The Securities and Exchange Commission today held its first policymaking session of the year, and under political pressure, introduced several proposals to restrict the short-selling of stock that many economists, including those inside the agency, say are likely to have little effect.

The weekend box office ran on Diesel fuel.

"Fast & Furious," Vin Diesel's reunion with his cast mates from 2001's "The Fast and the Furious," was a smash debut with a $71 million weekend. The street-racing sequel co-stars Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Media By Numbers LLC are:

1. "Fast & Furious," Universal, $70,950,500, 3,461 locations, $20,500 average, $70,950,500, one week.

2. "Monsters vs. Aliens," DreamWorks-Paramount, $32,609,165, 4,109 locations, $7,936 average, $104,799,387, two weeks.

3. "The Haunting in Connecticut," Lionsgate, $9,481,647, 2,732 locations, $3,471 average, $37,171,280, two weeks.

4. "Knowing," Summit, $8,146,156, 3,323 locations, $2,451 average, $58,219,770, three weeks.

5. "I Love You, Man," Paramount, $7,722,468, 2,829 locations, $2,730 average, $49,159,558, three weeks.

6. "Adventureland," Miramax, $5,722,039, 1,862 locations, $3,073 average, $5,722,039, one week.

7. "Duplicity," Universal, $4,174,240, 2,522 locations, $1,655 average, $32,250,215, three weeks.

8. "Race to Witch Mountain," Disney, $3,212,602, 2,825 locations, $1,137 average, $58,249,111, four weeks.

9. "12 Rounds," Fox, $2,260,906, 2,331 locations, $970 average, $8,982,767, two weeks.

10. "Sunshine Cleaning," Overture, $1,807,164, 479 locations, $3,773 average, $4,702,721, four weeks.

11. "Taken," Fox, $1,544,471, 1,355 locations, $1,140 average, $139,416,323, 10 weeks.

12. "The Last House On the Left," Universal, $1,259,325, 1,305 locations, $965 average, $30,674,195, four weeks.

13. "Watchmen," Warner Bros., $1,074,320, 1,103 locations, $974 average, $105,346,566, five weeks.

14. "Slumdog Millionaire," Fox Searchlight, $499,257, 498 locations, $1,003 average, $140,244,722, 21 weeks.

15. "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail," Lionsgate, $479,975, 619 locations, $775 average, $89,869,224, seven weeks.

16. "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," Sony, $373,718, 545 locations, $686 average, $143,162,362, 12 weeks.

17. "Gran Torino," Warner Bros., $268,026, 363 locations, $738 average, $146,236,899, 17 weeks.

18. "Under the Sea 3-D," Warner Bros., $255,980, 43 locations, $5,953 average, $4,733,885, eight weeks.

19. "He's Just Not That Into You," Warner Bros., $207,532, 261 locations, $795 average, $92,901,114, nine weeks.

20. "Hotel For Dogs," Paramount, $194,541, 240 locations, $811 average, $71,651,820, 12 weeks.

Universal Pictures, Focus Features and Rogue Pictures are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co.; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; DreamWorks, Paramount and Paramount Classics are divisions of Viacom Inc.; Disney's parent is The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is a division of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox Atomic are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros., New Line, Warner Independent and Picturehouse are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a consortium of Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group; Lionsgate is owned by Lionsgate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

Why some of the hottest Korean mobile phones never leave the country.

In Pictures: Eight Phones You'd Love To Have

Smitten with LG's ingeniously-named "Ice Cream" phone? Charmed by Samsung's playful "Haptic Pop" handset? Be prepared to wait--in vain--since neither phone is slated for a U.S. launch.

Korean handset makers export millions of attractive phones a month. But some of their most interesting creations never leave Korea.

That fact makes Korea a bittersweet destination for cellphone enthusiasts. The silver lining: features from these phones sometimes crop up in later U.S. releases. Looking at the newest, coolest, Korea-only phones is a peek into the future.

