North Korea missiles 'a serious threat' after new tests

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has claimed a series of technological breakthroughs in developing missiles.

Japan has warned North Korean missiles pose "a serious threat" after the country carried out new tests in defiance of international sanctions.

North Korea launched two missiles within hours of each other, with one flying about 400km (250 miles) and reaching an altitude of 1,000km.

A confirmed successful test would mark a step forward for North Korea after four failed launches in recent months.

South Korea, the US and Nato have also expressed alarm over the latest tests.

Both launches are believed to have been intermediate-range Musudan missiles, whose range of about 3,000km is enough to hit South Korea, Japan and the US territory of Guam in the Western Pacific

A suspected first launch failed, South Korean officials said, travelling about 150km before landing in the sea.

But the second showed what Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani called "some capability".

"I believe the missiles are a serious threat to our country," he said.

North Korea, which is developing nuclear weapons, is banned by UN resolutions from any use of ballistic missile technology.

In January it conducted its fourth nuclear test, claiming it as its first use a hydrogen bomb. Shortly after that it launched a satellite, widely seen as a test of long-range missile technology.

This is at least the fifth test of the Musudan medium-range missile in the past few months and while most have ended in failure, one of the latest pair fired does seem to have travelled at a high trajectory for some 400km.

The Musudan appears to be based on the technology of an old Russian Soviet-era submarine launched missile. It is carried on a wheeled launcher and was first seen in parades back in 2003, though it was never test-fired until April of this year.

Experts believe the weapon is intended to be able to strike US bases on Guam, but North Korea's ultimate goal is to be able to threaten the continental United States.

North Korea's progress is mixed and erratic. But it is clearly determined and its missile and associated nuclear weapons programme means that its rocket tests are being carefully watched by Washington.

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South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Seoul and the US were "carrying out an in-depth analysis" of the second missile, and did not say whether they considered it a success.

Several analysts were less cautious though. Jeffrey Lewis, of the California-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies, tweeted: "That's a successful test folks."

In other reaction:

• South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, condemned North Korea's "reckless provocations"
• The US warned the tests would only increase international efforts to stop North Korea's weapons programme
• Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the launches "undermine international security and dialogue"
• China, North Korea's only major ally, said the North "should avoid doing anything to further worsen tensions".

North Korea is thought to have dozens of Musudans but has never conducted a full-distance test.

The four other missiles tested in the past two months either exploded mid-air or crashed.

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Activists Worry of Chilling Effect After Immigration Ruling

Immigration protesters rally outside the White House in November. A federal judge has halted the Obama administration's new immigration policies.

A federal judge’s decision to halt President Barack Obama’s plans to defer deportations for millions of immigrants came as a disappointment to activists working on the programs' implementation. But it was by no means a surprise.

Judge Andrew Hanen, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, has long been critical of Obama’s immigration policies. The Texas jurist ruled late Monday that plaintiffs in a case brought by 26 states could sue the Obama administration over the executive actions, blocking the programs from taking effect while the litigation proceeds.

Most frustrating to grass-roots community leaders and legal experts was the timing of Hanen’s decision. Released late Monday night as Washington faced a snowstorm, it came roughly a day before one part of Obama’s plan was set to begin.

“We knew that the likelihood of the judge doing what he did was very high – we expected this decision earlier. Unfortunately, he decided to wait until the last minute,” says Ben Monterroso, executive director of the advocacy organization Mi Familia Vota Education Fund. He calls the injunction “a piece of the plan that conservatives have, which is to confuse the community and disappoint them with the aims of people not participating.”

Since Obama announced in November that his administration would be granting relief from deportation to certain classes of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, immigrant advocacy groups have been working tirelessly to educate those eligible for the programs on how to apply.

Obama’s executive actions would eliminate the upper age limit for a 2012 program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which provided deportation relief for certain young people brought to the country illegally as minors. Additionally, immigrants in the country illegally who were parents of citizens or legal residents would also be eligible for relief from deportation under a program known as Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, or DAPA. Applications for the DACA expansion were scheduled to begin Wednesday, while DAPA was expected to begin in May.

