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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Another 'American Idol' alum heading to Broadway (AP)
NEW YORK ? A former "American Idol" contestant is heading to Broadway with a character who, it's safe to say, is truly two-faced.
Constantine Maroulis will play the title dual role in a revival of the musical "Jekyll & Hyde" that's slated to come to New York in spring 2013 after a 25-week national tour that starts in San Diego on Oct. 2, Nederlander Presentations Inc. announced Sunday.
Maroulis, who was a finalist on the fourth season of "American Idol," had a three-year run in Broadway's "Rock of Ages" and received a best actor Tony nomination and a Drama League nomination for his performance. He also played the role of Roger Davis in a recent national tour of "Rent."
Maroulis made his Broadway debut in "The Wedding Singer" and is currently in the title role of "Toxic Avenger" at the Alley Theatre in Houston. His debut album, "Constantine," was released on his own label, Sixth Place Records.
"Jekyll & Hyde" features a story and lyrics by two-time Oscar winner Leslie Bricusse and music by Frank Wildhorn, who co-conceived the musical. It will be directed and choreographed by Jeff Calhoun.
Additional cast and creative team, as well as tour cities, will be announced later.
Wildhorn has had a tough time on Broadway recently, with back-to-back shows that have failed. His show this spring called "Wonderland," an updated telling of "Alice in Wonderland," was poorly reviewed and his "Bonnie & Clyde" recently closed early this season.
"Jekyll & Hyde" made its Broadway debut in 1997 with such songs as "This is the Moment," "A New Life" and "Someone Like You," earning four Tony nominations. It tells the story of a London doctor who accidentally unleashes his evil alternate personality in his quest to cure his father's mental illness.
Robert Cuccioli played the lead, and Sebastian Bach and David Hasselhoff later took over. After 1,543 performances, the production played its final performance on Jan. 7, 2001.
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Monday, January 30, 2012
Carrefour CEO stepping down, replacement named
PARIS (AP) ? The head of Carrefour SA is to be replaced by a veteran French clothing retailer after a string of profit warnings sent the French retail giant's share price tumbling.
Lars Olofsson will be replaced by clothing retail executive Georges Plassat at Carrefour's annual shareholder meeting in June, the company said in a statement. The company said Olofsson had informed its board of directors that he would not seek renewal of his mandate at the general assembly June 18, but no explanation for the decision was given.
The 60-year-old Swede leaves Carrefour, the world's second largest retailer by sales, in almost the same troubled condition that he found it when he took over the troubled retailer just three years ago.
As then, the company's performance and strategy are in doubt, the share price is lagging and key shareholders have given up waiting for management's repeated attempts to turn round the core hypermarkets business to bear fruit.
Carrefour shares plunged 38 percent last year, well underperforming the wider CAC40 index as the company's serial profit warnings and missed earnings targets sent investors scrambling for the exits.
Olofsson's 62-year-old replacement Plassat joins Carrefour from Vivarte, a French fashion retailer he has run since 2004.
In Carrefour's latest profit warning earlier this month, the company admitted its 2011 earnings would by close to 20 percent lower than in 2010, as sales stagnated and Olofsson's much vaunted revamp of the hypermarkets business failed to pay off with improved margins. The group is scheduled to report 2011 earnings on March 8.
Carrefour's shares were down 2.9 percent at midday to euro17.74, underperforming the wider market decline as investors shed risk ahead of an anticipated EU summit in Brussels.
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Dont blame C-sections for fat kids: study (Reuters)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) ? Kids born by Cesarean section are no more likely to become obese than if they are born vaginally, a new study concludes.
Past research from Brazil had found a link between excessive poundage and C-sections, leading some scientists to suggest that not being exposed to bacteria from the birth canal could make babies fatter. (See Reuters Health story of May 12, 2011.)
But according to the latest findings, that doesn't appear to be the case.
"We thought from the beginning that probably what happened with the previous study is that they didn't adjust for all of the confounders," said Fernando Barros of the Catholic University of Pelotas. "If a mother gives birth by C-section, she's different than a mother who has a vaginal birth."
For the new research, Barros and his colleagues used data on three groups of several thousand people born in Southern Brazil in 1982, 1993 or 2004.
Researchers contacted the kids at different ages until the oldest had turned 23. Those born by C-section were more likely to be heavy, with obesity rates between nine and 16 percent, compared to rates of seven to 10 percent among kids born vaginally.
However, that difference vanished once the researchers accounted for factors that could have influenced the results such as family income, birth weight, schooling and the mother's weight, height, age and smoking habits.
"When you factor in all of these other factors, the relationship between obesity and Cesarean sections disappears," said Barros, whose findings are published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The earlier Brazilian study left out many of those factors, including maternal height and weight, Barros' team writes in its report.
"The most simple explanation would be that more obese women require more Cesarean sections than lean women and it's really not the C-section itself," said Dr. David Ludwig, director of the Optimal Weight for Life Clinic at Children's Hospital Boston, who wasn't involved in the study.
The new research is of particular interest in Brazil, because in 2009 more than half of the babies there were born by C-section. In the U.S., the number has been on the rise for years and is now over 30 percent.
Some believe that C-section babies are different because they are not exposed to bacteria in the birth canal like babies born vaginally. The theory is part of the hygiene hypothesis, which suggests a person's immune system develops differently when they're not exposed to beneficial bacteria early in life.
"We're not saying this hypothesis is not interesting. It is. We're just saying, right now, without data, we cannot confirm the finding," said Barros.
He cautioned that people in his study had only been followed until early adulthood, so he cannot say if there is a potential association later in life.
Ludwig told Reuters Health that things like a pregnant woman's diet and smoking habits and whether or not she has diabetes might influence a developing fetus.
Both Ludwig and Barros said women should avoid medically unnecessary C-sections, even if they don't raise the chances of having obese kids, because they carry other risks.
SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, online January 11, 2012.
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Need for courtroom artists fade as cameras move in (AP)
CHICAGO ? One marker in hand and one in his mouth, Lou Chukman glances up and down from a sketchpad to a reputed Chicago mobster across the courtroom ? drawing feverishly to capture the drama of the judge's verdict before the moment passes.
Sketch artists have been the public's eyes at high-profile trials for decades ? a remnant of an age when drawings in broadsheet papers, school books or travel chronicles were how people glimpsed the world beyond their own.
Today, their ranks are thinning swiftly as states move to lift longstanding bans on cameras in courtrooms. As of a year ago, 14 states still had them ? but at least three, including Illinois this month, have taken steps since then to end the prohibitions.
"When people say to me, `Wow, you are a courtroom artist' ? I always say, `One day, you can tell your grandchildren you met a Stegosaurus," Chukman, 56, explained outside court. "We're an anachronism now, like blacksmiths."
