Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom went on their own secret getaway earlier this summer to help with some marriage woes.
A source told Us Weekly: “There were lots of kisses and tears. It was a really good time for them to spend time together and focus on each other.
“They’re committed to the relationship [and] they adore each other.”
Khloe Kardashian – who has been getting herself in tip top shape recently – revealed that she still feels like a newlywed and the couple are not in a rush to have kids.
She said: “I love my little lamb. He’s pretty cute.
Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom went on their own secret getaway earlier this summer to help with some marriage woes
“Time flies. Time really does fly. And I consider myself a newlywed. Four years is a lot in this weird world that we’re all in, but it’s not a lot in the grand scheme of things.
“I’ve been married almost four years now. I’m still in my newlywed phase is what I call it, so whenever it’s time for me to have a baby, that’s when it’s gonna be time.”
Khloe Kardashian understands why people doubted her marriage would last because she tied the knot just one month after meeting Lamar Odom, 33, for the first time, but insists she instantly knew he was “the one” for her.
She explained: “I met him on August 27 and I married him on September 27, so it was 30 days. That’s the first time I ever met him, so I completely understand everyone’s criticism.
“If I wasn’t me, I would have been judging too. I would have been like <<You’re crazy and you’re insane and you don’t even know this person>>.
“But I just felt something. We both did and I went with it and it’s fun. I love our story too. I’m not sure I would recommend it for everyone, but I love that I could say this is our story.”
Paula Hamilton claims she lost her virginity to Simon Cowell when she was 16, and they remained childhood sweethearts when she was growing up in Hertfordshire.
Jackie St Clair, 1970s
Simon Cowell and Jackie St Claire dated on and off during the 1970s. Like Simon Cowell and many of his exes, they have remained friends and are often seen out on the town together.
Louise Payne, 1995 – 1998
Simon Cowell is said to been engaged to former Page Three model Louise Payne. They met in 1995 shortly after Louise Payne split from Right Said Fred Drummer Fred Fairbrass.
Sinitta, 1985 to 2000 (on and off)
Sinitta and Simon Cowell engaged an on-off relationship for nearly twenty years before she had an affair with David Essex.
Alicia Douvall, 2001
Alicia Douvall and Simon Cowell dated for six months in 2001.
Simon Cowell is constantly surrounded by a harem of beautiful women, and has remained close to all of his ex-girlfriends
Georgina Law, 2000 – 2001
Simon Cowell and lap dancer Georgina Law dated for a year after he met her during a night out at Spearmint Rhino gentleman’s club.
Terri Seymour, 2002 – 2006
Terri Seymour and Simon Cowell dated for four years before their split in 2006. Following their break-up, Terri Seymour continued living in one of his Los Angeles homes for a further three years.
Jasmine Lennard, 2006
While Simon Cowell and Jasmine Lennard only had a short-lived six month affair, she has since called him the “love of her life”. During her appearance on Celebrity Big Brother in 2012, Jasmine Lennard insisted she and Simon cowell still care about each other “very much”.
Dannii Minogue, 2007
Simon Cowell and Dannii Minogue’s fling during their time together on the X Factor panel in 2007 was revealed in Tom Bower’s tell-all book last year.
Mezhgan Hussainy, 2009 – 2011
Simon Cowell met make-up artist Mezhgan Hussainy on the set of American Idol back in 2003. They began a relationship and got engaged in 2010.Their split was confirmed in February 2012 by a mutual friend Zeta Graff, who said Mezhgan Hussainy had been “too needy” for Simon Cowell.
Carmen Electra, 2012 – 2013
Simon Cowell and his X Factor fellow judge Carmen Electra were first romantically linked in late 2012, when they were seen out on several dates together. They called things off in early 2013.
Lauren Silverman, 2013
On 31st of July, 2013, it was revealed that Simon Cowell is expecting a baby with New York socialite Lauren Silverman, who is still married to real estate mogul Andrew Silverman.
A close friend of Simon Cowell confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that socialite Lauren Silverman – the wife of Cowell’s friend Andrew Silverman – was expecting his child, and claimed she wanted to marry him.
