According to US researchers, the rise of inflammatory bowel diseases could be down to our shifting diets causing a “boom in bad bacteria”.
Mouse experiments detailed in the journal Nature linked certain fats, bacteria in the gut and the onset of inflammatory diseases.
The researchers said the high-fat diet changed the way food was digested and encouraged harmful bacteria.
Microbiologists said modifying gut bacteria might treat the disease.
Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) include Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis. When the gut becomes inflamed it can lead to abdominal pain and diarrhoea.
According to US researchers, the rise of inflammatory bowel diseases could be down to our shifting diets causing a "boom in bad bacteria"
The researchers at the University of Chicago said the incidence of the diseases was increasing rapidly.
They used genetically modified mice which were more likely to develop IBDs. One in three developed colitis when fed either low-fat diets or meals high in polyunsaturated fats. This jumped to nearly two in three in those fed a diet high in saturated milk fats, which are in many processed foods.
These saturated fats are hard for the body to digest and it responds by pumping more bile into the gut. This changes the gut environment and leads to a change in the bacteria growing there, the researchers said.
One bacterium in particular, Bilophila wadsworthia, was identified. It thrives in the extra bile produced to break down the fats. It went from being incredibly rare to nearly 6% of all bacteria in the gut in the high-fat diet.
Prof. Eugene Chang, of the University of Chicago, said: “Unfortunately, these can be harmful bacteria. Presented with a rich source of sulphur, they bloom, and when they do, they are capable of activating the immune system of genetically prone individuals.”
However, he said this could lead to possible treatments as the gut bacteria could be “reshaped” without “significantly affecting the lifestyles of individuals who are genetically prone to these diseases”.
Allura microfibre hair wrap, found at bargain chain Poundland in UK for only £1($1.5), is meant to be used to put your hair up and out of the way in the morning while applying make-up, or for keeping wet hair covered after swimming.
But message boards on the internet have been ringing with praise.
“It has made so much difference to the condition of my hair,” raves one poster.
“Leaving my hair to dry in it for a while just makes my hair so much softer.”
Another asserts that it leaves her hair “bouncy and shiny”.
Several insist that it cuts down noticeably on drying time – and, because of this, their hair becomes far less frizzy and damaged by the hot air and brushing involved in blow-drying.
And it seems women are snapping them up. According to Poundland’s trading director David Coxon, the shop sells a quarter of a million of the things every year.
“It has always been a very popular item with our customers. I don’t think they can believe it’s just £1,” he says.
Allura microfibre hair wrap could be found at bargain chain Poundland in UK, for only £1($1.5)
A long white hood, it has a button on one side and a corresponding loop on the tail.
Just tip your hair forward into the hood, twist the material up and over your head and secure the loop over the button.
After you wash your hair, secured it into the hood and let the towel start to work.
After 40 minutes your hair will be noticeably dryer than it would have been using an ordinary towel, glossy and full of body.
And it seems there is sound science behind the microfibre towel effects. Because the fibres are so much smaller than cotton ones, their surface area is larger, enabling it to absorb more water, so your hair dries more quickly.
Even celebrity hairdresser Richard Ward – who tends to the Duchess of Cambridge’s tresses – agrees that a microfibre towel has advantages.
“It’s more absorbent,” he says.
“And, as you’re not rubbing the hair as you would with a normal towel, it’s not getting damaged so it feels softer.”
“However, I think it’s better just to blot-dry your hair gently and then blow-dry it from wet to achieve a long-lasting style.”
A picture of a foetus whose mother Feng Jiamei was forced to have an abortion has shocked China web users.
Feng Jiamei, from Shaanxi province, was made to undergo the procedure in the seventh month of pregnancy, local officials said after investigating.
Feng Jiamei was forced into the abortion as she could not pay the fine for having a second child, US-based activists said.
Rights groups say China’s one-child policy has meant women being coerced into abortions, which Beijing denies.
“Feng Jianmei’s story demonstrates how the One-Child Policy continues to sanction violence against women every day,” said Chai Ling of the US-based activist group All Girls Allowed.
Feng Jiamei was forced into the abortion as she could not pay the fine for having a second child, US-based activists said
The group says it spoke to Feng Jiamei and her husband Deng Jiyuan after the incident.
Deng Jiyuan said his wife had been forcibly taken to hospital and restrained before the procedure.
Such allegations are nothing new in China, but what has made this one different is a widely circulated photo of the woman lying next to the baby’s corpse.
Media reports from China says Feng Jiamei has been traumatized by what has happened.
Unnamed local officials in Zhenping county – where the incident took place – denied forcing Feng Jiamei to have the abortion, local media reports say.
But a preliminary investigation by the Shaanxi Provincial Population and Family Planning Commission confirmed the forced abortion had taken place.
Without naming Feng Jiamei, it said in a statement that the woman had been seven months pregnant.
“Such practice has seriously violated the relevant policies set by national and provincial family planning commissions, which harmed the image of our family planning work, and caused extremely poor effects in society,” said the statement.
“Based on the findings, we have requested the local government to punish the relevant officers according to law,” it said.
Internet users expressed outrage.
“This is what they say the Japanese devils and Nazis did. But it’s happening in reality and it is by no means the only case… They [the officials] should be executed,” one reader on news website netease.com said, according to the AFP news agency.
Activist Chen Guangcheng, who was put under virtual house arrest for campaigning against forced abortions, fled China to the US last month.
Scientists have succeeded to decode the bonobo genome, the biochemical instructions in the ape’s cells that guide the building and maintenance of the animal’s body.
It is the last great ape to have its DNA sequence laid bare, following the chimpanzee, orangutan and gorilla.
Comparisons of all their codes, including the human genome, will shed new light on the biology and evolution of these closely related species.
The sequencing and analysis work is reported in the journal Nature.
It was undertaken by an international team led from the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
The samples for study were taken from a female bonobo known as Ulindi which resides in Leipzig zoo.
Scientists have succeeded to decode the bonobo genome, the biochemical instructions in the ape's cells that guide the building and maintenance of the animal's body
Bonobos (Pan paniscus), together with chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), are the closest living relatives of humans.
If one compares the DNA “letters” in the sequences of all three species, there is only a 1.3% difference between humans and their ape cousins.
The separation between the bonobo and the chimp is smaller still. Only four letters in every thousand is changed.
“Based on the differences that we observe between the genomes, one can actually estimate when the last common ancestor between these species lived,” explained MPI’s Kay Prufer.
“And between chimpanzees and bonobos that is maybe a million years in the past. For the chimps, bonobos, and humans – the common ancestor of all three lived somewhere around four to five million years ago,” he said.
