With a twitch of the nose and a little bit of magic, Bewitched is coming back! The beloved comedy series, which ran from 1964 through 1972, is being revived and reformatted in a new take. Deadline reports that the remake has landed at NBC and will be penned by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein, who wrote 2012’s The Vow. 
This new series will center around Daphne, the granddaughter of Samantha Stephens (played by Elizabeth Montgomery in the original series) and the daughter of Tabitha Stephens (played by Lisa Hartman in the spin-off series in 1976).

Daphne is a “single twentysomething witch who has always used her magical powers to conjure herself the perfect life,” Deadline writes. The witch runs into a bit of trouble when she discovers she can’t conjure up true love. 

The original series followed Samantha, a witch who marries an ordinary man and tries to live a magic-free life. In 2005, Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell starred in the Nora Ephron remake. 

Stay hungry, Christian Bale, stay foolish. The American Hustle actor just booked a new big gig.

Bale, 40, will play the late Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs in an upcoming biopic, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin confirmed to Bloomberg on Thursday, Oct. 23. 

"What we needed was the best actor," Sorkin explained. "It's like the NFL draft. There are some people who make a science out of exactly the guys [they need] to draft a middle, inside linebacker who can do this… and other teams say, 'Who's the best athlete on the board.' We needed the best actor on the board in a certain age range, and that's Chris Bale."

Bale, whose credits include his turn as Batman in Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises, as well as his Oscar-winning role in 2010's The Fighter, has been rumored for the role in Sorkin's movie for months. The Social Network director David Fincher was originally attached to the upcoming film, but he was later replaced by Danny Boyle, the Oscar-winning director of Slumdog Millionaire. 

Jobs, who passed away in October 2011 at the age of 56, was previously brought to life on the big screen by Ashton Kutcher. Kutcher played the acclaimed innovator in 2013's Jobs, which opened to mixed reviews from critics and less-than-stellar box office numbers. 

"I couldn't be more excited about him," Sorkin continued of Bale. "He really is a phenomenal actor… he didn't have to audition… It's an extremely difficult part and he's gonna crush it." 

Mary J. Blige will also take the Nokia Theatre stage on Nov. 23

Toys R Us has responded to calls from Florida mothers and has removed its four collectible Breaking Bad dolls from the shelves.

The dolls are based on the series about Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher who turns into a crystal meth dealer, and his sidekick Jesse Pinkman. The figures have a detachable bag of cash and a bag of methamphetamines.

The toy company said the dolls are being removed immediately from its website and US stores.

"Let's just say, the action figures have taken an indefinite sabbatical," Toys R Us said in a statement.

The retailer had maintained that the figures were sold in limited quantities in the adult-action-figure area of its stores.

However, a petition launched on change.org last week said the dolls are a "dangerous deviation from their family-friendly values".

"While the show may be compelling viewing for adults, its violent content and celebration of the drug trade make this collection unsuitable to be sold alongside Barbie dolls and Disney characters," the mother, identified as Susan Schrivjer, wrote.

Bryan Cranston, the actor who played White, responded to the controversy, tweeting, "I'm so mad. I am burning my Florida mom action figure in protest."

The debate has also spurred die-hard adult figure collectors to rally behind Toys R Us.

Daniel Pickett, of Manhattan Beach, California, launched a petition on change.org in favour of the toy seller keeping the dolls. So far, it has collected nearly 3,000 signatures.

Ukraine's efforts to unblock deliveries of Russian gas as winter sets in were deadlocked on Thursday as Moscow's negotiators were quoted demanding firmer commitments from the European Union to cover Kiev's pre-payments for energy.

EU-hosted talks were adjourned after running late into the night, Energy Minister Alexander Novak and the head of Russian gas firm Gazprom (GAZP.MM) told Russian news agencies. They would resume later in the day if Ukraine and the EU had a firm financing deal in place, Gazprom head Alexei Miller said.

Ukrainian and EU officials were not available. A spokeswoman for Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger issued a statement cancelling a news briefing that had been tentatively set for 8:30 a.m. (4.30 a.m. EDT) in the event of an agreement.

There has already been agreement on the price Kiev will pay for gas over the winter, the amount to be supplied and the repayment of some $3.1 billion in unpaid Ukrainian bills but Moscow, which cut off vital pipelines in June as the conflict withUkraine and the West deepened, wants more legal assurances that Kiev can pay some $1.6 billion for new gas up front.

Some critics of Russia question whether its motivation is financial or whether prolonging the wrangling with ex-Soviet Ukraine and its Western allies suits Moscow's diplomatic agenda.

Ukraine is in discussions with existing creditors the EU and the IMF and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, concerned about vital Russian gas supplies to the rest of Europe has spoken of bridging finance for Kiev. But the Russian negotiators said they wanted to see a signed agreement on EU financing for Ukraine.

Novak was quoted by RIA news agency as saying he had been told in the talks that Ukraine was discussing funding for 4 billion cubic meters of gas with the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund but he had seen no guarantee of it.