Although Lauren and her husband Andrew Silverman, who have a son together, have holidayed together on numerous occasions over the past four years, it wasn’t until they ended their union around a year ago that her friendship with Simon Cowell turned to romance.
Meanwhile, Simon Cowell’s mother, Julie, 87, seemed thrilled at the prospect of becoming a grandmother, telling The Sun: “I’ve not heard anything officially. But if it’s true then I’m absolutely delighted. It’s wonderful! He’ll make a fantastic father. He’ll be great.”
And Lauren Silverman’s stepmother confirmed she was expecting a child with the music mogul. Rosy Davis, who is the wife of the socialite’s father Steven, spoke of the family’s joy at the news: “We are all excited for the baby. It’s beautiful. We feel blessed. Any kid is a blessing.”
Lauren Silverman is said to be “around 10 weeks along” in the pregnancy, according to Us Weekly magazine.
Lauren Silverman is expecting Simon Cowell’s child and claims she wants to marry him
Simon Cowell and Lauren Silverman’s situation is made more complicated by the fact that she is still married to Andrew.
However, some reports claim that the property magnate filed for divorce earlier this month.
Lauren and Andrew Silverman, who have a seven-year-old son called Adam, are now officially separated. It is not known whether Andrew Silverman filed the legal papers after learning of his wife’s pregnancy with Simon Cowell, although their break-up does leave his estranged wife free to start a new life with the music mogul.
Andrew Silverman is being represented by Manhattan family lawyers Cohen Goldstein and filed his affidavit on July 24.
Simon Cowell and Lauren Silverman are believed to have met while on vacation in Barbados some years ago through Andrew Silverman.
However, a source revealed that there had been issues in the Silvermans’ marriage right from the start – as Andrew Silverman’s parents Eleonora and Allen never attended their wedding.
Andrew Silverman now believes Lauren started cheating on him with Simon Cowell during one of the many vacations they all shared together.
A source told Usmagazine.com: “Lauren and Andrew have been unhappy in their marriage for some time, and their divorce has been in the works for a while. As their marriage deteriorated, she and Simon became close.”
Simon Cowell, 53, and Lauren Silverman, 36, have been seeing each for at least a year, according to friends, and were even seen viewing houses together in Los Angeles earlier this year.
The music mogul made no reference to impending fatherhood when he opened up to Chelsea Handler during an interview on her talk show on Tuesday night, sticking to topics including One Direction and his recent health kick.
It remains to be seen just how the news that he is to be a father will go down with Simon Cowell, who has never made a secret of the fact that he doesn’t believe he is the right material to become a parent.
Simon Cowell’s close friend, former flame and confidante, 80’s pop icon Sinitta, was less than impressed with the news that he is set to father a child with New York-based socialite Lauren Silverman.
Taking to her Twitter page two days before news of Simon Cowell’s impending fatherhood broke to the world, the 49-year-old singer appeared to suggest the situation was “half miracle, half nightmare”.
Although Sinitta didn’t directly reference Lauren Silverman’s pregnancy in her tweet, the timely posting seemed to allude to Simon Cowell’s parenthood.
Writing on July 29, Sinitta said: “Something has just happened ..half miracle, half nightmare! #WakeMeUpIWantToGetOff!!”
And the rest of Cowell’s harem of close female friends, including former flames Mezhgan Hussainy, Terri Seymour and Jackie St Clair, seem equally unimpressed, according to reports.
Simon Cowell’s former flame Sinitta was less than impressed with the news that he is set to father a child with Lauren Silverman
A friend close to Simon Cowell said: “Simon is in no doubt the child is his. The other girls can’t believe that she is the one who has [got his baby]. They’ve all met her, they know who she is and they have been reduced to tears by this.
“She has apparently been going around telling people for the last three to six months that she is going to have his baby. Simon has been very stressed in the last few months with his various shows and juggling everything that he has in his life.
“In the harem hierarchy, Lauren is regarded as the fun, party girl. Simon is [said to be] freaked out by this but there is no question that he will not support the child.”