Cutbacks in news budgets and shifts in aesthetic sensibilities toward digitized graphics have all contributed to the form's decline, said Maryland-based sketch artist Art Lien.
While the erosion of the job may not be much noticed by people reading and watching the news, Lien says something significant is being lost. Video or photos can't do what sketch artists can, he said, such as compressing hours of court action onto a single drawing that crystallizes the events.
The best courtroom drawings hang in museums or sell to collectors for thousands of dollars.
"I think people should lament the passing of this art form," Lien said.
But while courtroom drawing has a long history ? artists did illustrations of the Salem witch trials in 1692 ? the artistry can sometimes be sketchy. A bald lawyer ends up with a full head of hair. A defendant has two left hands. A portly judge is drawn rail-thin.
Subjects often complain as they see the drawings during court recesses, said Chicago artist Carol Renaud.
"They'll say, `Hey! My nose is too big.' And sometimes they're right," she conceded. "We do the drawings so fast."
Courtroom drawing doesn't attract most aspiring artists because it doesn't afford the luxury of laboring over a work for days until it's just right, said Andy Austin, who has drawn Chicago's biggest trials over 40 years, including that of serial killer John Wayne Gacy.
"You have to put your work on the air or in a newspaper whether you like it or not," she said.
The job also involves long stretches of tedium punctuated by bursts of action as a witness sobs or defendant faint. It can also get downright creepy.
At Gacy's trial, a client asked Austin for an image of him smiling. So, she sought to catch the eye of the man accused of killing 33 people. When she finally did, she beamed. He beamed back.
"The two of us smiled at each other like the two happiest people in the world until the sketch was finished," Austin recalled in her memoirs, titled "Rule 53," after the directive that bars cameras in U.S. courts.
There's no school specifically for courtroom artists. Many slipped or were nudged into it by circumstance.
Renaud drew fashion illustrations for Marshall Field's commercials into the `90s but lost that job when the department store starting relying on photographers. That led her to courtroom drawing.
Artists sometime get to court early and sketch the empty room. But coming in with a drawing fully finished in advance is seen as unethical.
Some artists use charcoal, water colors or pungent markers, which can leave those sitting nearby queasy. Most start with a quick pencil sketch, then fill it in. Austin draws right off the bat with her color pencils.
"If I overthink it, I get lost," she said. "I have a visceral reaction. I just hope what I feel is conveyed to my pen."
These days, Chukman and Renaud fear for their livelihoods. They make the bulk of their annual income off their court work. Working for a TV station or a newspaper can bring in about $300 a day. A trial lasting a month can mean a $6,000 paycheck. Chukman does other work on the side, including drawing caricatures as gifts.
Austin is semiretired and so she says she worries less. She also notes that federal courts ? where some of the most notorious trials take place, like the two corruption trials of impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich ? seem more adamant about not allowing cameras.
Still, though Rule 53 remains in place, federal courts are experimenting with cameras in very limited cases.
"If federal courts do follow, that will be the end of us," Austin said.
Renaud holds out hope that, even if the worst happens, there will still be demand from lawyers for courtroom drawings they can hang in their offices. Lien plans to bolster his income by launching a website selling work from historic trials he covered, including of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
Chukman, a courtroom artist for around 30 years, jokes that if asked for his opinion, he'd have told state-court authorities to keep the ban in place a few more years until he retires.
"I recognize my profession exists simply because of gaps in the law ? and I've been grateful for them," he said wistfully. "This line of work has been good to me."
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
Chevron profit falls as refineries, output suffer (Reuters)
(Reuters) ? Chevron Corp reported lower quarterly earnings on Friday, missing Wall Street forecasts, as rising spending on oil and gas projects and losses at its U.S. refinery business offset gains from higher crude oil prices.
Oil and gas output at the No. 2 U.S. oil company also declined to 2.64 million barrels per day (BPD) from 2.79 million BPD a year-ago, although benchmark oil prices rose about 25 percent during the quarter.
Chevron had said earlier this month its refinery margins were suffering and would be near breakeven for the quarter, but the U.S. losses pulled the entire segment into the red, and the company's profits from oil and gas sales also appeared weaker than expected.
Its shares fell 2.5 percent in early trading.
"It was a miss on some non-controllable factors," said Pavel Molchanov, analyst with Raymond James in Houston, citing the timings of sales and global pricing differences as the likely reason oil and gas profits fell about $500 million below his forecast.
Still, Chevron added 1.67 billion barrels of oil equivalent to its reserves last year, 171 percent of its 2011 output, a very strong performance, Molchanov said.
Chevron is embroiled in two major legal battles in South America, where a Brazilian prosecutor plans to file criminal charges against it and some of its local managers.
The company is facing an $11 billion lawsuit there related to an offshore oil spill in November, and it also remains locked in a legal war against plaintiffs in Ecuador, who won an $18 billion judgment against it in a court there.
PROFIT DIP
Fourth-quarter profit slipped to $5.1 billion, or $2.58 per share, from $5.3 billion, or $2.64 per share, a year earlier.
That fell short of the $2.84 per share that analysts had forecast, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Chevron's warning of weaker earnings on January 11 knocked 17 cents per share off the average analyst estimate.
Among other U.S. oil companies, the quarterly profits from ConocoPhillips and Occidental Petroleum Corp earlier this week topped Wall Street estimates, though Hess Corp fell short.
Exxon Mobil is due to report earnings on Tuesday, Jan 31.
Chevron is spending piles of money on production growth that will not really kick in until 2014. Its 2012 capital budget of $32.7 billion is nearly $5 billion higher than last year.
In the fourth quarter, Chevron's spending on oil and gas projects in the United States nearly doubled from a year ago to $2.0 billion, while outside the U.S. it grew by more than a quarter to $5.1 billion.
Shares of Chevron fell 2.5 percent to $103.94 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by Matt Daily in New York, additional reporting by Braden Reddall in San Francisco, editing by Dave Zimmerman)
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Friday, January 27, 2012
Less Salt, More Veggies in School Lunches: USDA (HealthDay)
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 25 (HealthDay News) -- First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack unveiled on Wednesday new standards for school meals -- the first revisions in more than 15 years. The goal: To provide healthier meals and better nutrition for the nearly 32 million children who take part in school meal programs.
The new standards include offering fruits and vegetables every day, increasing whole grain-rich foods, serving only fat-free or low-fat milk, limiting calories based on children's ages, and reducing the amounts of saturated fat, trans fats and sodium, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Mrs. Obama and Vilsack, who were joined by celebrity chef Rachael Ray, made the announcement at an elementary school in Alexandria, Va.
