David Frankel's adult comedy-drama Hope Springs opened to $2.3 million at the domestic box office Wednesday, putting it on course for a modest five-day debut in the $15 million to $16 million range.

Hope Springs -- starring Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carell -- opened at No. 2 behind The Dark Knight Rises, which grossed $3.7 million for a domestic cume of $367 million.

FILM REVIEW: Hope Springs

Reuniting Streep and Frankel for the first time since The Devil Wears Prada in 2006, Hope Springs is about an older couple who go to a couple's retreat. 

The film is tracking best among older women and couples. Studio insiders caution that the 2012 Summer Olympics are likely to distract older moviegoers but are confident that the film will have strong legs.

Hope Springs also could face some competition from Warner Bros.' comedy The Campaign, which opens Friday and stars Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis. Campaign is likely to play to a broader audience.

Sony acquired domestic rights to Hope Springs for roughly $15 million in partnership with MGM.

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1 of 6. Award-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch is shown in this publicity photo released to Reuters August 7, 2012. Hamlisch, who earned acclaim and popularity for dozens of motion picture scores including ''The Way We Were,'' has died in Los Angeles August 6, 2012 at the age of 68.

NEW YORK | Tue Aug 7, 2012 5:41pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Marvin Hamlisch, the award-winning composer of "A Chorus Line" and "The Way We Were", has died suddenly at the age of 68, prompting warm tributes from Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, former U.S. first lady Nancy Reagan and dozens of stage and screen stars.

Hamlisch, the musical force behind "The Sting" and numerous other movies and Broadway shows, died in Los Angeles on Monday, a family spokesman said. He collapsed following what was called "a brief illness". Details were not made public.

Streisand, a friend of 45 years and star of romantic movie "The Way We Were", said she was "devastated" at his death and recalled how he had played at her 1998 wedding.

"When I think of him now, it was his brilliantly quick mind, his generosity and delicious sense of humor that made him a delight to be around ... He was a true musical genius but above all that, he was a beautiful human being. I will truly miss him," she added in a statement.

Hamlisch, who was working until days before his death, earned the rare distinction of winning Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards.

Minnelli said she had been friends with Hamlisch since the age of 13 and recalled he arranged her first and second albums.

"I have lost my first lifelong best friend, and sadly we have lost a splendid, splendid talent," the singer and actress said in a statement.

STARTED CAREER AS REHEARSAL PIANIST

In a 2010 interview Hamlisch told Broadway World that in writing "The Way We Were" he was trying to match "a very yin-yang sort of movie."

He explained: "I wanted to write something that was uplifting and positive; on the other hand, there is a tremendous amount of bitter-sweetness to that film - and bittersweet romance - so it's a real duality. And that's why I think the song - though it's in the major mode - is quite sad," he said.

The New York City-born composer, raised by Jewish parents and showing an early ability to mimic music as a young child, started out his professional career as a rehearsal pianist for "Funny Girl," beginning a long history of working with Streisand. He said Streisand "has the best voice there is".

His collaborations included musical director and arranger of Streisand's 1994 U.S. concert tour, for which he won two Emmy Awards, and writing the score for Streisand's 1996 film, "The Mirror has Two Faces," for which Hamlisch earned an Oscar nomination for Streisand's and Bryan Adams duet, "I've Finally Found Someone."

His other film scores included "Sophie's Choice" and "Ordinary People" and he co-wrote the ballad "Nobody Does It Better" for the 1977 James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me".

Nancy Reagan on Tuesday recalled Hamlisch as a frequent entertainer at White House parties in the 1980s, and how he wrote a 77th birthday song for her late husband, former U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

Hamlisch was "a dear friend and I am truly stunned by his death at such a young age ... I don't think you could ever find a more contemporary and talented musician," Reagan said in a statement.

Actress Debra Messing, star of the TV shows "Smash" and "Will & Grace", said on Twitter; "The GREAT Marvin Hamlisch passed away... What a loss. What a talent. What contributions."

Starting with 1969 film "The Swimmer," Hamlisch scored films for the next several decades, including Woody Allen's "Take the Money and Run" and "Bananas", "Save the Tiger," "Ice Castles," right up to Steven Soderbergh's "The Informant!" in 2009. He had recently been writing the score for a new Soderbergh movie based on the life of the pianist Liberace.