In a 123-page filing, Hanen said 2012’s DACA program could continue, while its expansion and the DAPA program would have to remain on hold while litigation continues.

"Once these services are provided, there will be no effective way of putting the toothpaste back in the tube should Plaintiffs ultimately prevail on the merits,” Hanen wrote Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican who was previously the state’s attorney general, is leading the suit, joined by officials in 25 other states. They argue the president overstepped his executive authority with the measure. Meanwhile, 12 states and the District of Columbia have supported the White House’s actions in a court brief. Of the around 5 million immigrants possibly eligible for the programs, 46 percent live in states currently challenging them in court,according to the Pew Research Center.

Plans for press conferences and vigils are already underway throughout the country to protest Monday’s decision.

“Direct actions will be coming soon, especially here in Texas, and Greg Abbott will be held accountable for it,” says Joaquin Guerra, political director of the Texas Organizing Project. “You have the Republican Party in a state like Texas that does everything in its power to say that they’re welcoming and friendly to Latinos, and then they sue to stop families from being ripped apart from each other.”

The White House defended the constitutionality of the executive actions in a statement released early Tuesday morning by press secretary Josh Earnest, who said Hanen’s injunction “wrongly prevents these lawful, commonsense policies from taking effect.” He also said the Department of Justice indicated it would appeal the decision, which is expected to take a matter of days or weeks.

However, if appealed, the question would head next to the notoriously conservative 5th U.S. Circuit of Court of Appeals, meaning action by the Supreme Court might be necessary to stay Hanen’s decision – though whether the justices would be willing to intervene is up for debate.

“It is a decision by one federal district court judge. I’ve always expected that this is a matter to be decided by a higher court,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said at a National Press Club lunch Tuesday.

In the meantime, a priority for pro-immigrant groups will be educating immigrants as to what the decision does and does not mean for them, with concerns that Tuesday’s headlines might have a chilling effect on a community already hesitant to come out of the shadows.

“Even with [the 2012 DACA program], we saw that at least a percentage of the eligible population didn’t come forward because of fears, and in this case I think we are seeing even more hyperbole and rhetoric,” says Patrick Taurel, a legal fellow at the American Immigration Council.

A little over half of the 1.2 million immigrants immediately eligible for the 2012 DACA program applied in the initiative's first two years, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

“We really want to emphasize for the community that this is one bump in the road in a long sort of journey that this case will take,” says Melissa Keaney, a staff attorney for the National Immigration Law Center. “That shouldn’t change the calculation that folks are making about whether or not they’re eligible and whether or not they’re willing to come forward and apply to the program when it is able to go into effect.” 

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Bernie Sanders: The Billionaires May Just Win

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., says he would face an enormous funding disadvantage 

if he were to run for president in 2016.

No one ever mistakes Bernie Sanders for Mr. Sunshine.

The longest-serving independent member in congressional history and self-avowed socialist sees America on the brink of oligarchy – and he's testing whether such a bleak message of alarm warrants the necessity of a presidential campaign.

In a funereal speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Monday, the junior senator from Vermont warned about a middle class in decline, a "grotesque" wage gap and a government of, by and for the billionaire class. He argued the actual unemployment rate is twice the size of the 5.7 percent plastered prominently in newspapers. He claimed the U.S. boasts the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country on earth. He noted a boiling resentment bubbling through the veins of the country and spanning the full political spectrum, from progressives to tea party conservatives.

"They have every right in the world to be angry," he said.  

Sanders is angry, too – and if he were to run for the White House, likely as a Democrat, he would attempt to channel that populist acrimony into a movement that could become an uncomfortable agitator for Hillary Clinton, the party's indisputable and inherently centrist front-runner.

But the 73-year-old Sanders isn't even sure if it can be done, or if he'll try.

In a candid answer to a question about his political viability Monday, he lamented the "absurd" amount of resources he would need to mount a serious campaign, both in the primary and general elections. 

Even if he raised $100 from 2 million people – for a total of $200 million – he worried it wouldn't be enough.     