"As parents, we try to prepare decent meals, limit how much junk food our kids eat, and ensure they have a reasonably balanced diet," Mrs. Obama said in a news release. "And when we're putting in all that effort, the last thing we want is for our hard work to be undone each day in the school cafeteria. When we send our kids to school, we expect that they won't be eating the kind of fatty, salty, sugary foods that we try to keep them from eating at home."
In the same statement, Vilsack said, "Improving the quality of the school meals is a critical step in building a healthy future for our kids."
Dr. David Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine, said that "these changes to school food standards are welcome, commendable and unquestionably helpful in efforts to combat childhood obesity and all of the metabolic mayhem that follows in its wake."
Still, Katz doesn't think the changes go far enough.
And they aren't as complete as the Obama administration had wanted, according to the Associated Press.
Last year, Congress blocked some of the agriculture department's planned revisions, including cutting down how often french fries and pizza could be served, the news agency said.
In November, Congress passed a bill requiring the agriculture department to continue to count tomato paste on pizzas as a vegetable, the AP reported.
"Making healthier pizza is a great idea. However, it is unfortunate and rather ridiculous that Congress still thinks tomato paste is a vegetable," said dietitian Samantha Heller, clinical nutrition coordinator at the Center for Cancer Care at Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn.
Congress also refused to allow the USDA to limit servings of potatoes. Those congressional directions must be incorporated into the final rule, the AP reported.
The news service said that potato growers, companies that make frozen pizzas for schools and others in the food industry lobbied for the changes made by Congress, and that conservatives said the government shouldn't be telling children what to eat.
Some school districts objected to some of the requirements, saying they went too far and would cost too much, the AP said.
Katz said, "It is unacceptable that food industry elements lobbied Congress successfully for changes in nutrition standards that placed profits ahead of children's health.
"The argument that we cannot afford to do even better is spurious, because it leaves us needing to afford the treatment of type 2 diabetes in children. It leaves us needing to pay for bariatric surgery in adolescents," he added.
Still, the changes signal some progress, Katz said. "We should not expect it to change childhood obesity rates. School lunch was never the cause of epidemic obesity, and improving it will not be the cure. But school lunch has long been part of the problem and these improved standards will help make it one part of a comprehensive solution, now long overdue," he said.
Heller rejected the argument that children will not eat healthier foods.
"When given the time, exposure and encouragement as well as altering environmental influences, kids will eat healthy foods when available," she said. "Just putting fresh fruit by the cafeteria check-out in schools increases consumption by schoolchildren considerably. Making fresh, healthy foods delicious and explaining to kids how and why good nutrition is critical for them to do well in their favorite activities such as sports, art or science, will also boost consumption," Heller said.
"Food companies, lobbyists, and members of Congress would do well to step up to the plate and start setting good examples of healthy eating and lifestyles," Heller added.
The new rule is based on recommendations from a panel of experts from the Institute of Medicine and also updated changes from the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
More information
For more information on healthy eating, visit the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Errant email cripples German parliament
BERLIN?? The German parliament's email system was hampered for several hours for more than 4,000 staffers and deputies when hundreds of workers responded to an errant email sent by one staffer named "Babette" to all 4,032 co-workers.
The flood of emails began when "Babette" accidentally replied to "all" on the Bundestag email list with a short answer to a colleague: "Please bring me a copy of the new directory."
Their exchange quickly multiplied when hundreds of colleagues responded with comments ranging from please "remove my name from your list" to "I'd like to take this opportunity to say hello to my mother."
It was a rare moment of light-hearted confusion in a country with a reputation for doing things with precision.
Many Germans working in the parliament remained uncharacteristically relaxed. One member of parliament for the Greens party, Volker Beck, said: "One mistaken click and the parliament's email system is turned into a new social network."
One anonymous staffer in the usually anonymous parliament building wrote: "I think this is great. We should do this once a month. It'll help us grow together."
A spokeswomen of the Bundestag confirmed that there had been a flood of emails in response to the errant email and that it was possible, as German media reported, that emails in the parliament were delayed by up to a half an hour due to the high volume.
Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46147346/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/
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Obama doubles down on taxing the rich (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama used his last State of the Union speech before the November election to paint himself as the champion of the middle class, by demanding higher taxes for millionaires and tight reins on Wall Street.
Taking advantage of a huge national platform to make the case for his re-election, Obama on Tuesday defiantly defended his record after three years in office and laid blame for many of the country's woes at the feet of banks and what he called an out-of-touch Congress.
He proposed sweeping changes in the tax code and new remedies for the U.S. housing crisis, setting as a central campaign theme a populist call for greater economic fairness.
He mentioned taxes 34 times and jobs 32 times during his hour-long speech, emphasizing the two issues at the heart of this year's presidential campaign.
While the biggest proposals in Obama's speech are considered unlikely to gain traction in a deeply divided Congress, the White House believes the president can tap into voters' resentment over the financial industry's abuses and Washington's dysfunction.
But even as he called for a "return to American values of fair play and shared responsibility," Obama seemed to put no blame on himself for a still-fragile economic recovery and high unemployment that could trip up his re-election bid.
With polls showing most Americans disapprove of his economic leadership, he still faces the stiff challenge of convincing them that the candidate who was swept into the White House in 2008 promising hope and change now deserves another term.
Standing before a joint session of Congress, Obama unleashed a partisan attack over taxes and vowed no return to "the days when Wall Street was allowed to play by its own set of rules."
"Washington should stop subsiding millionaires," Obama declared as he proposed a minimum 30 percent effective tax rate on those who earn a million dollars or more.
Obama said he would ask his attorney general to establish a special financial crimes unit to prosecute those parties charged with breaking the law, and whose fraud contributed to the 2007-2009 financial crisis that plunged the United States into recession.
Obama's message could resonate in the 2012 campaign following the release of tax records by Mitt Romney, a potential Republican rival and one of the wealthiest men ever to run for the White House. He pays a lower effective tax rate than many top wage-earners.
A new proposal outlined by Obama to ease the way for more American homeowners to get mortgage relief - and to pay for the plan with a fee on banks blamed for helping create the housing crisis - also struck a populist note.
Democrats have hammered Republicans in Congress for supporting tax breaks that favor the wealthy. Republicans staunchly oppose tax hikes, even on the richest Americans, arguing they would hurt a fragile economic recovery.
"No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others," Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels said in the Republican response to Obama.
House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top congressional Republican, insisted the election would be a referendum on the president's "failed" policies.
The U.S. unemployment rate was 8.5 percent in December. No president in the modern era has won re-election with the rate that high.
CHEERS AND SILENCE
Obama's rhetoric and his audience's response was more overtly partisan than last year when both sides sought a tone of
civility in the aftermath of an assassination attempt on Democratic Arizona lawmaker Gabrielle Giffords.