A CHORUS LINE

On Broadway, he won a Tony award and a Pulitzer Prize for the 1975 musical "A Chorus Line," which at the time became the most successful show on the Great White Way. He also wrote the scores for musicals "They're Playing Our Song," (1978), "The Goodbye Girl" (1993) and "Sweet Smell Of Success" (2002).

He also won four Grammy Awards including two for "The Way We Were."

Press representatives said he was scheduled to leave for Nashville later this week to see the Jerry Lewis stage-adapted comedy, "The Nutty Professor," for which he wrote the score. He had been working on a new Broadway musical called "Gotta Dance."

Hamlisch said he believed in the power of music to connect people.

"Music can make a difference. There is a global nature to music, which has the potential to bring all people together," he said on his website.

At the time of his death, he was principal pops conductor for several U.S. symphony orchestras and was scheduled to conduct the New York Philharmonic in this year's New Year's Eve concert. He is survived by his wife of 25 years, Terre.

Songwriters Alan and Marilyn Bergman, who wrote the lyrics for "The Way We Were" and worked with Hamlisch on many other projects, called him "our beloved friend. He was family. The world will miss his music, his humor, his genius. We will miss him every day for the rest of our lives."

(Editing by Jill Serjeant and James Dalgleish)

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Director Seth MacFarlane's raunchy comedy Ted jumped the $200 million mark at the domestic box office this weekend in addition to scoring stellar numbers in key foreign markets.

From Universal and Media Rights Capital, Ted has now earned $203.4 million in North America and will soon eclipse Wedding Crashers ($209.3 million) to become the No. 4 R-rated comedy of all time behind The Hangover ($277.3 million), The Hangover Part II ($254.8 million) and Beverly Hills Cop ($234.5 million).

Ted -- starring Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis, along with the MacFarlance-voiced teddy bear -- is rolling out slowly overseas. After enjoying big business, the comedy opened in another of other markets over the weekend for an early international total of $77.3 million.

The pic's worldwide gross of $280.7 million lands it on the top ten list of R-rated comedies globally.

The pic's international weekend gross was $32 million from 20 markets, including first-place finishes in the U.K., Germany, Russia, Austria Switzerland and Ukraine. 

Ted grossed $15.3 million from 508 screens in the U.K., the third-best showing ever for a Universal film behind the Bridge Jones sequel and King Kong. Germany turned in $7.4 million, the best debut of the year for a Universal title.

The film will roll out in an additional 38 territories over the next few months.

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Thu Aug 9, 2012 7:49pm EDT

n">Aug 9 (Reuters) - Early in 2012 President Barack Obama responded to critics of his multi-billion-dollar green technology initiative by saying he was "not going to cede the wind or the solar or the battery industry to China."

Six months later, he faces that very real possibility for the U.S. car battery industry, a once-high flying sector buttressed by generous federal grants, but struggling with a green car market that has fallen far short of expectations.

A123 Systems Inc on Wednesday became the second U.S. government-backed battery maker this year to go overseas for a lifeline - and it turned to China. Auto parts supplier Wanxiang Group will take a controlling interest and invest $450 million in the Massachusetts-based battery maker, which faced running out of cash by the year-end.

Earlier this year, Ener1 Inc, another battery maker that received a government green technology grant, emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy under the control of Russian investor Boris Zingarevich. New York-based Ener1 is also a joint-venture partner in China with a Wanxiang subsidiary.

In the past three years, U.S. battery makers, anticipating consumer demand for green cars that never materialized, have over built production capacity, often with government funding.

Electric vehicle and hybrid sales for the first seven months of the year totaled 270,000, representing only 3 percent of total U.S. car sales, according to the green-car website Hybridcars.com.

As part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 's E lectric Drive Vehicle Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative, A123 was awarded a grant of $249.1 million. Ener1 subsidiary EnerDel was awarded $118.5 million to manufacture advanced lithium-ion batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles.

A123 promised to create 38,000 U.S. jobs, including 5,900 at its own plants. A123 said on Thursday it has 1,300 workers.

Theodore O'Neill, a former equities analyst with Wunderlich Securities, said A123 "built a factory that's big enough to meet demand that's probably not going to materialize until 2020 ... They built it much larger than the market turned out to need."

