Khloe Kardashian has revealed how she easily lost weight as the reality star featured the cover of New Beauty magazine’s Winter-Spring 2016 issue (on sale January 5).
According to E! News, Khloe Kardashian has openly expressed her love for the gym and explained that her decision to cut dairy from her diet proved to be very beneficial for her.
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“I’m obsessed with cheese and milk, but eliminating them from my diet made the biggest difference,” the reality star told the publication.
“In a month and a half, I lost 11 pounds just from not eating dairy, without doing anything else different, and that totally blew my mind.”
Khloe Kardashian has also revealed that she is actually a natural blonde.
“The funny thing is that everyone thinks I’m naturally dark because all of my siblings are, but I’m naturally dirty blond. Tracey Cunningham does my color, and little by little my ombré turned into more of a rooted blond, and then it got lighter and lighter. I love how I stand out more as a blond -it makes me feel bright and healthy,” she said.
Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini have been suspended for eight years from all soccer-related activities following an ethics investigation.
The FIFA and UEFA heads were found guilty of breaches surrounding a 2 million euro “disloyal payment” made to Michel Platini in 2011.
The FIFA ethics committee found Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini had demonstrated an “abusive execution” of their positions.
“I will fight for me and for FIFA,” Sepp Blatter, 79, said at a news conference.
Michel Platini said the decision was a “masquerade” intended to “dirty” his name.
Both men continue to deny wrongdoing and intend to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Photo Getty Images
Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, 60, have also been fined $50,000 and $80,000 respectively.
Despite the ban, both Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini will be allowed to attend matches – including Euro 2016 in France – if they buy tickets in a private capacity.
FIFA boss since 1998, Sepp Blatter had already announced he was quitting with a presidential election in February.
Michel Platini was tipped as a future leader of football’s world governing body and is a three-time European Footballer of the Year.
He is also a former captain of France and has been in charge of UEFA – European soccer’s governing body – since 2007.
Unshaven and sporting a plaster over his right cheek, Sepp Blatter was in defiant mood at a news conference he had called in advance of the punishments being made public.
“I will fight,” he said.
“I will fight for me and for FIFA.”
Sepp Blatter said he was “really sorry” that he is still “a punching ball” and that he has become tainted in the eyes of humanity.
He added that he thought he had convinced the FIFA ethics tribunal that the payment from FIFA to Michel Platini was legitimate.
He plans to appeal, first to FIFA, then CAS. He may also take legal action under Swiss law if needed.
“The decision is no surprise to me,” he said in a statement.
“The procedure initiated against me by FIFA’s ethics committee is a pure masquerade.
“It has been rigged to tarnish my name by bodies I know well and who for me are bereft of all credibility or legitimacy.”
In the meantime, UEFA has issued a statement, revealing it is “extremely disappointed” with the decision.
It added: “Once again, UEFA supports Michel Platini’s right to a due process and the opportunity to clear his name.”
Republican presidential hopeful Lindsey Graham has announced he is dropping out of the race for GOP’s nomination.
The South Carolina senator said in a video posted on YouTube: “Today, I’m suspending my campaign for president.”
Lindsey graham, 60, said it had been “a campaign we can be proud of” that was focused on US security.
He has performed well in the second-tier televised debates but failed to make an impact in the polls.
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When Lindsey Graham launched his campaign earlier in the year, the foreign policy hawk emphasized his national security credentials, and he did so again when quitting the race on Monday.
He said the centerpiece of his campaign had been “securing our nation” and he had tried to “turn back the tide of isolationism that has been rising in the Republican Party”.
In this he said he had made enormous progress because some fellow Republicans had come round to his thinking that more US troops were needed on the ground in Syria and Iraq to fight ISIS.
Lindsey Graham’s departure leaves 12 main Republicans left in the contest, six weeks before the battle for each party’s nomination begins in Iowa.
Spain faces political uncertainty after new movements Podemos and Ciudadanos won nearly a third of the seats in the country’s election.
Anti-austerity Podemos and liberal Ciudadanos made big gains as the conservative Popular Party (PP) lost its majority.
“Spain is not going to be the same anymore and we are very happy,” said Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias.
The PP and the Socialists had alternated running the government for more than three decades.
The parties must now embark on negotiations to form a coalition.
The PP had 28.72% of the vote, the Socialists 22.01%, Podemos 20.66% and Ciudadanos 13.93%.
Photo Reuters
PP leader Mariano Rajoy said he would try form a government, insisting: “This party is still the number one force in Spain.”
However, Mariano Rajoy admitted that his party had taken some “difficult and even unpopular decisions” over the past four years as Spain struggled through an economic crisis.
Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez said his party was ready to start negotiations.
“Spain wants a move to the left,” he said.
Many Spaniards are poorer now than they were at the time of the last election, fuelling the rise of Podemos.
Spain’s unemployment remains high at 21%, the second-highest rate in the EU after Greece, although it has fallen from its 2013 peak of 27%.
The economy, corruption allegations and a separatist drive in the prosperous north-eastern region of Catalonia were all dominant issues in the election.
Podemos claimed it won more votes than any other party in Catalonia and the Basque region and came second in Madrid.
“Many people have lost their confidence in traditional parties,” said deputy leader Inigo Errejon.
“The two-party system has ended.”
Podemos’s rise was also hailed by Greek PM Alexis Tspiras, whose Syriza party is its ally.
“Austerity has been politically defeated in Spain,” said Alexis Tsipras, adding that the result was a sign that “Europe is changing”.
Albert Rivera, leader of the fourth-placed party Ciudadanos, meanwhile said the election marked a new era for young Spaniards like him, who were born after the country’s dictatorship ended in 1975.
“Those of us who didn’t experience the first democratic transition are experiencing a second one,” he said.
Election turnout was 73.2% – up slightly compared to the 2011 election.
In line with Spain’s constitution, after talking to each party, King Felipe VI will nominate a candidate for prime minister. This cannot take place until after the new Congress holds its inaugural meeting on January 13.
The nominee must then win a vote of confidence in parliament. If this fails, another candidate can be nominated and seek parliamentary approval.
If no administration can be formed within two months of the election, another must be held.
Chinese rescue teams are looking for survivors after a landslide hit 33 buildings in the southern city of Shenzhen.
Seven people were pulled from the rubble with minor injuries but 91 are still missing. About 900 were evacuated as the landslide struck on December 20.
Local authorities said a huge man-made mound of earth and construction debris lost stability and collapsed.
Shenzhen is one of China’s biggest and is a major industrial center.
The city is situated in the southern province of Guangdong, across the mainland border from Hong Kong.
The landslide has blanketed a vast area of 380,000 sq m covering it with up to 10m of mud at an industrial park, Shenzhen’s emergency management office said on its official microblog.
State news agency Xinhua said that the landslide caused an explosion at a natural gas pipeline. Workers have cleaned up about 400m of damaged pipeline and are now repairing it.
China’s land and resources ministry said in a statement on its website that initial investigations showed the landslide happened when a huge mound of soil, cement chunks and other construction waste became unstable.
“Because the mound was very large, and the angle of its slope was overly steep, this led to it losing stability and collapsing,” it said.
According to People’s Daily, the mound had accumulated at a stone quarry that had been converted into a dumping area with its entrance and exit facing an industrial district.
Residents evacuated from the surrounding area described hearing loud roars when the landslide happened.
Amateur footage of the incident broadcast on state television showed waves of red soil quickly engulfing and crushing buildings.
A video taken by an eyewitness and posted online by Beijing Daily newspaper shows plumes of soil shooting up in the air as the mound of earth collapses.
Jimmy Carter has revealed his grandson, Jeremy Carter, has died at the age of 28.
The former president made the announcement to a church class on December 20 – just two weeks after he charmed the same group by revealing his grandson had beaten cancer.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jimmy Carter arrived about 25 minutes late to his weekly class at the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, and told the congregation his grandson had died just hours earlier.
Jimmy Carter said Jeremy was not feeling well on December 19 and took a nap in the family’s Peachtree City home. Hours later, his mother found him and realized his heart had stopped, the former president said. He died in a hospital on December 20, and the cause of death has not been announced.
Churchgoers told the newspaper Jimmy Carter broke the heartbreaking news, then continued with his class and even stayed to take pictures with those in attendance.
Jimmy Carter, 91, teaches a class at the church every Sunday. Earlier this month, he used his lesson to break the news that months of treatment had eradicated his recent cancer diagnosis.
Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach is this year’s winner of the Miss Universe pageant contest, but for one brief moment on December 20, it appeared as if it might be a repeat win for Colombia.
Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo was already wearing the crown as this year’s Miss Universe winner when host Steve Harvey returned to apologize.
Steve Harvey said it was his mistake and that he would take responsibility for not correctly reading the card, which said that Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach was this year’s winner and Colombia was actually the first runner-up.
The host held up the card for Fox network cameras to see up close afterward. Talking with reporters afterward, Steve Harvey and an executive for pageant owner WME-IMG called it human error.
