, which made $28 billion for the company last year, to the big screens that still command the lion’s share of global advertising budgets.

“If his ambition was to go there and convince the TV people he wasn’t a big threat, I don’t think he achieved it,” said Keith McMahon, an analyst at research firm Telco 2.0/STL Partners.

“The message I got was that TV is such a big market that Google can’t ignore it. They’re never going to give it up.” So far, Google has had little success breaking into the TV market, despite its ownership of the world’s most popular online video site, YouTube.

Last week, however, Google agreed a deal to buy Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc for $12.5 billion, handing it the world’s leading set top box business which delivers content for many of the top cable TV companies in the United States.

The headline attraction of the deal was Motorola’s huge portfolio of wireless patents but the set top box business could help Google transform its TV project by giving it insights into pay-TV.

Google has not spelled out its plans for the set top box business, and many analysts expect it to divest the unit at the first opportunity, having no experience or previous interest in running a hardware business.

Others believe Google could change tack under CEO Larry Page, Google’s co-founder who took back the reins from Schmidt in April and has already started a social network to compete with Facebook while ditching other projects.

“Google describes itself as an opportunistic company. So while it may not have wanted to buy Motorola’s operations, it may now assess whether retaining these assets can compensate for the risk of owning them,” New York-based Nomura analyst Stuart Jeffrey wrote in a note this week.

Schmidt made no mention of the Motorola acquisition or its implications on Friday, but will hold a question and answer session in Edinburgh on Saturday.

Train attack kills three, wounds 16 near Quetta

Men armed with assault rifles attacked the passenger train in Mach town, some 50 kilometres southeast of Quetta, the capital of the insurgency-hit southwestern province of Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.

“Three people have been killed and 16 were injured in the attack,” Naseeb-Ullah, provincial home secretary told AFP by telephone.

“We have imposed an emergency in the hospitals while the seriously injured have been taken to Quetta’s main hospital,” he added.

Police said about two dozens attackers fired on the train when it reached Mach, which lies deep in the mountains.

A railway official confirmed the incident.

One Intelligence official in Quetta blamed the attack on Baloch militants who are fighting for more political rights and a greater share of profits from the region’s natural resources.

Hundreds of people have died in violence in the province since the insurgency flared in late 2004. Despite having some of the lowest living standards in Pakistan, the region has the richest supply of natural resources.

Zulfiqar Mirza resigns from Sindh cabinet

Mirza said that Interior Minister Rehman Malik was “hand in glove with terrorists” and called him a “compulsive liar”. He said that he had evidence against Malik which he would present to the president and the army chief. He went ahead to add that Malik was harmful for Pakistan.

Mirza said that his ministry had been changed due to blackmail and said that there existed a manipulated mandate in Karachi.

He also said that if had been given a free hand, he would be able to bring peace in Karachi within 15 days.

Zulfikaqar Mirza also spoke out against the MQM again. He called the MQM Chief Altaf Hussain a “killer” and called his party a terrorist organisation.

During his press conference Zulfiqar Mirza revealed about a meeting that he had with the MQM chief in which Altaf Hussain allegedly said that the United States wanted to break up Pakistan and that the MQM would work with them to achieve this agenda.

He also accused the MQM of being responsible for the murder of journalist Wali Khan Babar and revealed the identities of five alleged target killers who were behind the killing.

Pakistan can look any country in the eyes on national interest

Addressing a press conference at the State Guest House here, the Prime Minister said that safeguarding national interest was of supreme importance for his government.

He said that Pakistan wanted to maintain friendly relations with the United States on the basis of mutual respect and mutual interest without compromising on each other’s national interests.

Gilani said, “We have explained to the US government that if it is answerable to Congress, then we are equally accountable to the Parliament”.

To a query, the Prime Minister said there was no question of raising fingers at Pakistan’s role in the fight against terrorism.

Because of strategic position, Pakistan had to take up the role of a frontline state role in the fight against terror, he said and added that Pakistan’s intelligence agencies and the Central Intelligence Agency (of US) were working in close liaison with each other while both the countries had launched joint actions against high-level targets in the past.

Condemning the cross-border attack in Chitral, he said that the Foreign Office had protested to the Afghan government on the issue. Some elements did not want amicable relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan and were creating disturbance, he added.

He said Pakistan was in the middle of the fight against terrorism and expressed the hope relations between the two neighbouring countries would strengthen in the near future.

About Al-Qaeda links in the security forces, Gilani said Pakistan’s security agencies were immensely efficient.

Terrorism and extremism were a global phenomenon as well as a global threat which had to be addressed jointly through capacity building of each other, he added.

Responding to a question on the law and order situation in Karachi, he said that extremism and terrorism were major threats to the country and that the law and order situation in Karachi was a spill-over of the Afghan war.

He said that successful operation of the law enforcement agencies in FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas), Swat and Malakand had dispersed the terrorists who turned to soft targets like girls’ schools, shopping malls, public places and intelligence headquarters in order to cause collateral damage to life and property.

The Prime Minister said the situation of Karachi was also a reaction to the killing of Osama Bin Laden in Abottabad operation.

To another question, he did not rule the involvement of some foreign hands in Balochistan and Karachi incidents.

Jason Momoa eyes breakout film role in "Conan"

Jason Momoa may not be a household name from Hollywood yet, but neither was Arnold Schwarzenegger when he took on the title role of "Conan the Barbarian" in 1982.

Nearly 30 years later, Momoa could see a similar starmaking trajectory if moviegoers embrace him as the new, 3D incarnation of "Conan the Barbarian," due in theaters on Friday. If there's one person who hopes they will, it is Momoa.

"Conan (is) going to give me star status," he told Reuters of his hopes for a movie that breaks him out of the pack of Hollywood actors. "It's going to put me in leading man roles."

Based on pulp fiction writer Robert E. Howard's sword and sorcery fantasy stories, the "Conan" reboot begins with the barbarian's early years when, as a young boy, he witnesses the destruction of his village and the death of his father.

As an adult, Conan embarks on a personal mission to avenge the death, which then turns into an epic battle to save an entire nation from a supernatural evil.

Unlike Schwarzenegger who, at 35, was a body building champ but a relative newcomer to Hollywood movies when he took the "Conan" role, the 32 year-old Momoa has 12 years of work under his belt. But only his hardcore fans, including followers of HBO series "Games of Thrones," likely know he's got the acting skills, not to mention the muscles, to wield Conan's weapons.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Momoa was raised by his single mother in Iowa, where he never felt like he fit in with his exotic looks inherited largely from his native Hawaiian father. After high school, in an attempt to "get to know my father better" Momoa went back to Hawaii where his looks became an asset. Modeling gigs followed, then came an opportunity he could never have predicted -- a gig on "Baywatch."

"I was 19 and folding t-shirts in a surf shop," Momoa told Reuters. "And I got chosen out of 1,300 people to play a lead role on 'Baywatch Hawaii.' I didn't even know how to act."

That led to another Hawaii-based show, "North Shore," which only lasted a year and after that, a dry spell.

"It took me five years to get an agent after 'Baywatch,'" said Momoa. "No one would take me seriously because it was 'Baywatch.' I lived in the shadow of that for a long time.'"

WARRIORS AND WARLOCKS

Eventually he landed the role of the dreadlock-wearing warrior Ronon Dex in the Sy Fy Channel TV series "Stargate: Atlantis," where he was quickly embraced by sci-fi fans. The show lasted on TV for five seasons.

His career took another fortuitous turn when he was cast as the powerful warlock Khal Drogo on HBO's "Game of Thrones," based on the popular "A Song of Ice and Fire" fantasy novels. After premiering earlier this year, "Thrones" became an instant hit with fans and critics, earning 13 Emmy nominations.

"It was the first project in my life where I was like, 'I have to have this, no one is gonna take this from me,'" said Momoa. "It was the first thing I've ever fought for."

Momoa's 6'3" frame and muscular body make him a strong choice for roles as tough guys who battle evil, and his exotic looks give him an eerie resemblance to Howard's original drawings of Conan.

But the actor, who is married and has two young children with actress Lisa Bonet, said it was being a father that made him connect with the Conan character.

