Credit card companies Visa and Mastercard and major US banks have agreed to a $7.25 billion settlement to retailers over card fees.
The case, which has been going on for seven years, is over firms colluding to fix the fees that stores pay to process credit and debt card payments.
The settlement is thought to be the largest of its kind in US history.
It involves a $6 billion payment to stores and an agreement to reduce swipe fees for eight months, valued at $1.2 billion.
Credit card companies Visa and Mastercard and major US banks have agreed to a $7.25 billion settlement to retailers over card fees
An additional $525 million has been set aside to pay to the stores which sued individually, including grocery chains Kroger and Safeway and the Rite Aid pharmacy chain.
The settlement involves credit card giants Visa and Mastercard, as well as major US banks which issue their cards including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citibank.
Craig Wildfang, the lead lawyer representing the merchants, told AFP: “Over time, the reforms induced by this case and in this settlement should help reduce card-acceptance costs to merchants, which in turn, will result in lower prices for all consumers.”
Visa and Mastercard already paid a combined $3 billion to settle a lawsuit over their “honor all cards” policies, which tied acceptance of credit to debit cards.
The US Department of Justice also brought and settled a civil suit against the two firms in 2010 over policies that prevented stores from offering their customers cheaper forms of payments.
However, that settlement left in place credit card company rules that stop stores from charging customers more when they use certain payment cards.
Lawyers representing the credit card companies said Friday’s settlement was in the best interests of all involved.
Visa and Mastercard stock both climbed in after-hours trading following the announcement of the deal.
Holly Willoughby was left disgusted during a segment on This Morning show yesterday after she and her co-host Phillip Schofield were tasked with guessing what a number of obscure items were.
It was revealed that an object Holly Willoughby put in her mouth was in fact a travel bidet.
When Holly Willoughby, 31, was handed the strange device, she made a number of guesses after examining it.
She thought it could be a flask and put it into her mouth but was left aghast when it was revealed to be an intimate personal hygiene system.
Holly Willoughby at first thought bidet actually meant toilet which caused her horror, much to the amusement of her co-star Phillip Schofield.
Holly Willoughby at first thought bidet actually meant toilet which caused her horror
It was an unfortunate incident upon Holly Willoughby’s return to the show after she was forced to take yesterday off because she was believed to have contracted food poisoning after treating her dad to a fancy birthday lunch on Wednesday.
The blonde’s co-host, wrote on Twitter: “No @hollywills today, she may be suffering from food poisoning! Which is a worry cos I recommended the restaurant!!! @k8_thornton is here (sic).”
Stand-in presenter Kate Thornton sent Holly a get well tweet, saying: “Get better @hollywills – hope you’re ok. Take yourself to bed with Christian Grey x (sic).”
Holly Willoughby – who has presented This Morning since 2009 – showed no signs of illness on Wednesday when she shared a picture of her dad at his fancy birthday feast.
She added in a caption: “Pappa Willoughby and I at his birthday lunch, champs, steak, red wine, pud! Perfect! X (sic).”
Holly Willoughby later tweeted: “So after today’s excitement I’m now tucked up in bed… Night x (sic).”
The popular presenter – who has three-year-old son Harry and 15-month-old daughter Belle with husband Dan Baldwin – spent yesterday recovering at home.
Disc jockey Connor Cruise was spinning the tunes at the Expendables 2 party during Comic-Con in San Diego Thursday night.
Tom Cruise’s adopted son “didn’t appear to pay any attention to the scantily-clad dancers near him on the stage,” US Weekly reports.
“He was totally consumed by his DJ set.”
In reality, says the magazine, Connor Cruise has been disoriented by the quick break-up of his father, Tom Cruise and the woman who has been raising him for years – Katie Holmes.
“Connor is actually really upset,” US quotes an “insider” as saying.
“Katie was practically his mom. He called her mom, too.”
Disc jockey Connor Cruise was spinning the tunes at the Expendables 2 party during Comic-Con in San Diego
Connor Cruise, 17, and his sister Isabella, 19, were both adopted as babies by Tom Cruise while he was married to former wife, Nicole Kidman.
After their divorce, Nicole Kidman fled to Nashville with new husband, Keith Urban, and largely left the rearing of the couple to Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have been together for eight years and have a six-year-old daughter, Suri.
During that time, Katie Holmes also took on the mothering role to the growing Connor and Isabella Cruise and was a regular at their school functions and sports games.
On Monday, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes reached a speedy settlement after she blindsided the Mission Impossible star by suddenly filing divorce papers June 28.
Known as DJ C-Squared, it was a stoic Connor Cruise who spun last night from a Mac computer.
“He was very focused on the screen the entire time,” the eyewitness added.
In between sets, he talked to pals sitting with him in the DJ booth.
Connor Cruise’s DJ gig came a day after he visited newly single dad Tom on the Mammoth Lakes, California set of his film, Oblivion.
Father and son seemed very free with one another and smiled easily at one another.
Sage Moonblood Stallone, Sylvester Stallone’ son was found dead yesterday at his Los Angeles apartment.
Fresh reports say prescription pills were found at the scene of the 36-year-old’s apartment where he was discovered.
The filmmaker is understood to have overdosed on pills and coroner’s officials are investigating if it was accidental or suicide, according to TMZ.
A source told RadarOnline that medics arrived on the scene at 3:05 p.m. this afternoon and spent around 25 minutes trying to revive Sage Moonblood Stallone before his death was pronounced at the scene.
His body was taken straight to the coroner’s office – and the insider claims no suicide note was found.
“I suspect he had been dead for quite a while when he was discovered,” the source told the website.
“Usually medics will be at the scene for around forty-five minutes but they were out of there within half an hour.
“There were a number of prescription bottles found at the scene but it did not appear to be suicide and no note was found.”
A 911 call was placed shortly before 3:00 p.m. and the caller said Sage wasn’t breathing and indicated it could be a drug overdose, Radar reports. An autopsy is scheduled to take place in the next 48 hours.
Sage Moonblood Stallone, Sylvester Stallone’ son was found dead yesterday at his Los Angeles apartment
Shortly after news of Sage’s death, a spokesman released a statement on behalf of Sylvester Stallone, 66, who was at the Comic Con film convention in San Diego yesterday.
“Sylvester Stallone is devastated and grief-stricken over the sudden loss of his son,” the actor’s spokesperson Michelle Bega said in the statement.
“His compassion and thoughts are with Sage’s mother, Sasha.”
“He was a very talented and wonderful young man. His loss will be felt forever.”
Police said they found the younger Stallone in the home while responding to a “welfare check”, however Sages’ lawyer George Braunstein said he was found by a housekeeper.
