'Argo' Wins the Golden Globe for Best Movie Drama


ap tina fey amy poehler tk 130113 wblog Live Updates: The 2013 Golden Globe Awards

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler: The women of the night. Credit: Paul Drinkwater/NBC/AP Photo.


11:06 p.m. ET: And finally, the Globes by the numbers: “Les Miserables” was the top winner, with three major trophies, followed by “Argo” and “Django Unchained, which each got two. On the TV side, “The Game Change” and “Homeland” scored three major awards, “Girls” got two.


11:00 p.m. ET: Fey and Poehler sign off: “Goodnight, we’re going home with Jodie Foster.” Can we get them next year, please?


10:58 p.m. ET: The final award of the night, best motion picture drama, goes to “Argo.” Sounds like we’ll be seeing a lot of Affleck, Clooney and the gang in the coming weeks.


PHOTOS: 2013 Golden Globe Winners


10:51 p.m. ET: And best actor in a drama award goes to … Daniel Day-Lewis for “Lincoln.” “Are you sure there’s room for another ex-president on the stage?” he jokes.


10:48 p.m. ET: Jessica Chastain wins for “Zero Dark Thirty.” She calls out director Kathryn Bigelow: “I can’t help but compare my character of Maya to you. … When you make a film that allows your film to allow your character to disobey the conventions of Hollywood, you’ve done more for women in cinema than you take credit for.”


PHOTOS: Golden Globes’ Hottest Couples


10:47 p.m. ET: It’s time for best actress in a drama — George Clooney’s presenting.


10:41 p.m. ET: Another win for “Les Miserables” — the movie wins the Globe for best comedy or musical.


10:31 p.m. ET: “Les Mis” star Hugh Jackman nabs the Globe for best actor in a movie musical or comedy. He saves his biggest thank you for his wife: “Baby, thank you for always being right.”


PHOTOS: Best and Worst Dressed at the Golden Globes


10:26 p.m. ET: So apparently Jodie Foster is not retiring. Backstage, when asked by reporters “Are you retiring?’, she said “no, not retiring.” What was she talking about then?


10:22 p.m. ET: Major night for “Girls” — second season premiere is tonight and the HBO hit just won best comedy. Dunham grabs the trophy and screams. “It took a village to raise this very demented child,” she says. “I also promised myself that if I ever got this chance, I would thank Chad Lowe.”


10:17 p.m. ET: Next major award of the night goes to Ben Affleck for “Argo” — best director. (Take that, Oscars.) Steven Spielberg does not look happy.



gty ben affleck tk 130113 wblog Live Updates: The 2013 Golden Globe Awards

Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images


10:11 p.m. ET: And it sounds like Foster just retired from acting. She says she’s not returning to this stage or any stage: “It’s just that from now on, I may be holding a different talking stick.” People in the audience are wiping away tears, notably Kate Hudson.


RELATED: Jodie Foster Wows With Golden Globes Acceptance Speech


10:07 p.m. ET: Foster almost made a huge public statement about her sexuality. Instead, she said she’s single, and she “already did my coming out in the stone age.” “Now, apparently, I’m told that every celebrity is expected to honor the details of their private life with a press conference … You guys might be surprised, but I’m not Honey Boo Boo Child,” she said. “If you had been a public figure from the time that you were a toddler … then maybe you too might value privacy above all else. Privacy.” But she specifically thanked her partner Cydney Bernard, with whom she has two kids.



abc jodie foster tk 130113 wblog Live Updates: The 2013 Golden Globe Awards

Credit: Obtained by ABC.


10:06 p.m. ET: Foster accepting her award: “Trust me, 47 years in the film business is a long time. … but tonight, I feel like the prom queen.”


10:02 p.m. ET: Robert Downey Jr. gives a somewhat incomprehensible intro for Jodie Foster, who’s being given the Cecil B. DeMille award for her decades in film.


10:00 p.m. ET: Despite her silence on her relationship status, Taylor Swift WILL NOT be spared: “You know what Taylor Swift, you stay away from Michael J. Fox’s son,” Fey slurs, ignoring Poehler’s objections. “She needs some me time to learn about herself.”


9:58 p.m. ET: Fey and Poehler come back to the mic (finally!) holding drinks. “Everybody’s getting a little lose now that we’re all losers,” Fey says. “Congratulations, Lena. Glad that we got you through middle school.” Poehler says, “Look how drunk Glenn Close is,” Close flails/dances in her chair. Fantastic.


9:52 p.m. ET: Lena Dunham wins best actress in a comedy for “Girls”! She calls Judd Apatow “the greatest honorary ’Girl.’” “This award is for everyone who feels like there wasn’t a place for her,” she says. “This show made a space for me.”


9:50 p.m. ET: Aziz Ansari is pretending the cast of “Downton Abbey” got him high. And Amy Poehler is in George Clooney’s lap. It’s great.