FINDING 'PARTNER' FOR U.S. JOBS

That kind of underperformance provides new fodder for Obama's opponents in the Republican Party with just three months until election day.

Obama has spent months battling critics of the administration's green-tech initiative in the wake of the high-profile bankruptcy of solar-panel maker Solyndra.

"It's not going to be a smooth, easy ride ... Some companies will fail," he said in his State of the Union speech in January.

But tempering expectations has done little to quiet the critics in Washington, who ramped up their attacks on Thursday with the added accusation of putting technology in Chinese hands.

"Once again it appears the Department of Energy and the Obama administration have failed to secure sensitive taxpayer-funded intellectual property from being transferred to a foreign adversary, which raises serious national security issues," said Rep. Cliff Stearns. Stearns is a Florida Republican and chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

A123 spokesman Dan Borgasano said on Thursday that, with Wanxiang's bid to take control of the battery company, "our intention is to continue to build in the United States and reach certain job levels. We think we found a partner to help us do that ... I don't think we'll necessarily be making hard and fast job projections."

After it received the DOE grant, Ener 1 said in early 2010 that it planned to create 1,400 jobs at its Indianapolis battery plant. Today, the plant employs around 250. The plant was designed to produce battery packs for up to 600,000 hybrid vehicles.

The companies' struggles with over capacity are typical of an industry whose fortunes are tied directly to those of electric and hybrid vehicle manufacturers.

"There was a bit of a rush to put in capacity that really wasn't justified by the events as they turned out," said Tom Gage, president of EV Grid, an infrastructure company based in Palo Alto, California. "In retrospect (the industry) was over-optimistic in terms of projecting the rate of growth for demand for car batteries."

Charles Ebinger, head of the energy security initiative at the Brookings Institution, said controversies surrounding government-backed companies such as A123 will make lawmakers hesitant to support expanded funding of clean energy, especially with federal budget battles looming.

"I think it's going to slow down," Ebinger said. "It's going to be increasingly difficult to argue for subsidies for any sector."

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Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay brings his trademark fury and perfectionism to subpar American hotels and inns, with satisfying results.

Executive Producers:

Ben Adler, Patricia Llewellyn, Gordon Ramsay, Adeline Ramage Rooney

Airdate:

8 p.m. Monday, August 13 (Fox)

The high-profile restaurateur Gordon Ramsay has returned to the helm for his fourth series on Fox. The intense Brit's familiar face has become a prolific brand for the network, and Fox's impulse to install him in a new scene -- hotels, inns and B&Bs -- was a good one. Ramsay is a stern bringer of hope to unsightly environments, the horrors of which Hotel Hell relishes in uncovering. Although Ramsay can be coarse and prone to fits of anger, he is always fair in his assessment and restructuring of unfortunate establishments.

The two-part pilot is slated to run on consecutive nights, and it showcases a crackerjack story right out of the box. The beleaguered Juniper Hill Inn in Windsor, Vt., seems poised for disaster, despite Ramsay and his guest experts attempting to right it. The series hits all right notes of drama -- untold horrors, an evil villain (but can he be redeemed?), a hardworking and put-upon staff -- all under the roof of a mansion on a hill that is rife with snobbery in what is otherwise a working-class community.

STORY: Why Gordon Ramsay's 'Hell's Kitchen' Is Still Hot After All These Years

The aforementioned villain is, like the pilot itself, twofold: the responsibilities are shared by Juniper Hill's co-owners Robert Dean II (who says on camera in an early montage, "we don't want people without money") and his humorless business partner boyfriend Ari Nikki. It quickly becomes apparent, however, that Dean and Nikki are -- because of their pretensions and reckless spending -- people without money. As Ramsey puts it aptly from the start regarding Dean, "What a muppet."

Dean and Nikki's frivolous expenditures and complete incompetence regarding inn keeping (they buy antique items but don't pay their staff) is extremely frustrating to watch, and viewers will want to cheer when Ramsay intervenes. The inn hemorrhages cash every year as it sits nearly empty, serving no lunch yet boasting three-course subpar dinners at outrageous prices. Despite owning the sprawling and gorgeous building, the owners live outside in an expensive RV ("it's actually a motor coach ... that's the more 'upscale' version," Dean says) and keep a trio of potbelly pigs indoors in one of their many storage areas. The storage areas that house their immense collection of antiques are particularly cringe-worthy. "This is like a special edition of Hoarders!" Ramsay exclaims, which is exactly what's so great about it.

