Hard Money Loans

Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
Los Angeles, CA, United States (AHN) – “Underworld Awakening” came out on top of the weekend box office, taking in $25.4 million in its debut. The film is a 3-D fourth installment of the popular vampires vs. werewolves franchise. “Awakening,” starring Kate Beckinsale, took in more than its 2009 predecessor “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans,” which started with $20.8 million, and did not feature Beckinsale. Taking the No. 2 spot with $19.1 million was George Lucas’ “Red Tails,” a $58-million tale starring Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr. that chronicles WWII’s African-American [...] Continue Reading…

Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
Los Angeles, CA, United States (AHN) – Warner Bros. will extend the time customers have to wait to watch movies on DVDs from services such as Netflix to 56 days, more than twice as long as the current delay. The move is a bid to bolster flagging DVD sales as well as fledging online movie service UlraViolet, which lets buyers of DVDs or movie downloads watch those movies online using computers, smartphones or tablets. Warner Bros. has told movie rental companies that it wants the eight-week delay a standard part of its [...] Continue Reading…

AHN News Staff
Tokyo, Japan (AHN) – In an attempt to reduce spending on national defense and strengthen domestic arms industry, Japan on Tuesday eased self-imposed arms exports ban. The liberalization will allow hundreds of Japanese companies to take part in multinational projects of developing weapons for the first time in several decades. “Under the new standards, Japan will be able to transport military equipment for missions of peace-building and international cooperation,” Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba told reporters. “This will mean that Japan can now address international peace cooperation and global challenges such as terrorism and piracy [...] Continue Reading…

Matthew Borghese – AHN News Contributor
Tampa, FL, United States (AHN) – It’s beginning to be a tough week for newspapers, with one major publication announcing a round of lay-offs, while another publisher announces bankruptcy. Media General announced Monday that it will let go 165 staffers from the Tampa (FL)Tribune newspaper, TBO.com, and other community papers it publishes. Meanwhile, in Davenport, IL, Lee Enterprises has filed for bankruptcy. Lee Enterprises is a 121-year-old company that publishes 54 newspapers in 23 states, in addition to more than 300 weekly and specialty publications. After the lay-offs, Virginia-based Media General will [...] Continue Reading…

Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks cheered strong retail sales over the long Thanksgiving weekend and early forecasts of a strong showing for Cyber Monday with a strong rally. With less than an hour in the trading day, stocks were off earlier highs but still boasted impressive gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 220 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 27 points and the tech heavy NASDAQ jumped 70 points. Retail sales broke records over the long holiday weekend and early estimates are the Cyber [...] Continue Reading…

Kris Alingod – AHN News Contributor
Seattle, WA, United States (AHN) – Starbucks has stopped charging $1.50 for orders of coffee beans less than a pound in stores in the United States. The Seattle-based company made the decision after being fined by the the Massachusetts Division of Standards for not disclosing the hidden charge to customers. The fee was ended on Nov. 7 nationwide. It was charged whenever customers ordered coffee beans less than the one-pound bags readily available in Starbucks stores. Coffee beans cost $11.95 a pound, which should be half a pound at $5.98. Customers [...] Continue Reading…

Vittorio Hernandez – AHN News
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a 2008 decision that allowed patients to file a parallel claim against manufacturers of medical devices. With the ruling, the court rejected an appeal by Stryker Corporation against a lawsuit foiled by Illinois resident Margaret Bausch who got a replacement hip six days after the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) issued a warning about problems at Stryker’s manufacturing plant. In seeking to dismiss Bausch’s lawsuit, Stryker cited a 2008 Supreme Court ruling that patients cannot file state-law product liability suits over products [...] Continue Reading…

AHN News Staff
Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Just days after the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, the U.S. company has won a legal battle against Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC. HTC had lodged a patent infringement complaint against Apple last year and sought a ban on import of Apple products. However, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on Tuesday said in its verdict that the American company did not violate the rules – an announcement that prompted the fall of HTC shares to as much as 6 percent. HTC had charged Apple violated its patents [...] Continue Reading…

Vittorio Hernandez – AHN News
Armonk, NY, United States (AHN) – International Business Machines Corp. is bent on retaining its hold as the number two most valuable company in the world by expanding its $22.5-billion software business. IBM Senior Vice President Steve Mills says the firm, which has sold its hardware business and shifted to software development, plans to spend $100 million to $300 million to buy mid-sized firms. The expansion aims to add another $20 billion in annual revenues by 2015, which would mean that IBM must double or triple the pace of sales growth at companies [...] Continue Reading…

Vittorio Hernandez – AHN News
Athens, Greece (AHN) – Greece is teetering towards a default on its international loans, prompting Greek officials to seek the advice of European and International Monetary Fund officials to measures the financially challenged nation could do to speed up the release of its $11 billion anticipated aid. The reply of European economic officials on Monday was that Athens must make deeper and faster budget cuts and economic reforms. In the event of a Greek default, the ones to be hit hardest would be German banks Hypo Real Estate Holding and WestLB which jointly [...] Continue Reading…