- Score! It’s not often an overbearing an oppressive regime agrees to free dissidents it has put in jail, so the announcement that Yemen is releasing hundreds of jailed insurgents after its president's directive to free 500 detainees is certainly something to celebrate. The Yemeni embassy in Washington announced the decision Thursday in fulfilling a key part of the February peace agreement between the government and the Houthi rebels in northern Yemen. That battle has been raging for years, so President Ali Abdul Allah Saleh living up to the promise to release the jailed dissidents is a must for the peace agreement to stick. Mohammed Albasha, the embassy spokesman, said in a statement that that neighboring Qatar had helped negotiate the prisoner release, seen as a critical element of the peace agreement. "This is an essential step towards building sustainable peace and reconciliation in Sa'adah, a northwestern province of Yemen," Albasha said. Qatar is in charge of monitoring the cease-fire between the government and the rebels, so Qatari officials will oversee the surrender of weapons seized during fighting by the rebel Houthis. There is no assurance that another war between the Houthis and the government won't materialize, as many Yemenis had feared, but the prisoner release and assumed surrender of weapons should ease tensions for the time being. A Yemeni government official speaking on the condition of anonymity labeled the development "a good step and it's a very important step." In fact, that step has already begun as dozens of the released Houthis have already arrived in Sa'adah and the weapons surrender has also begun, the official said. The release of 428 Houthi prisoners was confirmed by the group by email and in exchange for the release, the Houthis said they surrendered 10 military vehicles. The statement also credited the efforts of the Qatari mediators as extremely helpful to the peace process. To provide some background on the conflict, the Houthis are supporters of slain Shiite cleric Hussein al-Houthi who revolted in 2004 and have been battling the government ever since over whether Shiite Islam will dominate the country, even though most Yemenis are Sunnis. Other conditions of the cease-fire include clearing mines, not interfering with elected local officials, releasing civilians and military personnel, abiding by Yemeni law, returning looted items, and ending cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia. Let’s try and stick to those, Houthis and Yemeni government………
- This is what happens when you mix idiots and fireworks. And probably a bit of alcohol as well. All of these elements came together for the New Year’s Eve party at the Hula Hut bar in Austin, Tex. The bar’s roof was damaged shortly after midnight Saturday when embers from fireworks nearby ignited grass on the building grass thatch roof. Hula Hut general manager Tim Johnson said the supportive base of the outdoor pier was unaffected, but the bar area and the roof went up in flames along with all the outdoor seating. By the time the Austin Fire Department arrived on the scene and put the fire out, the structure had sustained an estimated $75,000 worth of damage. According to fire department officials, the damage was confined to the outside dining area after the roof caught fire during a supervised fireworks show. Firefighters put out the fire shortly after it began and one brave firefighter even sustained a foot injury, but the response still was not fast enough to prevent significant damage. Having its outdoor seating area wrecked and unusable for a significant period of time will put a serious crimp in profits for the bar, as the burnt area usually seats about 150 people on a good night, according to Johnson. For the time being, Hula Hut will have to make do with only its indoor area. In spite of the fire, the bar re-opened at 10:30 a.m. on New Year’s Day for all of the lonely souls with nothing to do besides sit on a bar stool, eat greasy burgers and get drunk on the first day of a new calendar year. Just to be safe, let’s leave the fireworks to those who know what they’re doing from here on out, k………
- Really America? I know it’s a holiday weekend and going to the movies isn’t at the top of your priority list, but another weekend with Little Fockers at the top of the box office heap? Two straight weekends of this result is terrible even for a nation with admittedly awful taste in films. Putting my disappointment aside, I will mention that Ben Stiller’s latest hack-job comedy declined just 14.7 percent from last weekend and made $26.3 million to boost its overall total to $103.2 million and counting. How this movie made nine figures this quickly I don’t know, but…..moving on. Second place also remained unchanged from last weekend, as True Grit held steady with $24.5 million after a scant 1.4 percent decline from its own opening weekend. For a film with a $38 million budget, a second straight strong week to raise its cumulative total to $86.8 million is a great start. Third place was also the same as last weekend, with Tron Legacy experiencing a small drop of its own (4.4 percent), making another $18.3 million and extending its running total to $131 million for three weekends of release. Fourth place was the first slot that actually changed from last weekend to this one, although it wasn’t much of a change as the No. 4 and No. 5 movies simply flip-flopped. Yogi Bear jumped up to fourth on the strength of $13 million weekend, an unprecedented 66-percent increase in its third weekend of release that is likely