Philippines OKs Xmas truce with communist rebels (AP)

MANILA, Philippines ? Philippine President Benigno Aquino III has approved a cease-fire with communist rebels over the Christmas and New Year holidays in a traditional good will gesture.

Government troops were ordered Thursday to refrain from offensive operations and return fire only in self-defense.

The rebels usually reciprocate with their own cease-fire. They've been fighting for a Marxist state for decades despite their dwindling numbers.

The rebel New People's Army recently stepped up attacks on foreign mining companies, accusing them of exploiting resources and local workers. The government accuses the rebels of extorting money from businesses.

Marathon peace talks brokered by Norway have stalled over rebel demands for the release of jailed guerrillas.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_re_as/as_philippines_communist_rebels

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Apple accidentally launching, revoking international iTunes TV, iTunes Match services

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Police find fifth victim in Belgium grenade attack

By msnbc.com and news services

LIEGE, Belgium - Investigators have found the body of a woman in a shed belonging to?the gunman who killed four people and wounded 125 in eastern Belgium on Tuesday.

The body was found following an overnight search of the building, which police said shooter Nordine Amrani had used to grow cannabis.

Bruno Devoghel / Photonews via Getty Images

People flee the grenade attack in the heart of Liege, Belgium on December 13.

---

The 33-year-old brought carnage to the eastern city of Liege by hurling grenades and spraying bullets into crowds of Christmas shoppers.

Two boys aged 15 and 17 were killed, along with a 75-year-old woman and a toddler of just 17 months, whom hospital doctors fought for hours to save.

It was still unclear what drove Amrani to carry out the attack, and investigators were trying to build a profile of the man.

He was previously jailed for possession of arms and drugs offenses.

On the morning of the killings he had been called in for questioning by police in a sexual abuse case, the Associated Press reported.

Michel Krakowski / AFP - Getty Images

A body, suspected to be gunman Nordine Amrani who opened fire children and Christmas shoppers in Leige, Belgium.

Police said the body of his fifth victim was a 45-year-old woman who worked as a cleaner for one of his neighbors.

Prosecutor Cedric Visart de Bocarme told Belgian La Premiere radio station: "A search last night revealed in a warehouse used by the attacker, notably to grow cannabis, the body of a woman killed by the attacker before he went to the Place Saint Lambert.

"The enormous concern we have is how it was possible for someone seemingly sensible and normal to do this. It was a delinquent, someone who had difficulties throughout their life."

Previous conviction
Amrani was freed from jail about a year ago following a 2008 conviction for illegal possession of arms and for growing a huge field of cannabis. A report in Britain's Daily Telegraph?said police found 10 firearms and 9,500 gun parts along with 2,800 cannabis plants, but a prison official granted Amrani early release last year.

The report said he was a weapons aficionado and was said to be able to dismantle, repair and put together a number of different weapons but was never linked to any terrorist act or network.

"He has no history of terrorist acts," prosecutor Daniele Reynders told a news conference on Tuesday.

Instead of reporting to the police station as requested on Tuesday, he took a light automatic rifle, a handgun and several grenades and went onto the roof of a bakery in the central Saint-Lambert square before hurling the weapons into the crowd.

How exactly he died was not immediately clear, with some witnesses claiming he turned his revolver on himself while others said one of his grenades appeared to explode prematurely.

Liege's mayor, Willy Demeyer, said the two teenage victims had been taking school exams nearby just before the attack.

At Amrani's most recent address, an apartment block near the scene of the attack, Johan Buron said he had been astonished to learn what his neighbor had done.

"He was calm, every time I met him in the corridor he was very friendly and said 'Hi'," he told Reuters. "If my memory serves me right, he was a welder."

Random killings are rare in Belgium. Most recently, in January 2009, a man stabbed two infants and a woman to death and injured 13 at a nursery in the town of Dendermonde.

Reuters, The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

Read more content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/14/9434682-fifth-victim-found-as-belgian-police-profile-city-center-killer

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APNewsBreak: Man charged in attack on Simmons site (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? A Connecticut man affiliated with the Anonymous hacking group was arrested Tuesday on federal charges for an attack on a website belonging to Kiss bassist Gene Simmons, authorities said.

Kevin Poe, of Manchester, Conn., made his initial appearance Tuesday in federal court in Hartford, Conn., and was released on $10,000 bond. An email message left for deputy federal public defender Deirdre Murray was not immediately returned.

