'The Hobbit' 3D technology to a reviewer's eye

'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' features a new 3D technology that some people have criticized for looking too much like TV.

(Credit:
New Line Cinema)

Now that Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" has opened in theaters around the world, the most controversial thing about it isn't even that he somehow is making three 3-hour movies out of a 300-page children's story. No, it's the way the movie has been shot that has the most people talking.

The "Hobbit" trilogy has been captured using James Cameron's 48-frames-per-second 3D technology (HFR 3D), which Jackson says leads to less eyestrain and a sharper picture.

Only a limited number of cinemas will be showing the movie in HFR -- Jackson says it's only 1,000 out of 25,000 theaters.

"On the first day of shooting 'The Hobbit' in 48 frames, there was not a single cinema in the world that could project the movie in that format," Jackson said, according to CinemaBlend.

While we're not going to go into how the technology works here, CNET editors David Katzmaier and Ty Pendlebury have just come out of a showing in HFR 3D and wanted to share their thoughts.

David:
As a big-to-massive Tolkien fan who loves Peter Jackson's original movies, I was nonetheless disappointed to hear he'd be stretching "The Hobbit" (a short book I reread last week in about three days) to fill what's sure to be about 9 hours of screen time. I entered the theater with lowered expectations, both for the film itself and for the 48fps HFR treatment he chose to experiment with delivering.

I ended up liking the movie more than I thought I would, and disliking HFR just about as much as I do when I encounter its doppleganger, dejudder (aka smoothing, aka The Soap Opera Effect), on modern HDTVs. I found myself wanting to switch it off.

I can see why Jackson liked the effect though. The visual impact of HFR is immediately apparent and very distinct from what film normally looks like. Jackson employs a moving camera, from sweeping pans to helicopter-shot vistas to pushes through interiors to quick jerks during combat, as frequently and skillfully as any filmmaker. In the HFR "Hobbit," all of that camera movement is seemingly on rails, and objects flow across the screen with pristine smoothness. It's definitely more like reality than standard 24-frame film looks, but it's also somehow more artificial at the same time.

From the opening shots, where old Bilbo moves his memoir onto the desk and opens a basket, the smoothness is easily apparent in any scene with object or camera movement. I noticed that artificial look at one point early in the film when Bilbo gets astride his first pony, and the background moves behind him in a scroll, as if it were printed on a piece of paper unrolling to simulate his riding forward. The numerous flying camera shots over the stunning New Zealand countryside seemed too smooth as well, to the point where I was distracted and lost the feeling of immersion. HFR might be the future of film, but in its first incarnation it seems like a step back. Maybe I'll eventually get used to it, but at the moment I think I'd enjoy the film more in its standard-frame-rate incarnation.

"The Hobbit" is undeniably beautiful to look at, and not just because of the meticulously crafted world Jackson and WETA created. The 3D nearly is perfect -- there are very few overt pop-outs and the depth seemed like an ideal representation of reality; not too deep and yet deep enough to remind me of its extra advantage over 2D. This is one of the first 3D films I've seen ("Hugo" is another) where the extra dimension drew me in and added to the experience and immersion, rather than detracting.

And the movie itself? Let's just say it catered to people like me - -big-to-massive Tolkien nerds. I reveled in the extra backstory (Radagast, the White Council), the historical battles brought to life (the Ereborn prologue, the retaking of Moria) and the faithful adherence to the books. I kind of wanted the Great Goblin (er, Orc) to open his mouth like a constrictor snake and threaten to bite Thorin's head off, but I guess you can't be too bound by the canon. I also had the versions of the songs from the original animated version playing in my head during the musical interludes. Yes, it was too long -- the Stone Giant sequence, much of the battle in Goblin Town, and of course the Unexpected Party itself seemed too close to filler, but I enjoyed them in their own way too.

In sum, I can't wait to see it again in the theater, but next time I won't go to the HFR version.

Ian McKellan checks out his Gandalf Lego minifig (sadly not featured in the movie).

(Credit:
Warner Bros)

Ty:
Having tested 3D televisions since their inception and having attended my fair share of 3D movies I can unequivocally say that this is the best 3D I have ever seen. In essence it's the best part about this movie. Jackson undoubtedly chose to shoot in the controversial 48fps format for the silky-smooth effect it has on the sweeping helicopter shots he loves so much.

