true religion

“Tintin,” however, is disproving that theory.

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) Seven months after “Mars Needs Moms” led to questions about the future of motion-capture animation, Steven Spielberg is showing that audiences might not have totally rejected the technique after all.

“I think Herge would be smiling with the work they accomplished with the character in the film,” Bruer said.

In Spain, it grossed $6.7 million on 798 screens — 50 percent of the country’s entire market and nearly 10 times as much as what that nation’s No. 2 film grossed. In Germany, “Tintin” took $4.6 million on 847 screens.

In “Tintin,” which Spielberg directed and Peter Jackson produced, young adventurer Tintin and his friend Capt. Haddock search for a sunken treasure ship that was commanded by one of Haddock’s ancestors.

This weekend alone, the movie grossed $2.1 million from 169 screens in Herge’s home nation, $1.9 million from 297 screens in Sweden, $1.8 million from 174 screens in Switzerland, $1.6 million on 221 screens in Denmark and $1.3 million on 250 screens in Holland and $1.3 million in Italy.

Bruer said he expects the strong international reaction will translate to big audiences when it opens in the United States on December 21. Paramount is handling the film’s domestic release.

Spielberg’s “The Adventures of Tintin” is off to a promising start at the interational box office, opening to $55.8 million abroad this weekend. It was No. 1 in 17 out of the 19 territories it debuted in.

He noted that the character of Tintin, based on a comic book by Belgian artist Georges Remi (who used the pen name Herge), is better known in Western Europe than in the United States.

In France, where “Tintin” enjoyed the biggest opening ever for an original, non-sequel Hollywood film, the movie took in $21.5 million on 935 screens.

“You couldn’t ask for a film that’s more immersive and incredible to look at than ‘Tintin,’” said Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution at Sony, which shares international distribution rights with Paramount Pictures International. “There’s no doubt about it. It just draws you into it, and it just is quite an amazing feat visually. Spectacular, actually.”

By contrast, “Mars Needs Moms” was such a flop that Disney shut down its motion-capture animation division, which was run by the movie’s producer, Robert Zemeckis. And it canceled Zemeckis’ plan to make a motion-capture version of The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine.”

The movie enjoyed strong numbers across Europe: It was No. 1 in the U.K., where it grossed $10.7 million.

Reaction was so negative, in fact, that the New York Times said the film “may lead to the end for the Zemeckis style of motion-capture filmmaking, which has proven increasingly unpopular with audiences.”

“The press has been very good, of course, and it’s going to make it resonate in the U.S. even that much more,” Bruer said.

Hong Kong (Reuters) China at one time may have been better known for fashion knockoffs than catwalk creations, but Chinese haute-couture is now finding its feet on the international stage — even as it grows ever more popular with customers at home.

Chinese designers have been front and centre at Hong Kong Fashion Week for Fall/Winter 2012, which ends on Thursday, taking advantage of the nearly 2,000 exhibitors from 26 countries and regions to make their mark.

“China’s been the clothing factory of the world for some time,” said Chinese designer Qi Gang, whose creations featured bright colors, sequins, fur and feathers.

“But as our economy develops, we are also becoming a country of famous brands, big brands. This trend is unstoppable,” he told Reuters TV.

Qi, who describes his styles as “sexy and extravagant,” is profiting from the growing affluence of his vast nation, whose economic growth has been hit by a sluggish global economy but still posted annual growth of 8.9 percent in the fourth quarter.

His SCfashion label saw turnover of $47 million last year, and his chain of stores across the mainland rose to 40 from 25.

Qi joins a growing host of Chinese designers including Uma Wang, Qiu Hao and Ma Ke, whose “exception” label is known as the closest thing China has to its own luxury brand.

“Chinese designers are definitely marking their territory,” said Craig Lawrence, a U.K.-based knitwear designer, who said that China is likely to benefit from moves by Western fashion capitals, such as Paris, to become more global.

“They’re putting their stamp down on the international platform because (this) Fashion Extravaganza is such a mix of international people and there’s so much press from around the world it helps create a buzz.”

But while international brands still dominate the luxury markets, local brands have a home advantage, said fashion researcher Angelia Teo, content director, Asia-Pacific, WGSN.