Bonobos and chimpanzees live very near to each other in central Africa, but their populations are separated by the Congo River.
Indeed, it has long been thought that the creation of the river about two million years ago was responsible for the divergence of the species. And the new analysis certainly seems to support that hypothesis, with no significant signal of interbreeding detected in the DNA of the apes.
“It seems there was a very clean split,” said Dr. Kay Prufer.
But as similar as their genomes are, bonobos and chimps do display some quite diverse behaviors.
Chimps are very territorial and resort to aggressive actions to resolve conflicts, whereas bonobos are more placid and will use sex as a tool to settle their differences.
The researchers want to learn something about the origin of these behaviors, and the degree to which they are influenced by genetics.
“That’s the great hope,” said Dr. Kay Prufer.
“If you look at bonobos, chimpanzees and humans, what you can see is that there are some specific characteristics that we share with both of them.
“So, for instance, the non-conceptive sexual behavior is a trait that is certainly shared with bonobos, while the aggressive behavior unfortunately is also a trait that is shared with chimpanzees.
“In a way, it is a question of what the ancestor of all three looked like. Which one actually evolved the new trait here?”
To get at some answers, scientists plan to look more deeply at those parts of the genomes where humans share more similarity to bonobos or chimpanzees. It turns out that that more than 3% of the human genome is more closely related to either the bonobo or the chimpanzee genome than these are to each other.
Spain’s borrowing costs have risen to another euro-era record, with lenders demanding a higher interest rate.
The yield on benchmark 10-year bonds hit 7% on Thursday morning, a level which many analysts believe is unsustainable in the long term.
It came as Moody’s cut Spain’s credit rating to one notch above “junk” and ahead of an Italian bond auction.
At the weekend, Spain agreed a 100 billion-euro ($126 billion) bailout of its banks by fellow eurozone countries.
It was hoped that the bailout would help calm fears in the financial markets about the strength of Spain’s banks and ease Madrid’s borrowing costs.
Spain's borrowing costs have risen to another euro-era record, with lenders demanding a higher interest rate
However, Moody’s said the eurozone plan to help Spain’s banks would increase the country’s debt burden.
Moody’s cut Spain’s rating from A3 to Baa3 and said it could reduce this further within the next three months.
If Spain is cut to junk, some index-tracking investors would be forced to sell the country’s bonds. This would add to upward pressure on yields and push Spain’s financing costs higher, heightening the risk that the country will need a full-blown bailout.
The difference in the rate between Spanish and safe-haven German 10-year bonds widened to a high of 5.44 percentage points.
“The risk of losing investment grade pressured the differential this morning and left it at historic highs,” analysts at Spanish brokerage Renta 4 said in a market report.
Italy will test market sentiment on Thursday with the sale of up to 4.5 billion Euros of bonds.
On Wednesday, Moody’s also cut its credit rating for Cyprus by two notches, from Ba1 to Ba3. Cypriot banks are heavily exposed to the troubled Greek banking system.
However, it is unclear whether the Cypriot government will seek a loan from its European partners or will instead turn to Russia, who already provided it with a 2.5 billion-euro loan in December.
An anonymous author who works in the pharmaceutical industry wrote several anonymous editorials in this weeks British Medical Journal in which they claim:
“Some of the [post-marketing] studies I worked on were not designed to determine the overall risk/benefit balance of the drug in the general population. They were designed to support and disseminate a marketing message.”
According to the writer the process begins as doctors are recruited to find patients who will demonstrate the best results for the company. The doctor is told exactly what to tell patients they should expect and that information is meant to plant the seed of support in the patients mind.
What’s worse, the whistleblower claims that the studies are often molded to fit the expectations of the drug company.
“We occasionally resorted to <<playing>> with the data that had originally failed to show the expected result,” he says.
“This was done by altering the statistical method until any statistical significance was found.”
Drug maker employee claims the company is falsifying study results to sell its products
Negative results are then omitted when it comes to harmful side effects since post-marketing studies do not face the same public scrutiny of pre-approval studies.
The other notes that the false reports are based on a company’s desire to make money over the ten-year period in which their drug is under control of strict patent laws.
Nature examined the authors work and believes they may come from a diabetes background as the editorials focus on post-marketing studies involving insulin drugs meant to fight diabetes.
News of bait-and-switch campaigns involving “post-marketing” studies are nothing new, researchers for years have complained about these so-called “studies” which attempt to overturn accepted problems with drugs that were discovered in pre-study tests.
In the meantime, the companies involved in the authors attacks such as Norvo Nordisk continue to stick behind their products, claiming that their studies involved real-world case studies.
Burger King introduces the limited-time dessert Bacon Sundae today as part of its new summer menu.
The 510-calorie sundae – vanilla soft serve topped with fudge, caramel, bacon crumbles and a piece of bacon – has 18 grams of fat and 61 grams of sugar.
Earlier this year, Burger King rolled out an expanded menu with healthier fare – fruit smoothies, wraps and salads – with an advertising campaign featuring soccer star David Beckham. Burger King Bacon Sundae, available through September 3, would seem to be a strategic move in the polar opposite direction – and something akin to Jack in the Box’s 1,081-calorie bacon milkshake, which debuted in February.
It also seems to be an attempt to answer Taco Bell’s wildly popular Doritos Locos Taco, which became “the most successful product launch in the chain’s history” after 100 million were sold in the 10 weeks following its launch in March.
Taco Bell, for its part, is going “upscale.” The “Cantina Bell” menu, debuting in July, will have “fresh ingredients such as black beans, <<fire-roasted>> corn salsa, cilantro rice, pico de gallo and citrus- and herb-marinated chicken that many consumers have come to associate with Chipotle,” according to Advertising Age.
Burger King introduces the limited-time dessert Bacon Sundae today as part of its new summer menu
Burger King’s summer menu also includes a Memphis pulled-pork BBQ sandwich, Carolina BBQ Whopper or chicken sandwich, Texas BBQ Whopper or chicken sandwich, sweet potato fries and frozen lemonade.
The bacon sundae, it’s worth noting, is downright healthy compared to the Krispy Kreme bacon cheeseburger – a 1,500-calorie behemoth that replaces the buns with doughnuts.
Burger King isn’t the first company to market a bacon sundae- Denny’s Baconalia event featured a maple bacon sundae of some description a while back, and one of NYC’s best burger joints, Shake Shake, certainly features a high-end bacon sundae that could theoretically work on some level.
Scientists have announced that the American mountain lion or cougar is now re-populating US Midwest.