In Pictures: Eight Phones You'd Love To Have

And what a bright, entertaining future it is. Take the Ice Cream phone, currently a hot seller among Korean teen and 20-something women. The phone is named for its ice cream-inspired pastel colors ("snow white," "peach pink" and "sky blue") and equipped with an LED display that features emoticons on the phone's exterior cover. It is the cellular embodiment of cute. Sales have been promising enough that LG just announced a "Lollipop phone" with similar features.

Samsung's limited-edition Haptic Pop is likely to be another youth-driven hit. Unveiled in March, it is a version of the company's best-selling Haptic touchscreen phone, complete with a wardrobe of colorful, pop-off back covers.

Those looking for even more color options can opt for the Samsung W270/W2700. The streamlined clamshell is available in 24 colors, including a gold tone with leather accents.

Other popular phones are noteworthy for their design innovations. Samsung's W570 clamshell packs both an internal display and an external touchscreen. The outer screen is designed to give users one-touch access to music, video and messaging, while the inner screen offers a typical cellphone menu.

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Samsung's "Oz" phone shows off a different kind of double feature: a double folding mechanism. The compact flip phone opens vertically for calls and messages and swivels horizontally for watching TV and video.

Some notable phones are flashy on the inside. LG's "Franklin Planner" phone--designed in partnership with U.S. planning products and training firm FranklinCovey--has custom software that allows road warriors to record their goals, monitor their progress and improve their English. Samsung packages stress-reducing "music therapy" software with some of its high-end touchscreen phones. SK Telecom ( SKM - news - people ) supports a mobile coupon service that lets users exchange simple gifts from retailers like Starbucks ( SBUX - news - people ) and Burger King ( BKC - news - people ) via text message.

Occasionally, a cool phone launches first in Korea but quickly migrates to the U.S. That looks to be the case for Samsung's so-called security phone, which emits a 100-decibel alarm when prompted by users. Samsung has submitted the phone's specifications to the Federal Communications Commission, sparking chatter of an American release.

It's also possible for a Korean phone to launch outside the country and then get reworked for the domestic market. At the request of Korea's leading mobile operator, SK Telecom, Samsung upgraded its popular Omnia phone into the T*Omnia. The handset is essentially an Omnia with a larger, higher-quality screen and mobile TV tuner. At $650, it is currently the most expensive phone in Korea, but store owners say it is selling briskly.

Over the years, Korea has served as a launching pad for plenty of "world's first" handsets, like Samsung's 10 megapixel camera phone in 2006. In most cases, manufacturers are willing to take these phones to other countries. The operators, tasked with selecting models that will sell well and fill gaps in their portfolios, often decide what goes where.

Local preferences play a role too. Samsung knows, for instance, that Americans like clamshell (folding) phones. It also believes that preference is waning with the rise of touchscreen and Qwerty keyboard handsets, and is reacting accordingly, says Samsung designer Ingon Park.

Cellphone exclusivity can cut both ways. Korea is still waiting for the Apple ( AAPL - news - people ) iPhone and handsets powered by the Google ( GOOG - news - people ) Android operating system. (See "Favorite Phone Fruits: Apple Vs. BlackBerry.")

Research In Motion's BlackBerry didn't reach the country until late last year. Revised telecom policies are excpected to usher in change starting this month, but operators say homegrown handsets will continue to dominate. "Koreans will never choose a handset without multimedia messaging, [advanced] ringtone capabilities ... and other customized services," says Seong Kim, manager of SK's mobile device planning team.

Someday, Americans might make the same demands.

The Walt Disney Co. says it has cut 1,900 positions at its U.S. theme parks due to the slumping economy.

Some 1,200 people were laid off and 700 open positions will be left unfilled.

Disney ( DIS - news - people ) spokeswoman Tasia Filippatos said Friday the cuts "reflect today's economic realities."

The cuts were part of a reorganization announced in February. Among the cuts were 50 executives who accepted a voluntary buyout that was offered to 600 people.

The vast majority of the cuts came from managerial and other salaried staff, not from employees in the parks who interact with park visitors.