"Conan's father is killed in front of him and as a father, if someone messes with your family, your children, you're gonna get primal on them," said the actor. "You're gonna go feral. It resides in everyone," Momoa said.

Clearly, going primal is one thing Momoa can do. His face bears a striking scar from a 2008 bar fight where, he said, "I took a pint glass to the face. It took a 140 stitches to put my face back together."

But those days are gone, he said, and the actor is focused on his future. Besides "Thrones," Momoa is currently shooting a villainous role opposite Sylvester Stallone in next year's crime thriller, "Bullet to the Head." He also has a couple of projects in the works with Bonet.

Though his career is moving at a faster pace now, Momoa paused to reflect about first seeing himself on the big screen in "Conan," complete with the physical transformation which included an additional 25 lbs. of muscle.

"There's moments you look at yourself," he said. "And wow, it's kinda cool."

Cody Horn circling Channing Tatum's stripper drama

Channing Tatum may soon be bumping and grinding for a genuine Hollywood princess.

Cody Horn, the daughter of former Warner Bros. president and COO Alan Horn, is circling Tatum's male stripper drama, "Magic Mike," TheWrap has confirmed.

ThePlaylist first reported her casting.

Horn would play Tatum's love interest in the film.

Steven Soderbergh is set to direct the semi-autobiographical story of Tatum's early years spent exotic dancing for his dinner.

Alex Pettyfer ("I Am Number Four") and Matthew McConaughey are set to co-star.

Horn is represented by Paradigm and Untitled Entertainment. She has previously appeared in the films "Twelve" and "Flipped," and snagged a recurring role in the FX series "Rescue Me."

Johnny Knoxville, Paton Oswalt to co-star in comedy

Johnny Knoxville and "poignant" usually don't occur in the same sentence, but the "Jackass" star is set to topline a comedy its producers call "outlandish yet poignant."

Patton Oswalt will also star in the movie, which Todd Rohal is directing -- and still writing.

According to producers, the movie is "about a pair of battling brothers who attempt to honor their ailing father by taking a troop of boys on a last ditch camping trip that goes wildly wrong."

The movie doesn't have a title yet.

Rob Riggle, Maura Tierney and Patrice O'Neal will also star in the ensemble comedy.

Knoxville and Oswalt on the same screen could be quite a combination. Knoxville made his name with "Jackass" and has starred in "Men in Black II," "Lords of Dogtown," "The Dukes of Hazzard" and "Walking Tall," among others.

Oswalt, who was the voice of Remy in "Ratatouille," is among the funniest stand-up comedians working. And he has starred as Neil on Showtime's "The United States of Tara" for three seasons.

On top of that is Todd Rohal, whose odd buddy movie "The Catechism Cataclysm" premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival and is being released by IFC Films in October.

Marc Turtletaub and Peter Saraf's big Beach films is financing. Turtletaub, Saraf and Lisa Muskat are producing.

First countries enter Oscar foreign-language race

The Academy's often controversial and always interesting foreign-language race is picking up a little steam, with Romania, Morocco and Venezuela submitting their entries to join Greece and Poland this year.

We won't know for months if Greece has found another surprise nominee like last year's "Dogtooth," or if Romania will once again be overlooked for a strong, tough film the way it was with "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days."

But at this point we can start to discern countries' strategies for dealing with the Academy's Best Foreign-Language Film process. Greece, for instance, seems to have reacted to "Dogtooth" with an attitude of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," while Romania may be going for something marginally friendlier than its usual grim submissions.

Under Academy rules, each country is allowed to submit a single film; a lengthy screening process narrows the field from several dozen (65 last year) to nine, and then two hand-picked committees choose the final five nominees.

So far, these are the entries. Many more to come before the Academy's September 30 deadline:

Greece: "Attenberg"

Director: Anthin Rachel Tsangari

Last year Greece got the Oscar race's strangest and most controversial nomination with "Dogtooth," and the country appears to have gone back to the same well with a film produced by "Dogtooth" director Yorgos Lanthimos and directed by "Dogtooth" producer Tsangari. Guy Lodge, who has seen the film, calls it "'Dogtooth'-lite: in addition to common themes of sexual discover and youth alienation, the films share a similar brooding, deadpan humor."

Morocco: "Omar Killed Me" ("Omar m'a tuer")

Director: Roschdy Zem

The true story of Moroccan immigrant imprisoned for murder near Cannes, "Omar Killed Me" examines a penal system in which French police and prosecutors were eager to pin the crime on a convenient target. Director Zem is currently receiving raves for the limited stateside release of "Point Blank."

Poland: "In Darkness"

Director: Agnieszka Holland

Director Holland has been Oscar-nominated for "Olivier, Olivier" and has worked in the United States on TV series like "The Wire," "The Killing" and "Treme," and her film has already been picked up by Sony Classics, the company with an impressive record of picking winners and nominees in this category. Besides which, the plot looks like ideal Oscar-bait: it's based on the true story of a Polish criminal who helped hide Jewish refugees during World War II.

Romania: "Morgen"

Director: Marian Crisan

Reportedly less grim than the Romanian fare that has been controversially overlooked by the Academy in recent years, "Morgen" looks at the friendship between a Romanian-Hungarian security guard and an illegal immigrant.

Venezuela: "The Rumble of the Stones" ("El rumor de las piedras")

Director: Alejandro Bellame Palacios

The least-known of this year's entries, Palacios' film deals with a woman in Caracas trying to rebuild a life for herself, her mother and her two sons in the wake of floods that destroyed their home.

Paul Rudd is nobody's "Idiot Brother"

Thanks to hits such as "Knocked Up," "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," Paul Rudd has become one of the most reliable comic actors in Hollywood, unafraid of embracing slightly dorky who make people laugh.

In his new film, "Our Idiot Brother" opening on Friday, he embraces his inner hippie and shares the screen with three high-powered actresses (Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel and Emily Mortimer) playing his neurotic New York sisters. His character -- the under-achieving, homeless, Croc-wearing brother Ned -- wreaks havoc in their lives.

Rudd recently sat down with Reuters to talk about portraying the easy-going Ned, the joys of tie-dyed T-shirts and why he's not shy about kissing dogs.

Q: "Our Idiot Brother" sounds like a very broad comedy, but it's not, is it.

A: "Not at all. There's lots of drama. You hear the title and see the main character with his beard and long hair, but I don't think Ned's an idiot. He's a gentle soul, and makes some idiotic decisions -- there's no getting around that. But we wanted to make it very clear he's living his life a certain way, and it's a conscious decision. He has an ethic he subscribes too, and it's not always easy for him. The cracks show in some scenes, and that's important. You don't want it to look like he's just out to lunch."

Q: After he's busted for selling pot to a cop and gets out of prison, Ned moves in with each of his sisters and chaos ensues. How much of you is in Ned? Can you relate to him?

A: "I can. It's not me, but there are parts that are. I like to think of myself as being optimistic and happy, although not as much as Ned, which is good and bad. The moment I read it, I wanted to do it, and I also felt it'd be a fun world to live in for a couple of months -- and it was. I was very happy making this movie because of Ned."

Q: So he rubbed off on you a lot?

A: "He did. I'm not a Method actor, I don't need to be called by the character's name. I don't take roles home with me. But when it ended, I actually went without shaving for a while and dressed in a similarly horrible fashion."

Q: You wore Crocs?

A: (Laughs) "No -- I drew the line at Crocs! But I wore cut-off shorts and flannel shirts. I've never owned anything tie-dyed in my life, but there was one tie-dyed shirt I wore in the movie with this hippie-dippy print that was so extreme. I still wear it. And had I seen this shirt before doing this movie, there's no way I'd have kept it."

Q: You have three sisters and an ex-girlfriend to contend with -- too many women on set, or was it fun?

A: "It was fun because I knew them all. I was already friends with just about everyone in the cast, and had been for years."

Q: Does that make it easier or harder?

A: "Much easier, especially with a movie like this -- not a long shoot. And we shot in New York where I live, so I could literally walk outside and start work some days. But it was incredibly hot and humid, so there was a lot of sweating and people getting patted down. And I got a chance to hang out with people like Steve Coogan, who plays Emily's cheating husband. I've been a major Steve Coogan fan for many years, so I was thrilled to get the chance to meet him and get to know him a bit."