Their numbers had plummeted in the last 100 years because of hunting and a lack of prey.
Writing in the Journal of Wildlife Management, researchers say the cougar is now spreading far outside their traditional western habitats.
But they say the return of the big cats raises important questions about how humans can live with these predators.
Such has been the decline of the cougar in some parts of the United State that the US Fish and Wildlife service declared the eastern cougar extinct just last year.
For decades mountain lions were seen as a threat to livestock and humans and many States paid a bounty to hunters for killing them.
Scientists have announced that the American mountain lion or cougar is now re-populating US Midwest
Their habitats were restricted to the areas around the Black Hills of Dakota. But in the 1960s and 70s the animals were reclassified as managed game species, so hunting was limited and numbers started to grow.
Anecdotal evidence indicates that mountain lions started to spread far and wide during the 1990s – this perspective was confirmed last June when a young male was hit by a car and killed in Connecticut.
Genetic analysis indicated that the animal originated from the Black Hills and had travelled approximately 2,900 km (1,800 mile) via a number of States.
Now researchers have published the first scientific evidence that cougars have returned to the mid-west and are now to be found as far south as Texas and as far north as the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba.
They say that limits on hunting and the return of elk and mule deer that cougars prey on have been key to increasing the overall population which is now said to number around 30,000.
And as the populations have grown, the territorial instincts of the big cats have forced them to conquer new ground. Michelle LaRue from the University of Minnesota, is one of the authors of the paper.
“What’s happening is that, as the young males are moving out of the areas they were born in, they are coming into contact with other young males and they don’t have anywhere else to go so they’re kind of being forced out of these western populations and into these areas of vacant habitats in the mid west,” she said.
The team used recorded sightings that had been verified by wildlife professionals as well as carcasses, DNA evidence and cases of attacks on livestock across 14 State and provinces. And the scientists believe the spread of the cougar might continue.
“I would assume that with the continued management practices that have allowed for the rebound, cougars have the potential to continue to move eastward into areas of available habitat,” said Michelle LaRue.
Many researchers are concerned that the spread of the mountain lion will inevitably bring them into conflict with humans. Other species such as bears have run into trouble thanks to their taste for human food. Michelle LaRue said that cougars are very different.
“They are very fleeting animals they’re solitary and they don’t like people, they like to be in remote rugged wilderness areas, I say it’s a lot less likely than they’ll become dependent on trash like bears.”
“If you were in the woods with a cougar and it saw it you wouldn’t even know it, it would run before you even knew it was there.”
British researchers have shown that a tumor-killing virus can sneak around the body by “hitchhiking” on the back of blood cells.
It is hoped reoviruses can be used to treat cancer, but there were fears they would not work if the immune system could wipe them out.
A study published in Science Translational Medicine showed the viruses could hide in the blood and reach their target.
Experts said it was an important step in advancing cancer therapies.
Reoviruses are normally harmless, but they can cause stomach upsets and colds in childhood. However, it seems they have the ability to infect and kill some cancerous cells while leaving the surrounding tissue unharmed.
However, experiments on mice suggested the virus would not survive in the blood as the immune system would destroy it.
It meant the virus would need to be injected directly into the tumour or be given with drugs to suppress the immune system.
British researchers have shown that a tumor-killing virus can sneak around the body by "hitchhiking" on the back of blood cells
A study in 10 people at the University of Leeds and The Institute of Cancer Research, at the Royal Marsden Hospital, showed that the virus could escape the immune system by hiding in the blood.
All the patients had advanced bowel cancer which had spread to the liver, and were injected with doses of the reovirus ahead of their scheduled surgery.
The virus was detected in the tumor, but not the liver, meaning it was selectively targeting the cancer. In the blood, the virus was detected in blood cells, not the liquid blood plasma all the cells float in, meaning it was “hitchhiking”, the researchers said.
Prof. Alan Melcher, from the University of Leeds, said the virus was “even cleverer” than previously thought.
“By piggybacking on blood cells, the virus is managing to hide from the body’s natural immune response and reach its target intact.”
Prof. Alan Melcher said he had “no doubt” the virus would be eventually used “in combination with chemotherapy”.
Dr. Kevin Harrington, from the Institute of Cancer Research, said: “Viral treatments like reovirus are showing real promise in patient trials.
“This study gives us the very good news that it should be possible to deliver these treatments with a simple injection into the bloodstream.”
Why reoviruses affect only cancer cells is not entirely understood. Cancer cells behave very differently to healthy cells, which may make them more susceptible to infection.
Doctors are already testing the virus in some trials in people, such as studies on head and neck cancer.
Prof. John Bell, from the University of Ottawa, has researched using genetically modified viruses to attack cancer cells.
He said viruses could be “exquisitely selective” in targeting tumors, and that this latest study had shown how safe the technique was.
“This study is an important next step in advancing oncolytic virus therapies into cancer patients.”
Pakistani singing legend Mehdi Hassan has died of multiple organ failure aged 84.
The singer, hugely popular in India as well, was admitted to the Agha Khan Hospital in the southern port city of Karachi a few days ago.
TV channels broadcast live from the hospital and hundreds of fans gathered there on learning of his death.
Mehdi Hassan’s career spanned 50 years. He came to be known as “king of ghazals”, traditional laments for lost love.
Ghazal, a genre of music specific to South Asia and parts of the Middle East, has been around for more than 400 years.
Mehdi Hassan – whose funeral will be on Friday – also achieved huge commercial success, providing music for many South Asian films.
Legendary Indian singer Lata Mangeshkar once likened his songs to the “voice of god”.
Pakistani singing legend Mehdi Hassan has died of multiple organ failure aged 84
On learning of his death, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani called Mehdi Hassan “an icon who mesmerized music lovers” in Pakistan and the sub-continent for decades, AFP news agency reports.
Mehdi Hassan was born into a family of traditional musicians in 1927 at Luna village in the Indian state of Rajasthan.
His family migrated to Pakistan in 1947 at the time of partition.
He started out as a bicycle and auto mechanic before entering the music industry. His big break came several years later, in 1957, when he got his first opportunity on Radio Pakistan as a classical “thumri” singer.
During the next three decades, he sang hundreds of songs for the Pakistani movies, scoring dozens of hits that were popular in Pakistan and across South Asia.
Subsequently, music circles in Pakistan were to discover his talent for ghazal singing.
Mehdi Hassan told about the history of ghazal singing in his family during a 1989 interview: “We belong to the traditional Kalamt family and mine is the 16th generation which is into ghazal.”
