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Hans Kristian Rausing lived with his wife Eva’s body for four days

Diane A. Wade
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Hans Kristian Rausing lived with his wife Eva’s body for four days

Tetra Pak billionaire Hans Kristian Rausing may have lived with his wife Eva’s dead body for up to four days before it was discovered by police.

Despite living in a vast $24 million Belgravia mansion, the couple – who had fought a long battle against addiction to hard drugs – had become increasingly reclusive, confining themselves to two squalid rooms.

Details of the extraordinary and tragic lifestyle of one of Britain’s richest couples emerged as Scotland Yard continued to investigate the “unexplained death” of 48-year-old Eva Rausing.

Investigators now believe Eva Rausing may have been dead for three or four days in an upstairs bedroom of the house before being discovered by police.

Officers are studying phone, text and email messages to see when she last used them and CCTV security footage to try to discover whether Hans Kristian Rausing spent time in the house during the period his wife was dead.

One friend who claimed to have recently visited the Cadogan Place address said the couple has been living virtually in two rooms which he described as a “drugs den”. Much of the sprawling house, he said, was “unused”.

The friend added: “It was total squalor. Really messy. You wouldn’t believe they were billionaires. It shows the effects of drugs.

“They couldn’t look after themselves or their house. They only used two rooms despite having dozens. It’s very sad indeed.”

 

Hans Kristian Rausing may have lived with his wife Eva’s dead body for up to four days before it was discovered by police
Hans Kristian Rausing may have lived with his wife Eva’s dead body for up to four days before it was discovered by police

 

The couple is said to have become “reclusive” in recent months and when he went out Hans Kristian Rausing chose often to use the vast property’s rear entrance.

Last night Hans Kristian Rausing was said to be in a secure “medical facility” receiving treatment. He is said not to have suffered any self-inflicted injuries but to be having treatment for a breakdown.

Recent pictures show Hans Kristian Rausing to be a shadow of his former self and it is understood that when officers tried to question him – initially about the possession of drugs and hours later about the discovery of his wife’s body – he struggled to speak coherently and failed to answer their questions.

Both Hans Kristian and Eva Rausing – friends of Prince Charles – have fought a long, painful battle against drug addiction and both were cautioned four years ago by Scotland Yard for drug offences.

They met while in a drug rehabilitation centre in the United States and friends say they struggled to beat their addictions.

Socialite Liz Brewer, a friend of Eva Rausing, said: “She was totally addicted and was trying to get off it.

“The last time I saw her was a couple of months ago. She had cut herself off from people for a while.

“Eva tried hard to turn things around and went to about every rehab around.

“I heard she may have been dead in the house for a while, but it was rare for him [Hans] to be out of the house for more than a few hours.”

Jules Hearn, a friend for 15 years, said Eva Rausing’s death was “inevitable”. She said her friend had resorted to blood transfusions after years of drug abuse, and relied on a pacemaker to regulate her heart.

After laying a rose outside the Rausings’ house yesterday, she said: “She was a troubled soul. Everyone thought this was going to happen one day. She tried to help herself again and again but it is an illness.”

Police are examining CCTV footage to track the couple’s movements as well as those of anyone entering or leaving the house.

Three members of staff have been questioned. Bank records were also being examined for signs of recent withdrawals or transactions.

A post-mortem examination failed to reveal how Eva Rausing died and toxicology and other tests are under way. There were no obvious injuries or wounds to the body and it is likely to be several days before full results are known.

Scotland Yard would not comment yesterday on whether any Class A drugs were found at the Cadogan Place house where Eva Rausing and her husband had lived for 13 years.

It emerged yesterday that Hans Kristian Rausing was stopped and arrested on Monday while driving erratically in Wandsworth, South London.

He was found to be in possession of Class A drugs and this led police to search the six-storey house where his wife’s body was found.

Neither Hans Kristian or Eva Rausing have fallen foul of the law since the incidents in 2008 when she was stopped trying to take drugs into the US Embassy and heroin and cocaine were subsequently found in their home.

Hans Kristian Rausing’s father, Dr. Hans Rausing, 86, and mother Marit are said to be monitoring the progress of the investigation and their son’s treatment from their 900-acre estate in East Sussex.

Eva Rausing’s devastated parents Tom Kemeny, an executive with Pepsi Cola, and his wife Nancy, who lived close to her in Cadogan Place, have put out a statement acknowledging how “she bravely fought her health issues for years”.

 

Nigeria: more than 100 people died in a fuel tanker explosion in Rivers state

Diane A. Wade
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Nigeria: more than 100 people died in a fuel tanker explosion in Rivers state

At least 100 people have died in Rivers state, south-eastern Nigeria,  after a tanker carrying petrol crashed.

Nigerian authorities say the vehicle did not immediately burst into flames so people rushed to scoop up the fuel.

At least 100 people have died in Rivers state, south-eastern Nigeria, after a tanker carrying petrol crashed
At least 100 people have died in Rivers state, south-eastern Nigeria, after a tanker carrying petrol crashed

But the tanker than exploded, burning many of them to death.

A mass burial for those burnt beyond recognition is about to take place in Rivers state and about 35 people have been taken to hospital.

 

Amazing Alex: Angry Birds creator launches its first new franchise since 2009

Nancy Clayson
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Amazing Alex: Angry Birds creator launches its first new franchise since 2009

Rovio, the creator of Angry Birds video games, is launching Amazing Alex, its first new franchise since 2009.

Amazing Alex’s performance will be closely watched after the firm’s earlier series racked up more than one billion downloads.

Players must arrange objects on screen to create a chain reaction in which each piece of the puzzle has an effect on another until the goal is achieved.

Rovio might find it hard to repeat its previous success.

The launch was marred by a technical problem that caused error messages saying “this game is not recognized by the Game Center” to repeatedly appear on some users’ Apple devices.

Rovio is launching Amazing Alex, its first new franchise since 2009
Rovio is launching Amazing Alex, its first new franchise since 2009

Rovio said the problem was “frustrating” adding that it was trying to resolve the problem “as soon as possible” and suggested affected users should try to reboot their devices for a “temporary fix”.

Unlike Rovio’s other games, Amazing Alex began its life outside the Finnish firm.

It was originally known as Casey’s Contraptions, a physics-based game in which players had to help the lead character free his toys.

It was released in 2011 by Noel Llopis, a California-based independent game developer, and the Washington-headquartered games studio Mystery Coconut.

It received positive reviews which compared the tasks involved to the outlandish machines drawn by the cartoonist Heath Robinson and the ad-hoc inventions of the 1980s television show MacGyver.

However, the title never became a hit and the developers sold their intellectual property rights to Rovio earlier this year, following which it was removed from Apple’s iOS store.

Rovio has given the graphics and gameplay a tweak and has now re-released it on both the iOS and Android platforms.

The firm’s Twitter feed confirmed that versions for PCs, Macs and Windows Phone handsets would follow.

The company has tried to generate excitement for the release by featuring a prominent tease in its Angry Birds Seasons game which it offered as a free download to iPhone and iPad owners for a limited time.

However, one mobile games analyst said it was too soon to know if the move would pay off.

“It’s hard to know if they can bring their audience with them,” said Jack Kent from IHS Screen Digest.