A mystified Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach appeared stunned as she walked to the front of the stage alongside the crown-wearing Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo before last year’s Miss Universe from Colombia removed the crown and placed it on Wurtzbach’s head.
Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach later said she felt conflicting emotions as the mistake happened: joy when she was told she had indeed won, concern for Colombia contestant Ariadna Gutierrez Aravelo and confusion at the whole situation.
Photo Fox
Miss Philippines said she tried to approach Ariadna Gutierrez Aravelo onstage afterward but the Colombian was crying and surrounded by a crowd of women. She said she realized it was, “probably bad timing.”
“I did not take the crown from her,” Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach told reporters after the pageant concluded, saying she wished the contestant from Colombia well and hoped the Latin American community understands that “none of this was my fault.”
“None of this was done on purpose. It was an honest mistake,” she said, apologizing on behalf of the organization she now represents. She said Steve Harvey told her afterward that she “should just enjoy the moment.”
Steve Harvey also apologized on Twitter, but at first misspelled the home countries of both contestants before also fixing that.
“I’d like to apologize wholeheartedly to Miss Colombia & Miss Philippines for my huge mistake,” he wrote.
“I feel terrible.”
Steve Harvey, who was hosting the contest for the first time, said he re-read the card and noticed it said “first runner-up” next to the Colombia contestant’s name before he asked producers if he had made a mistake.
An executive with pageant owner WME-IMG, Mark Shapiro, said Steve Harvey caught the mistake and corrected it on his own, saying he wanted to make a wrong into a right.
As all this was unfolding, a car drove up onto a sidewalk and struck dozens of people just outside the Planet Hollywood hotel-casino where the pageant was taking place. The Las Vegas Strip was soon jammed with ambulances and fire trucks, and authorities said 37 people were taken to a hospital to be treated for injuries and one person was killed.
The competition started with women representing 80 countries between the ages of 19 and 27. For the first time, viewers at home weighed in, with their votes being tallied in addition to four in-person celebrity judges.
Shortly after Sunday night’s confusion, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos tweeted a message on his official account to Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo.
“For us, you will continue being miss universe! We are very proud!”
Philippines presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda didn’t address the controversial win but said, “in bagging this victory, Ms. Wurtzbach not only serves as a tremendous source of pride for our people, but also holds up the banner of our women and of our country-as a true representative of what the Filipina can achieve.”
It is the third time a contestant from the Philippines has won the title. It could have been the second win in a row for Colombia.
Miss USA Olivia Jordan was named second runner-up.
The new Star Wars movie is on course to smash the record for the biggest box office debut weekend in North America, Disney has said.
Ticket sales are estimated to have made $238 million – the previous record was held by Jurassic World, which took $208.8 million in June.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens has taken an estimated $517 million globally in three days.
That is just behind Jurassic World, which broke the record with $525 million.
Jurassic World had the advantage of opening in China on the same weekend it opened everywhere else, whereas The Force Awakens will not debut in the world’s second biggest cinema-going territory until January 9.
The Force Awakens also set a new opening night record in the US and Canada.
It made $57 million on Thursday night – beating the previous record of $43.5 million held by Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 in 2011.
Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said in a statement: “Our sole focus has been creating a film that delivers that one-of-a-kind Star Wars experience, and director JJ Abrams, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, and the Lucasfilm team have outdone themselves.”
The new Star Wars movie also set a new opening day box office record in the UK and Ireland.
Analysts say the space saga could become the biggest selling movie of all time.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens returns to “a galaxy far, far away” some 30 years on from the action of 1983’s Return of the Jedi.
Nicki Minaj has gone ahead with a concert in Angola despite the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) asking her to cancel it.
The 33-year-old rapper who arrived Angola in a private jet, was reportedly paid $2 million to headline the concert.
The HRF said in a letter that the money to pay her came from “government corruption and human rights violations”.
Nicki Minaj entertained thousands in Luanda on December 19.
The Christmas event was hosted by mobile phone company Unitel, which is part-owned by the family of Angola’s President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.
Since the end of the conflict in 2002, Africa’s second-largest oil producer has witnessed an economic boom, but critics of the elected government say the wealth has only benefited a small elite.
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HRF’s Thor Halvorssen wrote in the letter to Nicki Minaj last week that her participation in a performance sponsored by a government “involved in gross human rights violations would be improper”.
Thor Halvorssen points out that Unitel is controlled by Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the president and said to be Africa’s richest woman.
Transparency International recently named the billionaire as one of 15 symbols of grand corruption worldwide.
Two days after the accusation, Isabel dos Santos’s company Fidequity issued a statement insisting it is an independent company and does not use public funds.