“My ancestors use to regale the Royals of Jaipur, Rajasthan in India. We still have remains of our home around the Amber Fort. And my earlier generations were gifted by the princely state of Jaipur to another royal household called Jhunjhunu in the faraway desert.
“But be it then or now, India or Pakistan, our music is the same, full of devotion.”
Mehdi Hassan became a Pakistani cultural ambassador who visited India.
He cut back on his performances in the late 1980s due to illness, which included a serious lung condition. The severity of his illness forced him to give up all singing by the late-1990s.
In 2010, however, Mehdi Hassan recorded a duet with Lata Mangeshkar, a long-time admirer, for an album called Sarhadein (Borders), which was released in 2011.
Mehdi Hassan recorded his part of the song in Karachi, while Lata Mangeshkar’s part was recorded in Mumbai.
The Press Trust of India said an era of ghazal singing had come to an end with his death.
“The demise of the India-born Pakistani ghazal maestro was a huge loss to the world of music and left a void that can never be filled,” it reported.
A heavy media presence was outside the dead singer’s home, with television channels streaming live commentary.
Police have been deployed in anticipation of a stream of high profile mourners coming to say their last farewells.
Republicans are calling for a boycott of HBO’s fantasy series Game of Thrones after the creator’s “despicable” decision to include former US President George W. Bush’s severed head in several scenes.
In the tenth episode of the first season, George Bush’s decapitated head is seen impaled on a wooden spike, covered in filthy long hair and slathered in dirt.
HBO and the show’s creators, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, have apologized for the incident.
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who noted the appearance in the series’ DVD commentary, insist it wasn’t a political statement – just a prop they got from a production company.
But the image has provoked outrage from at least one Republican politician and a backlash on Twitter.
In the tenth episode of the first season of Game of Thrones, George Bush's decapitated head is seen impaled on a wooden spike, covered in filthy long hair and slathered in dirt
HBO called the scene “unacceptable, disrespectful and in very bad taste”.
“We made this clear to the executive producers of the series who apologized immediately for this inadvertent careless mistake. We are sorry this happened and will have it removed from any future DVD production,” HBO said in a statement.
The creators said the regret pointing out that one of their prosthetic heads looked like the former president. They said the rent prosthetic body parts in bulk and no on even noticed the head looked like George W. Bush’s until after they were done shooting the scene.
The finale of the first season of Game of Thrones, Fire and Blood, one of the series’ beloved characters Ned Stark is beheaded by new King Jeoffrey for treason.
In one brutal scene, King Jeoffrey brings his bride-to-be to gaze upon the severed head of her father.
Sansa Stark refuses at first, but then looks up to see not only her father, but also George W. Bush.
The surprise sighting went largely noticed until a user on Reddit pointed out the presidential prop.
When the show’s creators revisit the scene in the DVD commentary, they make sure viewers notice the former Head of State.
“People may not have noticed this but back up…the last head on the left is George Bush,” one says.
“George Bush’s head appears in a couple of beheading scenes,” the other adds.
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss say it was no condemnation of George W. Bush and his policies.
“It’s not a choice. It’s not a political statement,” one says.
“It’s just.. we had to use what heads we had lying around.”
Craig Eaton, chairman of the Brooklyn Republican Party, was disgusted by the former president’s “appearance” on the show.
“I think that it’s despicable. As a country, Democrats, Republicans, we have to have respect for the office and the individuals,” he said.
“Once we lose that respect, the United States looks weak.”
He continued: “Think about what people outside the country think when they see how Americans are disparaging their own former presidents.”
The first picture from Matthew and Camila McConaughey’s intimate wedding has been revealed on the cover of People magazine.
While Matthew McConaughey, 42, looked smart in a black tuxedo, Camila, 29, is seen wearing a long-sleeve white lace dress, complete with a beaded headdress, drop silver earrings and matching veil.
The pair is seen gazing lovingly into each others’ eyes in the touching picture.
Talking about the pair’s decision to wed, Matthew McConaughey told People magazine: “We decided to embrace the ritual of marriage as an opportunity and adventure we’ll take together.”
The couple was watched by around 120 guests, including famous faces such as Reese Witherspoon and Matthew McConaughey’s close friend Woody Harrelson, as they tied the knot at their home in Austin, Texas on June 9th.
The first picture from Matthew and Camila McConaughey’s intimate wedding has been revealed on the cover of People magazine
But the most special guests of all were undoubtedly the pair’s two children Levi, 3, and two-year-old Vida, who took pride of place as ring bearer and flower girl respectively for the wedding.
Camila added of her children’s roles in the ceremony: “Somehow they both seem to understand what we are doing on a spiritual level.”
Matthew and Camila McConaughey are said to have shared whispered vows, uttering them into each other’s ears, according to Us Weekly.
A source told the publication: “No one knew what they said. Whatever they said was very emotional. [Camila] was tearing up.”
The couple – who had been together six years before getting engaged last Christmas – decided against a traditional first dance and a cake – instead of opting for a selection of desserts.
They shared a long passionate kiss, before dancing the night away into the early hours, the report continues.
Camila has taken Matthew’s surname and has officially become Camila McConaughey, the actor’s representation told People.com.
People magazine also reports that the couple kept the nuptials a secret from some guests up until the very last minute.
A sea of tents set out in the grounds of the property provided accommodation for their guests.
The luxury temporary abodes, numbered 1-47, were in four rows in the garden and were said to be kitted out with beds, cosy white fur rugs on the floor, and outdoor seating with doormats at the front.
Shortly after the wedding, Matthew McConaughey was spotted leaving a gym in Austin – distracting from his sweat-soaked workout gear with his new gold wedding band.
Kris Humphries is two weeks away from divorce depositions with ex-wife Kim Kardashian, and now he is in the midst of another legal battle with his rumored (ex) girlfriend Fatima “Myla” Sinanaj.
After turning over supposed evidence to the FBI claiming Myla Sinanaj was trying to extort him – in the form of multiple recorded messages – Kris Humphries is now being asked to publicly apologize to the 25-year-old Myla Sinanaj “or else”.
“My client isn’t going to rule anything out at this point including whether or not she would be willing to assist Kim Kardashian in her divorce case,” Myla Sinanaj’s attorney Joe Tacopina told RadarOnline.
“I will say this, Kris Humphries has to be the only 7ft. man in the universe to have two women under 6ft tall bully, defraud and attempt to extort him. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
According to TMZ, Kris Humphries’ lawyer originally reached out to Myla Sinanaj’s lawyer to negotiate a non-disclosure agreement in order to get a lockdown on any sensitive texts, emails, or other documents she has relating to their relationship.