Friends and acquaintances had become concerned because they hadn’t heard from Sage in the past day.
George Braunstein said the death came as a shock, telling the New York Post yesterday afternoon: “He was in good spirits, and working on all kinds of projects.
“He was planning on getting married. I am just devastated. He was an extremely wonderful, loving guy. This is a tragedy.”
Sage Moonblood Stallone was the oldest of Sylvester Stallone’s children and co-starred with his father in two films. He was the first of two sons Sylvester Stallone had with first wife Sasha Czack.
He made his acting debut in 1990’s Rocky V – he played Sylvester Stallone’s onscreen son – and also appeared with his father in 1996’s Daylight.
Also in 1996, Sage Stallone and veteran film editor Bob Murawski co-founded Grindhouse Releasing, a company dedicated to preserving and promoting the B-movies and exploitation films of the 1970s and 80s.
He also directed the 2006 short Vic, which screened at the Palm Springs Film Festival.
George Braunstein said Sage Stallone had frequent requests to work on films.
“He was a full of life filmmaker with his whole future ahead of him,” he said.
“He was just very up and enthusiastic and positive.
“I think it was probably some sort of accident,” he said of the death.
George Braunstein added that Sage Stallone greatly admired his father but was working hard to make his own name in the film industry.
“He was very proud of his father and proud to be his father’s son,” he said.
Sylvester Stallone’s split from Sage’s mother Sasha Czack in 1985 after 11 years together. They also have another son Seargeoh, 32, who is autistic.
He wed model and actress Brigitte Nielsen in the following December in Beverly Hills but they split just two years later in a very public divorce.
He married third wife, Jennifer Flavin, in 1997 after an eight-year on-again, off-again relationship and they have three daughters: Sophia Rose, 15, Sistine Rose, 14, and Scarlet Rose, 10.
Sage Stallone, who was raised by his mother following his parents’ divorce, felt distant from his father growing up, a theme which hit home as they were filming Rocky V together.
“When I was screaming, <<You never spent time with me! You never spent time with my mother!>> – that was true,” he told People magazine in 1996.
“I was looking into my father’s face and really saying that.”
But it proved a turning point for the father and son, who went on to form a close bond and they acted again together in the 1996 film Daylight.
“Between takes, Sly and Sage would roll around in the dirt like two puppies,” the director Rob Cohen observed at the time.
Sage Stallone certainly felt the pressure of growing up with such a famous father and would worry that he would never match his success.
“I tell him, <<As long as you give it your best, that’s all that matters>>,” his mother Sasha said in that same year.
Sage Stallone went on to pursue a career behind the camera and shunned the wild Hollywood party scene, preferring to watch horror zombie films instead.
“People call me a hermit,” he said while promoting the film.
Pam Behan, a former nanny for the Kardashians, plans to reveal an untold story of America’s most famous family in a tell-all book.
Pam Behan, who spent five years apparently watching over their daughters Kourtney, Kim and Khloe, claims their mother Kris “groomed” the sisters for the spotlight in a desperate bid for fame in her unfinished tome Malibu Nanny: The True Adventures of the Former Kardashian Nanny.
According to RadarOnline, Pam Behan says she worked for the couple from 1991 to 1996.
During that time, she claims to have spent time with the sisters, now stars of the family’s reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and their younger brother, Rob.
Pam Behan, a former nanny for the Kardashians, plans to reveal an untold story of America's most famous family in a tell-all book
Describing the siblings, she said Kourtney Kardashian, around age 12 at the time, was “a serious child” who “spoke her mind”, according to Radar.
Younger sister Kim, aged 10, was “always very sweet and friendly”; and Khloe, 6, was “full of energy”.
And their mother, she claims, was intent on making her girls famous.
“Kris always seemed to be rubbing elbows with people that were <<somebody>>. Kourtney, Kim, Khloe and Robert spent time with friends whose parents were celebrities or people in the limelight,” Pam Behan writes.
“I believe she was grooming her children for their current celebrity status their entire lives… I do believe that the success they enjoy now is what she always hoped for and wanted for them and for herself.”
According to Radar, Pam Behan describes their mother-turned-manager Kris as a “brilliant businesswoman” – and a difficult boss.
Remembering on one occasion when she returned with groceries for the family, Pam Behan writes: “When I got home, Kris, who was in the kitchen, looked at the groceries I had just purchased, and let out a torrent of expletives. <<…I can’t believe you forgot the ****ing broccoli!>>.”
She explains Kris apologized the following day, but not before adding of the mix-up: “Broccoli was not on the short list she had given me that day, although it was a regular item on the weekly list. I did not know, shame on me, that keeping broccoli stocked in the refrigerator was so critical.”
Pam Behan also describes one incident in which she claims Bruce Jenner – who has been open about undergoing cosmetic surgery – allegedly urged her to have a nose job when she was 19.
“…The subject of plastic surgery came up one day in an unexpected way. Bruce was looking at me funny,” she writes.
“<<You should probably have a little taken off your nose>>,” she remembers him saying.
Pam Behan says she left the family in early 1995, just after the birth of Bruce and Kris Jenner’ first child, Kendall, to pursue other opportunities but says she hopes she “made a difference in their lives”.
ET reports Pam Behan is still writing the book and is waiting on approval from the family before it will be published.
Actor Michael Clarke Duncan has been hospitalized in Los Angeles after suffering a heart attack.
His publicist Joy Fehily says in a brief email statement that Michael Clarke Duncan “suffered a myocardial infarction” early Friday.
Joy Fehily says his heart rate has stabilized and he’s expected to make a full recovery.
She would not confirm a TMZ report that Michael Clarke Duncan’s actress-girlfriend, Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, discovered the former bodyguard in distress at about 2:00 a.m. Friday in his Los Angeles area home.
The website reports Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth revived The Green Mile star by performing CPR.
The former The Apprentice star, who has been dating the 54-year-old actor since 2010, is understood to be by his bedside in an intensive care unit.
Her representative Priscilla Clarke confirmed Michael Clarke Duncan was hospitalized today but did not provide any further details regarding his condition or how he was found.
Michael Clarke Duncan has been hospitalized in Los Angeles after suffering a heart attack
Kent Moran, who directed Michael Clarke Duncan in The Challenger, says the actor recently wrapped scenes on the action drama, in which he stars as a trainer helping to revive the career of boxer Jaden Miller.
Kent Moran, who also stars as Miller in the film, described Michael Clarke Duncan as “very healthy” on set and said he coped well with the physicality of the role, adding that news of the actor falling ill was “unexpected”.
He added: “We were very surprised and saddened to here the news. Our film is now in post production and we have finished filming Michael’s scenes. So at this point, we are really just praying for him and wishing him a speedy recovery.”
