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Twilight tops box office!

Vampires and werewolves ruled at the box office this Fourth of July weekend, with Summit Entertainment’s third installment of “The Twilight Saga” taking in $161.7 million since opening Wednesday.

That’s one of the biggest five-day debuts in Hollywood history, previously surpassed by just a handful of films including “The Dark Knight” and last summer’s sequel to “Transformers.”

After Monday, “Eclipse” is expected to gross around $181 million for the six-day holiday total.

The teen vampire franchise has pulled in major profits for its studio, Summit. A small independent studio in Hollywood, Summit spent just $68 million making “Eclipse,” far less than what many rival studios spend on summer blockbusters, which can cost as much as $150 million or $200 million.

“Eclipse” also helped boost the summer box office, which has trailed behind last year’s record-shattering revenue after a series of movies opened tepidly or flopped at the box office. Still, even with “Eclipse’s” performance, attendance continues to be down nearly 7% compared with last summer and revenue stands slightly lower, too.

Paramount Pictures’ “The Last Airbender,” a 3-D live-action adaptation based on a popular Nickelodeon cartoon, took the second spot at the box office this weekend, grossing $53.2 million since opening Thursday.

That figure stands in line with expectations after the film received poor reviews, but the movie has a long way to go before Paramount can recoup the roughly $150 million it spent on the movie, which the studio also paid to convert into 3-D earlier this year.

The film is, however, estimated to take in more than $70 million after Monday, significantly upping its total.

Source : WSJ.com.

Buffett , Bill Gates the top ranked billionaires of the world has   joined hands and have appealed to fellow Americans  to give half of their wealth to charity.

My first reaction  LOL!!!

According to Forbes Magazine,  Bill gates has USD 53 billion and Buffett total money comes around  USD 47 billion. Gentleman, why dont you start by giving half your share. I am very sure that using the money given by you  two alone can solve  75% of America financial crisis.

It seems that Bill Gates, his wife Melinda gates and Buffett  have  joined hands to commit their share to philanthropy.

“Now, Bill and Melinda Gates and I are asking hundreds of rich Americans to pledge at least 50 per cent of their wealth to charity,” Buffett has written in a letter titled ‘My Philanthropic Pledge’.

Well known for his wise investment decisions, the 79-year-old Buffett is the chairman of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway that has invested in diverse companies.

“More than 99 per cent of my wealth will go to philanthropy during my lifetime or at death. Measured by dollars, this commitment is large. In a comparative sense, though, many individuals give more to others every day,” the billionaire investor said.

In 2006, Buffett had pledged to give all the stocks he owns in Berkshire Hathaway to philanthropic foundations.

Buffett said he has already distributed about 20 per cent of his Berkshire shares and would continue to “annually distribute about 4 per cent the shares I retain”.

“At the latest, the proceeds from all of my Berkshire shares will be expended for philanthropic purposes by 10 years after my estate is settled.

“Nothing will go to endowments; I want the money spent on current needs,” the letter noted.

This year, Gates and Buffett were ranked as the world’s second and third richest people, respectively, by the Forbes, which pegged Gates’ wealth at USD 53 billion and Buffett’s at USD 47 billion.

Buffett said the pledge to donate wealth would not affect this and his children’s lives. “They (children) have already received significant sums for their personal use and will receive more in the future….I will continue to live in a manner that gives me everything that I could possibly want in life,” he wrote in the letter.

Heavy overnight rains triggered flash floods in the US state of Arkansas, killing at least 12 people at a camp ground, police said Friday.

Some of the victims might have been children, and several others are believed to be trapped or remain missing in the area near the Ouachita Mountains in western Arkansas, CNN reported.

Police were still determining whether the victims were residents or campers at the Albert Pike camp ground.

Rescue teams in helicopters were searching for survivors, said Arkansas state police spokesman Bill Sadler. ‘It’s going to be a while before we have reliable communications from that area,’ Sadler said, adding that the camp grounds were in a very remote area.

Abby Sunderland may have just set the country on fire by being lost at sea. We all know how important it is for an AMERICAN like her to go missing. The 16-yr old is trying to become the youngest to ever sail around the world:

TV satellite trucks were beginning to gather outside the modest Thousand Oaks home…… where teen sailor Abby Sunderland lives with her parents. Occasionally, reporters would knock on the front door of the home covered with ivy and geranium. But no one answered.

Students from nearby Thousand Oaks high school walked down the street wondering why news trucks were here. Gage Guzman, 17, said he hoped that Abby would be found safe. “She’s younger than me and she’s sailing around the world, and by herself, that’s even crazier,” he said. “She’s brave, I don’t even go into the ocean by myself.”

Guzman’s younger brother, Shawn, 15, said he didn’t think her attempt to sail around the world was reckless. “If it’s her dream to sail, and she wants to follow her dream, that’s courageous. “

Sunderland, out of necessity, abandoned her quest to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone, nonstop and unassisted. However, the 16-year-old was continuing her mission to become the youngest person to sail around the world.

Sailing experts said the Southern Indian Ocean where Sunderland was sailing when she apparently signaled emergency beacon locating devices on Thursday is known to be a difficult challenge. Charlie Nobles, executive director of the American Sailing Assn., said that winter storms in the Southern Hemisphere are fast approaching, creating rough waves that can reach dozens of feet high. He also said that there are fewer hours of light during the day, which can make navigating the waters difficult.

