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Lindsay Lohan assaulted at W Hotel in Manhattan

Lisa.Felice
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Lindsay Lohan assaulted at W Hotel in Manhattan

Lindsay Lohan was reportedly assaulted in her room at the W Hotel in Manhattan early Sunday morning.

A police source tells local NBC 4 News Lindsay Lohan, 26, was involved in an argument with a 25-year-old man she met at a nightclub before bringing him back to her room, where a group of friends was present.

An argument between the pair is believed to have stemmed over photos the man took of the actress on his mobile phone while at the W Hotel in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village.

According to NBCNewYork.com, Lindsay Lohan met the unnamed male at Manhattan’s popular 1OAK nightclub in the city’s Chelsea neighborhood.

She is said to have later taken the man to her room on the 15th floor of the nearby W Hotel.

Police sources tell the website “Lohan took the man’s cell phone from him and then he punched her” after the alleged photo incident.

The actress “also told detectives he choked her”, according to the website.

Lindsay Lohan is said to have pulled the fire alarm at the hotel and fled from her room following the scuffle.

The male, who has yet to be identified, was being held at Manhattan’s 13th precinct awaiting charges at press time, NBC reports.

The alleged incident comes less than a week after Lindsay Lohan was rushed to hospital after suffering from a bad lung infection.

According to TMZ, Lindsay Lohan had suffered with a case of “walking pneumonia” but her condition apparently deteriorated, causing her to seek medical attention.

The actress was reportedly taken to the emergency room at Mount Sinai Hospital where she received treatment, including antibiotics.

She was discharged shortly afterwards and is said to be recovering.

 

US death toll in Afghanistan war reaches 2,000

Roy Siemens
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US death toll in Afghanistan war reaches 2,000

A checkpoint shooting in eastern Afghanistan has taken the US military’s death toll in the war past 2,000.

A US soldier and contractor were killed while three Afghan soldiers died and several were injured.

The new deaths occurred on Saturday in Wardak province.

The international mission, ISAF, initially said the soldier was believed to have been killed by a member of the Afghan security services, but it later said the circumstances were unclear.

What is known is that a firefight took place, after what ISAF described as a short conversation between coalition and Afghan soldiers.

ISAF says “insurgent fire” may have been involved in the incident, which is now under investigation by a joint Afghan and coalition team.

The American death toll goes back to the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

 

Sunday’s incident took place at a checkpoint near an Afghan National Army base in the district of Sayedabad, according to Afghan officials.

Shahidullah Shahid, a provincial government spokesman, earlier told the Associated Press news agency that an Afghan soldier had turned his gun on Americans and started shooting.

“Initial reports indicate that a misunderstanding happened between Afghan army soldiers and American soldiers,” he said.

But ISAF later said an American soldier and an American contractor, along with three Afghan soldiers, were killed in an exchange of fire in confusing circumstances that may have involved insurgent activity.

ISAF’s deputy commander, Lt Gen Adrian Bradshaw, said: “The circumstances were somewhat confused and we are establishing the full facts to the extent that it is possible.”

Military officials from both sides have launched a joint investigation.

The figure of 2,000 deaths was given by US officials on Sunday. During the war in Iraq, 4,409 American soldiers were killed.

As of 27 September, the Pentagon’s official military death toll for Afghanistan had stood at 1,996.

The count includes both soldiers killed in action and soldiers who died of their injuries in hospital. The figure also covers 339 non-combat deaths.

A report by the Brookings Institution estimates that 40.2% of US deaths were caused by improvised explosive devices and 30.3% by gun attacks.

Officially, at least 17,644 US soldiers have been wounded in action in Afghanistan.

The independent organization iCasualties estimates a higher US death toll, recording 2,125 to date.

This same source reports 1,066 deaths of non-US members of the coalition in Afghanistan.

It is more difficult to establish the Afghan toll in the war but most estimates calculate a minimum of 20,000 civilian deaths, AP notes.

Some 10,000 members of the Afghan security forces have been killed. No reliable figures exist for deaths among the Taliban and other insurgents.

NATO combat troops are set to withdraw by the end of 2014, but a central plank of the strategy is that foreign soldiers will serve alongside and train Afghans for many years to come.

Correspondents say that may not be realistic given the ever increasing number of Afghans who turn their weapons on their foreign allies.

Afghan war deaths:

• 2,000 US soldiers

• 1,066 non-US coalition soldiers

• possibly 20,000 civilians

• 10,000 members of Afghan security forces

• hundreds of private contractors

• unknown number of insurgents

 

Kenya: Sunday school grenade attack kills one child and hurts another three in Nairobi

Diane A. Wade
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Kenya: Sunday school grenade attack kills one child and hurts another three in Nairobi

One child has been killed and three seriously hurt in a grenade attack on a church’s Sunday school in the Kenya capital, Nairobi.

The attacker targeted St Polycarp’s church on Juja Road.

A police spokesman blamed sympathizers of Somalia’s al-Shabab Islamist militant group, angry over Kenya’s role in the UN-backed intervention force.

A mob later rounded on Somalis living near the church with sticks and stones in a suspected revenge attack.

Police chief Moses Nyakwama said 13 people had been injured in the revenge attack, in the suburb of Eastleigh.

Reports suggested a number of those hurt at the church were injured in a stampede after the attack.

A police spokesman, Charles Owino, told Reuters news agency: “We suspect this blast might have been carried out by sympathizers of al-Shabab.

“These are the kicks of a dying horse since, of late, Kenyan police have arrested several suspects in connection with grenades.”

The authorities said three children were seriously hurt in the attack, and a number of others suffered lighter injuries.

The Red Cross had earlier said six children were critically wounded.

Irene Wambui, who was in the church at the time of the attack, said: “We were just worshipping God in church when suddenly we heard an explosion and people started running for their lives.

“We came to realize that the explosion had injured some kids who were taken to hospital and unfortunately one succumbed.”

Senior Nairobi police officer Moses Ombati appealed for calm after youths reportedly attacked the nearby Alamin mosque.

Nairobi and the port city of Mombasa have suffered a series of grenade attacks since Kenya sent troops into Somalia last October.

The attacks in Mombasa escalated after radical Islamist preacher Aboud Rogo Mohammed was killed in a drive-by shooting in August.