Michael Clarke Duncan meanwhile hinted at his health issues in a public service announcement released by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in May.
The PSA, which promotes vegetarianism as a means to prevent heart disease and stroke, features Michael Clarke Duncan saying he was plagued with several illnesses before making the dietary change approximately three years ago.
He does not elaborate on his health problems in the clip.
The actor says watching film Meet Your Meat, about the process of animal protein production, helped him to decide to stop eating meat.
“I never knew what the process was from that animal to my plate,” he says.
“Once I looked at an animal like that I cleared out my refrigerator of about $5,000 worth of meat.”
Michael Clarke Duncan catapulted to fame after his role in 1999 prison drama The Green Mile. He is also well-known for his roles in the 2003 comic book movie Daredevil and 2005 release Sin City.
Steven Tyler has announced he is quitting American Idol show to concentrate on his band.
Aerosmith frontman has been a judge on the US show since 2010 and was due to continue for its 12th season this autumn.
Steven Tyler’s departure comes as ratings continue to fall and fellow judge Jennifer Lopez considers her future.
The rocker said he thought “long” and “hard” about whether to continue but said the time was right to return to his “first love”, his band.
“I’ve decided it’s time for me to let go of my mistress American Idol before she boils my rabbit.
“I strayed from my first love, Aerosmith, and I’m back – but instead of begging on my hands and knees, I’ve got two fists in the air and I’m kicking the door open with my band.”
Steven Tyler has announced he is quitting American Idol show to concentrate on his band
Aerosmith is on a nationwide tour with Steven Tyler and has an album due out in the autumn.
Based on the UK show Pop Idol, American Idol first aired in 2002 and quickly became a major success, transforming music hopefuls such as Jennifer Hudson into stars.
By 2005 it had become the biggest show on US television.
However it has struggled to keep viewers hooked since the departure of Simon Cowell in 2010 to launch American X-Factor, which aired for the first time last year.
The season 11 finale drew 21.5 million viewers – a record low – and ended the season at No. 2 in the ratings, with an average 20 million viewers for the mid-week shows.
There is now a question mark over whether Jennifer Lopez will return for the 12th season, despite a contract worth a reported $12 million and the show’s undoubted boost to her career.
Speaking to the Press Association after Steven Tyler’s announcement, Jennifer Lopez said she was saddened to hear that he was leaving and was weighing up her own decision.
“I can’t even imagine anyone else there right now because I’ve just spent two years sitting next to him,” she said.
“I love Steven, and we became close during that time. We were a great support for each other, on an adventure that neither one of us knew what it was going to be. So it’s hard to hear that he won’t be doing it.”
Jennifer Lopez has already indicated that there is a strong likelihood that she will not return.
“All hope is never lost – not all hope – but at the same time, there are too many things that I need to think about,” she said.
Speculation about potential new panelists has focused on Mariah Carey, with former Idol runner-up Adam Lambert a popular choice among fans.
Commenting on Steven Tyler’s departure, Mark Darnell at Fox, said: “We are very sad that Steven has chosen to focus more on his music, but we always knew when we hired a rock ‘n’ roll legend, he would go back to music.”
German chancellor Angela Merkel says Jewish and Muslim communities should be able to continue the practice of circumcision, after a regional court ruled it amounted to bodily harm.
Angela Merkel’s spokesman said it was a case of protecting religious freedom.
Steffen Seibert said: “Circumcision carried out in a responsible manner must be possible without punishment.”
European Jewish and Muslim groups had criticized the Cologne court ruling.
The case involved a doctor who carried out a circumcision on a four-year-old that led to medical complications.
The court said that a child’s right to physical integrity trumped religious and parental rights.
Angela Merkel says Jewish and Muslim communities should be able to continue the practice of circumcision
But Steffen Seibert said: “For everyone in the government it is absolutely clear that we want to have Jewish and Muslim religious life in Germany.”
He said the government would look urgently at establishing “legal certainty”.
“It is clear this cannot be put on the back burner. Freedom to practice religion is a cherished legal principle,” Steffen Seibert said.
Germany’s Medical Association had told doctors not to perform circumcisions following the court ruling.
The doctor involved in the case was acquitted and the ruling was not binding. However, critics feared it could set a precedent for other German courts.
European Jewish and Muslim groups had joined forces to defend circumcision.
An unusual joint statement was signed by leaders of groups including the Rabbinical Centre of Europe, the European Jewish Parliament, the European Jewish Association, Germany’s Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs and the Islamic Centre Brussels.
“We consider this to be an affront [to] our basic religious and human rights,” it said.
Opinion in Germany about the issue has been mixed, though one poll showed a majority in favor of the ban.
He says that many readers’ comments on newspaper websites have indicated anger that this generation of Germans seems to be being constricted in its actions because of the Holocaust.
Thousands of Muslim and Jewish boys are circumcised in Germany every year.
JPMorgan Chase has raised its estimate of the value of its recent losses from trading in complex financial derivatives to $4.4 billion.
The US bank said the executives responsible had been dismissed without severance pay and the bank would be clawing back two years of their pay.
When it first announced the loss in May, it said it had lost at least $2 billion.
The bank also said it had found evidence that some traders may have been trying to hide their losses.
The bank said it would restate its results from the previous three months because it had made $459 million less than it thought.
It blamed the restatement on the fact that “certain individuals may have been seeking to avoid showing the full amount of the losses in the portfolio during the first quarter”.
JPMorgan Chase has raised its estimate of the value of its recent losses from trading in complex financial derivatives to $4.4 billion
Despite those losses from its chief investment office, the bank reported three-month net profit of $4.96 billion, down 8.7% from the same period last year. JPMorgan’s shares opened up 3% in New York.
Chief executive Jamie Dimon said he had closed the division of the bank responsible for the losses and moved the remainder of the trading position to its investment banking division.
The executive in charge of the closed division, Ina Drew, left the bank in May, days after the losses were announced.
Before Friday’s gains, JPMorgan had lost about 15% of its market value since the losses were first announced.
It also said that it expected another $700 million to $1.7 billion of losses from the derivatives trading.
Responding to questions from analysts following the release of results, Jamie Dimon said: “I think it’s silly for anyone in the business world to think you’re not going to make mistakes.”
“It is not possible in the real world. I just think the mistakes should be smaller, fewer and far between, this being an exception.”
Another bank with rising shares on Friday was Wells Fargo, which was also reporting results.
It posted second-quarter net profits of $4.6 billion, up 17% from the same period last year.
Its profits from mortgages were up to $2.9 billion from $1.6 billion last year.
