Love 'em or hate 'em, all eyes on Tide and Irish

MIAMI (AP) — Love 'em or hate 'em, it's hard to turn away from Notre Dame and Alabama.

They are storied programs that stir plenty of passions, college football's North and South versions of the New York Yankees.

Well, now they're facing each other for the biggest prize of all.

A national championship.

"Having those two traditions come together in a game like this certainly creates a lot of national interest," said Alabama coach Nick Saban, "which is probably really good for college football."

Indeed, this was shaping up as one of the most anticipated games in years, a throwback to the era when coaching giants named Bear and Ara ruled the sidelines, when it was a big deal for teams from different parts of the country to meet in a bowl, when everyone took sides based on where they happened to live.

"I'm pretty aware of our history. I've become more aware of theirs over the past few months," said Barrett Jones, the Crimson Tide's All-American center. "I know that they are a very storied program. We both are. I think that's part of what makes this matchup fun."

ESPN executives were hopeful of getting the highest ratings of the BCS era. Tickets were certainly at a premium, with a seat in one of the executive suites going for a staggering $60,000 on StubHub the day before the game, and even a less-than-prime spot in the corner of the upper deck requiring a payout of more than $900.

"This is, to me, the ultimate matchup in college football," said Brent Musberger, the lead announcer for ESPN.

For Alabama (12-1), this is a chance to be remembered as a full-fledged dynasty. The Tide will be trying to claim its third national championship in four years and become the first school to win back-to-back BCS titles, a remarkable achievement given the ever-increasing parity of the college game and having to replace five players from last year's title team who were picked in the first two rounds of the NFL draft.

"To be honest, I think this team has kind of exceeded expectations," Saban said Sunday. "If you look at all the players we lost last year, the leadership that we lost ... I'm really proud of what this team was able to accomplish."

That said, it's not a huge surprise to find Alabama playing for another title. That's not the case when it comes to Notre Dame.

Despite their impressive legacy, the Fighting Irish (12-0) weren't even ranked at the start of the season. But overtime wins against Stanford and Pittsburgh, combined with three other victories by a touchdown or less, gave Notre Dame a shot at its first national title since 1988.

After so many lost years, the golden dome has reclaimed its luster in coach Brian Kelly's third season.

This is the beginning, he said.

"Playing in this game is an incredible springboard into the next season," Kelly said. "They've already been here. You come back the next year, it's unacceptable for a standard to be any less than being back here again."

Both Notre Dame and Alabama have won eight Associated Press national titles, more than any other school. They are the bluest of the blue bloods, the programs that have long set the bar for everyone else even while enduring some droughts along the way.

Kelly molded Notre Dame using largely the same formula that has worked so well for Saban in Tuscaloosa: a bruising running game and a stout defense, led by Heisman Trophy finalist Manti Te'o.

"It's a little bit old fashioned in the sense that this is about the big fellows up front," Kelly said. "It's not about the crazy receiving numbers or passing yards or rushing yards. This is about the big fellas, and this game will unquestionably be decided up front."

While points figure to be at a premium given the quality of both defenses, Alabama appears to have a clear edge on offense. The Tide has the nation's highest-rated passer (AJ McCarron), two 1,000-yard rushers (Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon), a dynamic freshman receiver (Amari Cooper), and three linemen who made the AP All-America team (first-teamers Jones and Chance Warmack, plus second-teamer D.J. Fluker).

"That's football at its finest," said Te'o, who heads a defense that has given up just two rushing touchdowns. "It's going to be a great challenge, and a challenge that we look forward to."

The Crimson Tide had gone 15 years without a national title when Saban arrived in 2007, the school's fifth coach in less than a decade (including one, Mike Price, who didn't even made it to his first game in Tuscaloosa). Finally, Alabama got it right.

In 2008, Saban landed one of the greatest recruiting classes in school history, a group that has already produced eight NFL draft picks and likely will send at least three more players to the pros. The following year, he guided Alabama to a perfect season, beating Texas in the title game at Pasadena.

Last season, the Tide fortuitously got a shot at another BCS crown despite losing to LSU during the regular season and failing to even win its division in the Southeastern Conference. In a rematch against the Tigers, Alabama romped to a 21-0 victory at the Superdome.