In July, 15 people were killed in raids on churches in Garissa, near Kenya’s border with Somalia.

There was speculation that al-Shabab or its sympathizers were responsible.

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2018 World Cup: Russia reveals that its preliminary budget nearly doubles

Clyde K. Valle
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2018 World Cup: Russia reveals that its preliminary budget nearly doubles

Russia has revealed that its preliminary budget for holding the 2018 World Cup is almost twice what it projected when it won the bid in 2010.

Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko announced a budget of 600 billion roubles ($19 billion), nearly 40% of which will go into building or renovating stadiums.

The rest of the money will be spent on transport and hotel infrastructure.

Russia beat off rival bids from England and other EU states to host the world’s highest-profile single sports event.

Vitaly Mutko said the costs were expected to be split evenly between the public and private sectors.

Eleven host cities have been chosen which span the European part of Russia: Moscow (with two of the 12 stadiums), St Petersburg, Sochi, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Kaliningrad, Volgograd and Saransk.

Speaking at the same news conference in Moscow, FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke said that, based on the Russian bid, the quality of the stadiums would be “amazing”.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter, for his part, said football was expanding all the time.

“[Can] you imagine that actually we had a representative of Syria in the FIFA committees last week and they play football in Syria?” he said in Moscow, speaking as fighting raged in Aleppo and other Syrian cities.

“Perhaps not now in Aleppo, but they play football in Syria,” he said.

“Do you know that in Afghanistan they have a league playing football? Everywhere football is played. Football gives people the hope and football connects these people.”

Sepp Blatter stressed again that it was the first time the World Cup was coming “to the eastern part of Europe”.

Russia won the 2018 bid over the UK and two joint bids by Portugal and Spain, and Belgium and the Netherlands.

 

Gaddafi killed by French secret serviceman on the express orders of Nicolas Sarkozy

Roy Siemens
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Gaddafi killed by French secret serviceman on the express orders of Nicolas Sarkozy

A French secret serviceman acting on the express orders of President Nicolas Sarkozy is suspected of murdering Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi, it was sensationally claimed today.

He is said to have infiltrated a violent mob mutilating the captured Libyan dictator last year and shot him in the head.

The motive, according to well-placed sources in the North African country, was to stop Gaddafi being interrogated about his highly suspicious links with Nicolas Sarkozy.

Other former western leaders, including ex British Prime Minister Tony Blair, were also extremely close to Gaddafi, visiting him regularly and helping to facilitate multi-million pounds business deals.

Nicolas Sarkozy, who once welcomed Gaddafi as a “brother leader” during a state visit to Paris, was said to have received millions from the Libyan despot to fund his election campaign in 2007.

 

The conspiracy theory will be of huge concern to Britain which sent RAF jet to bomb Libya last year with the sole intention of “saving civilian lives”.

A United Nations mandate which sanctioned the attack expressly stated that the western allies could not interfere in the internal politics of the country.

Instead the almost daily bombing runs ended with Gaddafi’s overthrow, while both French and British military ‘advisors’ were said to have assisted on the ground.

Now Mahmoud Jibril, who served as interim Prime Minister following Gaddafi’s overthrow, told Egyptian TV: “It was a foreign agent who mixed with the revolutionary brigades to kill Gaddafi.”

Diplomatic sources in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, meanwhile suggested to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra that a foreign assassin was likely to have been French.

The paper writes: “Since the beginning of NATO support for the revolution, strongly backed by the government of Nicolas Sarkozy, Gaddafi openly threatened to reveal details of his relationship with the former president of France, including the millions of dollars paid to finance his candidacy at the 2007 elections.”

One Tripoli source said: “Sarkozy had every reason to try to silence the Colonel and as quickly as possible.”

The view is supported by information gathered by investigators in Benghazi, Libya’s second city and the place where the “Arab Spring” revolution against Gaddafi started in early 2011.

Rami El Obeidi, the former head of foreign relations for the Libyan transitional council, said he knew that Gaddafi had been tracked through his satellite telecommunications system as he talked to Bashar Al-Assad, the Syrian dictator.

NATO experts were able to trace the communications traffic between the two Arab leaders, and so pinpoint Gaddafi to the city of Sirte, where he was murdered on October 20 2011.

NATO jets shot up Gaddafi’s convoy, before rebels on the ground dragged Gaddafi from a drain where he was hiding and then subjected him to a violent attack which was videoed.

In another sinister twist to the story, a 22-year-old who was among the group which attacked Gaddafi and who frequently brandished the gun said to have killed him, died in Paris last Monday.

Ben Omran Shaaban was said to have been beaten up himself by Gaddafi loyalists in July, before being shot twice. He was flown to France for treatment, but died of his injuries in hospital.

Nicolas Sarkozy, who lost the presidential election in May, has continually denied receiving money from Gaddafi.

Today he is facing a number of enquiries into alleged financial irregularities.

 

Bonnie and Clyde guns up for sale in New Hampshire

Sonia Pantiss
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Bonnie and Clyde guns up for sale in New Hampshire

The guns used by gangsters Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, who died in a hail of police bullets in 1934, are up for auction.

The guns form part of the RR Auction, entitled American Gangsters, Outlaws and Lawmen, taking place in New Hampshire on Sunday.

Bonnie and Clyde’s exploits during the Great Depression earned them a place in American folklore.

Al Capone and Baby Face Nelson items are among others up for sale.

The guns used by gangsters Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow
The guns used by gangsters Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow gained notoriety for a string of bank robberies before law enforcement officers ambushed them in Louisiana on 23 May 1934.

Up for sale are many lots, including items taken from the car in which the couple died, Bonnie Parker’s cosmetics case and a host of photographs.

But the bidding is sure to focus on Bonnie Parker’s Colt Detective Special .38 revolver and Clyde Barrow’s 1911 Army Colt .45 pistol, both of which have estimates of $150,000 to $300,000.

Retired history professor ER Milner says it is clear why the couple is still so intriguing.

“Americans and, I think, most people love a lover… and here [were] these young people in the midst of the worst depression in the history of the world striking a blow for what they thought was right – and loving one another.

“It was almost a Shakespearean tragedy on a dusty road in Louisiana.”