This technology is an uneasy bedfellow with a majestic fantasy movie as it does lend an incongruous "documentary" feel to the story. However, it does indeed make the picture sharper, and most movement is fluid with only occasional breakup of fine detail. Even the "poking you in the face with spears" stuff works, and it's because of the lack of cross-talk. Cross-talk is where the image breaks up into two and is common when an object comes very close to the "front" of the screen. I had to look very hard to see any evidence of this defect and thought I saw a faint trace in a waterfall in Rivendell, but that was it.

As far as the movie itself, Jackson takes Gandalf's declaration that "All good stories deserve embellishment" as his personal creed. A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to see Neil Young play at Barclays Center in New York, but early on in the set he lost the crowd by playing a 20-minute feedback solo. The first hour of "The Hobbit" is Peter Jackson's feedback solo. It features zero pacing, solemn songs, and sweeping shots of Hobbiton. The only person who "gets" extended solos is the soloist. It was like a canned technology demo that you might see in a Best Buy or other electronics outlet -- where there's not that much movement and the scene looks very overbright and digital.

However, once the singing is done and things start to happen it's actually quite fun. Despite a wonky beginning the movie actually moves along quite well and is much more consistent than Jackson's patchy "King Kong."

If you have a chance this is definitely worth seeing in the cinema in 48 frames at one of these locations.

Read More..

Conn. gunman sought to kill as many children as possible

(CBS News) NEWTOWN, Conn. - Police say it's clear that the gunman who opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday was on a mission to kill as many people as possible. He took at least three guns and multiple clips of ammunition to target a defenseless elementary school and children as young as five.

Police say 20-year-old Adam Lanza was armed for a mass murder when he attacked a target he knew very well.

Connecticut elementary school massacre: 20 children among 27 dead
Obama: "We have been through this too many times"
8-year-old says teacher saved him in Conn. shooting

Lanza, whose mother was a teacher at Sandy Hill Elementary arrived in the school parking lot driving his mother's Black Honda.

He was carrying two lethal semi-automatic handguns: a Sig Sauer, the type of gun carried by Secret Service agents, and a Glock 9mm, a model used by many police officers and federal agents across the United States.

Officials say Lanza headed directly for a specific section of the school and opened fired, killing students in two classrooms. It is not known how many rounds he fired, but both guns are capable of carrying high-capacity extended clips, which can hold up to 30 rounds.

Police Lieutenant Paul Vance said evidence teams are still working through the horrible scene.

A .223 assault rifle

/

CBS News

"We'll be here through the night, certainly through the weekend. We are not even putting a time stamp on when we will complete this project," Vance said.

Lanza died of a self-inflicted gunshot inside the school. But investigators suspect he may have intended to carry out a broader attack.

A third gun, a .223 assault rifle, was found outside the school in the back of his mother's car. It's similar to the type of gun used in the shooting on Tuesday at a mall outside of Portland, Oregon. CBS Correspondent John Miller reports said the guns were registered under her name.

Lanza's older brother, Ryan, is still being questioned by police who want to know what he might have known about the attack.

Ryan Lanza, the older brother of suspected Connecticut elementary school shooter Adam Lanza, was taken into police custody in Hoboken, N.J., Friday. He is being questioned, but has not been named a suspect.

/

CBS News

Sources say at this point he is not a suspect.

Investigators say they now believe the killing spree began at the home Lanza shared with his mother, who was a kindergarten teacher at the school.

CBS correspondent John Miller reports that Adam had the bigger personality of the two brothers. Ryan, 24, was the quiet one, went to business school and lived in New Jersey. Investigators believe that this shooting was the result of a conflict between he and his mother that was developing for a long time -- killing her and then killing what she loved most -- her students.

Read More..

Conn. Shooter Adam Lanza: 'Obviously Not Well'

Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old who killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut this morning, was "obviously not well," a relative told ABC News.

Family friends in Newtown also described the young man as troubled and described his mother Nancy as very rigid. "[Adam] was not connected with the other kids," said one friend.

Late today, police said Nancy Lanza's body was found in the family home. According to sources, Lanza shot his mother in the face, then left the house armed with at least two semi-automatic handguns and a semi-automatic rifle.

State and federal authorities believe his mother may have once worked at the elementary school where Adam went on his deadly rampage, although she was not a teacher, according to relatives, perhaps a volunteer.

As part of the investigation authorities searched the New Jersey apartment of Adam's older brother Ryan in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Police had initially identified Ryan as the killer, until he sent out a series of Facebook posts saying it wasn't him and that he was at work all day.

Sources told ABC News that Ryan, 24, works as a senior person in Ernst and Young's tax practice in Manhattan.

