Women’s bouts on current season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ are blowing away men’s fights in the TV ratings

UFC president Dana White said he can hardly believe what he sees when he examines the ratings each week for the current season of 'The Ultimate Fighter' on Fox Sports 1. When there is a women's fight on, as there has been in weeks 1, 3 and 5, the ratings are up. When it's a men's fight, there is a noticeable decline in viewership.

The three women's fights are averaging 791,000 viewers, a 20 percent spike over the 640,000 viewers the two men's fights averaged.

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White, who for a long time was a vocal opponent of women's fighting, said it continues a trend that champion Ronda Rousey started when she headlined UFC 157 in February against Liz Carmouche.

That bout garnered extraordinary mainstream media attention, enough so that White felt compelled to thank the media at the post-fight news conference.

The UFC doesn't release its pay-per-view figures, but White said the number was exceptional and far more than he'd expected.

"When Christy Martin was fighting on those [Mike] Tyson undercards and Laila Ali was at her peak, you didn't see the women in boxing pulling these kinds of numbers," White said. "This is crazy what we've been doing. The women, for whatever reason, are just kicking ass."

White said he believes that UFC 168, scheduled for Dec. 28 in Las Vegas, will be the company's best-selling pay-per-view card ever. That card is topped by a rematch between Chris Weidman and Anderson Silva for the middleweight title, but White thinks the women's rematch between Rousey and Miesha Tate, the coaches on this year's TUF, will be just as significant to the results.

On the UFC's "World Tour," in the summer, there was more interest in Rousey and Tate than any of the other fighters. That tour included the UFC's heavy hitters, including welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, Silva and heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez.

Rousey and Tate will continue to get exposure each week on TUF and White expects interest in the bout to reach a crescendo by December.

"I honestly think 168 is going to be massive, and will be the biggest pay-per-view we've ever done," said White, who said he wasn't sure which of his shows is the best-seller. "And I think you'll see Ronda and Miesha right out in front in terms of attention. That is going to add a tremendous amount to the card."

[Related: UFC fighter Yan Cabral robbed at gunpoint in Rio]

White loved the fight on Wednesday in which Raquel Pennington defeated Jessamyn Duke in a slugfest. He said there are several other outstanding fights among the women that have yet to air that will likely push the ratings even higher.

The quicker than expected success of the women won't lead White to add another division any time soon.

"We have to build this division the right way and we have a lot of work still to do," he said of the women's bantamweights. "That's going to take some time, and when we get it to where we want it to be, then I think we can talk about adding another [female] division."

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/women-bouts-current-season-ultimate-fighter-blowing-away-193359310--mma.html
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Akin Ceylan Promoted to COO of Lionsgate Home Entertainment Group

TORONTO -- Lionsgate has promoted Akin Ceylan to COO of its home entertainment group.

The former MGM exec, who joined the mini-studio in 2005, was most recently chief supply chain officer and executive vp of operations for Lionsgate's $1 billion-plus revenue division.

Ceylan will oversee operations for the home entertainment group, which has been driven by DVD and digital releases of The Hunger Games and Twilight movie franchises.

STORY: 'Hunger Games: Catching Fire' Lights Up Advanced Ticket Sales 

The division has also been powered by Lionsgate's 2012 Summit acquisition and a combined feature film slate generating global theatrical box office revenue.

Ceylan also negotiated recent renewals for home entertainment distribution and replication agreements with Fox and Cinram.

"Akin has been a key contributor to our growth in recent years and, as COO of the home entertainment group, he will help guide the continued expansion of our business as we serve a broadening spectrum of traditional and digital platforms,” said Lionsgate home entertainment president Ron Schwartz.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thr/international/~3/X6wifbGHz6U/story01.htm
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MTV EMAs: Miley Cyrus Smuggled into Amsterdam in Redfoo's Suitcase (Video)

COLOGNE, Germany – Pop star Miley Cyrus, whose now-infamous “twerking” at this year's MTV Video Music Awards became the scandal that wouldn't die, has lent her newfound notoriety to the EMAs, Europe's version of the VMAs, with a suggestive video featuring DJ and dance artist Redfoo.

The video features Redfoo, the host of this year's EMAs, trying to get through security at Amsterdam airport. A suspicious security guard unzips Redfoo's suitcase to reveal a scantily-clad Cyrus, packed tightly in the carry-on.

