TV ratings rise for NBA's season openers on Christmas Day

NEW YORK (AP) -- NBA fans seem more excited about basketball's return than bitter about the lockout based on television ratings for the league's delayed openers.

The five Christmas games Sunday attracted large audiences, with the Bulls-Lakers matchup drawing the third-highest preliminary rating for a regular-season game on ABC. The 6.5 overnight rating trailed only a 7.3 for last year's highly anticipated Heat-Lakers showdown and a 7.9 for another meeting between Miami and LA in 2004.

Chris Paul's Clippers debut in the nightcap against the Warriors earned a 2.3 overnight, up 77 percent over last year's Portland-Golden State telecast. It was ESPN's highest-rated Christmas prime-time game.

The earlier night game on ESPN -- Magic-Thunder -- drew a 1.9 overnight, up 36 percent from to last year's Denver-Oklahoma City matchup. The afternoon's finals rematch on ABC, the Heat's rout of the Mavericks, earned a 5.6 overnight, up 6 percent from Boston-Orlando last year.

The Celtics-Knicks game on TNT to open the day drew a 4.1 overnight. The early game on ESPN last year, Bulls-Knicks, had a 2.7 on ESPN.

Ratings represent the percentage of all homes with televisions tuned to a program. Overnight ratings measure the country's largest markets.

Source: http://www.nba.com/2011/news/12/26/christmas-day-tv-ratings-nba.ap/index.html

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Kim named supreme commander of North Korean military

Officials and state media have bestowed on Kim Jong Un, who is in his late 20s, a string of titles as North Korea's elite rally around him in the wake of his father's death this month after 17 years in power.

But the title Supreme Commander - and its formal proclamation by the powerful Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party - is a clear sign that Kim Jong Un is fast consolidating power over North Korea. It's also the latest step in a burgeoning personality cult around him.

Kim Jong Un should be "the only center of unity, cohesion and leadership" of the Workers' Party,

The party said the country should unite around Kim Jong Un and strengthen "the monolithic leadership system of Kim Jong Un in the whole party and society."

An unannounced Workers' Party meeting Friday proclaimed that the younger Kim "assumed supreme commandership of the Korean People's Army" according to a will made by Kim Jong Il on Oct. 8, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said in a statement early Saturday morning.

The meeting of the North's ruling party came one day after the official mourning period for Kim Jong Il ended and senior military and political officials publicly declared Kim Jong Un leader of the party, military and people at a memorial for his father attended by hundreds of thousands.

Titles are an important part of North Korea's efforts to link Kim Jong Un to the myth-building surrounding the Kim family legacy.

Kim Il Sung, the country's first and only president, retains the title Eternal President even after his death.

Kim Jong Il held three main positions: chairman of the National Defense Commission, general secretary of the Workers' Party and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army. According to the constitution, his position as chairman of the National Defense Commission made him Supreme Leader of North Korea.

Kim Jong Un was made a four-star general last year and appointed a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party. Since his father's death, he has racked up major titles from officials and state media: Great Successor, Supreme Leader and Great Leader earlier Friday. And now he has officially been named Supreme Commander.

The North has made great efforts to show the world a unified face, but Kim Jong Un's age and inexperience have raised questions outside North Korea about his leadership of a nation engaged in delicate negotiations over its nuclear program and grappling with decades of economic hardship and chronic food shortages.

Source: http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/articlepath.aspx?articleid=20111231_13_A3_CUTLIN401595&rss_lnk=1

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DC ordered to pay $1M in historic gun case (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The District of Columbia has been ordered to pay more than $1 million in attorneys' fees as a result of a historic gun case that was ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Dick Heller sued the city in 2003 over its ban on handgun ownership and the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the ban in June 2008, saying it violated the Second Amendment.

A federal judge on Thursday issued an opinion awarding Heller's attorneys $1,137,072.27 in fees and expenses. The attorneys had argued they should be awarded $3.1 million. Attorneys for the city said the figure should be closer to $840,000.

District of Columbia Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan, the head of the office that represents the city in legal matters, said in a statement that Heller's lawyers had requested an "outlandish fee." Nathan praised the U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan's decision not to accept the full hourly rate the attorneys had requested or the full number of hours they had billed for.

Heller's lead lawyer, Alan Gura, says his team is still studying the opinion and possible next steps. Gura said he is pleased with much of the opinion, but he said the fee calculation the judge used was outdated and that lawyers doing similar work in Washington are typically compensated at a higher rate. The judge's opinion awards Gura approximately $662,000 for more than 1,500 hours of work on the case, paying him at a rate of $420 per hour. Five other members of Heller's team are also compensated.

After the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in 2008, the city rewrote its gun laws and for the first time in more than 30 years permitted handgun ownership. The new laws, however, include numerous registration requirements.