"He's a tax guy and he is clean as a whistle," a source familiar with his work said.

Ryan has worked at the firm 4 years.

Today the NYPD and FBI went to Ernst & Young and removed Ryan's laptop and other possessions, which is part of the normal investigative process.

Officials were interviewing Ryan and his father, but neither person was under any suspicion, multiple sources said.

MORE: 27 Dead, Mostly Children, at Connecticut Elementary School Shooting

LIVE UPDATES: Newton, Conn. School Shooting

Click Here for the Blotter Homepage.

Read More..

NATO says Syrian Scuds hit "near" Turkey

BEIRUT (Reuters) - NATO accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces of firing Scud missiles that landed near to the Turkish border, in explaining why it was sending anti-missile batteries and troops to the bloc's frontier.

The Syrian government, which finds itself under attack from rebels in the capital Damascus and by a diplomatic alliance of Arab and Western powers, denies firing such long-range, Soviet-built rockets and had no immediate comment on the latest charge.

Admiral James Stavridis, the American who is NATO's military commander, wrote in a blog on Friday: "Over the past few days, a handful of Scud missiles were launched inside Syria, directed by the regime against opposition targets. Several landed fairly close to the Turkish border, which is very worrisome."

It was not clear how close they came. NATO member Turkey, once friendly toward Assad but now among the main allies of the rebels, has complained of occasional bullets and artillery fire, some of which has been fatal, for many months. It sought the installation of missile defenses on its border some weeks ago.

"Syria is clearly a chaotic and dangerous situation; but we have an absolute obligation to defend the borders of the alliance from any threat emanating from that troubled state," Stavridis wrote.

Batteries of U.S.-made Patriot missiles, designed to shoot down the likes of the Scuds popularly associated with Iraq's wars under Saddam Hussein in the 1990s, are about to be deployed by the U.S., German and Dutch armies, each of which is sending up to 400 troops to operate and protect the rocket systems.

The Syrian government has accused Western powers of backing what it portrays as a Sunni Islamist "terrorist" attack on it and says Washington and Europe have publicly voiced concerns of late that Assad's forces might resort to chemical weapons solely as a pretext for preparing a possible military intervention.

In contrast to NATO's air campaign in support of Libya's successful revolt last year against Muammar Gaddafi, Western powers have fought shy of intervention in Syria. They have cited the greater size and ethnic and religious complexity of a major Arab state at the heart of the Middle East - but have also lacked U.N. approval due to Russia's support for Assad.

Moscow reacted angrily on Friday to the way U.S. officials seized on comments by a top Kremlin envoy for the Middle East as evidence that Russia was giving up on Assad. Comments by Mikhail Bogdanov on Thursday in which he conceded Assad might be ousted did not reflect a change in policy, the Foreign Ministry said.

Assad's diplomatic isolation remains acute, however, as Arab and Western powers this week recognized a new, united coalition of opposition groups as Syria's legitimate leadership. Large parts of the country are no longer under the government's control and fighting has been raging around Damascus itself.

European Union leaders who met in Brussels on Friday said all options were on the table to support the Syrian opposition, raising the possibility that non-lethal military equipment or even arms could eventually be supplied.

In their strongest statement of support for the Syrian opposition since the uprising began 20 months ago, EU leaders instructed their foreign ministers to assess all possibilities to increase the pressure on Assad.

With rebels edging into the capital, a senior NATO official said that Assad is likely to fall and the Western military alliance should make plans to protect against the threat of his chemical arsenal falling into the wrong hands.

HUNGER SPREADS

Desperation for food is growing in parts of Syria and residents of the northern city of Aleppo say fist fights and dashes across the civil war front lines have become part of the daily struggle to secure a loaf of bread.

"I went out yesterday and could not get any bread. If only the problem was just lack of food - there is also a huge shortage of fuel, which the bakeries need to run," said Ahmed, a resident of the battle-scarred Salaheddine district.

He said people get into fist fights over flour and rebels regularly have to break up fights by firing into the air.

The World Food Programme (WFP) says as many as a million people may go hungry this winter, as worsening security conditions make it harder to reach conflict zones.

Forty thousand people have now been killed in the most enduring and destructive of the Arab revolts. The government severely limits press and humanitarian access to the country.

U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said on Friday the United Nations is committed to maintaining aid operations in Syria.

