Actor Liam Neeson poses before a news conference to promote his movie, ''Taken 2'' in Seoul September 17, 2012.

LOS ANGELES | Sun Oct 14, 2012 2:06pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Liam Neeson thriller "Taken 2" won a battle between two hostage movies over the weekend, holding on to its top box office rankings for a second week with $22.5 million from ticket sales at U.S. and Canadian theaters.

Ben Affleck's highly praised Iran hostage thriller "Argo" was as close second, earning $20.1 million from Friday through Sunday. Low-budget horror movie "Sinister" came in third with $18.3 million, according to studio estimates compiled by Reuters.

Action sequel "Taken 2" stars Neeson as a former CIA agent who is captured while on vacation in Istanbul. The movie has pulled in $86.8 million at North American (U.S. and Canadian) theaters since its debut a week ago, plus $132.8 million from international markets.

"We continue to play broadly across all demographics and it is a testament to the strength of Liam's character and the property," said Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution at 20th Century Fox, which released the film.

With a worldwide box office total already reaching nearly $220 million, he said the film was close to equaling the final box office total of the first "Taken" movie ($226.8 million), and therefore labeled the sequel as "a much bigger movie."

"Taken 2" sales outpaced receipts for "Argo," a movie that Affleck stars in and directs. The film is based on a real-life CIA plot to smuggle six U.S. diplomats out of Iran in 1979 under the guise of a fake movie production.

The diplomats had escaped the storming of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran at the height of the Islamic revolution. They hid at the Canadian embassy until a CIA agent came to sneak them out of the country.

"Argo" is generating buzz as an Oscar contender after earning stellar marks from critics, with 94 percent of reviews collected on the Rotten Tomatoes website praising the film. Ahead of the weekend, box-office forecasters had predicted an opening of $15 million or more.

"The movie is like the perfect storm, everything came together at the right time," said Dan Fellman, president of theatrical distribution for Warner Bros, noting that the combination of the film's appeal to all ages combined with critical acclaim and awards season buzz would spell a long commercial run.

"It's going to have legs," he said. "Critical acclaim is going to translate into commercial success."

Warner Bros. and GK Films paid about $44 million to produce the movie.

Sales for third-place film "Sinister" came in more than 6 times its tiny $3 million production budget. The movie stars Ethan Hawke as a crime novelist who moves into a new house and finds disturbing home movies. It was produced by Jason Blum, producer of the hit "Paranormal Activity" series of horror flicks.

Family film "Hotel Transylvania" held on to the No. 4 spot during its third weekend in theaters, pulling in $17.3 million. Total domestic sales since its debut reached $102.2 million.

New comedy "Here Comes the Boom," earned $12 million and landed in fifth place. The $40-million film stars Kevin James as a high-school biology teacher who competes in mixed martial arts to raise money for his school.

Another new entry, comedy "Seven Psychopaths," earned ninth place, grossing $4.3 million from a medium-sized run in about 1,500 theaters. The film stars Colin Farrell and Woody Harrelson in the story of a screenwriter who gets wrapped up in criminal activity after his friends kidnap a gangster's dog.

The movie, which won an 89 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, cost $15 million to make. It will expand to more theaters in two weeks.

Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc, released "Argo." "Taken 2" was distributed by News Corp's 20th Century Fox studio. Summit Entertainment, owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, released "Sinister."

Sony Corp's movie studio distributed "Hotel Transylvania" and "Here Comes the Boom." CBS Films, a unit of CBS Corp, released "Seven Psychopaths."

(Additional reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by Doina Chiacu and Gunna Dickson)

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U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke talks at the Economic Club of Indiana in Indianapolis October 1, 2012.

TOKYO | Sun Oct 14, 2012 3:03pm EDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Sunday said it was far from clear that the U.S. central bank's highly stimulative monetary policy hurts emerging economies, defending a policy raising concerns in China, Russia and Brazil.

In a blunt call for certain emerging economies to allow their currencies to rise, he also said that foreign exchange intervention encouraged destabilizing inflows of foreign capital, but he did not specify China by name.

"The perceived advantages of undervaluation and the problem of unwanted capital inflows must be understood as a package - you can't have one without the other," Bernanke said in Tokyo.

Bernanke has often defended Fed actions against domestic critics, who argue the policy of keeping interest rates near zero while ramping up asset purchases hurts savers and risks future inflation.

But in the Tokyo speech, Bernanke addressed critics abroad, saying stronger growth in the United States bolsters global prospects as well, countering the likes of Brazil's Finance Minister Guido Mantega who has labeled the Fed's latest stimulus effort "selfish".