The notorious prohibition gangster Al Capone’s pistol and a love song about his wife, entitled Madonna Mia, which he wrote while imprisoned in Alcatraz, are also up for grabs.

So is a press card signed by his nemesis, the prohibition era investigator Eliot Ness.

A Baby Face Nelson revolver has an estimate of $40,000 to $50,000.

 

George Michael cancels the Australian leg of his Symphonica tour

Sonia Pantiss
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George Michael cancels the Australian leg of his Symphonica tour

George Michael has cancelled the Australian leg of his tour due to “major anxiety” following his battle with pneumonia at the end of last year.

In a statement on his website, George Michael said the cancellation of nine concerts “breaks my heart”.

The singer confirmed he would still fulfill his UK dates in October but would then undergo treatment for his condition.

George Michael suffered from life-threatening pneumonia and spent a month in a Vienna hospital last winter.

The ex-Wham singer added in his statement: “I have tried in vain to work my way through the trauma that the doctors who saved my life warned me I would experience.

“They recommended complete rest and the type of post-traumatic counseling which is available in cases like mine but I’m afraid I believed (wrongly) that making music and getting out there to perform for the audiences that bring me such joy would be therapy enough in itself.”

He has already performed numerous dates across Europe over the last month.

George Michael added that despite enjoying his recent performances, “unfortunately, I seriously underestimated how difficult this year would be”.

The nine cancelled concerts were due to take place in Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Hunter Valley.

The Symphonica tour was resumed this autumn after it was pulled when he became ill in November last year, just hours before he was due to perform in Vienna.

George Michael had completed 46 of the original 65 dates when he contracted pneumonia.

 

Batumi: the Las Vegas of the Black Sea

Kathryn R. Bown
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Batumi: the Las Vegas of the Black Sea

Georgia’s beautiful, subtropical Black Sea coast is once again drawing tourists from far and wide, and the government hopes focusing on gambling will help pull in visitors all year round.

When you are in Batumi, it is hard to believe that this was once a corrupt and crime-ridden city, cut off from the rest of the country, and run as a personal fiefdom by a power-hungry strongman.

Today the palm trees are illuminated in neon. Fountains are bathed in red and green spotlights, and hotels flash like Christmas tree lights.

Subtlety is not something you see much of in these parts. But then this once dark and impoverished corner of the former Soviet Union is now being touted as the Las Vegas of the Black Sea.

Just as Las Vegas likes to build larger-than-life imitations of Paris or Rome, in a confusingly circular way, Batumi is attempting its own rather bizarre copy of Las Vegas.

More aspirational members of the Georgian government would prefer to draw comparisons with Monte Carlo – but all the flashing lights and slot machines make me think more of 1980s Blackpool, near where I grew up in rainy north-west England. Minus, of course, the sticks of rock and the donkeys.

Turkish flags wave proudly outside the new casinos, whose owners say up to 70% of all the tourists in Batumi come to gamble – and that at the weekends, more than half of the guests at the roulette wheels or blackjack tables are Turkish.

Over the centuries this region was repeatedly invaded by Turks. Now Georgia is doing everything it can to lure them back. Passport controls crossing from Turkey into Georgia have been eased, meaning Turkish tourists can cross for an evening’s flutter showing just an ID card.

Last year almost 750,000 Turkish tourists visited Batumi – more than any other nationality – and even more are expected this year. So every season bigger hotels are built. Glitzier casinos opened. And yes, even more colorful lights switched on.

Local shopkeepers say they are thrilled that the regional economy appears to be booming.

But on the other side of the border, in Turkey, people are a bit more ambivalent. One Turkish laborer says he is now addicted, and that he comes every other day after work to gamble – otherwise he feels sick.

He has neighbors in the village who have lost their businesses because of gambling debts.

In local mosques in Turkey, religious leaders say gambling is turning into a plague, which is destroying families – something many wives would probably agree with.

According to the Turkish embassy in Georgia, Turkish women regularly phone up the consul in Batumi asking for help to find their husbands in the casinos.

But considering what the situation was like here just a decade ago, the boom in tourism is impressive.

This region was run by a corrupt clan, headed by Aslan Abashidze – seen by some as a strongman who saved the region from the chaos of 1990s Georgia, but by others as a mafia boss, who was involved in organized crime, backed up by his own personal army.

Getting into the territory then meant passing numerous checkpoints, passport controls and inevitably paying bribes.

Aslan Abashidze’s son was rumored to close off the promenade regularly – the only stretch of road without potholes – to race his Lamborghini up and down.

When President Mikheil Saakashvili swept to power in Georgia proper after the 2003 Rose Revolution, he vowed to win back this stray territory. There were fears of civil war – but that was averted when Aslan Abashidze fled to Moscow.

And although he still faces 15 years in prison for embezzlement if he ever comes back to Georgia, and has even been charged with murder, the region around Batumi has become a model for how once-breakaway territories can be reintegrated and made to prosper.

So President Mikheil Saakashvili’s government today likes to hold up Batumi as a lure for people in Georgia’s two remaining breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia – which despite being backed by Russia, still show the scars of war, and have little of the glitz of Batumi.

It’s rather like how, before 1989, the US would show off the shining shop windows of capitalist West Berlin, to dark communist East Germany on the other side of the Wall.

So probably best if Georgia sticks to the Las Vegas or Monte Carlo analogies. I doubt talking about the joys of a Georgian Blackpool would quite do the same job.

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Kim Kardashian and her family prepare to compete in the Miami Dragon Boat Festival

Lisa.Felice
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Kim Kardashian and her family prepare to compete in the Miami Dragon Boat Festival

Kim Kardashian was spotted in a park in Miami, Florida on Saturday with members from her family as they prepared to compete in the Miami Dragon Boat Festival.

Wearing a low-cut exercise top, a pair of tight fitting leggings and matching long-sleeve jacket, Kim Kardashian flaunted her most famous assets as she stretched out and did squats on the lawn.

She was joined by her mother Kris Jenner, who could hardly take the exercise seriously and continuously fell into fits of giggles.

Mother and daughter were also joined by Kim’s sisters Kourtney and Kylie, her stepfather Bruce and best friend Jonathan Cheban.

 

 

Noah Kagan: Why I got fired from Facebook

Nancy Clayson
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Noah Kagan: Why I got fired from Facebook

Noah Kagan, one of Facebook’s first ever employees, was forced to leave the up-and-coming social network in 2006, and he missed out on a payday which could have totaled $100 million.