"NOTHING OFF THE TABLE"

At the EU summit, Britain's David Cameron pushed for an early review of the arms embargo against Syria to possibly open the way to supply equipment to rebels in the coming months. Germany and others were more reluctant and blocked any quick move. But there was widespread agreement that whatever action can be taken under current legislation should be pursued, and the arms embargo would still be reviewed at a later stage.

"I want a very clear message to go to President Assad that nothing is off the table," Cameron told reporters at the end of a two-day summit. "I want us to work with the opposition ... so that we can see the speediest possible transition in Syria.

"There is no single simple answer, but inaction and indifference are not options."

Among factors holding Western powers back from arming the rebels is the presence in their ranks of anti-Western Islamist radicals. Following a U.S. decision this week to blacklist one such group, Jabhat al-Nusra, a "terrorist" group, thousands of Syrians demonstrated on Friday against ostracizing the movement.

The latest, weekly Friday protests in rebel-held areas were held under the slogan: "The only terrorism in Syria is Assad's".

Inspired by Arab uprisings across the region, Syrian protesters were met with gunfire by Assad's security forces in March 2011. Armed revolt overtook the movement, which has become increasingly sectarian - waged by majority Sunni Muslims against forces loyal to Assad, who is from the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of the Shi'ite Islam practiced in Assad's ally Iran.

A video posted on the Internet showed dozens of Sunni rebels dressed in camouflage gear congratulating and kissing each other outside a burning Shi'ite shrine.

A fighter holding a rifle said the group was destroying the "dens of the Shi'ites". Reuters could not independently verify the video, which was posted on YouTube on Wednesday and purports to be filmed in the northern town of Jisr al-Shughur.

(Writing by Oliver Holmes and Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Read More..

US Dollar falls as fiscal cliff worries grow

NEW YORK: The US dollar dropped to its lowest level against the euro in three months Friday, the euro going above US$1.31 as politicians in Washington appeared no closer to averting the economy-crunching fiscal cliff.

With just over two weeks to go before the deadline, markets began to show strains from worries that US leaders will not be able to carve out a compromise deal to beat the year-end deadline to skirt the cliff's harsh mandatory budget cuts and tax hikes.

At 2200 GMT, the euro was at US$1.3161, compared to US$1.3073 late Thursday.

The US dollar has slipped steadily for a week amid cliff fears and the Federal Reserve's extension of its bond-buying easy monetary accommodation, aimed at sparking more growth in the sluggish US economy.

The yen was mixed ahead of Sunday's Japanese general election: the euro gained to 109.94 yen from 109.38 yen, while the US dollar slipped to 83.52 yen from 83.64.

"According to most reports out of Japan, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is well ahead in polls and his coalition government should easily take more than 60 per cent of the seats in Parliament, leading to Abe's return to the PM seat," said Neal Gilbert of GFT.

"Abe has made many declarations that he wants to become more aggressive with monetary policy by lowering interest rates to 0 per cent, increasing the inflation target to 3 per cent, and increasing the amount of QE (quantitative easing)."

Gilbert added that if Abe regains the premiership, the yen's weakness "may be much more long lasting."

The US dollar slipped against the Swiss franc to 0.9172 francs, while the British pound edged higher to US$1.6173.

- AFP/jc

Read More..

Buy a TV now or wait?

Most new TV models are announced at the Consumer Electronics Show, held every January. It's usually a few months before they ship, arriving in stores sometime in the spring.

So with new models imminent, should you wait to buy a new TV? We break down what we expect to see, and figure out when is the best time to buy.

Upgrades?
When it comes to the new models, a direct replacement for what's out now, none of us TV tech pundits is expecting big changes. Incremental improvements have been the name of the game for several years.

We'll likely see a few more larger models, a few cheaper 3D and smart TV models, and a lot of single-digit number/letter changes with very similar spec sheets.

However, 2012 saw a nearly pervasive stagnation in picture quality from many manufacturers. On average, many "new" 2012 models didn't look any better than their 2011 counterparts. Some models looked a little worse. Are we seeing a trend of reducing the cost to build the TVs, at the expense of overall performance? We shall see. There were a few exceptions, of course.

New technologies
As David and Ty outlined in his CES expectations article, the two new technologies we're sure to hear about at
CES are OLED and 4K Ultra HD.