In the most emotional moment of the evening, Obama warmly embraced Giffords as he made his way to the podium. The congresswoman, who has made a remarkable recovery after being shot in the head, announced on Sunday she was retiring from Congress.
The response to Giffords was one of the few moments of bipartisan enthusiasm in a Congress riven by antagonism.
Democrats rose en mass to cheer, and Republicans stayed seated in stony silence, when Obama vowed to "oppose obstruction with action." But both sides applauded when Obama called for developing all domestic energy sources.
Obama used the speech to revive his call to rewrite the tax code to adopt the so-called "Buffett rule," named after the billionaire Warren Buffett, who says it is unfair that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.
Those making more than $1 million a year would pay an effective tax rate of at least 30 percent and their tax deductions would be eliminated.
To underscore his point, Buffett's secretary, Debbie Bosanek, was seated in the first lady's box in the House of Representatives for Obama's address.
Obama will shift into full campaign mode on a three-day tour starting on Wednesday to Iowa, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Michigan, all election battleground states.
In his speech, Obama also rolled out proposed corporate tax reforms, including a minimum rate on companies' overseas profits and a tax credit for moving jobs back home.
Taking aim at China - an election-year target of Republicans and Democrats alike over its currency and trade practices - Obama proposed creation of a new trade enforcement unit within the federal government.
Promising what amounts to a peace dividend, Obama also proposed using half of the "savings" from ending the war in Iraq and winding down in Afghanistan to pay down U.S. debt, with the other half going to fixing decaying roads and railways.
Addressing the housing crisis, Obama said he would send to Congress a proposal to allow more Americans to take out new and cheaper mortgages as long as they are current on their payments, savings that would amount to $3,000 per household each year. The depressed housing market continues to drag on the economy.
(Additional reporting by Laura MacInnis, Alister Bull, Samson Reiny, Margaret Chadbourn, Editing by Ross Colvin and Eric Beech)
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Simon Cowell breaks off engagement
Simon Cowell's trip down the aisle is getting postponed.
In an interview with UK newspaper the Daily Mirror, the "X Factor" judge reveals that he and his fiancee, Mezhgan Hussainy, are taking a break from both their relationship and their wedding plans.
PHOTOS: See which Idol alums are engaged or have kids
"It's quite a complicated relationship. We have had a break from each other, and we are still incredibly close," the 52-year-old Brit explains in Sunday's Mirror . "I'm vulnerable. It's not on, it's not off, it's somewhere in the middle. I don't know if I will ever get married, but I am happy."
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Cowell and Hussainy met on the set of American Idol in 2003, where she was working as a makeup artist, and the couple got engaged in February 2010. At the time, Cowell, who's known for his emotionless demeanor, made it clear that he was very much over the moon.
"I'm smitten with Mezghan, I think she's the one," he gushed to the British TV host Piers Morgan. "She's very special...You know when you've found somebody very special."
PHOTOS: Revisit Simon's last season on Idol
But in Sunday's Mirror, Cowell alludes that the spark has fizzled out and he's regretting his remarks from two years ago.
Addressing his heartfelt quip on "Piers Morgan," Cowell says, "I have been pretty good about not talking about my private stuff, but I got caught up in the moment."
Copyright 2012 Us Weekly
Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46095115/ns/today-entertainment/
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Yemen's leader allowed to come to US
FILE - In this Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011 file photo, Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh speaks to reporters during a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Sanaa, Yemen. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the U.S. regrets that Yemen's president has not complied with agreements to leave the country and allow elections for a successor. Her comments came as Yemen's foreign minister suggested next month's presidential vote could be delayed because of security concerns _ something that would violate the the U.S.-backed agreement that President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed recently. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hamoud, File)
FILE - In this Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011 file photo, Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh speaks to reporters during a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Sanaa, Yemen. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the U.S. regrets that Yemen's president has not complied with agreements to leave the country and allow elections for a successor. Her comments came as Yemen's foreign minister suggested next month's presidential vote could be delayed because of security concerns _ something that would violate the the U.S.-backed agreement that President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed recently. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hamoud, File)
Protestors react after receiving the news of the departure of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh from Sanaa to Oman in Sanaa, Yemen, Jan. 22, 2012. A spokesman for Yemen's embattled president says Ali Abdullah Saleh has left the country for the Persian Gulf country of Oman. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
Protestors react after receiving the news of the departure of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh from Sanaa to Oman in Sanaa, Yemen, Jan. 22, 2012. A spokesman for Yemen's embattled president says Ali Abdullah Saleh has left the country for the Persian Gulf country of Oman. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration will allow Yemen's outgoing president to come to the U.S. temporarily for medical treatment, a move aimed at easing the political transition in Yemen, a key counterterrorism partner.
A senior administration official said Ali Abdullah Saleh would travel to New York this week, and probably stay in the U.S. until no later than the end of February. U.S. officials believe Saleh's exit from Yemen could lower the risk of disruptions in the lead-up to presidential elections planned there on Feb. 21.
A presidential spokesman in Yemen said Saleh had left the capital of Sanaa earlier Sunday on a jet headed for the Persian Gulf sultanate of Oman. An official close to Saleh, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the trip, said the president would undergo medical exams in Oman before heading to the U.S.
The U.S. official did not say whether Saleh planned to return to Yemen, Oman or elsewhere after finishing his treatment in the U.S. The official was not authorized to discuss details about Saleh and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Yemeni embassy in Washington said Saleh planned to return home in February to attend a swearing-in ceremony for the country's newly elected president.
The mercurial Saleh, who ruled Yemen for more than three decades, agreed to transfer power to his vice president late last year in exchange for immunity from prosecution. He had faced months of protests calling for his ouster, to which the Yemeni government responded with a bloody crackdown, leaving hundreds of protesters dead and sparking wider violence in the capital with rival militia.
Even after agreeing to leave power, Saleh continued to wield his influence behind the scenes, and U.S. officials believed getting him out of Yemen was necessary in order to ensure the February elections took place. The U.S. also worried about instability in a nation grappling with growing extremism, including the dangerous al-Qaida branch known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
Still, Saleh's request last month for a U.S. visa put the Obama administration in the awkward position of either having to bar a friendly president from U.S. soil or risking appearing to harbor an autocrat with blood on his hands.
As U.S. officials weighed Saleh's request, they sought assurances that he would not seek political asylum or any type of permanent relocation in the U.S.
"We wanted to make sure that there was an understanding that it would be for medical purposes and that's what it is for," John Brennan, President Barack Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, said Sunday.
Saleh was badly burned and wounded during a June rocket attack on his compound in Yemen. He sought medical treatment in neighboring Saudi Arabia for three months. American officials had hoped he would remain there, but the Yemeni leader returned and violence worsened anew.