However, one person quick to voice his excitement was comedian David Walliams, who appeared to confirm the news via a jokey post on his Twitter page.
David Walliams – who recently welcomed his first child with model wife Lara Stone – wrote: “Oh yeah, and @SimonCowell is doing a baby with a lady.
“For the record @SimonCowell and I tried to have a baby together for many years. But I just couldn’t get pregnant.”
Simon Cowell’s relationship history includes romances with Sinitta, Terri Seymour and Alicia Douvall, with many of his exes joining him on an annual Caribbean holiday each January.
The US economy grew at an annualized pace of 1.7% in the second quarter of 2013, the Commerce Department has said.
That was a faster pace than expected by economists.
It was also up from the growth rate for the first three months of 2013, which was revised lower to 1.1% from 1.8%.
A slowdown was widely expected due to the impact of federal spending cuts, but also from the continuing weakness in the global economy.
In March, $85 billion of public spending was cut as a result of a deal between Democrat and Republican politicians.
But the Commerce Department said that the federal government cut spending by only 1.5% in the April-to-June period, compared with a sharp drop of 8.4% in the first quarter.
The US economy grew by 0.4% in the second quarter compared with the previous three months. That compares to 0.6% growth in the UK in the same period.
The US economy grew at an annualized pace of 1.7 percent in the second quarter of 2013
The eurozone’s GDP figures are released on August 14. The 18-member region shrank 0.2% in the first quarter – the sixth quarter of decline in a row.
“We have an upside surprise in the GDP, which speaks volumes for the job recovery that we’re putting together,” said Andre Bakhos, a market analyst at Lek Securities in New York.
“The recovery in the economy is starting to take root. This will be an interesting development given the fact that we’ll have a Fed announcement today.”
The Federal Reserve meets on Wednesday to make its latest statement on its massive bond-buying programme to stimulate the economy.
Consumer spending accounts for about 70% of US GDP. Official figures showed that consumers spent less in the second quarter than in the first, with personal consumption expenditure up 1.8%, compared with 2.3% previously.
As well as the last set of quarterly figures, the Commerce Department also revised growth figures going back several decades.
It said the US economy now grew by 2.8% in 2012, up from its previous estimate of 2.2%. This may help to explain why growth appeared weak last year but hiring continued to improve.
The government also said that the economy contracted by 4.3% during the recession, which lasted from December 2007 to June 2009, better than the previous estimate of a 4.7% drop.
The economy expanded by 8.2% from the middle of 2009 through to the end of last year, which was more than the 7.6% previously suggested.
The latest figures showed a pickup in both imports and exports. Exports rose 5.4% in the second quarter, compared with a drop of 1.3% in the first quarter. Imports jumped 9.5%, compared with an increase of 0.6% in the previous quarter.
Vanity Fair International Best-Dressed List is finally over as the most fashionable people of 2013 have been declared.
Some of the choices were far from surprising. Kate Middleton makes the list for the fourth time since she first appeared in 2008.
Princess Letizia of Asturias is also on the List, as is Princess Madeleine of Sweden.
Scandal actress Kerry Washington, who graced the cover of the magazine’s August issue, made the number one spot.
Gisele Bundchen, Charlize Theron and Justin Timberlake also appeared, as did Stella Tenant.
Victoria Beckham was also listed.
There were the obvious choices, and then the more intriguing ones. Peng Liyuan, the wife of the Chinese President Xi Jinping, makes her debut this year. Peng Liyuan, who is also a singer and performing artist, has been feted for adding some glamor to her husband’s staid office.
Kate Middleton was included in Vanity Fair’s International Best-Dressed List for the fourth time
But if the List charts those whose star is on the rise, those whom it excludes must feel the burn. With that in mind, it’s interesting that the List’s compilers have failed to include Michelle Obama – for the second year running. Barack Obama hasn’t appeared since 2009.
In fact, the wives of Western politicians are conspicuously absent. Samantha Cameron hasn’t appeared since she was included for the first time in 2010. And, while Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is a veteran of the List, having appeared four times, the wife of the former French president isn’t in the List this year.