Q: You have great screen chemistry with the dog, and there's a lot of kissing between you two. Sweet breath?

A: (Laughs) "Yeah, pretty sweet, in the way a golden retriever would have sweet breath. Now, I may have offended the dog, as I think I'd dipped into some hummus earlier, but I don't think the dog would judge me. I'm actually a big dog lover, and a golden retriever's particularly lovable. Growing up I always had dogs, so the dog-kissing scenes didn't gross me out."

Tests show no illegal drugs in Winehoushttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gife body

Amy Winehouse had no illegal drugs in her system when she died, and it is still unclear what killed the singer, her family said Tuesday. The family said in a statement that toxicology tests showed "alcohol was present" in the singer's body but it hasn't yet been determined if it contributed to her death.

The 27-year-old soul diva, who had battled drug and alcohol addiction for years, was found dead in her London home on July 23, and an initial post-mortem failed to determine the cause of death.

A statement released by spokesman Chris Goodman on the family's behalf said "toxicology results returned to the Winehouse family by authorities have confirmed that there were no illegal substances in Amy's system at the time of her death." The statement did not mention whether any legal drugs were found.

It said the family awaited the outcome of an inquest that is due to begin in October.

Winehouse's father, Mitch, has said his daughter had beaten her drug dependency three years before her death, but he admitted she was still struggling to control her drinking after several weeks of abstinence.

Mitch Winehouse told mourners at the singer's July 26 funeral that she had said to him, "'Dad I've had enough of drinking, I can't stand the look on your and the family's faces anymore.'"

The Winehouse family announced plans to establish a charitable foundation in the singer's name to help people struggling with addiction — although Mitch Winehouse has said the plans are on hold because someone else had registered the name Amy Winehouse Foundation.

In her short lifetime, Winehouse frequently made headlines because of drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, destructive relationships and abortive performances.

Her health often appeared fragile. In June 2008 and again in April 2010, she was taken to hospital and treated for injuries after fainting and falling at home.

Her father said she had developed the lung disease emphysema from smoking cigarettes and crack, although her spokeswoman later said Winehouse only had "early signs of what could lead to emphysema."

She turned her tumultuous life and personal demons into songs such as "Rehab," from her Grammy-winning album "Back to Black."

Her death prompted an outpouring of emotion from fans — many of whom left flowers and offerings outside her house in north London's Camden neighborhood — and from fellow musicians.

Her final recording, a duet with Tony Bennett on "Body and Soul," is due to released next month as a charity single.

In Britain, inquests are held to establish the facts whenever someone dies violently or in unexplained circumstances. Winehouse's inquest is due to begin Oct. 26 in London.

Surfer witnesses 9/11 attack

Ed Hewitt planned to surf all day. The weather reports for the New Jersey coastline called for a blue September sky, warm temperatures, and the right wind for near-perfect surfing conditions.

A 39-year-old watersports enthusiast, Ed woke up early on Sept. 11, 2001.

He would surf a spot called Sandy Hook, a lonely spit of sand on the north end of Gunnison Beach that points like a finger toward Brooklyn and Manhattan, which rise out of the water a few miles away. When conditions are just right, you can ride a wave at Sandy Hook for hundreds of yards with the Empire City skyline as your backdrop.

It was one of those days that promised long rides and clear skies, and Ed, a travel writer taking the day off, was stoked. He loaded a 9-foot surfboard into his white minivan and pulled out of his driveway in Kingston, New Jersey, for the hourlong drive.

In the van, he set his cell phone down in the cup holder and cranked up some tunes on the radio. Halfway into his drive along State Road 36, his phone buzzed. Probably best not to check in this traffic, he thought, and ignored the call as he flew toward the beach. The phone buzzed again, signaling a voicemail. Ed ignored it. He was in the zone and feeling good: The radio was blasting, and he could smell the coconut from the fresh wax on his board. In a few minutes, he'd be cruising down the face of a wave.

As he pulled into the nearly empty parking lot, he saw a plume of black smoke rising from Manhattan. He called up the voicemail on his phone. It was his wife, Lori. She sounded worried. Something happened in New York. There's a massive fire. The news says a plane crashed into the World Trade Center. It might have been an accident. No one knows anything yet. Be safe.

He pulled his board out of the van, slipped into a wetsuit and began the trek up the beach toward the point, where he joined a group of people watching the smoke. Suddenly, the black cloud turned white. They didn't know it at the time, but the white smoke was the ash and debris coming from the collapse of the South Tower.

"Everything that was in Manhattan changed color," he recalled later. "It was such a chilling thing to have watched."

Like most people throughout the country at that moment, Ed was unaware of the magnitude of the disaster. Fires are tragic, sure, but they happen all the time. Plane crashes are rare, but life goes on.

Ed felt uneasy, but he decided to hop into the water.

Holding the board under his arm, he stepped up to the shoreline, where the waves were crashing hard. He got a running start from the sand toward the water and plopped belly-first onto the board, paddling furiously. He maneuvered his board over and under the unforgiving waves, the water crisp with the coming of fall, and made it beyond the soup. Exhausted, Ed sat up on his board to catch his breath and realized he was alone. There was an uneasy silence as he looked toward the smoke. But there was little time to focus on that with the next set of waves marching directly toward him.

Ed caught the first wave, dropped in, and pulled off the lip for another one. He kept his eyes on the cloud of smoke, which continued to fill the morning sky.

He sat by himself, straddling his board as the nose bobbed in and out of the lonely water in front of him. The cloud grew larger, more menacing.

A few moments later, he watched as boats loaded with people came speeding in his direction from Manhattan. Hundreds of people were fleeing the island. Many were bloodied and injured.

"I'm sitting in the water and just watching this whole thing, and it really just piled up on me," he said.

In his mind, he saw the faces of his friends who lived in Manhattan. He thought of his wife, and he began to feel sick and anxious. What am I doing here? he thought.

He paddled toward the shore and caught a wave that deposited him on the sand. The crowd on the beach had gathered around a man with a radio. Everyone stood transfixed by the smoke coming from Manhattan.

Ed ran to his car, peeled off his wetsuit, threw the board into the van, and called his wife. Pulling onto the main road, he tried to keep his mind focused. On both sides of his van, drivers as shocked and horrified as he was sped past him.

"I remember trying to make sure that I didn't get killed," he said later. "I didn't feel myself, and I could tell that folks around me didn't feel themselves either. I didn't have my head on my shoulders, and I was very aware of it."

The world had changed in the short time since he'd tossed his surfboard into the van on that peaceful morning. Radio stations were no longer playing feel-good jams. Instead, he listened to news announcers tell the story as fast as they could gather the information, their own voices trembling over the airwaves. The World Trade Center had fallen. The Pentagon, in Washington, D.C., was on fire. A plane had gone down in Pennsylvania. Thousands could be dead. America had been attacked.

All this while Ed Hewitt sat alone in the ocean, watching it unfold.

Back in Kingston, he pulled the van into the driveway and ran into the house, where his wife was waiting for him.

"I got home and was very quickly put to work," he said.

His wife was a coach for a Princeton University rowing team, and she and Ed stayed connected to many of the rowers in the area through Row2k.com, which Ed had created for rowing enthusiasts. That morning, they started compiling a list of survivors in the local rowing community. Ed got on the phone, then blasted a mass email to rowers in the area and took down the names that could be accounted for.

Fiat to Unveil '500 by Gucci' During NY Fashion Week

Hold onto your handbags. Fiat says it will unveil upscale Gucci-themed versions of the otherwise proletariat 500 coupe and 500c convertible on Fashion’s Night Out, September 8, to kick off New York Fashion Week.

Developed in collaboration with Gucci Creative Director Frida Giannini and Fiat's Centro Stile, Fiat says the two models, one finished in pearl-glass black paint and another in pearl-glass white, are inspired by neo-classic black-and-white film.

“With Gucci as our design partner, we’ve amplified the Italian style of our Fiat 500 with unique exterior and interior looks that will make the car truly unique on the road,” says Laura Soave, head of Fiat brand in North America. “This special edition adds dimension to the Fiat 500 portfolio and will appeal to North American customers who appreciate Italian style just as much as modern technology, value and fuel efficiency.”