"This isn't about guarantees, but only statements from the Ukrainians," he said. "We were shown no written guarantees."

He noted that Russia was only offering to open the taps once prepayments were made by Ukraine, whose economy is in crisis and which has a record of payment difficulties. "If there's money, there will be gas," Novak said.

"Everything to do with financial issues, everything to do with guarantees which the European Commission will give Ukraine, these arrangements will be set out in a bilateral protocol," Miller was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass news agency.

"If such agreements are not reached, then accordingly, there will be no negotiations and no documents will be signed. If there is an accord between the European Commission and Ukraine, then we can expect to sign all the trilateral documents."

 TEMPERATURES DROP

The gas cut-off has had little impact for months. But pressure is mounting for a deal as temperatures start to drop below freezing and European energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger, who has been mediating, prepares to leave office on Friday, making way for a new European Commission.

The two sides came close in September, but last week differences were wide over Kiev's ability to pay.

Some of Russian President Vladimir Putin's many critics in eastern Europe question his interest in concluding an agreement on commercial grounds and see the temperature of Ukrainian homes in the coming months being determined more by Kremlin calculations of its geostrategic interests.

Oettinger, a German, said before talks began on Wednesday that there was a 50-50 chance of a breakthrough. If he cannot broker a solution, it will be down to his Slovak successor, Maros Sefcovic, who takes office on Saturday.

Weekend elections returned a pro-Western parliament in Kiev, potentially stoking tensions with Moscow, although Russia's EU envoy, Vladimir Chizhov, said on Thursday the mood could be more relaxed now the vote had taken place.

"During the last rounds of talks, let's not conceal it, the pre-election situation had its influence on Ukrainian side," Chizhov told RIA. The only unresolved problem, he said, was from where to get the money for winter supplies.

 NOT JUST MONEY

Ukraine's Naftogaz company has set aside $3.1 billion in a special escrow account to pay off a chunk of its debt to Gazprom, but Russia is also demanding prepayment for winter supplies before it is willing to turn the taps back on.

Kiev says it is working to raise more money from all possible sources of financing, including the European Union. The European Commission is considering Ukraine's request, made last week, for a further loan of 2 billion euros.

But Kiev also says money alone may not be enough.

"I have an impression that the Russian side doesn't want to agree," Ukrainian Finance Minister Oleksander Shlapak said on Tuesday.

Analysts said it could be very hard to come up with enough assurances to satisfy Russia, even if Gazprom, and more widely the Russian treasury, would welcome new revenues as the economy suffers from the effects of Western trade sanctions.

Ukraine at the same time is pushing for written guarantees that any agreement on price will be lasting.

For all sides, there is much at stake.

Russia provides around a third of the European Union's gas, roughly half of which is pumped via Ukraine.

Ukraine in turn relies on Russia for around 50 percent of its own gas and despite storage has a winter shortfall of around 3 billion to 4 billion cubic meters (bcm), depending on the weather.

For Russia, the gas sector contributes approximately a fifth of the national budget.

Sanctions on Russia, which EU officials decided to leave unchanged on Tuesday while conflict in Ukraine continues, are sapping an already weak economy. But Moscow could well be willing to endure much more hardship for political ends.

"Economic factors are generally not given precedence when national security concerns are at stake," Pasquale De Micco, a national expert from the European Parliament's policy department, said in a research paper on Europe's gas supply options.

"What is certain is that a gas war risks harming both parties in the short term and that it would hamper future efforts to re-establish mutually trusting relations."

ConocoPhillips, the largest U.S. independent oil and gas company, on Thursday reported higher third-quarter profit from the sale of its Nigerian unit but lowered its fourth-quarter production outlook, sending shares down 1.4 percent.

Over the last several years, Conoco has shed lower-margin assets, directing more capital to projects like shale drilling in the United States that offer higher returns and higher production growth.

Analysts at energy-focused investment bank Simmons & Co said it was important for Conoco, which shed its refining operations in 2012, to meet its targets.

"Conoco has executed very well since spinning off into a pure-play exploration and production (company) and the cut to fourth-quarter production doesn’t change this narrative," the analysts wrote in a note to clients.

"However, this is an execution story, and for the stock to work, there must be confidence in Conoco's ability to achieve and potentially outperform its growth targets."

Profit rose to $2.7 billion, or $2.17 per share, from $2.5 billion, or $2.00 per share, in the 2013 third quarter.

Excluding items such as the proceeds from the sale of its Nigerian business in July and a tax benefit, Conoco had a profit of $1.29 per share. Analysts, on average, expected $1.20, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The proceeds from the Nigerian sale were $1.4 billion.

Even as crude prices have fallen more than 20 percent in recent weeks on increased supply and waning demand, Conoco's chief executive officer expressed optimism about next year.

"We expect strong growth in 2015 driven by ongoing success in the North American unconventionals and startup of several major projects, including Surmont 2 and APLNG." CEO Ryan Lance said in statement.