“A lot of the Chinese designers will find a lot of satisfaction and a lot of return if they base their businesses on a domestic standpoint, simply because there is such an appetite for it,” she added, noting that local shoppers are developing a more sophisticated sense of style.

“We start to see the Chinese become more nationalistic in the way they purchase items. So they want to buy something that’s Chinese, they want to buy a design aesthetic they’ve grown up with. The Chinese designers are meeting that need.”

(Reporting by Tessa Dunlop at Reuters TV; editing by Elaine Lies and Paul Casciato)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. Country legend Loretta Lynn has rescheduled her first two shows of the year to give her knee more time to heal.

The 76-year-old singer underwent total knee replacement surgery in the fall and suffered from pneumonia.

Daughter Patsy Lynn Russell tells The Associated Press that Lynn’s doctor thought she needed a couple more weeks of physical therapy to return to top form. Russell says her mother has been busy rehearsing with her band and preparing for her 2012 tour.

According to Russell, Lynn said she is feeling so good, she “might even put her dancing jig back in the show.”

Lynn was scheduled to perform in Ashland, Ky, and Durham,Cheap Ed hardy underwear, N.C., this weekend. Those shows will now take place in February and April, respectively. Lynn’s next gig is Jan. 21 in Miami, Okla.

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Online: http://www.lorettalynn.com

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For the latest country music news from The Associated Press, follow http://www.twitter.com/AP_Country

(Reuters) A factory in southern China is being investigated after reports it sold tons of adulterated cooking oil, which was possibly sold to makers of hugely popular instant noodles, the latest in a series of food safety scandals to hit the country.

Officials from the Yong Long factory in the southern manufacturing city of Dongguan appeared to have fled when government regulators entered the premises on Wednesday, a local government spokesperson said.

Nobody from the factory was immediately available to comment on Thursday.

Officials were investigating media reports the factory had mixed cottonseed oil and flavor-enhanced soybean oil and marketed it as peanut oil, according to a statement from the government of Zhongtang,Wholesale Ed hardy belts, a town in Dongguan.

Yong Long factory produces about four tons of cooking oil daily, supplying Pearl River Delta cities including Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported on Thursday, citing documents found at the factory.

The newspaper said the factory sold to Chinese food brands such as Master Kong, a household name in the instant noodle industry. It said the adulterated oil could possibly harm human reproductive cells but gave no other details.

China has struggled to rein in widespread health safety violations in its vast food processing sector. There have been several scandals involving cooking oil safety in recent years.

Police arrested 52 people at the end of last year in the southern province of Jiangxi for selling more than 2,000 tons of cooking oil dredged up from restaurant gutters.

Since July 2011, Chinese courts have sentenced at least a dozen people to jail, including one person who received a suspended death sentence, for their roles in producing or selling pork tainted with toxic chemicals.

In 2008, at least six children died and nearly 300,000 fell ill from drinking milk laced with melamine powder, an industrial compound added to milk to give misleadingly high results in protein tests.

(Reuters) A factory in southern China is being investigated after reports it sold tons of adulterated cooking oil, which was possibly sold to makers of hugely popular instant noodles, the latest in a series of food safety scandals to hit the country.

Officials from the Yong Long factory in the southern manufacturing city of Dongguan appeared to have fled when government regulators entered the premises on Wednesday, a local government spokesperson said.

Nobody from the factory was immediately available to comment on Thursday.

Officials were investigating media reports the factory had mixed cottonseed oil and flavor-enhanced soybean oil and marketed it as peanut oil, according to a statement from the government of Zhongtang, a town in Dongguan.

Yong Long factory produces about four tons of cooking oil daily, supplying Pearl River Delta cities including Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported on Thursday, citing documents found at the factory.

The newspaper said the factory sold to Chinese food brands such as Master Kong,wholesale Ed hardy shoes, a household name in the instant noodle industry. It said the adulterated oil could possibly harm human reproductive cells but gave no other details.

China has struggled to rein in widespread health safety violations in its vast food processing sector. There have been several scandals involving cooking oil safety in recent years.