The black model features polished chrome details with a black and white interior that’s intended to project a contemporary and racy attitude, while the white version gets satin chrome detailing and an ivory-and-black interior that conveys a softer and more-sophisticated look. A signature Gucci green/red/green web stripe runs along the side of the coupe, or across the convertible’s cloth top. Chrome cursive “Gucci” signatures adorn the doorframes and hatchback, while the car rides on retro-inspired 15-inch aluminum wheels with interlocking "GG" hubcaps and signature Gucci green brake pads. Specific upholstery and trim accents continue the Gucci design theme throughout the cabin.

The Fiat 500 by Gucci editions will arrive at Fiat dealerships in December, along with assorted Gucci-branded travel accessories to ensure a truly chic driving experience. Pricing has yet to be announced.

Kim's Russia trip focusing on energy issue

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's armored train rolled through the resource-rich far east of Russia Monday, taking in major Russian power projects en route to a summit with President Dmitry Medvedev expected to focus on energy cooperation and nuclear disarmament.

Kim arrived in Russia Saturday at the invitation of Medvedev. The two leaders are to meet later this week to discuss the possible relay of Russian natural gas and other energy to North and South Korea and long-stalled negotiations on ending the North's nuclear ambitions in return for aid.

Flags of the two countries fluttered at railway stations where Kim stopped, North Korean state media said, with military bands playing welcoming music and Russian women in national dress offering Kim traditional gifts of bread and salt.

On Sunday, Kim's toured a hydroelectric power plant in Amur province and its 139-meter (456-foot) dam on the Bureya River.

He was briefed on the plant's history and electricity production capacity and praised the enormous building, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported from Pyongyang.

"Inexhaustible is the strength of the Russian people," Kim wrote in the visitor's book, KCNA said.

Russia has proposed transmitting surplus electricity produced by the Amur plant to both North and South Korea, South Korean media have reported.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, while on a visit to Mongolia, said Monday that "if (Kim) frequently visits and looks at an open society, that will eventually positively affect North Korea's economic development," spokesman Park Jeong-ha said, according to Yonhap news agency.

A Russian regional news agency, PortAmur, posted some of the only photographs of Kim's visit, showing the 69-year-old leader wearing his trademark Mao-style khaki jumpsuit. In all but one of the photographs he is seen wearing dark sunglasses. He traded them for regular eyeglasses when presented with a framed picture as a gift.

Kim left Amur for his next destination Sunday, but North Korea didn't say exactly where his train was heading. South Korea's Yonhap news agency, however, citing an unidentified Russian intelligence source, reported Monday that Kim's train could be heading toward the city of Skovorodino. It may stop there, before reaching Ulan-Ude, the capital of Buryatia, a Buddhist province near Lake Baikal, for a summit with Medvedev.

Yonhap said Skovorodino is the starting point for a newly built 620-mile (1,000-kilometer) oil pipeline linking eastern Siberia and China. It said Kim's expected stop at Skovorodino could be related to Russia's proposal to provide energy to the Korean peninsula.

South Korean media are speculating the Kim-Medvedev summit could take place Tuesday or Wednesday. A key topic could be the construction of a pipeline that would stream Russian natural gas to both Koreas.

Russian and South Korean officials want North Korea to allow them to construct such a pipeline through the North's territory so that Russia could sell more natural gas to the South at a cheaper price. South Korea media said the North could earn up to $100 million every year, but negotiations haven't reported much progress because of the nuclear dispute.

Officials from Russia's state-controlled natural gas giant Gazprom visited North Korea in early July for talks on the gas pipeline. North Korean officials at the time reacted positively to the project, a change from a previous reluctant position, according to South Korea's Foreign Ministry.

The JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, however, raised worries Monday that the North could abruptly shut down gas supply depending on relations with the South.

"As long as there is the possibility that the gas supply would be interrupted by the North for political or military reasons, it is difficult for Seoul to put a final stamp on the deal," the paper said in an editorial.

Kim's visit to Russia comes amid signs that North Korea is increasing efforts to secure aid and restart six-nation nuclear talks, after more than a year of tension during which it shelled a South Korean border island and allegedly torpedoed a South Korean warship. A total of 50 South Koreans died in the attacks.

North Korean diplomats separately met U.S. and South Korean officials last month to discuss the resumption of the nuclear talks that have been stalled more than two years.

Russia announced Friday that it was providing food assistance, including some 50,000 tons of wheat, to the North, which might face another food crisis this year due to heavy rains.

Kim traveled to China in May in a trip seen by many as an attempt to secure aid, investment and support for a transfer of power to his youngest son Kim Jong Un. It was Kim's third visit to his country's closest ally in just over a year.

Kim last visited Russia in 2002, a four-day trip limited to the Far East. A year earlier, however, he made a 24-day train trek across the country to Moscow and back.

Perry wrestles with his own health care approach

Texas would be among the biggest beneficiaries of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, standing to gain coverage for nearly 4 million uninsured residents.

But Gov. Rick Perry blocked moves to lay the groundwork for that expansion of coverage, and among the alternatives he's supported is an untested regional solution that could prove as controversial as Obama's remake.

With Perry running for the Republican presidential nomination, health care in Texas and his own ideas as governor will get fly-speck scrutiny on the national stage. His state is a study in contrasts, boasting world-renowned facilities like the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, along with the highest proportion of uninsured residents of any state — 26 percent.

As a national candidate Perry has made total repeal of "Obamacare" central to his fledgling campaign. But it's unclear what he would put in its place. And if the Supreme Court ultimately upholds all or parts of the law, Perry has signaled that he would help carry out key provisions to avoid defaulting to the federal bureaucracy.

Texas has received various grants under Obama's law for planning, insurance regulation and consumer education. The state employee benefits system says it expects to draw $60 million in federal subsidies this year to help cover its early retirees, cashing in on a provision of the law.

But when Republican state Rep. John Zerwas tried to move legislation to set up an insurance purchasing pool required by the national overhaul, he ran into a veto threat from Perry.

The purchasing pools — called exchanges — are one of the key features of Obama's law. Run by the states, they would let consumers buy coverage from a choice of private plans. Most individuals and families in the exchanges would be eligible for federal tax credits to lower their premiums.

Exchanges are supposed to open in 2014. If a state doesn't act in advance, the law authorizes the federal government to set up and run its exchange. And since the Texas legislature meets only every other year, this past session was seen as perhaps the state's only opportunity.

But Zerwas said Perry told him he was concerned that moving ahead with the exchange legislation would undermine a multistate lawsuit against the federal overhaul that Texas is part of, not to mention creating other political problems. The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of the law's requirement that Americans obtain health insurance — the so-called individual mandate — an issue on which lower courts have split.

"Unfortunately, whether we like it or not, health insurance exchanges have become synonymous with Obamacare," said Zerwas. An anesthesiologist from the Houston suburbs, Zerwas said he believes it's worth taking the flak to guarantee that Texas will retain control of its insurance market. The governor disagreed.

"The position (Perry) was taking veers into some political considerations," said Zerwas. "He felt it would not ring well with some of the constituents and grassroots out there, and frankly, he was concerned it could potentially weaken the arguments in the lawsuit."

In the end, Zerwas said Perry reassured him that as governor he could put the exchange legislation into place through an executive order, should that become necessary. A spokeswoman for the federal Health and Human Services department said that would be possible under a newly flexible approach the feds are taking.

A spokeswoman for the governor, Lucy Nashed, said Perry believes there are too many unknowns about the federal law to move ahead. "It's premature to be setting up anything that has to do with the federal health care bill because so much of it is still up to the courts with regard to its constitutionality," she said.

That still leaves Texas with the nation's lowest rate of insurance coverage, even when compared to other states that have high immigrant populations. Experts say one of the key problems is a relatively low level of employer-sponsored private coverage. Many of the Texans who would gain coverage under Obama's law would be middle-class workers and their families, newly eligible to join the exchange.