9:46 p.m. ET: “Brave” wins best animated movie.


9:45 p.m. ET: Oh, Sacha Baron Cohen. He’s subbing for Ricky Gervais with an insult-heavy presentation of the nominated animated movies. (Speaking of, where are Fey and Poehler?!)


9:38 p.m. ET: “Homeland” wins again. Claire Danes scores best actress in a TV drama. “I want to thank the other women in this category who are all so badass, so brilliant,” she says. She thanks her costume designer who apparently took her pants out every week while Danes was pregnant last season.


9:35 p.m. ET: The award goes to “Amour,” which picked up a slew of Oscar nominations too.


9:33 p.m. ET: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone look hilarious stuffed into suits. They’re presenting the award for best foreign film.


9:27 p.m. ET: It’s a good night for Don Cheadle. His Showtime show “House of Lies” returns for its second season tonight and he just won a Golden Globe for best actor in a TV comedy.


FULL LIST: 2013 Golden Globes Winners


9:23 p.m. ET: Globe for best original screenplay goes to Quentin Tarantino — that’s two trophies so far for “Django Unchained.” He calls the award a “damn surprise” and thanks his friends for listening to him read his scenes. “I don’t want input,” he says. “When I read it to you, I hear it through your ears.”


9:15 p.m. ET: Globe for best supporting actress in a movie (drama) goes to Anne Hathaway for “Les Miserables.” “Blergh,” she says, clearly flustered. “Thanks for that word, Tina.” She also pays tribute to fellow nominee Sally Field for inspiring her to stay in the industry.



ap hathaway award tk 13013 wblog Live Updates: The 2013 Golden Globe Awards

Credit: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Photo.


9:12 p.m. ET: Best supporting actor in a TV series or movie goes to …  Ed Harris for “Game Change.”


9:06 p.m. ET: Jennifer Lawrence wins best actress in a movie (comedy or musical) for “Silver Linings Playbook.” “Oh what does it say?” she asks, looking at the trophy. “I beat Meryl.” She means Streep, of course.


9:05 p.m. ET: Camera pans to Tommy Lee Jones who is not at all amused by Wiig and Ferrell.


9:03 p.m. ET: Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell are doing a hilarious bit about how they know absolutely nothing about any of the best actress movie nominees. Of Judy Dench in “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”: “And she’s on that tractor with the marigolds everywhere.”


9:01 p.m. ET: Poehler gushes over “Hillary’s husband.” Fey is still in drag from her bit earlier. They’re amazing and we want to see more of them.


9:00 p.m. ET: Clinton’s presenting a clip of “Lincoln.” Now this makes sense. “We’re all here tonight because he did it,” he says of Lincoln’s battle to end slavery.


8:59 p.m. ET: What, Bill Clinton’s here?! He gets a standing ovation.



abc bill clinton tk 130113 wblog Live Updates: The 2013 Golden Globe Awards

Credit: Obtained by ABC.


8:55 p.m. ET: Kevin Costner wins for best actor in a miniseries or movie for “Hatfields & McCoys.”


8:48 p.m. ET: Adele scoops up the Globe for best original song for the latest Bond theme, “Skyfall.” Her reaction: “Oh my God! … Honestly, I came for a night out, with my friend Ida, we’re new mums … I literally came for a night out.”



ap adele award tk 130113 wblog Live Updates: The 2013 Golden Globe Awards

Credit: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Photo.


8:44 p.m. ET: “Life of Pi” wins for best original score … but J-Lo’s nude dress steals the spotlight. Just like her nipple almost did at last year’s Oscars.


8:41 p.m. ET: “Argo’s” real life inspiration, Tony Mendez, joined John Goodman to introduce a clip of the film, which is up for five Globes.


8:36 p.m. ET: Well that was awkward. Some sort of camera malfunction messed up Salma Hayek and Paul Rudd’s best TV drama intro. “Homeland” wins! Executive producer Alex Gansa: “Thanks to everyone who’s been watching ‘Homeland,’ and to those who haven’t, allow me to spoil it for you.”


8:33 p.m. ET: Best actor in a TV drama goes to … Damian Lewis for “Homeland.” Considering it’s a fan and critic favorite right now, not a huge surprise.



ap damian lewis tk 130113 wblog Live Updates: The 2013 Golden Globe Awards

Credit: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Photo.


8:28 p.m. ET: Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Dr. Aida Takla-O’Reilly disses Jeffrey Katzenberg for never learning her name, asks Bradley Cooper to “call me maybe.” Amazing.


8:21 p.m. ET: And Julianne Moore wins for best actress in a miniseries or movie. “Oh my gosh, my children will be so relieved,” she says. She gives a shout out to Tina Fey and Katie Couric — “two people who made a difference in the 2008 election.”



gty julianne moore award tk 130113 vblog Live Updates: The 2013 Golden Globe Awards

Credit: Kevin WInter/Getty Images.