Those requirements prompted Heller to sue again, saying that the new laws are too restrictive. That case is still pending, with a federal appeals court ruling in October that the city must provide evidence justifying what it called "novel" handgun registration requirements including vision tests. The city is considering changes to the law that, if implemented, could impact the case.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111229/ap_on_re_us/us_washington_gun_ban_fees

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No break for candidates as Iowa caucuses near (CNN)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/181325342?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Best Tweet of the Year - Le?gal In?sur?rec?tion

The Best Tweet of the Year competition was really, really tough. There were so many great tweets arising out of the Occupy Wall Street protests that it could have been its own category.? Not surprisingly, Obama also was a hot topic.

I excluded from consideration tweets regarding the Republican primary candidates; since I?m not neutral on that topic any tweets I chose would have been considered a political choice.? The last thing I would want is to see the Tweet of the Year selection process, with the tremendous prestige?and publicity which accompanies the winner,?politicized like the Nobel Peace Prize.

All of the winners appeared in posts at Legal Insurrection, which you can view by clicking on the ?link? under the image, if you want to see background and context.

1st Place ? Iowahawkblog ? Pretty much sums up the absurdity of Obama.? On the one hand, Obama with great bluster and fanfare invoked the spirit of Teddy Roosevelt in setting the theme for his 2012 campaign.? On the other hand, Obama hardly is the heroic figure charging into real battle, more like the teenager who runs up the credit card charges at the mall buying presents for friends and leaves others to pay.

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2nd Place ? AlisonKosikCNN ? This tweet by a CNN reporter about the purpose of the Occupy Wall Street protests caught her a lot of trouble.? Click the link for details.? She ended up deleting the tweet and apologizing.? But the tweet captured the essence of the OWS movement at its inception

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3rd Place ? Tie -? I could not decide between these two.? The first, by LI reader DDsModernLife, is based upon a reader comment about media bias in reporting jobs numbers.? The second, by Justin Hart, concerned the reaction in Wisconsin upon learning that the recall efforts to take back the state Senate had fallen short; how could I not have a tweet about the lunacy in Wisconsin as one of the award winners?

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Runners Up:

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Source: http://legalinsurrection.com/2011/12/best-tweet-of-the-year/

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Holiday rumors: Beyonce ready to give birth?

By Courtney Hazlett

One of the "gifts" we receive each holiday season is that of a slow news cycle. Which in turn, lets the rumor mill have its place in the spotlight (even more than usual). Today, we've got Beyonce maybe giving birth as we speak; Katy Perry and Russell Brand maybe checking out of Hotel Married Bliss; and Steven Tyler maybe thinking about checking in (again). Read on?for details.

Evan Agostini / AP file

Is Beyonce on the brink of giving birth?

• In a "world exclusive," website Media Takeout is reporting that not one but two overly chatty nurses at New York's St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital are saying that the staff is on "alert," and that Beyonce was checking in to give birth to her baby. According to the totally unconfirmed report, Beyonce would be giving birth in the same suite that Alicia Keys used to deliver her own baby. The reserved area has enough space, reportedly, to deliver three babies, and can host up to a dozen people overnight.
• Katy Perry was photographed swimming in the Pacific Ocean off Kauai, without her wedding ring, while husband Russell Brand was snapped in his London-area hometown for the holidays. Obviously, this means they are on the brink of divorce. "They had a massive fight," according to an "insider" who spoke to Us Weekly. "'She was like, 'f--k you. I'm going to do my own thing.' Russell replied, 'Fine, f--k you too."?
• Dude, looks like a fiance? If you equate sizable diamonds on the ring fingers of longtime girlfriends of rock stars as a betrothal, then it looks like Steven Tyler might have popped the question to Erin Brady, who he's been dating since 2006. TMZ has the photos, and also reports that the Tyler family isn't rushing to buy gifts. "She's been mean to the family," the website says.

Related content:

Source: http://scoop.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/28/9768574-holiday-rumor-roundup-beyonce-giving-birth-steven-tyler-engaged

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Mortgage rates for the past 52 weeks, at a glance (AP)

Skip to navigation ? Skip to content ? By The Associated Press The Associated Press ? Thu?Dec?29, 11:50?am?ET

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage rose slightly to 3.95 percent this week, Freddie Mac said Thursday. Last week's average 3.91 percent rate was the lowest on records dating back to the 1950s. Here's a look at rates for fixed- and adjustable-rate mortgages over the past 52 weeks.

Current week's average Last week's average 52-week high 52-week low

30-year fixed 3.95 3.91 5.05 3.91

15-year fixed 3.24 3.21 4.29 3.21

5-year adjustable 2.88 2.85 3.92 2.85

1-year adjustable 2.78 2.77 3.40 2.77

All values are in percentage points.

Source: Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

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Copyright ? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personalfinance/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111229/ap_on_bi_ge/us_mortgage_rates_glance

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