Nashed said Perry has advocated a range of health care fixes, including national caps on malpractice lawsuits, conversion to electronic medical records and efforts to keep patients healthy and out of hospitals. He also signed legislation this year that would clear the way for Texas to explore a health care overhaul in conjunction with other states.

That may sound like an innocuous proposal, but it could turn out to be more controversial than Obama's overhaul.

The idea behind so-called state compacts is for the federal government to turn over Medicare and Medicaid funds to a group of states to use as they deem best for their citizens' needs. It would be the biggest re-engineering since the giant health care programs were created in the 1960s — assuming that groups of states could actually agree on what to do and Congress would give its consent.

"How could any one state control its costs?" asked Bob Laszewski, a health policy consultant to industry. It's like the Euro zone, he added, referring to Europe's troubled economies. "It's not states' rights anymore. These states would have to cede a lot of authority to a new entity."

Clashes near Gadhafi compound in Libyan capital

Clashes broke out early Monday near Moammar Gadhafi's compound in Tripoli, a day after rebels poured into the Libyan capital in a stunning advance that met little resistance from the regime's defenders.

Rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Rahman said government tanks emerged from the complex, known as Bab al-Aziziya, early Monday and opened fire. An Associated Press reporter at the nearby Rixos Hotel where foreign journalists stay could hear gunfire and loud explosions from the direction of the complex.

Tripoli resident Moammar al-Warfali, whose family home is next to Bab al-Aziziya, said tanks rolled out from the compound in the early morning after a group of rebels tried to get in. He said there appeared to be only a few tanks belonging to the remaining Gadhafi forces that have not fled or surrendered.

Bab al-Aziziya, a sprawling compound that long served as the command center for the regime, has been heavily damaged by repeated NATO airstrikes over the past five months, al-Warfali said.

"When I climb the stairs and look at it from the roof, I see nothing at Bab al-Aziziya," he said. "NATO has demolished it all and nothing remains."

The rebels seized control of most of Tripoli in a lightning advance on Sunday, and euphoric residents celebrate in the capital's Greet Square, the symbolic hear of the Gadhafi regime. Gadhafi's defenders quickly melted away as his 42-year rule crumbled, but the leader's whereabouts were unknown and pockets of resistance remained.

Abdel-Rahman, who is in Tripoli with rebel forces, cautioned that Gadhafi troops still pose a threat to rebels, and that as long as Gadhafi remains on the run the "danger is still there."

The startling rebel breakthrough, after a long deadlock in Libya's 6-month-old civil war, was the culmination of a closely coordinated plan by rebels, NATO and anti-Gadhafi residents inside Tripoli, rebel leaders said. Rebel fighters from the west swept over 20 miles (30 kilometers) in a matter of hours Sunday, taking town after town and overwhelming a major military base as residents poured out to cheer them. At the same time, Tripoli residents secretly armed by rebels rose up.

By the early hours of Monday, opposition fighters controlled most of the capital. The seizure of Green Square held profound symbolic value — the plaza was the scene of pro-Gadhafi rallies organized by the regime almost every night, and Gadhafi delivered speeches to his loyalists from the historic Red Fort that overlooks the square. Rebels and Tripoli residents set up checkpoints around the city, though pockets of pro-Gadhafi fighters remained. In one area, AP reporters with the rebels were stopped and told to take a different route because of regime snipers nearby.

President Barack Obama said Libya is "slipping from the grasp of a tyrant" and urged Gadhafi to relinquish power to prevent more bloodshed.

"The future of Libya is now in the hands of the Libyan people," Obama said in a statement from Martha's Vineyard, where he's vacationing. He promised to work closely with rebels.

Toll in Indiana fair stage collapse rises to six

The death toll from the collapse of an outdoor concert stage in heavy wind just before a show at the Indiana State Fair last week rose to six on Friday with the death of a Ball State University senior.

Jennifer Haskell of Muncie, who had attended the fair with a friend who was also killed, died on Friday, the same day her friend Alina BigJohny, 23, was buried in Fort Wayne.

More than 40 people were injured in the stage collapse on Saturday night when a blast of wind whipped through the grandstand area just minutes before the country duo Sugarland was set to begin performing.

"After a long, courageous battle, Jenny Haskell died at 8:15 this morning from her injuries sustained from the tragedy at the State Fair," Haskell's parents said in a statement released by Ball State University officials.

Haskell, 22, was majoring in exercise science and was active on the campus landscaping crew.

Governor Mitch Daniels has asked the Indiana Inspector General to assign several staffers to the State Fair Commission to assist in the fact finding and documentation procurement aspect of an investigation into the incident.

The fair commission has hired Thornton Tomasetti, a New York engineering company, to coordinate and conduct the structural portion of the investigation. The Washington D.C.-based firm of Witt Associates will do an analysis of the fair's preparedness and response to the event.

Chicago youth center offers refuge from violence

On a sweltering summer day on the South Side of Chicago, a group of teenage boys hauled rocks and pulled weeds in a vacant lot. They were working for free -- and being hollered at by a woman they call "Ms. Diane."

"Pull your pants up!" Diane Latiker yelled at one teen, who quickly hiked his trousers. "Ain't no party!" she scolded others, who were talking instead of working. They got busy.

"I love you, too," she added, as if anyone had forgotten.

The teens were repairing a memorial for victims of violence aged 24 and under in Chicago since 2007. It consists of 226 names inked on paving stones arrayed on blue wooden shelves.

The display sits inside a covered wooden pavilion, so it's protected from the weather but can still be seen from the street. The memorial had been vandalized -- a cross and flowers were stolen, stones were broken -- so it needed to be fixed up.

It's also incomplete -- 177 more names need to be added.

The memorial is in a neighborhood called Roseland, where in 2009, in a video that went viral worldwide over the Internet, a high school student was seen being beaten to death by a mob.

The memorial spotlights a national problem. Homicide is the leading cause of death for African-Americans aged 10 to 24, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Many of the kids working on the memorial knew someone who had been murdered.

So does Latiker, 54, a mother of eight and former hair stylist who in 2003 opened her home to help neighborhood teens escape violence. She calls the program "Kids Off the Block."

It started with taking her youngest child, Aisha, then 13, and her friends out for swimming and skating excursions.

Diane's mother, evangelist Ruth Jackson, saw how the kids respected her and urged her daughter to start an after-school program. Latiker said no.

"I figured in five years Aisha would be off to college and I'd be free," she said in an interview.

But Jackson kept pushing, and Latiker began welcoming neighborhood kids into her small living room to work on music and other projects after school or during the summer.

Latiker said she learned that the kids wanted to be doctors and lawyers and singers and basketball players. Meanwhile they wanted something to do instead of hanging out on the streets.

Some came from troubled homes, with mothers on drugs or fathers in jail. Some had dropped out of school to care for younger siblings, or were scared to go to school.

Above all, Latiker was disturbed by the amount of violence the teens saw -- both in the media and in their real lives.

"When you give a kid who's impressionable this much violence when they're growing up, they think, 'Hey, that's the way it is,'" Latiker said. "When you lose a friend or a family member to violence, you begin to feel hopeless, powerless, that there's nothing you can do."

KIDS OFF THE BLOCK

The number of boys and girls hanging out around Latiker's home every day or calling to talk in the middle of the night began to grow. The number swelled to 75 kids, at which point Latiker's husband James, a mild-mannered car mechanic on disability, had to say that was enough.

A group of retired businessmen saw how crowded her house was. With Latiker, they set up Kids Off The Block, or KOB, in 2010 in a nearby storefront. The memorial is across the street.

Working with seven volunteers, including Latiker's mother, sister-in-law and daughter, the kids clean up vacant lots, do art projects, play basketball, and compose and sing "positive raps," using KOB's tiny music room.

They get food, tutoring and mentoring. They have also traveled to other cities, including Washington, D.C., where they participated in a jobs and education rally.

"She's like another mother," said Dawon Brewer, 18, of Latiker. He wants to do construction but his school doesn't offer wood shop. So KOB projects give him a chance to learn.

Over the years, KOB has gotten donations and some government funding, though this has been a lean year, Latiker said. A community development grant keeps the lights on.

"We dig in our pockets when we can," said Latiker.