Noah Kagan, who is now running online startup AppSumo, was the 30th employee at Facebook when he was hired by founder Mark Zuckerberg as a product manager.

At the time, Facebook was a scrappy newcomer – Noah Kagan says: “Most decisions were me walking over to Mark’s desk for approval.”

And many employees were deeply devoted to the company – not least the young project manager who had graduated from Berkeley two years earlier.

“Facebook was my entire life,” he writes in the blog post explaining how he came to be fired.

“My social circle, my validation, my identity and everything was tied to this company.”

Noah Kagan also pays tribute to his fellow employees, most of whom were graduates of – or dropouts from – elite Ivy League universities.

“I’ve NEVER been around such smart people,” he says.

“I’ve never felt so consistent like I wasn’t the smartest person in the room.”

However, while he may have been enjoying his time at Facebook, Noah Kagan was apparently not always the most popular figure in the room.

“I wanted attention, I put myself before Facebook,” he says.

“I hosted events at the office, published things on this blog to get attention and used the brand more than I added to it.”

Moreover, as the firm grew, it changed from an entrepreneurial organization to more of a bureaucratic behemoth – and Noah Kagan failed to change with it.

He writes on his blog of his frustration at having to go through a secretary every time he wanted to see Mark Zuckerberg, and admits that in big meetings he “zoned the f*** out”.

But the last straw was when Facebook changed its membership policy to allow non-students to have accounts, and Noah Kagan leaked the information to a journalist.

While partying at the Coachella festival, he emailed a contact asking him to publicize the information as soon as the change was made the next day – but the journalist wrote a story on it that same night.

Noah Kagan was called in for a meeting with Matt Cohler, then Facebook’s head of product management, and told that he had become a “liability” to the company after eight months working there.

He was marched back to the office, where he had his telephone and computer taken away.

At the time he was devastated, and he now claims that it took him a year to get over the pain of rejection.

You might think that that pain would only have got worse over the years, as Facebook grew and this year’s IPO turned many of its earliest employees into multi-millionaires.

Yet even though he estimates he could have earned $100 million if he had stayed at the company, Noah Kagan insists he has no regrets.

Having worked at web firms such as Mint.com and KickFlip before starting AppSumo, he says of his departure from Facebook: “It is what it is.”

“Ultimately, I appreciate where I am now and all the experiences I got from NOT being there.”

 

Venezuela election: two opposition politicians killed during a campaign rally

Diane A. Wade
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Venezuela election: two opposition politicians killed during a campaign rally

Two opposition politicians have been killed in Venezuela during a campaign rally, a week before the country’s presidential election.

Geison Valero belonged to the opposition party First Justice and Omar Fernandez was an independent.

The First Justice party said they were campaigning for opposition leader Henrique Capriles in Barinas state when gunmen shot them dead.

Witnesses said the vehicle belonged to the state oil company PDVSA.

But there has been no confirmation of this from the Venezuelan authorities.

A statement by the party said a rally had been planned in Barinas, President Hugo Chavez’s home state, but the road was blocked by government supporters.

When the two men left their car to try to gain access, they were fired on by gunmen inside a van, it said.

Hugo Chavez and Henrique Capriles are wrapping up their campaigns over the next few days ahead of the 7 October elections.

There have been other incidents of violence on the campaign trail. Supporters of both candidates threw stones at each other earlier this month when Henrique Capriles attempted to march through the city of Puerto Cabello.

And four people were injured in a shooting that erupted during a voting rehearsal at the beginning of September.

With violent crime a key concern for voters, there are fears that further violence could erupt in what has become Venezuela’s closest fought election in over a decade.

Hugo Chavez has been in power since 1999, but was diagnosed with cancer last year.

More than 30 opposition parties have backed a single candidate, Henrique Capriles, to challenge the leftist president.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger confirms he had an affair with Brigitte Nielsen

Lisa.Felice
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Arnold Schwarzenegger confirms he had an affair with Brigitte Nielsen

Brigitte Nielsen revealed that she and Arnold Schwarzenegger had an affair in her own memoir, last year.

And now Arnold Schwarzenegger has confirmed that he cheated on his then girlfriend and now ex-wife Maria Shriver with actress Brigitte Nielsen.

The Terminator star has made the explosive revelation in his own new autobiography, Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, 65, says that he and Brigitte Nielsen shared a passionate tryst whilst filming their sword and sorcery/action film Red Sonja in 1985.

At the time, Arnold Schwarzenegger was dating and living with Maria Shriver, who he went on to marry a year later.

Meanwhile, in 1985, Brigitte Nielsen was married to fellow action star and one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s pals, Sylvester Stallone.

In her own book You Only Get One Life, Brigitte Nielsen, who for years has struggled with alcohol addiction, claims she didn’t know Arnold Schwarzenegger was involved with another woman during their affair.

His book has become one of the most talked about celebrity autobiography in recent memory.

But the action star is said to be keeping all the profits of the book to himself.

Earlier this week it was revealed that Arnold Schwarzenegger did not send his estranged wife a copy of his book, as he does not want her to claim a share of the money that it is making.

The Terminator star is reportedly hell-bent on keeping all of the proceeds from the tome for himself, even though his relationship with Maria Shriver is a key strand of his story.

Sources close to the couple made the shocking claims to TMZ.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver were together for 34 years and married for 25, and their times together are exhaustively dealt with in the forthcoming book.

They married in April 1986, and have four children together – Katherine, 22, Christina, 21, Patrick, 19, and 15-year-old Christopher.

However, Arnold Schwarzenegger has allegedly made it clear to her that the book is his property, and she will not be getting her hands on any part of his multi-million dollar advance or the bumper royalties.

It has also been claimed the love cheat has been trying to give Maria Shriver a raw deal during financial settlement negotiations.

An insider said: “Arnold has been really stingy with Maria and the kids, which is amazing considering what he did.”

Apparently Arnold Schwarzenegger is treating the divorce like just another business deal, rather than seeing the cash sum as a symbol of the parting of the relationship he had with the mother of his children.