“If you look at a company in the wider games business like Zynga, they have used core brands like CityVille to add players to their next games and have had some success in doing that.

“But on mobile it’s not as clear that Rovio will be able to do that, especially from a game like Angry Birds that doesn’t have the same social connections – it’s a casual game but you’re not necessarily connected via a wider social network.”

Rovio’s financial report for 2011 revealed it generated 75.4 million Euros ($92.3 million) from sales last year.

It said about 30% of that sum was derived from its own spin-off merchandise and licenses to third-parties for products including toys, clothes and themed play parks.

Jack Kent said Rovio’s expertise in this area meant similar efforts were likely to follow Amazing Alex if it proved popular.

But Rovio is not solely focusing its efforts on the new title.

It has told the gaming website IGN that it had teamed up with the publisher Activision to release its first three Angry Birds titles as a bundled package for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo 3DS later this year.

It said the versions for Sony and Microsoft’s devices could be controlled via the Move and Kinect motion sensors.

But they will face competition from other titles including Wreckateer which also plan to feature a similar dynamic.

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O2 network partially restored as engineers still work on 3G

Diane A. Wade
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O2 network partially restored as engineers still work on 3G

O2 network problems that hit hundreds of thousands of customers have continued into a second day.

The UK leading provider of mobile phones and broadband said its 2G network had now been restored and that customers should now be able to make and receive calls.

O2 is advising users to turn off their 3G setting while engineers work to restore that part of the network.

The widespread issues began “at lunchtime” on Wednesday which meant many lost voice and data services.

In a statement the firm said: “We can confirm that our 2G network service has now been restored. Customers who were affected should now be able to make and receive calls. Our 3G service is starting to restore and customers should expect to see a gradual return of data services as the day progresses.”

O2 network problems that hit hundreds of thousands of customers have continued into a second day
O2 network problems that hit hundreds of thousands of customers have continued into a second day

It was advising customers still affected by the outage to switch their mobile phones off and on.

Few details have been given about what has caused the issues.

“We can confirm that the problem with our mobile service is due to a fault with one of our network systems, which has meant some mobile phone numbers are not registering correctly on our network,” said the firm.

It is not clear how many of O2’s 23 million customers have been hit by the fault but the operator said the problem was not based on geography. Across the country some will be able to connect at the same location as others who cannot.

Customers of other organizations that use O2’s mobile masts, such as GiffGaff and Tesco Mobile, were also still affected.

Transport for London confirmed that the network issues had affected some docking stations for “Boris Bikes”, the scheme which allows people to hire cycles around London.

“We are aware of this problem, and we’re currently working to resolve it as soon as possible,” TfL said in a statement.

Customers have been told they can keep track of developments via O2’s service status page.

 

Jewish and Muslim anger over German circumcision ruling

Kathryn R. Bown
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Jewish and Muslim anger over German circumcision ruling

Jewish and Muslim groups living in Europe have joined forces to defend circumcision for young boys on religious grounds after a German regional court ruled it amounted to bodily harm.

A joint statement says the practice is fundamental to their faiths and calls for it to be awarded legal protection.

The ruling by the Cologne court – also criticized by the Israeli parliament – does not apply to the whole of Germany.

But Germany’s Medical Association told doctors not to perform circumcisions.

Thousands of Muslim and Jewish boys are circumcised in Germany every year.

Jewish and Muslim groups living in Europe have joined forces to defend circumcision for young boys
Jewish and Muslim groups living in Europe have joined forces to defend circumcision for young boys

The 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.

“Circumcision is an ancient ritual that is fundamental to our individual faiths and we protest in the strongest possible terms against this court ruling.

“To that end we will vigorously defend our right to maintain our mutual tradition and call on the German parliament and all political parties to intervene in overruling this decision as a matter of urgency.”

The leaders also met members of the European parliament and the Bundestag to express their anger and insist that the German parliament establish clear legal protections for the rite.

The German government is clearly uneasy about the ruling, particularly after accusations that it was inappropriate for the country of the Holocaust to outlaw a fundamental ritual of Judaism.

The ruling by the Cologne court followed a legal case involving 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.

The doctor involved in the case was acquitted and the ruling was not binding. However, critics fear it could set a precedent that could be followed by other German courts.

 

Dara Singh, beloved Indian actor, dies in Mumbai aged 83

Sonia Pantiss
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Dara Singh, beloved Indian actor, dies in Mumbai aged 83

Indian actor Dara Singh has died in Mumbai after a long illness, his doctors say.

The 83-year-old wrestler-turned-actor had been admitted to hospital last week after a heart attack.

Dara Singh was taken home on Wednesday night after doctors said he had little chance of recovery and that there had been significant damage to his brain.

Dara Singh, who won the world wrestling championship in 1960, acted in several Bollywood films and television serials.

He gained huge popularity while playing Hanuman, the monkey god, in the television adaptation of the Hindu epic Ramayana.

He was also a member of parliament from 2003 to 2009 when he was appointed to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India’s parliament.

Indian actor Dara Singh has died in Mumbai after a long illness
Indian actor Dara Singh has died in Mumbai after a long illness

Dara Singh’s doctor said he passed away “peacefully” at 07:30 a.m.

His films included King Kong, Faulad, Kal Ho Naa Ho and he was last seen in the 2007 hit, Jab We Met.

Meanwhile, tributes have been pouring in for the much-loved Dara Singh.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed his sadness at Dara Singh’s death and described him as a “noted film personality and an internationally acclaimed wrestler”.

“I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing away of Dara Singh,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said in a statement.

“Dara Singh will always have a special place in our heart for his immense contribution to the Indian film industry in various capacities, as an actor, director and producer,” she added.

The micro-blogging site Twitter has seen tributes pouring in from Bollywood personalities and fans.

Superstar Amitabh Bachchan, with whom Dara Singh acted in the 1985 action film Mard, described him as “a great Indian and one of the finest humans”.

“Dara Singh passed away this morning. A great Indian and one of the finest humans… An entire era of his celebrated presence gone,” Amitabh Bachchan wrote on the micro-blogging site, Twitter.

His son, actor Abhishek Bachchan, tweeted: “The most gentle and kind man. Really looked up to him. Will miss him.”

“When childhood heroes die the world looks desolate,” veteran director Mahesh Bhatt tweeted.

 

Peugeot Citroen plans to cut 8,000 jobs and close a plant outside Paris

Clyde K. Valle
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Peugeot Citroen plans to cut 8,000 jobs and close a plant outside Paris

Peugeot Citroen has set out plans to cut 8,000 jobs and close an assembly plant outside Paris as losses mount.

The French carmaker said the Aulnay plant near Paris, which employs 3,000 workers, would stop production in 2014.

Last week, Peugeot said its first-half sales had fallen 13% amid a “profound crisis” in its eurozone markets.

Another plant, at Rennes in western France, is set to shed 1,400 posts from the 5,600 it employs there.

Another 3,600 jobs would be lost across all facilities in France.

Peugeot Citroen has set out plans to cut 8,000 jobs and close an assembly plant outside Paris as losses mount
Peugeot Citroen has set out plans to cut 8,000 jobs and close an assembly plant outside Paris as losses mount

Peugeot’s chairman, Phillipe Varin, said the situation was grave.

