Netherlands latest to ban Samsung smartphones

“Samsung’s smart phones cannot be sold. That goes for the Samsung S, the Samsung S II and the Samsung Ace,” Saskia Panchoe, spokeswoman for the Hague-based court told AFP.

The court banned sales from mid-October onwards.

US-based Apple filed papers before the Dutch court on June 27, asking for an injunction on sales of three smartphone models and three tablet models including Samsung’s newly-released Galaxy Tab 10.1, accusing the Asian manufacturer of infringing on its design and patents.

“The court has judged that there indeed was an infringement regarding the smartphones, but not in relation to the tablets, which can still be sold,” Panchoe added.

“The patents also apply to other (European) countries, which means the ban on sales applies to other countries where the patents are valid,” the spokeswoman said, but she could not state the exact countries.

The infringements relate to the way users scrolled through photo galleries on their devices and how phones were unlocked by touching its screens.

A trial on the merits of the case is not expected before 2012, while other summary proceedings on several phone models are to be considered by the Hague-based tribunal in September.

The case before the Dutch court is the latest episode in the battle between Samsung and Apple, manufacturer of the iPad, who have been pursuing legal action against one another since April over design rights.

A German court earlier this month lifted a European ban on the sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, while keeping it in place in Germany, as Apple pursued a separate case there.

Earlier this month, Apple also launched legal proceedings in Australia against Samsung, accusing it of infringing its patents with the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Google TV to launch in Europe early next year

Google TV, which allows viewers to mix Web and television content on a TV screen via a browser, was launched in the United States in October but received mixed reviews and was swiftly blocked by three of the top U.S. broadcast networks.

Large parts of the television industry, like the news and telecoms industries, view Google with suspicion and accuse it of stealing their advertising revenues without contributing to the costs of making programmes.

Schmidt sought to allay the fears of Britain’s broadcasting elite in a speech to the Edinburgh television festival, the first time a non-TV executive had been invited to give the keynote MacTaggart lecture at Britain’s premier industry event.

“Some in the US feared we aimed to compete with broadcasters or content creators. Actually our intent is the opposite,” he told an audience who quickly warmed to his friendly style and liberal compliments to the quality of British television.

“We seek to support the content industry by providing an open platform for the next generation of TV to evolve, the same way Android is an open platform for the next generation of mobile,” he said.

“We expect Google TV to launch in Europe early next year, and of course the UK will be among the top priorities.” Google TV has gained little traction so far in the United States, and its set top box provider Logitech International SA slashed prices to $99 in July from an initial price of $299.

Schmidt also included a warning to British television regulators, who he said were far more stringent than their US counterparts and threatened to throttle the development of British television companies in an increasingly global market.

“Stifling the Internet – whether by filtering or blocking or just plain turning the ‘off’ switch – appeals to policy makers the world over,” he said. “Instead, policy makers should work with the grain of the Internet rather than against it.” OPPORTUNISTIC Google has long held ambitions in the television arena, hoping to extend its online advertising business, which made $28 billion for the company last year, to the big screens that still command the lion’s share of global advertising budgets.

“If his ambition was to go there and convince the TV people he wasn’t a big threat, I don’t think he achieved it,” said Keith McMahon, an analyst at research firm Telco 2.0/STL Partners.

“The message I got was that TV is such a big market that Google can’t ignore it. They’re never going to give it up.” So far, Google has had little success breaking into the TV market, despite its ownership of the world’s most popular online video site, YouTube.

Last week, however, Google agreed a deal to buy Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc for $12.5 billion, handing it the world’s leading set top box business which delivers content for many of the top cable TV companies in the United States.

The headline attraction of the deal was Motorola’s huge portfolio of wireless patents but the set top box business could help Google transform its TV project by giving it insights into pay-TV.

Google has not spelled out its plans for the set top box business, and many analysts expect it to divest the unit at the first opportunity, having no experience or previous interest in running a hardware business.

Others believe Google could change tack under CEO Larry Page, Google’s co-founder who took back the reins from Schmidt in April and has already started a social network to compete with Facebook while ditching other projects.

“Google describes itself as an opportunistic company. So while it may not have wanted to buy Motorola’s operations, it may now assess whether retaining these assets can compensate for the risk of owning them,” New York-based Nomura analyst Stuart Jeffrey wrote in a note this week.