PHOTOS: THR's 2012 Reality Power List

Of course, the issue with the owners is never so much structural as psychological. As such, Ramsay is alternately a screaming coach, a disappointed father, an irritated guest and an understanding confessor to Dean, who has to go through a breakdown before Ramsay is able to get through to him the dire circumstances of his business. It's emotional and cathartic television, especially seeing the completely abused staff begin to smile and hope, for the first time, that change might be real. As executive chef Giulian Jones said of Ramsay's trademark style, "He had to rip some people down and bring them up again, but it was necessary." Jones speaks from experience, as he too was subjected to Ramsay's sharply critical eye and furious tirades.

Ramsay naturally creates drama wherever he goes, and despite a few forced scenarios, the fly-on-the-wall editing smoothly and engagingly creates narratives amid the chaos. The fun stuff is uncovering the abominations of mismanagement and hearing Ramsay's expletive-ridden comments about them, but there's always a redemptive arc as well. Although there are many who might quickly wish for Dean -- or any of the featured incompetents of the series -- to be sent down the burning elevators in the opening credits, there are few among us who don't appreciate a good comeback story. It's satisfying, and makes one ready to dive into whatever fresh hell Ramsay is up to tackle next.

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Colorado shooting suspect James Eagan Holmes (far right) makes his first court appearance in Aurora, Colorado, July 23, 2012.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. | Thu Aug 9, 2012 10:04pm EDT

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (Reuters) - Accused Colorado gunman James Holmes, charged with murder over a shooting rampage last month at a movie theater in a Denver suburb, has a "mental illness" and tried to get help before the shooting, his defense attorney said in court on Thursday.

Holmes' public defender, in a hearing on media access to court files in the case, repeatedly made references to his client's unspecified mental illness, giving the first clear sign that Holmes' lawyers might be considering an insanity defense.

"He tried to get help with his mental illness," Daniel King said of his client, a 24-year-old former neuroscience graduate student at the University of Colorado who faces 24 counts of first-degree murder and 116 counts of attempted murder.

Holmes is accused of bursting into a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" in the Denver suburb of Aurora and opening fire in the crowded theater, killing 12 people and wounding 58 others.

Holmes, who seemed to have not shaved for days, appeared in court on Thursday wearing maroon prison garb and shackled at his hands and ankles, with his dyed hair fading to pink in some places from its original reddish-orange.

He seemed alert but disinterested in his third appearance in a Colorado courtroom since the July 20 mass shooting. He mostly stared straight ahead and did not talk to his lawyers.

"Mental illness is the only possible defense available in this case. It is hardly a whodunit," Craig Silverman, a former chief deputy district attorney in Denver who now practices law privately, told Reuters.

"By saying it repeatedly in open court, Holmes' lawyers provide the sound bite that will be the basis of the defense," he said. "It wasn't just for the court to hear but it was for the people in the courtroom and for people in the press to report."

Court papers filed by defense attorneys two weeks ago said Holmes had been a patient of the medical director for student mental health services on campus before he filed paperwork to drop out of the competitive graduate program.

That psychiatrist, Dr. Lynne Fenton, reported Holmes to a campus threat assessment team and a campus police officer over concerns about her patient, according to media reports.

Lawyers for Fenton and the campus police officer declined to comment to Reuters on those reports. The university has also declined to comment on the reports but said it had hired a former federal prosecutor to probe its dealings with Holmes.

As in many states, mental health care providers in Colorado must warn authorities of potential violent behavior only when a patient has communicated a serious threat of imminent physical violence against a specific target.

PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY

Judge William Sylvester said he would consider a request by 20 media organizations to unseal and make public documents detailing the murder case against Holmes, and would issue a written ruling later.

Lawyers representing news organizations sought the release of the papers in a written motion that said sealing them "undermines our nation's firm commitment to the transparency and public accountability of the criminal justice system."

In the motion, lawyers for the media outlets, including The New York Times Co., The Associated Press, The Denver Post, and CBS News, argued that the U.S. Constitution and state case law requires a presumption of openness. Thomson Reuters is not a party to the motion.

