Jay Leno Sued Over Sikh Mitt Romney Joke

Jay Leno is facing more than criticism over his recent joke at Mitt Romney's expense. A Bakersfield, Calif., resident is suing him over the Sikh comedic bit.

The punchline of the joke was that Romney, the very wealthy businessman and GOP presidential candidate, spends his summers in a solid gold palace.

Jay pulled up a photo of India's Harmandir Sahib, the Golden Temple of Amritsar, an extremely sacred building in the eyes of the Sikh people.

Jay Leno Mitt Romney Joke

There's been a lot of outrage among Sikhs, but one man, Dr. Randeep Dhillon took his religious fervor one step further, filing a libel lawsuit against Leno.

Dhillon claims Jay is responsible for encouraging hatred and ridicule of his religion and is suing for general and punitive damages. The rationale there?

According to Randeep, Leno's Mitt Romney joke "falsely portrays the holiest place in the religion instead as a vacation resort owned by a non-Sikh."

LOL. Not to encourage Randeep suing us as well, but come on dog.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/jay-leno-sued-over-sikh-mitt-romney-joke/

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Planet looks back at the northern lights

Goran Strand

G?ran Strand of ?stersund, Sweden, took a panoramic photo of Tuesday night's sights and wrapped it into a 360-degree composition titled "Planet Aurora."

By Alan Boyle

The skies are settling down after this week's big solar storm, leaving behind a gallery of green-glowing pictures as a lasting legacy.

For a time on Tuesday, the solar radiation levels registered as the highest in more than eight years, but the most significant impact came in the form of shifts in airline routes to avoid polar disruptions in communications. Strong solar storms have the potential to disrupt electrical grids and satellite operations, but no big problems were reported on those fronts this week.

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"Conditions are now beginning to trend back toward quiet levels," the experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center reported today. By Thursday, geomagnetic activity is expected to be back down to background levels.

The bright northern lights associated with the storm wowed observers in Scandinavia, Iceland and Greenland, but the show "petered out almost completely by the time it reached North America," SpaceWeather.com's Tony Phillips reported. Oh, well. At least we have the?photographs captured by those who did get in on all the fireworks.

One of the most unorthodox views comes from G?ran Strand of ?stersund, Sweden, who took a panoramic photo of the northern lights and wrapped?the sights?into a 360-degree composition titled "Planet Aurora." The picture?shows?a photographer standing on a snowy circle, with trees bristling around the edge and ripples of red and green light glowing in the surrounding sky.

"Me and a friend went out to capture the beauty, and what a show it was," Strand told SpaceWeather.com. "I made two panoramas of my friend while he was taking pictures." Check out this page to see how the wide-screen panorama compares with the 360-degree planet view. While you're at it,?visit Strand's AstroFotografen website, and don't miss the other images in SpaceWeather.com's aurora gallery.

Here are a few videos featuring views of the northern lights:

The northern lights shine in photos from Fairbanks, Alaska. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports on the spectacular light show over northern Europe.

More auroral glories:

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Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.

Source: http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/25/10236870-planet-looks-back-at-northern-lights

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Netflix customers return in 4Q; stock soars 16 pct (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? Netflix has regained almost as many customers as it lost following an unpopular price increase, signaling that the video subscription service is healing from its self-inflicted wounds.

Fourth-quarter figures released Wednesday show Netflix Inc. ended December with 24.4 million subscribers in the U.S., up from 23.8 million at the end of September. That gain of about 600,000 customers compares with the loss of 800,000 subscribers last summer after it raised its U.S. prices as much as 60 percent.

The uptick is a positive sign for Netflix after several months of upheaval battered its stock. The shares reversed course Wednesday, surging nearly 16 percent.

The fourth-quarter performance should help bolster confidence in Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who was skewered in Internet forums and analyst notes for miscalculating how subscribers would react to higher prices.

A contrite Hastings had promised that Netflix would lure back customers, and so far it has been even more successful than he forecast.

"You are never as smart or dumb as they say," Hastings said in a Wednesday interview. "We know we are just beginning to climb back in terms of consumer trust and affection."