Ultra HD is actually available now, in 84-inch LED LCDs from LG and Sony. There's also a projector from Sony that came out last year, and several eShift "4K" projectors from JVC that use 1080p chips but optically upconvert to 4K resolution. Unless you're sitting really close to the TV, or want a really huge TV, you don't need 4K (though passive 3D with 4K is full-resolution 1080p and then some, which isn't the case with "normal" passive 3D HDTVs). Will we see other Ultra HD models at CES? Certainly. Smaller? Ugh, I hope not, but probably. If you're really excited about 4K, I'll actually say hold off till CES, because none of the current Ultra HD models will likely be compatible with the as-yet-unspecified Ultra HD standard. So at the very least, I'd wait to see what some new models might be.

As far as OLED is concerned, dammit, they were supposed to be out this year. OLED is fascinating, with far better picture quality than plasma or LCD, lower power consumption, and are even thinner than current TVs. Except...where are they! I'm sure we'll hear more about new models at CES. Or at least, we'd better.

Pricing
There are some pretty amazing pre-Christmas deals going on right now, and I'm sure we'll see even more after the new year, as TV companies and retailers try to empty their warehouses to make room for the immanent new models.

So should you wait for the yearly sales that happen right before the Super Bowl? Maybe. This year was the first in many that there weren't significant discounts on major brand televisions. Most of the tier-one manufacturers put in place draconian pricing rules that forbid retailers from dropping prices below a certain amount. So I suppose it's possible that there will be deeper discounts on certain models in late January, but if you're expecting the exact TV you're interested in to drop 50 percent in price, it's probably not going to happen.

And then there's price guarantees. Most stores will match a price up to 30 days after you buy it (though check the fine print). So if you are worried about pricing, but really want a TV under your Christmas tree/Festivus pole, buy from a store that will match a potential price drop. Your guess is as good as mine as when those sales will start, but expect mid-January.

Bottom line
My usual advice is to buy the TV you want, and not sweat about fluctuations in price or new models that might come out. It's inevitable that prices will drop, but those drops have become less severe in recent years. There will always be new models, but those new models aren't going to be radically different than what's out there right now.

If you're one of those people who has to wait in line to get the latest iWhatever, then you know what, go ahead and wait until CES (which means you'll actually need to wait until the new models ship in the spring but if you wait until the spring then what about the price drops at Christmas but if you wait till Christmas what about the new models at CES but if you wait till CES then you'll actually need to wait until the new models ship in the spring but if you...).

For everyone else, the 2013 models are going to be very, very similar to the 2012 models, probably not enough to justify waiting if you're interested in a TV now. That is, unless you really want Ultra HD or OLED, but I'm guessing most of you aren't going to wait until those reach reasonable prices to buy a new TV (cause that's going to be a looong wait).

---

Got a question for Geoff? Send him an e-mail! If it's witty, amusing, and/or a good question, you may just see it in a post just like this one. No, he won't tell you which TV to buy. Yes, he'll probably truncate and/or clean up your e-mail. You can also send him a message on Twitter: @TechWriterGeoff.

Read More..

Donation-based hospital rescues Afghanistan's wounded

(CBS News) KABUL - In Afghanistan, an American soldier and two Afghans were killed by a car bomb Thursday.

It happened near the U.S. airbase in Kandahar, a few hours after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta left there to meet with Afghan President Karzai.

Taliban attacks have grown more frequent, causing a sharp rise in civilian casualties. There's one place where many of those lives are saved or lost.

The non-profit trauma hospital goes by one name: Emergency. It offers free treatment to the bruised and bloodied victims of this conflict. Every patient who arrives there is a casualty of war.

Dr. Gino Strada

/

CBS News

Dr. Gino Strada is the chain-smoking Italian cardiologist who founded emergency in 1999. He told CBS News that he'll take in patients, regardless of whether they're Taliban or whatever their political affiliations may be.

"Otherwise, you're not a doctor anymore," he said, "then you're a judge."

Visit to military hospital shows extent of Syrian conflict
U.S. serviceman killed in Afghanistan just after Panetta visit
Children give graphic account of Afghan murders

Strada said he's seen a dramatic shift in the types of injuries he treats: Fewer bullet wounds and more from roadside bombs and heavy weapons.

"The weapons which are now used are much more powerful and destructive than those that were available ten or fifteen years ago," Strada said.

This year, the hospital has treated nearly two thousand patients -- an all time high. The vast majority are civilians.

Five-year-old Shayr Mohammed's wrist was fractured and his arm burned when he was hit by shrapnel.

His injuries have healed well. But not all children are so lucky.

Another young boy had picked up what he thought was a toy and it exploded in his pocket. By the time he arrived at Emergency, there was nothing the doctors could do.

