Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=234887641&ft=1&f=1004Category: American Horror Story Nick Pasquale Lleyton Hewitt The Butler Mackenzie Rosman
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Belgians Pretend To Be A Film Crew To Nab Suspected Pirates
Category: American Horror Story Nick Pasquale Lleyton Hewitt The Butler Mackenzie Rosman
Support Unclear For GOP's Plan To End Shutdown
House Republicans were expected to announce their own plan Tuesday to end the partial government shutdown and avert a default on the national debt. But House Speaker John Boehner came to the microphones and kept things very vague.
Tags: Brian Hoyer iOS 7 obama Lucas Cruikshank Eydie Gorme
The Best And Worst of the Last Generation of Gaming - Kotaku
PlayStation 3. Xbox 360. Wii. Over the past eight years, electronic boxes wearing one of those three brands came to occupy space in the entertainment centers of millions of people around the world. They were the heralds of the most innovative, occasionally uncomfortable, undeniably exciting era in video game history. That era is finally nearing its end.
The seventh gaming console generation, which began nearly eight years ago in 2005 is, at long last, entering its twilight stages. It's time to look back.
Welcome to "Last-Gen Heroes," Kotaku's new monthlong retrospective series celebrating the best and the worst of the past gaming console generation. Starting today, we'll be writing a wide-ranging series of articles focusing on the many things we loved and hated about playing games on our Wiis, our PlayStation 3s and our Xbox 360s. Our entire editorial staff will be contributing, and we'll be running articles daily during the week until the PlayStation 4 is released on November 15. That date, to us, marks the official start of the next generation of console gaming, along with the Xbox One's launch the following week on the 22nd.
Some of these articles will focus on big ideas, on the innovations and trends that came to define gaming at large. Some of these articles will focus on small ideas—they'll recognize the little things that deserve no less recognition for their small stature. We'll talk about games in addition to hardware—our favorite characters and stories, and the best ideas and worlds that came into being. Basically, we'll talk about everything.
Needless to say, we're all pretty psyched.
Of course, it's not all sunshine and rose-petals—we'll also focus on the stuff that sucked, the stuff we hated. Running in tandem will be the Last-Gen Zeroes series, in which we'll identify and surgically dismantle every single thing we hated about the last console generation. We hope to run a pretty even balance of positive and negative posts—after all, it's been an exciting eight years, but it's also been loaded with missteps, annoyances, disappointments and, for lack of a better word, bullshit.
- Since we had to draw a line somewhere, this series is going to focus primarily on the PlayStation 3, the Wii and the Xbox 360. Mobile gaming (including the PSP and DS), social gaming and PC gaming (sorry, master race) won't really be included. That said, don't be surprised if you see an article or two about any of those topics, viewed through the lens of the complete video-game landscape of the last eight years.
- If you're a regular TAY contributor, we really hope you'll chime in with your own TAY posts. Check out how our first few posts work to get a sense of the format, then go nuts! And feel free to email me, Tina or Stephen with a heads-up if you've written something you're particularly proud of, and we'll consider pulling it over to the main site. The most important thing will be to include the applicable tags (more on those below), and, if you want, an image with the badge applied. You can find the Heroes badge here and the Zeroes tag here.
- The series will run regular posts until around November 4, at which point we'll transition to a series of larger, definitive lists looking back at the last console generation in total. These lists will be awesome! and exciting! and doubtless controversial! and you can already probably imagine what some of them will look like. But we're also hoping we'll surprise you often. Look forward to those.
- The series will be organized into two tags: The whole series will be under the Last-Gen Heroes tag, though we'll also have Last-Gen Zeroes for the stuff we didn't like. TAYers, if you write a Zeroes post, be sure to include a Heroes tag as well.
- The series will end on November 15, the same day that the PlayStation 4 is released in North America (with the Xbox One coming a week later). While there's certainly an argument to be made that technically, with the Wii U, the next generation of consoles is already underway, we've decided that the PS4/Xbox One will bring us to the sort of equilibrium we've gotten used to—MS and Sony butting heads, with Nintendo off making cool games for an interesting but relatively underpowered system.
- While this retrospective is meant as a way to understand and celebrate the last generation of consoles, we don't mean to suggest that the current generation will actually end on November 15. The Wii may no longer be getting new Nintendo games, but Xbox 360 and PS3 owners are going to be getting original and cross-gen games for a long time still. The last generation may be entering its twilight years, but they'll likely be a lengthy, enjoyable cruise into a soft retirement.
Everyone ready? Okay, let's get going. This should be fun.
To contact the author of this post, write to kirk@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @kirkhamilton.
Source: http://kotaku.com/the-best-and-worst-of-the-last-generation-of-gaming-1445011784Similar Articles: Nate Burleson Insidious 2 rafael nadal paulina gretzky ESPYS 2013
Top Senate leaders 'optimistic' on debt ceiling deal
Washington (AFP) - Rival Republican and Democratic Senate leaders Monday said they were optimistic they could agree a deal to stave off a debt default that would shred US credibility and rock the global economy.