Police arrested 52 people at the end of last year in the southern province of Jiangxi for selling more than 2,000 tons of cooking oil dredged up from restaurant gutters.

Since July 2011, Chinese courts have sentenced at least a dozen people to jail, including one person who received a suspended death sentence, for their roles in producing or selling pork tainted with toxic chemicals.

In 2008, at least six children died and nearly 300,000 fell ill from drinking milk laced with melamine powder, an industrial compound added to milk to give misleadingly high results in protein tests.

BEIJING Thirteen people died and 41 others were injured when a truck collided with a bus in central China.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the accident occurred Tuesday morning on a highway in Hunan province after the truck went through a road divider and crashed into the bus that was on the opposite side.

The report cites a local government spokesman as saying nine people were killed at the scene while the other four died on the way to the hospital.

Road safety is a serious problem in China,wholesale Ed hardy underwear, with many accidents caused by poorly maintained roads and bad driving habits.

Badly maintained school transport has been the focus of public anger in recent weeks after a series of accidents in which schoolchildren were killed.

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. A lawsuit brought by the parents of Phoebe Prince, a 15-year-old Irish immigrant in Massachusetts who committed suicide after relentless bullying,Wholesale Abercrombie Fitch, was settled for $225,000, according to documents made public Tuesday.

The settlement with the town of South Hadley and its school department was reached more than a year ago, but the details were kept under wraps until a journalist won a court order for the release of the information.

The documents show that Prince’s parents settled claims against the town and its school department for $225,000. In return, the parents promised to release the plaintiffs from any further claims.

The documents were released by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, which represented Slate reporter Emily Bazelon in her bid to for the disclosure of the settlement.

“This is a victory for the public’s right to know and for transparency in government,” said Bill Newman, an attorney with the ACLU’s legal office in western Massachusetts.

Prince hanged herself in January 2010 after classmates taunted her after she dated a popular boy. She had recently moved from Ireland to South Hadley, a rural town about 100 miles west of Boston.

Five students later accepted plea deals in criminal cases connected with bullying that preceded her death. None involved prison time.

Prince’s death drew international attention and was among several high-profile teen suicides that prompted new laws aimed at cracking down on bullying in schools. All school districts in Massachusetts are now required to develop bullying prevention plans.

After unsuccessful attempts to gain access to details of the settlement, which was reached with the town and its insurer in November 2010, Bazelon sought a court order to release the information under the state’s public records law.

In an order dated Dec. 23, Superior Court Judge Mary Lou-Rup ruled in favor of Bazelon, saying the town had not shown what harm would be caused by disclosure of the settlement. The judge noted that the Prince family had not registered an objection to releasing the details.

Edward Ryan, lawyer for the town, did not immediately return an after-hours call Tuesday seeking comment.

Ryan had argued in court that the settlement was not a public document and that all parties involved had agreed to keep it confidential.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) Mariah Carey’s husband Nick Cannon was hospitalized with “mild kidney failure” in Colorado on Wednesday,Replica Ed hardy, the singer posted on her Twitter.

“Please pray for Nick as he’s fighting to recover from a mild kidney failure,” Carey posted to her fans, with a photo showing her lying next to Cannon in a hospital bed.

Cannon, 31, was taken to hospital while the couple were on holiday in Aspen, Colorado, a ski resort town and hotspot for celebrities.

Carey later posted a lengthier message on her website, saying “I’m not trying to make light out of the situation because it’s a serious moment that’s very tough on all of us so please keep us and our family in your prayers.”

“America’s Got Talent” host Cannon and pop star Carey, 41, married in 2008 and have two children together. Representatives for Cannon were not immediately available to comment on his current condition.

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

BAGHDAD A wave of explosions struck two Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 23 people and intensifying fears that insurgents are stepping up attacks after the U.S. troop withdrawal that was completed last month.

The attacks began with the explosion of a bomb attached to a motorcycle near a bus stop where day laborers gather to look for work in the Sadr city neighborhood. The blast killed eight people, police said.

One of those who witnessed the attack said it filled the area with thick black smoke.

“People have real fears that the cycle of violence might be revived in this country,” said Tariq Annad, a 52-year-old government employee who lives nearby.