"That is 20 percent of what the Koch brothers themselves are prepared to spend. Can you take that on? I don't know the answer. Maybe the game is over. Maybe they have bought the United States government. Maybe there is no turning back. Maybe we've gone over the edge. I don't know. I surely hope not. But we have to look at that reality."

David and Charles Koch – the libertarian billionaires commonly referred to as the Koch brothers – reportedly have earmarked nearly $900 million of their personal fortune for the 2016 campaign, on behalf of one or more Republican candidates.

The average contribution to Sanders' last Senate campaign was $45, he claimed.

"The gut feeling … that I'm going to have to reach is whether there is that willingness to stand up and fight back. And if there's not, I don't want to run a futile campaign," he said.

The tactical admission from Sanders about his own odds must come as a disheartening reality for progressives, who are yearning for a voice in the 2016 process and have spent months attempting todraft Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., into the race. (She has repeatedly and emphatically demurred.)

Even if the left expects Sanders to lose – he trails Clinton by 48 points in the latest New Hampshire primary poll – they still figure he'd fight.

Who else is there to advocate for a $1 trillion stimulus, a $15-an-hour minimum wage and universal health care?

Sanders said if he did run against Clinton, he'd wage a clean campaign that was laser-focused on issues of the middle class, climate change, trade policy, Wall Street and the wisdom of war. 

On Monday, he called Clinton an intelligent, serious political figure who cares about issues as deeply as he does. 

"It is not my style to trash people. It is not my style to run ugly, negative ads. Never have. Never will," he said.

But as he inches toward decision time – he has said he'd make up his mind in March – Sanders is clearly burdened by the system he's spent an entire career railing against.  

"I am not Mr. Bloomberg of New York and I don't have billions of dollars," he said toward the end of his talk, referring to the former New York City mayor.

But if Sanders – the most ideologically pure liberal in the Senate – determines a campaign for the cause is too arduous, too futile and just not worth it, he'll only hand liberals more reason to be angry.

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Samuel L. Jackson Says Marvel Has Figured Out Something DC Hasn't With Movies

Kingsman: The Secret Service is in theaters now. Jackson's next Marvel movie will be 

Avengers: Age of Ultron in May.

Samuel L. Jackson, looking to get some ink for his appearance in the new comic book adaptation Kingsman: The Secret Service, has taken a fairly safe route: Pitting Marvel and DC against one another and then sitting back to listen to the collective shrieking of fans online.

During an interview with MTV, he said, "The Marvel Universe is huge. There's I don't know how many thousands of characters there are in the Marvel Universe, that they have access to use," he said. "I think Marvel has figured out a way to make those movies accessible to the public that DC hasn't. I don't know what that is. I don't know why you can't get Batman and Superman, people as juiced up to be a part of that."

You can check out the full interview below.

Get More: Movie Trailers, Celebrity News

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Apple bans 'bonded servitude' for factory workers

Apple has banned the practice of bonded labour - where new recruits are charged a fee - from its factories.

In its latest audit of factory conditions, the iPhone maker said that any such fee must be paid by its supplier and not the employee.

Apple began the audits following criticism of the working conditions in some of its factories.

It comes as a report from labour rights group China Labor Watch questioned the low wages earned by some Apple workers.

Working conditions at factories such as Foxconn are now closely monitored by Apple

Its 2015 Supplier Responsibility Progress report said it had told its suppliers in October that it was outlawing bonded servitude from the beginning of this year.

"That fee needs to be paid by the supplier, and Apple ultimately bears that fee when we pay the supplier, and we're OK doing that," said Jeff Williams, Apple's senior vice-president of operations.

Bonded servitude or labour sees new workers charged a fee - sometimes equivalent to a month's salary or more - for being introduced to a factory, typically by third-party recruiters.

It means many employees will begin work in debt. Some have their passports confiscated.

A BBC Panorama programme investigation last year highlighted the poor treatment of workers in Chinese factories.

Undercover filming at one of Apple's factories - Pegatron - showed new recruits handing over ID cards, in breach of Apple's standards.

Apple, which declined to be interviewed for the programme, denied the allegations of poor working conditions and long hours and said it was deeply offended by the allegations.