In a 1924 speech before the National Republican Club, President Calvin Coolidge observed "that when the taxation of large incomes is excessive, they tend to disappear." Coolidge found that in 1916, 206 people had incomes of $1,000,000 or more, but once a higher tax rate on million-dollar incomes was passed, the number dwindled--falling all the way to 21 in 1921.

In his book, The View From No. 11, Nigel Lawson, Margaret Thatcher's former chancellor of the exchequer, answered the above riddle with great ease. The Thatcher government inherited nosebleed rates of taxation, but as Lawson quickly found, the "higher rates we inherited were frequently not paid. The well-heeled and well-advised took great pains to avoid liability through the perfectly legal use of tax shelters of one kind or another; and the tax avoidance industry flourished as never before." Translated: When politicians target income for tax purposes, incomes change.

As is frequently the case in Washington, there's a debate going on now between the two major political parties about the proper level of taxation, particularly when it comes to the rich. Both sides have seemingly bought into the notion that the highest earners should be taxed at the highest rate. The debate really comes down to what the rate should be.

What's interesting here is that Democrats and Republicans alike presumably both understand the anecdotal and empirical reality of taxation. Simplified, there are rates of taxation that we're all aware of, but rarely do even the richest in the United States pay the top rate. Despite top tax rates since World War II that have ranged from 28% to 90%, Americans--irrespective of income--have rarely forfeited anywhere near 90% of their income to the government.

More realistically, American workers are among the least taxed in the world, with combined forfeitures to federal, state and local governments averaging out to about 25% of income. In 2008, perennial Forbes 400 member Warren Buffett was very public in his admission that his actual tax rate was nowhere near the top federal rate of 35%, but was actually at 17.7%.

So if we ignore for a moment the incentives and productivity issues that are an essential part of the tax discussion, it can be said upfront that, on a dollar basis, the tax rates that politicians argue about are quite irrelevant. No matter the graduated rates of taxation that most people concentrate on, at first glance they have very little to do with what the various governments take from us.

That being the case, why all the argument about tax rates? Indeed, wouldn't it be better to acknowledge that Americans are only willing to return a certain amount of their wealth to the government each year? And that, therefore, Congress should simply set a flat rate at around that number?

A flat tax rate would of course be a dream, but given the incentives that politicians have, it's a Utopian one. High and ever-changing tax rates are the lifeblood of a political class that clings to power through favors offered through the tax code.

To read more: http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/20/tax-rates-flat-opinions-columnists-john-tamny.html

The fall of General Motors Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner was unavoidable. There is no way President Obama could hand out more billions to a management with a practically unblemished record of failure.

Yes, it's certainly good news; the Wagoner management was never going to turn around General Motors (nyse: GM - news - people ). Never. After all, Wagoner has been chief executive since 2000 and head of North American auto operations six more years before that. His predecessor and mentor, Jack Smith, became chief in 1992. GM lost market share in the U.S. in all but a couple of those years. The losses in Wagoner's last four years topped $80 billion.

Worse, GM seemed adrift in this crisis. Its European operations--and they are key to saving GM--seem to be without serious direction. In the U.S. we hear mostly of program cancellations, and the Vice Chairman Robert Lutz, the only real "car guy" in top management, is giving up and retiring at the end of the year.

But it might be a mistake to cheer Wagoner's leaving, because we don't know if his replacement will be any better. The second in command, the president and chief operating officer, is Fritz Henderson, and he is expected to succeed Wagoner, at least for now. Frankly, it is difficult to see what he did to become president of the once largest automaker in the world. Like Wagoner, he is a fairly colorless financial officer. But it's unfair to knock him before he's had a chance to do something.

What GM needs in this crisis, of course, is a spirited leader, a fighter, who can speak to the American people and convince us that GM is coming back. He's got to have a feel for the business, for the product, for the car buyer, and not just for the balance sheet. And he's got to be willing to wave the flag too in these desperate times. We're talking about the likes of Lee Iacocca, who brought Chrysler back, and George Romney, who saved American Motors. Finance men can be heroes too: Sergio Marchionne, who is leading the recovery of Fiat (nyse: FIA - news - people ), is a good example.