That attack was followed by the explosion of a roadside bomb nearby that killed another person. Police found a third bomb nearby and defused it.

Less than two hours later,Replica Juicy Couture Outlet, two blasts struck the Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah in the north of the capital, killing 14 people.

Officials said the Kazimiyah blasts occurred almost simultaneously, with at least one caused by a car bomb.

Hospital officials confirmed the causalities, which included at least 60 wounded.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

Iraqi leaders have warned of a resurgence of Sunni and Shiite militants and an increase in violence following the departure of U.S. troops.

The early morning blasts followed deadly attacks Wednesday that targeted the homes of police officers and a member of a government-allied militia. Those attacks, in the cities of Baqouba and Abu Ghraib outside Baghdad, killed four people, including two children, officials said.

The latest violence comes as Iraqi politicians remain deadlocked in a festering political crisis that threatens to re-ignite simmering sectarian tensions in the country.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government, dominated by Iraq’s majority Shiites, issued an arrest warrant for the country’s top Sunni politician last month. The Sunni official, Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, is currently holed up in Iraq’s Kurdish north effectively out of reach of state security forces.

Al-Maliki’s main political rival, the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, is boycotting parliament sessions and Cabinet meetings to protest what they say are efforts by the government to consolidate power and marginalize them.

WASHINGTON Never have average rates on long-term fixed mortgages been as low as they are now: 3.91 percent for a 30-year home loan and 3.21 for a 15-year loan.

The new lows mark the eighth straight week in which the average on the 30-year loan has hovered near 4 percent.

Those rates make now a tantalizing time to refinance. And, with home prices having sunk in most areas of the country, many would-be buyers are tempted, too.

Yet the pace of refinancing and home buying has been mostly unchanged over the past year. That’s mainly because so many Americans lack the home equity, credit scores or cash to refinance or buy. Many who do qualify to buy or refinance have already done so.

Here’s a look at whether and why it makes sense to refinance or buy.

• Why now is a prime opportunity.

Rates are at record lows. More than 75 percent of homeowners with conventional government-backed mortgages are paying rates above 5 percent. Millions of homeowners, especially those with solid jobs, stable finances and strong credit, have refinanced during 2011. The average rate on the 30-year fixed loan has remained below 4.5 percent since July. (In 2008, it topped 6.5 percent.)

_Why more people aren’t refinancing.

In many cases, people whose home values have dropped aren’t eligible. Shrunken home values have reduced the total equity Americans have in their homes to under 40 percent the lowest since the Great Depression. As a result, many people lack enough equity to qualify for refinancing. Or their credit scores aren’t high enough.

Another obstacle: Refinancers typically must pay thousands in closing costs and appraisal fees. Those costs usually add up to 1 percent of the loan’s value $2,000 in fees on a $200,000 loan, for example. Typically, most experts say, it’s worthwhile for homeowners to refinance if they can reduce their rate by a full percentage point.

• Why more people aren’t buying homes.

Too many would-be buyers can’t afford the required down payment, are out of work, lack enough income or are burdened by large debt loads. Home prices have sunk 31 percent since the housing boom four years ago, leaving many Americans fearful that prices have yet to bottom. They don’t want to throw good money at a depreciating asset.

Half of would-be buyers also say they don’t think they’ll ever save enough for the 20 percent down payment now expected by most sellers, according to a survey by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.

For those looking to buy, banks are also insisting on higher credit scores. Roughly 60 percent of U.S. households don’t have the required scores above 700 to get a prime mortgage, according to an Associated Press analysis of Fair Isaac Corp., or FICO, and other credit-score data. The average U.S. credit score is 661.

• The consequences of refinancing

When people refinance at lower rates, they pay less interest on their loans. So they end up with more money to spend, save or invest. For those who can qualify, the savings can be significant. If, for example, a homeowner with a $200,000 mortgage at 6 percent can refinance down to 4.5 percent,Cheap Ed hardy silk scarves, the savings would be $3,000 a year.

Still, the benefits for the larger economy are limited. Most homeowners who refinance these days tend to sock away their savings or pay down debt rather than spend it.