This is despite the sources also claiming he begged for her to return to him as recently as last week.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the 56-year-old author and activist turned down the request.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s representative reportedly told TMZ divorce settlement negotiations are ongoing so no agreement has been struck.

 

Anne Hathaway marries Adam Shulman in Big Sur

Lisa.Felice
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Anne Hathaway marries Adam Shulman in Big Sur

Anne Hathaway has married Adam Shulman in Big Sur, California, after a one year engagement.

Following reports on Friday that she was set to wed this weekend, the actress is understood to have tied the knot.

It comes following news that Anne Hathaway, 29, had hired Natalie Portman’s wedding planner to help her hash out her perfect nuptials.

The bride wore a dress designed by Valentino, after the designer recently confirmed he would be in charge of creating her gown, while the groom dressed in a dapper tuxedo.

Anne Hathaway certainly made for a beautiful bride in her off-the-shoulder, vintage inspired creation, which she teamed with white shoes and an elaborate but gorgeous veil.

Speaking recently, Valentino Garavani confirmed he had designed the gown that would be worn by Anne Hathaway.

According to People.com, the actress said “I do” with her actor beau in a ceremony attended by 100 guests.

Friday night saw the rehearsal dinner which took place at the Ventana Inn and Spa, which was followed by the star walking up the aisle on a private estate.

A minibus was seen collecting the guests from the luxury hotel to take them to the ceremony.

The décor of the big day was reportedly inspired by nature and featured lots of branches at both the ceremony and reception.

Ahead of the nuptials it was reported that the wedding would be a traditional Jewish affair – just like Natalie Portman’s wedding to Benjamin Millipied – which also took place in Big Sur.

Running alongside the Pacific Coast Highway, Big Sur, famous for its links to the Beat poets, is a sparsely populated town where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise from the Pacific Ocean.

Anne Hathaway had originally claimed the wedding would not take place until 2013 because of her work commitments.

She told Hello magazine: “We’re getting married, probably sometime next year-ish. Not this year, it’s too big with two films coming out.

“I haven’t started planning yet. I was filming Les Mis when we decided to do it, and there was no way I could think about anything wedding-related with my head in the space it was in then.

“I’ve been so busy since then, I’ve not even decided what sort of ceremony I want.”

 

Ancient Madina souk in Aleppo’s Old City burns as battles rage

Roy Siemens
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Ancient Madina souk in Aleppo’s Old City burns as battles rage

A blaze has swept though ancient markets in Aleppo, activists say, as rebels and government forces seek to gain control of Syria’s largest city.

Reports say hundreds of shops in the souk, one of the best preserved in the Middle East, have been destroyed.

Unesco, which recognizes Aleppo’s Old City as a world heritage site, described the damage as a tragedy.

On the third day of a rebel offensive, battles broke out in the Old City and the Arkub district, reports said.

The fire, believed to have been triggered by shelling and gunfire, began on Friday but was still burning on Saturday, reports said.

“It’s a big loss and a tragedy that the old city has now been affected,” Kishore Rao, director of Unesco’s World Heritage Centre, told the Associated Press.

The market stalls lie beneath the city’s towering 13th Century citadel, where activists say regime troops and snipers have taken up positions.

Activists quoted by Reuters news agency said that the presence of snipers was making it difficult to approach the Souk al-Madina, once a major tourist attraction.

Reports estimate that between 700 and 1,000 shops have been destroyed so far.

“It’s a disaster. The fire is threatening to spread to remaining shops,” one activist, Ahmad al-Halabi, told AP.

He said the Syrian authorities had cut off the water supply, making attempts to control the fire more difficult.

Rebels and civilians were working together to limit the fire with a few fire extinguishers, he added.

The fire took hold with speed, fuelled by the many shops’ wooden doors and the clothes, fabrics and leather goods sold inside.

Heavy clashes erupted at several military sites in the city on Saturday evening, Reuters reports.

Fighting was reported at the Neirab military base as well as Bab Antakya, a stone gateway to the Old City.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group, said the focal point for fighting was Salaheddin, a rebel stronghold on the south-west side of the city.

State television reported attacks on what it called “terrorist centres” in 10 different locations on Saturday, saying heavy losses had been inflicted.

Though both sides have reported clashes in different parts of the city, the signs are that the rebels simply lack the firepower and the manpower to score a significant breakthrough.

“No-one is actually making gains here, it is just fighting and more fighting, and terrified people are fleeing,” one activist told Reuters.

Activists estimate more than 27,000 people have died in the violence since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began last year.

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Paolo Gabriele trial: Vatican judges refuse to admit key evidence

Diane A. Wade
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Paolo Gabriele trial: Vatican judges refuse to admit key evidence

Vatican judges have refused to admit key evidence in the trial of Paolo Gabriele, Pope Benedict’s former butler, charged with stealing sensitive documents.

Paolo Gabriele’s lawyers had asked to include evidence gathered by cardinals who carried out an inquiry into the “Vatileaks” scandal for Pope Benedict.

But judges at the high-profile trial said they would rely only on evidence from the Vatican police and prosecutor.

They adjourned the case until Tuesday, when Paolo Gabriele will be questioned.

The 46-year-old admitted to investigators that he had leaked confidential documents to expose “evil and corruption”.

He was identified as the source of leaked documents that were published in a book by an Italian journalist in May.

The documents included private correspondence between senior Vatican figures, and appeared to reveal bitter power struggles and corruption.

Pope Benedict XVI ordered cardinals to carry out an inquiry separate to the probe by Vatican police after the scandal broke.

The results of their investigation have not been made public.

Paolo Gabriele faces up to four years in prison if convicted of aggravated theft, but he could be pardoned by the Pope.

The court decided that his fellow defendant, Vatican computer technician Claudio Sciarpelletti, will be tried separately for aiding and abetting a crime. He had exerted his right to stay away from the hearing.

Paolo Gabriele was the Pope’s trusted servant for years and held the keys to the papal apartments.

It has been one of the most difficult crises of Pope Benedict’s seven-year papacy.

No TV cameras or recorders are being allowed inside the courtroom for the most high-profile case to be held in the Vatican since it was established as a sovereign state in 1929.

Paolo Gabriele, dressed in a pale grey suit, showed little reaction as judges rejected almost all of his lawyers’ requests.

He will be interrogated in court by the president of the Vatican City tribunal on Tuesday.