In most court cases, documents are available to the public.

Both prosecutors and defense lawyers objected, saying that it was too early to open the file because the investigation was still ongoing.

"The harm, judge, is very real with the release of the file at this point," defense attorney King said.

Media lawyer Steven Zansberg argued that the decision to close the bulk of the file made it difficult for the public to understand what happened during the shooting, and why.

The media has recently been successful in getting some documents unsealed in the case of Jared Loughner, who was charged last year in a deadly shooting spree that killed six people and gravely wounded Representative Gabrielle Giffords.

As the Holmes case gets further along, there may be other parties who express concerns over what is sealed. Attorneys representing families of the victims may insist that certain photographs from the crime scene not be released, for example.

Holmes is being held without bond and in solitary confinement at the Arapahoe County jail.

(Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Writing by Mary Slosson; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Anthony Boadle)

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The characters, if unfortunately not the audience, gets high in this strained farce co-written and directed by Woody Harrelson.

Woody Harrelson, Frankie Hyman

Woody Harrelson

Actor Woody Harrelson spent the summer of 1983 working at a construction site in Houston, where he became fast friends with an African-American co-worker, Frankie Hyman. Nearly three decades later both men have collaborated on Bullet for Adolf, a comic play recalling those days. Unfortunately, their nostalgia is not likely to be shared by audiences.

Just in case you’re unsure when the play is supposed to take place, Harrelson, who also directed, assaults you with visual and aural snippets from the period. Vintage pop songs that were on the charts that year are played at ear-splitting levels, and scene changes are accompanied by film montages featuring Ronald Reagan, Clint Eastwood, Sally Ride and other iconic figures of the time. Prominently featured in the set design are posters from two of that year’s hit films, Rocky III and Flashdance.

While it’s nice that the playwrights have fond memories of their youth, there’s more to crafting a farce than simply having eccentric characters yelling often profane, racially charged one-liners at each other. Oh, there’s a semblance of a plot, which involves the disappearance of a vintage German Luger that was supposedly used in an assassination attempt on Hitler. But other than providing the provocative title, the shaggy dog mystery adds little to the shambling proceedings.

The comedy mainly centers on the friendship between the affable, pot-smoking Zach (Brandon Coffey), a character clearly inspired by the young Woody, and Frankie (Tyler Jacob Rollinson), newly arrived from New York City. The pair immediately hit it off, with Zach inviting Frankie to move in with him and his roommate Clint (David Coomber). Much of the humor revolves around the fact that the fey Clint, who prances around in tighty-whities and listens to Judy Garland records, is in fact straight.

The two men’s romantic interests are Batina (Shannon Garland), the daughter of their stern German boss, Jurgen (Nick Wyman), and Jackie (Shamika Cotton), an advertising agency human resources manager who Frankie hits on during a failed job interview. Other characters figuring in the action are Dago-Czech (Lee Osorio), whose nickname reflects his ethnic heritage but not his would-be hilarious identification with black culture, and Shareeta (Marsha Stephanie Blake), Jackie’s sassy, tough-talking friend.

For a seemingly interminable, bloated 2-½ hours, this one-dimensional motley crew trades insults and often deliberately offensive gags that riff on, among other subjects, the Holocaust and pedophilia. Some of the rude one-liners are admittedly funny, and the mainly youthful cast delivers them with evident relish. But the relentless jokiness, as well as the utter absence of anything resembling a coherent plot, quickly proves wearisome. There’s a lot of pot smoking going on among the characters — another aspect reflecting one of Harrelson’s well-known interests -- but since the marijuana isn’t real the audience is unfortunately prevented from experiencing the sort of contact high that might have resulted in at least a few giggles.

Presented by Children at Play
Written by: Woody Harrelson and Frankie Hyman
Cast: Marsha Stephanie Blake, Brandon Coffey, David Coomber, Shamika Cotton, Shannon Garland, Lee Osorio, Tyler Jacob Rollinson, Nick Wyman
Director: Woody Harrelson
Scenic designer: Dane Laffrey
Costume designer: Kristy Leigh Hall
Lighting designer: Jen Schriever
Sound designer: Brett Jarvis
Projection designer: Imaginary Media

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An exterior view of the Standard Chartered headquarters is seen in London August 7, 2012.