The all-SEC matchup gave the league an unprecedented six straight national champions, hastening the end of the BCS. It will last one more season before giving way to a four-team playoff in 2014, an arrangement that was undoubtedly pushed along by one conference hoarding all the titles under the current system.

"Let's be honest, people are probably getting tired of us," Jones said. "We don't really mind. We enjoy being the top dog and enjoy kind of having that target on our back, and we love our conference. Obviously, we'd rather not be a part of any other conference."

The schools have played only six times, and not since 1987, but the first of their meetings is still remembered as one of the landmark games in college football history. Bear Bryant had one of his best teams at the 1973 Sugar Bowl, but Ara Parseghian and the Fighting Irish claimed the national title by knocking off top-ranked Alabama 24-23.

If you're a longtime Notre Dame fan, you still remember Parseghian's gutty call to throw the ball out of the end zone for a game-clinching first down. If you were rooting for the Tide, you haven't forgotten a missed extra point that turned out to be the losing margin.

Of course, these Alabama players aren't concerned about what happened nearly four decades ago.

For the most part, all they know is winning.

"You want to be remembered for something," defensive lineman Damion Square said. "You live life to be remembered and do great things so that you can leave a legacy here when you're gone."

___

Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963

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Warner Bros. unveils animation think tank featuring teams behind “Cats & Dogs” and “The Muppets”

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Warner Bros. doesn’t want rivals like Walt Disney Studios and 20th Century Fox to have a stranglehold on the lucrative animation market.

But the studio is trying a different approach in an effort to bolster its animated efforts. Instead of unveiling a new division, it’s announcing an animation creative consortium, featuring the likes of John Requa and Glenn Ficarra (“Crazy, Stupid, Love.,” “Cats & Dogs”) and Nicholas Stoller (“The Muppets”) that will help it develop its family offerings. Also on the team will be Phil Lord and Chris Miller (“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs”) and Jared Stern (“Mr. Popper’s Penguins”). The approach is to bet on filmmakers who have a track record in family entertainment.

The consortium will not have any overhead costs associated with it, an individual with knowledge of its workings told TheWrap, but it has been given a mandate to develop and produce family-oriented works with broad appeal. The studio wants to release at least one animated film a year under the Warner Bros. Pictures banner.

“Warner Bros. has an extraordinary legacy in the world of animation, including some of the most enduring characters in cinema history,” Jeff Robinov, president of Warner Bros. Pictures Group, said in a statement. “Looking to the future, we have now gathered some of the best and brightest talents in the industry to help us grow and broaden that legacy.”

In addition, Warner Bros. gave an indication of what its animated future might look like, announcing that the first feature in the pipeline is “The LEGO Movie.” Lord and Miller wrote the screenplay inspired by the popular children’s toy and will direct. The film will feature the voices of Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Neeson, Will Arnett and Morgan Freeman and is slated for release on February 7, 2014.

Warner Bros. said that other projects include “Storks” directed by Doug Sweetland, who helmed the Pixar short “Presto”; and “Smallfoot,” which will be written by Requa and Ficarra, from an original idea by “Despicable Me”s’ Sergio Pablos. Pablos will direct “Smallfoot.” Warner Bros. said that “Storks” and “Smallfoot” are being targeted for release in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

It’s not that Warner Bros. has been devoid of animated hits. “Happy Feet” grossed nearly $ 385 million globally for the studio in 2006. However, other films like 2010′s “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” ($ 180 million worldwide) and “Happy Feet Two” ($ 150 million worldwide) did not earn enough to justify their sizable production budgets.

Moreover, Walt Disney has continued to hold sway over children’s entertainment thanks to its acquisition of Pixar and Fox’s Blue Sky Studios has become real player with its “Ice Age” films. Moreover, the recent distribution pact between Fox and DreamWorks Animation threatens to turn that studio into an animation powerhouse. At the same time, Paramount has announced that it has its eye on the toon game and has launched its own in-house animation division.