The chief judge said the court hoped to reach a verdict by the end of next week.

Among witnesses due to give evidence next week is Pope Benedict’s private secretary, Georg Gaenswein, and one of the six German and Italian nuns who work in the pope’s private household.

The Vatican butler was arrested in May, accused of passing papal correspondence to journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, whose book His Holiness: The secret papers of Pope Benedict XVI was published that month.

Correspondents say the revelations seem aimed primarily at discrediting the Vatican’s powerful Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who has been in his post since 2006.

Prosecutors quoted Paolo Gabriele as saying during his interrogation that he knew taking the documents was wrong but he felt the Holy Spirit was inspiring him to shed light on the problems he saw around him.

He said he felt the Pope was being kept in the dark or misinformed by his collaborators.

Pope Benedict said after his former butler’s arrest that the news had “brought sadness in my heart”.

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Recipe: fig, honey and almond tart

Kathryn R. Bown
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Recipe: fig, honey and almond tart

Try this simple dish baked in a single tray that will feed the whole family this weekend.

 

INGREDIENTS

375 g packet ready-rolled puff pastry

10 ripe figs

3 tbsp runny honey with a squeeze of lemon added

125 g (4½oz) flaked almonds

200 ml (7fl oz) crème fraîche

2 tsp essence of rose water

Fig, honey and almond tart
Fig, honey and almond tart

METHOD

Preheat oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas 6 and heat a baking sheet. Unroll the pastry, cut out a 30 cm (12in) circle and place onto another, cold baking sheet. Prick the pastry circle with a fork. Trim any woody stalks from the figs, then cut into quarters and arrange in concentric circles over the pastry. Drizzle over the honey and scatter over 2 tbsp flaked almonds. Push the outer edge of the pastry around the edge of the figs. Place the baking sheet onto the preheated baking sheet (this ensures a crispy base) and bake for 20 minutes until crisp. Finely chop the remaining almonds, stir into the crème fraîche with the rose water and serve with the tart.

 

Omar Khadr, the youngest prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, returns to Canada

Diane A. Wade
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Omar Khadr, the youngest prisoner to be held at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, has been returned to his native Canada.

Omar Khadr had been held at the US base in Cuba since 2002, after being detained in Afghanistan aged 15.

A military plane flew Omar Khadr, the last Westerner at Guantanamo, to Canada early on Saturday.

He will serve the rest of his eight-year jail term in Canada. He pleaded guilty to killing a US soldier in Afghanistan.

Omar Khadr left the prison on a US military plane and arrived at a Canadian air base in Trenton in Ontario province, from where he was transferred to the Millhaven maximum prison, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews told a news conference.

The US Department of Defense said in a statement: “The United States government has returned Khadr to Canada where he will serve out his remaining sentence. The United States co-ordinated with the government of Canada regarding appropriate security and humane treatment measures.”

Omar Khadr was sentenced to 40 years in prison by a US military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay in 2010 on war crimes charges.

The charges against him were: murder in violation of the law of war; attempted murder in violation of the law of war; conspiracy; providing material support for terrorism; and spying.

But as part of his plea deal, his sentence was limited to eight years.

Under the deal, he became eligible to return to Canada last October.

Canada declined to intervene in Omar Khadr’s trial, despite federal court rulings in Ottawa that his rights were violated when Canadian agents interrogated him at Guantanamo Bay.

The majority of Canadians supported the campaign to repatriate Omar Khadr, now 26, though the country remains split over the case.

“Omar Khadr is a known supporter of the al-Qaeda terrorist network and a convicted terrorist,” Vic Toews said on Saturday.

Many still consider him and some members of his family a threat, while others see him as a child victim of both an extreme Islamist ideology and cruel and unusual treatment at the hands of the US authorities.

The Khadrs have been called Canada’s “first family of terror”.

Omar Khadr’s father, an associate of Osama Bin Laden, took the family to Peshawar, in Pakistan, to support the Afghan mujahideen in their war against the Soviets when Khadr was a child. The father died in a firefight with Pakistani troops near the Afghan border in 2003.

One brother is paralyzed from the waist down after being wounded in that same battle. Another has just been released from jail in Toronto after successfully fighting extradition to the US on terror charges.

Omar Khadr’s sister Zaynab and mother Maha are well-known in Canada for their extremist views.

Some 166 detainees remain in detention at Guantanamo Bay.

 

Interstate 405 shutdown in Los Angeles until early Monday morning

Diane A. Wade
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California drivers had been long warned and now Carmageddon, the sequel, is hours underway.

Ten miles of the world’s busiest freeways have been shut down in Los Angeles since midnight launching a frenzied weekend construction zone transportation officials hope will end as successfully as last year’s first edition.

For weeks drivers have been warned to stay away from the segment of Interstate 405 that will be shuttered through the Sepulveda Pass on LA’s west side for a bridge’s completion planned before Monday morning’s traffic crunch.

If drivers don’t avoid the area, officials warn, a city-wide traffic jam could result prompting city officials to encourage Southern Californians to get out and enjoy their own neighborhoods on foot, on bikes or via short drives on surface streets instead.

During a similar closure last year commuters stayed away from the freeway in droves, the shutdown was considered a success, and crews finished the first phase of the work early.

This time, the contractor faces a hefty penalty if the work isn’t done in 53 hours: $6,000 per lane of freeway every 10 minutes that goes beyond its completion time.

“The penalty is $6,000 per lane of freeway, per 10 minutes. Let’s assume the entire freeway isn’t reopened, that’s $60,000 every 10 minutes,” Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Dave Sotero told KCBS-TV.

Meanwhile, TV news crews have a plan to avoid a traffic jam in the sky as they cover the shutdown.

Residents complained of low-flying, noisy helicopters hovering nonstop over the region last year.

“It was constant,” Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association, whose members live in many of the homes closest to the freeway, recently told The Associated Press.

“It was a combination of the news media paparazzi and tour operators taking people who wanted to get a picture of the 405.”

Although the area gets its share of paparazzi helicopters because of Charlie Sheen and other celebrities who live in the area, Richard Close said they usually go away when the sun sets.

During Carmageddon, however, the area is brightly illuminated overnight so construction workers can safely do their jobs.