On the same day that Apple published its audit, labour rights group China Labor Watch (CLW) released a report saying the company was unable to effectively monitor standards in some of its supply chain, allowing companies such as Pegatron to keep base wages below local living expenses.

CLW based its findings on 96 pay stubs submitted by an unknown number of employees. It suggested that low pay compelled workers to put in more hours.

Conditions in Chinese factories were first highlighted in 2010 after 14 workers killed themselves at a factory run by Apple's biggest supplier, Foxconn.

Long hours, harsh working conditions and low wages were said to be partly to blame.

In February 2012 the hardware giant announced that its factories would be inspected by the Fair Labour Association (FLA).

This is its ninth annual audit, and Apple was keen to show off the progress it has made in improving conditions.

It said that it had tracked more than 1.1 million workers on average per week in 2014 and that suppliers had achieved 92% compliance with its 60-hour maximum working week.

"We consistently report suppliers' violations of our standards," Mr Williams wrote in Apple's report. "People sometimes point to the discovery of problems as evidence that our process isn't working. Nothing could be further from the truth."

Apple has previously cracked down on excessive recruitment fees that foreign contract workers pay to labour brokers. It ruled that anything more than one month's wages had to be repaid.

Last year suppliers repaid $3.96m (£2.57m) in excess fees to more than 4,500 foreign contractors, according to the audit.

It also said that it continued to take steps to stop the use of minerals from mines in conflict regions such as those in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The company said it had more than doubled the number of verified conflict-free smelts to 135 last year. Another 64 were in the process of being verified.

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Will Smith: 'After Earth' Was the "Most Painful Failure in My Career"

Over the span of Will Smith's 25-year career, there's one film in particular that has taught the actor a "valuable lesson."

In a recent interview with Esquire, Smith revealed that when 2013's sci-fi film After Earth, in which he starred alongside son Jaden Smith, bombed at the box office (grossing a total of $60.5 million domestically), he realized he had been seeking success in all of the wrong places.

"That was the most painful failure in my career. Wild Wild West was less painful than After Earthbecause my son was involved in After Earth and I led him into it. That was excruciating," Smith admitted. "What I learned from that failure is how you win. I got reinvigorated after the failure of After Earth. I stopped working for a year and a half. I had to dive into why it was so important for me to have number-one movies. And I never would have looked at myself in that way."

But upon hearing the news that the father-son project he'd worked so hard for had unexpectedly tanked, Smith only had about half an hour to let it all sink in.

"I get the box-office numbers on Monday and I was devastated for about twenty-four minutes, and then my phone rang and I found out my father had cancer. That put it in perspective —viciously," he recalled.

As a young teen, it was a failed relationship that sparked the actor's desire to be the best, which later translated to box-office domination. "I was a guy who, when I was fifteen my girlfriend cheated on me, and I decided that if I was number one, no woman would ever cheat on me," he said. "All I have to do is make sure that no one’s ever better than me and I’ll have the love that my heart yearns for."

Smith added, "That Monday [following the opening weekend of After Earth] started the new phase of my life, a new concept: Only love is going to fill that hole. You can’t win enough, you can’t have enough money, you can’t succeed enough. There is not enough. The only thing that will ever satiate that existential thirst is love. And I just remember that day I made the shift from wanting to be a winner to wanting to have the most powerful, deep, and beautiful relationships I could possibly have."

Smith will appear next opposite Margot Robbie in Focus, Warner Bros.' comedy-crime film set for a Feb. 27 release.

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US troops fighting Ebola to leave Liberia by end of April

Unsafe burial practices are one of the challenges that still need to be overcome

US President Barack Obama says all but 100 of the US troops stationed in Liberia to fight the spread of Ebola will pull out by the end of April.

There were 2,800 US troops in West Africa at the height of the epidemic.

Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson has told the BBC she is "very optimistic that Ebola can be beaten".

She warned, however, that "there is a danger of the disease coming back", and said Liberia needs "a health system that can work".