Wells Fargo is the fourth-biggest US bank and the biggest mortgage lender.
The results came the day after it paid $175 million to settle allegations from the Justice Department that during the housing boom, it had charged higher rates and fees to African-American and Hispanic customers.
Wells Fargo said it had settled to avoid a long legal battle.
Tetra Pak billionaire Hans Kristian Rausing has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of his wife Eva Rausing, an inquest heard yesterday.
Police are still waiting to quiz Hans Kristian Rausing, 49, after interviews were suspended on Tuesday so he could be treated for alcohol withdrawal.
Yesterday Hans Kristian Rausing remained in a secure medical facility for treatment and is not fit to be questioned.
Hans Kristian Rausing was first arrested on alleged drugs charges and then later re-arrested on suspicion of murder when his wife’s body was found.
Eva Rausing may have been dead for up to a week before her corpse was discovered.
Hans Kristian Rausing has a large legal team at the inquest, which opened today, headed by legal heavyweight and 7/7 barrister Neil Saunders QC.
Detective Inspector Sharon Marman told Westminster Coroner’s Court yesterday: “We have not yet been in a position to interview Mr Rausing. He has been arrested on suspicion of her murder and we await notification of when he would be fit to be interviewed by police.”
Outlining the facts of the case, she added: “On Monday July 9 this year police had the occasion to stop Hans Rausing driving a car in Wandsworth.
“The officer suspected that the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
“As a result he was arrested and his car was searched.
“Within the car a small amount of drugs were found and he was taken back to Wandsworth police station.
“An authority was granted to search his home address. During the course of the search officers found the apparently lifeless body of a female in one of the bedrooms.
“That female has been identified as Eva Louise Rausing.”
Eva Rausing may have been dead for up to a week before her corpse was discovered
The court was told Eva Rausing’s father Thomas Kemeny supplied identifying details to the coroner.
Deputy coroner Shirley Radcliffe will review the case at a private hearing in October.
It is thought police are investigating how long Eva Rausing was dead before she was found dead in her home in Cadogan Place, Chelsea, west London. It is thought it could have been up to a week.
Police have been questioning members of staff at their Cadogan Place home and reviewing CCTV tapes in efforts to establish when she was last seen alive.
The couple’s drug addiction has been well documented over the years and recent photos appeared to show the pair in a fragile state.
In 2008 they were investigated by police over drugs but the prosecution was formally discontinued.
Hans Kristian Rausing with drugs offences after police found crack cocaine, cocaine and heroin during a search of his home.
After lengthy discussions between his legal team and prosecutors, he accepted a conditional police caution instead.
The couple was arrested in April that year after Eva Rausing was caught with drugs as she tried to enter the US Embassy in London.
Court documents revealed that Eva Rausing, then 44, was carrying about 10 g of crack cocaine, 2.5 g of heroin and 2.35 g of diethylpropion, a banned stimulant and appetite suppressant.
A further drugs stash – 220 mg of diazepam, used to treat anxiety – was also found in her Renault Clio car.
The couple’s townhouse was subsequently searched. Officers found 5.63 g of crack cocaine, 2.9 g of heroin and almost 52 g of cocaine.
The conditional cautions, administered by a senior local officer, meant the couple admitted possessing the drugs.
Yesterday mother of tragic Eva Rausing, 48, has revealed her daughter flew home from a drugs rehabilitation centre in the United States in the days before her death after her husband failed to join her as planned.
Nancy Kemeny believes her daughter – who had a pacemaker after having a heart valve replaced – died from heart problems triggered by the flight to London.
She said Eva Rausing had come home to try to persuade her husband, Hans Kristian, an heir to the $7.2 billion Tetra Pak drinks carton fortune, to join her for treatment.
And, in an emotional interview, Nancy Kemeny also claimed her son-in-law had been “cleared” by police of involvement in the death.
Scotland Yard officers are waiting to question Hans Kristian Rausing, who is receiving treatment at a secure medical facility, about his wife’s death.
They also need to find out if, as has been suggested, he lived in their $112 million Belgravia mansion for three or four days while her body was in the house.
The fabulously rich couple are said to have existed in virtual squalor in just two rooms of the house as they battled long-term drug problems.
Eva Rausing’s body was found in an upstairs bedroom on Monday when police carried out a search after her husband was arrested in possession of Class A drugs while driving erratically in South London.
A post-mortem examination failed to discover the cause of death. Police are awaiting the results of toxicology and other tests.
Shortly before her death, Eva Rausing had been at a rehabilitation centre in California – the couple had actually met some 20 years earlier at a clinic in the UK – and was due to be joined by her husband.
Nancy Kemeny, whose husband Tom is a Pepsi executive, said: “They were going to go to America, both were going to go.
“Eva was there, she didn’t hear from him, she got worried, she came back home to get him to go back with her. Unfortunately, I think the flying did something with her heart.
“She’d never gone back to the doctor after the valve had been replaced as she was supposed to. She just didn’t go.
“I think it was this flying back and forth from California to London and back again that may have cost her.”
She also said Eva Rausing had a strong influence over his wife.
“She was with us at Christmas, which was great,” she said.
“It was good, very nice. All the family together, well not Hans, he didn’t come. We waited for him every day.”
She said Eva Rausing didn’t stay very long because she returned to her husband.
“I last spoke to my daughter at Christmas. I don’t text and I don’t know how to email. The last we heard was May 3 when she texted my husband.
“She said something about them getting ready to go back to California. Things were starting to take a more positive turn. We had high hopes.”
Wearing a navy blue trouser suit with a black designer handbag and carrying a plastic bag full of British newspapers, Nancy Kemeny said there was no news of when the body would be released but her daughter would “probably” be buried in South Carolina.
“We’re going to have to speak to her husband and he’s in a hospital,” she added.
Asked if she had already spoken to Hans Kristian Rausing, she said: “No. I’d like to.”
She indicated there was no rift between them. Hans Kristian Rausing is said to have been “devoted” to his wife.
Police are examining CCTV footage to track the couple’s movements as well as those of anyone entering or leaving the Cadogan Place house where they had lived for 13 years.
Their bank records are also being looked at and detectives, assisted by specialists, are studying what are described as Eva Rausing’s “long and extremely complicated medical records” for clues as to what led to the death.
The coroner will open the inquest into the death at Westminster Coroners’ Court today.
Scotland Yard would not comment yesterday on whether Class A drugs were found at the house.
Detectives are investigating a theory that Hans Kristian Rausing may have turned to drugs for “comfort or escape” after his wife’s death.
They are trying to trace a dealer in the Wandsworth area of South London.
College friends of Eva Rausing said yesterday they had been worried about her “reckless” lifestyle even as a student in California in the Eighties.