Protesters and human rights groups have criticized Saleh's immunity clause and insisted he stand trial for his alleged role in protester deaths.
Brennan said there was a divide in Yemen over Saleh's future, with some Yemenis supporting Saleh's decision to seek medical treatment in the U.S. In the short-term, he said, it was imperative to ensure that the February elections take place.
"We thought it was important, given where Yemen is right now as far as moving forward with its political transition, to do what we can to support the government and the elections that are scheduled for the 21st of February, and that seems to be on track," he said.
Yemeni Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi is expected to be rubber-stamped as the country's new leader in the elections, in which he is expected to be the only candidate.
Brennan spoke with Hadi on Sunday, and told him the U.S. was encouraged by his leadership during a difficult period of transition. With fresh demonstrations likely in the weeks leading up to the elections, Brennan urged Hadi to ensure that Yemeni security forces exercise restraint.
The Obama administration's approval of Saleh's visa brought back memories from three decades ago, when President Jimmy Carter allowed the exiled shah of Iran into the U.S. for medical treatment. The decision contributed to rapidly worsening relations between Washington and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's revolution in Tehran, with Iranian students occupying the U.S. Embassy in Iran a month later.
Fifty-two American hostages were held for 444 days in response to Carter's refusal to send the shah back to Iran for trial.
___
Associated Press writers Ahmed al-Haj and Ben Hubbard in Sanaa, Yemen, contributed to this report.
___
Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC
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Dozens of whales die on New Zealand beach
Volunteers are trying to keep dozens of beached pilot whales alive as they wait for high tide on a remote beach in New Zealand. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.
By msnbc.com staff and news services
A mass-stranding of whales on a New Zealand beach has left 36 of the creatures dead.
John Mason, area manager of the country's Department of Conservation said 99 pilot whales stranded themselves Monday on Farewell Spit on the South Island. By Tuesday, 36 whales had died and another 40 remained stranded and were in danger.
Mason said conservation staff and volunteers had successfully refloated 17 whales, which had swum out to deeper water. Another six whales remained unaccounted for.
Project Jonah via AP
Stranded pilot whales are helped by volunteers at Farewell Spit on New Zealand's South Island.
The 40 beached whales were briefly swimming in shallow water early Tuesday afternoon local time (late Monday ET) but became stranded again by the evening as the tide went out. Mason said volunteers would try to keep the whales cool and wet until dark. He said after that, all they could hope for was that the whales would swim away on the next high tide.
Pilot whales grow to about 20 feet, and large strandings are common during the New Zealand summer. Experts describe Farewell Spit as a whale trap due to the way its shallow waters seem to confuse whales and diminish their ability to navigate.
Department of Conservation Takaka ranger Nigel Mountfort told television station TVNZ the overnight conditions at the site were "pretty inhospitable".
Mountfort said rescuers in wetsuits would try to form a human wall and try to stop refloated whales coming back ashore.
More from msnbc.com and NBC News:
The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.
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Monday, January 23, 2012
Katy Perry unfollows Russell Brand on Twitter
Katy Perry is cutting Russell Brand out of her life in more ways than one.
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The 27-year-old "Firework" singer has unfollowed her soon-to-be ex-husband on Twitter. As of Friday, Perry is still one of the 78 people Brand subscribes to via the social networking site.PHOTOS: Katy's crazy cleavage
It's not surprising, given that Perry is only communicating with Brand, 36, via phone or email. "She's limiting those interactions," a source tells the new issue of Us Weekly (out now). "He's being so atrocious that she feels like she never really knew him."
VIDEO: Why did Katy and Russell call it quits?
Perry has been keeping Brand off her mind by focusing on her career: she performed in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Thursday, and she recently shot an Adidas ad in Santa Barbara, Calif.
"She doesn't want to look battered and have people for sorry for her," a Perry source tells Us. "She's very strong and confident."PHOTOS: Katy and Russell's zany romance
For much more on the couple's nasty split -- including Brand's plans for a tell-all book documenting his 14-month marriage to Perry -- pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, out now!
Copyright 2012 Us Weekly
Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46095129/ns/today-entertainment/
AP IMPACT: Health overhaul lags in states (AP)
WASHINGTON ? Here's a reality check for President Barack Obama's health overhaul: Three out of four uninsured Americans live in states that have yet to figure out how to deliver on its promise of affordable medical care.
This is the year that will make or break the health care law. States were supposed to be partners in carrying out the biggest safety net expansion since Medicare and Medicaid, and the White House claims they're making steady progress.
But an analysis by The Associated Press shows that states are moving in fits and starts. Combined with new insurance coverage estimates from the nonpartisan Urban Institute, it reveals a patchwork nation.
Such uneven progress could have real consequences.
If it continues, it will mean disparities and delays from state to state in carrying out an immense expansion of health insurance scheduled in the law for 2014. That could happen even if the Supreme Court upholds Obama's law, called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
"There will be something there, but if it doesn't mesh with the state's culture and if the state is not really supporting it, that certainly won't help it succeed," said Urban Institute senior researcher Matthew Buettgens.
The 13 states that have adopted a plan are home to only 1 in 4 of the uninsured. An additional 17 states are making headway, but it's not clear all will succeed. The 20 states lagging behind account for the biggest share of the uninsured, 42 percent.
Among the lagging states are four with arguably the most to gain. Texas, Florida, Georgia and Ohio together would add more than 7 million people to the insurance rolls, according to Urban Institute estimates, reducing the annual burden of charity care by $10.7 billion.
"It's not that we want something for free, but we want something we can afford," said Vicki McCuistion of Driftwood, Texas, who works two part-time jobs and is uninsured. With the nation's highest uninsured rate, her state has made little progress.
The Obama administration says McCuistion and others in the same predicament have nothing to fear. "The fact of states moving at different rates does not create disparities for a particular state's uninsured population," said Steve Larsen, director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the federal Department of Health and Human Services.
That's because the law says that if a state isn't ready, the federal government will step in. Larsen insists the government will be ready, but it's not as easy as handing out insurance cards.
Someone has to set up health insurance exchanges, new one-stop supermarkets with online and landline capabilities for those who buy coverage individually.
A secure infrastructure must be created to verify income, legal residency and other personal information, and smooth enrollment in private insurance plans or Medicaid. Many middle-class households will be eligible for tax credits to help pay premiums for private coverage. Separate exchanges must be created for small businesses.
"It's a very heavy lift," said California's health secretary, Diana Dooley, whose state was one of the first to approve a plan. "Coverage is certainly important, but it's not the only part. It is very complex."
California has nearly 7.5 million residents without coverage, more than half of the 12.7 million uninsured in the states with a plan. An estimated 2.9 million Californians would gain coverage, according to the Urban Institute's research, funded by the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Democrats who wrote the overhaul law had hoped that most states would be willing partners, putting aside partisan differences to build the exchanges and help cover more than 30 million uninsured nationally. It's not turning out that way.