Myla Sinanaj wants to help Kim Kardashian with divorce case after Kris Humphries accuses her of being a gold-digger
They desperately want the NBA player to walk into his divorce depositions looking like a heartbroken, and very single, man.
“It would be pretty hard to claim that you are broken-hearted if you are dating my client just two months after the marriage broke up.
“My client’s relationship with Kris goes to heart of his claim against Kim Kardashian and that could hurt him, certainly,” said Myla Sinanaj’s lawyer, a former prosecutor.
Kris Humphries is demanding millions from Kim Kardashian, and he doesn’t want anything to jeopardize his case that their union should be annulled rather than granted a divorce.
“I defy them to show that she has asked for one red cent,” Joe Tacopina told TMZ.
“I challenge them to submit Kris Humphries to a polygraph and if he does I will have my client do the same. She never asked him for a penny.”
The lawyer claims that Kris Humphries was wrong to refer to his client as a “booty call” when they’ve been in a “steady” relationship since January, and he alleges the NBA player has even tried getting Myla Sinanaj fired from her hotel job.
“I have hundreds of text messages and phone records which show he constantly contacted her on a steady basis. He’d call her 50 times in a day,” said Myla Sinanaj’sattorney.
Joe Tacopina added: “There will be a retraction and an apology by Humphries and his lawyer, or else.”
There will be no cameras in the depositions happening in Minnesota and at Kim Kardashian attorney Laura Wasser’s office, but Kris Humphries’ lawyers are still trying to have the actual trial filmed.
RadarOnline first reported that the six-foot-nine-inch athlete had no plans to publicly date anyone until after his divorce was finalized, but TMZ claimed that Kris Humphries has been dating Myla Sinanaj since January, even flying her to Miami for a romantic beachy holiday last month.
They have apparently been seeing each other regularly, meeting at various basketball games where Kris Humphries provided her and family members with courtside seats.
“Kris is just going to let the FBI handle this. He is focused on basketball, period,” a source close to the athlete told RadarOnline.
Australia announces that it will create the world’s largest network of marine parks ahead of the Rio+20 Earth Summit.
The reserves will cover 3.1 million sq km of ocean, including the Coral Sea.
Restrictions will be placed on fishing and oil and gas exploration in the protected zone covering more than a third of Australia’s waters.
Environment Minister Tony Burke, who made the announcement, will attend the earth summit in Brazil next week with Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
“It’s time for the world to turn a corner on protection of our oceans,” Tony Burke said.
“And Australia today is leading that next step.”
Australia announces that it will create the world's largest network of marine parks ahead of the Rio+20 Earth Summit
Australia has timed its announcement to coincide with the run-up to the Rio+20 Earth Summit – a global gathering of leaders from more than 130 nations to discuss protecting key parts of the environment, including the ocean.
The plans, which have been years in the making, will proceed after a final consultation process.
Last year, the Australian government announced plans to protect the marine life in the Coral Sea – an area of nearly 1 million sq km.
The sea – off the Queensland coast in northeastern Australia – is home to sharks and tuna, isolated tropical reefs and deep sea canyons. It is also the resting place of three US navy ships sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942.
The network of marine reserve will also include the Great Barrier Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The plan will see the numbers of marine reserves off the Australian coast increased from 27 to 60.
“What we’ve done is effectively create a national parks estate in the ocean,” Tony Burke told Australian media.
However, activists and environmental protection groups are likely to be less than satisfied with the plans, having called for a complete ban on commercial fishing in the Coral Sea.
The fishing industry is set to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation, reports say.
Some have also noted that oil and gas exploration continue to be allowed near some protected areas, particularly off Western Australia.
The Australian Conservation Foundation said that although the plan didn’t go as far as they would like, it was a major achievement in terms of ocean conservation.
Currently the world’s largest marine reserve is a 545,000-sq-km area established by the UK around the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean.
Just a week after John Travolta’s former pilot Doug Gotterba claimed they had a six-year affair in the Eighties, Gotterba is now “considering’” writing a tell-all book.
Reports that Doug Gotterba, 60, has two writers lined up to help tell his story appear in today’s edition of The National Enquirer.
Last week, the National Enquirer reported that pilot Doug Gotterba told John Travolta’s former secretary Joan Edwards about the secret affair.
Joan Edwards confirmed that Doug Gotterba began working for John Travolta in 1981.
“He told me that John was gay and they had a sexual relationship,” said Joan Edwards.
Just a week after John Travolta's former pilot Doug Gotterba claimed they had a six-year affair in the Eighties, Gotterba is now “considering'” writing a tell-all book
John Travolta is said to have had a long-term relationship with Doug Gotterba in the Eighties – before the actor’s marriage to Kelly Preston in 1991.
The simmering scandal heated up last month, when John Travolta was hit with two lawsuits from masseurs claiming the actor made sexual advances towards them during massages – but one claim was later withdrawn.
A string of other people came out of the woodwork making similar claims.
John Travolta’s legal team strenuously denied the allegations at the time.
In public, John Travolta, 58, has been putting on a brave face.
The actor took to the stage a week ago to help honor actress Shirley MacLaine as she received the 40th AFI Life Achievement Award.
The actor was perfectly composed and smiled throughout his speech, which he made in front of celebrity guests and work colleagues, including Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts, Katherine Heigl and Meryl Streep.
Rihanna and Chris Brown partied at the same club at the same time for the second time in as many days, leaving within minutes of each other.
Video has emerged of Chris Brown and Rihanna leaving Avenue nightclub in New York.
TMZ reported the pair was in the club together for around 30 minutes and Chris Brown spent some time with Rihanna at her table.
Sitting in different booths, the couple still “kept a close eye on each other” – and Chris Brown sent her over two bottles of Ace of Spades Champagne.
A video surfaced yesterday of the pair leaving the club minutes apart.
The lovelorn pair has been linked together several times already this year, after it emerged that they had recorded songs with each.
And of late wherever Rihanna is, Chris Brown isn’t far behind, as they party at birthday celebrations and nightclubs in West Hollywood.
Rihanna and Chris Brown partied at the same club at the same time for the second time in as many days, leaving within minutes of each other
The sighting comes after another sign that Rihanna is paving the way for a reconciliation with singer Chris Brown, as the raunchy singer reportedly invited the singer to attend a basketball game party on Saturday with her family.
Rihanna and Chris Brown joined her family – including grandfather Lionel Braithwaite on Saturday at an intimate gathering at Jay-Z’s New York club 40/40 to watch the Miami Heat beat the Boston Celtics.
