"Hebrew Hammer" sequel profits from crowdfunding campaign

"The Hebrew Hammer vs. Hitler," the sequel to 2003's "The Hebrew Hammer," will begin filming next year, after an innovative crowdfunding campaign that's raised $35,000 on Jewcer.com, the filmmakers announced Tuesday.
Adam Goldberg will return in the lead role, with principle photography expected to begin in May 2013.
In the film, Goldberg's character, now married and enjoying the good life in suburbia, is forced to dust off his black-leather couture to confront a new menace: a time-traveling Hitler intent on altering key moments in Jewish history.
The original film launched at Sundance and had a limited theatrical release before being picked up by Comedy Central in a five-year deal.
"It's been amazing," filmmaker Jonathan Kesselman, writer and director of both movies, said in a statement. "The fans are making this happen. The cult status of the first movie attracted millions of fans around the world, making crowd-funding a viable option. Funding is now in the hands of fans who can help make the movies they want to see."
Kesselman negotiated for the rights to the sequel with John Schmidt at ContentFilm, ending a near decade-long tussle and several attempts at getting it made.

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Instagram says no plans to put user photos in ads

Instagram, the popular photo-sharing service owned by Facebook Inc, said on Tuesday it has "no plans" to incorporate user photos into ads in response to a growing public outcry over new privacy policies unveiled this week.
Instagram Chief Executive Kevin Systrom said in a blog post that users had incorrectly interpreted Instagram's revised terms of service, released on Monday, to mean that user photos would be sold to others without compensation.
"This is not true and it is our mistake that this language is confusing," Systrom said. "To be clear: it is not our intention to sell your photos. We are working on updated language in the terms to make sure this is clear."
But Systrom said Instagram may display users' profile pictures and information about who they follow as part of an ad - a social marketing technique similar to what Facebook uses in its "sponsored stories" ad product.
He added that Instagram will not incorporate users' uploaded photos as ads because the service wants "to avoid things like advertising banners."
Instagram, which is free to use, triggered an uproar this week when it revised its terms of service in order to begin carrying advertising.
Facebook bought the fast-growing photo service - now with 100 million users - earlier this year in a cash-and-stock deal valued initially at $1 billion. The transaction closed in September at $715 million, reflecting a decline in the value of Facebook shares.

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Sberbank to buy Yandex online payments service: source

 Sberbank, Russia's top lender, plans to buy Yandex.Dengi, an online payment service owned by Russian search engine Yandex, a source familiar with the matter said.
Sberbank declined to comment. Yandex, which was not available to comment, was expected to hold a news conference on Wednesday.
Sberbank, which accounts for a third of overall lending in Russia, has been expanding in the consumer credit market amid weak corporate loan portfolio growth.
In recent years, it has launched its own credit card business and tied up with French bank BNP Paribas in a joint venture focusing on point-of-sale lending, a popular form of in-store consumer finance in Russia.
Yandex, which raised $1.4 billion when it floated on the U.S. stock market in May 2011, came under scrutiny during election protests over the past year when it was reported that opposition leaders were raising funds via Yandex.Dengi.

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Tubular raises $2.5 million to serve burgeoning YouTube industry

Tubular, a small San Francisco start-up that provides analytics for YouTube content creators, has raised $2.5 million in venture capital in the latest sign of how far the business ecosystem has evolved around the Google-owned video repository.
YouTube was once known as Wild West of online video, but over the past two years Google has focused on raising the quality of YouTube content through a series of direct investments and the cultivation of third-party "networks".
The result is a cluster of small studios, mostly based in Los Angeles, that acts like a digital Hollywood, pumping out slick YouTube hits.
With the ultimate goal of hosting enough high-quality content to lure big-spending advertisers to YouTube, Google doled out more than $100 million last year in grants to its networks and bedroom stars.
In May Google led a group of investors who poured $35 million into Machinima, a leading network, to stoke growth in the YouTube industry.
That market has now grown to the point that it can support its own start-ups, says Tubular's founder Rob Gabel.
COMPETITION
As more semi-professional and professional YouTube creators enter the sector, with increasing competition among them, there is a growing need for analytical services.
Tubular is one such service, allowing customers to monitor and measure when videos get the most views and comments, or the sources of referred traffic.
The software includes a dashboard that displays the real-time analytics, which are generated by tapping into a stream of data provided by YouTube.
"If YouTube is a multibillion-dollar market, then that's billions of dollars going out to content creators who can then invest that again," said Gabel, a former Machinima employee.
"On every platform, from Google to Facebook to Twitter, people have turned to third parties' helpful tools."
At a high level, the pie is large and continuing to grow rapidly. Former Citi analyst Mark Mahaney estimates that YouTube will bring Google a total of $3.6 billion in 2012.
Rich Heitzmann, a co-founder of FirstMark Capital, which led Tubular's latest funding round, said that Google is far from wringing out all of the potential revenue from YouTube.
"We think the ecosystem is at least the size of Facebook's, considering it has a billion users and if you consider the time spent on YouTube," Heitzmann said.
"The advertising opportunities are there, and yet the ecosystem hasn't evolved technologically."
SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS
Other investors in Tubular's first tranche of equity financing included High Line Venture Partners, SV Angel, Lerer Ventures and Bedrocket Media Ventures.
Still, Gabel is betting that he can create a long-term, sustainable business on YouTube's platform at a time when some Silicon Valley companies are wary of building on the backs of larger companies.
Twitter, for instance, courted controversy this year when it made a business decision to shut off its firehose of data for a number of popular third-party developers to drive more visitors to its own site.
Allen DeBevoise, the CEO of Machinima who is also a Tubular investor, said that YouTube has reason to foster its independent developers rather than squash them.
"It's a thriving and fast-moving ecosystem now," he said. "But a lot of players are needed to make it all work."
Though Gabel acknowledges that the YouTube industry's rapid expansion is no guarantee of success, he has high hopes.