For some, the List is a sacred affair, but there are those who treat it more lightheartedly. While Lara Stone, appearing in the Couples category with husband David Walliams, said her favorite item of clothing is “my wedding dress, made by Riccardo Tisci”, David said his were his “Charvet pajamas”.
He added that his style icon is Italian actress “Ornella Muti as Princess Aura in Flash Gordon”.
When asked who his is, Keith Richards, new to the List, responded: “Why should I [have one]… I am one!”
He also insisted that: “I don’t shop!”
Other newbies include Beyonce and Dita von Teese. The burlesque dancer said her favorite article of clothing is “The <<Hussar>> gown from Jean Paul Gaultier’s 2002 winter haute couture collection”. Fittingly, her style icons are “the women of 1940s-era fetish artist John Willie”.
Ronan Farrow, a writer, human-rights lawyer and diplomat but better known as the son of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen, was also included.
For the first time in its history, the fashion’s who’s who has been opened up to the public. The International Best-Dressed Challenge, as it was known, invited submissions from readers. Fashion blogger Hallie Swanson and interior Designer Darren Henault were selected.
Hallie Swanson’s style icon is Miranda Kerr.
Darren Henault’s styel icon is “Bill Blass with a touch of Pee-wee Herman and the Mad Hatter thrown in”.
Queen Elizabeth II was expected to urge British people to pray and remain united and resolute in the event of the “madness” of nuclear war, papers from 1983 show.
The script for a hypothetical broadcast has the Queen describing the threat to the “brave country” as “greater” than any other in history.
It also mentions the Queen’s son Prince Andrew, then in the Royal Navy.
The speech, devised by Whitehall officials at one of the most fraught Cold War periods, was never recorded.
The document, released by the government under the 30-year rule, was drawn up as part of a war-gaming exercise in the spring of 1983, which worked through potential scenarios.
Among the other pieces of history released from the archives on Thursday were:
Margaret Thatcher blocked a 21-year-old William Hague from a potential job as a Treasury adviser, saying his appointment would be a “gimmick” and could prove “an embarrassment”
The then British PM secretly wanted the Army to move coal around the UK in the event of a miners’ strike
Government officials considered deliberately flooding Essex and Kent to prevent London being swamped by a tidal surge as it waited for the Thames Barrier to be completed
The UK sent a laser weapon designed to “dazzle” Argentine pilots during the Falklands war
A senior government official had urged Margaret Thatcher to seek out a fertile female panda for London Zoo before a visit to China in 1982.
Although it was only a simulation, the text of the Queen’s address – written as if broadcast at midday on Friday 4 March 1983 – seeks to prepare the country for the ordeal of World War III.
In a Whitehall-written script, the Queen speaks of the “madness” of war
The script, which starts off by referring to the Queen’s traditional Christmas address, reads: “The horrors of war could not have seemed more remote as my family and I shared our Christmas joy with the growing family of the Commonwealth.
“Now, this madness of war is once more spreading through the world and our brave country must again prepare itself to survive against great odds.
“I have never forgotten the sorrow and the pride I felt as my sister and I huddled around the nursery wireless set listening to my father’s [George VI’s] inspiring words on that fateful day in 1939 [at the start of the World War II].
“Not for a single moment did I imagine that this solemn and awful duty would one day fall to me.
“But whatever terrors lie in wait for us all, the qualities that have helped to keep our freedom intact twice already during this sad century will once more be our strength.”
Striking a personal note, the script continues: “My husband and I share with families up and down the land the fear we feel for sons and daughters, husbands and brothers who have left our side to serve their country.
“My beloved son Andrew is at this moment in action with his unit and we pray continually for his safety and for the safety of all servicemen and women at home and overseas.
“It is this close bond of family life that must be our greatest defence against the unknown.
“If families remain united and resolute, giving shelter to those living alone and unprotected, our country’s will to survive cannot be broken.”
The speech concludes by saying the Queen’s message to the nation was “simple”.