8:18 p.m. ET: “Game Change” scores best miniseries or movie. Somewhere, Sarah Palin is probably shaking her fist.


8:14 p.m. ET: We’ll use the commercial break to declare that Poehler and Fey had an absolutely amazing opening bit. Bravo.


8:12 p.m. ET: Second award of the night, best supporting actress in TV: Maggie Smith for “Downton Abbey.” According to Poehler and Fey’s drinking game, you should drink take off a piece of clothing now.


RELATED: Poehler and Fey Reveal Their Golden Globes Drinking Game


8:10 p.m. ET: And the award for best supporting actor in a movie goes to … Christoph Waltz for “Django Unchained.” Hint that he’ll win the Oscar for that part too?


8:07 p.m. ET: Fey almost reprised her Sarah Palin impression while into-ing Julianne Moore but appears to have lost it. Dang.


8:05 p.m. ET: Poehler: “Meryl Streep is not here tonight, she has the flu. And I hear she’s amazing in it.”


8:04 p.m. ET: Fey had a great one for Anne Hathaway and “Les Mis”: “I have not seen someone so totally alone and abandoned like that since you were on stage with James Franco at the Oscars.”


8:03 p.m. ET: Poehler on Kathryn Bigelow and the “Zero Dark Thirty” torture controversy: “When it comes to torture, I trust the lady who spend three years married to James Cameron.” WOW.


8:02 p.m. ET: Oh and they’re not going to be offensive like past host Ricky Gervais. Poehler: ”When you run afoul of the Hollywood Foreign Press, they make you host this show two more times.”


8:00 p.m. ET: Fey and Poehler did an outfit change before stepping up to the mic. Poehler threw the first jab of the night: “You can smell the pills from here. ”


7:44 p.m. ET: “Scandal” and “Django Unchained” star Kerry Washington never Googles herself. She feels like it’s bad for her health. Now you know. Also, she looks gorgeous in Miu Miu.


7:40 p.m. ET: @AngiesRightLeg has met its match: Halle Berry struck a leggy pose on the red carpet in an unfortunate one-shoulder gown.



gty halle berry tk 130113 vblog Live Updates: The 2013 Golden Globe Awards

Angie's Right Leg, meet Halle's. Credit: Steve Granitz/Getty Images.


7:33 p.m. ET: It’s an “ER” reunion! George Clooney and Julianna Margulies just hugged on the red carpet.


7:28 p.m. ET: Best song nominee Adele revealed that she actually had to be convinced to write the theme for “Skyfall.” “It’s a big responsibility doing a Bond song,” she said. “I didn’t want to let everybody down by doing it.”


7:19 p.m. ET: Julianne Moore looks stunning in black and white Tom Ford. She’s up for best actress in a TV movie for “Game Change.”


7:18 p.m. ET: “Mad Men” star Jon Hamm on the best part of playing Don Draper: “Well it’s always fun to play drunk, because if you forget your lines you’re just like, ‘Uh, well, I’m in character.’”


PHOTOS: The 2013 Golden Globes Red Carpet


7:15 p.m. ET: Taylor Swift wore a mermaid-cut eggplant gown … and did not at all talk about what happened with her latest boyfriend, Harry Styles. Sigh.



gty taylor swift tk 130113 vblog Live Updates: The 2013 Golden Globe Awards

Credit: Credit: Steve Granitz/Getty Images.


7:14 p.m. ET: Hugh Jackman revealed the “horrible” way he shed weight quickly before filming “Les Mis”: “I lost about 35 pounds in 36 hours before the first scene. I didn’t drink any liquids whatsoever.”


7:07 p.m. ET: Another fashion miss: Jennifer Lawrence. It looks like she stole Madonna’s cone bra and cut off the straps.



gty jennifer lawrence tk 130113 vblog Live Updates: The 2013 Golden Globe Awards

Credit: Steve Granitz/Getty Images.


7:02 p.m. ET: “Zero Dark Thirty” star Jessica Chastain diverged from the major trends of the night — nude, black and white, and red — in a powder blue Calvin Klein Collection gown. The plunging bodice looks a bit like a sack.



gty jessica chastain tk 130113 wblog Live Updates: The 2013 Golden Globe Awards

Credit: Steve Granitz/Getty Images.


6:57 p.m. ET: E!’s mani-cam has become a source of contention. While some actresses happily showed off their nails on the tiny red carpet, Aziz Ansari refused to stick his hand in the diorama-like box.


FULL COVERAGE: The 2013 Awards Season


6:56 p.m. ET: Olivia Munn has a new perspective on newsrooms now that she’s on Aaron Sorkin’s “The Newsroom.” “I think [our show] makes other newsrooms seem pretty easygoing,” she said.


6:42 p.m. ET: Julia Louis-Dreyfus said she had a “little tiny piece of cake” to celebrate her birthday. “Look, this is a corset,” she said, pointing to her Vera Wang dress. “I can’t mess around.” Though she’s up for best actress in a TV comedy, she thinks she’ll lose. “I hope that Lena Dunham or Amy Poehler have their speech ready,” she said.