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Instagram tests new limits in user privacy

 Instagram, which spurred suspicions this week that it would sell user photos after revising its terms of service, has sparked renewed debate about how much control over personal data users must give up to live and participate in a world steeped in social media.
In forcefully establishing a new set of usage terms, Instagram, the massively popular photo-sharing service owned by Facebook Inc, has claimed some rights that have been practically unheard of among its prominent social media peers, legal experts and consumer advocates say.
Users who decline to accept Instagram's new privacy policy have one month to delete their accounts, or they will be bound by the new terms. Another clause appears to waive the rights of minors on the service. And in the wake of a class-action settlement involving Facebook and privacy issues, Instagram has added terms to shield itself from similar litigation.
All told, the revised terms reflect a new, draconian grip over user rights, experts say.
"This is all uncharted territory," said Jay Edelson, a partner at the Chicago law firm Edelson McGuire. "If Instagram is to encourage as many lawsuits as possible and as much backlash as possible then they succeeded."
Instagram's new policies, which go into effect January 16, lay the groundwork for the company to begin generating advertising revenue by giving marketers the right to display profile pictures and other personal information such as who users follow in advertisements.
The new terms, which allow an advertiser to pay Instagram "to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata)" without compensation, triggered an outburst of complaints on the Web on Tuesday from users upset that Instagram would make money from their uploaded content.
The uproar prompted a lengthy blog post from the company to "clarify" the changes, with CEO Kevin Systrom saying the company had no current plans to incorporate photos taken by users into ads.
Instagram declined comment beyond its blog post, which failed to appease critics including National Geographic, which suspended new posts to Instagram. "We are very concerned with the direction of the proposed new terms of service and if they remain as presented we may close our account," said National Geographic, an early Instagram adopter.
PUSHING BOUNDARIES
Consumer advocates said Facebook was using Instagram's aggressive new terms to push the boundaries of how social media sites can make money while its own hands were tied by recent agreements with regulators and class action plaintiffs.
Under the terms of a 2011 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, Facebook is required to get user consent before personal information is shared beyond their privacy settings. A preliminary class action lawsuit settlement with Facebook allows users to opt-out of being included in the "sponsored stories" ads that use their personal information.
Under Instagram's new terms, users who want to opt-out must simply quit using the service.
"Instagram has given people a pretty stark choice: Take it or leave, and if you leave it you've got to leave the service," said Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a Internet user right's group.
What's more, he said, if a user initially agrees to the new terms but then has a change of mind, their information could still be used for commercial purposes.
In a post on its official blog on Tuesday, Instagram did not address another controversial provision that states that if a child under the age of 18 uses the service, then it is implied that his or her parent has tacitly agreed to Instagram's terms.
"The notion is that minors can't be bound to a contract. And that also means they can't be bound to a provision that says they agree to waive the rights," said the EFF's Opsahl.
BLOCKING CLASS ACTION SUITS
While Facebook continues to be bogged in its own class action suit, Instagram took preventive steps to avoid a similar legal morass.
Its new terms of service require users with a legal complaint to enter arbitration, rather than take the company to court. It prohibits users from joining a class action lawsuit unless they mail a written "opt-out" statement to Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park within 30 days of joining Instagram.
That provision is not included in terms of service for other leading social media companies like Twitter, Google, YouTube or even Facebook itself, and it immunizes Instagram from many forms of legal liability, said Michael Rustad, a professor at Suffolk University Law School.
Rustad, who has studied the terms of services for 157 social media services, said just 10 contained provisions prohibiting class action lawsuits.
The clause effectively cripples users who want to legally challenge the company because lawyers will not likely represent an individual plaintiff, Rustad argued.
"No lawyers will take these cases," Rustad said. "In consumer arbitration cases, everything is stacked against the consumer. It's a pretense, it's a legal fiction, that there are remedies."
Instagram, which has 100 million users, allows consumers to tweak the photos they take on their smartphones and share the images with friends. Facebook acquired Instagram in September for $715 million.
Instagram's take-it-or-leave-it policy pushes the envelope for how social networking companies treat user privacy issues, said Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
"I think Facebook is probably using Instagram to see how far it can press this advertising model," said Rotenberg. "If they can keep a lot of users, then all those users have agreed to have their images as part of advertising."

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Asia stocks rise as Japan gets new government

 Asian stock markets rose Wednesday as traders snapped up stocks before the end of the year, while the Tokyo benchmark hit a nine-month high after a new, pro-business government prepared to assume leadership in a country plagued for years by economic lethargy.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index surged 1.5 percent to close at 10,230.36 as a further weakening yen gave momentum to the country's major exporters. That was its highest close since March 27.
Incoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has put pressure on the Bank of Japan to raise its inflation target from 1 to 2 percent to extricate the country from two decades of deflation — continually dropping prices — which has deadened economic activity.
Abe named a new Cabinet on Wednesday, following the resignation of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's government. Abe has urged the central bank to take steps to dampen the strength of the country's currency. A strong yen has hobbled big exporters like Toyota by eroding the value of repatriated earnings and making Japanese products more expensive overseas.
Abe has also called for aggressive public works spending to invigorate a languid economy.
South Korea's Kospi rose marginally to 1,982.25. Stocks in mainland China, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines also rose. The gains were reflective of investors with extra cash wanting to avoid missing out on an end-of-the-year rally.
"People want to get invested. In previous years, we've seen good rallies around the end of the year," Hong Kong-based analyst Andrew Sullivan said in a recent interview.
Markets in Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand were closed for holidays. Most markets in Europe reopen Thursday.
Among individual stocks, Japan's Fujitsu Ltd. rose 4.1 percent. Sharp Corp. soared 15.4 percent.
Yonhap News Agency said South Korean mobile carriers fell after being fined for discriminative subsidies. SK Telecom Co., South Korea's top mobile carrier, fell 0.6 percent.
On Wall Street on Monday, the last day of trading before Christmas, stocks fell on concern that time is running out for lawmakers to reach a budget deal to avoid the U.S. going over the "fiscal cliff." U.S. stock markets reopen Wednesday.
For weeks, discussions between the White House and Congress over a budget deal have been the main driver in markets. If a deal isn't reached by the start of 2013, automatic spending cuts and tax increases worth hundreds of billions of dollars will be imposed — which many economists think could push the U.S. economy back into recession.
Benchmark oil for February delivery rose 45 cents to $89.06 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract closed down 5 cents to $88.61 a barrel on the Nymex on Monday.
In currencies, the euro rose to $1.207 from $1.3192 late Monday in New York. The dollar rose to 85.36 yen from 84.23 yen.

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China consumers driving economic rebound: survey