It adds: “As we strive together to fight off the new evil, let us pray for our country and men of goodwill wherever they may be. God Bless you all.”
In the war-gaming exercise, Orange bloc forces – representing the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies – launch a chemical weapon attack on the UK.
Blue forces – representing NATO – retaliate with a “limited-yield” nuclear strike, forcing Orange to initiate a peace process.
The exercise came in the year that US President Ronald Reagan both enraged and alarmed Moscow with his denunciation of the Soviet Union as the “evil empire”, his plans for a “Star Wars” ballistic missile shield in space, and the deployment of US nuclear cruise missiles to Europe – including to RAF Greenham Common.
Tensions increased when the Soviets shot down a South Korean airliner that strayed into their airspace, killing all 269 on board.
A NATO military exercise, codenamed Able Archer, then nearly triggered an actual conflict with the Soviet leadership apparently convinced it was cover for a genuine attack.
The Soviet Union and the US later negotiated a reduction in the number of nuclear weapons, as the Cold War came to an end.
A never-before-heard tape of Monica Lewinsky asking for an illicit meeting with President Bill Clinton has surfaced today.
The tape, which records Monica Lewinsky desperately trying to attract President Bill Clinton into meeting her, was reportedly released to the National Enquirer after it was obtained by a cleaner hired by friends of Lewinsky.
It was long thought that the raunchy four-minute tape, which was recorded in November 1997, had been destroyed after the affair was revealed in 1998, according to the Enquirer.
The recording, made months after their final alleged trust in March 1997, reportedly shows a determined Monica Lewinsky, then 24, pleading with the married president to meet her – and telling him she plans to be persistent because: “I really want to see you.”
Monica Lewinsky adds that she is “too cute and adorable” to be ignored, according to the magazine.
On the recording, Monica Lewinsky offers Bill Clinton two choices – that she could meet him at his office, or that they could watch a movie together.
“Since I know you will be alone tomorrow evening, I have two proposals for you, neither of which is you not seeing me,” Monica Lewinsky says, the National Enquirerreported.
“I could take my clothes off and start… well… I know you wouldn’t enjoy that? I hope to see you later and I hope you will follow my script and do what I want.”
Monica Lewinsky tells Bill Clinton that his secretary, Betty Currie, should plan his schedule so that they could get away with not formally recording the meeting, according to the magazine.
For one plan, Monica Lewinsky instructs the president to tell Betty Currie that he was going to leave the office around 7 p.m. the next evening before returning later that evening.
“In the meantime I quickly sneak over and then we can have a nice little visit for, you know, 15 minutes or half an hour. Whatever you want,” she says.
Monica Lewinsky’s second suggestion is meeting Bill Clinton for a movie “and just have kind of, I don’t know, boxed dinners or something like that”, she says.
The former White House intern adds: “You can’t refuse me because I’m too cute and adorable and soon I won’t be here anymore to pop over.”
Monica Lewinsky tells Bill Clinton that he should tell Betty Currie what he wanted to do so she could call her “so I don’t have to stress out all day and I don’t have to call her every two hours and bug her because, I know you will find this very hard to believe, but I can be a pain in the ass sometimes”.
A never-before-heard tape of Monica Lewinsky asking for an illicit meeting with President Bill Clinton has surfaced
“I’m very persistent, but um… I really want to see you,” she says.
The Enquirer reported that Monica Lewinsky played the tape for Linda Tripp, who later revealed telephone tapes of the intern which led to Bill Clinton’s impeachment.
Linda Tripp reportedly heard it on November 20, 1997, and it was taken to the Oval Office the next day, but it is not known if a rendezvous ever occurred. In the audio, Monica Lewinsky explained that she had decided to record it because she couldn’t face writing him another letter.
The Enquirer reported that the tape – and begging love letters Monica Lewinsky wrote to Bill Clinton – were obtained by a cleaner who was hired by friends of Lewinsky’s.
“I was supposed to shred everything in late 1998, but for some reason I kept this material,” the cleaner told the Enquirer.