Critics say the Fed's unorthodox policies weaken the U.S. dollar and boost the currencies of developing countries, hurting their ability to export.

"It is not at all clear that accommodative policies in advanced economies impose net costs on emerging market economies," Bernanke said at an event sponsored by the Bank of Japan and the International Monetary Fund. While the speech was delivered in private, the Fed provided a text to the media.

Restating a theme that he has addressed in the past, the Fed chief also said that if emerging economies stopped intervening and allowed their currencies to rise, this would help insulate their financial systems from external pressure.

"Under a flexible exchange-rate regime, a fully independent monetary policy, together with fiscal policy as needed, would be available to help counteract any adverse effects of currency appreciation on growth," Bernanke said.

The Fed last month announced a new program of open-ended bond purchases that will be continued until there is substantial improvement in labor market conditions, barring a sustained and unexpected spike in inflation.

To start off, the central bank will buy $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities per month.

"This policy not only helps strengthen the U.S. economic recovery, but by boosting U.S. spending and growth, it has the effect of helping support the global economy as well," he said.

FRIEND OR FOE

In 2010, when the Fed launched its second round of monetary policy stimulus, known as quantitative easing, many finance ministers around the world accused the United States of pursuing a beggar-thy-neighbor policy.

Criticism of the current round of bond purchases, known as QE3, has been more muted, but nonetheless evident.

Brazil's Mantega told the IMF's 188 member countries in Tokyo on Friday that the policy was "selfish" and harming emerging markets both by stealing their share of exports and by spurring destabilizing capital flows and currency movements.

"Advanced countries cannot count on exporting their way out of the crisis at the expense of emerging market economies," he told the IMF's governing panel. "Brazil, for one, will take whatever measures it deems necessary to avoid the detrimental effects of these spillovers."

In opening remarks at the conference that Bernanke addressed on Sunday, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said aggressive steps by the Fed, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan were "big policy actions in the right direction."

But she took note of the distress those policies were causing elsewhere and called for central banks to step-up their dialogue and cooperation.

"Accommodative monetary policies in many advanced economies are likely to entail large and volatile capital flows to emerging economies," she said. "This could ... lead to (economic) overheating, asset price bubbles and the buildup of financial imbalances."

Critics of the Fed's policy, both foreign and domestic, contend it is likely to do little to help the U.S. economy, while risking unwanted inflation.

Central banks "should consider draining excessive liquidity injected into the market and eliminate inflationary pressure in the long-term," People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan was quoted as saying by the official state news agency Xinhua, which cited the Journal of Public Research, a PBOC magazine.

Russia also is worried.

"Everything is getting done, from my perspective, blindly, without regard to the consequences it could have," Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters in Tokyo.

"NO PANACEA"

For his part, Bernanke stressed that inflation in the United States was projected to run below the Fed's 2 percent goal over the next few years.

And while he admitted that QE3 was "no panacea," he argued the open-ended nature of the third round of bond buying makes the program more flexible and should make people feel more certain that U.S. economic growth, which registered a paltry annual pace of 1.3 percent in the second quarter, will pick up.

"An easing in financial conditions and greater public confidence should help promote more rapid economic growth and faster job gains over coming quarters," Bernanke said.

In response to the financial crisis and deep recession of 2007-2009, the Fed cut overnight interest rates to near zero and bought some $2.3 trillion in mortgage and U.S. Treasury securities to try to stimulate spending and boost employment.

U.S. job growth remains lackluster, but the unemployment rate did fall to 7.8 percent in September, its lowest in nearly four years.

For Bernanke, what is good for the world's largest economy is ultimately good for the world as well.

"Assessments of the international impact of U.S. monetary policies should give appropriate weight to their beneficial effects on global growth and stability," he said.

(Writing by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa in Washington and Tim Ahmann in Tokyo; Additional reporting by Anna Yukhananov in Tokyo and Alister Bull in Washington: Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)

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1 of 5. A man clicks his nails as he looks at an electronic board displaying share prices outside a brokerage in Tokyo September 20, 2012.

TOKYO | Sun Oct 14, 2012 10:54pm EDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares fell on Monday on growth concerns ahead of the third-quarter corporate earnings season, lifting the safe-haven dollar which in turn undermined commodities.

As risk sensitive assets retreated, the dollar index .DXY measured against a basket of six major currencies gained 0.4 percent.

A stronger dollar and worries that a slowing global economy may further dent fuel demand pushed U.S. crude futures down more than $1 to $90.82 a barrel. Brent fell 0.6 percent to $113.99.

The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.3 percent.