Maths teacher Lola Muldrew, who still lives in California and was part of the graduating class of 1986, said: “She was kind of scattered, somewhat reckless, but she had this wonderfully warm heart and engaging spirit.”
Socialite Liz Brewer, a friend of Eva Rausing, said: “I think the problem with Eva and her husband is that a lot of the time they were in denial about the drugs they were taking.
“For that reason they would not listen when people tried to bring up the subject and tackle it. The whole thing is tragic.”
Lindsay Lohan was snapped picking up a takeaway meal in Los Angeles last night and as she turned round, she flashed a big bald patch at the back of her head by her crown.
The hair extensions could be seen tugging at her roots as she stopped at the E Baldi Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills.
Lindsay Lohan, 26, also looked washed out, spotty and in dire need of a good night’s sleep as she crossed a car park to the eatery.
The actress must have know that she wasn’t looking her best as she hid her face as she got back in her car.
Lindsay Lohan flashed a big bald patch at the back of her head by her crown
She had also probably been in a hurry to get some dinner and had thrown some clothes on as she went to collect her food in a casual cream and black knitted hoodie and a pair of shiny black leggings.
And it’s no wonder she was looking worse for wear after reportedly spending the night earlier in the week at a “slumber party” in LA’s Château Marmont hotel with Lady Gaga and Lana Del Rey.
Lindsay Lohan and Lady Gaga are reported to have booked a room at exclusive Hollywood venue Chateau Marmont where they last night “watched old movies and played board games at a slumber party”.
A source told X17 Online: “[They were] watching old movies and playing board games [at the] slumber party. The three of them had dinner in the garden on Tuesday night at Chateau, and then Lindsay and Gaga ran upstairs to play dress up and came down in different outfits.”
A British study has found that an outfit can make all the difference to how old a woman’s face looks.
Researchers put the same 55-year-old in 12 different ensembles and asked the public to guess her age. The results revealed that a well-cut wardrobe miraculously sheds up to eight years from a woman’s face. In contrast, ill-fitting, unflattering items can age her by seven years in the blink of an eye.
Former Clothes Show presenter Caryn Franklin who helped to carry out the tests, said: “This confirms what I have always known: that clothes are a very powerful beauty aid, and when women make clever clothing choices they are more youthful and fully of vitality in the eyes of others.
“This is about taking control and feeling good about ourselves from the inside. Well-made, well-designed clothes, that create definition and enhance our appearance, can also empower us to feel good about who we are. When a woman is confident and radiant she is always beautiful.”
A 55-year-old size 12 model was pictured in different outfits with identical hair, makeup, lighting and posture.
Of the 2,400 people polled their guesses varied greatly from 47 to 62-years-old depending on the outfit.
A well-cut wardrobe miraculously sheds up to eight years from a woman’s faceIll-fitting, unflattering items can age a woman by seven years
Six outfits were taken from the isme.com, a mature women’s online retailer who commissioned the research, while another six were taken from the wardrobes of everyday fifty-plus women.
The team discovered that not only did all participants believe the model was much younger-looking when wearing the correctly fitted and styled clothing, they were also more likely to base their age assessment on her face.
Nearly two thirds (65%) said it was the face that gave their age assessment rather than the clothes themselves which were judged by just 31% – suggesting that style has a powerful subliminal effect on the appearance of physical features.
When sporting on-trend skinny jeans and a short summer mac, three quarters of respondents believed that the 55-year-old model had the face of a 47-year-old.
However, when the same model was dressed at the other end of the sartorial spectrum, in a loose polo shirt over boot-cut jeans, her average perceived age was 62 – adding on an unwanted 15 years on the previous perception of 47.
Caryn Franklin continued: “Women my age are experiencing increasing age-hysteria from companies selling expensive beauty treatments and invasive procedures that cost a fortune.
“This research can reassure every woman that the best and most effective way to shed years and shine is to dress well.”
China’s economy has grown at its slowest pace in three years as investment slowed and demand fell in key markets such as the US and Europe.
Gross domestic product rose by 7.6% in the second quarter, compared with the same period a year ago. That is down from 8.1% in the previous three months.
In March, Beijing cut its growth target for the whole of 2012 to 7.5%.
China accounts for about a fifth of the world’s total economic output and any slowdown may hamper a global recovery.
At the same time, many of Asia’s biggest and emerging economies are becoming increasingly reliant on China as a trading partner.
“China has been a big factor for the slowdown in Asia this year,” said Tai Hui from Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore.
He added that if China’s growth does not pick up in the second half of the year then “that’s going to mean a very difficult second half for a lot of the manufacturers in this region”.
China's economy has grown at its slowest pace in three years as investment slowed and demand fell in key markets such as the US and Europe
However, despite Friday’s slower growth figures many analysts tried to allay fears of a so-called hard landing in China’s economy and its subsequent impact on the rest of the world.
“If you get a drop in the growth rate of 1 percentage point per annum, that’s not a lot in terms of the world gross domestic product,” said Edmund Phelps, a professor of political economy at Columbia University and a Nobel prize winner.
He added that China had a lot of ammunition to counter the slowdown, some of which it has already started using because of the patchy recovery in the US, and the ongoing debt and economic issues in the eurozone.
China’s central bank has cut the amount of money banks must keep in reserve in order to boost lending, and it recently cut the cost of borrowing twice in one month.
Earlier this week, Premier Wen Jiabao said that boosting investment would also be crucial for stabilizing growth, fuelling expectation that more state-driven stimulus measures would be on the way.
“Now that China’s growth is slowing, there are calls for yet another stimulus,” said Edward Chancellor, global Strategist at investment management firm GMO.
But analysts warned that China’s growth problems may not be solved by a simple injection of capital and a new round of government spending. Especially as many of today’s issues can be traced back to the way the country tried to kick start growth after the global financial crisis in 2008-2009.
At the time the central government began pumping huge amounts of money into the economy, mainly on infrastructure and construction spending.
This led to excess capacity, a surge in property prices and an increase in consumer costs and inflation.
Faced with these problems and amid fears that the economy may be overheating, policy makers decided to implement measures to curb lending and slow inflation.
Those steps, along with a drop in demand for Chinese goods from key markets such as Europe and the US, have caused the most recent cycle of slowing growth.
In 2011, China’s economy grew by 9.2%, down from 2010’s figure of 10.4% growth.
But while the longer-term trend is of a slowdown, China also released a number of other figures on Friday and they painted a more nuanced and mixed picture of the economy.
According to the official figures, retail sales increased by 13.7% in June, little changed from May’s 13.8% figure.