6:38 p.m. ET: Hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are encouraging their guests to get liquored up. “It’s a party and we want it to remain a party,” Fey said. Both have awesome outfits — a strapless black and white gown for Fey and a low cut tuxedo for Poehler.


6:31 p.m. ET: “Girls” star and Globes nominee Lena Dunham said her stylist gave her very specific instructions about adjusting her dress because “my breasts have a tendency to shove my dress to the right.” She looks lovely in chocolate brown, off-the-shoulder gown.



gty lena dunham tk 130113 vblog Live Updates: The 2013 Golden Globe Awards

Lena Dunham. Credit: Steve Granitz/Getty Images.


6:28 p.m. ET: Best actress in a TV comedy nominee Zooey Deschanel showed off her film strip nail art on the red carpet. Very Hollywood.



gty zooey deschanel tk 130113 vblog Live Updates: The 2013 Golden Globe Awards

Zooey Deschanel. Credit: Steve Granitz/Getty Images.


6:22 p.m. ET: Another stunning new mom: Megan Fox. She admitted that husband Brian Austin Green picks most of her dresses.


6:16 p.m. ET: The first surprise of Golden Globes: How utterly amazing Claire Danes looks. She gave birth a month ago and has a flat, practically concave stomach. She tried on her red Versace dress for the first time last night but admitted she’s “been in sweatpants for quite a while.” She added, “I hope I don’t leak.”


RELATED: Claire Danes Flaunts Post-Baby Body at the Golden Globes



gty claire danes tk 130113 vblog Live Updates: The 2013 Golden Globe Awards

Claire Danes dressed her insane post-baby body in Versace. Credit: Steve Granitz/Getty Images.


6:14 p.m. ET: Amy Adams, up for best supporting actress for “The Master,” looks angelic in a Marchesa in a color she called ballet pink. “This is mommy at work,” she said to her daughter back at home.



gty amy adams tk 130113 vblog Live Updates: The 2013 Golden Globe Awards

Amy Adams in Marchesa. Credit: Steve Granitz/Getty Images.


6:12 p.m. ET: Julianne Hough opted for a creepy crawly accessory — her earrings are made out of actual beetles.


6:02 p.m. ET: For Julia Louis-Dreyfus, this Globes is extra special — today is her 52nd birthday and she’s up for best actress in a TV comedy for “Veep.” “Today I’m either a year older & I’m gonna lose a Golden Globe OR at least I’m nominated & I’m not dead yet,” she wrote on her WhoSay page.


6:00 p.m. ET: It’s here, the night that Hollywood has been steeling its liver for: The Golden Globe Awards, which are almost always a raucous time because the Hollywood Foreign Press keeps the bar open throughout the ceremony. We’ll be chronicling all the jokes, insults, red carpet highlights — and of course, the winners — right here. Keep refreshing for the latest updates.


PHOTOS: 2013 Golden Globe Nominees

Read More..

Video games take off as a spectator sport








































Editorial: "Give video games a sporting chance"













EVERY sport has its idols and superstars. Now video gaming is getting them too. Professional gaming, or e-sports, exploded in popularity in the US and Europe last year.












The scene has been big in Asia - particularly South Korea - for about a decade, with top players such as Lim Yo-Hwan earning six-figure salaries and competing for rock-star glory in Starcraft tournaments that attract audiences in the hundreds of thousands.












The phenomenon is taking off in the West partly because of improved video-streaming technology and large financial rewards. Video games are becoming a spectator sport, with certain players and commentators drawing massive online audiences.












And where people go, money follows. The second world championship of League of Legends - a team-based game in which players defend respective corners of a fantasy-themed battle arena - was held in Los Angeles in October. The tournament had a prize pool of $5 million for the season, with $1 million going to winning team Taipei Assassins, the largest cash prize in the history of e-sports.












League of Legends has also set records for spectator numbers. More than 8 million people watched the championship finals either online or on TV - a figure that dwarfs audience numbers for broadcasts of many traditional sports fixtures.


















But gamers don't need to compete at the international level to earn money. Video-streaming software like Twitch makes it easy for players to send live footage to a website, where the more popular ones can attract upwards of 10,000 viewers - enough for some to make a living by having adverts in their video streams. Gamers can go pro without leaving their homes.












Currently, e-sports productions are handled by gaming leagues - but that could soon change. Last November saw two moves that will make it even easier to reach a global online audience. First, Twitch announced it would be integrating with Electronic Arts's Origin service, a widely used gaming platform. This would let gamers stream their play at the click of a button, making it easy for people around the world to watch.












Also in November came the latest release from one of gaming's biggest franchises, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, which has the ability to live-stream via YouTube built into the game itself. Another feature allows the broadcast of in-game commentary for multiplayer matches.












