Factbox: Video game industry meets with Biden gun task force

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Representatives from the companies that make “first-person shooter” games such as “Call of Duty,” “Medal of Honor” and “Grand Theft Auto” met with Vice President Joe Biden on Friday as the Obama administration looks for ways to curb U.S. gun violence.

Biden is heading a task force formed after a gunman shot dead 20 children and six adults last month at a Connecticut elementary school. Biden plans to make recommendations on reducing gun violence to President Barack Obama by next Tuesday.

The vice president has held discussions with a wide range of groups including gun retailers, gun owners, the National Rifle Association gun rights lobbying organization, the film industry, victims of gun violence, and law enforcement authorities.

Following is a list of groups present at Friday’s meeting with Biden, Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Activision Blizzard Inc

Electronic Arts Inc

E-Line Media

Entertainment Software Association

Entertainment Software Ratings Board

Epic Games

GameStop Corp

Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc

Texas A&M University

University of Wisconsin at Madison

Zenimax Media Inc

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Will Dunham)

Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Shay Mitchell Pretty Little Liars 3B Interview

At Thursday's Pretty Little Liars Television Critics Association Tour panel, executive producer Marlene King spoke about the heightened reality of Rosewood -- and while she was referring to the girl's clothes, it also applies to the way all the characters deal with the life and death situations they're constantly caught in.

That's why I was so surprised to see Paige forcing Emily to confront what happened -- both in the lighthouse and on the Halloween train to hell -- in a new sneak peek from Tuesday's episode, titled Mona Mania.

But that's just the start of an exciting new arc for Paige, as EP Oliver Goldstick told me, and star Shay Mitchell reinforced when we chatted at TCA. Not only did she gush about Paily, but Mitchell teased the return of Dr. Sullivan and explained why she loves Emily so much.

ETonline: Emily killed a man in the mid-season finale, but it wasn't really addressed in the Halloween episode or the season premiere. Will we see more of that in the coming weeks?

Shay Mitchell: Definitely. It's one of the things Emily goes through big time this year. I'm sure there's a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff you won't see, with her talking to her parents, but eventually there is a bit of a breaking point. A moment where she says, "Wow, I took someone's life" and ends up seeking therapy.

RELATED - 6 Burning PLL Premiere Questions Answered

ETonline: When she gets back on Dr. Sullivan's couch, what kind of stuff is she dealing with?

Mitchell: Emily always wants to give people the benefit of the doubt, but she ended up trusting someone who said they were the cousin of her dead girlfriend. I mean, that's a pretty sick person for her to have trusted. Because of that, she not only risked her life, but Paige's as well. So she's working on patching up their relationship and moving forward. But Paige wants to know what the hell is going on, so Emily explains as much as she can to Paige about what they've all been dealing with. Emily is going to try and not keep as many secrets this year.

ETonline: So where are we now with Paige and Emily's relationship?

Mitchell: I feel like it's finally gotten to a point where they have the support of Emily's friends. Before the Halloween episode, everybody was thinking Paige could be on The "A" Team, and she had reason to be. I love Paige's arc this season. She came on and no one liked her. Emily fans especially would always Tweet me, "She tried to drown you! We hate her!" For a while they did not want to see Emily with Paige, especially after Maya. I had Maya fans wanting to kill Paige, but Marlene really turned her around in the fan's eyes, and now I have so many Paily supporters out there. I love that relationship, and I'm so glad other people do too.

VIDEO - PLL Stars Take The Ultimate Quiz

ETonline: Why do you think Emily was so quick to give Paige a second (and third) chance after some of the crazy things she had done, like try to drown her?

Mitchell: Emily has always given everyone the benefit of the doubt and always wants to know why people do certain things before passing judgment. If Emily finds out about Toby, that's what she's going to want to know. She had such a special bond with him, Toby understood her like no one else could at the time. She basically came out to him before anyone else, so it will be interesting. More so than anger, it will be about why. Just explain the "why" to Emily and you're golden. She doesn't hold grudges or resentment. She just wants to understand your side so she can back you up, and that's one of the qualities I love about her so much -- she's not quick to dismiss.

