E' arrivato Nemo ..e la sua famiglia - Nemo ....and his family has arrived (8)
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NEW YORK (AP) -- Turns out there wasn't room for Snooki in Times Square this New Year's Eve. MTV's plan to put "Jersey Shore" star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi inside a ball to drop from the network's Times Square headquarters has been dropped after an objection by the group that oversees the world-famous celebration.
But Snooki will still drop in as part of "The MTV New Year's Bash." Her stunt has been relocated to Seaside Heights, N.J., according to Diane Stabley, borough clerk for the Jersey shore town made famous as the setting for MTV's hit reality show.
"Like the ball that drops in Times Square, there's going to be a Snooki ball," Stabley said Thursday. She said an MTV network crew was in town to pre-tape the spectacle Thursday night.
"We love our Times Square home," MTV said in a statement confirming the change of venue, "and while we're disappointed there won't be a Snooki ball drop there, she cannot be denied!"
Snooki was sent packing earlier in the week by the Times Square Alliance, whose annual gala includes the century-old tradition of dropping its own illuminated ball at the stroke of midnight.
"It was never intended or requested for Snooki to be in the actual New Year's Eve Ball in Times Square," said Alice McGillion, the group's spokeswoman. "The request to have her in a separate ball on a set-back roof came too late and was too impractical to fit in to our outdoor events."
Even so, the remainder of the 90-minute special will stay put at MTV's Times Square studios, with other "Jersey Shore" stars expected to lead the multitudes in a collective fist pump in hopes of setting a world record. The program airs Friday at 10:30 p.m. EST.
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Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill in Trenton, N.J., contributed to this report.
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MTV is owned by Viacom.
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Online:
http://www.mtv.com
mtv network, eve ball, shore star, square headquarters, stroke of midnight, change of venue, network crew, stabley, www mtv, polizzi, ball drop, seaside heights, mulvihill, jersey shore, times square, associated press, multitudes, viacom, world record, reality show
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Hosted.ap.org
Retailers fear unhappy New Year as Boxing Day sales disappoint
Almost a quarter fewer shoppers turned out to grab a bargain in the traditional Boxing Day retail sales compared with last year, a survey by Synovate Retail Performance said on Monday.
Retailers fear unhappy New Year as Boxing Day numbers disappoint Photo: Clara Molden
By Jonathan Sibun, Assistant City Editor 1:28PM GMT 27 Dec 2010
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The total number of shoppers fell by 22.8pc nationally on the day after Christmas Day, although stores in London attracted 11.4pc more visitors, Synovate said.
Shopper numbers were down by as much as 27pc in southwest England and by 19.9pc in eastern England.
Britain's retailers are striving to sell as much as possible over the Christmas and New Year holiday period, since many expect sales to decline next year due in part to a rise in Value Added Tax (VAT) which takes effect on Jan. 4.
Nearly two-thirds of retailers expect sales next year to fall compared with 2010, as weak consumer confidence and inflationary pressures come to bear, according to a survey conducted by the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
In a bearish prognosis for the retail sector, just 18pc of businesses expect sales to improve in 2011, compared with 64pc who expect a deterioration.
Shops have already been hit by the appalling December weather, Synovate reporting yesterday that retail forecasts for the month have undersestimated the drop in customer numbers caused by the snow. The research company had previously estimated a 4pc drop in shoppers, but footfall between December 22 and 24 was down 6.1pc compared with last year.
“Retailers expect a difficult December to be followed by a tough 2011,” said Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC. “They believe the VAT rise will contribute to higher prices and, with fears about government cuts and the wider economy, people will be put off spending.”
Reports on Sunday of record Boxing Day retail sales of £2bn were not a sign that the sector would continue to perform well, economists said.
“Many shops will have a lot of stock to shift that they were unable to get rid of before Christmas due to the bad weather, so discounts may be more generous than usual,” said Howard Archer, of IHS Global Insight.
“The likelihood is that consumer spending will be limited in 2011. Consumer confidence is currently low while the substantial fiscal squeeze will increasingly hit consumers’ pockets.”
Despite the downbeat forecasts many retailers expect to take steps towards growth next year. Some 41pc said in the BRC survey that they would raise investment and 47pc expected to employ more staff.
boxing day sales, retail forecasts, southwest england, british retail consortium, stephen robertson, day after christmas, retail performance, government cuts, england britain, customer numbers, eastern england, consumer confidence, molden, footfall, inflationary pressures, boxing day, christmas day, brc, retail sector, holiday period
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Telegraph.co.uk
UCLA forward Jasmine Dixon, center, puts up a shot as LSU's Courtney Jones, left, tries to defend during the Bruins' 55-53 loss Tuesday at Pauley Pavilion. (Kirby Lee / U.S. Presswire / December 28, 2010)
LOS ANGELES -- Taylor Turnbow hit the go-ahead jumper with 14 seconds to go, lifting LSU to a 55-53 upset over No. 8 UCLA that ended the Bruins' 10-game winning streak Tuesday night.
Turnbow had a career-high 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Lady Tigers (10-4), who extended their streak to six in a row. Latear eason added 10 points.