“I am fully aware of the seriousness of today’s announcement, as well as of the shock and emotions they will arouse in the company,” he said in a statement.

He said “the depth and persistence of the crisis” made the reorganization necessary and that workers who lost their jobs would receive support and help in finding new employment.

Around half of those currently employed at Aulnay would be offered new jobs at Peugeot’s other Paris plant at Poissy.

Unions described the announcement as a “declaration of war” and an “earthquake”, the AFP press agency reported.

In an interview with Europe 1 radio, French Social Affairs Minister Marisol Touraine said the cuts were “unacceptable”.

Peugeot’s sites are working well below capacity, with the average operating at 76% of their potential.

It said that the output of its smaller cars – which account for 42% of sales – was worse than average as many of its competitors operated in lower-cost markets.

The carmaker said it expected to report a loss for the first half of this year and to return to break-even by the end of 2014.

Earlier this year, Peugeot announced a 1bn-euro (£800m; $1.2bn) savings programme on top of headcount cuts of 6,000 announced last November.

Peugeot also this year entered into an alliance with GM of the US, under which GM takes a 7% stake in Peugeot, making GM the second-biggest shareholder in the French firm after the Peugeot family.

The company said the effects of that deal would not be felt until after 2014.

 

Alzheimer’s early signs appear 25 years before first symptoms

Kathryn R. Bown
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Alzheimer’s early signs appear 25 years before first symptoms

A team at Washington University School of Medicine has assembled a “timeline” of the unseen progress of Alzheimer’s before symptoms appear.

Scientists looked at families with a genetic risk of the disease.

Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, they say signs appeared up to 25 years before the expected onset of the disease.

The 128 people in the study, from the UK, US and Australia, had a 50% chance of inheriting one of three mutations that are certain to cause early Alzheimer’s, which often develops in people’s 30s and 40s – much earlier than the more common form of Alzheimer’s which generally affects people in their 60s.

A team at Washington University School of Medicine has assembled a "timeline" of the unseen progress of Alzheimer's before symptoms appear
A team at Washington University School of Medicine has assembled a "timeline" of the unseen progress of Alzheimer's before symptoms appear

Those who carry the mutations will go on to develop the disease.

The researchers looked at the age the participants’ parents were when they developed the disease – and therefore how many years it was likely to be before they too showed symptoms.

They underwent blood and spinal fluid tests as well as brain scans and mental ability assessments.

The earliest change – a drop in spinal fluid levels of the key ingredient of Alzheimer’s brain plaques – can be detected 25 years before the anticipated age of disease onset, they suggest.

At 15 years, raised levels of tau, a structural protein in brain cells can be seen in spinal fluid – and shrinkage can also be detected within parts of the brain.

Changes in the brain’s use of the sugar glucose and slight memory problems become apparent 10 years before symptoms would appear, they suggest.

Researchers also tested other members of the families without the inherited mutations – and found no changes in the markers they tested for.

 

French Alps avalanche kills six climbers near Chamonix

Diane A. Wade
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French Alps avalanche kills six climbers near Chamonix

At least six climbers have been killed and eight injured in an avalanche near the French Alpine ski resort of Chamonix, police say.

The alarm was sounded at 05:25 local time by one of the injured on the slopes of Mont Maudit.

Foreigners are thought to be among the victims. The injured were airlifted to a local hospital.

At least six climbers have been killed and eight injured in an avalanche near the French Alpine ski resort of Chamonix
At least six climbers have been killed and eight injured in an avalanche near the French Alpine ski resort of Chamonix

The mountain is known as a popular route for summer tourists heading for the summit of Mont Blanc.

The climbers are believed to have been roped together in several groups when the avalanche struck.

About 28 climbers from several countries are said to have taken part in the expedition, and reports say a number of them are still missing.

Rescue teams are using a helicopter and heat-seeking device to try to locate the missing.

The local authorities described the avalanche as “the most deadly” in recent years, according to the AFP news agency.

Mont Maudit – meaning the cursed mountain – is the third-highest peak in the Mont Blanc massif range, rising to 4,465 m (14,650 ft).

A news conference in Chamonix is expected shortly.

 

Nawaf al-Fares, Syria’s ambassador to Iraq, defects to opposition

Roy Siemens
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Nawaf al-Fares, Syria’s ambassador to Iraq, defects to opposition

Nawaf al-Fares, Syria’s ambassador to Iraq, has defected to the opposition and urged other senior Syrian politicians and members of the military to do the same.

Nawaf al-Fares is the first senior Syrian diplomat to abandon the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Syria’s foreign affairs ministry has responded by dismissing him from his post, Sana news agency says.

Meanwhile Western nations are urging the UN to threaten tough sanctions against Syria.

They want a 10-day sanctions 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.

Nawaf al-Fares’s defection comes just a week after a Syrian general from a powerful family close to President Bashar al-Assad also defected.

He confirmed his decision in a statement broadcast on Facebook and al-Jazeera TV.

Nawaf Fares, Syria's ambassador to Iraq, has defected to the opposition
Nawaf al-Fares, Syria's ambassador to Iraq, has defected to the opposition

With Syrian revolutionary flags behind him, he read out the statement saying he was resigning both as Syria’s ambassador to Iraq and as a member of the ruling Baath Party.

“I call on all party members to do the same because the regime has transformed it into a tool to oppress the people and their aspirations to freedom and dignity.

“I announce, from this moment on, that I am siding with the people’s revolution in Syria, my natural place in these difficult circumstances which Syria is going through.”

Syria’s foreign ministry said he had made statements that contradicted the duties of his post and no longer had any relation to the Syrian embassy in Baghdad.

Nawaf al-Fares was appointed ambassador to Baghdad in 2008.

He is also chief of a Sunni tribe, the Uqaydat, which straddles Syria’s eastern border with Iraq.

That area, around the city of Deir al-Zour, has become a hotbed of support for the rebels and has been heavily bombarded in recent weeks.

Syria has been convulsed by internal conflict since protests against President basher al-Assad began early last year. The protests turned into an armed rebellion and thousands of people have been killed.

Last week, senior army officer Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlas fled Syria via Turkey.

He was a commander of a unit of the elite Republican Guard and as a young man he attended military training with President Bashar al-Assad.

Gen. Manaf Tlas had been under a form of home arrest since May 2011 because he opposed security measures imposed by the regime, sources said.

Meanwhile, Western nations are pressing the UN to threaten Damascus with sanctions as it considers renewing the mandate for its observer mission in Syria which expires on 20 July.

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.

Russia has suggested a 90-day extension. But Western states say a simple rollover of the mission is not enough.

A draft resolution has been circulated threatening Damascus with sanctions within 10 days, if it fails to stop using heavy weapons and pull back its troops from towns and cities.

The UK’s envoy to the UN, Mark Lyall Grant, told reporters that Britain, France, the US and Germany would propose making compliance with the ceasefire mandatory under Chapter 7 of the UN charter.

Last week, more than 100 countries called on the Security Council to invoke Article 41 of the Charter, which stops short of military intervention.

Russia has said use of Chapter 7 is a “last resort”. China, which like Russia has vetoed the two previous attempts to impose tougher measures, has said it would support a rollover of the mission.