 China's consumers are leading an uneven recovery in the world's second biggest economy that has retailers expecting stronger sales in six months, early results of a national survey showed on Wednesday.
The China Beige Book survey of more than 2,000 executives revealed that the retail sector had the strongest revenue growth and business expectations in the fourth quarter of 2012.
The survey broadly detected a mild economic recovery with the hard-hit sectors of real estate, mining and manufacturing - to a lesser extent - joining retail at the head of the upswing.
"The revenue growth pickup was notable in luxuries and durable goods - furniture, appliances, and autos," said the survey, conducted between October 26 and December 2 by New York-based CBB International and based on the U.S. Federal Reserve's economic report of the same name.
"Retailers' mood remains quite hopeful, with 72 percent forecasting higher sales in six months, up 4 points on last quarter. A remarkably low 6 percent foresee declines," it said, adding that 61 percent of retailers reported higher sales in the Q4 survey than in Q3.
The biggest bounces were seen in coastal Guangdong province, Beijing, the northeast and central regions of China - locations which Q3's survey found had the biggest spending falls.
The retail rebound was not evenly distributed, however, with Shanghai and the southwest region recording falls in spending.
The survey's findings are reflected in the most recent raft of economic indicators from China, revealing a mild rebound taking hold in Q4, and in policymaker comments.
China's retail sales grew 14.9 percent year-on-year in November, ahead of the 14.6 percent forecast in a Reuters poll.
China is on course to end 2012 with the slowest full year of growth since 1999 and while the 7.7 percent rate forecast in a benchmark Reuters poll is way above the world's other major economies, it is far below the roughly 10 percent annual growth seen for most of the last 30 years.
Weakness in the external environment remains a key drag on an economy in which exports generated 31 percent of gross domestic product in 2011, according to World Bank data, and where an estimated 200 million jobs are supported by foreign investment, or in factories producing for overseas markets.
RECOVERING, REBALANCING
The upside to the patchiness of the recovery is that it is being driven by services, which are calibrated more towards domestic demand. Geographic rebalancing away from prosperous coastal areas was also evident in the survey, with firms in the western region recording the highest revenue growth in Q4.
The survey had mixed findings for labor markets, with a 3 point rise to 34 percent in the proportion of firms citing an increased availability of unskilled labor, while 20 percent said shortages had increased.
Some 34 percent of firms increased their workforces in Q4 from Q3. Wage rises were reported by 52 percent of respondents.
Bankers questioned in the survey said credit conditions eased in Q4, but fewer firms borrowed. Meanwhile, banks and firms said loan rejections rose slightly, to 16 percent, and exposure to companies with excess production capacity was cut.
"Few corporate loans went to new customers: three-fifths of bankers say under 20 percent did — an astonishingly small number," the survey said.
"Most were debt rollovers or loan increases for existing clients. This is not yet a period of strong expansion."
The China Beige Book survey of face-to-face and telephone interviews compares conditions with the previous quarter and asks respondents to anticipate conditions three and six months ahead.
The survey sample includes executives from manufacturing, retail, service, transport, real estate and construction, farming, and mining. Respondents ran businesses of every size from the micro-level - employing up to 19 staff - to large firms with more than 500 employees. It also canvassed opinions from 160 bank loan officers and branch managers.
A detailed report of the survey's full findings will be published in early January.

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World's longest fast train line opens in China

 China on Wednesday opened the world's longest high-speed rail line that more than halves the time required to travel from the country's capital in the north to Guangzhou, an economic hub in southern China.
The opening of the 2,298 kilometer (1,428 mile)-line was commemorated by the 9 a.m. departure of a train from Beijing for Guangzhou. Another train left Guangzhou for Beijing an hour later.
China has massive resources and considerable prestige invested in its showcase high-speed railways program.
But it has in recent months faced high-profile problems: part of a line collapsed in central China after heavy rains in March, while a bullet train crash in the summer of 2011 killed 40 people. The former railway minister, who spearheaded the bullet train's construction, and the ministry's chief engineer, were detained in an unrelated corruption investigation months before the crash.
Trains on the latest high-speed line will initially run at 300 kph (186 mph) with a total travel time of about eight hours. Before, the fastest time between the two cities by train was more than 20 hours.
The line also makes stops in major cities along the way, including provincial capitals Shijiazhuang, Wuhan and Changsha.
More than 150 pairs of high-speed trains will run on the new line every day, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing the Ministry of Railways.
Railway is an essential part in China's transportation system, and the government plans to build a grid of high-speed railways with four east-west lines and four north-south lines by 2020.
The opening of the new line brings the total distance covered by China's high-speed railway system to more than 9,300 km (5,800 miles) — about half its 2015 target of 18,000 km.

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New Japan PM Abe says will pursue bold monetary policy

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday his government will pursue bold monetary policy, flexible fiscal policy and a growth strategy to encourage private investment.
"Japan won't have a future and won't be able to restore fiscal health without a strong economy," Abe told a news conference after taking office as the country's seventh prime minister in six years.
Abe has pledged to put top priority on beating deflation and taming the strong yen, which are dragging down the world's third biggest economy. He also wants to loosen the limits of Japan's post-World War Two pacifist constitution on the military and has vowed to take a firm stance in a territorial row with a rising China.

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Japan Abe taps allies for cabinet, pledges deflation fight

New Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed on Wednesday to battle deflation and a strong yen, and bolster ties with the United States as he kicked off a second administration committed to reviving the economy while coping with a rising China.
A hawk on security matters, Abe, 58, has promised aggressive monetary easing by the Bank of Japan and big fiscal spending by the debt-laden government to slay deflation and weaken the yen to make Japanese exports more competitive.
Critics worry, however, that he will pay too little heed to reforms needed to generate growth despite an ageing, shrinking population and reform a creaking social welfare system.
The grandson of a former prime minister, Abe has staged a stunning comeback five years after abruptly resigning as premier in the wake of a one-year term troubled partly by scandals in his cabinet and public outrage over lost pension records.
"With the strength of my entire cabinet, I will implement bold monetary policy, flexible fiscal policy and a growth strategy that encourages private investment, and with these three policy pillars, achieve results," Abe told a news conference after parliament voted him in as Japan's seventh prime minister in six years.
Abe's long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) surged back to power in this month's election, three years after a crushing defeat at the hands of the novice Democratic Party of Japan.
CLOSE ALLIES, PARTY RIVALS
Abe appointed a cabinet of close allies who share his conservative views in key posts, but leavened the line-up with LDP rivals to provide ballast and fend off criticism of cronyism that dogged his first administration.
Former prime minister Taro Aso, 72, was named finance minister and also received the financial services portfolio.
Ex-trade and industry minister Akira Amari becomes minister for economic revival, heading a new panel tasked with coming up with growth strategies such as deregulation.
Policy veteran Toshimitsu Motegi, as trade minister, will be tasked with formulating energy policy in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year.
Loyal Abe backer Yoshihide Suga was appointed chief cabinet secretary, a key post combining the job of top government spokesman with responsibility for coordinating among ministries.
Others who share Abe's agenda to revise the pacifist constitution and rewrite Japan's wartime history with a less apologetic tone were also given posts, including conservative lawmaker Hakubun Shimomura as education minister.
"These are really LDP right-wingers and close friends of Abe," said Sophia University professor Koichi Nakano. "It really doesn't look very fresh at all."
Fiscal hawk Sadakazu Tanigaki, whom Abe replaced as LDP leader in September, becomes justice minister while two rivals who ran unsuccessfully in that party race - Yoshimasa Hayashi and Nobuteru Ishihara - got the agriculture and environment/nuclear crisis portfolios respectively.
CENTRAL BANK THREATENED
Business leaders welcomed the new cabinet, but the biggest corporate lobby, Keidanren, urged the government to take part in the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact, Kyodo news agency said. The LDP has been wary of the pact given the political clout of the heavily protected farm sector.
The yen has weakened about 9.8 percent against the dollar since Abe was elected LDP leader in September. On Wednesday, it hit a 20-month low of 85.38 yen against the greenback on expectations of aggressive monetary policy easing.
Abe has threatened to revise a law guaranteeing the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) independence if it refuses to set a 2 percent inflation target.
BOJ minutes released on Wednesday showed the central bank was already pondering policy options in November, concerned about looming risks to the economy. The BOJ stood pat at its November rate review meeting, but eased this month in response to intensifying pressure from Abe.
Abe also promised during the election campaign to take a tough stance in territorial rows with China and South Korea over separate chains of tiny islands, while placing priority on strengthening Japan's alliance with the United States.
On Wednesday, he repeated his resolve to firm up ties with Washington and his intention to protect "the people's lives, Japanese territory and its beautiful oceans".
China expressed hope that Abe's cabinet would work with Beijing to improve ties, but reiterated that the disputed isles were its territory. "We hope Japan works with China with sincerity and makes real efforts to solve relevant problems through dialogue and negotiations," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying told a news conference in Beijing.
Abe named low-profile lawmakers to the foreign and defense portfolios. Itsunori Onodera, 52, who was senior vice foreign minister in Abe's first cabinet, becomes defense minister while Fumio Kishida, 55, a former state minister for issues related to Okinawa island - host to the bulk of U.S. forces in Japan - was appointed to the top diplomatic post. Unlike many others in the cabinet, Kishida has an image as something of a diplomatic dove.
Abe, who hails from a wealthy political family, made his first overseas visit to China to repair chilly ties when he took office in 2006, but has said his first trip this time will be to the United States.
He may, however, put contentious issues that could upset key trade partner China and fellow-U.S. ally South Korea on the backburner to concentrate on boosting the economy, now in its fourth recession since 2000, ahead of an election for parliament's upper house in July.
The LDP and its small ally, the New Komeito party, won a two-thirds majority in the 480-seat lower house in the December 16 election. That allows the lower house to enact bills rejected by the upper house, where the LDP-led block lacks a majority.
But the process is cumbersome, so the LDP is keen to win a majority in the upper house to end the parliamentary deadlock that has plagued successive governments since 2007.

