MuchBlue

‘Hunger Games’ again tops box office

AFP – LOS ANGELES – The fourth and final “Hunger Games” movie shrugged off lukewarm reviews to rule the North American box office for the second straight week over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, industry figures showed Sunday.

“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2” raked in $75.8 million in ticket sales in its second weekend in the United States and Canada, box office tracker Exhibitor…

Adele’s ’25’ album sales smashed records, That’s True

AFP – NEW YORK – Pop singer Adele s latest album, “25,” has sold a record-smashing 3.38 million copies in its first week on the US market, Nielsen Music reported.

The British star s release set a record for the largest single sales week for an album since Nielsen began methodically tracking weekly music sales in 1991, the company said late Saturday.

It is also the first album in Nielsen history…

UK’s biggest-selling No. 1 album: Adele’s ’25’

REUTERS – LONDON – British singer Adele’s “25” notched up the most sales in its opening week of any UK album, beating a record set in 1997 by Oasis, the Official Charts Company said on Friday.

The 27-year-old s third studio album sold 800,307 copies – compared with Oasis  previous record of 696,000 with “Be Here Now” – and amassed more sales than the last 19 No. 1 albums in Britain combined.

It…

Pandora Adele’s album “25” will not be available for streaming

REUTERS – LONDON – British singer Adele s “25” notched up the most sales in its opening week of any UK album, beating a record set in 1997 by Oasis, the Official Charts Company said on Friday.

The 27-year-old s third studio album sold 800,307 copies – compared with Oasis  previous record of 696,000 with “Be Here Now” – and amassed more sales than the last 19 No. 1 albums in Britain combined.

It…

HP plunges after printer business underwhelms

REUTERS – HP – Shares of HP Inc, which houses former Hewlett-Packard Co s legacy hardware business, plunged 16.3 percent on Wednesday after the company s lackluster results fueled concerns about its ability to weather a slowdown in the printer and PC markets.

HP Inc s revenue from both its printer and PC businesses fell 14 percent each in the fourth quarter, their worst performance in the year…

Dell accepts security hole in company’s new laptops

Reuters – Major U.S. computer company Dell Inc [DI.UL] said on Monday a security hole exists in some of its recently shipped laptops that could make it easy for hackers to access users’ private data.

A pre-installed program on some newly purchased Dell laptops that can only be removed manually by consumers makes them vulnerable to cyber intrusions that may allow hackers to read encrypted messages…

Adele to go on tour for first time in five years

AFP – LONDON – British singer Adele is to go on tour in Europe next year, her first live dates in five years, she announced Thursday.

The “Hello” star, whose smash hit album “25” was released earlier this month, will play 36 dates from February to June 2016.

The shows will be in Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, The Netherlands, France and…

Obama to test wilderness skills on Bear Grylls TV show

Reuters – NEW YORK – President Barack Obama will test his wilderness survival skills with an appearance on the television show “Running Wild” in an Alaska adventure that will air later this year, the network NBC said on Monday.

Obama will be the first U.S. president to appear on the show, in which British outdoor adventurer Bear Grylls takes celebrities through grueling treks in remote forests…

Springer, Samsung partner in mobile media

Reuters – Bild tabloid publisher Axel Springer and Korean electronics group Samsung announced a partnership in mobile media including news.

The two companies said on Tuesday they would collaborate to produce digital media exclusively for Samsung customers, beginning with a news platform in Germany and Poland that will be rolled out in other European markets next year.

Newspaper publisher…

Depp the star draw, Netflix flexes muscles at Venice

AFP – VENICE – Johnny Depp tops the cast of stars headed to Venice this week for what is shaping up as something of a watershed edition of the world s oldest film festival.

Amid the usual mix of big-budget Hollywood productions and more cerebral offerings from international auteurs, this year s event breaks new ground with the first major feature film to be produced in-house by Netflix among 21…

Tennis: Serena credits Graf influence for mental focus

AFP – NEW YORK – Three-time defending champion Serena Williams, chasing tennis milestones set by Steffi Graf, credited the retired German star with inspiring her mental discipline on Monday after reaching the second round of the US Open.

World number one Williams needed only 30 minutes to advance 6-0, 2-0 over 86th-ranked Vitalia Diatchenko at Arthur Ashe Stadium, taking her 22nd consecutive US…

Boeing eyes ‘several hundred’ layoffs

Boeing Co (BA.N) on Monday told its workers that it expected to cut as many as “several hundred” jobs in its satellite business through the end of 2015 due to a downturn in U.S. military spending and delays in commercial satellite orders.

Multiple commercial orders were being delayed by recent failures of launch vehicles and uncertainties about the future availability of financing from the U.S.…

Smoking rate among US adults drops to 15 percent

AFP – MIAMI – The number of cigarette smokers in the United States has dropped to about 15 percent of the population, its lowest point in decades, US health authorities said Tuesday.

“The prevalence of current cigarette smoking among US adults declined from 24.7 percent in 1997 to 15.2 percent in January-March 2015,” said the report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention s National…

Russian nuclear official pleads guilty in US bribery plot

AFP – WASHINGTON – A Russian nuclear official pleaded guilty Monday to a US charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering in a case involving $2.1 million in bribes for contracts with a Moscow-controlled company.

The US Justice Department said Vadim Mikerin, 56, was representing Russian nuclear materials trader Tenex in the United States when he helped transfer funds to offshore shell accounts…

Japan factory output turns down in July as China demand slumps

AFP – Tokyo – Japan s factory output contracted a worse-than-expected 0.6 percent on-month in July, official data showed on Monday, owing to lacklustre demand at home and as a slowdown in China weighs on exports.

The reading published by the industry ministry was weaker than the median forecast for a modest 0.1 percent rise in a survey of economists by Bloomberg News.

In June, industrial…

EU must defend migrants ‘dignity’ say leaders ahead of talks

AFP – Hungary – European Union leaders called for action to defend the “dignity” of migrants ahead of fresh emergency talks, as tensions flared on the bloc s eastern borders over the escalating crisis.

Home affairs ministers will meet on September 14 in Brussels to try and “strengthen the European response” to the influx, said Luxembourg, which holds the rotating EU presidency.

“Europe needs to…

Afghan Taliban admit covering up Mullah Omar’s death

AFP – AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban on Monday admitted covering up longtime leader Mullah Omar s death for more than two years, saying he died in 2013 as was first claimed by the Afghan intelligence.

The group had continued as recently as July to release official statements in the name of Omar, who had not been seen in public since the Taliban were toppled from power in Kabul in 2001.

They confirmed…