At the same time, electricity output, an indicator that many analysts use to calculate current business and consumer activity, was also flat in June at 393 billion kilowatt-hours.
Optimists, however, would have been buoyed by news that new bank loans increased to $144.4 billion in June, up from $124.4 billion in May.
The data will do nothing to stop the economic squabbling over whether China is heading for a hard or soft landing.
The news aggregator website Digg has been sold to Betaworks, a technology group based in New York.
Digg announced the news on its blog saying that it would be combined with the daily briefing service News.me.
Digg allows users to submit and vote on news stories to decide which ones should be promoted highest on its site.
It lost traffic to competitors last year, but had been staging a comeback after releasing a Facebook app, according to The Next Web blog.
News.me had previously limited its articles to stories shared by a user’s friends on Facebook and Twitter.
News aggregator website Digg has been sold to Betaworks
Digg said it had received more than 28 million story submissions, 350 million article votes and 40 million comments since it was launched towards the end of 2004.
It rose to prominence three months later when links to images hacked from the mobile telephone of socialite Paris Hilton were posted on the site.
It went onto become one of the 100 most visited sites on the internet, attracting fame for its founder Kevin Rose who appeared on the cover of Businessweek magazine alongside a headline saying “how this kid made $60 million in 18 months”.
But Kevin Rose left the site in 2011 after an unpopular redesign caused a user backlash and a dip in traffic which was capitalized on by its competitors Reddit and Stumbleupon.
Many users had also switched to Twitter as a way to keep across the news.
The Washington Post newspaper subsequently struck a deal to hire 15 of Digg’s engineers.
“Digg has always been a site built by the community, for the community,” blogged its chief executive Matt Williams, who is standing down from the post.
“Over the last few months, we’ve considered many options of where Digg could go, and frankly many of them could not live up to the reason Digg was invented in the first place – to discover the best stuff on the web. We wanted to find a way to take Digg back to its startup roots.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that the deal was worth $500,000.
If accurate that would be significantly less than the $45 million of funds it had raised from venture capital firms, according to figures published on Crunchbase.
1. Always pick the right bra as clothes mould to your shape and even tightening the straps can make a difference. A tighter band and fuller cup appears more youthful.
2. Play to your strengths by picking one area and choosing garments with features that draw attention to it.
Five tips on dressing to look younger
3. Avoid washed out or drab colors all over your body and instead make a color statement.
4. Choose classic garments that are shaped with gentle tailoring to give a youthful silhouette, with vertical seaming giving a streamlining effect.
5. Have fun with accessories. Bags, shoes, belts and statement jewellery are a great way to bring an up to the minute trend into your wardrobe and re-invigorate your look.
Rumors of Condoleezza Rice becoming Mitt Romney’s vice-presidential running mate has increased significantly after internet pioneer Matt Drudge reported that she is “near the top” of his shortlist.
Mitt Romney could name his running mate as early as next week, significantly before the traditional time of just before the party convention in late August.
He is widely expected to name a safe, unexciting figure in order to keep the focus of the election on President Barack Obama’s record.
Condoleezza Rice, President George W. Bush’s national security adviser for four years and then his Secretary of State, would be a stunning choice and fly in the face of almost everything Mitt Romney himself and his advisers have indicated they want in a running mate.
Matt Drudge used his Drudge Report website to tease readers with an “exclusive” story: “a surprise name is now near the top of the list: Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice!”
He added: “It was Condi who received two standing ovations at Romney’s Utah retreat a few weeks ago, and everyone left with her name on their lips.”
The Stanford University professor has never run for office or faced anything like the intense personal scrutiny vice-presidential candidates have to go through. She has no domestic policy experience and has said he favors abortion rights – a position that would make her anathema to conservatives and some independent voters.
Rumors of Condoleezza Rice becoming Mitt Romney’s vice-presidential running mate has increased significantly after internet pioneer Matt Drudge reported that she is “near the top” of his shortlist
She is very closely associated with George W. Bush and the unpopular Iraq war and has no executive experience. After the 2008 election, she hinted strongly that she voted for Barack Obama rather than Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee.
Aged 57, Condoleezza Rice has never married and is seen as something of an introvert. She has repeatedly made clear over the years that she does not believe she is cut out for the rigors of a political campaign.
The floating of her name could well be a ploy to shift the subject of political conversation away from Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital, which is currently taking a hammering, and to appeal to women voters, who tend to lean Democratic. As a black woman, she would also have some appeal to minority voters and independents.
Presidential candidates often indicate they are considering unusual choices and almost always indicate that a woman or a minority is under consideration, in large part to placate different party and voting constituencies.
But Mitt Romney has strongly indicated he will go for a middle-aged white man with executive experience or a Washington track record that goes beyond foreign policy.
His advisers are determined to avoid repeating what they see as the mistake John McCain made in 2008 when he gambled on an inexperienced female – Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska – as his running mate.
Senator Rob Portman of Ohio and Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota, are considered the favorites.
Also very much in the running are Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, while Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida are much more likely picks than Condoleezza Rice.
Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Governor Susana Martinez of New Mexico probably have a stronger chance than Ms Rice. Senator John Thune of South Dakota and Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia are also frequently mentioned.
Senior Romney foreign policy advisers like John Bolton, George W. Bush’s hardline ambassador to the UN, are highly skeptical about Ms Rice’s abilities. The memoirs of Vice President Dick Cheney, who holds a fundraiser in Wyoming for Romney this week, and Donald Rumsfeld, depict her unfavourably.
Condoleezza Rice spoke to Mitt Romney donors at the Utah retreat last month and was well received. She later told CBS News: “I talked about the need for American leadership; I talked about the importance of the United States to a more peaceful world, a world that has been quite turbulent in recent years and needs a strong American anchor.
“But I also talked about the essence of America, and perhaps that’s what people resonated with.”
In the same interview she dampened speculation that she might be Mitt Romney’s running mate: “I didn’t run for student council president. I don’t see myself in any way in elective office.”
Condoleezza Rice added: “I’m saying there is no way I will do this, because it’s really not me, I know my strengths. Governor Romney needs to find someone who wants to run with him. There are many people who will do it very, very well, and I’ll support the ticket.”
The news came as Barack Obama apologized for not inspiring the public enough as president, telling CBS This Morning he regretted “thinking that this job was just about getting the policy right”.
A new scandal has broken after the news the US athletes at the forthcoming London Olympics will wear stylish uniforms designed in the US – but made in China.
The news prompted a rare outbreak of bipartisan agreement, with Republican and Democratic leaders highly critical of the US Olympic Committee.
“I think the Olympic committee should be ashamed of themselves,” Senate majority leader Harry Reid said.