"We live in a place where insurgents and police are shooting at each other all the time," his uncle said.

Strada said the fighting is coming closer to the capital and the fighting is becoming more intense.

"This is very worrying because it's very difficult to predict what's going to happen in the near future," he said.

As NATO troops prepare to pull out in 2014, there are fears that the security situation could deteriorate further and that Afghanistan's healthcare system will be overwhelmed.

A patient at the Emergency hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan.

/

CBS News

The U.S. has spent nearly a billion dollars on health care in Afghanistan the last ten years. But Strada said there is little to show for it.

"What worries me is particularly is corruption in the health sector. When you look at the amount of international aid that has come to Afghanistan for health, you would expect to find fantastic hospitals everywhere. And you don't see one," Strada said.

But there's no shortage of patients, and the war outside Emergency's walls rages on.

Donations to Emergency are accepted at the links below:

www.emergencyusa.org
www.emergency.it/en-index.html

Read More..

NASA Debunks Mayan Doom, 10 Days Early

Dec 13, 2012 2:57pm

Kukulkan pyramid, Yucatan, Mexico. Jeremy Woodhouse/Getty.

We’ll never know if they were wrong.

NASA has quietly published a web video explaining why the world did not come to an end “yesterday,” Dec. 21, 2012.

The date of its release, December 11, was no mistake, even if doomsayers would likely call it one last act of earthly hubris. NASA uploaded the four-minute “ScienceCasts” explainer, titled “Why the World Didn’t End Yesterday,” in an effort to answer hundreds of calls and emails they receive daily. It also has a dedicated website that’s received at least 4.6 million visitors — people asking if the Maya prophecy is coming true and what they should do about it.

“If there was anything out there, like a planet headed for Earth, said NASA Astrobiologist David Morrison, it would already be one of the brightest objects in the sky,” the narrator explains in a cheerfully pedantic voice. “Everybody on Earth could see it. You don’t need to ask the government, just go out and look. It’s not there.”

(Note: Still not convinced? Consider this: Even if the Maya, a declining Mesoamerican civilization wiped almost entirely off the map by 17^th century Spanish conquistadors, are to be trusted with this kind of high-stakes stuff, scientists agree that reports concerning their prediction of our collective demise have been greatly exaggerated, if not fabricated. Anthropologists say the Mayan calendar was cyclical, and frequently restarted without ending.)

As for rumors about solar flares and reports the sun is reaching the “max of its 11-year solar cycle,” well, that’s all true. But NASA calls is it the “wimpiest cycle” of the past 50 years.

Anyway, “the sun has been flaring for billions of years and it has never, once, destroyed the world.”

Dwayne Brown, a senior public affair officer at NASA, said the space agency felt a sense of duty as the date neared. People have been calling in to headquarters “who want to do harm to their families” in an effort to protect them from the unknown horrors expected to arrive with the Maya apocalypse, he said.

“As the attention on the issue is growing,” the video’s producer and director Michael Brody said, “we didn’t want the rumors growing…. The idea is to take a straight, stoic, standard [scientific] look… and give it a hook.”

“You’re the smart guys, you know what’s up in space,” Brown said, his way of distilling public sentiment toward NASA.  “Well, we do!”

READ: Apocalypse Believers Flocking Here: Why?

And what they know is quite simple. The world might end on a Friday, but it won’t be tomorrow or the one after. Most scientists agree we have about five billion years of battery life, in the form of the sun, to go before the time comes to get nervous.

Brown’s best advice: “Let’s take it day-by-day.”

SHOWS: World News

Read More..

U.S., rebels urge gloomy Moscow to help oust Assad

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's rebel leadership and the United States seized on Russian pessimism over President Bashar al-Assad's future to urge Moscow to help push its ally into ceding power and end the battles closing in around his capital.

"We want to commend the Russian government for finally waking up to the reality and acknowledging that the regime's days are numbered," the U.S. State Department spokeswoman said after a senior Kremlin envoy conceded publicly on Thursday that Assad's opponents could win the 20-month-old civil war.

"The question now is, will the Russian government join those of us in the international community who are working with the opposition to try to have a smooth democratic transition?" U.S. spokeswoman Victoria Nuland added in Washington.

In Marrakech, where his new coalition won recognition from other international powers as the legitimate leadership of Syria, rebel political leader Mouaz al-Khatib said he believed Russia, ally and arms supplier to the Assad dynasty since Soviet times, was looking for ways out of its support for a lost cause.