attributable to parents needing something to do in order to get their annoying kids out of the house for a few hours during their winter break. That performance was enough to inch Yogi Bear closer to the break-even point, with an $80 million budget demanding a little more before that becomes a reality. Swapping places with Yogi was The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, taking a step back while actually earning 10.8 percent more than last weekend, $10.5 million for the three-day frame. Even more impressive, that increased total came as the movie showed in 402 fewer theaters. Now, at $87.1 million in cumulative earnings, Narnia has no hope of turning a profit (damn $155 million budget) and the weekend still caps a disappointing first month in theaters. The rest of the top 10 is comprised of: Tangled (up from seventh place to No. 6 this weekend with $10.1 million and $168 million in cumulative earnings through six weeks), The Fighter (No. 7 as it continued to expand its release and made $10 million even, a 32-percent increase that boosted its running tally to $46.4 million), Gulliver’s Travels (still having a catastrophically bad run after two weeks as it checks in at No. 8 with $9.1 million for a two-week total of $27.2 million), Black Swan (No. 9 and riding strong on the strength of the film’s lesbian love scene, according to no less an expert than star Natalie Portman, making $8.5 million, a 35-percent increase that pushed the movie’s cumulative total to $47.4 million on a $13 million budget….and it’s still only in 1,553 theaters nationwide) and The King’s Speech (the lone new film in the top 10 at No. 10 even though it’s still in limited release - 700 theaters - but still made $7.7 million for a $22.8 million, six-week total). Dropping out of the top 10 was The Tourist, which took less than a month to make that fall and has conjured up just $54.8 million in four weeks…………
- Beer can bring people together. So can money. In the end, I have a sneaking suspicion that it was more of the former and less of the latter that resolved the heated conflict between St. Louis-based brewer Anheuser-Busch and Major League Baseball. The two sides have renewed their sponsorship deal and ended a dispute that took them to court. Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser, sued the league last month, alleging MLB was improperly trying to back out of an April agreement to extend the company's exclusive sponsorship agreement. Those allegations spurred attorneys for MLB’s promotional arm to fire papers in federal court in Manhattan this month challenging Anheuser-Busch’s position. In the end, both sides clearly realized that they stood to make a lot of money by working things out and were fortunate that Major League Baseball, unlike the NFL and NBA, is not facing a likely labor stoppage this coming year. Being the only one of this country’s three major sports actually playing games could help MLB garner more fans and thus more attention to its televised games, meaning more exposure for advertisers like…..Anheuser-Busch! The end result of all of this is a continuation of a partnership that has spanned more than three decades and a healthy profit for both sides………
- The more people use their smartphones as a mobile version of their computer, the more likely that hackers and miscreants around the world will come up with malware and viruses to target their operating systems. For evidence of that phenomenon, look no further than a new piece of malware targeted at Android smartphones that has popped up in China. According to digital security experts, the virus, codenamed "Geinimi," is able to compromise personal data on a user's phone and send it to remote servers. Called by some the most sophisticated malware to date for Android phones, what makes Geinimi even scarier is that it’s the first Android malware to display botnet-like capabilities. A typical Trojan virus in a sense, Geinimi is currently uploaded through repackaged versions of Android apps distributed by third-party Android app market. In other words, it’s targeted at people looking to cheap out on their apps and not go with the legit ones from a known source. For the technologically ignorant, Trojans are pieces of software that appear legitimate to the user, but are designed for harmful purposes that the designer can execute once the virus hands them control of your system. The botnet side of things simply refers to an army of robots or systems that have been compromised without the knowledge of their owners. The affected units or systems can then be militarized and turned against the desired target of whoever controls them. That typically means forwarding spams and viruses to other computers through the Internet. In the process, the Trojan also compromises users' privacy. Experts have linked the Geinimi malware to apps such as Monkey Jump 2, Sex Positions, President vs. Aliens, City Defense and Baseball Superstars 2010, which are available in Chinese app stores. Yes, that’s right, you’re being fingered for this one, China. Yet another harmful or toxic product coming from within your borders. About the only positive on that note is right now, Android phones outside of China are shielded from the malware. Having said that, Google needs to react quickly on this one because Apple can still point to the iPhone as being secure and uncorrupted anywhere on the globe. Android has been infected with malware before now, but this is the most serious instance thus far. Your move, Google……..
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