The pleading notes reportedly reveal Monica Lewinsky begging Bill Clinton to make time for her and to explain why he ended their illicit romance.
“It was so sad seeing you last night because I was so angry with you that you once again rejected me and yet, all I wanted was for everyone else in the room to disappear and for you to hold me,” she wrote.
“I loved you with all of my heart, Bill.
“For the life of me, I can’t understand how you could be so kind and so cruel to me.”
Another letter asks: “What did I do to deserve this? I am seriously depressed because of everything that has happened…
“I have lost profoundly both professionally and personally, and in a toss-up, our personal relationship changing has caused me more pain.”
Monica Lewinsky was just 22 when she allegedly had the first of nine s**ual encounters with President Bill Clinton between November 1995 and March 1997. Details of the affair emerged in 1998.
In the wake of the scandal, Monica Lewinsky became the center of a political storm and gave a series of high-profile interviews.
But unable to escape the shake the reputation, Monica Lewinsky moved to England in 2005 where she earned her master’s degree and worked as a news correspondent for the UK’s Channel Five News.
Though it has been 15 years since her claims, her presence still looms in the life of Bill Clinton’s post-presidency and Hillary’s political career.
And sources told the National Enquirer that this most recent revelation could derail Hillary Clinton’s expected bid for the White House in 2016.
“The Clintons thought this s** tape was dead and buried,” said the source.
“If this tape and other material are surfacing now, imagine what else must be out there?”
It comes at an already embarrassing moment for the Clintons as they deal with yet another texting scandal surrounding mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner.
Anthony Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin, is one of Hillary Clinton’s top aides – but is taking an extended vacation to deal with the upset following news of her husband’s latest indiscretions.
Simon Cowell and Lauren Silverman were pictured together, as they enjoyed a cozy Caribbean holiday in January 2012 alongside her husband Andrew Silverman.
Although real estate mogul Andrew Silverman was just a mere matter of feet away, his wife was seen tenderly running her hands through the hair of Simon Cowell.
Enjoying a new year break in St. Barths, Simon Cowell and the Silvermans seemed to be in high spirits as they sat on-board Cowell’s luxury yacht soaking up the sun as the sipped on glasses of orange juice.
And while the group appeared to be chatting away amiably, the pictures show Simon Cowell certainly only had eyes for one of the Silvermans, with him seeming utterly unable to distract himself from the alluring Lauren.
With Andrew Silverman looking on, Simon Cowell leaned in closely to the stunning socialite, with a smirk spreading across his face as he indulged in a close conversation with the beauty.
But it wasn’t long until the property entrepreneur got some quality time with his wife, with the tables turning as he tenderly cupped Lauren’s bottom as Simon Cowell looked on.
Rather than suffer an attack of the green-eyed monster, the star appeared utterly amused by the entire debacle, and grinned away as he stared at the couple.
After the two men enjoyed a brief chat, Lauren Silvrman and Simon Cowell made their way over to a sun lounger, where they kicked off a rather friendly display.
Reclining with their heads tilted into each other, the pair appeared to be sharing a joke as they giggled away in the sunshine.
Simon Cowell and Lauren Silverman were pictured together, as they enjoyed a cozy Caribbean holiday in January 2012 alongside her husband Andrew Silverman
And despite her husband being in full view, Lauren Silverman seemed to throw caution to the wind as she ran her hands through the music mogul’s hair, with the duo even posing for a phone picture together at one point.
Following their playful display, Lauren Silverman hopped up off the lounger, and appeared to bend down to treat the star to a friendly peck.
While her face couldn’t be seen in the angle of the shot, Lauren Siverman put her arm across Simon Cowell as she leaned into him with her hair tumbling around her shoulders.
After his close pal wandered off to another part of the yacht, Simon Cowell was left looking like the cat who’d got the cream as he stretched out with his arms behind his head and a huge smirk on his face.
A close friend of Simon Cowell confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that Lauren Silverman was expecting his child, and claimed she wanted to marry him.