Some states, mainly those led by Democrats, are far along. Others, usually led by Republicans, have done little. Separately, about half the states are suing to overturn the law.
Time is running out for states, which must have their plans ready for a federal approval deadline of Jan. 1, 2013. Those not ready risk triggering the default requirement that Washington run their exchange.
Yet in states where Republican repudiation of the health care law has blocked exchanges, there's little incentive to advance before the Supreme Court rules. A decision is expected this summer, and many state legislatures aren't scheduled to meet past late spring.
The result if the law is upheld could be greater federal sway over health care in the states, the very outcome conservatives say they want to prevent.
"If you give states the opportunity to decide their own destiny, and some choose to ignore it for partisan reasons, they almost make the case against themselves for more federal intervention," said Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.
A conservative, Nelson was on the winning side of a heated argument among Democrats over who should run exchanges, the feds or the states. Liberals lost their demand for a federal exchange, insulated from state politics.
"It's pretty hard to take care of the states when they don't take care of themselves," said Nelson, who regrets that the concession he fought for has been dismissed by so many states.
The AP's analysis divided states into four broad groups: those that have adopted a plan for exchanges, those that made substantial progress, those where the outlook is unclear, and those with no significant progress. AP statehouse reporters were consulted in cases of conflicting information.
Thirteen states, plus the District of Columbia, have adopted a plan.
By contrast, in 20 states either the outlook is unclear or there has been no significant progress. Those states include more than 21 million of the 50 million uninsured Americans.
Four have made no significant progress. They are Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana and New Hampshire. The last three returned planning money to the federal government. In Arkansas, Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe ran into immovable GOP opposition in the Legislature. Beebe acknowledges that the federal government will have to run the exchange, but is exploring a fallback option.
In the other 16 states, the outlook is unclear because of failure to advance legislation or paralyzing political disputes that often pit Republicans fervently trying to stop what they deride as "Obamacare" against fellow Republicans who are more pragmatic.
In Kansas, for example, Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger is pushing hard for a state exchange, but Gov. Sam Brownback returned a $31 million federal grant, saying the state would not act before the Supreme Court rules. Both officials are Republicans.
"It's just presidential politics," said Praeger, discussing the situation nationally. "It's less about whether exchanges make sense and more about trying to repeal the whole law." As a result, outlook is unclear for a state with 361,000 uninsured residents.
There is a bright spot for Obama and backers of the law.
An additional 17 states have made substantial progress, although that's no guarantee of success. Last week in Wisconsin, GOP Gov. Scott Walker abruptly halted planning and announced he will return $38 million in federal money.
AP defined states making substantial progress as ones where governors or legislatures have made a significant commitment to set up exchanges. Another important factor was state acceptance of a federal exchange establishment grant.
That group accounts for just under one-third of the uninsured, about 16 million people.
It includes populous states such as New York, Illinois, North Carolina and New Jersey, which combined would add more than 3 million people to the insurance rolls.
Several are led by Republican governors, including Virginia and Indiana, which have declared their intent to establish insurance exchanges under certain conditions. Other states that have advanced under Republican governors include Arizona and New Mexico.
For uninsured people living in states that have done little, the situation is demoralizing.
Gov. Rick Perry's opposition to the law scuttled plans to advance an exchange bill in the Texas Legislature last year, when Perry was contemplating his presidential run. The Legislature doesn't meet this year, so the situation is unclear.
McCuistion and her husband, Dan, are among the nearly 6.7 million Texans who lack coverage. Dan is self-employed as the owner of a specialty tree service. Vicki works part time for two nonprofit organizations. The McCuistions have been uninsured throughout their 17-year marriage, although their three daughters now have coverage through the Children's Health Insurance Program. Dan McCuistion has been nursing a bad back for years, and it only seems to get worse.
"For me it almost feels like a ticking time bomb," his wife said.
Dan McCuistion says he doesn't believe Americans have a constitutional right to health care, but he would take advantage of affordable coverage if it was offered to him. He's exasperated with Perry and other Texas politicians. "They give a lot of rhetoric toward families, but their actions don't meet up with what they are saying," he said.
Perry's office says it's principle, not lack of compassion.
"Gov. Perry believes `Obamacare' is unconstitutional, misguided and unsustainable, and Texas, along with other states, is taking legal action to end this massive government overreach," said spokeswoman Lucy Nashed. "There are no plans to implement an exchange."
___
Online:
AP interactive: http://hosted.ap.org/interactives/2011/healthcare
Urban Institute estimates: http://tinyurl.com/86py8nd
Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight: http://cciio.cms.gov
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
Joe Paterno???s Coaching Career, by the Numbers (ContributorNetwork)
Former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno died Sunday, mere months after being fired following a child sex abuse scandal among his program's coaching staff. ABC News reports Paterno died due to complications of lung cancer at the age of 85.
Here's a look at Paterno's coaching career, by the numbers.
46: Years Paterno was the head coach at Penn State. Whereas many programs switch coaches often, Paterno's legacy of consistent winning kept his job security intact. Paterno was 8-1 in 2011 before he was fired.
5: Losing seasons Penn State had in Paterno's tenure. Four of those seasons came since 2000. During his first year in 1966 Paterno's team went 5-5. Every season from that point to 1987 had a nonlosing record.
5: Undefeated seasons Penn State had under Paterno. His first undefeated season was in 1968, his third year on the job. Penn State went 11-0 and won the Orange Bowl. A year later, he did the same thing.
37: Bowl games in which Paterno coached in his 46 years. From the 1971 season to the 1983 season, Penn State appeared in 13 straight bowl games, winning nine.
24: Bowl game victories for Paterno. The victory total and appearances in bowl games are NCAA records for coaching.
409: Wins for Paterno. He only had 136 losses and three ties. His .749 winning percentage is 31st all time.
7: Times Penn State made it to No. 1 in the Associated Press poll in Paterno's career during one season. The Nittany Lions finished their season on top of the AP poll twice, in 1982 and 1986.
19: Seasons Paterno coached Penn State as a member of the Big Ten conference. Until 1993, the football program played as an independent.
805: Wins all time in Penn State's football program, dating to 1889. Over half of those wins were earned by Paterno.
4 million: Dollars that Paterno and his wife donated back to the university. A library and spiritual center were named in his honor.
600,000: Dollars of Paterno's annual salary.
William Browning is a research librarian.
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Sundance 2012 Concert Guide: Who's Playing When
Drake, Wiz Khalifa, Afrojack and more set to perform at film festival in Park City, Utah.
