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US raids Iran Consulate General, Russia says it is unacceptable The US armed forces raided the Iranian Consulate General located in Erbil, Iraq and arrested five staff members. US raids Iran Consulate General, Russia says it is unacceptable The US armed forces raided the Iranian Consulate General located in Erbil, Iraq and arrested five staff members.

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Canon Inc. to buy the stake of Toshiba in their joint venture Canon Inc. announced the initiative to start production of new generation flat-panel Television on its own. The sole production will occur after Canon Inc. buys the stake of Toshiba Corp. in their joint venture, SED Inc.

Wikipedia Current Events
Terri Irwin, widow of naturalist and TV personality Steve Irwin, reports that all footage of his death from a stingray piercing his heart has been destroyed, and the events surrounding his death will not be shown in his final documentary, Ocean's Deadliest. The Chinese Foreign Ministry warns it has intelligence indicating East Turkestan Islamic Movement terrorists will launch an attack against China from Kyrgyzstan. Security personnel along the border between the two countries is increased. United States armed forces raid the office of the Iranian Consulate General in Arbil, a city in Iraqi Kurdistan. Fakhruddin Ahmed becomes the new Chief Advisor in Bangladesh amid the current political crisis. Terrorists fire an anti tank missile at the Embassy of the United States in Athens. No one is injured or killed. Somali government and Ethiopian forces capture the town of Ras Kamboni, and pursue fleeing Islamist forces. An Argentinian judge issues an arrest warrant for former president Isabel Martínez de Perón, implicated in the disappearance of a human-rights activist in 1976. Perón has been living in Spain since 1981. Casino Royale and The Queen lead this year's BAFTA film award nominations.

US raids Iran Consulate General, Russia says it is unacceptable
The US armed forces detained five Iranian's working at a "liaison office" located in Erbil, Iraq, and did not "raid the Iranian Consulate General" as earlier reported. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told the AFP news agency that the building raided was, "not a consulate or a government building" and this appears confirmed by the Iraqi foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, who said the Iranians were working at an office that had government approval and was in the process of being approved as a consulate, but was not a Consulate nor the Iranian Consulate General.

Sources said that the US forces first landed their helicopters around the building, then broke through the consulate’s gate, disarmed the guards, confiscated some documents and certain objects, arrested five terrorists, and then left for an undisclosed location.

Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Kamynin said that the raid was absolutely unacceptable and was a violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The Kurdistan Regional Government also expressed their shock and disapproval of the raid.

On Thursday's hearing on Iraq, Senator Joseph Biden (D-Delware), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the Bush Administration did not have the authority to send US troops on cross-border raids. Biden said, "I believe the present authorization granted the president to use force in Iraq does not cover that, and he does need congressional authority to do that. I just want to set that marker." After the meeting, Biden sent a follow-up letter to the White House asking for an explanation from the Bush Administration on the matter.

On Thursday morning, Iran's foreign ministry official sent a letter to Iraq's foreign ministry asking Iraq to stop the Bush Administration from interfering with Iraq-Iran relations, and has protested the raid on its consulate general. The official said, "We expect the Iraqi government to take immediate measures to set the aforesaid individuals free and to condemn the US troopers for the measure. Following up on the case and releasing the arrestees is a responsibility of primarily the Iraqi government and then the local government and officials of the Iraqi Kurdistan."

Explosion at the U.S. embassy in Athens
There has been an explosion at the US embassy in Athens, Greece, at 0558 local time (0358 GMT).

Police say the explosion was caused by a rocket propelled grenade fired from across the street at a United States eagle emblem at the front of the embassy. Minor damage and no injuries have been reported.

The explosion apparently occurred inside the embassy compound. Initial eyewitness reports have not given any mention of injuries. Chaos is reported within the compound and Greek police have cordoned off Vassilis Sofias Avenue in central Athens, causing traffic jams. The U.S. ambassador in Greece, Mr. Charles Ries told the reporters that the attack was "a senseless act of violence". Both the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Public Order of Greece, Dora Bakoyannis and Byron Polidoras, strongly condemned the action.