"I think we will reach a point, maybe within five years, where spectator features are a necessity for all big game releases," says Corin Cole of e-sports publishing company Heaven Media in Huntingdon, UK.












David Ting founded the California-based IGN Pro League (IPL), which hosts professional tournaments. He puts the popularity of e-sports down to the demand for new forms of online entertainment. "After 18 months, IPL's viewer numbers are already comparable to college sports in the US when there's a live event," he says. "The traffic is doubling every six months."












Ting sees motion detection, virtual reality and mobile gaming coming together to make physical exertion a more common aspect of video games, blurring the line between traditional sport and e-sports. "Angry Birds could be this century's bowling," says Ting.




















































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Some leads in cat mutilation case: K Shanmugam






SINGAPORE: Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said there has been some leads on the recent case of cat mutilation.

Two weeks ago, on 30 December 2012, two kittens were found dismembered outside a HDB flat in Chong Pang Division in Yishun.

Mr Shanmugam, who's the MP for Nee Soon GRC, said some people had come forward with information related to the case. He said he has passed the information on to the police.

He called the case "cruel" and "abominable". "I'll be checking with the police again on what is happening. But we also don't want to put the pictures up too much because I worry about copy cat incidents. It's terrible."

- CNA/ck



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Making job stress worth enduring




Defense Secretary Leon Panetta swears in reenlisting troops in Turkey. A survey found that military jobs tend to be the most stressful.




STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Marci Alboher: Annual list of most stressful jobs drew attention

  • She says the right issue is whether job rewards compensate for stress

  • People who take on stressful jobs that help others report satisfaction, she says




Editor's note: Marci Alboher, is a Vice President of Encore.org, a nonprofit making it easier for people to pursue second acts for the greater good. Her latest book is, "The Encore Career Handbook: How to Make a Difference and a Living in the Second Half of Life" (Workman: January 2013).


(CNN) -- A recent study with a catchy headline about the most stressful jobs of 2013 found its way to the soft hour of news this week.


The annual study by careercast.com created some buzz in the online water cooler and I was asked to appear on the "Today" show to talk about it. Colleagues e-mailed me and posted on my Facebook page about where their chosen professions ranked. My media friends couldn't help noticing that public relations professionals, reporters and photojournalists all made it into the top 10 for stress.


The "study," referred to in quotes in some of the commentary, considered some logical criteria to come up with these rankings. Proximity to risk of death (yours or others'), travel, deadlines, working in the public eye and physical demands all racked up points on the stress scale. And there's no arguing that military personnel, firefighters and police officers -- all high-rankers on the most-stressed list -- are exposed to higher stakes than your typical seamstress (holder of the second-least stressful job slot).



Marci Alboher

Marci Alboher



The job that snagged the "least stressful" slot, according to the survey, was "university professor," a designation that caused outrage among people who actually hold that job. One commenter conceded that most academic jobs don't put you in personal danger (though you can argue that point), but anyone who's ever been around professors knows that faculty politics, difficult students and pressure to "publish or perish" can cause even the most calm character to crack.


We could debate whether these designations make any sense. And whether every police officer, firefighter and member of the military faces the same amount of stress.


But let's make sure we are having the right conversation. How many people choose a profession based on how high the stress level is? And how can you measure stress objectively? If you're prone to stress, perhaps you're just as likely to feel stressed out whether you work as a librarian, a massage therapist or a commercial airline pilot (No. 4 on the stress list).


People choose their line of work for a lot of reasons. For those who are committed to making our communities and the world safer and healthier for the rest of us, minimizing stress is probably not so high on their list of criteria. And it shouldn't be. Folks who choose helping jobs that may have a high level of stress are fueled by other motivators, like wanting their work to have meaning.










They aren't deterred by the fact that their job will likely come with stress. And some people are simply by their own nature and personalities drawn to work that may be to others, dauntingly stressful. How many FBI agents do you think would prefer a gig as an audiologist (sixth-least stressful job)?


When I talk to men and women in their 50s and 60s who've decided to take on encore careers as teachers, they tell me that the work is often exhausting and stressful. They are on their feet all day, often with inadequate resources, with kids who are themselves highly stressed; even those who come from leadership roles in other sectors say they've never worked harder. Yet they almost always tell me that doing something that matters to others -- and that puts them in touch with young people every day -- compensates for the added stress.


The same is true of those tackling some of the world's most intractable problems. When I talk to Stephen and Elizabeth Alderman, whose foundation trains health-care professionals around the world to work with victims of trauma, or Judith Broder, who founded The Soldiers Project, which works with returning veterans, they rarely talk about stress. Instead they talk about how they are compelled to do what they do, because moving the needle even a fraction is better than doing nothing.


Rather than discouraging people to take on jobs that might have a lot of stress, let's instead encourage those who are designed for those jobs to do them. And let's make sure to support our friends and family members who go down these paths.