Schmidt made no mention of the Motorola acquisition or its implications on Friday, but will hold a question and answer session in Edinburgh on Saturday.

Train attack kills three, wounds 16 near Quetta

Men armed with assault rifles attacked the passenger train in Mach town, some 50 kilometres southeast of Quetta, the capital of the insurgency-hit southwestern province of Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.

“Three people have been killed and 16 were injured in the attack,” Naseeb-Ullah, provincial home secretary told AFP by telephone.

“We have imposed an emergency in the hospitals while the seriously injured have been taken to Quetta’s main hospital,” he added.

Police said about two dozens attackers fired on the train when it reached Mach, which lies deep in the mountains.

A railway official confirmed the incident.

One Intelligence official in Quetta blamed the attack on Baloch militants who are fighting for more political rights and a greater share of profits from the region’s natural resources.

Hundreds of people have died in violence in the province since the insurgency flared in late 2004. Despite having some of the lowest living standards in Pakistan, the region has the richest supply of natural resources.

Zulfiqar Mirza resigns from Sindh cabinet

Mirza said that Interior Minister Rehman Malik was “hand in glove with terrorists” and called him a “compulsive liar”. He said that he had evidence against Malik which he would present to the president and the army chief. He went ahead to add that Malik was harmful for Pakistan.

Mirza said that his ministry had been changed due to blackmail and said that there existed a manipulated mandate in Karachi.

He also said that if had been given a free hand, he would be able to bring peace in Karachi within 15 days.

Zulfikaqar Mirza also spoke out against the MQM again. He called the MQM Chief Altaf Hussain a “killer” and called his party a terrorist organisation.

During his press conference Zulfiqar Mirza revealed about a meeting that he had with the MQM chief in which Altaf Hussain allegedly said that the United States wanted to break up Pakistan and that the MQM would work with them to achieve this agenda.

He also accused the MQM of being responsible for the murder of journalist Wali Khan Babar and revealed the identities of five alleged target killers who were behind the killing.

Pakistan can look any country in the eyes on national interest

Addressing a press conference at the State Guest House here, the Prime Minister said that safeguarding national interest was of supreme importance for his government.

He said that Pakistan wanted to maintain friendly relations with the United States on the basis of mutual respect and mutual interest without compromising on each other’s national interests.

Gilani said, “We have explained to the US government that if it is answerable to Congress, then we are equally accountable to the Parliament”.

To a query, the Prime Minister said there was no question of raising fingers at Pakistan’s role in the fight against terrorism.

Because of strategic position, Pakistan had to take up the role of a frontline state role in the fight against terror, he said and added that Pakistan’s intelligence agencies and the Central Intelligence Agency (of US) were working in close liaison with each other while both the countries had launched joint actions against high-level targets in the past.

Condemning the cross-border attack in Chitral, he said that the Foreign Office had protested to the Afghan government on the issue. Some elements did not want amicable relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan and were creating disturbance, he added.

He said Pakistan was in the middle of the fight against terrorism and expressed the hope relations between the two neighbouring countries would strengthen in the near future.

About Al-Qaeda links in the security forces, Gilani said Pakistan’s security agencies were immensely efficient.

Terrorism and extremism were a global phenomenon as well as a global threat which had to be addressed jointly through capacity building of each other, he added.

Responding to a question on the law and order situation in Karachi, he said that extremism and terrorism were major threats to the country and that the law and order situation in Karachi was a spill-over of the Afghan war.

He said that successful operation of the law enforcement agencies in FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas), Swat and Malakand had dispersed the terrorists who turned to soft targets like girls’ schools, shopping malls, public places and intelligence headquarters in order to cause collateral damage to life and property.

The Prime Minister said the situation of Karachi was also a reaction to the killing of Osama Bin Laden in Abottabad operation.

To another question, he did not rule the involvement of some foreign hands in Balochistan and Karachi incidents.

Jason Momoa eyes breakout film role in "Conan"

Jason Momoa may not be a household name from Hollywood yet, but neither was Arnold Schwarzenegger when he took on the title role of "Conan the Barbarian" in 1982.

Nearly 30 years later, Momoa could see a similar starmaking trajectory if moviegoers embrace him as the new, 3D incarnation of "Conan the Barbarian," due in theaters on Friday. If there's one person who hopes they will, it is Momoa.