Rick Wagoner had some successes. The 0% financing offers after Sept. 11 might have kept the country out of a recession. He always pushed China. And hiring Robert Lutz, the retired president of Chrysler, to lead a GM product renaissance was an excellent move, although it showed how weak GM had become in products, so weak it needed an outsider to fix its cars.

But these strokes are overshadowed by the constant failures. Wagoner took over as chief of North American auto operations back in 1994. He was given the job by Jack Smith, although Wagoner knew nothing about the American auto business. He had been chief financial officer. At that time GM's U.S market share was 33%. The last month counted, February, the share was 18% and sinking.

And GM under Wagoner missed trend after trend: GM was late into crossovers, meaning sport utility vehicles built on car platforms, which are big thing now. GM was late into small SUVs, like Ford Motor's (nyse: F - news - people ) Escape or Honda's (nyse: HMC - news - people ) CR-V. GM was not only late in hybrids--it doesn't seem to understand that the lure is high miles per gallon, 40 to 50 miles per gallon. It's bringing out a Camaro now, years after Ford redid its Mustang and after Chrysler redid its Dodge Challenger. If anything represents GM vehicles under Wagoner, it might be the failed Pontiac Aztek, which was considered the ugliest American vehicle in modern days.

But Wagner's worst sin was to allow his company to build boring cars with outmoded engines and transmissions, just awful interiors and poor fits and finish. His administration showed disrespect for the product, the engineers who created it and the customers who bought it.

His administration allowed Toyota (nyse: TM - news - people ) to overtake GM and become the world's largest automaker, and next year it's likely that Toyota will become the No. 1 seller in the U.S. too. He not only lost the low and middle market to the Japanese, but he lost the luxury end to the Germans. GM's trucks and big SUVs were a success, but it was madness for a car company to ignore cars--and that was Wagoner's responsibility. By the time he realized that GM needed someone at the top who understood cars and hired Lutz it was too late.

To be fair, the latest collapse was caused by that $4 a gallon gasoline and then the recession, neither of which were of Wagoner's doing. But all those years of failure were.

He created the vanishing auto company. Oldsmobile closed; Saturn, Hummer, Saab and Pontiac to go.

How did he manage to stay on despite all the failures? First, the GM board of directors are pet rocks. Second, Rick Wagoner seemed to be a decent man. He didn't seem to pay himself grotesquely or live an obscene style. He had a pleasing personality. He just didn't understand the American car business. The Detroit and auto press were amazingly uncritical.

But he and his predecessor Jack Smith had created a management system that cut "car people" from top positions. And as GM suffered market share losses every year, the answer wasn't to create exciting cars to win back share but to go to the balance sheet to cut costs and sell off pieces of the company, like GMAC (nyse: GJM - news - people ), for cash.

Auto companies can be saved: In recent years Carlos Ghosn turned around Nissan (nasdaq: NSANY - news - people ) and Marchionne turned around Fiat. But the new billions from the government won't save GM, and all the recovery plans are meaningless. It will take leadership.

Cholesterol medicines are no longer the top-selling drugs in the U.S.

Shares of Lions Gate Entertainment (nyse: LGF - news - people ) also fell after hours, down more than 4% on the idea that billionaire Carl Icahn could gain control of the boutique movie company. Fitch analyst Jamie Rizzo told investors that if Icahn’s latest move to buy up the company’s convertible bonds succeeds, he'll have "effective control." 

Anadys Pharmaceuticals (nasdaq: ANDS - news - people ) is heading higher after hours. Shares are soaring, up nearly 8% in extended trading, on word the company is in late-stage partnership discussions about its experimental hepatitis C treatment. Anadys reports five companies have conducted formal due diligence and a couple more are scheduled.