Asked why he comes to KOB, Dante Gaines, 18, said: "She's giving us something to do."

Thin and soft-spoken, Gaines wore a T-shirt screened with a picture of his friend C.J. Cortez, 19, who died of a gunshot wound in July.

ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN

Asked if he was worried something might happen to him, too, Gaines said: "Anything could happen. People gotta start caring."

Jermel Barlow, 22, team leader for KOB's music program, said gunshots in the area are so common "it's kind of like a doorbell."

"You hope no one close to you got shot, you call around and make sure everybody's OK," said Barlow. "That's pretty much routine around here."

Aisha Latiker, 21, who volunteers at KOB while studying psychology in college, said violence has gotten worse since she was in high school.

"I've lost over 12 friends in the last two years due to gun violence," she said. "The attitude is if someone looks at you wrong, if someone says something wrong to you about your clothes or your shoes, you're ready to pick up a gun."

She said violence in the neighborhood seemed to decrease in 2010, when a government program provided some part-time jobs. But when the program ended, the violence got worse again. KOB volunteers said neighborhood gangs make it difficult for the group to venture outside of it for events.

Diane Latiker grew up in a tough neighborhood but said the gangs then didn't target seniors, or little kids.

"Nowadays, it's like who cares? The young people -- it's like out of the movies now..." she said, her voice rising in anger. "The guns need to come off the street, at least in my neighborhood. They serve no purpose. What purpose does a gun serve in urban America?"

Latiker hopes to finish expanding the memorial by the end of August. But the list of young people killed won't stop growing.

Five children under age 18 were shot and killed in Chicago in the last month, including a 17-year-old pregnant girl whose premature son was saved; a 13-year-old boy playing basketball in a park; and a six-year-old girl sleeping on a couch in her grandmother's house.

The first name on the KOB memorial, and its inspiration, is that of Blair Holt, 16, the son of a Chicago police officer. Blair was killed by another teen in May 2007, as he shielded a classmate from gunfire on a bus.

Asked if she ever wants to give up, Diane Latiker answers, "Every day."

"The violence just sucks all the energy out of me when I hear about another young person getting killed, and it was another young person that did it," she said.

She said she gets her hope back by talking to kids who come to see her.

"I can't function if I don't have hope," Latiker said. "If I give up, hundreds of young people give up."

First lawsuits filed over deadly Indiana fair collapse

The first wrongful death lawsuits have been filed as a result of the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis last week which killed six and injured more than 40 others, lawyers said onSaturday.

Suits were filed on behalf of Tammy VanDam of Wanatah, Indiana, 42, the mother of a 17-year-old daughter, and her partner Beth Urschel, 49.

VanDam was killed by the collapse of the stage after a high blast of wind whipped through the grandstand area just minutes before the country duo Sugarland was scheduled to perform. Urschel was severely injured.

Although Indiana law does not recognize the rights of same-sex couples, "this is an inequity we also intend to address in this lawsuit," Kenneth J. Allen, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a statement.

"Tammy's death is not only devastating for Beth, it also leaves her daughter without a mother's love and guidance during the most vulnerable stage of her life," Allen said.

Allen said Beth Urschel suffered "serious and painful crush injuries" and will have lifelong impairment. Defendants include Mid-America Sound Corp, Live Nation Worldwide and Lucas Entertainment Group.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has asked the Indiana Inspector General to assign several staffers to the State Fair Commission to assist in the fact finding and documentation procurement aspect of an investigation into the incident.

The fair commission has hired Thornton Tomasetti, a New York engineering company, to coordinate and conduct the structural portion of the investigation.

The Washington D.C.-based firm of Witt Associates will do an analysis of the fair's preparedness and response to the event.

"This was a terrible tragedy that could and should have been prevented; the responsible parties must be held to account," Allen said.

London overtakes New York as top fashion capital

According to a new survey by internet tracking company, the Global Language Monitor, the British capital takes the reign thanks to fashion's most prominent pairing in years: Princess Kate and Alexander McQueen.

Based on a ranking that tracks mentions on the internet, New York had ruled supreme in past years, but 2011 seems to be the end of the "Sex and the City" era, making room for the Duchess of Cambridge's royal style, which first came to the world's attention thanks to her McQueen wedding dress.

"We are seeing what the impact of two genuine media stars, Princess Kate and Alexander McQueen can have upon a global ranking. Our numbers show that it was their presence that tipped the victory to London over New York," said Bekka Payack, the Manhattan-based fashion correspondent of the Global Language Monitor. "

London and New York are followed by Paris, Milan, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong. Barcelona, Singapore, Tokyo and Berlin are also featured in the top ten.

Jennifer Lopez returning to 'Idol'

If there was ever any doubt, it's gone now. Jennifer Lopez will be back at the judge's panel for the 11th season of "American Idol."

The Fox network has made Lopez's return official, along with her fellow judges, Aerosmith rocker Steven Tyler and record producer Randy Jackson. In addition, Fox said Wednesday that Ryan Seacrest will be back as host.

Singer-actress Lopez debuted as a judge this past season. But in recent weeks, she had publicly been coy about whether she would stay with the hit musical competition.

Any lingering skepticism was dispelled last week by "Idol" executive producer Nigel Lythgoe. He declared, unofficially, that Lopez would be back while interviewed on Seacrest's radio program.

"American Idol" begins its new season Jan. 22.

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Fringe musical mocks Julie Taymor and 'Spider-Man'

To see how far Julie Taymor has fallen over the past year, look no further than the New York International Fringe Festival.

That's where the visionary director and choreographer behind the stunning "The Lion King" has become an object of sniggering and outright goofing during a lively musical that rips her and everyone associated with the Broadway spectacle "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark."

"The Legend of Julie Taymor, or the Musical That Killed Everybody!" — with book and lyrics by Travis Ferguson and music and lyrics by Dave Ogrin — is a spirited behind-the-scenes fictional look at the messy birth of Broadway's most expensive show. It is wicked and rollicking.

Julie Taymor — sorry, make that "Julie Paymore" — is portrayed as a crazed, ego-driven maniac who vows to save Broadway with a show about "Spider-Dude" that blends Greek myth with wind machines and 16 golden confetti cannons. She's so driven that she sleeps with the theater owner to keep the show open and at one point kills a man with her bare hands. She also may or may not have burned down the theater on opening night.

"For the scene where Spider-Dude is battling the Gods on Mount Olympus, I need the clouds to come down around the audience with hail and lightning, and I want an actual tornado to form in the middle of the house. Got that!?" Paymore, played by Jennifer Barnhart, asks her minions.

Paymore isn't the only one lambasted by this show. U2's Bono — one half of the "Spider-Man" songwriters — is transformed into a guy named Bruno (Clint Carter), complete with leather jacket, sunglasses and an Irish accent; The New York Post's Michael Riedel becomes Lionel Weasel, determined to destroy the musical; and Johnie Moore plays producer Michael Cohl as an aging hippie with a bong.

The show is one of 194 productions at the festival, which also includes the hot "Yeast Nation," a new musical by the Tony Award-winning team behind the Broadway hit "Urinetown"; "Jersey Shoresical: A Frickin' Rock Opera"; "Facebook Me"; and "Bella and the Pool Boy."

The nine-member cast of "The Legend of Julie Taymor," under the direction and choreography of Joe Barros, is funny and energetic, making up for unevenness in vocal ability. The songs are far better than you might expect, with the best being "Broadway's Burning," ''Boy Falls From The Rafters" — a play on the actual Broadway musical's "The Boy Falls From the Sky" — and "Tweet, Tweet, Tweet!" as the ensemble leaks that the Broadway musical is terrible.

There's a word for this kind of show: impudent. And another one: delicious. A bunch of twentysomethings in jeans and T-shirts are mocking Taymor, Bono and the hubris of "Spider-Man," but they're also asking where art goes when spectacle is all that anyone wants to see.

In that way, the jokey musical is more interesting than the one it's mocking.

Carradine's widow settles wrongful death suit

Court records show David Carradine's widow has reached a settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against a French company handling the actor's final film.

An attorney for Anne Carradine filed a notice Monday in Los Angeles indicating the parties had reached a conditional settlement. Exact terms were not disclosed.