Before going on stage on December 19, Nicki Minaj posted a photo of herself with Angola’s flag on Instagram along with one of her posing with Isabel dos Santos with the words: “She’s just the 8th richest woman in the world. (At least that’s what I was told by someone b4 we took this photo) Lol. Yikes!!!!! GIRL POWER!!!!! This motivates me soooooooooo much!!!!”
Nicki Minaj also shared the stage with several local acts.
The American rapper’s performance came a day after a judge ordered the release of 15 Angolan activists, including prominent rapper Luaty Beirao, who were arrested six months ago during a book reading where one of the books on the agenda was about non-violent resistance to repressive regimes.
The group will return to court next month for their trial’s conclusion on charges of “rebellion” and attempting to carry out a “coup”.
Nicki Minaj is not the only performer to be criticized by rights groups for their choice of gigs.
In 2011, Nelly Furtado said that she would give away $1 million she was paid to perform for the family of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
In 2013, Jennifer Lopez was criticized for singing Happy Birthday to the leader of Turkmenistan, who was accused of human rights violations.
Liam Gallagher has told a court he would like to re-enter the music business and to reform Oasis, but there is currently no chance of it happening.
The Oasis frontman has given evidence in a legal dispute with ex-wife Nicole Appleton over how their assets should be split.
In his ruling, Judge Martin O’Dwyer revealed that Liam Gallagher “would like to re-enter the music business”, but says there is “no prospect” of that.
Much of the hearing was private, but it was revealed that the pair had spent £800,000 ($1.2 million) on legal fees.
Judge Martin O’Dwyer said he was concerned at how much the pair, who separated in 2013 after five years of marriage, had spent on their battle at the Central Family Court in London.
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“The level of costs in this case, totaling over £800,000, are manifestly excessive for the determination of the dispute, which involves capital sums not much greater at the end of the day than £10 million.”
After hearing evidence from the pair several months ago, Judge Martin O’Dwyer decided their money and property should be divided equally, with each receiving £5.4 million.
The judge had originally banned all reporting of the case, but has now allowed much of his ruling to be released.
Referring to Oasis, the judge wrote: “It was formed in 1991 and discontinued in 2009, it is said after an argument between [Liam Gallagher] and his brother.
“[Liam Gallagher] says there are no plans to reform and, although he would like to do so, he does not anticipate there is a possibility currently of any such reform.
“Subsequent to Oasis, [Liam Gallagher] formed another group called Beady Eye but they disbanded in 2014.”
The judge added: “Although he expressly would like to re-enter the music business, currently he says there is no prospect of that.”
After Oasis split, Liam Gallagher’s brother and former bandmate Noel formed his band High Flying Birds, who are going on tour in 2016.
According to a new research, at least 15 rebel forces in Syria are ready to succeed ISIS if it is defeated by the US-led coalition.
The Centre on Religion & Geopolitics, linked to former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, also says that 60% of the rebels could be classified as Islamists.
It argues that attempts by world powers to distinguish between moderate and extremist factions are flawed.
Western countries have stepped up air strikes against ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
But the Centre on Religion and Geopolitics said the greatest danger to the international community was groups who share the ISIS ideology but are currently being ignored.
They number about 100,000 fighters, the centre said.
“The West risks making a strategic failure by focusing only on ISIS,” the centre said.
“Defeating it militarily will not end global jihadism. We cannot bomb an ideology, but our war is ideological.”
If ISIS is defeated, dispersed fighters and other extremists could attack targets outside Syria under a rallying cry that “the West destroyed the Caliphate”, the centre warned.
Such new groups could compete for the spotlight to ensure allegiance from the global fighters and financing that ISIS currently attracts.
By contrast, fewer than a quarter of the rebels surveyed were not ideological, the centre said.
But many of those were willing to fight alongside extremists and would probably accept an Islamist political settlement to the civil war, it claimed.
In response, the military campaign against ISIS must be accompanied by an “intellectual and theological defeat of the pernicious ideology that drives it”, the centre said.
It also said that unless President Bashar al-Assad leaves or is removed from office, the war in Syria is likely to spread further.
Spanish voters are to go to the polls in a landmark election that will see more than two parties compete for power for the first time in decades.
Newcomers Podemos, an anti-austerity party, and Citizens, a liberal party, are challenging the ruling Popular Party (PP) and the Socialists.
Opinion polls have put PM Mariano Rajoy’s PP narrowly ahead.
While he has been in power, Spain has emerged from a financial crisis into a period of economic growth.
The conservative PP currently has a majority in Spain’s lower house of parliament.
Podemos and Citizens are fielding national candidates for the first time.