 

 The New York Times: Syria’s Ambassador to Iraq Reported to Defect

Rolling Stones meet up for rehearsals as they mark 50 years together

Sonia Pantiss
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Rolling Stones meet up for rehearsals as they mark 50 years together

Keith Richards, the guitarist of The Rolling Stones, says the band have met up for “a couple of rehearsals” as they mark 50 years together.

Rumors of a tour to celebrate the band’s golden anniversary have been circulating for a number of years.

However, Keith Richards would not go so far as to say when the quartet would be performing in public again.

“There’s things in the works – I think it’s definitely happening,” he said.

“But when? I can’t say yet.”

“We’re playing around with the idea and had a couple of rehearsals – we’ve got together and it feels so good.”

Keith Richards, the guitarist of The Rolling Stones, says the band have met up for "a couple of rehearsals" as they mark 50 years together
Keith Richards, the guitarist of The Rolling Stones, says the band have met up for "a couple of rehearsals" as they mark 50 years together

The Rolling Stones played their first gig at London’s Marquee Club on 12 July, 1962; and had their first hit, a cover of Chuck Berry’s Come On, 12 months later.

A photography exhibition marking the band’s long career will be launched London’s Somerset House on Thursday.

Talking about the pictures, which include reportage, live concert and studio images, Keith Richards said he felt “weird” looking back at the group’s early days.

“It’s amazing – most of these pictures I think, <<where was the cameraman?>> I don’t remember them being there,” he said.

He added he would like the band to continue for as long as possible, saying: “There might be life in the old dog yet – we’ll die gracefully, elegantly wasted.

“Sometimes its hard work and you wonder why you’re doing it, but apart from those few moments it’s been an incredible adventure.”

The Stones last world tour, A Bigger Bang, played to 4.5 million people in 32 countries over two years before it finished in London in 2007.

With ticket sales of $558 million, it was the most profitable tour of all time, until it was eclipsed by U2’s 360 tour last year.

 

Peter O’Toole decides to quit acting at 79

Sonia Pantiss
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Peter O’Toole decides to quit acting at 79

Peter O’Toole has announced he is retiring from the stage and screen at the age of 79.

The Irish-born star – best known for playing Lawrence of Arabia in Sir David Lean’s 1962 film classic – said it was time to “chuck in the sponge”.

After a career spanning 50 years Peter O’Toole said: “I bid the profession a dry-eyed and profoundly grateful farewell.

“The heart for it has gone out of me,” he added.

“It won’t come back”.

Peter O'Toole has announced he is retiring from the stage and screen at the age of 79
Peter O'Toole has announced he is retiring from the stage and screen at the age of 79

After starting out on the stage in Bristol and London at the age of 17, Peter O’Toole’s big break came when David Lean cast him as British adventurer T. E. Lawrence.

The role earned him the first of eight Oscar nominations, with others coming for such films as Becket, The Lion in Winter and Goodbye, Mr. Chips.

Peter O’Toole was given an honorary Oscar in 2003, an award he had initially refused to accept.

In a letter he asked the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to delay the award until he was 80, saying he was “still in the game and might win the bugger outright”.

“My professional acting life, stage and screen, has brought me public support, emotional fulfillment and material comfort,” the actor said in a statement.

“It has brought me together with fine people, good companions with whom I’ve shared the inevitable lot of all actors: flops and hits.

“However, it’s my belief that one should decide for oneself when it is time to end one’s stay,” he went on.

Peter O’Toole’s most recent Oscar nomination was for Venus in 2006, when he lost out to The Last King of Scotland star Forest Whitaker.

The Connemara native, who turns 80 next month, was raised in northern England and initially became a journalist and a radioman for the Royal Navy.

He went on to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where his classmates included Albert Finney, Alan Bates and Richard Harris.

The actor, a legendary hell raiser, said he would now focus on writing a third volume of his memoirs.

 

Olympics 2012: additional armed forces in stand by for London Olympics

Clyde K. Valle
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Olympics 2012: additional armed forces in stand by for London Olympics

Armed forces in UK are on standby to provide an additional 3,500 troops to help with security at the 2012 London Olympics.

It comes amid fears that private contractor G4S would not be able to provide enough trained staff in time.

The armed forces were already providing some 13,500 personnel – this could now reach 17,000, meaning summer leave for some troops will likely be cancelled.

G4S said it had “some issues in relation to workforce supply”.

The company is being paid £300 million ($480 million) to guard the Games, but it has not been able to guarantee it can supply the 10,000 guards it has been contracted to deliver.

A G4S spokeswoman said the company had accepted “that the government has decided to overlay additional resources.”

She added: “This has been an unprecedented and very complex security recruitment, training and deployment exercise which has been carried out to a tight timescale.

“We have encountered some issues in relation to workforce supply and scheduling over the last couple of weeks, but are resolving these every day and remain committed to providing a security workforce for the start of the London 2012 Games.”

Armed forces in UK are on standby to provide an additional 3,500 troops to help with security at the 2012 London Olympics
Armed forces in UK are on standby to provide an additional 3,500 troops to help with security at the 2012 London Olympics

The armed forces were already due to provide some 13,500 personnel to help at the Games, with more available as a contingency plan.

Whitehall sources are keen to stress that there is no impact on security at the Games.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond will announce more details about the extra troops on Thursday, the Home Office said.

In a statement, it said: “We have agreed to offer help to G4S by revising the level of military support.”

It added the government and all involved were focused on delivering a “safe and secure Games”.

“Our approach is intelligence-led and risk-based, and we retain the ability to be flexible in our response.

“The government are committing £553 million for venue security and we remain confident that we will deliver within budget.”

Labour’s shadow Olympics minister, Tessa Jowell MP, said there was “clearly a serious problem”.

“With two weeks to go to the start of the Games, it is imperative that action is taken to ensure that the full and necessary quota of security personnel are in place so that the Games will be safe and secure,” she said.

“We need to know why the problem has emerged so late in the day and precisely what has been agreed to.

“We also must know whether this affects Army commitments elsewhere, which units are providing people and what terms and conditions are given for those who will likely lose periods of leave.”

She added that – in the spirit of the cross-party approach to the Games – it was “essential that the Opposition is kept fully informed of these events as they develop”.

G4S said its planning with organizing committee LOCOG and other security agencies allowed for “a variety of contingencies which have been reviewed in the build-up to the Games.”

A spokesman for the London mayor, Boris Johnson, said: “The mayor takes the issue of Olympics security extremely seriously, and having the finest and bravest service men and woman in the world at our disposal during the Games should be a source of great comfort.”

The government has previously said a total security force of 23,700 will take care of venue security, including the G4S contingent.

G4S will have overall control of Olympic venue security, working alongside unarmed troops, searching and checking people going into the stadiums and other venues.

Olympic sites number more than 30 sporting venues and more than 70 “non-competition venues” including car parks and hotels.

 

Thomas Hollande publicly attacks Valérie Trierweiler

Diane A. Wade
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Thomas Hollande publicly attacks Valérie Trierweiler

Thomas Hollande, French president’s eldest son, has publicly attacked the country’s First Lady Valérie Trierweiler, accusing her of destroying the president’s election-winning “normal image”.

Thomas Hollande says he and his brothers and sisters have made it clear they no longer want to see their father’s partner, Valérie Trierweiler, after she helped destroy their mother Ségolène Royal’s political hopes with a jealous tweet.