Shares of National Beverage Corporation (nasdaq: FIZZ - news - people ) jumped more than 6% after hours on an 11% rise in profits on higher sales in the third quarter. The company says consumers are focusing more on value today, which boosts demand for its Shasta, Everfresh and LaCroix drink brands.

And Comscore released its data on top search engines for February. No surprise. Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) is the No. 1 search engine--leading the U.S core search market last month with 63.3% of the searches conducted. Yahoo (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) was next with 20.6%, while Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) held 8.2% of the market,

Ask Network--which has been tailoring its marketing toward the racing audience, with prominent ads during televised NASCAR races--is in fourth place with 4.1% of the searches. AOL rounds out the top five with 3.9%. Overall, Americans conducted 13.1 billion searches, down 3% from January.

Microsoft Corp. plans a central market to sell programs for cell phones running the Windows Mobile system. It hews closely to the setup of Apple Inc.'s App Store for iPhones, with one notable exception - Microsoft promises to communicate more openly with outside software developers.

Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) started what has become an "app store" arms race a year ago, giving software programmers a single place to market applications to enthusiastic iPhone owners. The overnight success of the model - Apple claimed 10 million downloads in a weekend - was followed by Google Inc. (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people )'s similar one-stop shop for its Android phone system.

Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ), Nokia Corp. (nyse: NOK - news - people ) and Research in Motion Ltd. (nasdaq: RIMM - news - people ) have announced similar intentions recently.

Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft was set to reveal more details of its own effort Wednesday. Like Apple in its App Store, Microsoft plans to take 30 percent of sales from the Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Software programmers who want to sell applications through the Microsoft store must pay $99 a year for the privilege, the same fee Apple charges. Programmers can set their own prices, starting at 99 cents, or give their programs away, as long as they pass Microsoft's muster.

Apple's App Store gave programmers a way to profit from the iPhone's mounting buzz. It also drew criticism from some who said the company is too secretive about the process. Developers have complained that it takes weeks or more for Apple to approve or reject their submissions and that reasons for rejections are murky or inconsistent.

Apple declined to comment.

Microsoft vows it will be more forthright and responsive than Apple has been.

The iPhone's lead over smartphone upstart Android may be short-lived, according to an industry watcher's predictions.

Android smartphone sales will outstrip iPhone sales by 2012, market researcher Informa Telecoms & Media has predicted in a new report.

Last month, Telefonica Europe said that sales of the iPhone topped 1 million in the U.K. Although T-Mobile UK--the exclusive carrier of the first Android device, the G1--wouldn't say exactly how many of the devices had been sold, it did say the handset now accounts for 20 percent of its contract sales.

Photos: Hands-on with the HTC Magic Android phone

View the full gallery

Web behemoth Google released the first beta developers kit for its Android open OS platform in August, with the first handset--the G1 smartphone--launching the following month. A second handset, the Magic, is expected to arrive next month.

Apple's iPhone has a slightly longer heritage--with the first device arriving in the U.S. in June 2007. However, the iPhone 3G hit stores last July, giving it only a few months' head start on its Google rival.

Both Android and OS X are eating into the market share of the best-selling smartphone OS maker, Symbian. Last year, just under half of smartphones sold were based on Symbian--a drop of 16 percentage points from the year before when it had 65 percent market share. BlackBerry OS, Linux, and Windows Mobile are also gaining popularity and eating some of Symbian's share, according to Informa.

However, London-based Informa believes Symbian's switch to open source will help the Symbian Foundation maintain its leadership over Android, Linux, and Microsoft over the next few years.

Nearly 162 million smartphones were sold last year, surpassing laptop sales for the first time, according to Informa. The market researcher forecasts that smartphone penetration will reach 13.5 percent of new handsets sold this year and that the figure will reach 38 percent by 2013.

Informa also suggests smartphone sales will be immune to the global economic downturn, maintaining a prediction of "robust growth" of 35.3 percent year over year.

Total handset sales, by contrast, won't be as resilient and are set to fall 10.1 per cent year over year, Informa predicts.

Natasha Lomas of Silicon.com reported from London.