The fallout from the earlier customer defections contributed to a 14 percent decrease in Netflix's fourth-quarter earnings.

Netflix made $40.7 million, or 73 cents per share, in the final three months of last year. That compares with income of $47.1 million, or 87 cents per share, a year earlier.

Investors had been bracing for a bigger drop-off. Analysts polled by FactSet had forecast fourth earnings of 54 cents per share.

Revenue climbed 47 percent from the previous year to $876 million ? $19 million above analyst projections.

Netflix's stock soared $15.08, or nearly 16 percent, to $110.12 in extended trading. It had ended regular trading up $2.37, or 2.6 percent, at $95.04. If the rally carries over into Thursday's trading, Netflix's stock could close at its highest level in three months.

The stock still has a long way to go to return to its peak of nearly $305, which was reached in July, about the same time that Netflix announced the price increase that outraged customers.

"It's still too early to know how much success Netflix is going to have this year, but seeing those gains in customers makes investors feel safer," said Frost & Sullivan analyst Dan Rayburn.

Now that the backlash over the higher prices has eased, Netflix's biggest challenge may be fending off competitive challenges to its primary business of streaming video over high-speed Internet connections.

Amazon.com Inc. is rapidly expanding a streaming service it started last year while many analysts are expecting Verizon Communications to get into video streaming later this year, possibly in a partnership with Coinstar Inc.'s Redbox, whose kiosks already compete against Netflix in DVD rentals. Google Inc.'s YouTube also is supplementing the amateur video on its site with more content from movie and TV studios.

Netflix, which is based in Los Gatos, Calif., also must navigate an international expansion that will saddle the company with a loss this year.

Those losses can be pared if Netflix can keep accelerating its customer growth.

The company forecast that it will add 1.7 million U.S. subscribers to its Internet video streaming service. That would be in line with how many streaming subscribers signed up in last year's first quarter.

Netflix ended 2011 with 21.7 million streaming subscribers in the U.S. and another 1.9 million in Canada and Latin America. This month, Netflix introduced streaming plans in the United Kingdom and Ireland, too.

Most of the streaming gains will be offset by cancellations of DVD-by-mail rental plans, which Netflix is gradually phasing out. Hastings believes discs are becoming increasingly antiquated as technology advances. Netflix predicted its DVD subscriptions will fall from 11.2 million in December to 9.7 million in March. The company lost 2.8 million DVD subscribers in the fourth quarter.

"We expect DVD subscribers to decline every quarter forever," Hastings told analysts during a Wednesday conference call.

About 8.4 million Netflix customers subscribe to both Internet streaming and DVD rentals.

While Netflix sees its emphasis on streaming as a smart long-term strategy, the DVD attrition will hurt the company's full-year performance because Netflix's recent price increases made delivering discs through the mail more profitable ? for now.

Netflix is paying higher fees for the streaming rights to exclusive programming, as well as video already available in other outlets and formats. At the end of December, its video licensing commitments totaled $3.9 billion.

Netflix expects to produce an annual loss this year, for the first time in a decade. The company gave the first inkling of how big the setback will be with its projection for a first-quarter loss of 16 cents to 49 cents per share.

Analysts on average expect a first-quarter loss of 29 cents per share.

Netflix projected first-quarter revenue of $842 million to $877 million, compared with a forecast for $849 million from analysts.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_hi_te/us_earns_netflix

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Giants top 49ers 20-17 in OT to reach Super Bowl (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? In a season of fabulous finishes, Eli Manning and the Giants had another one in them.

And now New York is headed toward the ending that matters most: another trip to the Super Bowl.

Five plays after the 49ers' Kyle Williams fumbled a punt, Lawrence Tynes kicked a 31-yard field goal in overtime, sending the Giants to the Super Bowl with a 20-17 victory over San Francisco in the NFC championship game on Sunday.

"Guys never quit, never ever have any doubts," Manning said. "They keep believing and fighting until the very end no matter what the circumstances are. I think everybody knew we were going to get a break, we were going to get a chance to win this game."