Both Podemos and Citizens look set to take a take a large chunk of the vote, ending the power monopoly of Spain’s traditional heavyweights.
It is almost certain that no party will get a majority of lawmakers in the parliament meaning some form of coalition will have to be agreed before a government can be formed.
Spanish politics have been dominated by the economy, corruption allegations and a separatist drive in the prosperous northeastern region of Catalonia.
Mariano Rajoy’s administration adopted unpopular austerity measures and job reforms that have been credited with returning the Spanish economy to growth.
Candidates:
Pablo Iglesias, 37, university lecturer, leader of new anti-capitalist party Podemos. Sound-bite: “The problem isn’t Greece, the problem is Europe. Germany and the IMF are destroying the political project of Europe.”
Pedro Sanchez, 43, academic, leader of established Socialist party (PSOE). Sound-bite: “The head of the government, Mariano Rajoy, has to be a decent person, and you are not.”
Albert Rivera, 36, lawyer and former competitive swimmer, leader of new Citizens (Ciudadanos) party. Sound-bite: “They [Podemos] blame the system – we blame the people who have corrupted the system.”
Mariano Rajoy, 60, current prime minister and leader of established, conservative Popular Party. Sound-bite: “Who today is talking about bailout Spain? No-one.”
However, unemployment remains high at 21%, the second-highest rate in the EU after Greece, although it has fallen from its 2013 peak of 27%.
The PP has also been damaged by corruption scandals.
The central government in Madrid has also had to contend with an attempt by Catalonia to breal away from the rest of Spain.
Pro-independence parties in Catalonia won an absolute majority in regional elections in September and a month later passed a motion to begin the process of declaring independence.
Spain’s Constitutional Court has revoked that motion, but Catalonia’s leaders said they would ignore it.
Mariano Rajoy has vowed to quash the threat to Spanish unity, but other parties favor negotiations to devolve more power to the region, which accounts for about a fifth of Spain’s economic output.
Ahead of the vote, the party leaders made a point of relaxing as they observed a “day of reflection”.
Mariano Rajoy said he wanted some fresh air and went for a jog around the official prime minister’s residence.
However his campaign was marred last week after a teenager punched him in the face during a visit to the town of Pontevedra in the northwest.
Mariano Rajoy has also raised questions about his future by including his deputy, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, on campaign posters and fielding her in his place during a leaders TV debate.
Meanwhile Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez, a 43-year-old former basketball player, watched his daughters play basketball match and Pablo Iglesias booked a ticket for the new Star Wars movie.
Polling stations open at 9AM and close at 8PM. Exit polls are expected minutes afterwards and complete results are due two days later.
Democrat presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has apologized to fellow candidate Hillary Clinton after his staff stole valuable voting data from her campaign.
“This is not the type of campaign that we run,” Bernie Sanders said during Abc New debate on December 19.
The candidates criticized Republican frontrunner Donald Trump for his call to ban Muslims from entering the United States.
They clashed over Syria, with Bernie Sanders accusing Hillary Clinton of being set on regime change while she said US leadership was needed.
Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley also took part in the debate in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton remains the frontrunner.
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On Syria, Hillary Clinton insisted that the US should seek to remove President Bashar al-Assad from power.
“If the US does not lead, there is not another leader – there is a vacuum,” she said.
Bernie Saunders however argued that the US should first concentrate on defeating ISIS.
“Getting rid of dictators is easy, but you have to think about what happens the day after,” he said.
Both the main speakers had strong words for Donald Trump, with Hillary Clinton calling him “the biggest recruiter for ISIS” and saying he used “bigotry and bluster to inflame people”.
The debate was the first for Democrats since 14 people were killed by a married couple that the authorities say had been radicalized.
All three candidates said it was important to work more closely with Muslim-American communities to tackle radicalism at home.
Bernie Sanders admitted that on two occasions his campaign could see proprietary data from Hillary Clinton’s campaign following computer breaches – which he said were the fault of the software vendor.
He said that the most recent breech involved inappropriate behavior by one of his staff members, adding that person had now been dismissed.
Bernie Sanders said that the Democratic Party’s decision to temporarily suspend his campaign’s access to the strategically crucial database was “an egregious act”.
The Sanders campaign on December 18 filed a lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee in a federal court to restore its access to the voter data.
Strategically important information on voters is contained in the database, which campaigns use to decide strategy.
That data takes on a crucial role as campaigns prepare for early primary voting in just over a month’s time.
Mining giants BHP Billiton and Vale’s assets in Brazil have been blocked by a federal judge over the deadly collapse of a dam.