NEW YORK | Thu Aug 9, 2012 11:43pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York state case against Standard Chartered Plc is more about whether the British bank carried out an old-fashioned cover-up using allegedly false records and less about the role the bank played in the alleged money-laundering of funds tied to Iran, according to people familiar with the situation and court documents.

The New York Department of Financial Services on Monday ordered the bank to send representatives to a meeting next Wednesday to explain why its alleged breaches of records laws should not mean the loss of its state banking license. A source close to the case said on Thursday it was possible the meeting will be postponed to allow time for discussions about the case between regulators - both state and federal - and the bank.

By using the run-of-the-mill laws, the New York regulator has been able to put more immediate pressure on Standard Chartered and given backbone to its threat to revoke the London-based bank's New York license - a potentially devastating blow to a global bank.

There are fewer gray areas in a records case than there would be in a case involving more complicated, and harder to prove, federal laws that have restricted or prohibited dollar transactions with sanctioned countries such as Iran.

Experts say they eventually expect a settlement to be agreed between federal and state authorities and Standard Chartered that would allow it to keep its license as that would avoid a protracted and potentially damaging legal battle for both sides and remove a cloud hanging over the bank.

The state inquiry is not only expected to increase scrutiny of records the bank gave to state examiners but also the work of top consulting firm Deloitte LLP, which analyzed Standard Chartered's transactions for the bank.

The New York regulator and the federal agencies concerned all declined to comment, as did Standard Chartered.

"ROGUE" ACCUSATION

The bank had been in discussions with federal authorities - the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Manhattan District Attorney - to settle the case until the New York regulator published its explosive order, which included the release of embarrassing communications and its description of Standard Chartered as a "rogue institution."

The head of the New York regulator, Benjamin Lawsky, alleged Standard Chartered hid from regulators some 60,000 "secret transactions, involving at least $250 billion" tied to Iran. A lot of attention has been focused on the gulf between that number and the $14 million of transactions that the bank says flouted U.S. regulations.

But a review of Lawsky's order shows that the state regulator is more intent on showing the bank violated the so-called "books and records" laws.

The order cites seven alleged violations of state law. Five of them effectively allege that Standard Chartered didn't maintain proper records, failed to alert examiners to false records, and provided false information. The first violation, for example, cites the bank for "failure to maintain accurate books and records."

Lawsky "is taking the path of least resistance," said John Coffee, a securities law professor at Columbia University, noting that a books and records allegation is an easier charge to bring and the tactics "may well produce a settlement."

LAPSES

Standard Chartered's problems date back to 2004, when New York regulators and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York issued an enforcement action against the bank because of anti-money laundering lapses.

Deloitte was hired to review transactions and report the findings to regulators. Standard Chartered (SCB) subsequently asked Deloitte to "delete references to certain kinds of payments that might reveal ties to Iranian dealings," the New York regulator alleged this week.

A Deloitte partner "agreed" to the request, saying in an email to a bank compliance official, "This is too much and too politically sensitive for both SCB and Deloitte. That is why I drafted the watered-down version." According to a person familiar with the report, the Deloitte partner was Michael Zeldin, a top anti-money laundering compliance consultant.

In a statement on Thursday, Deloitte said "contrary to the allegation in the Order," it "absolutely did not delete any reference to certain types of payments" from a final report. Deloitte said the report didn't include a recommendation that had been included in a prior draft.

Deloitte "did so in favor of in-person discussions" with regulators regarding the issue and it included the facts relating to this issue in the final written report.

It declined to say what the recommendation was.

Deloitte said that Zeldin was unavailable for comment.

In 2006, New York regulators asked Standard Chartered for data on Iranian transactions, including the number and dollar amount. An initial review conducted internally by the bank uncovered 2,626 transactions totaling $16 billion in 2005-06, according to the New York regulator's order this week.

As the internal report wound its way up Standard Chartered's executive ranks — from a CEO for the Americas to a group executive director in London - concern grew that the bank would become a major focus for a review of Iranian transactions by regulators.

The bank opted to turn over only four days of data, the New York bank regulator said in his order this week.

"This evidence shows that members of SCB's top management was involved in yet another staggering cover-up," the New York regulator alleged. The Deloitte report and "fraudulent data" helped the bank convince regulators to lift the enforcement action, Lawsky's order said.