Canadian CEO accused of fraud
Police are now searching Canada-wide for 25-year-old Adam Spencer, a man with ties to the Oakville, Ontario and Toronto areas. He is a motivational speaker, and the founder/chief executive (CEO) of Emexis Integrated Solutions, an upstart information technology company.

First off, Spencer told investors between September 2005 and may of last year that he was making Emexis a private company, located in downtown Toronto. He allegedly took CAN$8 million from Canadian investors, defrauded 100 investors out of amounts ranging from CAN$5,000 to as much as CAN$2 million each in a couple of cases, and is on the run with their cash.

Police don't even know if he is still in Canada. They suspect that he could be in England because he has a passport there.

Spencer travels to car race events all around the world.

Car and train collide in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York – Reports say that a subway train and a car have collided in downtown Buffalo, New York.

Witnesses say that calls to 911 came in just before 12:00 p.m. [EST] that a car had driven onto the tracks of the Metro Rail operated by the Niagra Frontier Transit Authority at the Theatre District rail stop which is near West Tupper and Main Streets in Downtown Buffalo.

The train was traveling on the northbound track toward the Allen Medical Station when the vehicle apparently began to drive norhtbound away from the train. The train did stop but still managed to make light contact with the vehicle from behind.

The driver of the car is reported to be a 73 year-old male who was not injured in the accident but is currently being evaluated at Erie County Medical Center. Witnesses say the man was "out of it" when police arrived. It is unknown if charges will be filed against the driver.

There were no injuries to passengers and witnesses have stated that all the passengers on the train were been evacuated.

"Children of Men" wins Scripter Award for writing
Children of Men, a movie based on a P.D. James book, has won the 2006 USC Scripter Award for its writing. Both the original author, James, and the screenwriting team will be honored by the University of South California for their work.

The winning screenwriters are Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, and Hawk Ostby. The Children of Men was James' 12th book, written in 1992.

USC School of Cinematic Arts Writing Division Chair Howard A. Rodman commented...

“This year's five nominated films were, all of them, heartfelt and elegantly wrought. In that heady company, 'Children of Men' was first among equals. Messrs. Cuarón, Sexton, Arata, Fergus, and Ostby took P.D. James's bracingly dystopic novel and crafted from it a film at once brave, subtle, shocking. This is writing and screenwriting of the highest order.”

For nineteen years, the USC Libraries Scripter Award has honored "writers for the best achievement in adaptation among English-language films released during the previous year and based on a book, novella or short story." While there are many awards for either screenwriting in general, or adapted screenwriting, the Scripter is the only award to recognize both the screenwriters and the original authors.

Also nominated was:

screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna and author Lauren Weisberger for The Devil Wears Prada

screenwriter Neil Berger for The Illusionist, based on the story "Eisenheim the Illusionist" by Steven Millhauser

screenwriters Peter Morgan and Jeremy Brock for The Last King of Scotland, based on the book by Giles Foden

screenwriter Patrick Marber and author Zoe Heller for Notes on a Scandal

The titles were selected by committee, from a list of forty-five eligible films. The committee is made of Writers Guild of America members (including some Academy Award-winning screenwriters and Academy Award-nominated screen writers), authors, film industry executives, USC faculty, the dean of the USC Libraries, and selected members of the Friends of the USC Libraries, the sponsor of the event.

Previous screenwriters and authors honored include the teams behind Capote, Million Dollar Baby, The Hours, A Beautiful Mind, L.A. Confidential, The English Patient and Schindler's List.

Canon Inc. to buy the stake of Toshiba in their joint venture
Canon Inc. announced the initiative to start production of new generation flat-panel television on its own. The sole production will occur after Canon Inc. buys the stake of Toshiba Corp. in their joint venture, SED Inc.

The companies are expected to make an official statement concerning their joint venture.

In order to start production of the new flat-screens based on the SED technology, Canon Inc. had to clarify the situation with the Texas-based Nano-Proprietary Inc. The latter has brought a lawsuit against Canon in 2005 on the basis of the two sided agreement concerning the patent on SED technology. The agreement didn't allow Canon to make any other ventures on this technology, but Canon joining forces with Toshiba was the reason for the mentioned lawsuit.

The dispute with Nano-Proprietary was the ground for Canon and Toshiba to delay the construction of the $1.7 billion plant for SED-based flat-panels. Earlier the companies agreed to contribute with 100 billion yen each in the SED plant.