ETonline: What are you excited for the fans to see this season?

Mitchell: I'm really excited to see if and when Toby gets revealed -- and how Spencer handles that. I mean, could you imagine? One season you're in bed with someone and the next season they're 'A' -- I can't wait to see how she deals with that. Spencer's family isn't the kind you can fall back on. I mean, this is the closest person to her, and she'll lose all her trust in him.

RELATED - Janel Parrish Talks Mona 2.0

ETonline: During a video shown before today's panel, Ashley Benson said she's praying Hanna is actually 'A' -- do you feel the same with Emily?

Mitchell: Oh yes! You know, I've played a sweet girl for a long time. Whenever I get to be a bit of a badass, I love it. Whether it's stabbing someone or whatever, it's fun for me and I think everybody likes to play the villain once in a while. We're always coming up with excuses for the characters, and Emily's would be that no one would expect her to be 'A' -- Emily is so innocent ... but maybe she's not. Maybe her and Alison made a pact that they'd do this together.

ETonline: I feel like your fans would riot if that happened.

Mitchell: [laughs] I think so too! If Emily goes bad, then there's no hope in life. You might as well give up and move far, far away because nobody is good if that’s the case.

Pretty Little Liars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC Family.

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SEE IT: A tsunami of red dust

REUTERS

The red dust storm heading towards the Australian town of Onslow.

As Australia braced itself for the first hurricane of the year a gigantic wall of dust slammed into the north-eastern part of the country.

Images of the terrifying red storm were caught by tugboats near the town of Onslow, according to the Daily Mail.

On a beautifully clear day the storm could be seen looming on the horizon miles before it reached shore but once it hit visibility was reduced to around 300 feet and 7 foot waves lashed the shoreline.

Dust storms are a common weather occurrence in deserts but are rarely seen in such dramatic circumstances over open ocean.

REUTERS

The red dust storm heading towards the Australian town of Onslow.

The dust storm is the latest cataclysmic natural event to hit Australia in recent weeks.

SEE: SEE HARROWING SCENE FROM WILDFIRES TERRORIZING AUSTRALIA

Wildfires have ravaged the south east while a record heat wave blanketed the entire country. On Monday a record was set for the highest ever recorded national average temperature of 104.59 degrees.

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Legal feud over Spanish-language TV leads to federal suit in Miami

What began as a highly-touted affiliation between a new Spanish-language national television network and a popular independent local station in Miami has dissolved into a legal dispute of David and Goliath proportions.

MundoFox Broadcasting, part of the family of communications giant News Corporation, filed suit in the U.S. District Court Southern District of Florida against the parent company of America Tevé Channel 41-WJAN, America-CV Network, for breaching two agreements forged in May.

The complaint alleges that in South Florida "MundoFox’s initial launch had less exposure, viewership was lower, soliciting advertisers became more difficult and advertising revenue decreased,” because the network was swapped to inferior channel positions by cable providers.

In a statement, America-CV Network, denied the allegations in the complaint and announced that it will defend itself vigorously.

— DANIEL SHOER ROTH

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‘It’s all lies’: Ex-inmate talks about confession in Rilya case

Robin Lunceford, the state’s star witness in the Rilya Wilson murder case, admitted to lying about hearing a key confession while in prison, an ex-inmate testified Thursday.

“You know it’s all lies. All of it,” Cindy McCloud, testifying for the defense, recalled Lunceford telling her.

Lunceford is the colorful, sharp-tongued felon who claims that Geralyn Graham confessed to her in jail that she smothered foster child Rilya Wilson, burying the body near a canal or lake in South Miami-Dade.

Graham, 66, is on trial for the murder of 4-year-old Rilya, a foster child whose disappearance rocked the Florida Department of Children and Families. Rilya’s body has never been found.

Graham was indicted for murder after Lunceford came forward to authorities in 2005.