The joint-venture company they own, Samarco, does not have enough resources to cover the potential damages, estimated at 20.2 billion reais ($5.2 billion), the judge ruled.
Samarco owned the dam, which held back waste water from iron ore mining.
The dam burst last month, flooding a vast area and killing at least 13 people.
Anglo-Australian company BHP Billiton and Brazil-based Vale said they had not been officially notified.
Judge Marcelo Aguiar Machado’s ruling was published on December 18.
The two companies will also have to implement “immediate damage-mitigating environmental measures” or they will be liable to a daily fine of 150 million reais ($38 million), ruled Judge Marcelo Aguiar Machado.
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On November 28, the Brazilian government filed a lawsuit against Samarco for the environmental damage caused by the accident.
Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said the accident in the south-eastern state of Minas Gerais had “a huge impact from an environmental point of view”.
The village of Bento Rodrigues was totally destroyed and the toxic mud generated by the November 5 dam collapse polluted drinking water over a vast area.
The money will be used to compensate the victims and help repair the environment.
“It is not a natural disaster, it is a disaster prompted by economic activity, but of a magnitude equivalent to those disasters created by forces of nature,” said Izabella Teixeira when the lawsuit was filed.
About 310 miles of the Rio Doce – one of Brazil’s most important rivers – will have to be dredged in parts, vegetation replanted and fresh-water springs cleared, the minister said.
Less than a week after the accident, Samarco had its mining license suspended.
Samarco also agreed to pay 1 billion reais ($260 million) temporary compensation to the victims.
Scott Weiland died from a toxic mix of drugs including cocaine, alcohol and ecstasy, The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office has said.
The medical examiner also noted a history of heart disease, asthma and substance abuse.
Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland, who was 48, was found dead on his tour bus outside a hotel in Bloomington, Minneapolis, on December 3.
The medical examiner determined Scott Weiland’s death was an accident.
Bloomington police said at the time they recovered a small amount of cocaine on the tour bus.
Photo Getty Images
Scott Weiland rose to fame with the Stone Temple Pilots, becoming one of the most commercially successful US bands in the early 1990s.
After the band split up in 2003, Scott Weiland went on to front supergroup Velvet Revolver alongside Slash, Matt Sorum and Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses and Dave Kushner of Wasted Youth.
Scott Weiland had a long history of substance abuse-related arrests – in 1995, he was convicted of buying crack cocaine and sentenced to probation.
The singer was jailed in 1999 for violating his probation after being convicted of heroin possession in 1998, and four years later was sentenced to three years’ probation for drug possession.
In 2008, Scott Weiland was sentenced to eight days in jail after pleading no contest to a DUI charge.
Velvet Revolver frequently had to alter schedules to accommodate Scott Weiland’s court appearances and spells in rehab, parting ways the following year, blaming the singer’s “erratic behavior”.
Scott Weiland later returned to the reformed Stone Temple Pilots – but in 2013 they, too, ejected him from the band, claiming he had been “misappropriating” their name to further his solo career.
German conductor Kurt Masur, who led the New York Philharmonic orchestra, has died at the age of 88.
New York Philharmonic President Matthew VanBesien said Masur had “left a legacy that lives on today”.
Kurt Masur was music director of the philharmonic from 1991-2002 and is credited with reinvigorating it.
Prior to that, Kurt Masur led the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in eastern Germany for 26 years.
In the celebrations marking the reunification of Germany on October 3, 1990, Kurt Masur directed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
As the East German regime collapsed in the 1980s, Kurt Masur was credited with using his influence to help prevent a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.
Many thought he should become East Germany’s first post-Communist leader but instead he moved to the US.
Kurt Masur’s death on December 19 was announced by the New York Philharmonic.
“It is with the deepest sadness that I write on behalf of the Masur family and the New York Philharmonic that Kurt Masur – our inspiring music director, 1991-2002, and music director emeritus – passed away,” Matthew VanBesien said.
Rita Ora is suing to try to leave Jay-Z’s Roc Nation record label and is claiming that the company has an illegal contract with her.
The 25-year-old X Factor judge joined the company at the age of 18 and was one of Jay-Z’s first signings.
On December 17, Rita Ora filed papers at the Los Angeles Superior Court saying that her contract is “unenforceable”.
Since her signing, Rita Ora has only released one self-titled album, her debut in 2012.
She is claiming the company’s “other” interests has left her forgotten about and describes herself as being “orphaned” by Roc Nation.
Aside from being a record label, Roc Nation also has business interests in sports management and Tidal, Jay-Z’s streaming service.