"Conan (is) going to give me star status," he told Reuters of his hopes for a movie that breaks him out of the pack of Hollywood actors. "It's going to put me in leading man roles."

Based on pulp fiction writer Robert E. Howard's sword and sorcery fantasy stories, the "Conan" reboot begins with the barbarian's early years when, as a young boy, he witnesses the destruction of his village and the death of his father.

As an adult, Conan embarks on a personal mission to avenge the death, which then turns into an epic battle to save an entire nation from a supernatural evil.

Unlike Schwarzenegger who, at 35, was a body building champ but a relative newcomer to Hollywood movies when he took the "Conan" role, the 32 year-old Momoa has 12 years of work under his belt. But only his hardcore fans, including followers of HBO series "Games of Thrones," likely know he's got the acting skills, not to mention the muscles, to wield Conan's weapons.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Momoa was raised by his single mother in Iowa, where he never felt like he fit in with his exotic looks inherited largely from his native Hawaiian father. After high school, in an attempt to "get to know my father better" Momoa went back to Hawaii where his looks became an asset. Modeling gigs followed, then came an opportunity he could never have predicted -- a gig on "Baywatch."

"I was 19 and folding t-shirts in a surf shop," Momoa told Reuters. "And I got chosen out of 1,300 people to play a lead role on 'Baywatch Hawaii.' I didn't even know how to act."

That led to another Hawaii-based show, "North Shore," which only lasted a year and after that, a dry spell.

"It took me five years to get an agent after 'Baywatch,'" said Momoa. "No one would take me seriously because it was 'Baywatch.' I lived in the shadow of that for a long time.'"

WARRIORS AND WARLOCKS

Eventually he landed the role of the dreadlock-wearing warrior Ronon Dex in the Sy Fy Channel TV series "Stargate: Atlantis," where he was quickly embraced by sci-fi fans. The show lasted on TV for five seasons.

His career took another fortuitous turn when he was cast as the powerful warlock Khal Drogo on HBO's "Game of Thrones," based on the popular "A Song of Ice and Fire" fantasy novels. After premiering earlier this year, "Thrones" became an instant hit with fans and critics, earning 13 Emmy nominations.

"It was the first project in my life where I was like, 'I have to have this, no one is gonna take this from me,'" said Momoa. "It was the first thing I've ever fought for."

Momoa's 6'3" frame and muscular body make him a strong choice for roles as tough guys who battle evil, and his exotic looks give him an eerie resemblance to Howard's original drawings of Conan.

But the actor, who is married and has two young children with actress Lisa Bonet, said it was being a father that made him connect with the Conan character.

"Conan's father is killed in front of him and as a father, if someone messes with your family, your children, you're gonna get primal on them," said the actor. "You're gonna go feral. It resides in everyone," Momoa said.

Clearly, going primal is one thing Momoa can do. His face bears a striking scar from a 2008 bar fight where, he said, "I took a pint glass to the face. It took a 140 stitches to put my face back together."

But those days are gone, he said, and the actor is focused on his future. Besides "Thrones," Momoa is currently shooting a villainous role opposite Sylvester Stallone in next year's crime thriller, "Bullet to the Head." He also has a couple of projects in the works with Bonet.

Though his career is moving at a faster pace now, Momoa paused to reflect about first seeing himself on the big screen in "Conan," complete with the physical transformation which included an additional 25 lbs. of muscle.

"There's moments you look at yourself," he said. "And wow, it's kinda cool."

Cody Horn circling Channing Tatum's stripper drama

Channing Tatum may soon be bumping and grinding for a genuine Hollywood princess.

Cody Horn, the daughter of former Warner Bros. president and COO Alan Horn, is circling Tatum's male stripper drama, "Magic Mike," TheWrap has confirmed.

ThePlaylist first reported her casting.

Horn would play Tatum's love interest in the film.

Steven Soderbergh is set to direct the semi-autobiographical story of Tatum's early years spent exotic dancing for his dinner.

Alex Pettyfer ("I Am Number Four") and Matthew McConaughey are set to co-star.

Horn is represented by Paradigm and Untitled Entertainment. She has previously appeared in the films "Twelve" and "Flipped," and snagged a recurring role in the FX series "Rescue Me."