PHOTOS: Miley Cyrus' Most Controversial Moments

Cyrus is up for four European Music Awards, including honors for best pop and best female artist, and best video for her single Wrecking Ball.

Justin Timberlake and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis lead the 2013 EMA nominations with five noms each.

Rock band The Killers and popster Katy Perry are among the acts performing live at the event, which will be broadcast on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 9 p.m. local time from the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam.

Ariana Grande, whose first studio album, Yours Truly, came out this summer, will take on duties as a back stage host for the event. Will Ferrell will present one of the awards in character as mustachioed newsman Ron Burgundy of Anchorman 2.

 

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Mosque bombing kills governor in east Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A bomb in a mosque killed a provincial governor Tuesday in the highest profile assassination in recent months, part of an intensified campaign to intimidate Afghanistan's administration as it prepares for elections and the withdrawal of foreign troops after 12 years of war.

The bomb killed Gov. Arsallah Jamal of eastern Logar province as he delivered a speech at the main mosque in the provincial capital of Puli Alam to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. The attack also wounded 15 people, five of them critically, said his spokesman, Din Mohammad Darwesh.

Jamal was a close confidant and adviser to President Hamid Karzai, who strongly condemned that bombing, saying it was an attack "against Islam."

"Terrorists and the Taliban working in the name of Islam carry out attacks that result in the killing of innocent Muslims. Surely it is not the act of Muslims, but those who have been hired to kill Muslims," Karzai said.

He did not elaborate, but he has often blamed foreign interests, mostly in neighboring Pakistan, of being behind many of the high profile attacks against members of his administration in recent years.

No group has claimed responsibility, but it bore the hallmarks of the Taliban, which has been fighting Karzai's administration and the foreign military presence in Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion in late 2001. The group has made attacking government officials a key part of its official military campaign this year.

In a message Monday timed for the Eid al-Adha holiday, the secretive leader of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar, called for his fighters to intensify their campaign against Afghan and NATO forces, and he urged all Afghans to boycott the April 5 election that will elect Karzai's successor. All foreign military combat forces are to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

Logar, which is located just south of Kabul, was once a mostly calm province. But it has recently seen an influx of Taliban fighters and increased attacks against government forces.

Jamal, 47, was Karzai's campaign manager during the 2009 presidential elections. He also was governor of Khost province until he was appointed to his current post in Logar in April.

A high-profile target, Jamal had survived a number of assassination attempts, including suicide bombings against his office in Khost in May and July 2009, and a suicide car bomb attack that targeted his convoy in August 2007.

At the scene of Tuesday's mosque bombing, debris was scattered on the green prayer carpets where worshippers had knelt in prayer hours earlier. Blood spattered the gray marble walls.

Although details of the bomb have not been released, numerous officials have said it was planted somewhere inside a microphone stand in front of Jamal. Logar's deputy police chief, Rais Khan Abbul Rahimzai, said an investigation was underway.

Sophisticated explosives have been used to kill government officials, including bombs in turbans and even inside people's bodies.

Former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, the leader of a government-appointed peace council, was killed in his home in September 2011 by an insurgent posing as a Taliban peace envoy. The militant detonated a bomb in his turban as he kissed Rabbani in a traditional greeting.

The killing of Jamal was the highest profile attack against a Karzai confidant since December, when a suicide bomber posing as a peace messenger from the Taliban severely wounded Afghanistan's intelligence chief, Asadullah Khalid. Karzai said both attacks were planned by insurgents in Pakistan.

The Taliban, believed to be based in Pakistan's lawless tribal regions, have intensified attacks on government officials and members of Karzai's administration.

In June, a Taliban suicide bomber struck outside Afghanistan's Supreme Court, killing 17 people. In April, insurgents attacked a courthouse and government offices in Farah province, killing 46 people, including two judges, six prosecutors, administration officers and other working.

Jan Kubis, the U.N. special representative to Afghanistan, condemned the attack and said such bombings violate international humanitarian law.

"The U.N. mission reiterates its call for such attacks to cease immediately and for respect of the sanctity of protected religious places such as mosques," Kubis said.

The wave of attacks since the NATO handover of security responsibilities to Afghan forces has led to a spike in casualties, both among Afghan forces and civilians. The U.N. has blamed insurgents for most of them.