Surmont is an oil sands project in Canada and APLNG is a liquefied natural gas project in Australia. Unconventional drilling refers to shale drilling.

ConocoPhillips had third-quarter oil and gas production from continuing operations, excluding Libya, of 1.473 million barrels oil equivalent per day (boed), up 25,000 boed from a year ago.

For the fourth quarter, Conoco forecast production from continuing operations rising to 1.545 million boed to 1.575 million boed, excluding Libya. Previously, it said it would produce as much as 1.590 million boed to 1.640 million boed.

The production cut is due in part to third-party infrastructure constraints in Malaysia and a depressed market for the natural gas liquid (NGL) ethane in the United States, according to analysts at Wells Fargo.

Shares of Conoco fell 96 cents to $69.70 in morning New York Stock Exchange trading.

Euro zone businesses performed much better than forecasters expected this month and China's vast factory sector grew a shade faster but there were worrying signs that the upturn could be short-lived.

The improvement in purchasing managers' surveys, released on Thursday, will ease some worries about the outlook for the global economy, but news that companies in the euro zone cut prices at the steepest rate in almost five years will be of concern to the European Central Bank, which is striving to ward off the risk of deflation in the region.

In China, manufacturers booked more foreign and domestic orders but activity remained weak and analysts said the surveys did not point to a fourth-quarter turnaround for the slowing economy.

"They don't change the picture for the euro zone which is bordering on recession. For China, although the headline number edged up, it really doesn't point to a substantial improvement," said Andrew Kenningham, senior global economist at Capital Economics.

"It's a very unbalanced picture with strong and sustainable growth in the U.S. and the UK, feeble growth - if any - in the euro zone and Japan, and emerging economies have slowed to a new lower trend growth rate."

Markit's Eurozone Composite Flash Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), based on surveys of thousands of companies across the region and seen as a good indicator of growth, rose to 52.2, above all forecasts in a Reuters poll.

The poll had predicted a fall to 51.7 from September's headline reading of 52.0 and October marks the 16th month the index has been above the 50 level that separates growth from contraction.

But optimism about the future among services firms was at its lowest level in over a year and new orders to factories fell for a second straight month.

"The general tone of the October purchasing managers' survey suggests that the fourth quarter is going to be another almighty struggle," said Howard Archer at IHS Global Insight.

Markit said the PMIs point to a 0.2 percent expansion of euro zone GDP in the current quarter, with risks to the downside. A Reuters poll last week also predicted 0.2 percent growth. EUGDPQ

While Germany's private sector saw faster growth this month, France's business slump deepened, with business activity hitting an eight-month low.

In Britain, retail sales fell more than expected in September, despite store prices falling at their steepest rate in more than five years, adding to signs the economic recovery is losing some of its pace.

Similarly, euro zone inflation slipped to its lowest for five years in September, official data showed last week, and the latest PMIs will do little to allay fears that deflation - which hit five peripheral countries last month - will spread.

"Given the concerns over potential euro zone deflation, it was particularly worrying that the purchasing managers reported combined manufacturing and services output prices fell at the fastest rate since February 2010," Archer said.

The composite output price index slumped to 47.1 from 48.5.

The European surveys lifted share markets on Thursday after a poor start and leavened an otherwise shaky mood following the Chinese numbers. [MKTS/GLOB]

 CRACKS IN CHINA

China's flash HSBC/Markit manufacturing PMI edged up to a three-month high of 50.4 from a final reading of 50.2 in September, and just a hair's breadth from the 50.3 reading forecast by analysts.

Growth in new orders at home and abroad, however, slowed in October and producer prices fell, pushing factory inflation to a seven-month low and highlighting still-soft domestic demand. The index measuring the rate of growth in factory output also fell to a five-month low of 50.7.

"The sub-indices do not show good momentum," said Shuang Ding, an economist at Citi in Hong Kong.

"Both the production sub-index and the new order sub-index dropped. Those are more relevant in terms of industry production and forward-looking activity."

China's economy appears likely to miss the government's 7.5 percent growth target this year and hit a trough not seen since 1990. Third-quarter growth of 7.3 percent reported on Tuesday was the weakest since the global financial crisis.

A sagging housing market, sluggish domestic demand and erratic exports have dampened activity this year and while exports have recently shown signs of picking up, the property market and investment continues to cool and many companies are being pinched by tighter credit.

Still, while growth is unlikely to accelerate in the fourth quarter, the flash PMI indicates it may at least be leveling off.

"If the flash PMI is right, then October is going to be almost the same as September, slightly better, which suggests that at least it's not getting worse, that growth has stabilized at this quite subdued level," said Louis Kuijs, chief China economist at Royal Bank of Scotland in Hong Kong.

Factory activity in Japan, which has also been battling weak consumer demand, grew at its fastest rate in seven months in October and the pace of both domestic and export orders picked up.