Poe was indicted in Los Angeles on two counts: conspiracy and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer. If convicted of both, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

Poe and others linked to Anonymous conducted a "denial of service" attack over a five-day period last October against Simmons' computer systems, sending tens of thousands of electronic requests designed to overload the server and render www.GeneSimmons.com useless.

Poe used a computer program favored by Anonymous that sends extremely large requests over a network in an attempt to overwhelm a target computer, according to the indictment.

Authorities didn't say why Simmons was targeted, but he made comments against copyright infringement at a convention in Cannes, France, days before the cyber attack.

No other arrests have been made.

Representatives for Simmons couldn't immediately comment about Poe's arrest because they weren't aware of it.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111213/ap_en_ce/us_cyber_attack_gene_simmons

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Corzine says gave no order to move MF Global funds (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Former MF Global chief Jon Corzine said on Tuesday he felt a need to clarify his prior statements, definitively telling a new panel of lawmakers that he never gave instructions that could have been misinterpreted as permission to misuse customer funds.

The Senate Agriculture Committee was holding on Tuesday the second hearing in under a week to feature Corzine, who has said he does not know the location of hundreds of millions of dollars of customer money missing from the futures brokerage.

Corzine told lawmakers last week that he "never intended" to break rules about keeping customer funds segregated from firm money, but said that an employee may have misinterpreted instructions to try to save the firm.

On Tuesday, Corzine said, "I want to be clear - I never gave any instructions to misuse customer funds, I never intended anyone at MF Global to misuse customer funds."

The futures brokerage filed for bankruptcy on October 31, after it was forced to reveal it bet $6.3 billion on European sovereign debt. That disclosure caused ratings downgrades and saw nervous investors and customers begin to flee the firm.

Corzine resigned as chief executive days after the bankruptcy filing.

The search for the missing customer funds has sent reverberations through the farm belt and trading floors, and has attracted the attention of the FBI and federal prosecutors. They are trying to determine whether customer funds were diverted to firm accounts, a major violation of industry rules.

In the meantime, thousands of customers have had their money frozen, although some has been returned as the trustee in the bankruptcy sorts through MF Global's records.

Corzine reiterated on Tuesday that he does not know where the money is, but he was willing to speculate on why funds are not yet accounted for.

He said in the final days of MF Global, he directed the sale of $1.3 billion in commercial paper, hundreds of millions of dollars in MF Global proprietary assets, and $4.5 billion in government agency bonds.

"As I sit here, I didn't, do not know whether all of these and many other transactions were properly recorded and effectuated, or whether banks and other counterparties involved in such transactions properly credited the right accounts for these sales," Corzine told lawmakers.

He also revealed that JPMorgan Chase contacted him and other MF Global employees on October 28 about "certain overdrafts and whether funds had been transferred in compliance with (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) rules."

Corzine said he had no personal knowledge about the issue, so he asked senior people in MF Global's back office in Chicago and in the firm's legal department to become directly involved.

"So even in the midst of the chaotic last days of business, I had confidence in our people and systems," Corzine said.

'DARK AGES'

Two top-ranking company executives, Chief Operating Officer Bradley Abelow and Chief Financial Officer Henri Steenkamp, appeared on the same panel as Corzine. They also said they lack answers about the money.

Senators were frustrated by the testimony, frequently asking the executives and Corzine "Where's the money?" and "What happened?"

"It's now been a month a half since the firm collapsed and customer money is still nowhere to be found," Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow said.

"This isn't the Dark Ages. MF Global didn't keep their books with feather quills and dusty ledgers. The rules about keeping customer money segregated are pretty straightforward."

Abelow and Steenkamp said they do not know what happened.

"I unfortunately have limited knowledge of the specific movement of funds at the U.S. broker-dealer subsidiary, MF Global Inc, during the last two or three hectic business days prior to the bankruptcy filing," Steenkamp said in his testimony.

The court-appointed trustee has estimated the shortfall of customer money at $1.2 billion, but other regulators have disputed that amount as too high.

'RIPPLE EFFECT'

Farmers who became collateral damage from the collapse of MF Global got a chance to air their frustrations, telling lawmakers on Tuesday that their confidence in the markets has been shaken.

Dean Tofteland, a corn and soybean farmer from Minnesota, said when he heard news that MF Global was having problems, he talked to his broker, who told him, "No customer has ever lost a penny in customer segregated accounts."