Valérie Trierweiler, 47, used Twitter to express her support for the rival of François Hollande’s former partner Ségolène Royal days before France’s legislative elections last month.

Ségolène Royal, 58, went on to lose her parliamentary seat and saw her ambition to become the speaker of France’s Assemblée Nationale vanish with it.

In an interview with the news magazine Le Point, Thomas Hollande, 27, who was active behind the scenes in both his parents’ election campaigns, shatters any attempts by the Elysée Palace to paper over the domestic-turned-political spat.

“What I find reproachful about the tweet is that it put the private life into the public domain,” he told Le Point.

“It pained me on behalf of my father who absolutely detests anyone talking about his private life. It destroyed the normal image that he had constructed.”

Thomas Hollande, French president's eldest son, has publicly attacked the country's First Lady Valérie Trierweiler, accusing her of destroying the president's election-winning "normal image
Thomas Hollande, French president's eldest son, has publicly attacked the country's First Lady Valérie Trierweiler, accusing her of destroying the president's election-winning "normal image

During a long and bitter election campaign against Nicolas Sarkozy, 57, François Hollande, also 57, had presented himself as Monsieur Normal as a direct contrast to his predecessor’s flashy bling-bling image.

Valérie Trierweiler was portrayed as a more discreet and dignified alternative to the former first lady, supermodel-turned-singer Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, 44.

Thomas Hollande said his father was “stupefied” by the tweet, which was reportedly posted after his father and Valérie Trierweiler fell out over the president issuing an official message of support for Royal, who was standing for parliamentary in the coastal constituency of La Rochelle.

Shortly afterwards Valérie Trierweiler sent a message supporting SégolèneRoyal’s rival, Socialist party dissident Olivier Falorni, who went on to secure a convincing victory.

“I knew that she would do something one day, but not such a huge blow. It’s staggering,” said Thomas Hollande, one of the Hollande-Royal couple’s four children.

He said it was “only logical, no?” that he and his siblings no longer wished to have anything to do with Valérie Trierweiler, a journalist with Paris Match magazine, adding: “What matters is that relations with our father return to normal.”

Thomas Hollande, a lawyer, said he had a tête-à-tête dinner with his father who had asked him not to “add fuel to the fire” over the tweet, which caused a national scandal.

Le Point said the president was likely to refer to the tweet during the traditional 14 July Bastille Day speech, in which he is expected to clarify Valérie Trierwieler’s role.

The president’s son, however, had clearly ignored his father’s advice not to rake over the ashes of the row. Speaking of Valérie Trierweiler, he told Le Point the current situation was causing instability.

“Either she’s a journalist, or she has an office at the Elysée … and, above all, no more tweets,” he said.

He also said his mother had not abandoned her political ambitions, suggesting she could take up a government post.

“A minister? Why not, in a few months? In politics, one is never dead.”

Never far from Hollande’s side during the long election campaign, Valérie Trierweiler’s absence has been conspicuous since the offending tweet. On Monday François Hollande travelled to London to meet David Cameron and the Queen without his partner.

French commentators also pointed out that she had not accompanied the French leader to the G20 summit in Mexico. She is expected to be at François Hollande’s side during the official Bastille Day parade on Saturday on the Champs Elysées.

 

Spanish coal miners march in Madrid as Mariano Rajoy announces new austerity measures

Diane A. Wade
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Spanish coal miners march in Madrid as Mariano Rajoy announces new austerity measures

Spanish coal miners came to march in Madrid with helmets on their heads and the worried look of men with no future on their faces.

But they were clear that they would not give up on their life-or-death struggle for the future of their collieries.

“We’ll keep going and, if nothing happen, the fight will just get harder,” said Jórge Exposito, a helmeted miner from Mieres, northern Spain, as fireworks crackled and twitchy riot police stood by with shields and guns loaded with rubber bullets.

A tense standoff saw occasional police charges, rubber bullets and demonstrators hurling objects at police. At least 76 people were injured in clashes along Madrid’s central Castellana Boulevard, but the march on Madrid eventually ended with nothing more violent than a rousing sing-song.

The miners had brought with them the dust of Castile, the sun-baked central region of Spain that 200 of them had walked through on their 400 km, three-week march to reach the capital. Many had wept when they were greeted by crowds of supporters in Madrid.

Spanish coal miners came to march in Madrid with helmets on their heads and the worried look of men with no future on their faces
Spanish coal miners came to march in Madrid with helmets on their heads and the worried look of men with no future on their faces

Thousands more came in buses that made the long trip from the northern regions of Asturias and Leon or the collieries of eastern Aragon and southern Puertollano.

Industry minister José Manuel Soria declined to meet the protesters and the ministry itself was protected with temporary fencing.

The miners had arrived in the hope that the centre-right government of Mariano Rajoy could be persuaded to return to a programme of subsidies to mining companies that has been dramatically chopped by 60% this year.

Instead, the prime minister devoted the morning to announcing a further austerity package to save the government €65 billion over the next two and a half years.

“All we are asking for is that they stick to the agreement,” said Isidro Castro, a former miner from the northern region of Leon.

“That is not so difficult.

“If the mining companies don’t get their subsidies this year, then there will be nothing to negotiate next year as they will have to close,” he said.

Celestino Duran, a miner from the Sant Lucía de Gordón coalfield, said: “Now they can see the support that we have, then maybe they will change.

“If the mine closes then the whole community will disappear. We saw that happen in the neighboring colliery at Cistierna. They closed it and a community of 2,000 people now has just 150 inhabitants.”

With Spanish unemployment at 24%, few miners believe they can find jobs elsewhere.

“I have two children. They are already taking away grants for school and university,” said Celestino Duran.

“If there are no jobs in the mine, what future will they have?”

Angelita Arias, from Santa Lucia de Gordon, said: “The trouble is that everyone depends on the mine and if it closes then the town dies. My daughter used to work for the regional television station, but she was laid off. Now she has opened a bar, but, if the mine closes, she will have to close that, too.”

Tens of thousands of people turned out on Tuesday night to greet the miners who, with their helmet lanterns ablaze, strode into the city’s central Puerta del Sol, famous as the centre of Spain’s indignado protest movement.

Now many see the miners as in the vanguard of the fight against austerity measures which were made still more drastic on Wednesday and threaten to deepen a double-dip recession.

But the government argues that Spain’s coal mines are making losses and European Union rules do not allow it to subsidize them much longer.

“We think they should keep the mines running because who knows what might happen to the supplies from other countries?” said Jorge Exposito.

“If they suddenly dry up, for whatever reason, Spain will need its own stock of coal.

“Mining is all we know. My wife, for example, is the daughter, granddaughter, sister, sister-in-law and wife of miners.”

But the chances that their children would also be miners are slim.

“The future is as black as coal,” he admitted.

 [youtube tNzw5Xr6A_4]

Joao Havelange, former FIFA president, was paid huge sums in bribes by ISL

Clyde K. Valle
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Joao Havelange, former FIFA president, was paid huge sums in bribes by ISL

Joao Havelange, former FIFA president, was paid huge sums in bribes by collapsed marketing company ISL, court documents have revealed.