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Obamas Greet Troops on Christmas

 In what has become a holiday tradition, President Obama and the first lady spent this Christmas afternoon greeting service members at the Marines Corps base near their Hawaiian vacation home.
Spreading some holiday cheer, the Obamas wished the troops and their families a Merry Christmas and thanked them for their service.
"This looks like it was a nice rather than naughty crowd so I'm sure Santa treated you well," a casually dressed Obama joked as he walked into the mess hall at the base in Kaneohe Bay.
"One of our favorite things is always coming to the base on Christmas Day and having a chance just to meet you, those of you who have families here, and to say thank you for the extraordinary work and service that you guys do each and every day," he said in his brief remarks.
Obama noted that "we're still in a wartime footing" even as troops withdraw from Afghanistan.
"Some of you may have loved ones who are deployed there. Some of you may be about to be deployed there. And so we know that it's not easy," he said.
"But what we also want you to know is that you have the entire country behind you, and that all of us understand that we would be nowhere without the extraordinary service that you guys provide," he said.
After his remarks, the president and first lady, dressed in a black and white sundress, posed for pictures with the troops.

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Fiscal Cliff: Obama Returning to DC

With the country barreling towards the "fiscal cliff," President Obama is interrupting his Hawaiian holiday vacation to return to the gridlock in Washington.
The president will depart Hawaii for Washington late Wednesday, the White House announced today. The first lady and daughters, Malia and Sasha, will remain on their vacation.
Obama told reporters last week that he is a "hopeless optimist" and continues to believe a budget deal can be reached before broad tax increases and steep spending cuts kick in on Jan. 1, threatening to plunge the nation back into a recession. House Speaker John Boehner has admitted "God only knows" the solution to the standoff.
With the deadline less than a week away, lawmakers are also due to be back in Washington on Thursday. Obama's return was expected. He told reporters at the White House Friday that he would "see you next week."
The president spent Christmas with friends and family at his vacation house in Kailua, a cozy beach town on the east coast of Oahu.

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U.S. may expand mortgage refinance program: WSJ

The U.S. government is considering expanding its mortgage refinancing program to include borrowers whose mortgages are not backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac , the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the discussions. (http://link.reuters.com/mej84t)
The refinancing program now being considered also seeks to include "underwater" borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth, the Journal said.
The proposal would also transfer potentially riskier loans held by private investors to the government-sponsored mortgage entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the paper said.
Such a move would require congressional authorization to temporarily change the charters of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to the Journal.
About 22 percent of all homes with a mortgage, or around 10.8 million homes, down from 12.1 million last year, were worth less than the outstanding balance at the end of June, the Journal said, citing data from CoreLogic.
Under the proposal, Fannie and Freddie would be allowed to charge higher rates to borrowers in order to compensate for the risk of guaranteeing refinanced loans that are underwater and more likely to result in default.
Officials at the U.S. Treasury could not be reached for comment by Reuters outside of regular U.S. business hours.
Combined with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which buy loans and repackage them as securities for investors, Washington's footprint in the market has grown to account for nearly nine of every 10 mortgages.

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DC hotels less busy for Obama's 2nd inauguration