A source told The New York Post: “Rihanna arrives first in a yellow cab, with her family and friends, and was escorted to a private room.
“Brown arrived a little later and joined her and her family.”
On Saturday night, however, it seemed the two were more than just friends.
They were allegedly sitting together on the same couch, rooting for the Heat.
Chris Brown’s girlfriend, model Karrueche Tran, was not there.
Asked about reconciliation rumors, a rep for Chris Brown said: “Chris is very happy in his relationship with his girlfriend, Karrueche Tran.”
Meanwhile, sources told The Post Rihanna’s management is calling the rekindled friendship the “Chris Brown issue”.
“Everyone in the business assumes she and Chris are getting back together, and it is only a matter of time before they’ll be more public about it,” the source told the newspaper.
“It’s like she is testing the water – first they work on music together, then they hang out in a friendly way, so the public won’t be completely shocked when they step out together publicly.”
Chris Brown infamously left Rihanna bruised and bloodied after assaulting her ahead of the Grammys in 2009.
There is also a tug of war at Roc Nation over the final say on what she is doing.
“But everyone agrees they can’t control Rihanna and can’t stop her seeing Chris, no matter how much they fear the negative public reaction will be.
“It means she probably won’t release another album this year, for fear of a backlash.”
The battle rages over the estate of the Painter of Light Thomas Kinkade, as his mistress Amy Pinto-Walsh yesterday claimed famed commercial artist left her his mansion and millions of dollars.
Amy Pinto-Walsh recently produced a shakily-written will that states she is entitled to Thomas Kinkade’s Monte Sereno, California, mansion and an additional $10 million to start a museum at that location, as well as another $66.3 million in original artwork and collected paintings.
Nanette Kinkade, the artist’s wife of 30 years, has been fighting Amy Pinto-Walsh in court in a bitter struggle for the painter’s will. The two are due in court today in what will undoubtedly be the next chapter of an agonizing spat.
Amy Pinto-Walsh claims the barely-legible will was written by the 54-year-old Thomas Kinkade on November 18 of last year and gives her control over his two properties nestled in Monte Sereno, a wealthy neighborhood in Los Gatos.
The document, originally obtained by the San Jose Mercury News, was scribbled on what seems to be a piece of paper from a legal notepad.
It reads: “I, Thomas Kinkade, being of sound mind and body do hereby bequeath to Amy Pinto Walsh $10,000,000 in cash from my corporate policy.”
Thomas Kinkade also wrote that Amy Pinto-Walsh should have his two properties on Ridgecrest Avenue “for her security”.
It is signed and dated November 18, 2011.
Amy Pinto-Walsh recently produced a shakily-written will that states she is entitled to Thomas Kinkade’s Monte Sereno, California, mansion and an additional $10 million to start a museum at that location, as well as another $66.3 million in original artwork and collected paintings
Thomas Kinkade, who died of an accidental Valium and alcohol overdose in April, was dating Amy Pinto-Walsh at the time of his death.
He was married to Nanette Kinkade for more than 30 years and had four daughters together.
Amy Pinto-Walsh, who was called a gold-digger by the estranged Nanette Kinkade, said after the painter’s death that the two were planning to wed after his divorce was finalized.
In April, lawyers portrayed Thomas Kinkade’s girlfriend as a ruthless gold digger who is out to “tear down” the late artist’s reputation and do irreparable damage to his family.
The restraining order against Amy Pinto-Walsh claimed she broke a confidentiality agreement by talking to reporters the morning Thomas Kinkade was found dead and threatened to reveal his business and personal secrets.
The artist’s bodyguard – who drove him around after he was caught drink driving – said the family had reason to fear Amy Pinto-Walsh because she was prone to “impulsive and erratic” behavior and once threatened to “tear Mr. Kinkade down”.
“Amy was already part of his circle of friends and that really enraged Nanette,” an unnamed source told Radar Online.
“Nanette was furious and humiliated that he not only cheated on her, but moved on so quickly and publicly with her.”
She didn’t make any attempt to hide her frustration either, as she filed a restraining order against his mistress shortly after his death, wanting to stop her from breaching a confidentiality agreement she signed more than a year ago.
The so-called Painter of Light used to estimate that around one out of every 20 homes in America.
His estate – of which Nanette Kinkade is the principal trustee – has filed documents with a Santa Clara court seeking an injunction against Amy Pinto-Walsh, according to Los Gatos Patch.
Thomas Kinkade died of accidental acute intoxication from alcohol and an anti-anxiety medication, an autopsy report revealed.
The Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office reported Thomas Kinkade’s cause of death as “acute ethanol and Diazepam intoxication” and manner of death as “accident”, according to NBC Bay Area.
Diazepam is the active ingredient in name-brand drug Valium.
Thomas Kinkade, whose works captivated millions of Americans despite the scorn of many art critics, died in April at his home in Northern California at the age of 54.
Dallas is back and the new series are set to premiere tonight at 08:00 p.m. on TNT.
Larry Hagman, Linda Gray and Patrick Duffy are joined by newcomers Brenda Strong (Desperate Housewives), Josh Henderson (Desperate Housewives), Jordana Brewster (The Fast and the Furious) and Jesse Metcalfe (Desperate Housewives).
The cast has been everywhere over the past month promoting the premiere Wednesday at 08:00 p.m. on TNT. The youngsters even rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
But controversy is already swirling around the production. Dallas original creator, David Jacobs, was cut out of the new show.
David Jacobs read the new scripts and thought that they were not up to snuff. The new Dallas producers didn’t want David Jacobs involved and tried to list themselves as the creators of the show.
Dallas is back and the new series are set to premiere tonight on TNT
David Jacobs got a lawyer and the Writers Guild to step in and iron out the problems. According to ShowBiz411.com, David Jacobs, creator of Dallas and Knots Landing, said he has been excluded entirely from the coming reboot of the famous series on TNT. He will get to keep his “created by” credit, but nothing else, no money, and no participation.
“I’ll get the $714 Writers Guild fee for a sequel,” David Jacobs says.
He found out that Dallas was being restarted second hand. When he inquired about it, he says he told everyone – including new head writer Cynthia Cidre – that he was essentially retired and didn’t want to write the show.
“I didn’t want any authority,” he told her at their one lunch. But he did think a consultancy wouldn’t be out of the question since basically, Dallas relies on all the characters he created in the 1970s – JR Ewing, Bobby Ewing, Sue Ellen, and their family, even the same Southfork Ranch set.
UEFA gives a suspended six-point deduction to Russia because of the behaviour of their fans during their 4-1 win against Czech Republic at Euro 2012.