Although Lauren Silverman and her husband, who have a son together, have holidayed together on numerous occasions over the past four years, it wasn’t until the socialite and her real estate mogul husband ended their union around a year ago that her friendship with Simon Cowell turned to romance.
Lauren Silverman is said to be “around 10 weeks along” in the pregnancy, according to Us Weekly magazine.
Simon Cowell and Lauren Silverman’s situation is made more complicated by the fact that she is still married to Andrew.
But a source told Usmagazine.com: “Lauren and Andrew have been unhappy in their marriage for some time, and their divorce has been in the works for a while. As their marriage deteriorated, she and Simon became close.”
Simon Cowell, 53, and Lauren Silverman, 36, have been seeing each for at least a year, according to friends, and were even seen viewing houses together in Los Angeles earlier this year.
He made no reference to impending fatherhood when he opened up to Chelsea Handler during an interview on her talk show on Tuesday night, sticking to topics including One Direction and his recent health kick.
Diabetes drug metformin has anti-ageing effects and extends the life of male mice, a new research suggests.
Scientists believe metformin may mimic the effects of extreme calorie restriction.
This regime, which is based on eating a very low calorie diet, is thought to promote healthy ageing.
The human implications of the study are unclear, the researchers report in the journal, Nature Communications.
Rafael de Cabo, of the National Institute on Ageing in Baltimore, Maryland, said calorie restriction in laboratory animals had been shown to increase their lifespan.
His team is searching for interventions – such as a drug – that can mimic these effects.
Diabetes drug metformin has anti-ageing effects and extends the life of male mice
Metformin is one of the most widely prescribed treatments for type-2 diabetes, which occurs mainly in people above the age of 40. It is also used to treat metabolic syndrome, a combination of diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity.
Previous work has shown that metformin can extend the lifespan of simple organisms such as worms, but studies in flies and mammals have given conflicting evidence.
The scientists gave one of two different doses of metformin to middle-aged male mice and found that lower doses increased lifespan by about 5%, and also delayed the onset of age-associated diseases. But they said the higher dose of metformin was toxic and reduced the lifespan of mice.
Further studies were needed to determine if metformin has any effect on human health and lifespan, said Dr. Rafael de Cabo.
“These are very promising results that need to be translated to humans via clinical studies,” he said.
He said the best current advice was to eat a good diet and exercise.
“Right now the best that we can say is probably what your grandmother told you,” Dr. Rafael de Cabo.
“Eat a good diet and exercise are the only two things that we know for sure that they work very well in humans.”
The Obama administration has released documents on its phone-snooping, as a Senate panel questions intelligence officials about the programme.
The declassification was made in the “interest of increased transparency”, intelligence officials said.
However, the three documents include significant redactions.
Meanwhile the father of Edward Snowden, who leaked information about the surveillance, says the FBI has asked him to go to Moscow to see his son.
Lon Snowden told Russian state TV he wants to learn more about the FBI’s intentions. His son is a sought by the US government for revealing details of its electronic snooping by phone and internet.
Meanwhile, slides published by the UK’s Guardian newspaper detailed a secret US surveillance system known as XKeyscore, which reportedly enables American intelligence to monitor “nearly everything a typical user does on the internet”.
The programme includes real-time data and suggests analysts could narrow searches through use of so-called metadata also stored by the NSA, the newspaper reports.
The official US documents released on Wednesday include a court order describing how the data from the programmes would be stored and accessed.
Two reports to US lawmakers on the telephone and email records were also declassified.
But lines in the files, including details on “selection terms” used to search the massive data stores, were blacked out.
For the first time, however, the government acknowledged publicly that using what it calls “hop analysis” it can analyze the phone calls of millions of Americans in the hunt for just one suspect.
NSA analysts could use the records of everyone a suspect calls, and the contacts of those records, as well as everyone who contacts the contacts of contacts of the initial suspect.
The Obama administration has released documents on its phone-snooping
If the average person calls 40 unique people, such three-hop analysis could allow the government to mine the records of 2.5 million Americans when investigating one suspected terrorist.
“What’s being described as a very narrow program is really a very broad program,” Democratic Senator Richard Durbin said.