The 72-year-old "Kung Fu" star was found dead in a Bangkok hotel room in 2009 while working on a film called "Stretch."

Anne Carradine sued MK2 S.A. in June 2010, claiming the company promised to provide David Carradine with an assistant to help him navigate Bangkok but the assistant left him behind for dinner on the night before the actor was found dead.

MK2 denied wrongdoing in court filings.

'Fright Night' a cheeky comic remake

Yes, "Fright Night" is a remake of the 1985 horror comedy. No, there is no originality left in Hollywood.

But at least this new version stays true to its origins by having a bit of cheeky fun, and the way it contemporizes the story is really rather clever.

Once again, a vaguely nerdy teenager named Charlie (Anton Yelchin) thinks his mysterious and seductive new next-door neighbor, Jerry (Colin Farrell), is a vampire. No one else believes him except for his even nerdier childhood pal, Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). Come on, the guy's name is Jerry — how dangerous can he be?

But the setting makes this premise make sense. Director Craig Gillespie's film, based on Marti Noxon's script, takes place in the overly developed suburban sprawl outside Las Vegas, where people come and go and those who do live there often sleep all day and work all night. The barren wasteland of abandoned houses — if they were ever inhabited in the first place — is the perfect place for a bloodsucker to lay low.

And so as the bodies continue to pile up and Charlie continues to investigate, Jerry continues to charm everyone around him. That includes the beautiful Amy (Imogen Poots), the girlfriend Charlie always thought was out of his league. (And that's another way in which this "Fright Night" has been updated: The actors got conspicuously better looking.)

Farrell is clearly thriving doing showy comic parts lately, between this and "Horrible Bosses." But Gillespie, whose "Lars and the Real Girl" featured a more subtle and surreal kind of comedy, also shows a deft hand at creating tension with Farrell. A scene in which Jerry is standing outside Charlie's house, teetering at the kitchen door but not entering — because he hasn't been invited in — offers a masterful little slice of suspense.

The strong supporting cast includes Toni Collette as Yelchin's skeptical single mom and David Tennant in a scene-stealing turn as a supposed master of the supernatural. Roddy McDowell played the Peter Vincent role in the original; it's expanded here and provides the film's biggest laughs, with Tennant playing the character as a flamboyant but self-loathing fraud who peddles his illusions to the masses on the Strip. You wouldn't mind seeing an entire movie about him.

It all works well enough that it makes you wish it weren't in 3-D. Gillespie recognizes the benefit of the gimmickry in this sort of genre, sending arrows, crosses and spurts of blood in our direction. But the 3-D also adds a suffocating layer of dimness, as it is wont to do. That doesn't exactly help engage us given that so much of the film takes place in the dark, at night. Because, you know, it's about a vampire.

In 2-D, though, "Fright Night" could have been a great, late-summer surprise.

"Fright Night," a DreamWorks release, is rated R for bloody horror violence and language, including some sexual references. Running time: 101 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

Student plotted attack on anti-Pope crowd

A chemistry student working as a volunteer for the pope's visit to Madrid was arrested on suspicion of planning a gas attack targeting protesters opposed to the pontiff's stay, officials said Wednesday.

Pope Benedict XVI is due to arrive Thursday for a nearly four-day visit to celebrate World Youth Day, and thousands of protesters railing against his visit staged their march Wednesday night to Madrid's central Sol plaza where they have held months of demonstrations against Spanish politicians and the government's anti-austerity policies.

A police official said the suspect arrested in Madrid Tuesday is a 24-year-old Mexican student specializing in organic chemistry. She would not say whether investigators believe the man was actually capable of carrying out a gas attack, and did not know if he actually had chemicals that could have been used to assault the protesters.

The detainee was identified by the Mexican Embassy in Madrid as Jose Perez Bautista, which said he was from Puebla state, near Mexico City.

He was arrested at a Madrid convention center where the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims coming to town for the papal visit are supposed to pick up their accreditation, the police official said on condition of anonymity in line with the department's rules.

An official with the pope visit's organizing committee said the Mexican was a volunteer helping to deal with the massive flow of people flooding Madrid. She would not give her name, citing the church-run committee's policy.

A total of 30,000 people from around the world are taking part in that organizing effort, 10,000 police are providing security in Madrid and organizers say they expect more than 1 million young pilgrims for World Youth Day, which started Tuesday and runs through Sunday.

The march he allegedly wanted to disrupt happened relatively peacefully, with some shouting between protesters and pope supporters. But it ended with police ousting protesters from the plaza, with at least one arrest of a demonstrator. Riot police monitored the plaza after the demonstrators were cleared out.

Police have 72 hours from the time of the arrest to bring the detainee before a judge at the National Court for questioning or to release him. A court official said he would appear before the judge Thursday at the earliest.

The official — speaking on condition of anonymity in line with court policy — said the detainee had been making threats over the Internet against people in Spain opposed to the pope's visit, and police who'd been monitoring his online activity ultimately decided to arrest him as the visit approached.

Police said in a statement released Tuesday night that officers who searched the detainee's apartment in a wealthy district of Madrid seized an external hard-drive and two notebooks with chemical equations that had nothing to do with his studies.

It said he tried to recruit people via the Internet to help him, and that a computer allegedly used for this purpose was among objects seized by police.

The man had planned to attack anti-Pope protesters with "suffocating gases" and other chemicals, the statement said. But it did not mention police having confiscated chemicals that could be used in an attack.

Mexican Embassy spokesman Bernardo Graue said consular officials had visited Perez Bautista in prison and described him as "relaxed" and in good physical condition as he waits to go before a judge. The Mexican officials did not ask him if he had in fact planned a gas attack, because interrogating him is up to Spanish authorities, Graue said.

Without knowing what chemicals and delivery system the man may have had, it is impossible to know what harm he could have caused on protesters marching in open air through the streets of Madrid, as will happen Wednesday evening, said Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism expert at the Swedish National Defence College in Stockholm.

The suspect was in Madrid studying with Spain's top government research body, the Spanish National Research Council, and his office there was searched, the police statement said. The council confirmed the arrest but gave no immediate details on the Mexican.

Mexico's Autonomous University of Puebla confirmed that a man with the same name had completed an undergraduate degree in chemistry in 2009 and had expressed interest in doing graduate work in Spain.

"Both the name and the academic background match," said Rafael Hernandez Oropeza, the university's director of international relations. He said Perez Bautista had an 8.6 grade average out of 10, "which is pretty high."

Gloria Leon Tello, the academic director of the university's school of chemistry, said Perez Bautista was a quiet, well-mannered, hardworking student. She had contact with him as an administrator, but did not have him in class.

"He was a very dedicated student, calm, very well-mannered," said Leon Tello, who said his age roughly matched that of the Madrid suspect. "He had very deep values ... like discipline, responsibility." Leon Tello said she did not hear him express political or religious views.

Mexico has some history of conservative religious extremism.

In 1926, tensions over Mexico's harsh anti-clerical laws broke into armed conflict between the government and Catholic rebels in the bloody, three-year Cristero War in which tens of thousands died.

In 1928, a young conservative Catholic activist, Jose de Leon Toral, assassinated President-elect Alvaro Obregon.

In the 1960s and 1970s a number of conservative Catholic youth groups grew up at universities in Mexico, including Puebla, and sometimes scuffled with left-wing student activists of the time.

Church organizers say the papal visit will cost about euro50 million ($72 million). Protesters claim the government is essentially spending taxpayers' money on the visit by granting tax breaks to corporate sponsors and perks such as discount subway and bus tickets for pilgrims.

Pope arrives in Spain in time of economic turmoil

When the pope arrives in Spain on Thursday it's not just sweltering heat he'll be stepping into. The economy's in a shambles. Jobless youths are filled with rage and frustration. Politicians are gearing up for early elections that will be dominated by these hard times.

Benedict XVI arrives for a four-day visit to greet up to a million or more young pilgrims from around the planet for the Catholic Church's World Youth Day.

The pope's attendance shows how much a priority he places on this economically troubled country, which has departed sharply from its Catholic traditions and embraced hedonism and secularism. In the economic bust, he may be hoping to lure back some of his straying flock.