By Kara Warner
The Egyptian theater in Park City, Utah
Photo: Alexandra Wyman/Getty Images
For those unfamiliar with the goings-on at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, the annual star-studded event has morphed from a modest independent film festival into a full-blown showcase for all aspects of the entertainment industry, including film, television and music — not to mention the promotional opportunities for a multitude of consumer goods and lifestyle brands at the festival's infamous gifting lounges.
In regard to the musical element of the festival, this year's performance and concert lineup features a slew of big names more accustomed to large venues with sell-out crowds than the intimate settings at Sundance's smaller-scale venues.
Park City Live in association with Continuum Entertainment Group will host live performances by LMFAO & House of Party Rock on Saturday, deadmau5 on Sunday.
Microsoft's Bing Bar, located at the historic former Claim Jumper Hotel on Main Street, will feature Wiz Khalifa and Jason Mraz on Friday, Drake on Saturday, Cobra Starship on Sunday, Theophilus London on Monday, and James Murphy on Tuesday. Their SPIN Music Sessions series will include happy-hour shows by Gary Clark Jr. on Friday, Cool Kids on Saturday, Group Love on Sunday, and Fitz and the Tantrums on Monday.
Following Friday's artist talk with guests Mary J. Blige and Mos Def, celebrating the documentary "Invisible War," the Sundance Channel is hosting a special afterparty with performances by Estelle and DJ Jesse Marco at Sugar Lounge on Main Street.
Other acts to look out for include Afrojack on Thursday (January 19), OneRepublic at Park City Live on Tuesday, and the All-American Rejects on Wednesday as part of Sundance's ASCAP event.
Related Videos Related Photos Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677529/sundance-festival-2012-concert-guide.jhtml
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
Obama's rejection of the Keystone pipeline: Winners and losers (The Week)
New York ? Republicans all but dared the president to say no to a big Canada-to-Texas pipeline project, and Obama took the bait. A look at the fallout
As part of last year's payroll-tax deal, congressional Republicans squeezed a seemingly unrelated promise out of President Obama: Instead of punting until after the 2012 election, he'd have to decide by Feb. 21 whether to allow TransCanada to build an oil pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to the Texas Gulf Coast. On Wednesday, Obama made his decision,?denying TransCanada's permit request ? at least for now. The State Department notes that TransCanada can still reapply for a permit, and the company says it will try again. But in the meantime, the political fallout was swift and immediate. Here, some winners and losers from the rejected Keystone project:
WINNERS
SEE MORE: Will Iran's oil threat lead to $5 gas?
?
Environmentalists
"Environmental activists deserve to take a bow" for the (at least temporary) death of Keystone XL, says Steve Benen at?Washington Monthly. They successfully increased "visibility of the issue, and the pressure no doubt affected White House" thinking on the pipeline. "Denying this one permit isn't going to halt climate change," says Erik Loomis at?Lawyers, Guns, and Money. But keeping environmentally awful tar-sands crude from flowing through, and spilling into, the U.S. Midwest is "a pretty big victory for those trying to move us to a cleaner energy future."
Mitt Romney
Obama's rejection of the Keystone pipeline "is being greeted with glee by Republicans" and their probable 2012 presidential nominee, says Jennifer Rubin at?The Washington Post. And rightly so: Romney immediately recognized the "political gift" Obama had given him, accusing the president of robbing America of potential jobs and confusing "the national interest with his own interest in pleasing the environmentalists in his political base." You can bet that Romney will "make the Keystone pipeline a centerpiece of his general-election campaign," says Jonathan Chait at?New York.
SEE MORE: Will ethanol survive without government subsidies?
?
President Obama
The Keystone rejection was "politically beneficial to all parties involved," including Obama, say Glenn Thrush and Darren Samuelsohn at?Politico. In fact, except for angering labor unions, this is "no-brainer election-year politics" for the president. The pipeline was as much a cause celebre for deep-pocketed environmentalists as it was for pro-pipeline Republicans, and only one of those groups cuts Obama checks. Besides, says Ed Morrissey at?Hot Air, in punting the decision until after the election, Obama essentially got what he wanted in the first place, House GOP be damned.
LOSERS
President Obama
Republicans rightly point out that Keystone would have resulted "in job gains during a sluggish economic recovery" ? the key issue in the election, says The Washington Post in an editorial. And it has to sting that Obama's own jobs council just recommended building oil pipelines. "The Obama team knew that the issue had the potential to be a loser no matter how it was decided," says Alex Koppelman at?The New Yorker. "Congressional Republicans aren't stupid" to have forced his hand.
Big Oil
"There have been very few days in the last two decades when the scientists have been smiling and Big Oil scowling," but this is one of them, says Bill McKibben at?The Daily Beast. Building a "leaky pipeline" through the Midwest that would raise gas prices there, for fuel that would be shipped overseas, only makes sense for one reason: "To make even more money for the richest industry on earth." Killing Keystone won't stop climate change, "but it does stop Big Oil's winning streak, and that's a hopeful sign."
U.S.-Canada relations
Obama's decision "will probably be ugly for U.S.-Canada relations,"?says Michael Levi at?The Washington Post. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper had made the pipeline a top priority, and he even invoked Iran's oil blockade threat to change Obama's mind. After the decision, Canada started threatening to ship their tar sands exports to China. "Certainly,"?David Pumphrey at the Center for Strategic and International Studies?tells?Bloomberg, this "introduces new uncertainties into the economic relationship" between the U.S. and Canada.
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Carl Icahn smells blood in LightSquared's spectrum, descends to feed on its carrion
Oh, the twisted web that continues to weave itself around LightSquared. After incurring a seemingly endless parade of regulatory and industry obstacles, the Philip Falcone-backed network is now facing yet another potential hurdle. Except this time, it's taken the shape of investor Carl Icahn: a business magnate notorious for swooping in on downtrodden companies (see: Time Warner) and seizing control. And it appears the old man's pulled out his tried-and-true bag of tricks, securing a sizeable chunk of the fledgling 4G operation's debt following a value drop last year. What does this spell for Falcone? Well, the move could wind up positioning Icahn as a controlling force, steering the LTE operation away from its hedge fund founder's vision and into more profitable waters -- a welcome turn of events for the cash-strapped company. With FCC approval still pending, Sprint quietly retreating from its partnership deal and a looming fight for executive control, it's safe to say LightSquared's troubles have only just begun.[Image credit: Sarah A. Friedman]
Carl Icahn smells blood in LightSquared's spectrum, descends to feed on its carrion originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Thursday, January 19, 2012
Nintendo 3DS: 12 Games To Look Out For In 2012 (Digital Trends)
The dawn of a new year means 365 days of new gaming action to look forward to, and the pressure?s really on for Nintendo in 2012. Not only is the company launching its new Wii U console at the end of the year; there?s also a need to keep pushing with the 3DS, which suffered at launch a year ago due to a high price tag and a generally weak launch lineup. Some real gems have emerged since then, particularly on the first-party side of things. Super Mario Land 3D continues to be the best reason to own the system.