The competition in the genre is pitched, but the allure is undeniable. Animated films tend to travel across cultural boundaries and are easily dubbed into other languages, making them essential to studios who recognize that any substantial growth in their overall box office take must come from aboard.

The development of animated features will be overseen at Warner Bros. by production executives Courtenay Valenti, Chris deFaria and Greg Silverman. Overall look, character design and the story reel process will be housed in Warner Bros.’ Burbank offices, but the studio said it will look to partner with established animation studios for production of the films.

Animal and Pets News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Why Al Jazeera deal doesn't seem right

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Al Gore sold Current to al Jazeera and could net an estimated $70 million


• Howard Kurtz: Gore's Current network failed to gain an identity or viewers


• He says it's odd that the former vice president is selling to an oil-rich potentate


• Kurtz: Al Jazeera may have a tough time getting traction with U.S. viewers

Editor's note: Howard Kurtz is the host of CNN's "Reliable Sources" and is Newsweek's Washington bureau chief. He is also a contributor to the website Daily Download.

(CNN) -- So Al Gore starts a liberal cable network, which turns into a complete and utter flop, then sells it to a Middle East potentate in a deal that will bring him an estimated $70 million.

Is America a great country or what?

There is something highly unusual -- OK, just plain weird -- about a former vice president of the United States doing this deal with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.

Howard Kurtz

Al Jazeera, owned by said emir's government, is trying to buy its way into the American television market by purchasing Current TV for a half billion dollars. The only thing stranger would be if Gore had sold Current to Glenn Beck -- oh wait, Beck did try to buy it and was told no way within 15 minutes.

So the sale was in part about ideology, which opens the door to examining why Gore believes Al Jazeera gives "voice to those who are not typically heard" and speaks "truth to power."

Bill O'Reilly, on Fox News, calls the network "anti-American." Fox pundit Dick Morris says Gore has sold to a fount of "anti-Israel propaganda." Such labels are rooted in the network's role during the height of the war on terror, when it aired smuggled videos of Osama bin Laden and was denounced by Bush administration officials.

Watch: How Lance Armstrong lied to me about doping

But Al Jazeera English, the spinoff channel launched in 2006, doesn't have the same reputation. In fact, no less a figure than Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has praised it as "real news," and the channel has won journalism awards for its reporting on the Arab Spring and other global events.

To be sure, the main Al Jazeera network gives a platform to such figures as Yusuf al-Qaradawi. He's the Muslim cleric in Egypt who, The Washington Post gas reported, frequently appears on air to castigate Jews and America and has praised suicide bombings. But when I went to the home page of Al Jazeera English the other day, there was video of David Frost, the acclaimed British journalist who now works for the main network, interviewing Israeli President Shimon Peres.

That's not to say Al Jazeera America, the working name for the new channel, won't have its own biases. Al Jazeera English is sometimes determined to paint the U.S. in a negative light.

During a report on President Barack Obama signing a renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which entails a legitimate controversy over civil liberties, the reporter said flatly that the law "violate(s) U.S. constitutional rights in the name of national security."

Watch: Can Al Jazeera make it in the American market?

Dave Marash, the ABC News veteran who once worked for Al Jazeera English, told me the network has a "post-colonial" view of America and its stories can be infused with that attitude.

And there are real questions about how independent these channels are from the Qatar government that helps bankroll them. The director-general of Al Jazeera, Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim al-Thani, is a member of the country's royal family and has no background in journalism.

Such details add to the odd spectacle of the ex-veep, who would have been running Mideast policy had he won a few more votes in Florida, selling -- and some say selling out -- to the emir. Not to mention that the crusader against climate change is taking petrodollars from an empire built on oil, the bete noire of environmentalists.

Watch: Hey Fox, Hillary Clinton was sick after all

But what is Al Jazeera buying? The network is going to have a tough time cracking the American market.

Its earlier reputation makes the company highly controversial, and other cable carriers might follow the lead of Time Warner Cable (which is no longer owned by CNN's parent company, Time Warner) in refusing to carry it. These carriers agreed to air Current TV, after all, and contracts generally require them to approve a major change in programming.

Global politics aside, it may just be bad business. There's a reason Al Jazeera English, which will supply 40% of the content to the new channel, has barely gotten a foothold in the United States. Most Americans aren't lusting for a steady diet of international news.