The complaint reads: “When Rita signed, Roc Nation and its senior executives were very involved with her as an artist.
“As Roc Nation’s interests diversified, there were fewer resources available and the company suffered a revolving door of executives.
“Rita’s remaining supporters at the label left or moved on to other activities, to the point where she no longer had a relationship with anyone at the company.”
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It also calls Roc Nation a “diminished” record label with “only a handful of admittedly worthy heritage superstar artists”.
Roc Nation’s music is still distributed by Sony, despite the label switching distribution partners to Universal in 2013.
The complaint says: “Between Sony’s limited economic return from its orphaned relationship with Roc Nation and Sony’s indirect relationship with Rita, Rita is caught in a political quagmire of dysfunction.”
Seven years on from signing to Roc Nation, Rita Ora is using Labor Code (§2855) known as the Seven Year Rule to try to leave the label.
It was used in 1944 by actress Olivia De Havilland, who used it to break free with Warner Bros.
However, artists such as Courtney Love and Thirty Seconds to Mars have had the law used against them with labels demanding damages for albums not made during the seven years of their contracts.
Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, the leaders of India’s opposition Congress party, have appeared in court in connection with corruption allegations.
The mother and son were both granted bail minutes after arriving, and the case was adjourned until February 20, the AFP reported.
Sonia and Rahul Gandhi deny misusing party funds to buy a company that published the now-closed National Herald newspaper.
The case has been brought by a member of the ruling BJP.
Subramanian Swamy says the Gandhis took over the company to try to acquire more than $300 million in property assets.
The Delhi high court on December 7 rejected the Gandhis’ plea to be exempted from making personal appearance in the district court at Patiala House on December 19.
Sonia Gandhi, the party president, welcomed being granted bail and said she had no doubt that truth would prevail.
Rahul Gandhi, who is the party vice-president, accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and PM Narendra Modi of making false allegations against him and his mother and said they would not be defeated.
The National Herald ceased publication in 2008. The party had previously said it wanted to revive the paper, established in 1938 by India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
However, Subramanian Swamy has alleged that Sonia and Rahul Gandhi used party funds illegally to acquire the newspaper’s properties.
The case has also disrupted the current session of parliament, with lawmakers accusing the ruling BJP of a “political vendetta”.
The BJP has rejected the allegations.
“How is parliament involved if some people have been summoned by a court? You [Gandhis] want to silence the judiciary. You want to intimidate the judiciary. You are telling the judiciary, how dare you summon us,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said.
Congress party lost the general election in 2014, winning only 44 of the 543 seats after governing India for 10 years. The BJP won a landslide victory.
Brazil’s Finance Minister Joaquim Levy has resigned as Latin America’s largest economy struggles to recover from recession.
Joaquim Levy has decided to leave after disagreements with President Dilma Rousseff and the governing Worker’s Party over his austerity policies.
He is being replaced by a close ally of Dilma Rousseff, the current Planning Minister Nelson Barbosa.
Brazil is facing its worst recession in 25 years.
In a statement, Joaquim Levy said he remained confident that the economy could recover in 2016.
“Time will show that we will reap the results of all that has been done this year, putting the Brazilian economy back on track,” he wrote.
Brazil’s economy shrank by 1.7% in Q3 of 2015 compared with Q2. Compared with a year ago, the economy is 4.5% smaller.
Inflation is also on the rise, with the annual rate hitting 10% in November 2015.
Joaquim Levy’s resignation is a huge blow to those who advocated tougher budgets and limited austerity to tackle Brazil’s deepening economic crisis.
His attempts to tighten government budgets were repeatedly blocked by Worker’s Party stalwarts in Congress.
The new minister says he will keep a tight control on public spending.
Nelson Barbosa: “If we control government spending we will manage to control public debt and we will eventually be able to reduce public debt.”
Inflation is expected to begin falling next year, he added.
Photo Forbes
President Dilma Rousseff gave no reason for Joaquim Levy’s departure.
The change comes amid a serious political crisis in Brazil.
Earlier this month the Speaker of the lower house of Congress, Eduardo Cunha, agreed to begin impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff over alleged irregularities in the management of last year’s budget.
On December 18, however, the Supreme Court handed Dilma Rousseff an important victory.
It scrapped a commission set up to deal with impeachment proceedings against the president, in a major setback for the opposition.
The court also gave more powers to the government-controlled Senate to block the impeachment process.
The ruling means that proceedings initiated earlier this month will have to start from scratch.
The majority of Rwandans have voted to allow President Paul Kagame to extend his term in office, initial referendum results show.
Some 98% of voters support changing the constitution to allow Paul Kagame to run again in 2017 after his second term ends, the National Electoral Commission said.