It's hard to grab headlines in the crowded space of morning television, but a good survey with a catchy title will always do that. So let's use these kinds of surveys to have the right kinds of conversations. Like why so many jobs that keep us safe and healthy, and that care for our children and the environment rarely show up on lists of the most highly compensated jobs. Now there's a conversation I'd most like to be having.


Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion


Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion


The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Marci Alboher.






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Kaepernick delivers, 49ers beat Packers 45-31

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (7) runs for a 56-yard touchdown against the Green Bay Packers during the third quarter of an NFC divisional playoff NFL football game in San Francisco, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013. / AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

SAN FRANCISCO Colin Kaepernick ran for a quarterback playoff record 181 yards and two touchdowns and threw two scoring passes to Michael Crabtree in leading the San Francisco 49ers back to the NFC championship game with a 45-31 victory against the Green Bay Packers on Saturday night.

Playoff first-timer Kaepernick outshined reigning NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers, who never got in sync for the Packers (12-6) in finishing 26 of 39 for 257 yards with two touchdowns.

Kaepernick ran for scores of 20 and 56 yards on the way to topping the rushing mark of 119 yards held by Michael Vick. Crabtree caught TD passes of 12 and 20 yards in the second quarter and wound up with nine receptions and 119 yards for the Niners (12-4-1) in the NFC divisional matchup.

San Francisco had 579 total yards, 323 on the ground.

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Poisoned Lottery Winner's Kin Were Suspicious













Urooj Khan had just brought home his $425,000 lottery check when he unexpectedly died the following day. Now, certain members of Khan's family are speaking publicly about the mystery -- and his nephew told ABC News they knew something was not right.


"He was a healthy guy, you know?" said the nephew, Minhaj Khan. "He worked so hard. He was always going about his business and, the thing is: After he won the lottery and the next day later he passes away -- it's awkward. It raises some eyebrows."


The medical examiner initially ruled Urooj Khan, 46, an immigrant from India who owned dry-cleaning businesses in Chicago, died July 20, 2012, of natural causes. But after a family member demanded more tests, authorities in November found a lethal amount of cyanide in his blood, turning the case into a homicide investigation.


"When we found out there was cyanide in his blood after the extensive toxicology reports, we had to believe that ... somebody had to kill him," Minhaj Khan said. "It had to happen, because where can you get cyanide?"


In Photos: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners


Authorities could be one step closer to learning what happened to Urooj Khan. A judge Friday approved an order to exhume his body at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago as early as Thursday to perform further tests.








Lottery Winner Murdered: Widow Questioned By Police Watch Video









Moments after the court hearing, Urooj Khan's sister, Meraj Khan, remembered her brother as the kind of person who would've shared his jackpot with anyone. Speaking at the Cook County Courthouse, she hoped the exhumation would help the investigation.


"It's very hard because I wanted my brother to rest in peace, but then we have to have justice served," she said, according to ABC News station WLS in Chicago. "So if that's what it takes for him to bring justice and peace, then that's what needs to be done."


Khan reportedly did not have a will. With the investigation moving forward, his family is waging a legal fight against his widow, Shabana Ansari, 32, over more than $1 million, including Urooj Khan's lottery winnings, as well as his business and real estate holdings.


Khan's brother filed a petition Wednesday to a judge asking Citibank to release information about Khan's assets to "ultimately ensure" that [Khan's] minor daughter from a prior marriage "receives her proper share."


Ansari may have tried to cash the jackpot check after Khan's death, according to court documents, which also showed Urooj Khan's family is questioning if the couple was ever even legally married.


Ansari, Urooj Khan's second wife, who still works at the couple's dry cleaning business, has insisted they were married legally.


She has told reporters the night before her husband died, she cooked a traditional Indian meal for him and their family, including Khan's daughter and Ansari's father. Not feeling well, Khan retired early, Ansari told the Chicago Sun-Times, falling asleep in a chair, waking up in agony, then collapsing in the middle of the night. She said she called 911.


"It has been an incredibly hard time," she told ABC News earlier this week. "We went from being the happiest the day we got the check. It was the best sleep I've had. And then the next day, everything was gone.


"I am cooperating with the investigation," Ansari told ABC News. "I want the truth to come out."


Ansari has not been named a suspect, but her attorney, Steven Kozicki, said investigators did question her for more than four hours.