Eid al-Adha is one of Islam's most important holidays. Muslims around the world slaughter sheep, cows and goats during the four-day celebration, giving much of the meat to the poor. The holiday commemorates the readiness of the Prophet Ibrahim, known to Christians and Jews as Abraham, to sacrifice his son, Ismail, on God's command.

___

Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez contributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mosque-bombing-kills-governor-east-afghanistan-074942724.html
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Any U.S. sanctions relief on Iran likely to start slowly

By Timothy Gardner and Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Any easing by Washington of sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran taking steps to scale back its nuclear program is likely to be fleeting and symbolic, with any moves for bigger concessions likely to be blocked by Congress.

At talks in Geneva on the nuclear program with six world powers on Tuesday, Iran's negotiators presented a proposal on defusing a decade-old standoff. But both sides said it was too early to talk of a breakthrough.

Even if Iran promises to take serious steps, it is unlikely to satisfy key members of the U.S. Congress, which generally takes a harder line on Iran than President Barack Obama's administration.

Lawmakers including Robert Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have signaled they want Tehran to stop even low-level enrichment of uranium used in generating power before they would take steps to wind down existing sanctions, or even agree not to put through tougher ones.

"Sanctions relief is easier said than done," said Ali Vaez, an Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group, an organization that seeks to prevent and resolve conflict.

"Without a fundamental reorientation of Iran's approach, a significant relaxation in sanctions is not in the cards."

The sanctions Washington would likely wind down first are morsels such as easing restrictions on medical supplies, travel and the sale of spare airplane parts and service for U.S.-built aircraft in Iran.

"Many of these are low impact, they are not going to turn Iran's economy around," said Greg Theilmann, a fellow at the Arms Control Association, and a former top intelligence official at the State Department.

"But it's important to at least know there are a number of things that can be done to show U.S. bona fides if the Iranians show that they are willing to take significant steps in the direction of what the U.S. and other parties say they have to do," he said.

Deadly crashes of aging aircraft owned by Iranian airlines have become common and Iranian officials say their inability to buy new Western-built planes and parts have led to more than 1,700 deaths since those sanctions began in 1995.

Allowing access to U.S. aircraft parts could help improve relations between the two countries as negotiators work on more difficult sanctions that are crippling Iran's economy.

PROPERTY, BANK ACCOUNTS

A congressional aide suggested sanctions on Iran's property and accounts in the United States - estimated to be worth billions of dollars - on oil transactions, and access to the banking system could be relaxed in stages over many months, if Iran were to make verified major concessions.

"You could restore access for a defined number of Iranian banks, as opposed to all of them, put limits on the size of the transactions that could be processed," the aide said. "You can calibrate it all kinds of different ways."

With Iran indicating a new willingness to engage with its adversaries, the chief U.S. negotiator at the Geneva talks on Tuesday held a rare bilateral discussion with Tehran's delegates, described by a senior U.S. official as "useful."

Hopes for a deal on Iran's nuclear ambitions rose when Obama spoke by telephone last month with Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, a self-described moderate. It was the highest level contact between the two countries since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that led to students taking Americans hostage in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

The Democratic president could also exercise temporary waivers of sanctions on oil sales that have slashed Iran's crude exports by more than 1 million barrels per day since 2011, depriving the country of billions of dollars worth of sales per month.

With a waiver, Obama could suspend sanctions for 120 days before they kick in again.

"You have to ask yourself what's the way to offer sanctions relief that's reversible if Iran reneges on its parts of any bargain," said Michael Singh, a managing director at The Washington Institute, who was a senior director for Middle Eastern affairs under former President George W. Bush.

But even waivers could risk a backlash from Congress, at a time when Obama already has his hands full with fiscal fights with Republicans that have brought the United States to the brink of a debt default.

Pressuring Iran is one of the rare issues both Democrats and Republicans agree upon and powerful pro-Israel lobbying groups hold great sway among lawmakers from both parties who worry Obama will give up too much in the current nuclear talks.

Temporary U.S. waivers on major sanctions on oil and banking access are unlikely to immediately prompt meaningful and irreversible Iranian concessions. But if sanctions are relaxed in stages over time, it could lead to progress on a longer-term basis.

Washington and its allies believe Tehran is developing the ability to make a nuclear weapon; Tehran says the program is for generating power and medical devices.