President Obama's announcement of a near-total withdrawal of US troops from Liberia follows the news that the number of new Ebola cases has risen for the second consecutive week, ending a period of encouraging declines.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says Sierra Leone has registered 76 of the 144 new cases, while Guinea has registered 65 and Liberia three.

President Johnson told that although there had been a "delay" in other countries offering help to fight the virus, when assistance did arrive, "it came so fully and so effectively".

"We can say that success is also owed to the international community," she added.

President Obama (left) said the pullout of the vast majority of US troops fighting Ebola in Liberia marked "the next phase of the fight"

"At one point I was saddened that the response was so slow and at that point ineffective, but I can't be angry, we have to take responsibility."

She said the poor state of Liberia's healthcare system had exacerbated the problem of trying to contain the spread of the virus initially, and called on the world to "work with us" in improving the system.

"Our resources are scarce, we did not have enough trained medical personnel, we did not have enough facilities in the hospitals and clinics, but under the circumstances we did what we could," she said.

The president said co-operation with Liberia's neighbours was required to contain the virus, due to the country's "porous borders that are very long [and] unprotected".

Last week, the country had just a handful of confirmed Ebola cases, down from about 300 a week in August and September 2014.

Announcing the pullout of US troops, in the presence of six of the eight US survivors of the deadly virus, Mr Obama said the move represented the transition into "the next phase of the fight".

Ebola deaths

Figures up to 8 February 2015

9,177

Deaths - probable, confirmed and suspected

(Includes one in the US and six in Mali)

Liberia - 3,826 

Sierra Leone - 3,341 

Guinea - 1,995 

Nigeria - 8 

Mr Obama said that as the military contingent in Liberia was reduced, his government was "expanding our civilian response".

The president said around 10,000 "civilian responders" would stay in West Africa to fight the virus.

"Every case is an ember that if not contained can light a new fire. So we're shifting our focus from fighting the epidemic to now extinguishing it," he said.

Around 1,500 US soldiers have already returned from the region, with all troops leaving West Africa forced to undergo a 21-day quarantine period in order to minimise the risk of contagion.

Almost 23,000 people have been infected with Ebola since its outbreak in Guinea in December 2013, and more than 9,000 people have died.

The WHO has said that the increase in new cases highlights the "considerable challenges" that must still be overcome to end the outbreak.

"Despite improvements in case finding and management, burial practices, and community engagement, the decline in case incidence has stalled," the UN health agency said in a statement.

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Better Test Scores Could Mean Trillions of Dollars for the U.S. Economy

A new study suggests American students are lagging behind the international average. Catching up could be worth America's while.

Higher test scores could translate into a more skilled workforce, according to a new study.

The U.S. economy stands to gain $10 trillion by 2050 if American children’s math and science test scores improve to match those from Canada, according to a study issued this week by the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.

The study is based on math and science test scores from the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment exam, which tested the academic ability of 15-year-old students around the world.

Among the 34 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development that took the 2012 PISA exam, America's scores rank 24th. South Korea, Japan, Finland, Estonia and Switzerland round out the top five, while Canada ranks 7th.

The study largely attributes the gap between the U.S. and its northern neighbor to a growing education gap within the U.S. itself.

“In general, there are large gaps in the educational outcomes among children from families with lower and higher socioeconomic status,” Robert Lynch, Washington College economics professor and visiting fellow at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, said in the report. “These gaps contribute to subsequent economic inequality, with the relatively poor performance of children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds reducing U.S. economic growth. Thus, closing income or class-based educational gaps would promote faster and more widely shared economic growth.”

The study cites historical data from the U.S. Census Bureau suggesting the bottom 10 percent of American households only saw mean household incomes increase by about 15 percent between 1967 and 2013, with respect to inflation. The top 10 percent, meanwhile, saw mean household incomes increase 59 percent over the same period.

Investments in education are one proposed solution to closing this gap. The authors of the study reason a more educated youth population will develop more desirable skill sets for the working world and ultimately foster a more skilled labor force.

“The theoretical basis for the relationship between additional schooling and economic growth is straightforward,” Lynch writes in the report. “Educational attainment increases human capital, resulting in the enhanced productivity of a nation’s workforce, increases the rate of technological innovation, and facilitates the diffusion and adoption of new production techniques, all of which help boost economic growth.”