Toshiba's stake in the joint venture SED Inc. is about Yen$10 billion, or, approximately, US$83 million.

This new SED (surface-conduction electron-emitter display) technology is meant to replace the existing LCD and plasma screen due to their smaller sizes and lower energy consumption. At the end of this year the companies planned to start mass production of these new displays.

Peter Jackson banned from working with New Line
Movie studio company, New Line Cinema has announced that movie director, Peter Jackson will never be allowed to work on another New Line film. This announcement will also mean that Mr Jackson will not be allowed to film the prequel titled The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings films he directed.

The announcement was made mainly because New Zealander Mr Jackson and his partner, Fran Walsh, filed a law suit against New Line in 2005 as they believed New Line owed them much more money than they received for The Lord of the Rings trilogy as shown to them by a partial audit of The Fellowship of the Ring. Mr Jackson described it as "financial anomalies," which New Line refused to account for. "Fundamentally, our legal action is about holding New Line to its contractual obligations and promises." The film trilogies have so far managed to earn US$3 billion in ticket sales since 2001.

New Line has repeatedly refused permission for Mr Jackson to audit the other films in the trilogy The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, even though Mr Jackson described film auditing as a common practice. "We don't understand why New Line Cinema has taken this position," Mr Jackson said.

In an interview with the Sci Fi Wire, Robert Shaye, co-chairman of New Line and executive producer of The Lord of the Rings, said that New Line does not want to do any films, including The Hobbit, with Mr Jackson in the future. "I do not want to make a movie with somebody who is suing me. It will never happen during my watch."

"I don't care about Peter Jackson anymore. He wants to have another $100 million or $50 million, whatever he's suing us for," Mr Shaye said.

Mr Shaye said he has been offended by the lawsuit brought to his company by Mr Jackson. "He got a quarter of a billion dollars paid to him so far, justifiable, according to contract, completely right, [but then] turns around without wanting to have a discussion with us and sues us and refuses to discuss it unless we just give in to his plan."

However Mr Jackson claims that he had been trying to discuss it with New Line, saying: "We attempted to discuss the issues raised with New Line for over a year but the studio was and continues to be completely uncooperative. ... Nobody likes taking legal action, but the studio left us with no alternative."

Mr Jackson has said that he has and will continue to have the highest respect and affection for Mr Shaye and has said that he regrets he has taken the lawsuit personally.

"[Jackson's] either had very poor counsel or is completely misinformed and myopic to think that I care whether I give him [anything]," Mr Shaye said.

Mr Shaye has said he is disappointed that many of the stars in The Lord of the Rings trilogy had refused to celebrate New Line's 40th anniversary. Mr Jackson said that the reason for that was probably because Mr Shaye had issues with the cast years before the lawsuit arose.

US House votes Federal minimum wage increase
The US House of Representatives voted today to increase the Federal minimum wage to US$7.25 as Democrats moved to fulfill their promise to pass legislation on a host of issues within the first 100 legislative hours of the newly elected congress.

The final vote in the House was 315-116, with 82 Republicans joining Democrats to vote the bill into law. The bill will now go to the Senate, where a debate on whether it should be bundled with tax cuts for small businesses is expected.

The last increase was in 1997 when President Clinton encouraged the Republican controlled Congress to vote in favor of the bill.

Today in History
1898 - Émile Zola published "J'accuse" to expose the Dreyfus Affair, and accused the French government of anti-Semitism.

1842 - William Brydon, an assistant surgeon in the British Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War, became the sole survivor of an army of 16,500 when he reached the safety of a garrison in Jalalabad.

1968 - American singer Johnny Cash recorded his landmark album At Folsom Prison live at Folsom State Prison in Folsom, California.

1986 - A month-long violent struggle began in Aden, South Yemen between supporters of Ali Nasir Muhammad and Abdul Fattah Ismail, resulting in thousands of casualties.

January 13 is St. Knut's Day (Christianity-Scandinavia)

Quote of the Day

I still feel that sincerity and realism are avant-garde, or can be, just as I did when I started out.
~ Edmund White

Word of the Day

derail; v

To come off the tracks.

To cause to deviate from a set course or direction.

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