This time, local television news directors have plans to pool coverage by using video from a single helicopter making limited flights over the freeway, according to Rick Terrell, executive director of the Radio & Television News Association of Southern California.

The participating stations include major broadcasters including KABC-TV, KCBS-TV and KTTV-TV.

 

How make-up and perfume can influence your interview result

Nancy Clayson
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Interviewers make all sorts of snap judgments about a candidate’s character based solely on their grooming regime, according to a survey of British bosses.

One in four said that chipped nail varnish quickly takes the shine off an applicant’s chances, as it makes them appear nervous or unprepared.

A fifth of managers see split ends as a sign of laziness, and one in six said smudged mascara made them fear hiring a “party animal” who would be quick to escape the office for the bar.

A deep tan leads bosses to the conclusion that a candidate would gladly abandon their duties for the pleasures of a beach break, while bright red lipstick, heavily pencilled eyebrows and overpowering perfume are considered indicative of an overconfident and cocky personality.

The common scenario of lipstick smudged on to teeth apparently suggests carelessness, while foundation that hasn’t been blended properly is seen to highlight a lack of attention to detail.

Even going for a natural look isn’t without risks, as certain bosses believe an absence of mascara indicates an emotional wreck who worries that it would all be cried off within hours.

But it seems women cannot win – with an immaculately made-up face making some recruiters fear this candidate means business and will be snapping at their heels for the next promotion.

Sara Stern of Debenhams, which carried out the survey of 2,000 executives, said: “Clearly the application of make-up and fragrance is just as important as making sure your outfit is clean and ironed ahead of an interview.

“It seems a more natural-looking middle ground is the way to go for sure-fire success.”

 

Car chase suicide live on Fox News

Diane A. Wade
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Car chase suicide live on Fox News

Fox News has apologized for showing a man fatally shooting himself in the head on live television.

Fox News on Friday was covering a high-speed chase that began in Phoenix, Arizona, using a live helicopter shot.

After driving for dozens of miles into the desert, the motorist stopped and ran on to a dirt road. He then put a handgun to his head and fired.

TV anchor Shepard Smith later apologized to viewers for not cutting away.

“We really messed up,” he said.

Phoenix police say the chase may have started with a car-jacking.

Fox News on Friday was covering a high-speed chase that began in Phoenix, Arizona, using a live helicopter shot
Fox News on Friday was covering a high-speed chase that began in Phoenix, Arizona, using a live helicopter shot

Police spokesman Sgt. Tommy Thompson said the man was alleged to have stolen the car from a couple at gunpoint outside a restaurant just before 11:00 local time.

Police tracked down the car and began pursuit. The driver fired several shots at the police car, but no officers were hurt.

The car travelled west on Interstate highway 10, before turning on to a dirt road about 70 miles (113 km) to 80 miles from the state border with California.

“He got out of the car and shot himself,” Sgt. Tommy Thompson said.

“Efforts to revive him were not successful and he was dead at the scene. We don’t have an ID yet.”

“We’re all very sorry,” said Shepard Smith after the incident.

“That didn’t belong on TV.”

Michael Clemente, executive vice-president of news editorial at Fox News, said the channel had taken pains to avoid distressing viewers but had failed.

“We took every precaution to avoid any such live incident by putting the helicopter pictures on a five-second delay,” he said.

“Unfortunately, this mistake was the result of a severe human error and we apologize for what viewers ultimately saw on the screen.”

Fox News Channel has a reputation for picking up car chases from its local affiliates and airing them live.

Making for gripping television, such footage often provides a short-term ratings boost as viewers tune in to see how they end, the Associated Press news agency notes.

It is not the first time that a suicide has been inadvertently broadcast live on American television.

Christine Chubbuck shot herself dead on Florida’s WXLT-TV channel (now WWSB) in 1974 while presenting a news programme.

It is common practice for broadcasters to delay live material by a few seconds as a control mechanism.

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Barack Obama and his family cost taxpayers $1.4 billion per year

Diane A. Wade
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Barack Obama and his family cost taxpayers $1.4 billion per year

US President Barack Obama and his family cost the taxpayer $1.4 billion per year, according to a recently published book.

By contrast, the British Royal Family costs less than $60 million each year.

Two of the principal costs of the Obama presidency – and any other presidency – are staffing and security, according to Robert Keith Gray’s book Presidential Perks Gone Royal.

When it comes to keeping the First Family safe, few would dispute that it is worth paying a high price to keep the President safe from harm.

This means paying for hundreds of Secret Service agents, travel in the secure space of Air Force and funding a team of doctors to follow Barack Obama around.

But even this essential expense can be exploited to political ends, according to Robert Keith Gray, a former staffer for Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

President Barack Obama and his family cost the taxpayer $1.4 billion per year
President Barack Obama and his family cost the taxpayer $1.4 billion per year

When the President travels around the country on campaign, he is obliged to take Air Force One.

His party reimburses the taxpayer with the cost of a first-class air ticket per passenger – but this is far from the full cost to taxpayers.

It also provides a President running for re-election with a national transport network which is unavailable to his challenger.

Moreover, much of the money spent on Barack Obama’s family goes to perks such as entertainment and household expenses.

For example, the White House contains a movie theatre which is manned by projectionists 24 hours a day in case one of the family feels like a trip to the cinema.

And even the Obamas’ dog Bo costs the taxpayer thousands of dollars – his handler is reportedly paid over $100,000 a year.

Another huge presidential outgoing, according to Robert Keith Gray, comes in the form of staff members who can be appointed by the commander-in-chief at his own personal discretion.

226 members of Barack Obama’s staff are apparently paid over $100,000 – and the President can increase their salaries at any time.

 

Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks of affair with maid Mildred Beana on 60 Minutes

Lisa.Felice
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Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks of affair with maid Mildred Beana on 60 Minutes

Arnold Schwarzenegger has revealed he regrets having an affair with his maid Mildred Beana, declaring it as “the stupidest thing” and admitting he “inflicted tremendous pain” onto his wife and children.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, 65, opened up in a pre-recorded chat with 60 Minutes – his first televised interview since the scandal broke in May 2011 – to broadcast on Sunday.

The actor married television journalist Maria Shriver in April 1986, going on to have four children together – Katherine, 22, Christina, 21, Patrick, 19, and 15-year-old Christopher.