Watch: Did Nancy Pelosi go too far in photoshopping picture of congresswomen?

There's no denying that Gore, a onetime newspaper reporter who had testy relations with the press during his 2000 campaign, presided over a lousy cable channel. No one quite knew what Current was during the years when it aired mostly low-rent entertainment fare and was famous mainly for North Korea taking two of its correspondents, including Lisa Ling's sister Laura, into custody.

Then Gore tried to relaunch it as a talking head channel to the left of MSNBC, hiring Keith Olbermann -- a relationship that ended with his firing and mutual lawsuits -- along with the likes of Eliot Spitzer and Jennifer Granholm, former Michigan governor. Gore himself offered commentary during major political events.

It was the utter failure of that incarnation of Current that prompted Gore and co-founder Joel Hyatt to put the thing up for sale.

Some detractors have slammed Gore for hypocrisy because, while he has advocated higher taxes on the rich, he tried to get the Al Jazeera deal done by December 31 to avoid the Obama tax hike. (The sale didn't close until January 2.) I don't see a problem trying to legally take advantage of changes in the tax code, no matter what your political stance.

Nor do I want to prejudge Al Jazeera America. The marketplace will decide its fate.

But there is something unsettling about Gore making off with such a big payday from a government-subsidized channel after making such bad television. Nice work if you can get it.

Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter

Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Howard Kurtz.

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Cops shoot suspect in carjacking they say held 'dark object'

A man who ran from South Chicago District officers after being stopped on suspicion of carjacking was fatally shot as he fled the stolen car when officers saw he had a "dark object" in his hand, police said.

The man died after being to Northwestern Memorial Hospital following the shooting about 1:45 p.m. near 75th Street and Jeffery Boulevard, according to a a release from Chicago Police News Affairs.

The Independent Police Review Authority confirmed a police-involved shooting took place about that time. No police officers were injured in the incident, an IPRA spokesman said.

Two South Chicago District tactical officers saw a grey Dodge Charger with Wisconsin plates heading west on 75 th Street a little before 1:45 p.m.  and checked to see if the car was wanted in any crimes, Chicago Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 spokesman Patrick Camden. said. The driver appeared to be the only person in the car, and when the search turned up nothing, the officers let the car proceed in traffic without stopping it, Camden said.

Less than a minute later, however, a police radio broadcast alerted the officers to the Charger having been stolen not long before in an armed carjacking, Camden said.

The officers realized “that’s the car!” and sped on to where the Charger was stopped in traffic, with vehicles in front and behind, Camden said. The officers got out of the car, one on each side, and told the driver they were police.

The driver raised his left hand, but appeared to be reaching for something in the passenger seat, then jumped out and ran, Camden said.

The officers chased the man, who had a black object in his hand, until he turned toward them and appeared to be pointing the object at the officers, Camden said.

"Believing the dark object to be a firearm and being in fear for (his) life, the officer fired at the offender, wounding him," police News Affairs said in the release.

It was not immediately known what the object was, Camden said.lford@tribune.com

Twitter: @ltaford

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Ex-governor in North Korea with Google chief; seeks American's release

SEOUL (Reuters) - Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt began a controversial private mission to North Korea on Monday that will include an effort to secure the release of an imprisoned American.

The trip comes after North Korea carried out a long-range rocket test last month and as, according to satellite imagery, the reclusive state continues work on its nuclear testing facilities, potentially paving the way for a third nuclear bomb test.

Footage from North Korean state television showed Richardson and Schmidt at the Pyongyang airport on Monday evening.

"We are going to ask about the American who's been detained. A humanitarian private visit." Richardson said.

Richardson's efforts to seek the release of Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American tour guide who was detained last year will mark the latest in a series of high-profile visits over the years to free Americans detained by Pyongyang.

The delegation comprised Schmidt, his daughter, Richardson and Google executive Jared Cohen, according to South Korean news media and it arrived in Pyongyang on a flight from the Chinese capital, Beijing.