Signs of hope emerged three days before a deadline to raise the US government's borrowing limit and with a partial government shutdown on the cusp of entering its third week.
After several failed attempts to end the impasse, veteran political prize fighters Senate Majority leader Harry Reid and his Republican opposite number Mitch McConnell conducted low key talks aimed at saving the day, over the weekend and into Monday.
"I'm very optimistic we will reach an agreement that's reasonable in nature this week to reopen the government, pay the nation's bills and begin long-term negotiations to put our country on sound fiscal footing," Reid said.
McConnell added: "I share his optimism that we are going to get a result that will be acceptable to both sides."
Their comments were the most concrete sign yet that Republicans and Democrats, in the Senate at least -- want to end the damaging political crisis.
Should the Democratic-led Senate coalesce on a deal, the question would then become could Republican House Speaker John Boehner secure sufficient support from his restive conservative coalition in the House to send it to Obama's desk?
With progress apparent, Obama canceled a meeting he had called with Reid, McConnell, Boehner and Democratic House minority leader Nancy Pelosi.
An official said the talks were put off to "allow leaders in the Senate time to continue making important progress towards a solution that raises the debt limit and reopens the government."
The sudden optimism contrasted with Obama's terse tone of a few hours earlier, when he lambasted Republicans and warned of the consequences if a deal was not soon reached.
"If Republicans aren't willing to set aside their partisan concerns in order to do what's right for the country, we stand a good chance of defaulting and defaulting could have a potentially... devastating affect on our economy," Obama said.
During a visit to an anti-poverty charity in Washington, Obama said he would tell the leaders to "open the government and urge them to make sure that the United States government is paying its bills."
If Congress does not raise the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling by Thursday, the US government will begin to run out of money and could start defaulting on its obligations.
The Politico news organization however reported Monday, that Reid had offered a compromise plan to McConnell.
The initiative would raise the debt ceiling for six to nine months and the government would be reopened until mid-to-late December.
The proposal would launch long-term budget talks between Democrats and Republicans, and could include a delay of a medical device tax used to help pay for Obama's health care reform law.
Signs of hopes cheered investors, after uncertainty on Wall Street. Increasing concern over the fiscal showdown pulled the Dow Jones Industrial Average down early on, but amid talk of negotiations on Capitol Hill, stocks rose a quarter percent by mid afternoon.
Republican Senator Roger Wicker told MSNBC he was hopeful of seeing "something meaningful by the end of the day" from the Senate talks.
"There are sweet spots that Republicans and Democrats agree on," he said.
Around the world, however, signs of alarm were mounting.
China and Japan -- which between them hold more than $2.4 trillion of US debt -- have urged Washington to get its house in order.
China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying took a chance in Beijing to caution Washington.
"The United States is the largest economy in the world and we hope that it can show its responsibility," Hua told reporters.
And Bank of France Governor Christian Noyer warned of dire consequences if there was no solution.
A default would be "a thunderbolt on the financial markets" that would set off "extremely violent and profound turbulence worldwide," he told the daily Le Figaro.
In Asia, markets in Sydney, Seoul and Singapore were down in part over the deadlocked talks. Tokyo, Hong Kong and Jakarta were closed for public holidays.
US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew told the International Monetary Fund last week that Washington understood its reputation as a safe harbor was at risk.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senate-leader-confident-us-debt-ceiling-deal-week-182824487.html
Similar Articles: tesla castle USA VS Mexico Alfonso Soriano prince harry
Monday, October 14, 2013
Belgian Police Say They've Arrested Pirate Named 'Big Mouth'
A man who is suspected of being a notorious pirate in Somalia has been arrested in Belgium, after an apparent sting operation that included a ruse that investigators were making a film. The pirate nicknamed "Big Mouth" is believed to have made millions in ransom money by hijacking ships off east Africa's coast.
From Brussels, Teri Schultz filed this report for NPR's Newscast:
"The pirate kingpin known as 'Big Mouth' — Mohamed Abdi Hassan — and another man were taken into custody at Brussels Airport as they arrived on a flight from Nairobi. They're expected to be charged with piracy and hostage-taking.
"Hassan is believed to have been the leader of the 2009 hijacking of the Belgian dredging vessel Pompeii north of the Seychelles. The ship and its crew were held for 70 days before being released in exchange for an amount of money rumored to be more than $2 million.
"Local media report Hassan was lured to Belgium as part of an undercover operation which asked him to come take part in a movie about life as a pirate on the high seas."
Related Topics: Cal Worthington
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Mark Wahlberg and Rhea Durham Hit Up Beverly Hills
The actor and his wife go for a stroll! Check out more pics of Hollywood's tightest twosomes.
Source: http://www.ivillage.com/star-snapshots-celebrity-couples-photos-2013/1-b-469173?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Astar-snapshots-celebrity-couples-photos-2013-469173Similar Articles: south park world war z monday night football NFL.com brandon jennings
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)