Tokyo's Nikkei average .N225 was down 0.1 percent. .T

U.S. stocks wrapped up their worst week in four months, led lower on Friday by financial shares. More financial institutions will report earnings in coming days, including Citigroup (C.N), Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and Bank of America (BAC.N), amid concerns about their shrinking profit margins.

"People are just cautious, quite reluctant. It is not only equities, it is property and a whole range of asset classes, people are happy to have the money in the bank rather than put it to work," said Burrell & Co director Richard Herring.

"We will probably need a good earnings reporting season out of the U.S. or a change in the environment here - a more certain outlook," Herring said.

A decline in Chinese consumer and producer prices in September left scope for policy easing to underpin growth.

Data over the weekend from China, the world's second-largest economy after the United States, offered some positive news, suggesting government moves to underpin growth are working and additional policy action may not be needed.

China's broad M2 money supply rose more than expected in September while its exports grew at roughly twice the rate expected in September and imports recovered.

"The better than expected upswing in Chinese exports follows similar outcomes for Taiwan and Korea and may be consistent with a bottoming in global manufacturing PMIs in suggesting a possible stabilization or improvement in global growth," said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital.

Commodity currencies failed to cling to an early lift, with the Australian dollar falling 0.6 percent to $1.0204, close to the near three-month low of $1.0149 plumbed a week ago.

US POSES RISK

The encouraging Chinese data could not completely dispel concerns about the global slowdown, with the euro zone's prolonged debt crisis dragging on.

Investors should brace for three or four months of jittery markets due to uncertainty over support for Spain and the looming "fiscal cliff" threatening the U.S. economy, BlackRock Chief Executive Laurence Fink told Reuters on Saturday. Fink warned that the U.S. stock market could lose 5 to 10 percent in a correction in the final months of the year.

"Markets have yet to fully reflect concerns about the 'fiscal cliff' but the issue represents a major downside risk," Takao Hattori, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities in Tokyo said .

Orders related to the U.S. military industry may feel the pinch as automatic across-the-board budget cuts set to begin on January 2 if there is no deal on deficit reductions, Hattori added.

The era of rising Western spending on weapons and wars is over, providing a more challenging environment for major arms manufacturers.

Hattori also said markets have been supported by expectations and hopes, rather than conviction, over how Europe will resolve its debt crisis.

The euro slipped 0.4 percent to $1.2897 as Europe muddles through debt relief measures for Spain and Greece.

Investors expect highly-indebted Spain to request assistance, triggering the European Central Bank's program to buy bonds of struggling euro zone states that ask for aid.

They also hope Europe will not allow Greece to leave the currency union.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has said his government expects to agree a new austerity package with its lenders and for the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to bridge their differences on how to cut the country's debt by the time EU leaders meet on October 18-19.

Euro zone officials are considering new ways to reduce Greece's huge debts because delays to reforms by Athens and continued recession have put the target of a debt to GDP ratio of 120 percent in 2020 out of reach, euro zone officials said.

Euro zone officials also said Spain could ask for financial aid from the euro zone in November.

Asian credit markets weakened, with the spread on the iTraxx Asia ex-Japan investment-grade index widening by 2 basis points.

(Additional reporting by Ian Chua in Sydney and Victoria Thieberger in Melbourne; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

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Sat Oct 13, 2012 3:54pm EDT

n">(Reuters) - Television host and actor Gary Collins died early on Saturday in Biloxi, Mississippi, of natural causes at the age of 74, according to the local coroner's office.

Collins was admitted to the Biloxi Regional Medical Center less than 24 hours before he was pronounced dead at 12:56 a.m., according to Brian Switzer, deputy coroner at the Harrison County Coroner's Office.

He starred in the 1970s TV series "The Sixth Sense" and appeared in other series including "JAG," "Yes, Dear" and "The Young and the Restless," as well as on "The New Hollywood Squares" game show.

He is survived by his wife, Mary Ann Mobley, a former Miss America from Brandon, Mississippi, and the couple spent some of their time in the state. Collins had been a host of the Miss America pageant.

In January 2011, he was accused of skipping out on a $59.35 restaurant tab in Biloxi, which in Mississippi is a felony. Those charges were later dropped but not before Collins was arrested in his Biloxi home after the restaurant's employees called the police.

In 2007, Collins was sentenced to four days in jail as the result of a car wreck in California. Police blamed that accident on the driver of the other car, though Collins pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence.

In the 1980s, he hosted talk shows "Hour Magazine" and "The Home Show."