The mission has been criticized by the United States due to the sensitivity of the timing. The United States does not have diplomatic relations with North Korea and the isolated and impoverished state remains technically at war with U.S. ally South Korea.

"We continue to think the trip is ill-advised," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in Washington. Last week she said the main U.S. objection was that the trip came so soon after North Korea's much-criticized December 12 rocket launch.

South Korea is in the midst of a transition to a new president who will take office in February, while Japan, another major U.S. ally in the region, has a new prime minister.

A U.S. official said the trip's timing was particularly bad from the Obama administration's point of view because it comes as the U.N. Security Council ponders how to respond to the North Korean missile launch.

"We are in kind of a classical provocation period with North Korea. Usually, their missile launches are followed by nuclear tests," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"During these periods, it's very important that the international community come together, certainly at the level of the U.N. Security Council, to demonstrate to North Korea that they pay a price for not living up to their obligations."

Richardson, a former ambassador to the United Nations, has made numerous trips to North Korea in the past that have included efforts to free detained Americans. The reasons for Schmidt's involvement in the trip are not clear, though Google characterized it as "personal" travel.

Schmidt did not respond to requests for comment.

Richardson told CBS television last Friday that he had been contacted by Bae's family and that he would raise the issue while in North Korea.

Pyongyang's most notable success was securing a visit from former President Bill Clinton in 2009 to win the release of two American journalists.

Last year, Jared and Schmidt met defectors from North Korea, a state that ranks bottom in an annual survey of Internet and press freedom by Reporters Without Borders.

Media reports and think tanks say that officials from the North Korean government went to Google's headquarters in 2011, something the U.S. technology giant declined to comment on.

(Additional reporting by Cho Meeyoung and WASHINGTON Bureau; Editing by Michael Perry, Ron Popeski and David Brunnstrom)

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Asian shares steady, Basel ruling supports banks

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asian shares outside Japan edged up on Monday, supported by data showing the U.S. economy continuing on a path of slow but steady recovery that had pushed Wall Street stocks to a five-year high.

Financial stocks were underpinned by a decision from global regulators on Sunday to give banks four more years and greater flexibility to build up cash buffers so they can use some of their reserves to help struggling economies grow.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> gained 0.1 percent, but Tokyo's Nikkei share average <.n225> retreated after touching a 23-month high in early trade and last stood down 0.4 percent. <.t/>

The MSCI benchmark's financial sector sub-index <.miapjfn00pus> gained 0.2 percent after the Basel Committee of banking supervisors agreed at the weekend to a relaxation of a draconian earlier draft of new global bank liquidity rules.

Shares in Japanese exporters were supported by a weaker yen, which was steady around 88.17 to the dollar, after the U.S. currency rose as far as 88.40 yen, its highest in nearly two-and-a-half years, on Friday.

The dollar ticked up slightly against the euro, which traded around $1.3060.

The U.S. benchmark S&P 500 index <.spx> closed at its highest level since December 2007 on Friday after data showed a steady pace of jobs growth and brisk expansion of the services sector in the world's biggest economy.

(Reporting by Alex Richardson; Editing by Eric Meijer)

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RG3 hurt, Seattle tops Redskins 24-14 in playoffs

LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — The Seattle Seahawks finally won a road playoff game Sunday, taking a 24-14 NFC wild-card victory over the Washington Redskins, who lost Robert Griffin III to another knee injury in the fourth quarter.

Marshawn Lynch ran for 131 yards, and Russell Wilson completed 15 of 26 passes for 187 yards and ran eight times for 67 yards for the Seahawks, who broke an eight-game postseason losing streak away from home.

Seattle will visit the top-seeded Atlanta Falcons next Sunday.

Lynch's 27-yard run with 7:08 remaining gave the Seahawks (12-5) the lead. On Washington's next series, Griffin reinjured the right knee he sprained about a month ago while trying to field a bad shotgun snap.

The knee buckled badly, and the Seahawks recovered the fumble and kicked an insurance field goal.

Kirk Cousins replaced Griffin, but Washington (10-7) was unable to come back.

RG3 three two 4-yard touchdown passes in his first career playoff game to give the Redskins a 14-0 lead before the Seahawks closed to 14-13 through three quarters.