(Reporting By Carrick Mollenkamp; Additional reporting by Jed Horowitz; Editing by Martin Howell and Ian Geoghegan)

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"House," with animals.

10:38 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 12 (NBC, following Olympics coverage)

8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 26 (NBC)

There has been a perception of late that NBC is shifting to broader comedies, has no love left for the edgy weirdness of Community or Parks and Recreation and all of a sudden will start throwing pies and spraying seltzer down our collective pants.

Animal Practice, which gets a sneak peak Aug. 12 as part of NBC’s Olympics coverage, might not be the show to counteract that perception.

PHOTOS: NBC's 2012-13 Season: 'Go On,' 'Revolution' and 'The New Normal'

The strong cast includes Justin Kirk (Weeds), Tyler Labine and … a monkey (Crystal, the capuchin seen in The Hangover Part II and on Community). The use of multiple animals in, well, practically anything can really spook people. Animals as primary stars pretty much indicates exaggerated scenarios and broad-based humor -- and there’s plenty of that in Animal Practice. You can’t dress up a monkey as a doctor and have him jump around causing mayhem while pretending you’re tapping into the cerebral edge of the comedy spectrum.

The pilot struggles as it tries to set up the story of Dr. George Coleman (Kirk), who runs Crane Animal Hospital like it’s a singles bar. His ex-girlfriend, Dorothy Crane (JoAnna Garcia Swisher), reappears in George’s life because the hospital has brought her in to run the facility more professionally and thus annoy him in the process. You know, like House with animals.

PHOTOS: Broadcast TV's Returning Shows for 2012-13

Like a lot of pilots, Animal Practice is messy, and if you don’t like the monkey, well, you’re probably not coming back. Then again, you don’t really know what can happen in another four or five episodes (which might be asking a lot in a crowded television universe). But if you squint a little and hope for less of Crystal riding on a toy ambulance with a siren, maybe the actors, and the material, can start to stand out.

Email: Tim.Goodman@THR.com

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1 of 9. Gu Kailai (front, C), wife of ousted Chinese Communist Party Politburo member Bo Xilai, attends a trial in the court room at Hefei Intermediate People's Court in this still image taken from video August 9, 2012.

HEFEI, China | Thu Aug 9, 2012 10:41pm EDT

HEFEI, China (Reuters) - China pressed ahead with an offensive against ousted politician Bo Xilai on Friday, a day after the murder trial of his wife, with a separate prosecution of four police officers accused of trying to cover up the killing that she was accused of.

The dismissed officers went on trial for "bending the law to show favoritism" by shielding Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, from an inquiry into the death of Briton Neil Heywood.

Gu stood trial for poisoning the businessman over a financial transaction that went sour, according to a court statement. She did not dispute the murder charge during Thursday's seven-hour, closed-door trial hearing and a verdict will soon be delivered, the statement said.

Heywood's death in November and its alleged cover-up in Bo's stronghold of Chongqing, the southwestern municipality he ran, was central to the torrent of events that toppled him from the Politburo and exposed the ruling Communist Party to its worst upheaval in decades.

The party's priority now is ensuring top-down control before a handover of power to a new generation of leaders this year.

The legal noose is tightening fast on Bo's wife and police involved in investigating the murder case, suggesting there is a danger Bo could himself face charges of masterminding a cover-up and could risk a lengthy jail term.

The South China Morning Post said on Friday that Bo's former Chongqing police chief, Wang Lijun, would stand trial as early as next week in the southwestern city of Chengdu. Wang sought temporary refuge in Chengdu's U.S. consulate in February after sources said he told Bo that Gu was a murder suspect.

Wang's dramatic flight to the U.S. mission triggered the murder scandal that quickly led to Bo's downfall. Until then, Heywood's death had been officially attributed to a possible heart attack brought on by excessive alcohol consumption.

Chinese media stuck to the terse official account of Gu's trial on Friday, despite avid public interest in this scandal that has exposed the fusion of wealth and privilege in China's political elite, and exposed rifts in the party.

Bo, 63, has not been a focus of the proceedings so far. But most experts believe the trial and almost certain conviction of his wife Gu and the four police officers is a prelude to his punishment, which could include a criminal trial.

