DeGruy and Wight were long-time colleagues of Cameron. Wight co-produced the feature film “Sanctum 3D” with Cameron after accompanying him on six deep-ocean documentary expeditions.

DeGruy, an Emmy award winner with 30 years’ experience in ocean filmmaking, was director of undersea photography for Cameron’s “Last Mysteries of the Titanic.”

Reacting to the deaths of his colleagues , Cameron said, “Mike and Andrew were like family to me. They were my deep-sea brothers, and both were true explorers who did extraordinary things and went places no human being has been. They died doing exactly what they loved most, heading out to sea on a new and personally challenging expedition, having fun in the way they defined it for themselves, which was hardship and toil to achieve something never done before. They were passionate storytellers who lived by the explorer’s code of humor, empathy, optimism, and courage. Their deaths are a tremendous loss for the world of underwater exploration, conservation, and filmmaking.”

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The story goes that on February 2, if the groundhog (also known as a woodchuck) emerges from its burrow and sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter. No shadow means an early spring.

Thanks to the movie “Groundhog Day,” the marmot Punxsutawney Phil has reached celebrity status. The supposedly 125-year-old rodent, who gained fame in the comedy starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell, boasts a Facebook page along with media hype.

So how accurate is the forecast from Punxsutawney Phil? According to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, Phil’s reading is 100% accurate, natch. But the National Climatic Data Center disagrees, noting that its research shows “no predictive skill for the groundhog during the most recent years of this analysis.”

Groundhog or no, the first day of spring is officially March 20, and it can’t come soon enough.

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The Obama administration is struggling to keep the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, on its side as it carefully tries to open talks with the Taliban. Yet the video showing such a desecration — a possible war crime — is likely to weaken the American position with both. The Taliban and Mr. Karzai each pointed to the images as evidence of American brutality, a message with broad appeal in Afghanistan, where word of the video was slowly spreading on Thursday.

Senior military officials in Kabul and at the Pentagon confirmed that the video was authentic and that they had identified the Marines as members of the Third Battalion, Second Marines, which completed a tour of Afghanistan this fall before returning to its base at Camp Lejeune, N.C. The officials did not release the Marines’ names but said one wore a corporal’s uniform.

Pentagon officials said the video had been made between March and September 2011, when the Marine battalion was stationed in Helmand Province, a strategic Taliban heartland and a center of the opium poppy trade. The officials said that they did not know the precise location shown in the video but that it had probably been made in the northern part of the province, where the battalion had been operating. Seven of the approximately 1,000 Marines in the battalion were killed during the seven-month deployment.

The Taliban reaction out of Afghanistan was muted. “This is not the first time we see such brutality,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters. He added that “the video will not harm our talks and prisoner exchange.”

But Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who led the outpouring of Afghan outrage and is ambivalent about U.S.-led talks with the Taliban, may use the incident to delay talks. “This act by American soldiers is completely inhumane and condemnable in the strongest possible terms,” said the President, who rarely resorts to such strong language after Taliban atrocities.

Previous American military mistakes – especially air strikes that killed civilians – have sparked major, angry, anti-American demonstrations in the mountain-ringed capital and brought harsh denunciations from Mr. Karzai.

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NASA

“This is a major milestone on the road to finding Earth’s twin,” Douglas Hudgins, Kepler program scientist said in a statement. “Kepler’s results continue to demonstrate the importance of NASA’s science missions, which aim to answer some of the biggest questions about our place in the universe.”

Kepler-22b has several Earth-like characteristics: The new planet’s temperature is around 72 degrees Fahrenheit and its radius is 2.4 times Earth’s. The planet completely orbits its star, which is similar to our sun, every 290 days, just 75 days shy of an Earth year.

But how close is the new Earth really?

Since one light year is the equivalent nearly six trillion miles, it would take 22 million years to travel 600 light years on a space shuttle and visit Kepler 22-b with our current technology.

But while we won’t be able to visit this Kepler-22b, scientists say another planet like it and closer to it could be discovered in this lifetime. The Kepler telescope has already detected hundreds of new planets.

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If the rumors are true, this will be the second wedding in two years that Smirnoff has called off. Smirnoff was previously engaged to Maksim Chmerkovskiy from “Dancing With the Stars.”

The New York Daily News reports that Smirnoff has been seen as recently as Saturday wearing her engagement ring. But according to a source, Smirnoff only wears the ring in public.

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The National Retail Federation says 226 million shoppers visited stores and websites between Thanksgiving Day and Sunday.

So what sort of Web-only deals are out there? Here are a few from some major retailers.