(Editing by Eric Beech)

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1 of 6. People walk in front of a logo of Softbank Corp at its branch in Tokyo, in this file picture taken March 2, 2011. Japan's Softbank Corp said on October 12, 2012 that it is in talks with Sprint Nextel Corp about investing in the U.S. telecoms firm, but nothing has been decided.

NEW YORK/TOKYO | Sun Oct 14, 2012 11:13pm EDT

NEW YORK/TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese mobile operator Softbank Corp is near a $20 billion deal to acquire control of U.S. carrier Sprint Nextel Corp, sources familiar with the matter said, as the firm led by billionaire Masayoshi Son seeks a foothold in the U.S. market.

A deal, which the sources said could be announced as early as Monday, would be Japan's biggest overseas buy, and would also give Sprint ammunition to potentially acquire peers and build out its 4G network to compete better in a U.S. wireless market dominated by AT&T and Verizon.

Softbank shares tumbled more than 7 percent early on Monday, and have lost more than a fifth of their value since news first broke of the firm's interest in Sprint. Investors are concerned that Son, who has a reputation for taking risks, may be offering too much.

Under the deal taking shape, the sources said Softbank would buy some $12 billion worth of Sprint shares and spend another $8 billion on new Sprint securities. The Japanese firm would initially buy $3 billion of bonds convertible into Sprint stock at $5.25 a share, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. It would also buy $5 billion in stock directly from Sprint, and offer $7.30 a share for stock it buys in the public markets. Sprint closed on Friday at $5.73.

Sprint, led by CEO Dan Hesse, has net debt of about $15 billion, while Softbank has net debt of about $10 billion. Adding the $2 billion of net debt of eAccess Ltd, which Softbank recently agreed to buy, would raise "post-deal gearing levels to unacceptable heights", Societe Generale said in a client note on Friday.

"It's the same (market) reaction as when Softbank said it was going to buy Vodafone a few years ago. Everyone came out and said it was far too expensive," said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, general manager of investment and research at SMBC Friend Securities.

Softbank acquired Vodafone's Japan unit for $15.5 billion in a landmark deal in 2006 that propelled the firm into the mobile carrier business.

CLEAR FOR CLEARWIRE

Sprint confirmed on Thursday it was in talks with Softbank about an investment that could involve a change in control. If Softbank takes a 70 percent stake of Sprint for $20 billion, that would imply the No. 3 U.S. wireless company was worth about $28.6 billion, some two-thirds greater than its market capitalization at Friday's close.

On Friday, Standard & Poor's put its "BBB" long-term rating on Softbank on 'credit watch with negative implications', saying the deal "may undermine Softbank's financial risk profile" and would pressure its free operating cash flow for at least the next few years.

A tie-up between Sprint and Softbank could see the U.S. firm use some of the proceeds to buy the part of Clearwire Corp it doesn't already own, given that company's attractive spectrum assets, analysts and investors have said. Clearwire stock soared on Friday.

An alliance with Sprint could also give Softbank leverage when dealing with Apple Inc, helping bolster its domestic position against KDDI Corp, which also now offers the iPhone in Japan, and market leader NTT Docomo, which is yet to offer the Apple smartphone.

A Tokyo-based Softbank spokesman reiterated on Monday that the company was in talks about making an investment in Sprint, but no agreement had been reached. Sprint representatives were not immediately available to comment, and a Clearwire spokesman declined to comment. CNBC's David Faber reported the news earlier on Sunday.

Softbank is in talks with Japan's leading banks - Mizuho Financial Group Inc, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group - to borrow up to $23 billion for a deal, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.

The banks involved in the syndicated loan could provide a commitment letter as soon as this week, the sources said.

A deal for Sprint at around the levels mentioned by sources - and including a follow-on deal for MetroPCS - would lift the tally of outbound deals by Japanese firms to a record $80 billion this year, Thomson Reuters data shows, underscoring a strong appetite for overseas assets seemingly unaffected by signs of slowing global growth.

SECOND STEP

With Sprint in hand, Softbank may also look to acquire smaller U.S. carrier MetroPCS Communications, Japanese media have reported. Sprint has had a long interest in MetroPCS, which earlier this month agreed to merge with T-Mobile USA, part of Deutsche Telekom AG.

A takeover of Sprint would require approval from U.S. regulators, including the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission. Given the importance of telecommunications to U.S. national security, any deal would also likely warrant a review by the inter-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, according to one Washington-based attorney who advises on mergers and acquisitions

The attorney said that Japan's status as a close U.S. ally would help Softbank win approval for the deal.

($1 = 78.3550 Japanese yen)

(Additional reporting by Sophie Knight, James Topham and Andrea Shalal-Esa.; Editing by Gunna Dickson and Ian Geoghegan)

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