Joao Havelange received at least 1.5 million Swiss francs and executive committee member Ricardo Teixeira at least 12.74 million SFr.

The Swiss prosecutor’s report, published by FIFA, reveals the pair may have received up to 21.9 million SFr.

They are the only two FIFA officials named in the report.

Switzerland’s supreme court ordered the release of the documents identifying which senior officials took millions of dollars in payments from ISL, FIFA’s marketing partner until it collapsed into bankruptcy in 2001.

Joao Havelange, former FIFA president, was paid huge sums in bribes by collapsed marketing company ISL
Joao Havelange, former FIFA president, was paid huge sums in bribes by collapsed marketing company ISL

The papers were released to five media organisations and detail the court settlement which closed a criminal probe of the ISL case in May 2010.

In November 2010, it was alleged that three senior FIFA officials, including Ricardo Teixeira, took bribes from Swiss-based ISL in the 1990s, though commercial bribery was not a crime in Switzerland at the time.

The documents concerning Joao Havelange also revealed that officials repaid 5.5 million Swiss francs to end the prosecution office’s investigation on condition their identities remain secret.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said in October 2011 that he wanted to release the ISL dossier, despite his organisation seeking to deny access to its contents at the same time.

“FIFA is pleased that the ISL non-prosecution order can now be made public,” FIFA said in a statement.

Joao Havelange, now 96, was FIFA president for 24 years before being succeeded by Sepp Blatter in 1998. The Brazilian, who remains FIFA’s honorary president, has been treated extensively in a Rio de Janeiro hospital this year for septic arthritis.

Joao Havelange resigned his 48-year International Olympic Committee membership, citing health reasons, in December, days before the Olympic body was due to sanction him following its own investigation into wrongdoing connected to ISL.

Ricardo Teixeira, Joao Havelange’s former son-in-law, this year resigned as head of Brazil’s football federation and the 2014 World Cup organising committee, and gave up his FIFA executive committee seat, citing unspecified health and personal reasons.

 

Kris Jenner’s marriage to Bruce Jenner on the rocks after she emailed Todd Waterman

Lisa.Felice
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Kris Jenner’s marriage to Bruce Jenner on the rocks after she emailed Todd Waterman

Kris Jenner’s 21-year marriage to Bruce Jenner is reportedly on the rocks after he caught his flirty wife emailing her former lover Todd Waterman.

The incident, which happened earlier this year, re-opened devastating wounds as Todd Waterman is the man Kris Jenner famously had an affair with while she was married to the late Robert Kardashian.

Olympic decathlete Bruce Jenner, 62, apparently walked in on his wife composing an email to Todd Waterman which she signed off “xoxo”.

However, a source claimed that wasn’t the limit of Kris Jenner’s betrayal.

Kris Jenner’s marriage to Bruce Jenner is reportedly on the rocks after he caught her emailing her former lover Todd Waterman
Kris Jenner’s marriage to Bruce Jenner is reportedly on the rocks after he caught her emailing her former lover Todd Waterman

Kim Kardashian’s mother allegedly met up with Todd Waterman, for a romantic rendezvous, an insider exclusively revealed to the National Enquirer.

The source told the National Enquirer: “Kris told no one, but she did go out with Todd, and it was an electrifying date.

“It’s so obvious that she still carries a torch for him.”

In a recent episode of the family’s reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Kris Jenner was clearly rattled after she bumped into Todd Waterman, now a Hollywood animator, at a Los Angeles-area tennis club.

Kris Jenner gave him a lengthy hug and swapped contact information – and even discussed with her children about meeting up.

“Bruce would feel totally betrayed if he actually knew the length and breadth of Kris and Todd’s current relationship. They had continued to feverishly e-mail each other, flirt and text,” the insider claimed.

An episode last month showed Kris Jenner heading off to meet with ex-boyfriend Todd Waterman behind her husband’s back.

But then she turned the car around after she realized it was a bad move.

Kris Jenner called her confidant Noelle Keshishian and told her that she backed out of meeting the man that was the reason behind her divorce with the late Robert Kardashian.

“I think the healthiest thing for me to do is not see Todd,” she finally confessed as she pondered when to break the news of her prior motives to Bruce Jenner.

Kourtney Kardashian lashed out: “I’m not taking relationship advice from you. When you’re going and meeting with people from your past. It’s disrespectful to Bruce.”

And when she tried to explain that she hadn’t quite made it to see Todd Waterman, her spouse understandably wouldn’t hear any of it.

Before getting up and leaving the table he said: “Why would she ever make contact with him? This is bunch of bull, I’ve lost my appetite.”

 

Vera Wang divorces from Arthur Becker after 23 years of marriage

Lisa.Felice
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0
Vera Wang divorces from Arthur Becker after 23 years of marriage

Celebrity wedding dress designer Vera Wang has separated from her husband, Arthur Becker, after nearly 23 years of marriage.

Mario Grauso, the president of Vera Wang’s company, said in a statement: “Vera Wang and Arthur Becker have mutually and amicably agreed to separate. They remain devoted parents to their two daughters.”

Their separation comes just two weeks before their 23rd wedding anniversary.

Vera Wang, now 63, was 39 when she wed Arthur Becker, a computer executive who has become increasingly involved with the Vera Wang brand over the years.

According to WWD, Arthur Becker has advised Vera Wang closely as her business developed from an Upper East Side one-stop bridal shop into a global multimillion-dollar brand, becoming more involved with the day-to-day operations of the business in recent years.

Vera Wang has separated from her husband, Arthur Becker, after nearly 23 years of marriage
Vera Wang has separated from her husband, Arthur Becker, after nearly 23 years of marriage

The couple married at the Hotel Pierre in 1989 after becoming informally engaged in 1988 during a trip to Hawaii, and have two daughters, Cecilia and Josephine.

At the time of their marriage, Vera Wang, also a former Vogue editor, was design director for Ralph Lauren women’s accessories and at-home wear.

In 2006, Vera Wang described her marriage as a surprise to New York magazine.

She said: “I was the girl who nobody thought would ever get married. I was going to be a fashion nun the rest of my life. There are generations of them, those fashion nuns, living, eating, breathing clothes.

“But Ralph [Lauren] said, <<Get yourself a husband and a family>>. Anna [Wintour] said, <<You have got to get a family going here. You’ve been single for three decades now>>. So I married my husband.

“There are days I’m not happy I did it, but there are days I’m thrilled – I mean, he has always understood my nature, which is that it’s always about product.”

When it comes to her own wedding dress, Vera Wang scoured department stores and bridal boutiques but only found a “sameness to everything”.

Eventually Vera Wang gave up and hired a dressmaker to create her own gown, for $10,000.

In 1990, Vera Wang opened her own design salon in the Carlyle Hotel in New York, featuring her now trademark bridal gowns with financial backing from her father.

The Vera Wang label quickly took off, earning praise from the fashion elite for its luxurious fabrics, exquisite detailing and modern interpretation of classic lines.

Vera Wang has made wedding gowns for many well-known public figures, such as Chelsea Clinton, Ivanka Trump, Victoria Beckham, Jennifer Garner, Sharon Stone, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Kate Hudson, and most recently, Kim Kardashian.