But three days later his $253,000 account was frozen and he could not adjust his short positions.

Tofteland's positions were transferred to a new broker with only 15 percent of the required collateral, and he was forced to liquidate the hedges, he said. Since then, prices dropped and he lost another $100,000 without having the hedge.

Tofteland said he has not returned to the futures market.

"What they call 'unlawful comingling' on Wall Street is called 'stealing' back on Main Street," he told lawmakers.

C.J. Blew, a Kansas farmer and rancher, said the agriculture sector needs answers about what happened to the customer money.

"This has a ripple effect, I think, throughout the industry. You got farmers double margining. You got people with stress on their lending situations already so it's important that we get to the bottom of it," Blew said.

(Reporting by Alexandra Alper, Aruna Viswanatha and Christopher Doering; writing by Karey Wutkowski; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111213/bs_nm/us_mfglobal_hearing

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Fla. man charged with killing couple with bat

MIAMI (AP) ? A North Florida man has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder after authorities say he beat a man and a woman to death with a baseball bat and then photographed their bodies.

Authorities said Saturday that Craig Arron Lede, 40, of Spring Hill is being held without bond after telling investigators that he killed John Ketsemidis, 29, and Dana Nelson, 28, at Lede's house on Wednesday when he became enraged that a debt couldn't be repaid. The suspect also allegedly drove to the home of the male victim's mother the next day trying to get money while the female victim's body was stashed in the trunk.

"The defendant stated he killed John and Dana because he was tired of being 'screwed over,'" Hernando County Sheriff's Detective Randy Wiliamson wrote in an arrest affidavit. "The defendant demonstrated how he swung the baseball bat and struck both victims. The defendant stated he photographed the bodies and intended to keep the picture as a trophy..."

According to a news release from the sheriff's office, Ketsemidis' mother called authorities Friday in a panic because she hadn't heard from her son in a few days. She told authorities that Lede had come by her house on Thursday, telling a bizarre story that her son was at a local hospital and that he needed money. Lede was driving her son's BMW, she said.

Hernando County sheriff's deputies headed to Lede's home that afternoon in an effort to locate Ketsemidis ? they had also traced him to the address through an ankle-monitoring device he was wearing because he was on probation. There deputies noticed what they believed was a body wrapped in a blanket on the garage floor, according to the news release.

"At that time Craig became very nervous and asked the deputies to leave unless they had a search warrant," according to the statement.

Lede, who is unemployed and had a warrant for a probation violation, was immediately taken into custody. It's unclear if he has an attorney.

As deputies pursued an arrest warrant, Lede began talking to investigators at the sheriff's office, authorities said,

Lede said the couple came to his house late Wednesday night and that Ketsemidis said he couldn't repay money he owed him, the news release said. Authorities said Lede became enraged and used a bat to strike Ketsemidis in the head, knocking him to the ground, and then to strike Nelson in the head.

"Once the victims were down and helpless, the defendant struck them in the head and upper body several times causing eventual death," the arrest affidavit says. "The defendant used his camera to photograph the deceased victims."

Authorities subsequently found both bodies in Lede's garage ? Ketsemidis' wrapped in a blanket, and Nelson's in the trunk of Ketsemidis' BMW.

The arrest affidavit says Lede acknowledged that he had "run errands with Dana's body still in the trunk."

Lede was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of armed robbery. Authorities said Lede was wearing a gold Bulova watch that he removed from Ketsemidis' body.

Authorities believe Lede acted alone. He is currently being held without bond.

The St. Petersburg Times reported Saturday (http://bit.ly/uEtXPg ) that Lede has a history of domestic violence and a September 2010 battery charge. His father-in-law David Stenger told the newspaper that Lede once struck Stenger's daughter, prompting her to leave the marriage, file a restraining order against him and begin the divorce process.

Stenger said Lede's behavior worsened following a devastating car accident and he became addicted to painkillers.

Lede and the two victims had all been patients at Hope Pain Management Clinic, which was closed a month ago after a lengthy investigation by the sheriff's office.