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Today on New Scientist: 11 January 2013







Largest structure challenges Einstein's smooth cosmos

One-twentieth the diameter of the observable universe, a group of galaxies dents the cherished idea that the cosmos is uniform at large scales



Straitjacket drug halts herpes virus's escape stunt

Herpes infections recur as the virus is adept at evading our defences, but a new drug that suppresses enzymes exploited by the virus seems effective



Zoologger: Mouse eats scorpions and howls at the moon

Super-aggressive grasshopper mice are not put off by the deadly venom of the scorpions they feast on - in fact, nothing much seems to scare them



Sand tsunami pictured striking Australian coast

The spectacular wall of sand and dust appears to block out the sun like a giant wave



Astrophile: Zombie stars feed on Earth-like exoplanets

We can now learn what planets around other stars are made of - by looking at the atmospheres of white dwarfs that have swallowed up their worlds



Life will find a way, even in the midst of a hurricane

Not for the faint-hearted: to sample the microbiome of a hurricane, fly a jetliner through it



Physics not biology may be key to beating cancer

Billions of dollars spent on cancer research have yielded no great breakthrough yet. There are other ways to attack the problem, says physicist Paul Davies



Feedback: Return of nominative determinism

The last nominative determinism stories, salads of gizzards and his chestnuts, Australian graduates in outer space, and more



A comeback for virtual reality? Inside the Oculus Rift

The Oculus Rift promises an immersive gaming experience like no other. Niall Firth gets his head in the game and gives it a try



Is the US facing Flu-maggedon?

The US flu season has come early this winter, leaving many hospitals overwhelmed. But is the situation really any worse than usual?



Your body's insights into life and cosmos

The Universe Within by Neil Shubin tells stories from your body about our species, planet and universe. PLUS: a cautionary tale of inspirational scientists



Hands on with Leap Motion's gestural interface

The makers of the ultra-precise gestural interface talk big about killing off the mouse. But it looks like more than just bluster



Personal assistant for your emails streamlines your life

GmailValet aims to use crowdsourcing to give everyone a personal assistant to help deal with their emails - it could cost as little as $2 a day



DNA 'identichip' gives a detailed picture of a suspect

A new microchip-based DNA tester can identify multiple traits of an individual at a time, even where their DNA is scarce



Most fundamental clock ever could redefine kilogram

Physicists have created the first clock with a tick that depends on the hyper-regular frequency of matter itself



Nanomachine mimics nature's protein factory

An artificial ribosome that assembles proteins and peptides could make it much easier to manufacture antibiotics and exotic new materials



Muscle mimic pulls electricity from wet surface

A plastic film that repeatedly curls up and flips over when wet could power devices in remote areas or sensors embedded in sweaty clothing




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Softbank to sell eAccess stakes to Samsung, others






TOKYO: Japanese telecommunications firm Softbank has decided to sell a two-thirds stake in eAccess, a smaller mobile service provider, to Samsung Electronics and 10 other companies, according to reports.

Softbank, which last year signed a $20 billion takeover of US firm Sprint Nextel, is in talks with 11 possible buyers, including Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks as well as Japanese firms, the Nikkei newspaper said on Saturday.

Cutting its eAccess stake to below one-third will enable Softbank to skirt the government policy on spectrum allocation to telecom service providers, the Nikkei said.

Softbank turned eAccess into a wholly-owned subsidiary on January 1, and will remain its top shareholder with a 33-percent stake, major media said.

But the communications ministry has viewed the purchase as running counter to the policy of allocating frequency bands fairly to cellphone carriers, Kyodo News said.

Softbank is working towards selling a roughly six percent interest to each of the 11 companies by the end of this month, the Nikkei said.

The company hopes that the sales could also facilitate better development and upgrades of its telecommunications network by strengthening ties with major foreign firms, the Nikkei said.

Softbank also wants to tap the foreign partners' know-how to improve its services, the Nikkei said.

To prevent any impact on its American operations, Softbank has opted not to let any Chinese companies buy the eAccess shares, the Nikkei said.

The US Congress has expressed concerns about the use of Chinese communications equipment in the country.

- AFP/al



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Why death comes sooner in America




A report finds that Americans have "shorter lives and poorer health," coming in last in key areas behind 16 other rich nations




STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Aaron Carroll: New study shows U.S. health and lifespan worst of 17 rich countries

  • He says it's because of personal choices, systemic woes. Poverty high, health care uneven

  • He says this particularly affects youth, plagued by sickness, violence, high mortality

  • Carroll: Don't make it political. The richest country in the world must improve public health




Editor's note: Dr. Aaron E. Carroll is an associate professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine and the director of the university's Center for Health Policy and Professionalism Research. He blogs about health policy at The Incidental Economist and tweets at @aaronecarroll.


(CNN) -- A just-released report from the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council is making news by clearly illustrating that Americans have "shorter lives and poorer health." This is somewhat shocking, given how much we spend on health care each year — more than any of the 16 other rich countries surveyed in the study. What's even more upsetting is that this report focused quite heavily on people who are young. In the United States, even that group fared poorly.



Aaron Carroll

Aaron Carroll



Why is this?


Some of the reasons involve choices make at a personal level. We eat too much, abuse drugs too often, wear seat belts too rarely and commit violence against each other to often.


Systemic issues are also to blame. We have higher levels of poverty than comparable countries, and our safety net programs are less capable of catching people when they fall. And too many also have too much trouble accessing the health care system, resulting in inefficient, ineffective and often absent care.