In another tight contest in this decades-old postseason rivalry, both defenses made key stops before New York capitalized on a rare mistake in San Francisco's resurgent season. Williams' blunder put the Giants in perfect position for another sensational finish in a season full of them.

The first three possessions in overtime ended in punts before Williams fumbled. The Giants won it moments later and silenced ? for good this time ? the towel-waving, poncho-wearing sellout crowd at cold, rainy Candlestick Park.

"It was one of those situations where I tried to turn it upfield and it just didn't work out," Williams said.

Manning and the Giants (12-7) will face the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl on Feb. 5 in Indianapolis as 3 1/2-point underdogs. The last time the teams met for the NFL title, 2008, the Giants ended the Patriots' bid for a perfect season.

Tynes had a hand, er, foot in getting the Giants to that one, too, kicking a field goal in overtime.

Devin Thomas put the Giants in position this time by recovering his second fumble of the game after Jacquian Williams stripped the ball from fill-in return man Kyle Williams, who also fumbled earlier to set up a New York touchdown.

"It's my second NFC championship game, my second game-winner," Tynes said of his kick 7:54 into overtime. "It's amazing. I had dreams about this last night. It was from 42, not 31, but I was so nervous today before the game just anticipating this kind of game. I'm usually pretty cool, but there was something about tonight where I knew I was going to have to make a kick. Hats off to Eli, offense, defense. Great win."

Holder Steve Weatherford celebrated with a slip-and-slide on his back down the soggy field. Victor Cruz fell to his knees. Tynes quickly found his crying wife for a warm hug. Manning tossed his gloves into the temporary seats with a big smile, then received a surprise visit from big brother, Peyton, in the locker room.

Manning went 32 of 58 for 316 yards and two touchdowns and overcame six sacks in his record fifth road playoff win, New York's fifth in a row overall. Manning orchestrated five fourth-quarter wins during the regular season.

He threw a go-ahead 17-yard touchdown pass to Mario Manningham with 8:34 remaining after Kyle Williams fumbled for the first time.

The Giants challenged that the ball touched Williams' right knee and Thomas recovered with 11:06 left and coach Tom Coughlin won, giving the Giants the ball back at the 29.

"That was a tremendous football game for those that really enjoy football at it's very basic element," said Coughlin, who matched former Cowboys coach Tom Landry for most road playoff wins with seven. "Just a classic football game that just seemed like no one was going to put themselves into position to win it. Fortunately, we were able to do that."

A 12-point underdog in the 2008 title game, the Giants battered Brady and got a last-minute TD pass from Manning to Plaxico Burress to win their third Super Bowl. Five months ago, Manning declared he was in the same class as Tom Brady. Now, he'll get another chance to outdo him on the NFL's biggest stage.

During this playoff run, he's already outplayed Aaron Rodgers and the defending champion Packers, and fellow former No. 1 pick Alex Smith.

Cruz set the tone Sunday with eight of his 10 receptions in the first half and finished with 142 yards.

"It's just been a tremendous effort by all of us, man," Cruz said. "We understand that any one of us can get hot at any moment. As long as we're all on the same page and just playing together, man, we've got a great group of guys."

The Giants appeared on the verge of collapsing and Coughlin's job status in jeopardy just a month ago, when they fell to 7-7 with an embarrassing loss to the Washington Redskins on Dec. 18.

They were facing elimination the following week against the Jets and Rex Ryan, but the Giants won 29-14. They followed with a 31-14 win over Dallas in the regular-season finale to win the NFC East and get to the playoffs for the first time since 2008.

New York dominated Atlanta at home in the opening round, and then came another stunner: a 37-20 victory at Green Bay.

Vernon Davis caught touchdown passes of 73 and 28 yards for the NFC West champions (14-4), who went from 6-10 a year ago to a contender and ended an eight-year playoff drought.

"It will be a tough one. It will take a while to get over," coach Jim Harbaugh said. "There were a lot of ways in which we played well enough to win. We just didn't come away with it."