"There is little doubt that (prescription drugs) significantly contributed to the deaths of these two young people," Sheriff Al Nienhuis said in a statement. "This is a perfect example that prescription drug abuse is not a victimless or a non-violent crime."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-03-Couple%20Slain-Baseball%20Bat/id-e2a1e44f7e094ca0ac5440a76f2ed80c

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'Twilight' stays bright but Hollywood snoozes (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? The latest "Twilight" movie cast the longest shadow with $16.9 million for a third-straight No. 1 finish during one of the year's slowest weekends at the box office.

Business was dismal, with box-office tracker Hollywood.com estimating Sunday that domestic revenues totaled just $82 million. That puts it barely ahead of Hollywood's worst haul of the year, when revenues were $81.5 million over the second weekend in September.

Once studios release final numbers Monday, this past weekend could come in as the worst of the year if revenues finish even lower.

The first weekend of December often presents a lull in between big Thanksgiving releases and the onslaught of year-end blockbusters that arrive a bit later. But this big a slowdown is surprising given that there's quality stuff out there among the top-10 films, particularly family fare such as "The Muppets," "Hugo" and "Arthur Christmas."

Hollywood executives usually blame bad weekends on a weak crop of movies.

"It's tough to blame it on the product when the product is pretty good and the films are solid," said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian. "While the post-Thanksgiving weekend is typically slow, it's not usually this slow."

The dreary weekend comes after a relatively quiet Thanksgiving holiday at movie theaters, despite analysts' predictions of potential holiday records because of a great lineup of films.

But more fans might be thinking twice about heading out to theaters given the new entertainment options they have with Apple's iPad, Amazon's Kindle products and other gadgets, along with their big-screen home setups for movies and television.

Or it could be that Hollywood has temporarily neglected its mainstay audience of young males. Dergarabedian said there's little out there now for guys looking for thrills and laughs.

That will change in the coming weeks as Jonah Hill's comedy "The Sitter" opens Friday, followed by a rush of action tales: Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible ? Ghost Protocol," Robert Downey Jr.'s "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" and Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin."

Women and families continue to dominate the scanty business at theaters now. Summit Entertainment's female-driven blockbuster "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 1" raised its domestic haul to $247.3 million. "Breaking Dawn" added $40.2 million overseas, taking it to a tally of $341 million internationally and $588.3 million worldwide.

Coming in second again was Disney's "The Muppets" with $11.2 million, lifting the family film's domestic total to $56.1 million. Despite good reviews, though, "The Muppets" audience was off more sharply than any other top-10 movie compared to Thanksgiving weekend.

Paramount's family adventure "Hugo," an acclaimed saga directed by Martin Scorsese, finished third with $7.6 million, raising its domestic take to $25.2 million.

Sony's animated holiday comedy "Arthur Christmas" was fourth with $7.4 million, pushing its total to $25.3 million.

In limited release, Fox Searchlight's sexually explicit drama "Shame" opened strongly with $361,181 at 10 theaters in six cities. "Shame" expands to six more cities Friday.

Starring Michael Fassbender in a grim portrait of a sex addict, "Shame" is the latest film angling to lure moviegoers despite an NC-17 rating that prohibits anyone younger than 17 from seeing it.

Some fans and theaters equate the NC-17 tag with pornography, but serious films with that rating occasionally break through and find an audience. Fox Searchlight is positioning "Shame" for Academy Awards attention after the film earned Fassbender the best-actor prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 1," $16.9 million ($40.2 million international).

2. "The Muppets," $11.2 million ($1.8 million international).

3. "Hugo," $7.6 million.

4. "Arthur Christmas," $7.4 million ($11.4 million international).

5. "Happy Feet Two," $6 million ($16.3 million international).

6. "Jack and Jill," $5.5 million ($3.2 million international).

7. "The Descendants," $5.2 million.

8. "Immortals," $4.4 million ($4 million international).

9. "Tower Heist," $4.1 million ($4 million international).

10. "Puss in Boots," $3.1 million ($23 million international).

___

Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:

1. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 1," $40.2 million.

2. "Puss in Boots," $23 million.

3. "Happy Feet Two," $16.3 million.

4 (tie). "Arthur Christmas," $11.4 million.

4 (tie). "Vysotsky: Thank God I'm Alive," $11.4 million.

6. "The Adventures of Tintin," $10.6 million.

7. "In Time," $9.6 million.

8. "Real Steel," $5.3 million.

9 (tie). "Immortals," $4 million.

9 (tie). "Tower Heist," $4 million.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

http://www.rentrak.com

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111204/ap_on_en_ot/us_box_office

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