Complicating the matter, not all U.S. sanctions are tied to the nuclear issue. Some also deal with Iran's human rights record and sponsorship of militant groups such as Hezbollah.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Alistair Bell and Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-sanctions-relief-iran-likely-start-slowly-050305454--sector.html
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House GOP unveils counter to Senate debt plan

Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, walks away from the microphone during a news conference after a House GOP meeting on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013 in Washington. The federal government remains partially shut down and faces a first-ever default between Oct. 17 and the end of the month. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, walks away from the microphone during a news conference after a House GOP meeting on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013 in Washington. The federal government remains partially shut down and faces a first-ever default between Oct. 17 and the end of the month. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, with House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., right, walks to a meeting of House Republicans at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013, as a partial government shutdown enters its third week. It is not yet clear how Boehner and tea party members in the House majority will respond to the Senate's Democratic and Republican leaders closing in on a deal to avoid an economy-menacing Treasury default and end the partial government shutdown. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

House Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan walks to a House GOP meeting on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013 in Washington. The federal government remains partially shut down and faces a first-ever default between Oct. 17 and the end of the month. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

WASHINGTON (AP) — House GOP leaders Tuesday floated a plan to fellow Republicans to counter an emerging Senate deal to reopen the government and forestall an economy-rattling default on U.S. obligations. But the plan got mixed reviews from the rank and file and it was not clear whether it could pass the chamber.

The measure would suspend a new tax on medical devices for two years and take away the federal government's contributions to lawmakers' health care and top administration officials. It would also fund the government through Jan. 15 and give Treasury the ability to borrow normally through Feb. 7.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he's "trying to find a path forward" but that "there have been no decisions about exactly what we will do." He told a news conference, "There are a lot of opinions about what direction to go."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., involved in negotiations with Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, blasted the House plan as a blatant attack on bipartisanship.

"It can't pass the Senate and it won't pass the Senate," Reid said.

The move came as a partial shutdown entered its third week and less than two days before the Treasury Department says it will be unable to borrow and will rely on a this cash cushion to pay the country's bills.

The House GOP plan wouldn't win nearly as many concessions from President Barack Obama as Republicans had sought but it would set up another battle with the White House early next year.

"The jury is still out," said Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas.

Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., said he was not sure he could vote for the plan because it did not address the debt. "I have to know a lot more than I know now," he said.

The House move comes after conservative lawmakers rebelled at the outlines of an emerging Senate plan by Reid and GOP leader McConnell. Those two hoped to seal an agreement on Tuesday, just two days before the Treasury Department says it will run out of borrowing capacity.

The White House and Democrats quickly came out against the Republican plan. Obama planned to meet with House Democratic leaders Tuesday afternoon as negotiations continue.

"The latest proposal from House Republicans does just that in a partisan attempt to appease a small group of tea party Republicans who forced the government shutdown in the first place," said White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage. "Democrats and Republicans in the Senate have been working in a bipartisan, good-faith effort .... With only a couple days remaining until the United States exhausts its borrowing authority, it's time for the House to do the same."

"GOP's latest plan is designed to torpedo the bipartisan Sen solution," tweeted Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. "Plan is not only reckless, it's tantamount to default."

Political pressure is building on Republicans to reopen the government and GOP leaders are clearly fearful of failing to act to avert a default on U.S. obligations.

Republicans are in a difficult spot, relinquishing many of their core demands as they take a beating in the polls. Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Fla., led GOP lawmakers in several verses of "Amazing Grace."

"We have to stick together now," said Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas.

Like the House GOP bill, the emerging Senate measure — though not finalized — would reopen the government through Jan. 15 and permit the Treasury to borrow normally until early to mid-February, easing dual crises that have sapped confidence in the economy and taken a sledgehammer to the GOP's poll numbers.

"There are productive negotiations going on with the Republican leader," Reid said as he opened the Senate Tuesday. "I'm confident we'll be able to reach a comprehensive agreement this week in time to avert a catastrophic default."

On Wall Street, stocks were mixed early Tuesday, with investors somewhat optimistic over a potential deal.

"We're willing to get the government open. We want to get the government open," Scalise said. "Hopefully they get something done that addresses the spending issue."

The competing House and Senate plans are a far cry from the assault on "Obamacare" that tea party Republicans originally demanded as a condition for a short-term funding bill to keep the government fully operational. It lacks the budget cuts demanded by Republicans in exchange for increasing the government's $16.7 trillion borrowing cap.