 Visitors coming to the nation's capital for President Barack Obama's second inauguration can't stay in the one place President Ronald Reagan's family once called an eight-star hotel. That spot is the White House, and it's booked for the next four years. Still, inauguration-goers have a range of lodging options — from crashing on a friend's couch to rooms that cost thousands of dollars a night.
With second inaugurations tending to draw fewer spectators, finding a place to stay in Washington won't be nearly as difficult as in 2009.
City officials are expecting 600,000 to 800,000 visitors for the Jan. 21 inauguration, far less than the 1.8 million people who flooded the National Mall four years ago to witness the inauguration of America's first black president. Back then, some hotels sold out months in advance and city residents rented out their homes for hundreds of dollars a night. This time, hotels say they're filling up more slowly, with rooms still available and prices at or slightly below where they were four years ago.
"Very few hotels are actually sold out at this point, so there's a lot of availability," said Elliott Ferguson, CEO of the tourism bureau Destination DC, who added that he expected demand to pick up after Christmas.
In 2009, hotel occupancy in the city for the night before the inauguration was 98 percent, and visitors paid an average daily rate of more than $600 that night, according to STR, a company that tracks hotel data. This time, some hotels still have half their rooms available. As a result, some establishments have relaxed minimum stays from four nights to three and could drop prices closer to the inauguration if demand does not increase.
Despite the muted enthusiasm, many of the city's posh hotels are still offering pricy packages. Visitors with an unlimited budget can check in to accommodations almost as grand and historic as the White House.
At The Willard hotel, about a block from the White House, rooms were still available starting at more than $1,100 a night with a four-night minimum. That means every guest will pay more than President Abraham Lincoln did when he checked out after his 1861 inauguration and paid $773.75 for a stay of more than a week.
At the Park Hyatt hotel in northwest Washington, where rooms start at $849 a night with a four-night minimum stay, the presidential suite is still available. For the 57th presidential inauguration next month, the hotel is charging $57,000 for a four-night package in the suite that includes butler service. And no one has yet booked $100,000 packages at the Fairmont hotel or the Ritz-Carlton.
A number of the city's luxury hotels plan special treats for guests, some of whom will be paying two to five times as much to stay during the inauguration compared with staying in the same room a week before. At the Ritz-Carlton, for example, where rooms start at about $1,100 per day, guests will get to bring home commemorative pillowcases embroidered with the official inauguration seal and their initials.
There are options for visitors looking to spend less, too, though some wallet-friendly choices have filled quickly.
Rooms at HI-DC, a hostel in downtown Washington, were sold out the day after the Nov. 6 election, with a bed in a dorm room going for $50 a night and private rooms for $150. With all the rooms sold, the hostel is finalizing plans for an election trivia night for guests.
Aunt Bea's Little White House, a six-room bed and breakfast in northeast Washington, still had two rooms available the week before Christmas, with rates starting at $225 a night. Innkeeper Gerald Duval said that included a bottle of champagne and a commemorative coin. There'll also be red-and-white bunting on the home's porch along with cutouts of the president and first lady.
Farther from downtown, the Best Western Plus hotel in Rockville, Md., was about 80 percent full with rooms at about $180 a night, down from a $209 starting rate. Director of Sales Ron Wallach said the hotel targeted some groups before the election, including students, journalists and the Secret Service, in order to fill its rooms.
Other travelers looking for budget-friendly prices may have success with websites like Craigslist or Airbnb, where homeowners offer their places for a price. More than 200 Craigslist housing posts in the area included the word "inauguration." Airbnb said it expected approximately 2,000 people to stay in Washington during the inauguration using its site.
Other travelers have told friends and family living in the area to plan on having guests. Lauren Hines and her husband had three people stay at their small Capitol Hill apartment during the 2009 inauguration, so many that one slept in a hallway. She and her husband now live in nearby Alexandria, Va., and planned to host her father-in-law, and maybe mother-in-law, from Ohio. Hines said they didn't even consider a hotel.

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Explosion in Afghan city of Khost, Taliban say target U.S. base

KHOST, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A blast in the eastern Afghan city of Khost on Wednesday wounded three people, and the Taliban said they had sent a suicide bomber in a vehicle to attack an American military base.
The area's police chief said the explosion took place near a U.S. base, which is beside a military airport. Hospital officials said three people were wounded and the number of casualties was expected to rise.
The al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network, widely regarded as the United States' most dangerous foe in Afghanistan, is active in Khost, which is on the Pakistani border.
Three years ago, an al Qaeda-linked Jordanian double-agent killed seven CIA employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer in a suicide bombing at a U.S. base in Khost.
Afghan authorities are scrambling to improve security across Afghanistan before the U.S. combat mission ends in 2014.

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Start of "Santa Claus rally" dampened by "cliff' worries

U.S. stocks edged lower on Monday as caution over the potential for volatility driven by worries about the U.S. "fiscal cliff" dampened enthusiasm at the start of a seasonally strong period for equities. Investors are betting Congress will reach a deal to avert most of the austerity measures due to come into force at the start of next year. That has led to the best year for stocks since the post-financial crisis rebound. But those gains may be quickly reversed if a deal is not reached soon. The S&P 500 index posted its biggest drop in more than a month on Friday as a Republican plan to avoid the cliff - $600 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts that could tip the U.S. economy into recession - failed to gain traction on Thursday night. Sharp moves like that highlight how headlines from Washington can whipsaw markets, especially during the thinly traded period over the Christmas holiday. Still, with the S&P 500 up 0.7 percent in December and on course for its strongest month since September, some analysts are predicting that stocks will find their footing during a market seasonality known as the "Santa Claus rally." "Right now we've seen some very constructive action in the market so I think that bodes well for this being a positive seasonal 'Santa' period over the coming seven days," said Ari Wald, a technical analyst at The PrinceRidge Group. He noted an all-time high in the NYSE advance-decline line, which compares advancing and declining stocks, as indication of strong participation in the rally off November lows. "Pull-backs are buying opportunities," said Wald. "There has been really great participation on this move, a lot of small- and mid-cap stocks behaving well, pushing out to the upside; we're seeing some good leadership from offensive sectors of the market as well." A high ratio of advancing stocks to declining issues shows there is broad participation across the equity market. The Santa seasonality covers the last five trading days of the year and the first two of the new year. Since 1928, the S&P 500 has averaged a gain of 1.8 percent during this period and risen 79 percent of the time, according to data from PrinceRidge. The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> dropped 51.76 points, or 0.39 percent, to 13,139.08. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> fell 3.49 points, or 0.24 percent, to 1,426.66. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> lost 8.41 points, or 0.28 percent, to 3,012.60. The S&P 500 is up more than 13 percent for the year, having recovered nearly all the losses suffered in the wake of the U.S. election. The yearly gain would be the best since 2009. Some U.S. lawmakers expressed concern on Sunday the country would go over the cliff, as some Republicans charged that was President Barack Obama's goal. Talks are stalled with Obama and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner out of Washington for the holidays. "It does seem like we are continuing through the same drift of the same thing we've had the past couple of weeks - 'cliff' talk," said Nick Scheumann, wealth partner at Hefty Wealth Partners in Auburn, Indiana. "You can't trade on what you don't know and we truly don't know what they are going to do," he said. Congress is expected to return to Washington next Thursday as President Barack Obama returns from a trip to Hawaii. As the deadline draws closer, a 'stop-gap' deal appears to be the most likely outcome of any talks. Trading volume was muted, with U.S. equity markets closing at 1 p.m. (1800 GMT) ahead of the Christmas Day holiday on Tuesday. In addition, a number of European markets operated on a shortened session, with other markets closed. U.S. retailers may not see a sales surge from this weekend as ho-hum discounts and fears about imminent tax hikes and cuts in government spending give Americans fewer reasons to open their wallets in the last few days before Christmas. Aegerion Pharmaceuticals Inc said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Juxtapid capsules in patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, but will conduct a post-approval study to test long-term safety and efficacy. Shares fell 1.8 percent to $25.25. Herbalife Ltd dipped 4.4 percent to $26.06 after the company said it expects to exceed its previously announced repurchase authorization guidance and has retained Moelis & Company as its strategic adviser. The declines put the stock on track for a ninth straight decline. Yum Brands Inc advanced 1.8 percent to $65.01 after Shanghai's food safety authority said the level of antibiotics and steroids in the company's KFC chicken was within official limits.