 

Denmark: man killed by tigers at Copenhagen Zoo

Diane A. Wade
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Denmark: man killed by tigers at Copenhagen Zoo

Tigers at a zoo in Denmark have killed a man after he climbed a fence and crossed a moat to enter their enclosure.

Keepers at Copenhagen Zoo found his body early on Wednesday morning, surrounded by three tigers, a police spokesman said.

The man appeared to be in his early 20s and may have entered the enclosure in order to commit suicide, police said.

Tigers at a zoo in Denmark have killed a man after he climbed a fence and crossed a moat to enter their enclosure
Tigers at a zoo in Denmark have killed a man after he climbed a fence and crossed a moat to enter their enclosure

He has not been identified but police have said he is not Danish.

A bite on the man’s throat was likely to have been the main cause of his death.

The man’s nationality was not known and a resident’s permit for Denmark was found on his possession, police added.

 

First Internet Cat Video Film Festival will be organized in Minneapolis on August 30

Sonia Pantiss
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First Internet Cat Video Film Festival will be organized in Minneapolis on August 30

The first world’s cats film festival will celebrate next month the internet phenomenon of sharing cute videos of viral felines .

The Internet Cat Video Film Festival is set to take place on August 30 in Minneapolis, in the US.

The event is described as a chance for people to come together and “LOL [laugh out loud] in the presence of others”.

Organizer Katie Czarniecki Hill said fans had until July 30 to nominate their favorite clips to be shown.

“I could not be more excited to literally bring this solo cat video viewing behavior out in the open,” Katie Czarniecki Hill wrote in a blog post announcing the event.

The Internet Cat Video Film Festival is set to take place on August 30 in Minneapolis
The Internet Cat Video Film Festival is set to take place on August 30 in Minneapolis

“Traditionally, we send these viral gems to one another via email or share them through various social media outlets.

“Some viewers (yours truly included) spend precious free time trolling the interwebs for hilarious 30-second clips of feline tomfoolery.”

Videos of cats online have come to symbolize the internet community’s fondness for amusing quick-hit entertainment.

Stand-out examples include Keyboard Cat, a clip originally recorded in 1984 showing a cat “playing” a tune on the keyboard.

It was uploaded to YouTube in 2007, and has since had over 25 million views.

Thousands of remixes and reversions of the clip have seen it immortalized further, with even a dedicated website following its use.

Aside from videos, cats also feature heavily in humorous images emailed and shared around the web.

I Can Haz Cheezburger is a blog dedicated to adding captions to pictures of cats, often adding human traits and emotions to the animals.

The site, which is said to receive more than a million hits every day, was sold in 2007 for a reported $2 million.

It has since evolved into the Cheezburger Network, a collection of other sites based on a similar format. Its owners raised $30 million in funding from investors last year.

One viral video expert says that cat videos would always remain popular among internet users.

“At some stage in the early internet it was just discovered that if you animate any kind of image of a kitten doing a dance then it was a universal language of joy,” said Ed Robinson, creative director at London-based agency The Viral Factory.

“It works across all cultures, all languages… and we are genetically tuned to have an emotional response to cute animals.”

While dogs have enjoyed considerable viral success – a “talking” dog was the most viewed YouTube clip in the UK last year – some say cats rule the internet.

“There are theories that dogs are making a resurgence,” added Rd Robinson.

“They’ve been busy chasing sticks – but the cats have been at the forefront of the cultural movement.

“The internet loves the idea that cats are in the know.

“They’ve got the answer, and they might just tell us some day.”

 [youtube ctJJrBw7e-c]

Katie Holmes returns to the Catholic Church after breaking free from Scientology and Tom Cruise

Lisa.Felice
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0
Katie Holmes returns to the Catholic Church after breaking free from Scientology and Tom Cruise

Katie Holmes has turned her back on the controversial religion of Scientology by registering with a Catholic church in New York, it has been claimed.

According to a new report, the actress has formally confirmed her return to Catholicism by signing up to the Church of St. Francis Xavier.

Katie Holmes’ decision to register as a parishioner at the church has been met with excitement by the congregation.

One member of the church choir told the Huffington Post: “Everyone is thrilled to have Katie join us.

“She has not yet attended a service, but when she does she will be welcomed with open arms.”

Katie Holmes has turned her back on the controversial religion of Scientology by registering with a Catholic church in New York
Katie Holmes has turned her back on the controversial religion of Scientology by registering with a Catholic church in New York

On its website, the Church of St. Francis Xavier, which dates back to 1847, “strives to be a prophetic, welcoming community, inclusive witness to the presence of Christ Jesus in our midst”, according to its mission statement.

The actress’ decision to register with the church is sure to be seen as her final way of distancing herself from Scientology.

And the move is also the latest sign that Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise’s six-year-old daughter Suri, of whom Katie is believed to have sole custody, will follow in the actress’ Catholic footsteps, rather than follow her father and his devotion to Scientology.

 

Vanessa Paradis called Amber Heard a “man-stealing nobody” after Johnny Depp split

Lisa.Felice
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0
Vanessa Paradis called Amber Heard a “man-stealing nobody” after Johnny Depp split

Amber Heard has had a difficult few weeks after claims that she’s the reason for Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis’ split.

Amber Herad, 26, looked downcast in a white linen shirt and black maxi skirt as she was spotted leaving the Western Costume Co alongside a female friend.

However, Amber Heard’s sombre mood is perhaps understandable considering claims that Vanessa Paradis has labeled her a “man-stealing nobody” following her reported relationship with Johnny Depp.

Amber Heard has had a difficult few weeks after claims that she's the reason for Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis' split
Amber Heard has had a difficult few weeks after claims that she's the reason for Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis' split

Vanessa Paradis is said to have told friends she is determined that Amber Heard, who was first linked to Johnny Depp when the pair starred together in movie The Rum Diary, will not bond with the pair’s children, Lily-Rose and Jack.

A source told Now magazine: “Vanessa’s devastated that Johnny’s dumped her. She blames Amber and calls her a man-stealing, two-bit nobody and has vowed to not let her anywhere near their children.”

Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp announced their split last month following a 14-year relationship, causing reports of a romance between the actor and Amber Heard to heat up.

And following the claims, a source told Us Weekly magazine that Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are “100 per cent dating”, adding: “He treats her really well.”

Meanwhile, Vanessa Paradis was seen making her first post-split red carpet appearance at the premiere of her film Je me Suis Fait Tout Petit in Paris on Monday night.

Vanessa Paradis flashed photographers a smile as she posed with her co-stars at the event, and looked groomed and effortlessly chic in jeans and heels with a black T-shirt, silk blazer and layered gold necklaces.

 

The Hunger Games trilogy’s final installment will be split into two films

Sonia Pantiss
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0
The Hunger Games trilogy’s final installment will be split into two films

Film studio Lionsgate announces that the final installment in bestselling book trilogy The Hunger Games will be split into two films.

According to Lionsgate, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 will be released in November 2014, with Part 2 to follow 12 months later.

The film franchise is based on the teen science-fiction books by Suzanne Collins.

The first movie, starring Jennifer Lawrence, smashed box office records when it was released in March.

It has now taken $678 million worldwide and is currently the year’s second highest-grossing film in the US, behind The Avengers.