Griffin capped the Redskins' only two drives of the first quarter against the NFL's top-rated scoring defense with short tosses to running back Evan Royster and tight end Logan Paulsen.

The Seahawks allowed 15.3 points per game this season and the 14-point deficit was their largest of the season.

The second quarter belonged to Seattle, with Wilson throwing a 4-yard TD pass to running back Michael Robinson and Steve Hauschka kicking a pair of field goals.

Hauschka's 32-yard field goal 2:55 into the second quarter made in 14-3 and his second kick, a 29-yarder as the half expired, pulled the Seahawks with a point.

The right-footed Hauschska was playing with a left ankle injury and limped off the field to the locker room.

Seattle maintained its offensive efficiency starting the third quarter, driving 69 yards to the Redskins 1, but Lynch fumbled and Washington's Jarvis Jenkins recovered.

After forcing a Redskins punt, Wilson moved the Seahawks to the Washington 28, but overthrew Doug Baldwin in the end zone. Wilson was sacked on the next play, moving the ball back to the 37. With Hauschka limited, Seattle punted.

Griffin was 10 of 17 for 84 yards, but after the first quarter he threw for only 16 yards plus an interception. The Redskins quarterback also ran three times for 12 yards.

On the Redskins' second drive of the game, the Redskins' sensational rookie quarterback fell awkwardly while backpedaling on a pass and came up limping. But he stayed in the game. He sprained his right knee in Week 14 and sported a brace for the third straight game.

Lynch rushed 14 times for 79 yards in the first half, including 41 on the drive which ended with his fumble. In the second quarter, he scooped up a Wilson fumble and raced for 19 yards, leading to the Seahawks touchdown.

Rookie Alfred Morris, the league's second-leading rusher, had 72 yards — 34 of them on four carries during Washington's opening drive that resulted in the TD pass to Royster.

Paulsen's touchdown catch finished off an 11-play, 54-yard drive in 5:58.

Washington's offense slowed in the second quarter with two drives resulting in a punt and an interception by Seattle Pro Bowl safety Earl Thomas.

Seattle was moving the ball in the first quarter, but a promising drive ended when the Redskins' Stephen Bowen and London Fletcher combined to sack Wilson on third-and-2. It was one of two sacks for the Redskins in the quarter.

The playoff meeting between the two teams was the third, but first outside Seattle. The Seahawks won 20-10 in January 2006, and 35-14 in January 2008. Those were the last two postseason games played by the Redskins, who entered the playoffs on an NFC-best seven-game winning streak.

Seattle came into the playoffs with a five-game winning streak, outscoring opponents 193-60. But they were 3-5 on the road and had lost eight straight road playoff games. Their only road playoff win came in their first postseason road game, Dec. 31, 1983, at Miami.

And now they have another.

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Weather disrupts Shell efforts to free Alaska oil rig

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – The U.S. Coast Guard and Shell were making fresh preparations on Sunday to tow a grounded Alaska oil rig, saying crews would keep trying to connect a tow line after rough weather prevented their efforts all Saturday.

According to a news release from the unified grounding response team, the aim, once the conditions are right, is to tow the rig to a sheltered bay nearby so experts can make a better assessment of its sea worthiness.

Officials have declined to speculate on the exact timing of the removal of the Kulluk from the rocky coast of tiny Sitkalidak Island, though a senior Shell executive said last week he believed it was a matter of days.

The fortunes of the grounded drillship, which started a well in the Beaufort Sea late last year, face particular scrutiny because it was a key part of Royal Dutch Shell‘s controversial and error-prone 2012 Arctic drilling program.

Sean Churchfield, Shell’s Alaska ventures manager, said salvage teams have found no signs of breaches to any of the Kulluk’s fuel tanks and only one area where seawater leaked onboard. A tow plan has been approved by government regulators.

“According to naval architects, the vessel is sound and fit to tow,” Churchfield said at a news conference late on Saturday.

All that is left, said Coast Guard Captain Paul Mehler, is to await the right combination of tides and weather, as well as equipment that still needs to be delivered.