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Chevron to buy stake in Kitimat LNG from Encana, EOG

Chevron Corp said on Monday it will enter the Canadian liquefied natural gas business with the acquisition of the 50 percent stake in the Kitimat LNG project held by Encana Corp and EOG Resources Inc. Chevron will take Encana's and EOG's 30 percent stakes in the LNG-export project for an undisclosed price as the No.2 U.S. oil company looks to jumpstart North American natural gas exports. It will also buy the two companies' interest in a pipeline serving the project, at Kitimat, 650 kilometers (400 miles) north of Vancouver, and will pay $550 million for a half stake in 644,000 acres of exploration lands in the Horn River and Liard shale-gas fields owned by Apache Corp. Apache will then pay Chevron $150 million to raise its stake in the British Columbia project and associated lands to 50 percent, netting the U.S. independent oil and gas producer $400 million from the transaction. Analysts say the addition of a deep-pocketed partner increases the likelihood that the multi-billion dollar Kitimat LNG -- the most advanced of a handful of gas-export facilities slated for British Columbia's northern coast -- will be completed. "With Chevron involved it will happen sooner than it otherwise would have," said Michael Dunn, an analyst with FirstEnergy Capital. Though no price was given, Robert Morris, an analyst with Citi Research, estimates that Encana and EOG each received about $450 million for their stakes and the exploration lands. Kitimat LNG was last year awarded Canada's first LNG export license by the National Energy Board, allowing it to export 10 million tons of LNG per year. The project is slated to begin shipping gas to Asian markets by 2017. Other Canadian LNG facilities are planned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Malaysia's Petronas, BG Group Plc and others, making British Columbia a rival to the U.S. Gulf coast, where nine projects have been announced and one, Cheniere Energy Inc's, Sabine Pass project, is already under construction. Chevron has existing LNG projects in Australia, Africa and South America. Adding the Canadian operation will let it tap high-priced export markets and escape a domestic gas market that remains depressed because of burgeoning production from shale gas fields. "This investment grows our global LNG portfolio and builds upon our LNG construction, operations and marketing capabilities," George Kirkland, Chevron's vice chairman, said in a statement. "It is ideally situated to meet rapidly growing demand for reliable, secure, and cleaner-burning fuels in Asia, which are projected to approximately double from current levels by 2025." Encana said the sale of its stake was consistent with its plan to focus on its core natural gas business and that the deal will reduce its future capital commitments while EOG will now focus on U.S. crude oil production. The acquisition is expected to close it the first quarter of 2013. Chevron shares fell $1.00 to $108.71 by early afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange while Apache fell $1.35 to $78.65 and EOG dropped 72 cents to $122.83 Encana shares were down 51 Canadian cents at C$19.62 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

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Lawmakers play waiting game with "fiscal cliff" deadline in sight

With only a week left before a deadline for the United States to go over a "fiscal cliff," lawmakers played a waiting game on Monday in the hope that someone will produce a plan to avoid harsh budget cuts and higher taxes for most Americans from New Year's Day. Though Republicans and Democrats have spent the better part of a year describing a plunge off the cliff as a looming catastrophe, the nation's capital showed no outward signs of worry, let alone impending calamity. The White House has set up shop in Hawaii, where President Barack Obama is vacationing. The Capitol was deserted and the Treasury Department - which would have to do a lot of last-minute number-crunching with or without a deal - was closed. So were all other federal government offices, with Obama having followed a tradition of declaring the Monday before a Tuesday Christmas a holiday for government employees, notwithstanding the approaching fiscal cliff. Expectations for some 11th-hour rescue focused largely on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, in part because he has performed the role of legislative wizard in previous stalemates. But McConnell, who is up for re-election in 2014, was shunning the role this year, his spokesman saying that it was now up to the Democrats in the Senate to make the next move. "We don't yet know what Senator Reid will bring to the floor. He is not negotiating with us and the president is out of town," said McConnell's spokesman, referring to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat. "So I just don't know what they're going to do over there," he said. Two-day-old tweets on leadership websites told the story insofar as it was visible to the public. House Speaker John Boehner's referred everyone to McConnell. McConnell's tweet passed the responsibility along to Obama, saying it was a "moment that calls for presidential leadership." Reid's tweet said: "There will be very serious consequences for millions of families if Congress fails to act" on the cliff. The next session of the Senate is set for Thursday, but the issues presented by across-the-board tax hikes and indiscriminate reductions in government spending, were not on the calendar. The House has nothing on its schedule for the week, but members have been told they could be called back at 48 hours notice, making a Thursday return a theoretical possibility. However, aides to the Republican leaders in Congress said there were no talks with Democrats on Monday and none scheduled after negotiations fell off track last week when Boehner failed to persuade House Republicans to accept tax increases on incomes of more than $1 million a year. "Nothing new, Merry Christmas," an aide to Boehner responded when asked if there was any movement on the fiscal cliff. SCALED-BACK EXPECTATIONS If there is some last-minute legislation, Republicans and Democrats agreed on Sunday news shows that it will not be any sort of "grand bargain" encompassing taxes and spending cuts, but most likely a short-term deal putting everything off for a few weeks or months, thereby risking a negative market reaction. A limited agreement would still need bipartisan support, as Obama has said he would veto a bill that does not raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans. On Monday, Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison urged fellow Republicans to be flexible. "We're now at a point where we're not going to get what we think is right for our economy and our country because we don't control government. So we've got to work within the system we have," she told MSNBC. Two bills in Congress could conceivably form the basis for a last-minute stopgap measure. Last spring, Republicans in the House passed a measure that would extend Bush-era tax cuts for everyone, reflecting the party's deep reluctance to increase taxes. The Democratic-controlled Senate passed a bill in August, extending lower tax rates for everyone except the wealthiest Americans - a group defined at that point as households with a net income of $250,000 or above. Obama has since increased that to $400,000 a year, in an effort to win Republican support. Analysts say Democrats might be able to get the backing of enough Republicans in both the House and Senate, especially if they are willing to raise the number to $500,000. Under that scenario, lawmakers might also put off spending cuts of $109 billion that would take effect from January and agree to Republican demands for cuts in entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, the government-run health insurance plans for seniors and the poor. However, with only a few work days left in Congress after Christmas, there is a good chance that no deal can be worked out and tax rates would then go up, at least briefly, until an agreement is reached in Washington. "We may go off the cliff on January 1, but we would correct that very quickly thereafter," Democratic Representative John Yarmuth told MSNBC. The prospects of the United States going over the fiscal cliff dampened enthusiasm on Wall Street for a "Santa rally" in the holiday season, when stocks traditionally rise. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 51.76 points, or 0.39 percent, in Monday's shortened holiday session. Failure to work out tax rates in the coming days would cause chaos at the Internal Revenue Service, said analyst Chris Krueger of Guggenheim Securities. "Next weekend is going to be a total, total debacle," he said. The IRS is unlikely to have enough time to revise its tables for withholding taxes. "The withholding tables are sort of like an aircraft carrier, you can't turn the thing on a dime." he said.