Action was taken due to the use of fireworks and far-right banners.
The incident, in which Russian fans attacked stewards, leaving four needing hospital treatment, is being investigated by UEFA and police.
The penalty will apply to the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, and also includes a fine of 120,000 Euros ($147,000).
Russia, who will host the 2018 World Cup, could face further sanctions after their supporters were involved in violence before their game against Poland, which was drawn 1-1, on Tuesday.
UEFA gives a suspended six-point deduction to Russia because of the behaviour of their fans during their 4-1 win against Czech Republic at Euro 2012
A march by thousands of Russian fans to mark their national day had to be halted and some missiles were thrown as supporters clashed with their Polish rivals.
Police say they arrested at least 120 people and that 10 people were injured.
Inside the ground, Russian fans also displayed a provocative banner.
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has released the full list of submissions for new internet address endings.
Requests to the ICANN include .porn, .ninja, and .ferrari.
Several top-level domains have been applied for by more than one party, including .sex, .home and .diy.
Both the US drugmaker Merck & Co and its German rival Merck KGaA appear to have applied for the .merck ending, which may trigger an auction process.
However the .uk manager, Nominet, looks likely to secure .wales and .cymru after no-one filed identical claims.
Likewise the Dot Scot Registry was the only organization to apply for .scot and the League of Arab States the only body to claim .arab.
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has released the full list of submissions for new internet address endings
Samsung – which had objected to the process – has taken part, applying for both .samsung and its equivalent in the Korean alphabet.
However, Coca-Cola and the cereal manufacturer Kellogg’s, which also signed a petition in protest, have abstained.
By contrast Google has applied for dozens of the generic top-level domain (gTLD) name strings.
Obvious choices included .google and .youtube, but there were also unexpected inclusions such as .and, .boo, .dad and .new.
The search giant has also requested .music, which has been claimed by seven other organizations including the online retailer Amazon.
Other gTLDs attracting multiple requests include .art, .book, .news, .play, .shop and .vip.
The most contested name is .app which received 13 applications.
ICANN said that it had received a total of 1,930 requests for its first round of new net names – 166 of them were in alternatives to the Latin alphabet.
It has now invited anyone with an objection to any of the claims to lodge their complaint within the next seven months.
ICANN then aims to make the new domains live in batches of about 500, with the first set going live some time after March 2013.
“The plan we have delivered is solid and fair,” said ICANN’s chief executive, Rod Beckstrom.
“It is our fundamental obligation to increase innovation and consumer choice.”
However, critics have attacked the plan, noting the costs involved and the fact that bodies in the first batch to be processed may gain an unfair advantage.
Nations including Brazil, China and Russia have also suggested ICANN’s functions be passed to the UN or another body more under governments’ control.
Applicants had to pay a $185,000 fee to take part in the application process. They also face a minimum $25,000 annual renewal charge to keep their suffix once it has been granted.
That may have discouraged some public bodies from participating.
One internet brand consultant noted that the business world appeared to be split over the perceived benefits of having one of the names.
“While Next and Boots are investing in a .brand for their online retail future, all the other big British retailers missed the boat,” said Stuart Durham from Melbourne ITDBS.
“The big names of the internet have either invested massively or not at all. Amazon for example has applied for 76 names, Google for 101 and Microsoft 11. But there’s no applications from Facebook or Twitter.
“There are different strategies in play here and some big gambles.”
Angelina Jolie has reportedly picked her wedding date with the help of a Buddhist monk.
Angelina Jolie, 37, is expected to marry fiancé Brad Pitt this summer and sources close to the star have revealed she will chose the top secret date with some spiritual help.
A source told the National Enquirer: “Angie has used Buddhist astrology in the past to help her pick the best or most auspicious days for important moments in her life.
“She’s relied on the Buddhist calendar to plan medical procedures and vacations for herself, Brad and the kids. She’s even used it for picking the dates of her movie openings.
“That’s when Angie was completely converted to Buddhist astrology and she’s not taking that chance with Brad. Angie is convinced the date of their union will guarantee their future happiness.”
Angelina Jolie has reportedly picked her wedding date with the help of a Buddhist monk
According to their friends, Brad Pitt – with whom Angelina Jolie raises six children with – is happy to go along with whatever Angelina Jolie thinks and says she can take her time with choosing the date.
The source added to the National Enquirer magazine: “Brad just goes with the flow. He told Angie to take as much time as she needs. After eight years and six kids together, they clearly aren’t rushing into marriage.”
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have only been dating for a few short months, but they are seriously thinking about their future, according to new reports.
According to Us Weekly, Kanye West, 35, wants Kim Kardashian to make him husband No. 3.
“They’re seriously talking marriage, and yes, she would [accept his proposal],” one of the rapper’s friends told the magazine, adding: “Kanye says he can’t wait to see her carrying his child. He says she will look beautiful pregnant.”
Once Kim Kardashian finalizes her long, drawn out divorce from NBA player Kris Humphries, there’s a very good possibility the two will tie the knot, considering Kanye West was already thinking about seeing Kim walk down the aisle before they were even out as a couple.
In his song Theraflu (Way Too Cold), Kanye West admitted he’d been in love with Kim Kardashian for some time: “And I admit I fell in love with Kim/’Round the same time she fell in love with him” were referring Kim andKris Humphries.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have only been dating for a few short months, but they are seriously thinking about their future
In many ways the couple has been acting as though Kim Kardashian isn’t going through a divorce at all and they haven’t held back when it comes to making grand romantic gestures. According to the New York Daily News, Kanye West was blown away by Kim Kardashian’s surprise visit to Ireland for his 35th birthday the $750,000 Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 she bought him as a gift.
And Kim Kardashian, 31, wasn’t the only one handing out lavish gifts. Media Take Out reports the rapper gave Kim Kardashian a huge diamond ring as a sign of his love for her.
The couple, who is rumored to be moving in together soon, are “the real deal,” a source told Us Weekly, who added that Kim Kardashian is completely smitten with Kanye West.
“I’ve never seen her like this,” said the source.
Kim Kardashian might not want to rush to the alter with Kanye West once she’s officially a single woman again, but experts say the couple is a match made in Hollywood heaven.
“This is a good, good fit for her…,”Millionaire Matchmaker Patti Stanger told Hollywood Life recently.
“They have the attraction, [Kanye’s] got the money, he’s got the talent, [Kim’s] got the money. She traded up for a change, and this is beyond [ex-boyfriend] Reggie [Bush]. It’s an equal fit, if not bigger.”