“We want to get this off as soon as we can. And we’re looking at the best tides, the best opportunities,” Mehler said. “As I stand here today, we don’t have it all.”

The Kulluk went aground in a Gulf of Alaska storm on December 31 after the ship towing it lost power and its tow connection in the Kodiak archipelago – far from where it began a well in September and October. The rig was headed for maintenance near Seattle.

The removal plan is to pull the Kulluk about 30 miles to Kiliuda Bay, a site previously designated as a refuge for disabled vessels. Whether it continues on for its maintenance work will be determined after the assessment, Churchfield said.

The rig has about 155,000 gallons of diesel fuel and other petroleum products aboard, none of which has spilled, state environmental regulators said.

The Aiviq, the vessel that lost power and its tow connection to the Kulluk a week ago, is the ship designated to tow it to safe refuge. An investigation into its failures is not yet complete, Churchfield said.

Alaska environmentalist Rick Steiner questioned Shell’s reliance on the Aiviq, and believed all the problems with the Kulluk and its other contracted drillship, the Noble Corp-owned Discoverer, would preclude any drilling this year. “The 2013 season is on the rocks in Kodiak with the Kulluk,” he said.

Shell officials in Alaska have so far declined to comment on the upcoming Arctic drilling season.

Prior to the Kulluk accident, Shell’s main problem in Alaska was the Discoverer, which was assigned to Chukchi Sea work.

The Discoverer failed to meet federal air standards, which prompted Shell in June to ask the Environmental Protection Agency for a permit with looser limits for air pollution. In September, the ship dragged its anchor in the Aleutian port of Dutch Harbor and nearly grounded on the beach there.

After completing a truncated 2012 drill season in the Chukchi, the Discoverer was temporarily detained by the Coast Guard in the port of Seward, Alaska. The Coast Guard cited numerous safety and environmental-systems deficiencies, which Shell and Noble vowed to fix before the summer season began.

(Reporting by Yereth Rosen; Editing by Braden Reddall and Tim Dobbyn)

Weather News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Storm over Depardieu's 'pathetic' move

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Russian President Vladimir Putin has bestowed Russian citizenship on actor Gérard Depardieu


• For Depardieu, a public war of words erupted, with many in France disgusted by his move


• Depardieu more than anyone, represents the Gallic spirit, says Agnes Poirier


• Majority of French people disapprove of his action but can't help loving him, she adds

Agnes Poirier is a French journalist and political analyst who contributes regularly to newspapers, magazines and TV in the UK, U.S., France, Italy. Follow her on Twitter.

Paris (CNN) -- Since the revelation on the front page of daily newspaper Libération, on December 11, with a particularly vicious editorial talking about France's national treasure as a "former genius actor," Gérard Depardieu's departure to Belgium, where he bought a property just a mile from the French border, has deeply divided and saddened France. Even more so since, as we have learnt this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin has bestowed the actor Russian citizenship.

Back in mid-December, the French media operated along political lines: the left-wing press such as Libération couldn't find strong enough words to describe Depardieu's "desertion" while right-wing publications such as Le Figaro, slightly uneasy at the news, preferred to focus on President François Hollande's punishing taxes which allegedly drove throngs of millionaires to seek tax asylum in more fiscally lenient countries such as Belgium or Britain. Le Figaro stopped short of passing moral judgement though. Others like satirical weekly Charlie hebdo, preferred irony. Its cover featured a cartoon of the rather rotund-looking Depardieu in front of a Belgian flag with the headline: "Can Belgium take the world's entire load of cholesterol?" Ouch.

Quickly though, it became quite clear that Depardieu was not treated in the same way as other famous French tax exiles. French actor Alain Delon is a Swiss resident as is crooner-rocker Johnny Halliday, and many other French stars and sportsmen ensure they reside for under six months in France in order to escape being taxed here on their income and capital. Their move has hardly ever been commented on. And they certainly never had to suffer the same infamy.

Agnes Poirier

For Depardieu, a public war of words erupted. It started with the French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, and many members of his government, showing their disdain, and talking of Depardieu's "pathetic move." In response the outraged actor penned an open letter to the French PM in which he threatened to give back his French passport.