"I believe that the Russians have woken up and are sensing that they have implicated themselves with this regime, but they don't know how to get out," al-Khatib told Reuters. He held them "particularly responsible" for helping Assad with arms but said Moscow need not "lose everything" in Syria if it changed tack.

Under President Vladimir Putin, wary since last year's Libyan war of what Russia sees as a Western drive to use the United Nations to overthrow national leaders it dislikes, Russia has blocked U.N. efforts to squeeze Assad, who has also had strong support from his long-time sponsor Iran.

But Mikhail Bogdanov, a deputy foreign minister and the Kremlin's special envoy for Middle East affairs, was quoted as saying in Moscow: "One must look the facts in the face."

"Unfortunately, the victory of the Syrian opposition cannot be ruled out." The Syrian government, he said, was "losing control of more and more territory" and Moscow was preparing to evacuate Russian citizens if necessary.

Nuland said Bogdanov's comments demonstrated that Moscow now "sees the writing on the wall" on Syria and said Russia should now rally behind U.N. efforts to prevent a wider bloodbath.

"They can withdraw any residual support for the Assad regime, whether it is material support (or) financial support," she said. "They can also help us to identify people who might be willing, inside of Syria, to work on a transitional structure."

DIPLOMACY

International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who has met Russian and U.S. officials twice in the past week, is seeking a solution based on an agreement reached in Geneva in June that called for the creation of a transitional government in Syria.

But Russia has repeated warnings that recognition of al-Khatib's coalition, notably by the United States, is undermining diplomacy, and rejected U.S. contentions that the Geneva agreement sent a clear message that Assad should step down.

Nuland said the Brahimi meetings could lay the framework for a political structure to follow Assad:

"We've said all along to the Russians that we are concerned that the longer that this goes on, and the longer it takes us to get to an alternative political path for Syria, the only path is going to be the military one and that is just going to bring more violence.

"We all ought to be working together."

Bogdanov, whose government has suggested that Assad himself should be allowed to see through a transition he has promised, suggested the rebels and their allies were set on a military solution and he gave little hint of detente with Washington.

"The fighting will become even more intense and (Syria) will lose tens of thousands and, perhaps, hundreds of thousands of civilians," Bogdanov was quoted as saying. "If such a price for the removal of the president seems acceptable to you, what can we do? We, of course, consider it absolutely unacceptable."

The head of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said elsewhere: "I think the regime in Damascus is approaching collapse."

A U.S. official said: "Assad probably still believes that Syria is his and illusions can die hard. But Assad and those closest to him have got to be feeling the psychological strain of fighting a long war that is not going their way."

DAMASCUS BATTLES

But Al-Khatib, who played down Western concerns of sectarian Sunni Islamists in rebel ranks, warned that the fighting was far from over, even as it has begun to rattle the heart of Assad's power in Damascus. On Wednesday, a car bomb killed at least 16 people in a nearby town which is home to many military families.

"The noose is tightening around the regime," al-Khatib said.

"(But) the regime still has power. People think that the regime is finished, but it still has power left, but it is demoralized and however long it lasted its end is clear."

Day and night, Damascenes can hear the thunderous sound of bombardment aimed at rebel-held and contested neighborhoods.

The city's streets have now turned into a labyrinth of checkpoints and road blocks, with several major roads permanently closed off to traffic by concrete barriers.

"We escape from one place and trouble follows," said one grandmother, Um Hassan, as she described to Reuters her family's flight from one neighborhood to another as fighting seeps into the capital. "I don't know where we can keep running to."

Nonetheless, al-Khatib played down demands for their allies to provide heavier weaponry - a request long resisted by governments wary of anti-aircraft missiles and other hardware reaching Islamist rebels who might turn them against the West.

"The Syrian people ... no longer need international forces to protect them," he said, not specifying whether he meant a no-fly zone, arms supplies or other military support.

The opposition chief said he was willing to listen to proposals for Assad to escape with his life - "The best thing is that he steps down and stops drinking the blood of the Syrian people" - and outlined three scenarios for a change of power:

Al-Khatib ruled out the Russian proposal suggesting Assad hand over power to a transitional government while remaining president, saying it was "disgraceful for a slaughtered nation to accept to have a killer and criminal at its head".

The British-based Syrian Observatory said war planes bombed rebel-held eastern suburbs of Damascus on Thursday and artillery was hitting Daraya and Moadamiyeh, southwestern areas near the centre where rebels have been fighting for a foothold.