By just improving American children’s average PISA test score to meet the average score of all 34 OECD member nations, the study estimates the U.S. would expand its GDP $2.5 trillion by 2050 – 1.7 percent higher than it would be without such an improvement. That would in turn translate to an increased $902 billion in government revenues. By 2075, the U.S. economy would be worth $14 trillion more than if the status quo remains unchanged, netting the government an additional $5.2 trillion, according to the report.

If U.S. children matched Canada’s average science and math scores, U.S. GDP would balloon an extra $10 trillion by 2050 and $57.4 trillion by 2075, bringing increased government revenues of $3.6 trillion and $21.5 trillion, respectively.

And if the U.S. improved its test scores to match the average academic performance of its top 25 percent most advantaged students – thereby eliminating a now sizable socioeconomic education gap – the U.S. economy would gain an extra $14.7 trillion by 2050 and $86.5 trillion by 2075. The government would rake in an additional $5.3 trillion by 2050 and $32.4 trillion by 2075.

“If investments were made that raised U.S. math and science scores up to the OECD average, then the U.S. would experience $72 billion more in GDP growth each and every year for the next 35 years,” according to the report. “Thus, we should be willing to invest up to $72 billion per year for the next 35 years to raise U.S. achievement scores up to the OECD average.”

According to the U.S. News/Raytheon STEM Index, U.S. results on the PISA exam improved steadily from 2006 to 2009, but have since been on the decline and now are just slightly lower than they were in 2000, the base year for the Index. The report from the Washington Center for Equitable Growth notes that investments made in early stages of a child’s education pay back the biggest dividends in terms of development.

President Barack Obama’s 2016 federal budget proposal released Monday outlines an $80 billion child care overhaul plan that sets aside $750 million to provide preschool access to four-year-olds from low- and moderate-income households. National Head Start programs’ funding also increased by $1.5 billion in the proposed budget.

But perhaps the most widely-discussed tenet of the president’s proposal is the free community college program that will cost the government an estimated $60 billion over the next 10 years.

Though the president’s budget does allot sizable funds to education and child development services, it has been largely criticized by several members of the GOP-controlled Congress. It is generally considered highly unlikely the document will pass through Congress in its entirety.

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Bradley Cooper Might Play A Badass Who Frees Modern Day Slaves

Bradley Cooper has entered negotiations with Warner Bros. to star in Orphan X, a project that he’s also interested in producing. Cooper’s impending role would see him drawn into the world of human slavery, playing a new different kind of hero counterbalancing his role in American Sniper.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Bradley Cooper is currently in early discussions to produce Orphan X, and there's a chance that Warner Bros. could convince him to star in the project as well. The film is the adaptation of Gregg Hurwitz’s book, which actually hasn’t been released yet. In fact, if Warner Bros. and Cooper get a move on, Orphan X could hit cinemas before MacMillian publish the book in February 2016. The plan is to have Hurwitz write the screenplay for the film as well. Todd Phillips, who has previously directed Cooper in The Hangover series, is also in-line to produce. 

So far, we only have rudimentary details surrounding the plot of the film. It’s been described as a thriller, and Warner Bros. are hopeful that Bradley Cooper will star as the protagonist of the tale, Evan Smoak. He’s described as a "Nowhere Man" - presumably meaning one who ducks in and out of the shadows - and it's noted that the character sometimes deploys violent actions to help others. One particular job that is orchestrated by a Los Angeles Police Department detective sees Smoak slowly lulled into the world of human slavery. 

It certainly sounds like an intriguing effort, and if it’s produced properly it should also evolve into a thought-provoking one too. Whether a newcomer like Gregg Hurwitz is up to the job is still very much up for debate though. The author is primarily known for books including "Don’t Look Back," "Tell No Lies" and "The Survivor, but back in 2010, he also sold a spec script to Warner Bros. by the name of Expulsion. Adding to his work in the film/TV world, he also served as a writer and consulting producer on the ABC series V. 