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Stocks dip with budget deal in doubt at year's end

Stocks fell in light trading Monday during a shortened holiday trading session with lawmakers running out of time to reach a budget deal that would prevent the U.S. from going over the so-called fiscal cliff. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 52 points to 13,139.08. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gave up 3 points to 1,426.66 The Nasdaq composite slipped 8.4 points to 3,012.60. In more than a dozen interviews with The Associated Press, conservative activists said they would rather see the country fall off the cliff than agree to any tax increases for any Americans, no matter how wealthy. With many in Washington away for the holidays, that scenario appears increasingly likely. "There is starting to become a little bit of an acceptance that we fall off the fiscal cliff," said JJ Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist for TD Ameritrade. "People are starting to think about how they may plan their portfolio if that does happen." Stocks fell sharply Friday, with the Dow logging its biggest drop in more than a month, after House Republicans called off a vote on tax rates. That left federal budget talks in disarray just days before sweeping tax increases and government spending cuts are scheduled to take effect. Sen. Joe Lieberman said Sunday that "it's the first time that I feel it's more likely we'll go over the cliff than not," following the collapse late Thursday of House Speaker John Boehner's plan to allow tax rates to rise on million-dollar-plus incomes. Wyoming Sen. Jon Barrasso, a member of the Republican leadership, predicted the new year would come without an agreement. Failure to agree on a budget plan before year-end would lead to simultaneous spending cuts and tax hikes that many fear may push the economy back into recession. President Barack Obama and Congress are on a short holiday break. Congress is expected to be back at work Thursday and Obama will be back in the White House after a few days in Hawaii. J.C. Penney Co.'s stock jumped after Oppenheimer analysts reiterated a "Buy" rating on the company Monday, saying that traffic in stores in the final weekend before Christmas was strong. The analysts said that this made them more optimistic that the company's new approach to promotion will help it through the holidays and into 2013. The stock gained 28 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $19.87. Other retailers may struggle though this holiday season, as Christmas shoppers rein in their spending, their spirits dampened by concerns about the economy and the aftermath of shootings and storms. Marshal Cohen, chief research analyst at NPD Inc., a market research firm with a network of analysts at shopping centers nationwide, estimates customer traffic over the weekend was in line with the same time a year ago, but that shoppers are spending less. Shoppers are increasingly worried about the fiscal cliff deadline, adding to the fall's retail woes after Superstorm Sandy's passage up the East Coast. Consumer spending drives about 70 percent of economic growth, so how confident people are about parting with money is crucial for any economic recovery. Falling stocks outnumbered gainers by a ratio of five to one in the 30-member Dow, with technology companies leading the decliners. Hewlett-Packard fell 33 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $14.01 and Microsoft Corp. dropped 39 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $27.06. Stocks may also come under pressure in coming days as investors who have seen their holdings gain this year, decide to sell and book the capital gains tax in 2012 so as to avoid any potential increase in that tax rate next year, according to Kinahan, of TD Ameritrade. "People who have had a nice year in a particular stock may say 'why not take the hit this year,' " said Kinahan. Barring a dramatic sell-off in the year's final days of trading, stocks will end the year higher on signs that the U.S. housing market is recovering and the U.S. economy is adding jobs. The Federal Reserve also announced a third-round of its so-called quantitative easing program in September. The program, intended to lower the cost of borrowing and spur lending, helped underpin demand for stocks. The S&P 500 is 13 percent higher for the year, the Dow is almost 8 percent up and the Nasdaq is nearly 16 percent higher. Trading volumes were lower than average today before the Christmas holiday Tuesday. The stock market will close at 1 p.m. Monday and will reopen Wednesday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose 1 basis point to 1.78 percent. Among other stocks making big moves: —Herbalife Ltd., the nutritional supplements company, fell $1.21, or 4.4 percent, to $26.06. The stock has tumbled 43 percent this month after William Ackman, the founder and CEO of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management L.P., claimed that the nutritional supplements company is a pyramid scheme. The company said Monday that it would hold an analyst and investor meeting Jan. 10 to discuss the company's business in detail.

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Shoppers found bigger sales, smaller crowds

Shoppers who waited until the final days before Christmas were rewarded with big bargains and lighter crowds. But their last-minute deal hunting may hurt stores. Although fresh data on the holiday shopping season won't be available until Christmas, analysts expect growth from last year to be modest. Several factors have dampened shoppers' spirits, including fears that the economy could fall off the "fiscal cliff," triggering tax increases and spending cuts early next year. On Christmas Eve, Taubman Centers, which operates 28 malls across the country, reported a "very strong weekend." But many last-minute shoppers in cities including New York, Atlanta and Indianapolis were spending less than they did last year, and taking advantage of big discounts of up to 70 percent that hurt stores' profits. Kris Betzold, 40, of Carmel, Ind., was out at the Fashion Mall at Keystone in Indianapolis on Monday looking for deals on toys, and said she's noticed the sales are "even better now than they were at Thanksgiving." She said the economy has prompted her and her husband to be more frugal this year. "We under-budgeted ourselves by $400 for Christmas because we just wanted to put that money back in savings," she said. Dianne Ashford, 40, was at the Lenox Square Mall in Atlanta on Monday, said she was spending $500 on gifts this year, down from the $1,000 she normally spends. "Times are hard," said Ashford, who works for a film production company. The best deal she found this year was a guitar for her mother, half off at $79. Other last-minute shoppers said they were holding off as much as possible for even bigger post-holiday sales. Chris Ailes, a 37-year-old TV producer, also was at the Lenox Square on Monday to pick up last-minute gifts for his mom and grandmother. With the economy so shaky, he and his family are trying to cut back on spending. So he said he's looking forward to discounts after Christmas. "That's when the sales are going on," he said. At Macy's in New York, shopper Maureen Whyte had a similar game plan in mind. Whyte, a 33-year-old who works for an insurance company, was picking up last-minute stocking stuffers for her kids. For some toys, however, she was holding off for the post-Christmas sales and her kids understood why. "I told them, 'Whatever Mommy didn't get you, you'll get after this week,'" she said, noting that her children, ages 5 and 10, are fine waiting as long as they know they'll eventually get their toys. That's grim news for retailers, which typically get 40 percent of their annual sales in the critical November to December period. Although the week after Christmas is considered part of the season, by that time retailers are backed into a corner since it's their last chance to get rid of items that have been sitting on shelves for months. The steep discounts during that time mean sales are less profitable. ShopperTrak, which counts foot traffic and its own proprietary sales numbers from 40,000 retail outlets across the country, last Wednesday cut its forecast for holiday spending down to 2.5 percent growth to $257.7 billion, from prior expectations of a 3.3 percent rise. Online, sales rose just 8.4 percent to $48 billion from Oct. 28 through Saturday, according to a measure by MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse. That is below the online sales growth of between 15 to 17 percent seen in the prior 18-month period, according to the data service, which tracks all spending across all forms of payment, including cash. Marshal Cohen, chief research analyst at the market research firm NPD Inc., said retailers will have to be more aggressive than usual with discounts in the days after Christmas to get shoppers to spend. That could mean some stores will slash prices by as much as 80 percent to make shoppers believe the sales are a "once in a lifetime opportunity." "Consumers are going to be rewarded for waiting until after the holidays," he said.