However, in May of last year, the couple separated after 25 years due to his infidelities.

Had it simply been an extra-marital affair, there may have been a chance to save the marriage, but Arnold Schwarzenegger fathered a child with maid Mildred Beana, who gave birth to their son Joseph 14 years ago.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has revealed he regrets having an affair with his maid Mildred Beana
Arnold Schwarzenegger has revealed he regrets having an affair with his maid Mildred Beana

During the interview, Arnold Schwarzenegger said: “I think it was the stupidest thing I’ve done in the whole relationship. It was terrible. I inflicted tremendous pain on Maria and unbelievable pain on the kids.”

The Terminator icon is currently promoting his autobiography, Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story, and though he says Maria Shriver hasn’t read the tell-all tale, she does wish him the best.

The former Governor of California added: “I think that Maria is wishing me well in everything I do.”

Interestingly, despite his acknowledgment of the affair, Arnold Schwarzenegger fails to actually say sorry.

When interviewer Lesley Stahl probes him, asking: “She gave up her television career for you. I mean, wow, was this the most unbelievable act of betrayal to Maria?”

Arnold Schwarzenegger deflects the answer, simply elaborating about it being the “stupidest” thing he did.

Despite the scandal that threatened to topple him from his He-Man cave, Arnie continues to work.

He went on to reprise his role as Trench in The Expendables 2, and signed up to a further five titles.

Action film The Last Stand and thriller The Tomb are currently in post-production, while he is about to embark on fantasy Unknown Soldier and DEA drama Breacher.

It has also recently been announced he will reunite with Danny DeVito to star in Triplets – a sequel to Twins, where the unlikely brothers discover they have a third sibling.

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How egg preferences reveal your personality

Kathryn R. Bown
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How egg preferences reveal your personality

Poached, scrambled, boiled or fried. We all have our preference for how to cook an egg.

But the choice reveals more than just our culinary tastes – it also highlights our personalities and reveals secrets about social class and even sex drive.

Scientists quizzed 1,010 adults and found that poached egg eaters are outgoing, boiled egg lovers are disorganized, fried egg fans have a high sex drive, scrambled egg aficionados are guarded and omelette eaters are self-disciplined.

The study for the British Egg Industry Council was carried out by Mindlab International, which researches the psychology of consumer choice.

Fried egg fans have a high sex drive and are usually from the skilled working class
Fried egg fans have a high sex drive and are usually from the skilled working class

It found that the average poached egg-eater is likely to be happier than most.

Boiled egg-eaters run the greatest risk of getting divorced.

Fried egg fans are usually from the skilled working class and scrambled eggs are favored by those without children.

Andrew Joret, of the British Egg Industry Council, said: “It’s amazing to think that just by knowing someone’s favorite way of eating eggs, it’s possible to gauge a large amount about who they are and what they are like. But it doesn’t matter how you eat your eggs – they’re still nutritious, versatile and great value.”

 

Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore were in fact legally married, a new uncovered quitclaim deed shows

Lisa.Felice
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Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore were in fact legally married, a new uncovered quitclaim deed shows

Doubts had been raised over whether Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher had ever really been man and wife, but a legal document has emerged that proves they were in fact legally married.

Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore had sparked speculation they never truly tied the know after failing to lodge divorce documents almost a year after splitting.

But they are named as spouses in a new uncovered quitclaim deed, which is a legal instrument by which the owner of a piece of real property, called the grantor, transfers his or her interest to a recipient, called the grantee.

The paper, obtained by InTouch, shows that Demi Moore, 49, gave up her claim to a piece of property in Los Angeles, a move that no doubt put a smile on wealthy Ashton Kutcher’s face.

Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore had sparked speculation they never truly tied the know after failing to lodge divorce documents almost a year after splitting
Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore had sparked speculation they never truly tied the know after failing to lodge divorce documents almost a year after splitting

Demi Moore signed the document in March, suggesting the pair may be finding their own way of divvying up their rich portfolio of assets.

She announced she was ending their marriage in November amid a slew of cheating claims, and Ashton Kutcher has now moved onto younger pastures with new love Mila Kunis.

Sources had told Radar Online that the former couple’s Kabbalah wedding was merely a ‘symbolic ceremony and not a legal marriage’.

The couple wed in September 2005 in a ceremony attended by 150 guests, including Demi Moore’s ex-husband Bruce Willis.

 

Se Og Hor publishes photos of Kate changing her bikini bottoms

Diane A. Wade
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Se Og Hor publishes photos of Kate changing her bikini bottoms

Danish magazine Se Og Hor has published photographs of Kate Middleton changing her bikini bottom, reigniting the privacy scandal surrounding the Royal couple.

Celebrity magazine Se Og Hor (See And Hear) has gone further than any other publication and printed a 16-page special of photographs, including three of the Duchess of Cambridge changing her bikini bottoms – taken from the front.

The photos appear to be from the same set of shots originally taken while Prince William and his wife were holidaying in the South of France.

There are thought to be up to 200 photos taken of Kate and William when they were sunbathing at a secluded chateau.

The most revealing photograph in Se Og Hor, which appears on the front page of the magazine, shows the Duchess changing into a pair of blue bikini bottoms.

Danish magazine Se Og Hor has published photographs of Kate Middleton changing her bikini bottom
Danish magazine Se Og Hor has published photographs of Kate Middleton changing her bikini bottom

Kim Henningsen, Se Og Hor’s editor in chief, was unabashed by the threat of legal action and declined to say who sold the photographs or how much was paid for them.

He said: “It’s a set of unique photos from an A-class celebrity. It is my job to publish them.”

Kate Middleton and Prince William won a landmark injunction in France to stop further publication of the images by Closer magazine, under the threat of a €100,000 fine.

They have also handed over all files containing the images to representatives of the couple on the orders of the judge, after they were ruled a “brutal” invasion of privacy.

The court made no ruling for the magazine to name the photographer, however, and it has the right to protect his or identity under France’s laws on protection of journalistic sources.

But the release of the unseen pictures of Kate confirms fears that the injunction will do little to halt the worldwide spread of the pictures.

The revealing photographs of the Royal couple relaxing on a private balcony were first published in French magazine Closer, before a 26-page special was published in Italy’s Chi and Ireland’s Irish Daily Star.

 

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