In addition to the writer, the potential success of Orphan X will also depend on whoBradley Cooper and company hire to direct the film. Cooper’s recent track record in this regard suggests that he’s only looking to work with established filmmaking talent - which is plainly obvious when you consider that American Sniper, Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle, which Cooper previously produced as well as starred in, were directed by Clint Eastwood and David O. Russell. 

Cooper is currently riding a wave of acclaim and popularity following his recent performance as Chris Kyle in American Sniper. Clint Eastwood’s biopic was a surprise hit when it expanded into wide release this past January, and it has so far grossed $361.3 million. Meanwhile, it has also garnered six nominations for the 87th Academy Awards, which includes recognition in the Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor categories. The latter is Cooper’s third nomination in this category in as many years. This success only suggests that if Warner Bros. does land Cooper for Orphan X, then they will likely have another hit on their hands.

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Obama threatens Putin with "costs for Russia" over Ukraine crisis

The President called Vladimir Putin to ‘address Russia's support for rebel separatists’ fighting the Ukraine government, the White House said on the eve of a seemingly key meeting. Representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France will meet in Minsk, Belarus, to try to bargain a ceasefire and end Russian-backed aggression.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin is pictured in Cairo on Tuesday, the same day President Obama warned him over the fighting in Ukraine.

President Obama on Tuesday warned Russia's Vladimir Putin that "costs for Russia will rise" if the Ukraine crisis persists.

Obama called Putin to "address Russia's support for rebel separatists" fighting the Ukraine government, the White House said on the eve of a seemingly key meeting.

Representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France will meet in Minsk, Belarus, to try to bargain a ceasefire and end Russian-backed aggression.

In recent days, President Obama has suggested giving lethal military aid to Ukraine.

The U.S. led in imposing economic sanctions on Russia and Putin cronies. They've hurt the Russian economy but not lessened the conflict, with government and separatist forces both trying to seize new ground Tuesday.

In recent days, Obama has suggested giving lethal military aid to Ukraine.

People on Tuesday look at a missile embedded in a street in Kramotorsk, an eastern Ukraine city.

He then backed off and said he'd await the meeting's outcome before possibly changing tactics.

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Microsoft Reveals Windows Holographic, An Augmented Reality User Interface For The World

Microsoft revealed a version of Windows that blends holograms with real world video to provide users with an augmented reality version of their environment that blends real objects with virtual, and virtual interface elements, information boxes and guidelines viewable via a wearable headset device.

Windows Holographic provides ways for engineers to see instructions overlaid directly on the objects they’re working on, Microsoft said on stage, or offers a way for architects to survey and present their designs alongside clients even when separated by great distances. If you want a look at something very similar being done by a company that’s much younger, but aiming at something similar, take a look at Sulon Cortex and what they brought to CES.

Hologram support in Microsoft’s Windows 10 software is universal, just like their new app infrastructure, which means that you can build once and use everywhere. Microsoft also pointed out that they’re working to help make this compatible with all kinds of emerging hardware on that horizon, including Oculus Rift, and Magic Leap – but they also revealed Microsoft HoloLens, a new in-house headset that will be available “within the Windows 10 timeframe.”

HoloLens is completely wireless, and features see-through lenses, spatial sound and advanced sensors. It’s designed to be a self-contained unit, and it has its own custom CPU and new Holographic Processing Unit (HPU) to work. It doesn’t even require a phone or computer to connect to wirelessly to work, and is meant to be completely independent.

Based on what we know about Magic Leap, it aims to combine the real world with lifelike virtual objects in a similar way, but using what seems like different kinds of ocular image techniques. The HoloLens does seem an awful lot like the Sulon Cortex hardware, which is also designed to be tether-free in its final construction. Our early experience with the Cortex suggested a lot of potential for blended virtual/physical environments, so Microsoft devoting considerable resources to a similar project is definitely exciting.

To support HoloLens and Windows Holographic, Microsoft built HoloStudio, a 3D modelling tool that lets people build holograms, which they can then integrated into software or 3D print them for physical use. Microsoft demoed the tech on stage using an actual hologram of EVP Terry Myerson.

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