Lunceford, who got a life-prison term for armed robbery reduced to 10 years for her cooperation, told jurors her story over four days of testimony.

The platinum-blonde McCloud was Lunceford’s former roommate at Lowell Correctional Institution in Ocala.

Convicted of possessing methamphetamines, McCloud was released from prison in June after serving four years. With 27 felonies on her rap sheet, she now lives in Lakeland.

The defense called McCloud on Thursday to chip away at Lunceford’s credibility.

McCloud characterized Lunceford as frequently bragging about her cooperation with the state.

She claimed she witnessed Lunceford and another inmate, Maggie Carr, concocted a scheme to get Carr involved in the case as a snitch. Last week, Carr testified that Graham suggested to her that she disposed of the little girl’s body.

Carr is serving 25 years to life in prison for murder. She is eligible for parole but has no deal with prosecutors. A third inmate also testified that Graham confessed to killing the child.

As for McCloud, she insisted that she did not want to testify, although she admitted she reached out to defense attorneys, not prosecutors to expose Lunceford.

“I’d hate to be on trial and convicted because of someone else’s lies,” McCloud said.

Prosecutor Joshua Weintraub has called McCloud, 41, a “spurned lover.”

“You’re here because Robin Lunceford got you and some friends … arrested in state prison, isn’t that correct?” Weintraub barked “That’s why you’re here — to get even with Robin.”

McCloud denied being Lunceford’s lover.

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Jimmy Dushku: The 25-year-old who is North Korea’s one true Twitter friend

Mother Jones takes a look at a globetrotting young investor who’s the only American — and the only human being — Pyongyang follows

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt capped a controversial four-day visit to North Korea on Thursday with a call for the country’s censorship-happy communist government to give its people access to the internet, or face further economic decline due to the country’s global isolation. It was a strong message from one of the web’s most powerful figures, although North Korea watchers seem pretty confident the country’s young leader, Kim Jong Un, will ignore it. There’s one American, however, Pyongyang does appear to listen to. That would be Jimmy Dushku, a young investor who is one of exactly three Twitter users Kim’s government follows on Twitter. What’s the story behind this unlikely online bromance? Here, a guide:

Who is Jimmy Dushku?
He’s a 25-year-old financial whiz kid from Austin, Texas. Dushku, who also goes by the nicknames “Jimmer” and “Jammy,” started a website development business when he was 14, according to Mother Jones, and he parlayed his early earnings into investments that now include everything from construction projects in Europe to real estate in Texas to mines in South America. He’s also a rabid Coldplay fan, and when he isn’t jetting around the world, he says he likes to play Rachmaninoff on his piano and zoom around on his Ducati Monster motorcycle.

SEE MORE: North Korea’s rocket launch: 3 consequences

So how did he become buddies with North Korea?
Dushku tells Asawin Suebsaeng at Mother Jones he’s not really sure. “People always ask me how it happened, and I honestly can’t remember,” he says. “It started sometime back in 2010. I was initially surprised.” North Korea followed him, he followed North Korea “out of courtesy.” He tweeted back, “Hello my friend,” and a relationship was born. Then, the North Korean government, which has piled up some 11,000 followers in two-and-a-half years on Twitter, abruptly whittled down the number of accounts it follows, leaving just three. Dushku made the cut (along with a Vietnam account and another official North Korean handle).

What has Dushku gotten from the relationship?
Death threats, for one thing. Not long after he linked up with North Korea’s account, which goes by @uriminzok (or “our nation”), Dushku says he started getting angry messages from exiles and South Koreans. Since then, he has mostly kept a low profile, just to be safe, although he does occasionally grant interviews to foreign publications. For its part, North Korea gets a rare glimpse at the outside world through Dushku, as his is the only account North Korea follows that is regularly updated — the other two haven’t tweeted in months. He’s also the only human being in the bunch.