Nor do either the House or Senate frameworks contain any of a secondary set of House GOP demands, like a one-year delay in the health law's mandate that individuals buy insurance.

Another difference between the Democrats and Republicans involves a Democratic move to repeal a $63 fee that companies must pay for each person they cover under the big health care overhaul beginning in 2014. Unions oppose the fee and Senate Democrats are pressing to repeal it, but House Republicans are positioning to block them and Senate Republicans are adamantly opposed as well.

Democrats were standing against a GOP-backed proposal to suspend a medical device tax that was enacted as part of the health care law, but might not be able to win a floor vote since many Democrats oppose the tax too.

Democratic and Republican aides described the outlines of the potential agreement on condition of anonymity because the discussions were ongoing.

But with GOP poll numbers plummeting and the country growing weary of a shutdown entering its third week, Senate Republicans in particular were eager to end the shutdown — and avoid an even greater crisis if the government were to default later this month.

Any legislation backed by both Reid and McConnell can be expected to sail through the Senate, though any individual senators could delay it.

But it's another story in the House. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, signaled that conservative members of the House were deeply skeptical. He said any bill had to have serious spending cuts for him to vote to raise the debt ceiling and said he thought Obama and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew had more flexibility than they had said publicly.

"No deal is better than a bad deal," Barton said.

In addition to approving legislation to fund the government until late this year and avert a possible debt crisis later this week or month, the potential pact would set up broader budget negotiations between the GOP-controlled House and Democratic-led Senate. One goal of those talks would be to ease automatic spending cuts that began in March and could deepen in January, when about $20 billion in further cuts are set to slam the Pentagon.

Democrats also were seeking to preserve the Treasury Department's ability to use extraordinary accounting measures to buy additional time after the government reaches any extended debt ceiling. Such measures have permitted Treasury to avert a default for almost five months since the government officially hit the debt limit in mid-May, but wouldn't buy anywhere near that kind of time next year, experts said.

The House GOP plan would repeal the extraordinary measures, which would make the Feb 7 date a hard deadline to revisit the fight.

___

Associated Press writers Donna Cassata, David Espo, Henry C. Jackson, Julie Pace and Alan Fram contributed to this report.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-10-15-Budget%20Battle/id-6daa38af517348c3b65aa723fee09a92
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Nielsen: Global Ad Spending Rose 2.8 Percent in First Half of Year

Global advertising spending rose 2.8 percent in the first half of 2013, according to latest Nielsen data.

Gains in Latin America and the Asia Pacific region drove worldwide growth, but European ad spending continued to decline amid economic challenges.

"Marketers continue to gradually increase their global ad spending" as growth accelerated to 3.5 percent in the second quarter, according to Nielsen’s latest Global AdView Pulse report.

It didn't provide absolute dollar figures for ad spending.

Latin America ended the first half of 2013 with an ad gain of 13.1 percent, while
Asia posted a 6.4 percent increase, according to Nielsen.

The Middle East and Africa region reported a 3.9 percent improvement in ad spending, while North America was up 2.7 percent. Nielsen didn't break out the U.S. performance.

Europe remained the main laggard in the first half of the year with a 6 percent ad spending decline, according to Nielsen.

U.K. ad revenue declined 2.3 percent, for example. The only gains over the first six months of 2013 in Europe came in  Switzerland (up 0.6 percent), Norway (up 2.5 percent) and Greece (up 7.4 percent), which last year saw a big drop amid its economic crisis.

"Although many marketers remain conservative with advertising budgets, those in Latin America continue to buck the norm," Nielsen concluded. In Europe, "marketers remain modest with their ad budgets amidst the region's continued fiscal crisis," it said.

Argentina was a key contributor to growth in Latin America region with a gain of nearly 30 percent. Indonesia, China and the Philippines helped lead growth in the Asia-Pacific region, which reached $51 billion in ad spending in the first half on 2013.

The Nielsen Global AdView Pulse measures spending on TV, radio, cinema, newspapers, magazines, outdoor and Internet display advertising.

E-mail: Georg.Szalai@THR.com
Twitter: @georgszalai

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HollywoodReporterAsia/~3/gilg9CSkMxY/story01.htm
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