Syria has relied on war planes and helicopters to bombard rebel districts but Damascus denied accusations by U.S. and NATO officials that it had fired Scud missiles in recent days. The foreign ministry said the long-range missiles were not used against "terrorist groups," a term it uses for the rebels.

At least 40,000 people have been killed in Syria's uprising, which started in March 2011 with street protests which were met with gunfire by Assad's security forces, and which spiraled into the most enduring and destructive of the Arab revolts.

(Additional reporting by Steve Gutterman in Moscow and Andrew Quinn in Washington; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Michael Roddy) For an interactive look at the uprising in Syria, please click on http://link.reuters.com/rut37s

Read More..

EU leaders upbeat on euro future after deal on banks, Greece

BRUSSELS: EU leaders debated the euro's future in a bullish mood Thursday after deals on banks and Greece, despite fears that political uncertainty in Italy could cause new worries for the single currency.

As video showed the bloc's 27 leaders smiling and joking with each other at the beginning of a two-day summit, EU President Herman Van Rompuy said leaders should aim to cap a triumphant week that began with the European Union picking up the Nobel Peace Prize.

"We started the week well in Oslo. Let's finish it well here in Brussels with a further positive outcome," Van Rompuy said.

"The worst is now behind us, but of course much still needs to be done," he added as the leaders began deliberations on how to make the 17-nation eurozone more stable after a crippling three-year crisis.

The hero of the day was Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti, hailed for tough reforms that have brought Italy back from the brink of financial collapse but who announced last weekend he would be stepping down.

"Confidence has been returning in Italy's capacity to solve problems," said European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso. "Let me praise Mario Monti and his government for this."

Jitters over Italy's political situation loomed over the summit, after Monti said he would soon step down and former leader Silvio Berlusconi indicated he might run for a fourth term.

But on the sidelines of the talks, Berlusconi hinted he might not put himself forward, telling Belgian television channel VRT that he had "so much to do" outside politics.

At the talks, leaders will debate a report drawn up by Van Rompuy that proposes steps towards greater economic integration in the eurozone, eventually with a common "fiscal capacity" and binding reform commitments.

Following on the heels of a summit only last month that collapsed over the EU's seven-year budget, the atmosphere was noticeably brighter after ministers sealed much-heralded agreements on supervising big banks and aid to Greece.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras exclaimed that "Grexit is dead", meaning the prospect of Greece leaving the euro currency area was no longer possible after ministers released bailout funds to avert bankruptcy.

After a buy-back programme designed to reduce Greece's debt mountain, Eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker said a first payment of 34.3 billion euros ($44.7 billion) would be flowing to Athens "as early as next week."

This instalment would go to help recapitalise Greece's crisis-wracked banks, to be followed by another 14.8 billion euros in the first quarter of next year.

An ecstatic Samaras, who has pushed through painful reforms demanded by creditors often in the face of violent protest, told reporters: "Greece is back on its feet. The sacrifices of the Greek people have not been in vain."

"Today is not only a new day for Greece, it is indeed a new day for Europe," he added.

"It is flying. It is happening"

Hours before the Greece deal, ministers charged the European Central Bank with monitoring banks with assets of more than 30 billion euros, or equal to 20 percent of a state's economic output from March 2014.

The agreement, which German Chancellor Angela Merkel said "cannot be valued highly enough", is the first step on the path towards a banking union and clears the way for EU bailout funds to recapitalise struggling banks directly.

Merkel called the move a "big step towards more reliability and trust in the eurozone."

The new Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) for the eurozone -- which Britain and Sweden will not take part in -- will mean the ECB directly supervising some 200 of the biggest banks out of the estimated 6,000 eurozone lenders.

ECB chief Mario Draghi hailed the accord as "an important step towards a stable economic and monetary union, and towards further European integration".

More excitedly, Barroso said: "You remember, when we spoke about this some time ago, people said it will not fly. It is flying. It is happening."

Merkel voiced some satisfaction as she looked back on a year of seemingly endless crisis summits, damaging market volatility and, at times, near break-up of the eurozone bloc.

"All in all, I want to state at the end of 2012 that we have achieved a lot. It was a very heavy year in terms of work but it was also a year in which we managed to make big progress," said the leader of Europe's biggest economy.

The head of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, however complained that workers' rights had not been taken sufficiently into account.

"As the representatives of the people, we are annoyed that the social pact that we asked for has not been included in the report drawn up by Mr Van Rompuy," Schulz told reporters.

-AFP/ac

Read More..