VERDICT WON'T BE DELAYED

The court in the eastern Chinese city Hefei did not say when it would announce any verdict against Gu. But the usual wait was about a fortnight said Chen Guangwu, a criminal defense attorney who has followed the Chongqing scandal closely.

"But they won't delay for too long, because this case is being heard in order to pave the way for dealing with Bo Xilai himself," said Chen, who is based in eastern Shandong province.

"This case is in part about testing the waters for that. That is, they will sentence her and see what reaction there is in society and public opinion."

Bo's downfall has stirred more public division than that of any other party leader for over 30 years. To leftist supporters, Bo became a charismatic rallying figure for efforts to reimpose party control over dizzying and unequal market growth. To liberal critics, Bo was a dangerous opportunist who yearned to impose his harsh policies on the entire country.

As the four sacked officers went on trial, also in Hefei, Chinese police cordoned off the courthouse and excluded foreign reporters from the hearing. Vans parked nearby were bristling with video surveillance equipment.

A court spokeswoman said the case would start at 8:30 (0030 GMT). "It's open to the public but I'm afraid all the places are full at this time," she said.

The four men on trial - Guo Weiguo, Li Yang, Wang Pengfei and Wang Zhi -- were senior police officers in Chongqing who allegedly sought to stymie an investigation into Heywood's death in a hilltop hotel villa overlooking Chongqing.

On Thursday, a court official said prosecutors believed Bo's wife, Gu, and a family aide, Zhang Xiaojun, killed Heywood by pouring poison down his throat after a business dispute led Gu to believe Heywood had threatened her son, Bo Guagua, then a student at Harvard University.

During Gu's seven-hour hearing on Thursday, it was alleged Heywood had written a letter to Guagua, threatening to "destroy" him, said a source who had been briefed on the hearing. Heywood and Guagua had fallen into dispute over Heywood's demand for a fee to help arrange a 130 million pounds ($200 million) financial transaction, the source added.

Guagua, believed to be in the United States after graduating this year from Harvard University, denied there was such a deal of that value but appeared to confirm the letter's existence.

"I cannot comment on any of the details (of the letter), but I can disclose that there is no such thing as either possessing or transferring 130 million pounds," Guagua said in an e-mail sent to Reuters. ($1 = 0.6396 British pounds)

(Writing and additional reporting by Chris Buckley in Beijing; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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Of 102 native groups living in Colombia, officials say a third face extinction in the face of continued combat.

Friday, August 10

Nicole Karsin

Offering a pacifist definition of "warrior" in a land where the threat of violence defines everything, Nicole Karsin's We Women Warriors observes women in three corners of Colombia to show the extent of problems faced by indigenous communities there. Well conceived and unmanipulative, it will play well with auds attuned to its social-justice themes.

Karsin introduces us to three of the country's 102 official aboriginal groups, dozens of which face extinction simply for living on rural lands Columbia's assorted armed groups seek to control. The country's army, revolutionaries, and paramilitary groups (established to protect wealthy interests) are used to viewing anyone who isn't with them as against them, and the male populations in these communities have been devastated by attacks that made little attempt to spare neutral civilians.

In each of these three villages Karsin finds a woman who has stepped into a leadership role, whether doing so was a family tradition, as it is for Doris Puchana, or was a choice made by outside forces -- as with Ludis Rodriguez, a widow thrown in jail for a year after being falsely labeled a rebel.

The women lead in different ways, from pursuing the United Nations' attention to organizing a weaving collective. Flor Ilva Trochez, the first female governor in her tribe's 300-year history, gets the most dramatic moment here: After insisting the army end its occupation of her small town when soldiers kill an 11 year-old boy, she and other residents mobilize 15,000 people to peacefully evict them, calmly dismantling barracks sandbag by sandbag as rifle-wielding men watch in astonishment.

Though Karsin has no shortage of tragedies and outrages to recount, the film avoids sensationalism. Its articulate heroines have problems in common, but are just different enough in situation and personality to convey the breadth of difficulties faced in a nation that has been at war with itself for almost half a century.

Production Companies: Ida, Todos Los Pueblos Productions
Director-Producer: Nicole Karsin
Directors of photography: Diego Barajas, Daniel Valencia
Music: Jesus Quinones, Richard Cordoba
Editors: Cristina Malavenda, Gabriel Baudet
No rating/ rating, 82 minutes

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