The backlash was not over. Fellow thespian Phillipe Torreton fired the first salvo against Depardieu in an open letter published in Libération, insulting both Depardieu's protruding physique and lack of patriotism: "So you're leaving the ship France in the middle of a storm? What did you expect, Gérard? You thought we would approve? You expected a medal, an academy award from the economy ministry? (...)We'll get by without you." French actress Catherine Deneuve felt she had to step in to defend Depardieu. In another open letter published by Libération, she evoked the darkest hours of the French revolution. Before flying to Rome to celebrate the New Year, Depardieu gave an interview to Le Monde in which he seemed to be joking about having asked Putin for Russian citizenship. Except, it wasn't a joke.

In truth, French people have felt touched to their core by Depardieu's gesture. He, more than anyone, represents the Gallic spirit. He has been Cyrano, he has been Danton; he, better than most, on screen and off, stands for what it means to be French: passionate, sensitive, theatrical, and grandiose. Ambiguous too, and weak in front of temptations and pleasures.

In truth, French people have felt touched to their core by Depardieu's gesture. He, more than anyone, represents the Gallic spirit
Hugh Miles

For more than two weeks now, #Depardieu has been trending on French Twitter. Surveys have showed France's dilemma: half the French people understand him but there are as many who think that paying one's taxes is a national duty. In other words, a majority of French people disapprove of his action but can't help loving the man.

Putin's move in granting the actor Russian citizenship has exacerbated things. And first of all, it is a blow to Hollande who, it was revealed, had a phone conversation with Depardieu on New Year's Day. The Elysées Palace refused to communicate on the men's exchange. A friend of the actor declared that Depardieu complained about being so reviled by the press and that he was leaving, no matter what.

If, in their hearts, the French don't quite believe Depardieu might one day settle in Moscow and abandon them, they feel deeply saddened by the whole saga. However, with France's former sex symbol Brigitte Bardot declaring that she too might ask Putin for Russian citizenship to protest against the fate of zoo elephants in Lyon, it looks as if the French may prefer to laugh the whole thing off. Proof of this: the last trend on French Twitter is #IWantRussianCitizenship.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Agnes Poirier.

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Chicago Ridge fire official put on leave after attack charges

A deputy fire chief in Chicago Ridge was put on administrative leave after being charged with breaking into the Tinley Park home of a neighbor in the middle of the night and attacking her, officials said.

Gary M. Swiercz, 49, of the 8100 block of West 168^th Place in Tinley Park, has been charged with attempted murder, home invasion, aggravated unlawful restraint, aggravated attempted criminal sexual assault, and residential burglary, according to a press release from the Tinley Park Police Department.

Swiercz appeared in Cook County Circuit Court Sunday where he was ordered held in lieu of $150,000 bail.

Swiercz allegedly broke into the home of a woman in his condo building early Saturday morning while wearing a ski mask and possessing a folding knife, duct tape, an 8-inch sexual device and lubricant, said Assistant Cook County State's Atty. Dan Calandriello.

Swiercz allegedly put his hand on the woman's mouth while she was sleeping. He then put a 3-inch blade to her throat and threatened to slash her throat, Calandriello said in court today. While she was screaming, he threw her to the ground, then grabbed her by the hair and slammed her to the ground multiple times. She suffered a black and blue swollen lip and a knot on her head, Calandriello said.

Swiercz's attorney, Colleen McSweeney Moore, called the incident out of character for the fire chief.

According to the release from the Tinley Park police, police were called to the 8100 block of 168^th Place about 2:35 a.m. Saturday for a reported home invasion. A woman at that address said an unknown male, armed with a knife, had entered her condominium, forced her to the floor and beat her. After a struggle, he left the building.

Upon arriving at the scene, police said they found Swiercz, who matched the description of the suspect, in the condominium parking lot and took him into custody.

The female was treated for minor injuries at the scene, police said.

According to a statement issued by Chicago Ridge Fire Department officials, Swiercz has been put on indefinite administrative leave pending the investigation.

Officials said Swiercz was off duty at the time and and will not be performing any official duties for the Chicago Ridge Fire Department.

nnix@tribune.com

Twitter: @nsnix87

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