Darxia Morris missed the potential tying jumper as time expired. She led the Bruins (10-1) with 16 points. Markel Walker added 11 points.
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LSU improved to 1-2 against Top 10 opponents this season, having lost to Ohio State and Connecticut.
Neither team led by more than six points in the second half, when the Bruins rallied to tie the game at 53-all on a jumper by Christina Nzekwe with 38 seconds left.
Turnbow answered with the go-ahead jumper. The Bruins had scoring chances in the waning seconds, but they missed two attempts before Morris failed to connect on their final shot.
UCLA was playing its first home game since Dec. 5. The Bruins were off to their best start since 1980-81, when they opened 12-0. Their 11-game home winning streak also ended in the teams' first meeting since 1984.
The Lady Tigers took their largest lead, 43-37, on a 5-0 run. The Bruins answered with five straight points of their own to close to 43-42. They again got within a point on Campbell's basket before LSU closed the game on a 10-9 spurt.
The Lady Tigers scored the game's first seven points while UCLA made one of its first five shots and turned the ball over. The Bruins regrouped during a 9-0 run in which they tied the game and eventually took a 17-11 lead. They got balanced scoring as usual, with five different players scoring. The Lady Tigers had 21 turnovers to UCLA's 13 in the game.
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Latimes.com
Cooper's Hawk 12-27-10 #018
Accipiter cooperii
Almost (unknowingly) walked on by this Cooper's Hawk sitting on the split-rail fence at McConnell Springs Park.
He/she was kind enough to stay around a few minutes for me to return with a camera.
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Ball in the mangroves
Taken on first walk by the river with new 180mm lens.
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PARIS—French aviation authorities canceled about a third of the flights into and out of Paris's main airport Friday because of freezing conditions, stranding hundreds of passengers a day before Christmas.
While travel in Britain was improving after days of headaches, new snowfall stranded travelers in Ireland, Denmark and Brussels.
Passengers at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport were asked to leave a section of a major terminal for security reasons because of large amounts of snow on the roof, said Bernard Cathelain, deputy director of the Paris airport authority ADP.
The terminal's roof partly collapsed in 2004 shortly after the building was put into service, killing four passengers and injuring six others. The precautionary evacuation was decided while emergency workers cleared snow from the roof.
Around five thousands travelers are stranded at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport, as winter weather continues to disrupt flights. Video courtesy of Reuters.
The French Civil Aviation Authority scaled back an earlier request to airlines to only cancel 35%, rather than half of their flights.
Eric Heraud, a spokesman for the General Direction of Civilian Aviation, said Charles de Gaulle airport said the cancellations are necessary because the airport is running low on reserves of ethylene glycol, the liquid used to de-ice planes.
View Full Image
Associated Press
Passengers wait for their flights in a terminal after sleeping a night at the Charles-de-Gaulle airport near Paris.
The problem has been compounded by a strike at the main plant that makes de-icing fluid in France, Transportation Minister Thierry Mariani said in a radio interview with France Inter.
A supply of deicing fluid arrived from the U.S. Friday.
Airlines canceled 400 of 1,160 flights due to land or take off from Charles de Gaulle, Mr. Heraud said.
Hundreds of passengers had already spent the night at the airport after some 50 flights were canceled Thursday evening, said Elise Hermant, a spokeswoman for Aeroports de Paris, the state-controlled airport operator.
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AFP/Getty Images
The airport had only just cleared the backlog from flight delays caused by bad weather earlier in the week.
Scores of trains were also late or canceled in France Friday morning. But the situation at Orly, the other big airport in Paris, was described as normal.
Airlines are supposed to reimburse stranded passengers or to reschedule flights and offer lodging, but the hotel capacity around the airport is limited and "some airlines don't play the game," Mr. Heraud said.
Shortages of deicing fluid hit airports in Ireland and Belgium as well, leading to a domino effect of delays around the continent.
Surprise snow threw Ireland's main Dublin airport into chaos with some 40,000 travelers stranded or delayed. Irish Ferries added extra crossings between Britain and Ireland.
"We have no spare capacity. We've run out of aircraft, deicing fluid or crews at various locations," said Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary.
In Brussels, the Red Cross was bringing in hundreds of cots for passengers spending the night at the airport. Airport spokesman Jan Van der Cruysse said they expected that several hundred passengers would remain stranded overnight.
In Britain, major airports said services were operating largely as normal as the country thawed out from days of frosty weather. However, Christmas travelers were contending with reduced rail services and icy roads. About a quarter of services were canceled on some rail routes.
In Germany, Duesseldorf airport closed for several hours Friday morning because of new snowfall, with some 65 flights canceled.
In Denmark, the Baltic Sea island of Bornholm remains the worst hit by the snow. Some 400 passengers on two ferries to the island spent the night on the ferries. On Friday, the passengers were able to reach the port city of Roenne, where they were lodged in military barracks and a sports facility.
—Associated Press contributed to this article.
Write to Elena Berton at elena.berton@dowjones.com
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Online.wsj.com
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