The outfits – which cost close to $2,000 – were designed by US label Ralph Lauren.
“The classic navy blue blazers, white trousers and skirts, and red-accented ties and berets may have a distinctly American look, but the label inside reads “Made in China”, ABC News revealed.
The classic US Olympic uniform may have a distinctly American look, but the label inside reads Made in China
That left a sour taste in the mouths of the nation’s top lawmakers when they were asked about the affair on Thursday.
House of Representatives minority leader Nancy Pelosi stressed the entire nation was behind its Olympic athletes.
“We take such pride and they work so hard. They represent the very best and they’re so excellent, it’s all so beautiful,” the California Democrat said.
“And they should be wearing uniforms made in America.”
Republican House Speaker John Boehner kept his comments brief.
“You’d think they’d know better,” he said of the US Olympic Committee.
But the strongest remarks came from Harry Reid, the senior Democratic senator from Nevada – a state hard-hit by the lingering economic downturn and which has seen high levels of unemployment since the time of the last Olympics, held in China’s capital, Beijing.
“I am so upset. I think the Olympic committee should be ashamed of themselves,” he said.
“I think they should take all the uniforms, put them in a big pile and burn them. And start all over again,” the Los Angeles Times quoted him as saying.
“I hope they wear nothing but a single that says <<USA>> on it painted by hand. We have people in America working in the textile industry who are desperate for jobs,” he concluded.
In a statement, the US Olympic Committee said Team USA was privately funded and sponsored.
“We’re proud of our partnership with Ralph Lauren, an iconic American company,” the committee added.
The US Olympic uniforms cost $1,945 for men and $1,473 for women, Ralph Lauren said.
Although this is not the first time Ralph Lauren has designed US Olympic garb, lawmakers said the Chinese involvement had a symbolic impact, as the US anxiously searches for clues of renewed economic competitiveness.
“Today there are 600,000 vacant manufacturing jobs in this country and the Olympic committee is outsourcing the manufacturing of uniforms to China?” said Steve Israel, a House Democrat.
“That is not just outrageous, it’s just plain dumb. It is self-defeating.”
About 200 people are reported to have been killed in the Syrian village of Tremseh, in Hama province.
Opposition activists quoted residents as saying the village was attacked with helicopter gunships and tanks.
Pro-government Shabiha militia later went in on foot and carried out execution-style killings, they said.
State media said “terrorist groups” had carried out a massacre to raise tensions ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on the Syria observer mission.
If it is confirmed, the Tremseh attack would be one of the bloodiest single events in the Syria conflict.
Some 16,000 people are thought to have been killed since the uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s regime began in March 2011.
Reports suggest the army was trying to take back Tremseh after it had fallen into rebel hands.
Both sides agreed many people were killed in Tremseh, but have totally different versions of what happened.
About 200 people are reported to have been killed in the Syrian village of Tremseh
Activists say government forces surrounded the village on Thursday morning and heavily bombarded it for several hours, killing many people.
Pro-government militias from nearby Alawite villages then moved in, they said, killing many more villagers and setting fire to houses. Others who tried to flee through fields were also gunned down, the activists said.
State media said gunmen from what they termed armed terrorist groups had attacked the village in the morning, shooting dead dozens of people.
The Revolution Leadership Council of Hama told the Reuters news agency that most of the dead in Tremseh were civilians. Protests condemning the attack have been reported in Damascus, Idlib and Hama.
Earlier on Thursday, Syria’s ambassador to Iraq Nawaf al-Fares announced his defection, following in the footsteps of a former senior general who escaped the country earlier this week.
Iraqi officials have said Nawaf al-Fares, who has publicly declared his support for the opposition, is in Qatar.
Syrian forces also shelled the suburbs of Damascus later in the day in an apparent offensive against rebel fighters.
Western nations are pressing the UN to threaten Syria with sanctions as it considers renewing the mandate for its observer mission in Syria which expires on 20 July.
They want a 10-day ultimatum to be part of a Security Council resolution on the future of the UN’s observer mission in the country. A new resolution must be passed before the mission’s mandate ends on Friday next week.
China and Russia continue to oppose any moves to threaten Damascus with further sanctions ahead of the 20 July deadline.
The mission had a 90-day remit to monitor a truce, but fighting has continued largely unabated.
The truce formed part of a six-point peace plan brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, who has called for “clear consequences” for the Syrian government and rebels if the ceasefire is not observed.
Reports this week claimed that Vera Wang, the wedding dress designer synonymous with romance, is separating from her husband, Arthur Becker, after nearly 23 years of marriage.
Apparently, Vera Wang’s own brush with divorce also extends to some high-profile Hollywood clients who have all walked down the aisle in one of her covetable dresses.
From Mariah Carey to Heidi Klum and Jessica Simpson, a number of stars have entrusted the renowned designer with their special day, but it seems their marriages did not fit as well as their fanciful gowns.
While there are many Vera Wang-wearing brides still married, such as Khloe Kardashian, who married Lamar Odom in 2009 in one of her designs, as well as Victoria Beckham, Ivanka Trump and Chelsea Clinton who all wore Vera Wang and are still living in wedded bliss, many more have split.
Mariah Carey married Tommy Mottola in 1993 in a Vera Wang sweetheart gown with a 27-foot train, they divorced four years later
Mariah Carey married Tommy Mottola on June 5, 1993 in a Vera Wang sweetheart gown with a 27-foot train, however they parted ways four years later.
Jessica Simpson wore a Vera Wang gown for her wedding to Nick Lachey in 2002, but the Newlyweds stars broke up in 2005. That same year Sophia Bush married her One Tree Hill costar Chad Michael Murray in Santa Monica, California in April 2005, and they split in September 2005.
Jennifer Lopez walked down the aisle in Vera Wang for her wedding to Marc Anthony in 2004, who she divorced in 2011, meanwhile Avril Lavigne wed Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley in a strapless organza gown in Montecito, California on July 15, 2006, and dumped him three years later.
Elin Nordegren, who married Tiger Woods in October 2004, by the 19th hole of the Sandy Lane resort in Barbados, filed for divorce in 2010, and Kim Kardashian wed Kris Humphries in August 2011 wearing a custom made Vera Wang gown, but just 72 days later, the couple split.
And though not pictured on her wedding day with Seal, Heidi Klum wore an ivory gown by Vera Wang which featured Chantilly lace and an empire waist.
Earlier this year, the pair divorced.
Vera Wang’s own separation comes just two weeks before her 23rd wedding anniversary. The now 63-year-old designer was 39 when she wed Arthur Becker, a computer executive who has become increasingly involved with the Vera Wang brand over the years.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that Saudi Arabia will send two female athletes to compete in the London 2012 Games.