Paul Kagame, 58, could remain in power until 2034 if the changes are passed.
The vote took place despite criticism of such an amendment by the US and other Western donors.
Rwanda’s electoral commission said 21 out of 30 districts had published results so far, covering about 70% of voters.
Full results are due to be released later on December 19.
Paul Kagame has not said if he will run again, but he is widely expected to.
Asked at the polling station if he would stay on, the president said: “What is happening is the people’s choice. Ask people why they want me.”
However, the US has said Paul Kagame should step down in 2017 to allow a new generation of leaders to emerge.
Rights groups accuse the government of stifling the media and political opposition.
The small opposition Democratic Green Party claimed it had been prevented from campaigning against the change.
Paul Kagame has been president since 2000 but has held power since 1994, when his rebel force entered the capital Kigali to end Rwanda’s genocide.
The debate over extending presidential terms has led to instability in other African countries such as Burundi and Congo Republic, but has not caused unrest in Rwanda.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens has set a new opening night box office record in the US and Canada, industry experts said.
The new Star Wars movie made $57 million on December 17, beating the previous record of $43.5 million held by Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 in 2011.
Analysts say the space saga could become the biggest selling movie of all time.
Rentrak’s Paul Dergarabedian, one of Hollywood’s best-known box office analysts, said the movie’s opening night performance in the US and Canada “portends a massive and potentially record-breaking opening day and weekend for the film”.
Analysts expect The Force Awakens to make about $200 million in the US and Canada over its opening weekend, a total that could challenge the record Jurassic World set earlier this year.
The latest installment in the dinosaur theme park franchise made almost $209 million in its first three days on North American release in June.
Analysts say The Force Awakens opened on December 17 so would have to perform staggeringly well over the weekend to top the latest James Bond movie.
Directed by JJ Abrams, Star Wars: The Force Awakens returns to “a galaxy far, far away” some 30 years on from the action of 1983’s Return of the Jedi.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens sees original trilogy stars Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher reprise their Han Solo and Princess Leia roles alongside younger franchise newcomers.
A Virginia school district has decided to close all schools on December 18 after a geography lesson that included Islam sparked vociferous complaints from around the country.
Students were asked to trace Arabic calligraphy in an exercise some parents said amounted to indoctrination.
Officials said the schools were closed out of an “abundance of caution” and there were no specific safety threats.
School administrators say a different lesson will be used in the future.
One week ago, students at Riverheads High School were studying the Middle East and were asked to trace a piece of Arabic calligraphy that translated to: “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.”
Some pupils refused the assignment and parents accused the teacher of indoctrination.
Officials with the Augusta County school district were quick to point out that the study of a region’s religion and language are included in geography lessons.
However, anger built up and by December 16 complaints had become so numerous that the school’s doors were locked and monitored.
By December 18, the messages – described as profane and hateful – had increased and the decision was made to close the schools.
Officials said that no specific threats were received, but law enforcement officials and the school district board recommended the closure because they were being cautious.
The lesson was intended to illustrate the complexity of the Arabic language, they said, and not meant to promote any religious system.
However, future classes will use a different, non-religious example of Arabic.
The decision to close the schools has drawn criticism as well.
“It looks like fear wins again,” a resident told the News Virginian newspaper.
On the newspaper’s Facebook account, locals have been debating the closure with one man saying: “Our patriot forefathers are rolling in their graves.”
Another resident posted: “How do these terrified people leave their houses every day?”
Prince William and Kate Middleton have announced the nursery school Prince George is to attend alongside the release of a new picture of their family.
Prince George, 2, will go to the Westacre Montessori School Nursery in Norfolk from January.
A nursery spokesman said: “We are looking forward to welcoming George to our nursery.”
The nursery is close to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s home, Anmer Hall.
The nursery said Prince George would “get the same special experience as all of our children”.
Photo Chris Jelf
The new picture shows the duke and duchess with their children Prince George and Princess Charlotte in the garden at Kensington Palace. It was taken in late October by photographer Chris Jelf.
Kensington Palace said that the royal couple were “very much looking forward to their first Christmas as a family of four” and “hugely appreciative of all the warm messages they have received about their family this year”.
The early learning at the Westacre Montessori School was rated good by Ofsted after an inspection in June 2015. It costs £5.50 an hour or £33 a day to attend the nursery.
The school follows the principles of an Italian doctor called Maria Montessori who developed a new approach to teaching in the early 20th Century, in which children take responsibility for their own learning.
Prince William was the first senior royal to go to nursery and not start his education in a palace.