It's far too easy to let these dreadful statistics become obscured in a politically charged argument. Let's avoid that. This report is so stark that it's going to take a concerted effort on the part of the government, the media, the health care system and everyday citizens to turn things around. Our personal choices are bad. Our safety nets are bad. Our health care system is bad. It's all bad. How bad?


When compared with peer countries, the United States was the absolute worst with respect to still births, infant mortality and low birth weight. Some have tried to blame this on "coding" differences. In other words, they will claim that other countries will refuse to define a premature birth as we do, resulting in artificially high numbers in the United States. But when this report recalculated the rates to exclude such births equally in all countries, we still ranked last.



Things don't get better after birth. The chance that a child in the United States will die before age 5 is higher than in any of the other 16 peer countries. Injuries are the most common cause of death, but the United States also has the highest rate of deaths caused by negligence or abuse.


And violence is decidedly an American problem. Homicide is the third most common cause of death in children age 1-4.


From age 5-19, the trend continues. Kids this age in the United States have the worst health ranking of the 17 studied countries. More than one-third of U.S. children age 5-17 are obese or overweight, the highest of any peer country. The adolescent pregnancy rate in the United States is about 3.5 times the average of others. Additionally, the rates of sexually transmitted infections, including syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia are the worst compared to peer countries.


Nor are these children exempt from death. Injury deaths are more common in 15- to 19-year-olds in the United States than in any other studied country. Homicide claims the second highest number of lives in 15- to -24-year-olds, and 4 in 5 of those deaths involve guns. Males between the ages of 15 and 19 are five times as likely to die from violence in the United States than in other countries.










Even as young adults, ages 25-34, mortality remains consistently upsetting and preventable. Unintentional injuries remain the No. 1 cause of death. The risk of dying by violence remains seven times higher for males in the United States ages 20-24 than in other countries.


We have to work together to make these numbers better. Some of them can be improved with public health measures. We need to help Americans be less obese, to have fewer accidents and to commit less violence. There are lots of local studies and initiatives that propose ways to fix these things, but our public health system is woefully underfunded, and translating any promising findings to meaningful societal change poses a huge challenge.


We also need to improve our safety nets to help children at the lowest end of the socioeconomic ladder do better, even before they are born. Pregnant women, babies and children suffer from hunger and malnutrition far too often in the richest country in the world. Yet we still debate the merits of the federally funded WIC (Womens, Infants and Children) program, school lunches and food assistance to needy families.


Finally, we need to find a way to improve access to the health care system. The Medicaid program covers one in every three births and one in every three children in the United States, and it's still not enough. As some states balk at expanding Medicaid to cover many of the poorest uninsured, some are still talking about reducing funding to the already stretched program. There's no question that we have the capability, the knowledge and the resources to care for people. It's just a matter of doing it better.


There will be some who deny these results. Others will try to use them for political gain. That would be a mistake. We have to accept these findings and begin to work holistically to improve them. Being last just isn't the American way.


Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.


Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.


The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Aaron Carroll.






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U.S. tells computer users to disable Java software

Updated 9:00 p.m. ET



WASHINGTON The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is advising people to temporarily disable the Java software on their computers to avoid potential hacking attacks.

The recommendation came in an advisory issued late Thursday, following up on concerns raised by computer security experts.

Experts believe hackers have found a flaw in Java's coding that creates an opening for criminal activity and other high-tech mischief.

CNET's Topher Kessler writes:



"The malware has currently been seen attacking Windows, Linux and Unix systems, and while so far has not focused on OS X, may be able to do so given OS X is largely similar to Unix and Java is cross-platform.


Even though the exploit has not been seen in OS X, Apple has taken steps to block it by issuing an update to its built-in XProtect system to block the current version of the Java 7 runtime and require users install an as of yet unreleased version of the Java runtime.

Luckily with the latest versions of Java, users who need to keep it active can change a couple of settings to help secure their systems. Go to the Java Control Panel that is installed along with the runtime, and in the Security section uncheck the option to "Enable Java content in the browser," which will disable the browser plug-in. This will prevent the inadvertent execution of exploits that may be stumbled upon when browsing the Web, and is a recommended setting for most people to do. If you need to see a Java applet on the Web, then you can always temporarily re-enable the plug-in.

The second setting is to increase the security level of the Java runtime, which can also be done in the same Security section of the Java Control Panel. The default security level is Medium, but you can increase this to High or Very High. At the High level, Java will prompt you for approval before running any unsigned Java code, and at the Very High level all Java code will require such approval, regardless of whether or not it is signed."

Java is a widely used technical language that allows computer programmers to write a wide variety of Internet applications and other software programs that can run on just about any computer's operating system.

Oracle Corp. bought Java as part of a $7.3 billion acquisition of the software's creator, Sun Microsystems, in 2010.

Oracle, which is based in Redwood Shores, Calif., had no immediate comment late Friday.

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