Best Buy

Best Buy is the largest bricks-and-mortar consumer electronics retailer out there, but it doesn’t shy away from Cyber Monday. Among the price cuts: a 55-inch Samsung LED-backlit TV, normally $1,500, is selling for $999.99, the HTC Titan running Windows Phone and the HTC Wildfire S running Android are both free with a new two-year contract, point-and-shoot cameras are $40 to $80 off, a number of laptops are on sale including a 15.6-inch Toshiba Satellite for $279.99.

Amazon

Discounted goods on Amazon.com can be found pretty much all year. So while a sale is nothing new for the online retail giant, the company is promising that it’s Cyber Monday discounts will be significant. However, unlike most retailers, Amazon’s Cyber Monday promotion isn’t lasting just one day, but instead all week.

Dell

Dell also regularly offers discounts on its website, but for Cyber Monday it has discounted 21 specific items, some of which are already sold out. The computer maker dropped the price a variation of its Inspiron 14R from $499.99 to $399.99 Other laptops are on sale to, but at only $50 off rather than $100, such as the Inspiron 15, Inspiron 15R and Inspiron 17R.

Cyber Monday Tips:

1) Free Shipping is the rule.
Many big stores like Amazon.com, Walmart.com and Target.com are automatically doing free shipping right now on most items.

2) Shopping Online Saves Chicagoans almost 10% in Sales Tax.
Amazon, Overstock.com, Buy.com, Zappos.com, Shoes.com and many other big online stores don’t collect sales tax from IL shoppers.

3) Your credit card may be a free extended warranty.
Most American Express cards, for example, include a warranty extension service that doubles your warranty automatically for up to one year for any items purchased with the card.

4) Don’t forget the coupon codes!
Our average shopper takes less than 90 seconds to find a code and saves 24%.

Happy Cyber Monday all!

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Ricky Pempengco was stabbed in the chest and back during an altercation with another man in a San Pedro convenience store this week. He later died of his injuries, while the alleged killer escaped. Capili didn’t comment publicly on his reasons for attacking the Glee star’s dad, but reportedly told a government official that Pempengco had attacked him first.

Charice also told the Filipino press that she will not forgive Capili because he has not accepted responsibility for the brutal crime.

“He should not defend himself. He cannot bring back my dad,” the singer-actress said.

Charice flew back to the Philippines and paid respects to her father early Wednesday. She also apologized for canceling the rest of her tour dates, saying “my family comes first.” She had been scheduled to perform in Singapore.

“Whoever did this must be brought to justice. Justice must be served, not just for my father but for everyone concerned,” she told a radio interview.

Angel Capili Jr., the suspect in the murder of Charice’s father expressed regret for what he has done and asked for forgiveness from Charice. “Humihingi po ako ng kapatawaran sa kanya. Sana ay mabigyan niya ako ng pagkakataon na mapatawad niya ako.”

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Mariah Yeater, 20, made the claim in a paternity suit filed Monday in L.A., according to Star magazine, which said it has seen the lawsuit and its handwritten declaration from the 20-year-old single mom. A rep for 17-year-old Bieber’s legal team Tuesday told outlets including TMZ and RadarOnline that although hadn’t yet seen the suit.

The woman in question reportedly filed a paternity suit against Justin, claiming she and Justin Bieber had a special hug backstage at a recent concert at the Staples Center in L.A. … and 9 months later, she popped out a baby, baby, baby, oh.

Team Bieber told the tabloid there’s no way he could have been alone with anyone backstage at a concert.

Bieber laid out his personal plan Wednesday on Twitter: “so Im going to ignore the rumors … and focus on what is real. an opportunity to help by doing what i love. Judge me on the music! Love yall!“

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According to wbtv.com, cops got a warrant to search Jeremy’s pad after receiving a tip about stolen goods on the property. During the search, cops say they found the meth.

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The pilot, James Klepper, and co-pilot, Jay Luckwaldt, also escaped without serious injuries in the Monday night crash.

The Hendricks were flying to Key West to spend time at their waterfront vacation home on nearby Sunset Key, a swanky development on a 27-acre island just offshore of the Southernmost City.

The runway was closed for about an hour Monday night but was reopened because the wreckage did not impact the landing area. The plane remains at the scene.

Photographs of the crash show the plane largely intact and with its nose resting on the ground about 20 feet in front of a chain-linked airport boundary fence.

Almost seven years ago, on October 24 of 2004, a Hendrick Motorsports plane crashed upon landing at Martinsville, killing all ten passengers including the team’s president John Hendrick and Rick Hendrick’s son and former NASCAR racer Ricky.

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