The final installment in bestselling book trilogy The Hunger Games will be split into two films
The final installment in bestselling book trilogy The Hunger Games will be split into two films

Jennifer Lawrence plays rebel heroine Katniss Everdeen, who is trained to fight to the death in televised competitions in a future US society called Panem.

The second installment. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, is due in cinemas in November 2013 and will be directed by Francis Lawrence of I Am Legend fame.

Earlier this week it was revealed that Oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman has signed up to play games master Plutarch Heavensbee in the sequel.

Filming is due to start in September, with Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Donald Sutherland all confirmed to reprise their original roles.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay follows the example set by the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises.

In both cases, the final books in the teen literary franchises have generated two separate films.

Suzanne Collins’ book trilogy currently holds the top three places in the UK’s children’s bestseller list of 2012.

 

San Francisco officials plan to ban Apple Macs purchase in government agencies

Nancy Clayson
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San Francisco officials plan to ban Apple Macs purchase in government agencies

City officials in San Francisco plan to ban Apple Macintosh computers purchase in local government agencies.

The move follows the firm’s decision to pull out of a green certification scheme designed to identify which electronic devices pose the least risk to the environment.

CIO Journal reported the ban was designed to encourage Apple to reconsider.

It noted local officials spent $45,579 on Apple equipment in 2010.

The sum is a fraction of the firm’s $65 billion net sales the same year, but the fact that its Cupertino headquarters is about 70 km away from San Francisco (43 miles) and many of its staff live in the city have helped the act gain attention.

Jon Walton, San Francisco’s chief information officer, said that his decision was in line with a long running policy to opt for equipment listed on the EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) registry.

“San Francisco has reached out to Apple and is hopeful that a solution to this challenge can be found in the future,” said Jon Walton.

City officials in San Francisco plan to ban Apple Macintosh computers purchase in local government agencies
City officials in San Francisco plan to ban Apple Macintosh computers purchase in local government agencies

But a statement from Apple suggested it had no plans to reverse its decision.

“Apple takes a comprehensive approach to measuring our environmental impact and all of our products meet the strictest energy efficiency standards backed by the US government,” a spokeswoman said.

“We also lead the industry by reporting each product’s greenhouse gas emissions on our website, and Apple products are superior in other important environmental areas not measured by EPEAT, such as removal of toxic materials.”

The organizers of EPEAT announced last week that Apple was withdrawing its products from the registry and would no longer submit new devices to receive ratings.

“We regret that Apple will no longer be registering its products in EPEAT,” the organizers said.

“We hope that they will decide to do so again at some point in future.”

The news prompted speculation that government bodies, schools and some businesses would bar purchases of Apple computers as a result.

US government rules dictate that 95% of all electronics bought by official agencies must fall under EPEAT’s scheme. iPads and iPhones do not fall under the system’s remit.

Apple has not explained why it abandoned the standard which it helped create in 2006.

However, an article by Infoworld – highlighted on EPEAT’s site – links the move to manufacturing techniques used to make the latest version of the firm’s MacBook Pro, which features a 5.1 million pixel high-definition display.

In order to include the new screen while minimizing the laptop’s thickness Apple made it harder to disassemble the computer causing it to be difficult for even experts to upgrade or recycle the device.

The move would have made it unlikely that the machine would have qualified for EPEAT’s highest rating.

One Wall Street analyst suggested that the firm had acted in its long-term interests.

“Apple has a long history of being a cutting-edge design company and some of these processes involve state of the art components and manufacturing techniques,” said Colin Gillis, senior technology analyst at BGC Partners.

“Its entire credo is to be pushing the envelope forward, and in our opinion it’s better to lose some sales rather than risk not having any at all.”

Sarah Rotman Epps, a San Francisco-based analyst at Forrester Research, also played down the news.

“I don’t think Apple – or the world – should read too much into this,” she said.

“California also recently banned the sale of foie gras – a decision not all consumers or businesses would agree with. Just because the city of San Francisco isn’t buying Macs doesn’t mean that other municipalities, businesses or consumers will follow suit.”

 

Hans Kristian and Eva Rausing: the shocking decline of the TetraPak billionaire and his wife

Diane A. Wade
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Hans Kristian and Eva Rausing: the shocking decline of the TetraPak billionaire and his wife

Hans Kristian Rausing, Tetra Pak cartons billionaire and one of Britain’s richest men, was being questioned last night about the mysterious death of his wife Eva.

Hours after Hans Kristian Rausing, 49, was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs, his wife Eva’s body was found in a bedroom at their London home.

Hans Kristian Rausing, a father-of-four, an heir to the $7.2 billion Tetra Pak drinks carton fortune, was being questioned in connection with what Scotland Yard called an “unexplained death”.

Last night police said Hans Kristian Rausing remained under arrest but had been taken to hospital for medical treatment.

Officials refused to discuss why but the news prompted speculation that he had suffered some kind of breakdown. Earlier, security staff was called in to help download CCTV cameras from the Chelsea mansion and surrounding area.

Hans Kristian Rausing was being questioned last night about the mysterious death of his wife Eva
Hans Kristian Rausing was being questioned last night about the mysterious death of his wife Eva

A post mortem examination was carried out yesterday afternoon on 48-year-old Eva Rausing, but failed to find the cause of death. Further toxicology tests will take place to determine whether drugs or alcohol were responsible.

Her husband of almost 20 years was arrested on suspicion of driving erratically in South London at lunchtime on Monday and was found to be carrying Class A drugs. Officers searched his home to see if more illicit substances were there, and found his wife’s body.

Eva Rausing
Eva Rausing

Specialist police teams carried out tests throughout yesterday at the six-storey house in Cadogan Place.

Details of their son’s arrest and daughter-in-law’s death were broken to 86-year-old Hans Rausing and his wife Marit at their 900-acre East Sussex estate. They issued a statement saying they were “deeply shocked and saddened”.

Eva Rausing’s father Tom Kemeny is a former Pepsi executive who owns an island off South Carolina and a property in Barbados with his wife Nancy. The couple also has a $16million property near their late daughter’s home in Cadogan Place.

They said of their daughter: “During her short lifetime she made a huge philanthropic impact, supporting a large number of charitable causes, not only financially, but using her own personal experiences. She bravely fought her health issues for many years. The family is devastated at her death.”

Eva Rausing was a co-patron with the Duchess of Cambridge of the drug charity Action on Addiction. Officials said they were “devastated” by the tragedy.

Within hours of the discovery of the body, police seized security CCTV footage from inside and outside the property focusing on Cadogan Place and a mews at the rear.

Yesterday morning a detective showed a security expert out through a back door of the house and walked up and down the mews lane, working out which CCTV cameras had a view of the Rausings’ back door. An hour later, the security technician removed a CCTV hard disk drive from inside the house.

Neighbors include Philip Havers QC – whose father Michael was Attorney General and then Lord Chancellor before becoming Baron Havers. His brother is the actor Nigel Havers.

In recent weeks, Hans Kristian and Eva Rausing had seen out walking in the area. He often wore a baseball cap while clutching a pack of rolling tobacco. His wife wore cut-off trousers and open-toed sandals.

In addition to their London property, the couple had an 11-bedroom beachside mansion in Barbados and an apartment on The World, a cruise ship for passengers who need to be off shore for tax-avoidance purposes.

 

 

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