Will @JimmyDushku and @uriminzok ever meet in real life?
That’s always the question for acquaintances who meet online, isn’t it? Dushku says his friendly relationship has won him a standing offer to visit North Korea. Casual observers, however, advise him to proceed with caution. “Am I the only one thinking they picked some random guy so they can lure him into North Korea and use him as a political prisoner/bargaining chip?” one commenter at Gizmodo said. Another suggests that Dushku play it cool, without making Pyongyang angry, saying, “Never unfollow anybody with nuclear weapons.”

Sources: Austinist, CNN, Gizmodo, Mother Jones

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'Life of Pi' Director Shocked at Affleck & Bigelow Oscar Snubs

Oscar winning director Ang Lee received wonderful news this morning when he received his third Best Director nomination for Life of Pi. But after learning of his fellow nominees in the category, he tells ET Canada that he was shocked that Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow were snubbed by the Academy, despite their respective movies (Argo and Zero Dark Thirty) being nominated for Best Picture.

ET's Complete Oscar Coverage

"I was shocked," says Lee. "It's not that I don't think the others should have been nominated -- I'm happy for everyone including myself -- but these two seemed to be the sure thing from the beginning. They didn't miss any of the [other award season] nominations."

In fact, both Affleck and Bigelow were just announced to be the finalist for the Directors Guild of America's top honor alongside Lee, Steven Spielberg (Lincoln) and Tom Hooper (Les Miserables). Both Affleck and Bigelow also received director noms for the BAFTA Film Awards, Critics Choice and Golden Globes.

Despite not landing what Lee calls "the last one, the big one" of the entire awards season, he says he is is looking forward to meeting them at the DGA this week.

Related: Stars React to Oscar Nominations

Lee reveals that he found out about Life of Pi's 11 nominations from his assistant on the phone: "I heard heavy breathing on the other end, and I thought, 'Oh this is gonna be good.'" He adds, "I was expecting a lot less, so this is more than I could have hoped for."

Hosted by Seth MacFarlane, the 85th Academy Awards will air live from Hollywood Sunday, February 24, 2013 on ABC.

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Supervalu sells five grocery chains for $100m

Supervalu Inc. is selling off five of its grocery chains, including Albertson's and Jewel-Osco, after years of being squeezed by intensifying competition.

The nation's No. 3 traditional supermarket operator said Thursday that the sale of 877 stores to an investor group led by Cerberus Capital Management will also include Acme, Shaw's and Star Market. The group already owns about 200 Albertson's in the South and Southwest.

Following the sale, Supervalu will focus on its Save-A-Lot discount stores, as well as its smaller regional chains Cub, Farm Fresh, Shoppers, Shop 'n Save and Hornbacher's. It will also keep its wholesale business that distributes groceries to stores.

The investor group will pay $100 million in cash for the stores, and the new company will assume $3.2 billion in existing debt. Cerberus will also offer to buy up to 30 percent of the remaining Supervalu for $4 per share after the deal closes.

Supervalu has struggled for years to turn around its business. The broader supermarket industry has been facing growing competition from big-box retailers such as Target, drugstore chains and dollar stores. While bigger chains such as Kroger Co. have adapted by tweaking store formats and improving discount programs and product offerings, Supervalu has scrambled to keep pace.

This summer, Supervalu fired its CEO and tapped Chairman Wayne Sales to lead a turnaround. The company said at the time that it was reviewing its options, such as putting itself up for sale. In the meantime, it has closed stores and cut jobs as part of an effort to reduce costs. Those efforts to fix its business will continue after the sale of its grocery chains is complete, the company said. Sam Duncan, who most recently was CEO of OfficeMax, will replace Sales as head of Supervalu after the deal closes.

On Thursday, Supervalu also reported a profit of $16 million, or 8 cents per share, for the third quarter. The results were boosted by a gain related to a settlement with credit card companies. A year ago, the company lost $750 million, or $3.54 per share.

However, total revenue for the period declined 5 percent to $7.9 billion. Sales at locations open at least a year fell 4.5 percent, and 4.1 percent at Save-A-Lot. Its profit margins also fell, in part because the company said it boosted promotions and cut prices for shoppers.