Shellie Zimmerman, wife of Trayvon Martin’s shooter George Zimmerman, was charged with perjury Tuesday, accused of lying when she told a judge that the couple had limited funds during a hearing that resulted in her husband being released on $150,000 bond.
Shellie Zimmerman, 25, was released on $1,000 bond on the third-degree felony that is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
George Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the teen’s slaying and had been out on bond after the April 20 hearing. However, Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester on June 1 revoked the bond and ordered George Zimmerman returned to the Seminole County Jail. In a strongly worded ruling, Lester said the Zimmermans lied about how much money they had.
George Zimmerman’s attorney Mark O’Mara has said the couple was confused and fearful when they misled court officials about how much money they had. A call and email to him on Tuesday weren’t immediately returned.
Records show Shellie Zimmerman in the days before the hearing transferred $74,000 in eight smaller amounts ranging from $7,500 to $9,990, from her husband’s credit union account to hers, according to an arrest affidavit. It also shows that $47,000 was transferred from George Zimmerman’s account to his sister’s in the days before the bond hearing.
Four days after he was released on bond, Shellie Zimmerman transferred more than $85,500 from her account into her husband’s account, the affidavit said. The affidavit also said that jail call records show that George Zimmerman instructed her to “pay off all the bills,” including an American Express and Sam’s Club card.
Shellie Zimmerman, wife of Trayvon Martin's shooter George Zimmerman, was charged with perjury Tuesday
A state attorney investigator met with credit union officials and learned that she had control of transfers to and from her husband’s account.
Jeffrey Neiman, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, said cash transactions in excess of $10,000 usually trigger a reporting requirement by the bank to multiple government agencies – including the IRS.
“If Mrs. Zimmerman intentionally structured the financial transactions in a manner to keep the offense under $10,000, not only may she have committed perjury in the state case, but she also may have run afoul of several federal statutes and could face serious federal criminal charges,” Jeffrey Neiman wrote in an email to The Associated Press.
George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer, has maintained since the February 26 killing that he shot Trayvon Martin in self-defense because the unarmed 17-year-old was beating him up after confronting Zimmerman about following him in a gated community outside Orlando.
George Zimmerman was arrested 44 days later and at the bond hearing, he took the stand and apologized to Trayvon Martin’s parents.
At the hearing, Shellie Zimmerman testified that the couple, who married in 2007, had limited funds for bail because she was a full-time student and her husband wasn’t working. Prosecutors say they actually had then already raised $135,000 in donations from a website George Zimmerman created. They suggested more had been raised since then.
Shellie Zimmerman was asked about the website at the hearing, but she said she didn’t know how much money had been raised. Judge Kenneth Lester set the $150,000 bail and George Zimmerman was freed a few days later after posting $15,000 in cash, which is typical.
In bringing a motion to have George Zimmerman’s bond revoked lead prosecutor Bernie De la Rionda complained: “This court was led to believe they didn’t have a single penny. It was misleading and I don’t know what words to use other than it was a blatant lie.”
The judge agreed and ordered George Zimmerman returned to jail where he has been since turning himself in on June 3. He didn’t perjure himself, but Kenneth Lester said he knew his wife was lying.
“Does your client get to sit there like a potted plant and lead the court down the primrose path? That’s the issue,” Kennethh Lester said in revoking George Zimmerman’s bond.
“He can’t sit back and obtain the benefit of a lower bond based upon those material falsehoods.”
He has another bond hearing set for June 29.
Bernie De la Rionda presented to the judge during the revocation hearing a partial transcript of telephone conversations George Zimmerman had with his wife from jail, days before the original bond hearing.
George Zimmerman and his wife discussed the amount of money raised from the website, and he spoke in code to tell his wife how to make fund transfers, according to the transcript. The code referred to amounts of “$15” in place of “$150,000.”
In the arrest affidavit, they also spoke about small amounts when really, prosecutors said, they were referring in code to thousands of dollars that Shellie Zimmerman withdrew from her account to pay the bail bondsman.
Rome’s iconic Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain) appears to be the latest monument to show its age as chunks of plaster and stucco, measuring up to three inches wide, have been falling from the structure.
According to The Telegraph, this is due to February unusual cold weather. Snow and ice infiltrated existing cracks then expanded.
Part of the Fontana di Trevi was roped off Monday after the damage was noticed. Pieces that look close to falling off are being removed to protect tourists below.
The fountain was last restored in 1990.
Rome's iconic Fontana di Trevi appears to be the latest monument to show its age as chunks of plaster and stucco have been falling from the structure
Meanwhile, Rome has had to deal with reports that its Colosseum might be crumbling and Venice is levying a tourist tax to help the city weather perpetual crowds. The peninsula, it would be fair to say, has seen better days.
Italy isn’t alone. China’s Great Wall is collapsing due to mining and, in the U.S., a number of historical sites have fallen into disrepair, landing on a list of the most endangered historic places.
A coalition of 15 states, members of European Union, has announced plans to build the biggest telescope in the world.
The mirror inside the telescope will measure 39 metres across – four times wider than today’s biggest telescope – and it will be so powerful that astronomers will even be able to observe dark, rocky planets far beyond our solar system.
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) project is supported by 15 members of the European Union and has the catchy name “European Extremely Large Telescope”… even if it will be built in Chile’s Atacama Desert, to avoid light pollution.
The twin infrared/optical telescope will sit on top of a 3,060 metre mountaintop, giving unparralled views of the sky above, and should hopefully come online in 2022.
Astronomers hope the observatory will help provide insights into the formation of galleries and the nature of black holes
They also hope to shed light on two of the biggest mysteries of our universe – the formation of “dark matter”, which cannot be directly observed but is hypothesized to make up most of the mass of the universe, and “dark energy”, which appears to driving the universe to expand at an accelerating rate.
ESO project is supported by 15 members of the European Union and has the catchy name “European Extremely Large Telescope” even if it will be built in Chile's Atacama Desert, to avoid light pollution
ESO agreed to the optical/infrared telescope in Garching, Germany, (E-ELT) Programme, pending confirmation of final referendums.
All of ESO’s member states have already expressed very strong support for the E-ELT project.
At the council meeting, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland voted in favor of the start of the E-ELT programme.
Four further countries voted in favor ad referendum: Belgium, Finland, Italy, and the UK.
The project has an estimated cost of 1,083 million Euros ($1,320 million).
ESO director general, Tim de Zeeuw said: “This is an excellent outcome and a great day for ESO.
“We can now move forward on schedule with this giant project.”
2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the ESO. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
The team operates three observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor.
At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world’s most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes.