“There’s just not a lot of land in that part of the world,” Nobles said. “You have to follow certain patterns because you need the trade winds. Where she is right now is in between Australia and South Africa.”

Sailors had criticized Sunderland for leaving so late in the year for her journey. She departed from Marina del Rey on Jan. 23, later than she had wanted to because of equipment issues. She also had to make a stop in Mexico to make repairs, which wasted precious time before the approaching winter southern storms.

Nobles said that sailing around Cape Horn between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula was speculated to be Sunderland’s greatest challenge. But she rounded the cape in April without many issues, he said.

“A lot of people talk about the Horn because that’s what you hear about in National Geographic specials,” Nobles said. “But it wasn’t that big of a deal, fortunately, for her.”

Shortly after setting sail, Sunderland abandoned her quest to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone, without any stops or assistance.

“I don’t know enough facts to know whether this is something she necessarily could have avoided or if it was a bad decision,” Nobles said. “My hope was that if she was at a certain point in her journey, she would say, ‘I’m less concerned about a record than to try to make it through safely.’ “

Abby Sunderland’s brother, Zac, last year completed his solo sail around the world at age 17.

Sunderland’s latest entry on her blog Wednesday described hitting rough weather and winds at 45 knots. “Wild Eyes was great through everything, but after a day with over 50 knots at times, I had quite a bit of work to do,” she wrote about her vessel.

Her parents have said in news reports that they had persuaded Abby to get to the nearest port in the event that dangerous conditions arose.

Someone better get Obama on the phone…

Source

Methuen Woman Sees Jesus On Her Iron

A Massachusetts woman who recently separated from her husband, had her hours at work cut, and moved into an apartment, says an image of Jesus Christ she sees on her iron has reassured her that “life is going to be good.”

Mary Jo Coady first noticed the image on Sunday when she walked into her daughter’s room.

The brownish residue on the bottom of the iron looks like the face of a man with long hair.

The 44-year-old Coady, who was raised Catholic, and her two college-age daughters agree that the image looks like Jesus and is proof that “he’s listening.”

Coady tells The Eagle-Tribune she hopes her story will inspire others during the holidays. She says she plans to keep the iron in a closet and buy a new one.

Source : wbztv.com

Bizarre calf mutilations found on U.S. ranch

A creepy string of calf mutilations in southern Colorado has a rancher and sheriff’s officials mystified.

Four calves were found dead in a pasture just north of the New Mexico state line in recent weeks. The dead calves had their skins peeled back and organs cleared from the rib cage. One calf had its tongue removed.

But rancher Manuel Sanchez has found no signs of human attackers, such as footprints or ATV tracks. And there are no signs of an animal attack by a coyote or mountain lion. Usually predators leave pools of blood or drag marks from carrying away the livestock.

Two officers from the Costilla County Sheriff’s Office have investigated the mutilations but say they don’t know what’s killing the calves.

“There’s nothing really to go by,” said Sanchez, who’s ranched for nearly 50 years. “I can’t figure it out.”

A spokesman for the sheriff’s office told The Pueblo Chieftain that investigators doubt a person butchered the calves because there is no blood at the scene.

“I’ve butchered a cow before and I know what kind of a mess it leaves,” Sgt. James Chavez said.

Some in the area believe the mutilations are the work of aliens. An area UFO chaser, Chuck Zukowski of Colorado Springs, has been to the Costilla County pasture to investigate.

He told the paper there have been other unexplained calf mutilations in the area, including three in March. One of the other calves, found dead on a ranch near Trinidad, had its ears removed, Zukowski said.

“We’re trying as much as we can to find a pattern,” said Zukowski, who runs a UFO Web site called ufonut.com.

Sanchez said he has sold off his 32 remaining calves out of fear more would be mutilated. He hasn’t decided how he’ll manage the remaining 40 animals in his herd.

“It’s a big loss for a small rancher,” he said.

Source : chieftain.com

The cold war legends USA and Russia have joined hands to tackle the iran threat. Fearing  the  possibility that Iran may rise as a new  Nuclear Threat towards the global power makes the  developed countries  work hard onto it.

Iran, a country of Middle east, has recently been on the NEWS for all the bad reasons . Right from the political drama to the nuclear energy , the country seems to be in question for  an individual security.

One of my friends living at US, tells me that  a  Iran family speaks out on how hardship they face  under the present situation in Iran.  Normal life  cannot be achieved in Iran right now, he reports.

Well,  US secretary of state  Hillary  Clinton and  Russia’s   Sergei Lavrov   met  at  Moscow for talks between the countries. Iran nuclear programme was the first thing to be discussed  in the talks.

Mrs Clinton, in Moscow at the end of a European tour, praised Russia for its “extremely cooperative” work with world powers over the Iranian nuclear crisis.Mr Lavrov said Russia was “very reserved” about  Iran at the moment.

“We believe Iran is entitled to peaceful energy but is not entitled to nuclear arms,” Mrs. Clinton told reporters.

“Russia agrees with us on that.”

Russia earlier  opposed tougher sanctions on Iran but Mr Medvedev appeared to shift his stance after the revelation that Tehran had a second uranium enrichment facility in the city of Qom.

He has indicated that his government may ultimately accept further sanctions as inevitable.