Smith completed just 12 of 26 passes for 196 yards, connecting on only one short throw to a wide receiver. With no threats on the outside, San Francisco managed one third-down conversion, coming on the final play of regulation. The offense was unable to overcome Williams' blunders.

"You hate to be the last guy that had the ball, to give it away in that fashion and to lose a game of this magnitude," Williams said. "It is what it is. We're going to move forward as a team. Everyone has come to pat me on the back and the shoulder to say it's not me."

Notes: Davis joined Jerry Rice as the only 49ers with at least two touchdowns receiving in back-to-back playoff games. ... Cruz caught a 36-yard pass from Manning on the first play of the second quarter, then Manning hit Bear Pascoe for a 6-yard touchdown seven plays later. ... Giants C David Baas beat his former team. ... Manningham missed the potential game-tying TD in a 27-20 loss here on Nov. 13.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_sp_fo_ga_su/fbn_nfc_championship

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Iranian film in running for foreign language Oscar (AP)

LONDON ? A taut domestic drama from Iran is competing against a Belgian thriller, a true Polish tale from the Holocaust and dramas from Canada and Israel in the Academy Awards race for best foreign-language film.

Nominees announced Tuesday in Los Angeles include "A Separation," the story of a marital breakdown and its far-reaching consequences from Iranian writer-director Asghar Farhadi.

The widely praised film ? being hailed by some as a vital cultural bridge at a time of souring relations between Iran and the West ? has already won the Golden Globe for best foreign language film, and also gained Farhadi an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay.

It's up against "Footnote," a mordant tale of rivalry between father-son Talmudic scholars by Israel's Joseph Cedar, and "Bullhead," a Belgian crime drama set amid the world of cattle rearing and hormone dealing by first-time feature director Michael R. Roskam.

"Bullhead" producer Bart Van Langendonck welcomed the recognition for a film that "was written so it could be appreciated all over the world, even if the theme of the cattle mafia is extremely Belgian."

The nominees also include the gritty, realistic "In Darkness" by Poland's Agnieszka Holland, based on the true story of Leopold Socha, a Polish petty criminal who hid Jews from the Nazis in the sewage canals of Lviv during World War II.

It's a third Oscar nomination for 63-year-old Holland, one of the country's best-known directors, after "Europa Europa" and "Angry Harvest," both of which also dealt with the Holocaust.

The final contender is "Monsieur Lazhar," the story of an Algerian immigrant substitute teacher who helps a group of children get over a death by Canada's Philippe Falardeau.

It's the second straight year a filmmaker from Quebec has made the shortlist. Denis Villeneuve was nominated last year for his war drama "Incendies."

This year's Oscars contest already has an international flavor. The race is led by Martin Scorsese's Parisian fantasia "Hugo," with 11 nominations, and "The Artist," a French-made silent tale of old Hollywood, with 10.

Winners of the 84th annual Oscars will be announced at a Feb. 26 ceremony at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre.

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Associated Press writers Raf Casert in Antwerp, Belgium, Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Josef Federman in Jerusalem, and Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.

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Online: http://www.oscars.org

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_en_mo/oscar_nominations_foreign_films

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British skier sets record for solo Antarctic trek (AP)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina ? British adventurer Felicity Aston finished her Antarctic crossing on Monday, becoming the first woman to ski across the icy continent alone.

She did it in 59 days ? ahead of schedule ? pulling two sledges for 1,084 miles (1,744 kilometers) from her starting point on the Leverett Glacier on Nov. 25.

"It feels amazing to be finished and yet overwhelmingly sad that it's over at the same time," Aston said in a phone call she broadcast online from her tent while waiting for her flight out.

She announced her achievement by Twitter: ""!!!Congratulations to the 1st female to traverse Antarctica SOLO.V proud," after reaching Hercules Inlet on Antarctica's Ronne Ice Shelf.

Aston also set another record: the first human to ski solo, across Antarctica, using only her own muscle power. A male-female team already combined to ski across Antarctica without kites or machines to pull them across, but Aston is the first to do this alone.