This will be the third time the pontiff visits Spain since his papacy began in 2005, and the second in less than a year.

But many Spaniards take issue with the hoopla and hefty cost.

The euro50 million ($72 million) tab for staging the visit — setting up everything from giant screen TVs to portable toilets and confession stalls — has hit a raw nerve even among some churchgoing Catholics and priests.

The visit also comes as Spain gets ready for early elections in November. And while the church officially keeps out of politics, it will be sure to be watching closely — as the outcome could affect Spain's direction on hot-button ethical issues.

The election will pit the ruling Socialists, who irked the Vatican with social reforms including gay marriage and a law allowing 16-year-olds to get abortions without parental consent, against conservatives who tend to back church thinking on such issues and are heavily favored to win.

Spain's economy is sputtering as it seeks to overcome recession, Madrid's stock market has been a roller-coaster of late, the government is saddled with debt woes, and young Spaniards feel doomed and angry over their grim prospects amid a nearly 21 percent unemployment rate.

This bitter cocktail, or ingredients of it, is being served up in much of Europe and elsewhere.

"This is a time of uncertainty for young people. The pope is coming to Spain for World Youth Day, bringing a positive and challenging message from young people from all over the world," the Rev. Federico Lombardi, chief Vatican spokesman, said last week.

Pilgrims echoed that need for solace and inspiration.

"The message is about hope, about the future, to move from the current situation — whatever it is, and now it is kind of devastating — but move forward toward the future and hope that things will be better," said the Rev. Father Stanley Gomes, a chaplain at Seton Hall University who is accompanying 15 students from the school near New York City.

Organizers say about 450,000 young people from 193 countries — some from as far away as Vietnam and Pakistan — have registered to take part. But signing up beforehand is not mandatory and from past experience the total will be about three times those who register.

Two-thirds are expected to be Spaniards; among the rest Italy, France, the United States, Germany and Poland are sending the largest delegations.

The main events are a prayer vigil with the 84-year-old Pope and outdoor sleepover for pilgrims Saturday night at a sprawling air base, and Mass there the next morning.

Except for a trip Friday to a historic monastery in El Escorial, 50 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of Madrid, the Pope will spend the whole visit in Madrid, meeting with young people, hearing confession from some of them, riding through the city in his pope-mobile and greeting young nuns, seminarians and university professors, among other activities.

In Spain the church faces a congregation for whom being Catholic is more a birthmark than a way of life. A poll released in July says that while 72 percent of Spaniards identify themselves as Catholic, 60 percent say they "almost never" go to Mass and only 13 percent every Sunday.

Church organizers insist the papal visit involves zero cost for Spanish taxpayers because the money is coming from corporate sponsors, private donations and fees paid by some of the pilgrims, among other sources.

Pilgrims who buy the premium package get vouchers to eat at nearly 1,500 restaurants which have signed up to take part in the papal visit — from fast-food hamburger chains to others offering traditional Spanish tapas. And organizers have made created an iPad and smartphone application that will tell pilgrims where the closest participating eatery is and let them communicate with each other in their own social network.

Critics are complaining of the cost of providing extra police security, tax breaks being granted to the corporate sponsors, discount subway and bus tickets for the visitors, and the price tag of opening up school gyms and sports facilities in a vacation month to set up makeshift digs for so many pilgrims.

Even some progressive Catholics joined a protest march Wednesday night to denounce taxpayer money spent for World Youth Day, a globe-trotting meeting held every three years. The last was in Sydney, Australia, and the next will be in Rio de Janeiro.

"At a time of crisis, and with so many people in need, we feel this visit should not be so massive and attention-drawing, so spectacular, but rather something more simple and closer to the grassroots of the church," said Raquel Mallavibarrena, a spokeswoman for a progressive Catholic group called Redes Cristianas, or Christian Networks.

Yago de la Cierva, head of the World Youth Day organizing committee, insisted providing extra police for major, crowd-drawing events is the government's responsibility — as it was when Spaniards flocked to the streets last summer to welcome home the national football team that won World Cup in South Africa.

Pope Benedict will be received and sent off by King Juan Carlos Queen Sofia and during his stay will meet separately with Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and conservative opposition leader Marian Rajoy, the man likely to be Spain's next prime minister.

However, the Vatican insists Zapatero and Rajoy meetings are not about politics. It notes the visit was scheduled long before Spain called early elections and is a pastoral one, rather than a state visit.

New label to help people pick health insurance

Insurers and employers will have to spell out plainly the costs and benefits of the health plans they offer starting next year.

The rule announced by U.S. health officials on Wednesday is designed to better inform people about health insurance choices with a standard label, which the Department of Health and Human Services likens to the kind on a cereal box.

Among other things, the label will tell customers their premium, deductible and out-of-pocket costs, and the costs associated with medical events and procedures, such as doctor visits and breast cancer treatments. Insurers must provide the information before a customer purchases a plan and when there are any changes.

"Today, many consumers don't have easy access to information in plain English to help them understand the differences in the coverage and benefits provided by different health plans," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

The rule, part of President Barack Obama's 2010 health care overhaul, pleases consumer groups, who have complained that the pages of fine print accompanying insurance plans are often confusing.

"By making the terms of health insurance plans easier to understand, consumers are less likely to find themselves in health plans that don't meet their needs," said Consumer Union senior health policy analyst Lynn Quincy.

Insurers are concerned that the administrative costs associated with the new label will raise the price of the plans themselves.

"The benefits of providing a new summary of coverage document must be balanced against the increased administrative burden and higher costs to consumers and employers," said Robert Zirkelbach, the spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry's trade group.

Kim Holland, executive director of state affairs at Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, said insurers support people knowing what they are getting, but echoed that concern.

"The concern is we already have a body of law that tells us what we need to have," Holland said before the rule's release.

The six-page label follows the recommendations of a group formed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners that included insurance companies, consumer groups and academics.

"At the end of the day, what NAIC recommended wasn't what everybody wanted, but it was as close to a consensus as possible," said Sabrina Corlette, an NAIC consumer representative and Georgetown University research professor.

"You wouldn't be comparing apples to oranges anymore," she said. "So it would make it much easier for families to make those decisions."

Boston is first U.S. airport to test new security technique

Along with luggage scans and removing shoes, getting through the security line in Boston's Logan International Airport may now include a brief conversation with a specially trained agent.

Beginning this week, all passengers in Logan's Terminal A will be peppered with questions by a Behavior Detection Officer just after they have their identification verified at the security checkpoint.

Officers will chat with passengers in what the Transportation Security Administration has dubbed a "casual greeting" conversation.

Based on physical cues or answers to questions during the dialogue, specially trained officers may detect suspicious behavior, said TSA spokesman Greg Soule.

This analysis will help determine if a passenger should go through additional screening at the security checkpoint and identify "potentially high-risk travelers," according to the

TSA.

Soule declined to elaborate on any of the questions or responses that would warrant further action.

Looking nervous and averting eye contact, however, are not the tell-tale signs of deception, said Richard Bloom, an aviation security expert and professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

He, too, declined to give away the cues he believed detection officers will analyze.

Experts often credit Israeli security specialists with doing much of the initial work on behavioral detection, said Bloom.

The expanded behavior detection program now underway at Logan is based on other international and domestic programs, said Soule, and will be tested over the next 60 days.

The TSA will consider the pilot program's results and wait times at security check points in order to determine if and how to expand the program more broadly, Soule said.

In Boston, Terminal A is home to Continental and Delta airlines. It's one of about a half dozen terminals at the airport, said Logan spokesman Phil Orlandella. Logan serves up to 50,000 passengers daily, he said.

Critics have said screening methods like this one could promote discriminatory profiling, but TSA's Soule said it would actually be prevented by having conversations with every single passenger in Terminal A and taking action based solely on reactions and answers.

"This program in no way is profiling passengers by race or ethnicity," he said.

Logan was the first airport to implement an observational screening technique in 2003. In those cases, a trained officer would look for passenger behavior that was suspicious. Then, based on a quick conversation, the officer might administer further security checks.

That program has rolled out to more than 160 airports and resulted in more than 2,000 arrests nationwide, Soule said.