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'So You Think You Can Dance' Hoofs It Into a 10th Season

Put on your dancing shoes; "So You Think You Can Dance" has been given a 10th season, Fox said Thursday. Auditions for the upcoming season will begin January 18 in Austin, Texas, before moving on to Detroit, Boston, Los Angeles and Memphis. Fox's president of alternative programming Mike Darnell praised "SYTYCD" creator Nigel Lythgoe in announcing the renewal. "I couldn't be more proud of the amazing work that Nigel and the entire 'So You Think You Can Dance' team has done over the past nine seasons," Darnell said. "This show is truly one of the most compelling series on television and I can't wait to bring it back for Season 10." Last season, the series underwent a format shakeup after Fox cut the show from two nights a week to one, eliminating the results shows.

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Martha Raddatz, Hot Off Debate Performance, Promoted at ABC News

Martha Raddatz, widely praised for her moderation of the vice presidential debate in October, has been given an expanded role as ABC News' chief global affairs correspondent. Jonathan Karl, meanwhile, will become the network's new chief White House correspondent, filling the void left by Jake Tapper's exit to CNN. Raddatz will replace Tapper as the primary substitute for George Stephanopoulos on "This Week" and will contribute regularly to the Sunday morning show's roundtable. Karl will also serve as a substitute and regularly appear on the roundtable. Tapper departed ABC in part because he has long been interested in hosting "This Week" full-time, but Stephanopoulos has no plans to give up the hosting job, a person familiar with the situation told TheWrap. ABC News President Ben Sherwood announced the new assignments for Raddatz and Karl on Thursday, soon after CNN announced Tapper's hiring. Karl has investigated wasteful federal spending, covered elections, and served as the network's senior national security correspondent. Raddatz has reported from the Pentagon, the State Department, the White House, and from conflict zones worldwide, including Afghanistan and Iraq. But she has been perhaps most celebrated for keeping the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan on course after the moderator of the first presidential debate, Jim Lehrer, was accused of letting the candidates run amok.

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Alan Ball's 'Banshee' Screeches Onto Cinemax in January

True Blood" creator Alan Ball's new television series "Banshee" will premiere January 11 at 10 p.m. on Cinemax, the network said Thursday. The drama, which is executive-produced by Ball and "House M.D." executive producer Greg Yaitanes, centers on ex-con and master thief Lucas Hood (played by "Rush" star Anthony Starr), who assumes the identity of the sheriff of Banshee, Pa., where he continues his criminal ways while being hunted by a team of gangsters from his past. Ivana Milicevic ("Charlie's Angels") and Ulrich Thomsen ("The Celebration") also star. Series writers Jonathan Tropper and David Schickler also executive-produce, along with Peter Macdissi. The pilot episode will re-air at 11:05 p.m. and 12:10 a.m., with additional re-airings on January 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 30.

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Ridley Scott, Paul Attanasio Working on "Vatican" Pilot for Showtime

Showtime is once again preparing to go papal. The network, which already has a Pope-centric hit in the form of "The Borgias," has given the green light to pilot tentatively titled "The Vatican," from Ridley Scott and Paul Attanasio, Showtime said Thursday. A contemporary exploration of the politics and power plays within the Catholic church, "The Vatican" will be written by Attanasio and directed by Scott, marking the first pilot that Scott has directed. "The Vatican" is described as "a provocative contemporary genre thriller about spirituality, power and politics - set against the modern-day political machinations within the Catholic church" that will "explore the relationships and rivalries as well as the mysteries and miracles behind one of the world's most hidden institutions." Production on "The Vatican," which is being produced by Sony Pictures Television in association with Showtime, will begin next year.

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'Walking Dead' Showrunner Glen Mazzara Leaving

Glen Mazzara, who led AMC's "The Walking Dead" to ratings highs after the exit of Frank Darabont, is leaving the show. The announcement came with the unsurprising news of a fourth-season pickup for the series. It continues AMC's rocky record with its showrunners, but the network said the decision was mutual. While AMC has clashed with showrunners before over money, a person familiar with the situation told TheWrap that this time the issue is "100 percent not about money or contracts." Rather, it is about a difference of opinion over where the show should go in the fourth season and beyond. It involves AMC, Mazzara and the show's writers and producers, who include Robert Kirkman, creator of the comics that provide the basis of the series. Kirkman might be the fans' choice to take over as showrunner, given that most of its characters were born on his pages. But he also has a busy career writing comics and novels. In a statement, Kirkman said he believes Mazzara and AMC came to the decision "in the best interest of the future of the show." In an interview with TheWrap in October, Mazzara said he would love to remain with the show until the end, "if AMC and the fans would have me." "I would love to be the guy shutting the lights off," he said at the time. It didn't work out that way, even though Mazzara has made "The Walking Dead" this season's top-rated drama -- even beating network shows. It also has a legitimate shot at ending the season as TV's top scripted show overall. "Both parties acknowledge that there is a difference of opinion about where the show should go moving forward, and conclude that it is best to part ways," AMC said in a statement. AMC also said the decision is "amicable" and that Mazzara will remain showrunner for the remainder of the third season, which resumes airing in February. The episodes have already been filmed, and Mazzara will oversee postproduction. He is also looking for his next project. "My time as showrunner on 'The Walking Dead' has been an amazing experience, but after I finish season 3, it's time to move on," said Mazzara. "I have told the stories I wanted to tell and connected with our fans on a level that I never imagined. It doesn't get much better than that. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this journey." Mazzara took over the show after Darabont parted ways with it after its first season. Darabont was just one of several showrunners to have issues with AMC. Jason Horwitch left "Rubicon" during its lone season. The third season of "Hell on Wheels" was briefly put on hold last month when showrunner John Shiban left. "Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner nearly walked from the show during a contract dispute last year. And "Breaking Bad" briefly looked into leaving AMC before creator Vince Gilligan's contract was renewed. Kirkman's full statement included his thanks to Mazzara and the show's fans. "I am in full support of both AMC and Glen Mazzara in the decision they have come to and believe the parties came to this decision in the best interest of the future of the show," Kirkman said. "I thank Glen for his hard work and appreciate his many contributions to 'The Walking Dead' and look forward to working with him as we complete post production on Season 3. I am also excited to begin work on another spectacular season of this show that I know means so much to so many people. This show has always been the result of a wide range of extremely talented men and women working tirelessly to produce their best work collectively. I believe the future is bright for 'The Walking Dead.' Thank you to the fans for your continued support." Executive producer Gale Anne Hurd also expressed her thanks. "I am appreciative and grateful to Glen for his hard work on ‘The Walking Dead,'" she wrote. "I am supportive of AMC and Glen's decision and know that the series is in great hands with one of the most talented and dedicated casts and crews in the business. I look forward to the show's continued success."

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