CALIFORNIA
'Zombieland' takes top spot at box office
LOS ANGELES — The undead were alive and well at movie theaters as Woody Harrelson's horror comedy, "Zombieland," opened on top with $25 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Yet the general box office was less lively as a flurry of new wide releases did solid to ho-hum business. Overall, Hollywood revenues came in at $113.4 million, down 4 percent from the same weekend last year.
Sony scored a one-two punch with "Zombieland," and the animated family tale "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," which took in $16.7 million, slipped to second place after two weekends at No. 1. The movie raised its domestic total to $82.4 million after three weekends.
Taking a big bite of the family audience with $12.5 million was a double-feature reissue of Disney's "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2" in 3-D, which came in at No. 3.
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ARGENTINA
Iconic folk singer dies
BUENOS AIRES — Argentine folk singer Mercedes Sosa, the "voice of Latin America" whose music inspired opponents of South America's brutal military regimes and led to her forced exile in Europe, died Sunday, her family said. She was 74.
Her remains lay in state at the National Congress, where thousands of people — many with flowers or Argentine flags — lined up to pay respects to one of the region's most iconic voices.
"She was the best ambassador the country ever had," said Clara Suarez, 63, holding a bouquet of white flowers outside the Congress.
Sosa was best known for signature tunes such as "Gracias a la Vida" ("Thanks to Life") and "Si se Calla el Cantor" ("If the Singer Is Silenced").
She had been in a hospital for more than two weeks with liver problems and had since been suffering from progressive kidney failure and cardiac arrest.
VENEZUELA
Ban on violent toys, video games possible
CARACAS— Shouts of "Kill him! Kill him!" ring out as the preteens train their virtual assault rifles on the last remaining terrorist and spray him with bullets. Blood splatters. The enemy collapses. And they cheerfully wrap up another game of "Counter-Strike."
The most popular video games among kids often imitate life outside this Internet cafe in San Augustin — one of the many crime-ridden slums in Venezuela's capital, where residents say too many of the young players easily trade joysticks for guns.
In a bid to curb that trend, Venezuela's National Assembly is on track to prohibit violent video games and toys. The proposed legislation, which received initial approval in September, is expected to get a final vote in the coming weeks.
Last year, the Justice Ministry said homicides averaged 152 per week, or roughly 7,900 for the year. That's more than five times the murder rate in Texas, which has roughly the same population as Venezuela.
NEW MEXICO
'Crash' crew, cast raise funds for homeless
ALBUQUERQUE — The cast and crew of the TV series "Crash" have done a good deed for some of Albuquerque's homeless.
The series, which airs on the Starz network, has shot several scenes at the Noon Day Ministry center, so the cast and crew raised enough money to feed between 300 and 400 people at the downtown shelter on Saturday. The shelter usually can't afford to feed people on Saturdays.
Actor Ross McCall said he thought it would be a good way to give back to the community.
NEW YORK
Broadway stage actor suddenly falls ill
NEW YORK — A preview performance of the Broadway revival of "The Royal Family" has been canceled after one of its stars became ill on stage.
Show spokesman Aaron Meier said the curtain came down shortly after the Sunday matinee began when actor Tony Roberts suddenly fell ill.
The 69-year-old Roberts was taken by ambulance to a hospital. There was no word on his condition. Roberts is best known for his roles in several Woody Allen movies, including "Annie Hall" and "Hannah and Her Sisters."
He was last on Broadway in the 2007 musical "Xanadu."
Meier said understudy Anthony Newfeld was to take over Roberts' role at the Sunday evening performance of "The Royal Family," a 1927 comedy by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber.
IOWA
Author, mom of son killed in Vietnam dies
LA PORTE CITY — Peg Mullen, an author and former Iowa farm wife who hounded the U.S. military to find the truth about her son's death in Vietnam, has died. She was 92.
Mullen's daughter-in-law Jeanne Mullen said Sunday that Mullen died Friday at a nursing home in La Porte City.
Peg Mullen wrote the 1995 book "Unfriendly Fire: A Mother's Memoir" after her son Michael died at age 25 when a U.S. artillery shell fell short and killed him on Feb. 18, 1970, near the South Vietnamese village of Tu Chanh.
Almost from the day Mullen and her husband, Gene, who died in 1986, learned that Michael had been killed, she tried to get more information about their son's death from the U.S. military.
The Associated Press