Bob Miller, who heads the Albertson's already owned by the Cerberus-led investment group, said the performance at the newly acquired Albertson's could be improved.

"In 2006, we acquired a set of stores that lacked investment and were in tough shape," he said, noting that those stores have grown into a "solid regional supermarket chain with growing sales."

A representative for the buyers noted that the transaction is still subject to approvals and declined to say whether any job cuts were planned for the newly acquired Albertson's, or whether the other chains would keep their names.

Supervalu's shares rose 15 percent to $3.51 in morning trading.

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Cellphone use hits a record during BCS snoozer

How boring was the BCS game? Fans were turning to their cellphones in record numbers.

AT&T announced Thursday it had never seen so much cellphone use at a sporting event than it did for the Monday night game at Sun Life Stadium, when the Alabama Crimson Tide quickly dominated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. In fact, data traffic was 150 percent more than the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis when the New York Giants eked out a 21-17 win over the New England Patriots.

At least part of the spike had nothing to do with the game itself: the still-growing popularity of smart phones, the increasing amount of data that can be streamed easily, the enhanced coverage at Sun Life for the large event. But the lopsided 42-14 game certainly didn’t provide much distraction. Spectators sent and received more than 360,000 texts and 75,000 calls — roughly one call per ticket holder.

DOUGLAS HANKS

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Vehicle repairs top list of Miami-Dade consumer complaints for 6th year

Miracle vitamins that don’t work, mail-order mattresses that don’t live up to the testimonials, never-ending magazine subscriptions: These are some of the things people call Miami-Dade’s Consumer Protection Mediation Center to complain about.

“We get every type of complaint you could imagine,” said Alejandra Castro-Nunez, public relations specialist with the Miami-Dade County Business Affairs Division.

But for the sixth year in a row, consumers’ biggest gripe is vehicle repairs, with 696 written complaints filed in 2012, according to a report by the Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources’ consumer protection center.

The next-highest number of complaints came from for-hire transportation, at 394 complaints. About a quarter of those complaints were related to lost-and-found issues.

Other categories high on the list were housing service (175 complaints in 2012), towing (171 complaints) and automotive sales (153 complaints).

Vehicle repair complaints saw a 29 percent decrease from 2011. Castro-Nunez attributes this in part to multiple citations starting to catch up with vehicle repair businesses.

“They’re getting the message,” she said.

A big portion of the vehicle repair complaints are about mechanics. Drivers who aren’t auto experts are susceptible to getting ripped off.

“It’s very easy to scam someone and tell them something’s wrong that’s not wrong. So it’s an industry that’s very high in scams,” she said.

Castro-Nunez said the county’s consumer advocates can still cite businesses they don’t regulate, but if there’s a pattern of complaints against such a business, they usually sue for unfair and deceptive business practices.

To file a complaint, a consumer must submit a written claim to the Consumer Protection Mediation Center.

Sometimes, an investigation can get thousands of dollars back.

Once, a tourist from New York called the department after coming to Miami on vacation.

She’d been to a psychic, who she said hypnotized her and later charged her $10,000 for the visit. A consumer advocate was able to get back $8,500.

Last year, the center garnered about $1.2 million in reimbursements.

Castro-Nunez said it depends on the case, but most of the time, the consumer gets some money back.

To prevent that entire process, though, people can call the county o find out if complaints have been filed against a company.

Mainly, she said, “we want to protect the businesses that are doing the right thing and we want to protect consumers.”

Gabe Cortez, owner of Plaza Tire & Auto Center near midtown in Miami, doesn’t receive many complaints from customers.

The key to his success, he said, is strong supervision, guidelines for employees and maintaining communication with customers.

“There are procedures,” he said. “There’s nothing magic about it.”

Cortez started his business in 1977 with one mechanic. He now has six, but he said the principles are the same.

“Treat the customer with friendliness and professionalism, and that’s about it.”

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