Sarah Attar will compete in the 800 m and Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani in the judo competition.
The Saudi authorities lifted a ban on women from the Gulf kingdom competing in the Games last month.
The public participation of women in sport is still fiercely opposed by many Saudi religious conservatives.
IOC President Jacques Rogge said it was “very positive news” and “an encouraging evolution”.
“I am pleased to see that our continued dialogue has come to fruition,” he said in a statement.
Sarah Attar from Saudi Arabia will compete in the 800 m at London Olympics
The IOC, keen to ensure “gender balance” at the Games, had been speaking to the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee about the issue.
Speaking from her training base in the US, Sarah Attar said: “It’s such a huge honour and I hope that it can really make some big strides for women over there to get more involved in sport.”
The inclusion of the Saudi women means that, for the first time in the history of the Games, there will be a female entrant from every competing nation.
Female athletes from Qatar and Brunei are also due to attend for the first time.
Brunei’s Maziah Mahusin will complete in the athletics, while Qatar has entered athletes into the swimming (Nada Arkaji), athletics (Noor al-Malki), table tennis (Aya Magdy) and shooting (Bahiya al-Hamad).
Bahiya al-Hamad is also set to carry the Qatari flag at the opening ceremony, in what she said was a “truly historic moment”.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said the inclusion of Saudi women was a step forward.
“It’s an important precedent that will create space for women to get rights, and it will be hard for Saudi hardliners to roll back,” the organization’s Minky Worden said.
There is almost no public tradition of women participating in sport in Saudi Arabia, and officials have found it difficult to find athletes who could meet the minimum criteria for competing.
Officials have also said that female competitors will need to dress in such a way as “to preserve their dignity”.
This is likely to mean loose-fitting garments and a scarf covering the hair but not the face.
Boeing has announced an “historic” order from United Airlines for 150 Boeing 737s, in a deal worth up to $14.7 billion.
The order comprises 100 of the new Boeing 737 Max 9 planes and 50 Next Generation 737-900ER aircraft.
Boeing said the deal meant it had now received more than 10,000 orders overall for aircraft from the 737 family.
Boeing said the 737 was the “undisputed best-selling jetliner in the world”.
It said the Next Generation 737 was “the most fuel-efficient and reliable” single-aisle plane in the market.
Boeing has announced an "historic" order from United Airlines for 150 Boeing 737s, in a deal worth up to $14.7 billion
The 737 Max, which is a new-engine variant on the Next Generation 737, builds on these strengths, Boeing said, reducing fuel use and carbon dioxide emissions by 13%.
“United and Boeing share a rich history together and we are delighted United has chosen the 737 for its future fleet, renewing our partnership for decades to come,” said Ray Conner, chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
Jeff Smisek, chief executive of United, said: “We look forward to offering our customers the modern features and reliability of new Boeing airplanes, while also making our fleet more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly.”
United Continental, the parent company of United Airlines, said it would begin taking delivery of the 737 Max 9 planes in 2018.
The 737-900ERs will be delivered from late 2013.
Both planes feature a quieter cabin and brighter lighting, designed to give the impression of more space.
The deal is valued at $14.7 billion at list prices, although major airlines like United do not pay list prices.
United Airlines is the world’s biggest carrier. In 2011, it flew more than two million flights, carrying 142 million passengers.
Earlier on Thursday, Boeing’s European rival Airbus announced a further $6.35 billion of potential orders at the Farnborough airshow.
The four deals Airbus has announced so far this week, if completed, would total $16.9 billion for 115 aircraft.
A bra has just gone on sale for $1 million in the quiet town of Birmingham, Michigan, where the population sits around 20,000.
Dripping in 500 carats of diamonds, and moulded out of 18 carat gold, the bra at Birmingham Estate and Jewelry Buyers took a crew of 40 workers almost a year to make.
Taking on the Victoria’s Secret $2.5 million bra, worn by Miranda Kerr last year, the this piece of lingerie consists of all natural diamonds, with 750 grams of gold, “solid gold”, said the store’s owner Anthony Aubry.
Victoria’s Secret’s piece de resistance during last year’s runway collection was the show-stopping $2.5 million Fantasy Treasure bra, covered in yellow diamonds and pearls.
Dripping in 500 carats of diamonds, and moulded out of 18 carat gold, the bra at Birmingham Estate and Jewelry Buyers took a crew of 40 workers almost a year to make
But Anthony Aubry explained how his bra is unlike any other.
“The difference between this bra and the Victoria’s Secret bras is: the Victoria’s Secret bras have fabric in them and the diamonds are kind of imbedded into the fabric. This, there’s no fabric in it what so ever, it’s just solid gold,” he told CBS.
However the extravagant bra, weighing nearly 1 kg, has left many women confused.
Would anyone actually the item, or is it more of a showpiece?
Anthony Aubry, who named the bra after his wife, Rita, said: “If you just have that much money, someone would want it to say <<Oh, I have a $1million bra>>, or some people would put it on display at their house or something.
“And some people, believe it or not, would actually want to wear it.”
Either way, whoever owns the lavish lingerie is sure to gain some attention.
Anthony Aubry said: “We’ve had three different models wear this so far out in public at shows and it never fails to turn some heads.”
Tom Cruise’s lawyer has threatened the National Enquirer with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit over a new issue asserting it has details of the actor’s recent split with wife Katie Holmes, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The website posted a letter from Tom Cruise’s Los Angeles attorney, Bert Fields, in which he blasts American Media Inc, parent of the National Enquirer, for what he calls “false and vicious lies”.
Bert Fields went on to add that the “lies” will cause “hundreds of millions of dollars” in damages to Tom Cruise.
“As you were notified in advance, your current issue of National Enquirer makes numerous false and defamatory assertions about our client Tom Cruise,” the three-page letter begins.
Tom Cruise's lawyer has threatened the National Enquirer with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit over a new issue asserting it has details of the actor's recent split with Katie Holmes
The letter draws attention to disparaging descriptions of Tom Cruise in the Enquirer‘s issue that hit newsstands on Wednesday.
Bert Fields wrote: “These are all lies – vicious, hurtful, damaging lies.”
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have been the subject of hundreds of headlines worldwide since she filed for divorce from the actor two weeks ago, seeking sole custody of their six-year-old daughter, Suri.
Earlier this week, the couple agreed to a divorce and custody arrangement, but details were undisclosed.
Both have remained publicly silent about the issue, except for one joint statement in which they said they were working together to settle their differences in the best interest of Suri.
Speculation about a reason for the split has centered on Tom Cruise’s membership in the Church of Scientology, but that has never been confirmed by either the couple or their representatives.