Aston, 34, grew up in Kent, England, and studied physics and meteorology. A veteran of expeditions in sub-zero environments, she worked for the British weather service at a base in Antarctica and has led teams on ski trips in the Antarctic, the Arctic and Greenland.

But this was the first time she traveled so far, so alone. She worried beforehand that the solitude could pose her biggest challenge. In such an extreme environment, the smallest mistakes can prove treacherous. Alone with one's thoughts, the mind can play tricks. Polar adventurers usually take care to watch their teammates for signs of hypothermia, which is easier to diagnose in others than yourself, she said.

This Antarctic summer is the centennial of Roald Amundsen's conquest of the South Pole, and every Briton knows how R.F. Scott's team arrived days later, demoralized to see Norway's flag. Scott and his entire team then died on their way out, and some of their bodies weren't found for eight months.

Aston had modern technology in her favor: She kept family and supporters updated and received their responses via Twitter and Facebook, and broadcast daily phone reports online. She carried two satellite phones to communicate with a support team, and a GPS device that reported her location throughout. She also had two supply drops ? one at the pole and one partway to her finish line ? so that she could travel with a lighter load. Otherwise, her feat was unassisted.

While others have traveled farther using kites, sails, machinery or dogs (which are now banned for fear of infecting wildlife with canine diseases), she did it on her own strength.

She worked her way around deep crevasses, slogged up and over the Transantarctic Mountains and fought headwinds across the vast central plateau to the South Pole. Then she turned toward Hercules Inlet, pushing through thick, fresh snow, until she reached her goal, a spot within a small plane's reach of a base camp where the Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions company provides logistical support to each summer's expeditions.

With skies clearing Monday, Aston tweeted that she's been promised red wine and a hot shower after she gets picked up by the plane and taken to the camp on Union Glacier. "Reporting the weather every hour so that the plane will hopefully come and get me later today. Luckily it's a lovely day," she said.

From there, she'll join dozens of other Antarctic adventurers on the last flight out, a huge Russian cargo plane that will take her to Chile. Then she will fly home next week to Kent, in southeast England.

After two months of little but freeze-dried food, she can look forward to chicken pie, her mother said.

"I think there will be lots of cuddles, lots of hugs, it will be quite emotional," said Jackie Aston, 61.

While Aston pondered her achievement in her last hours of solitude Monday, she shared more of her thoughts in a phone report.

"It's all a little bit overwhelming. After days and days to get here, I seem to have arrived all in a rush. I don't really feel prepared for it," she said. "I can't quite believe that i'm here and that i've crossed Antarctica, just over 1700 kilometers, just under 1,000 nautical miles, 14.5 degrees and 59 days and here I am."

"I'm just going to sit here and enjoy these last precious moments on my own, and running through my mind all those days behind me," she said. "I remember all the bad times, sitting in my tent, thinking `what on Earth am I doing?', but despite all that, this has been the most amazing privilege, to have the opportunity to do this, and just a huge thank you to all those people who made it possible."

___

Associated Press writer Meera Selva contributed to this report from London

___

Online:

Aston's expedition site: http://www.kasperskyonetransantarcticexpedition.com

Aston on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/felicity(underscore)aston

Aston on ipadio: http://www.ipadio.com/broadcasts/TransantarcticExpedition/2012/1/22/Transantarctic-Expedition--63rd-phonecast

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_re_au_an/aa_antarctica_solo_crossing

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Obama, Italian PM to discuss financial crisis (AP)

WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama will meet with Italy's prime minister next month to discuss the European financial crisis.

Obama and Prime Minister Mario Monti will meet at the White House on Feb. 9.

The White House says the two leaders will discuss structural reforms the Italian government is taking to restore market confidence, as well as the prospect of expanding Europe's financial firewall.

Since taking office late last year, Monti has announced several emergency measures to reduce Italy's dangerously high sovereign debt, a problem also plaguing other European nations.

The White House is concerned that financial woes in Europe could hurt the chances of an economic recovery in the U.S.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_italy

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