With Sony bringing the PlayStation Vita and its console-quality portable gaming to the masses in North America on February 22, the 3DS will be facing some stiff competition this year. There?s hope though. At least a few big-ticket games are fully confirmed and presumably arriving on schedule, which means that there?s some quality 3DS content to look forward to this year. Then there are others that aren?t so confirmed, but we?re all wishing and hoping that they firm up soon. Here are some of our most-anticipated from both sides of the fence?
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The Binding of Isaac
To be fair, The Binding of Isaac is technically unconfirmed as a 3DS release. The hope is that Nintendo sees it being mentioned in lists like this and carries forward with approving the game for release on its portable platform. Edmund McMillen?s currently PC-only Roguelike (with shades of The Legend of Zelda) has been submitted to the handheld-maker for release approval. The hope is that it comes soon and that the port is ready for a fall release. McMillen is on record as a big Nintendo supporter, and hopes are high that this 3DS release will eventually happen.
Crush 3D
It?s kind of crazy to think that this 2007 PlayStation Portable puzzler is such a highly anticipated 3DS release, and yet here we are. Sega?s underrated puzzle-platformer was great on the PSP and it should really shine with the 3DS. The object of the game is to navigate through a series of environments by jumping between 2D and 3D layouts to play with perspective and bridge otherwise inaccessible locations. Crush 3D is already available in Europe and it?s coming to the U.S. soon, on March 6.
Kid Icarus: Uprising
Kid Icarus: Uprising heralds the long-awaited return of one of Nintendo?s most vintage mascots, Pit. The hero of the NES classic Kid Icarus hasn?t been seen much since that original game and its Game Boy sequel; only the odd cameo and all-star lineup appearances. Uprising is the first new Kid Icarus game since the early ?90s, and it sports a fresh new 3D look and approach to gameplay, complete with online multiplayer. Look for it in North America on March 23.
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
The next Kingdom Hearts release puts players in control of two of the series? past protagonists: Sora and Riku. The story follows them as they visit and awaken a series of worlds as part of their Mark of Mastery Exam, the completion of which will mark them as Keyblade Masters. Early gameplay videos have shown the same sort of action-RPG play that fans of the series have come to expect. Dream Drop Distance arrives in Japan in March, and it?s confirmed as a North America release for sometime later this year.
Luigi?s Mansion 2
Nintendo revealed Luigi?s Mansion 2 at E3 last year. The sequel to the cult favorite GameCube launch title, the game casts Mario?s green-clad brother as a ghostbusting do-gooder armed with a spirit-sucking vacuum cleaner. The new game will see Luigi exploring multiple mansions (instead of the previous game?s one). It is also expected that the sequel will have more of a puzzle focus, one that likely takes good advantage of the 3DS?s unique display capabilities. There?s no release date set for this one yet; all we know is that it?s coming in 2012. Halloween, or thereabouts, seems like a safe bet.
Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D
Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D is a portable remake of the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater console game. It?s a prequel to the events of all other MGS games, putting players in the shoes of Big Boss back when he was just plain old Naked Snake. Portable isn?t an ideal format for this style of Metal Gear game, but that doesn?t matter to fans like me who are screaming for some quality stealth action on the go. The remake will add touch screen inventory access and gyroscope controls, and it?s coming to North America on February 21.
Monster Hunter 4
Nintendo revealed last year that Capcom is prepping a 3DS release of Monster Hunter 4. The series is HUGE in Japan, and it?s also big with discerning action-RPG fans who prefer a portable game that breaks hundreds of hours worth of play into bite-sized, minutes-long sections. The trailer reveal at TGS last year showed some gorgeous 3DS visuals in action, giving fans plenty to look forward to. It may be a little optimistic to put this down as a hoped-for 2012 release, but we?re a hopeful bunch here at Digital Trends. 
Myst
Some of you might take issue with the selection of a vintage PC game for this ?most anticipated in 2012? list. I mean, let?s face it: Myst was new when CD-ROMs were still a freshly released technology. The game has been ported to any number of platforms, including the Nintendo DS. Whether you?ve played it with every new port or never touched it before, the game remains one of the most clever and challenging puzzle-based adventure games that?s ever been released. Don?t expect the 3DS version to change things up TOO much, though fans can expect to explore the newly added RIME Age. Myst comes to the 3DS on March 27. 
Paper Mario
I?m not sure how many are convinced that Paper Mario really will be coming to 3DS this year, but it would be a smart move on Nintendo?s part to make that happen. Fans want to play this game, and badly. We don?t know a whole lot yet. Turn-based combat will make a return, and it will of course take advantage of the 3DS touchscreen. A 2012 release is expected, which means that we?ll very likely be hearing more soon, as the year?s trade shows start to ramp up. 
Professor Layton Vs. Ace Attorney
This is one of those mysterious ?2012 release? titles that doesn?t have a proper date yet, but it?s such a cool mash-up that I couldn?t possibly ignore it. The 3DS will ALSO be seeing a new Layton game, Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle, but it can?t compete with an adventure pitting gaming?s premiere lawyer versus gaming?s premiere? uhh? logic puzzle-solver. As you would probably expect from a mash-up like this, the game will feature of mix of the Layton puzzle-solving and Ace Attorney trial investigations. Expect plenty of colorful, anime-style weirdness. 
Resident Evil: Revelations
Last year?s Resident Evil: Mercenaries offered some fun, arcade-style action, but Resident Evil: Revelations is the narrative-driven survival-horror-style adventure that fans of the series have been waiting for. The story follows Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine in a story set between the events of RE4 and RE5. Revelations is coming very soon too; the game arrives in North America on February 7! Are you ready for more zombie-fueled mayhem?! 
Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is yet another Japan-only 3DS release for now, with a February 16 release date. It?s a popular series here in the West though, and Square Enix would do well to release it. Also, it?s important to note that Theatrhythm is a FINAL FANTASY RHYTHM GAME. The story is built from the same Chaos/Cosmos conflict used in the Dissidia fighting games, which allows it to spread across the entire history of the series. Expect to encounter plenty of familiar characters, locations and music as you play. Now, how about that U.S. release confirmation? Eh, Square Enix?This article was originally posted on Digital Trends
More from Digital Trends
Nintendo 3DS news roundup: early 2012 lineup revealed, DLC coming, sales exceed 4 million in Japan
Nintendo releases early 2012 software lineup for 3DS and Wii
Nintendo bringing free game demos to 3DS eShop
Best Nintendo 3DS games of 2011
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