Deputy Attorney General James Cole told a Senate judiciary committee hearing on Wednesday that the court order spells out how the government can use call data obtained from telecom giants such as Verizon.
It is the first congressional session on the issue since the House narrowly rejected a proposal to effectively shut down the NSA’s secretive collection of hundreds of millions of Americans’ phone records.
During the early parts of the hearing, NSA deputy director John Inglis said “no” when asked if anyone had been fired over the leak.
“No-one has offered to resign,” John Inglis said.
“Everyone is working hard to understand what happened.”
Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the committee, also questioned the deputy director on the number of attacks the agency said had been disrupted by the programmes.
General Keith Alexander, the head of the NSA, has said phone and internet surveillance disrupted 54 schemes by militants.
Sen. Patrick Leahy said a list of the relevant plots provided to Congress does not reflect dozens or, as he said, “let alone 54 as some have suggested”.
John Inglis said the phone surveillance helped disrupt or discover attacks 12 times, and the larger number were foiled thanks to both the phone-records snooping and a second programme collecting global internet users’ data.
In a letter to lawmakers last week, the Obama administration acknowledged there had been an unspecific number of “compliance problems” with the rules governing the secret collection of US phone records.
But the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, said no intentional or bad-faith rules violations were found.
Edward Snowden, the NSA contractor that released the information, has been stuck in transit at a Moscow airport for more than a month after the US revoked his travel documents.
He said he has applied for asylum in Russia but has not been able to leave the airport.
Edward Snowden’s father, Lon Snowden, said in the interview with Russian state TV on Wednesday, he believes his son would not get a fair trial in America and, if he were in his son’s place, he would stay in Russia.
He described his son as a “true patriot” who had “made America a more democratic country” by revealing secret details of the US National Security Agency’s surveillance programmes.
“Edward, I hope you are watching this,” Lon Snowden said in the interview.
“Your family is well. We love you. We hope you are healthy, we hope you are well, I hope to see you soon, but most of all I want you to be safe. I want you to find a safe haven.”
Former actor Miki Ryosuke claims to have lost 28 lbs and 5 inches from his waist in seven weeks by following his Long Breath Diet.
Miki Ryosuke, 55, claims that followers of the diet just have to spend two minutes a day concentrating on taking long breaths and then exhaling aggressively.
The dieting guru says that he invented the diet by mistake while practicing breathing techniques in an attempt to reduce his back pain, Oddity Centralreports.
While he was practicing the breathing techniques, Miki Ryosuke noticed that he was losing weight.
As a result of the discovery, he drew up the Long Breath Diet which involves the dieter taking a specific position before inhaling for three seconds and then exhaling powerfully for seven seconds.
Miki Ryosuke claims that people who practice this breathing technique for two to five minutes a day will see rapid benefits.
Miki Ryosuke claims to have lost 28 lbs and 5 inches from his waist in seven weeks by following his Long Breath Diet
Oddity Central reports that there are two ways of practicing the diet.
The first involves tensing the buttocks while standing with one foot in front of the body and placing most of the body’s weight on the back foot.
In this position, the dieter is encouraged to inhale for three seconds while lifting their arms above their head.
They are then told to breathe out while tensing all of their muscles for seven seconds.
The second way of practicing the technique involves the dieter standing upright while tightening their buttocks and placing one hand on their stomach, and the other on the bottom of their back.
They are then told to inhale for three seconds before breathing out for seven seconds, all of the time holding in their stomach.
Jill Johnson, creator of the Oxycise, another weight loss programme based on breathing, told Oddity Central:“Fat is made up of oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen. When the oxygen we breathe reaches these fat molecules, it breaks them down into carbon dioxide and water.
“The blood then picks up the carbon dioxide – a waste product of our bodies – and returns it to the lungs to be exhaled. Therefore the more oxygen our bodies use, the more fat we will burn.”
The Long Breath Diet is believed to increase a dieter’s muscle strength and to boost their metabolism by increasing their blood oxygen levels.
However, most experts believe that practicing it for just two minutes a day is not sufficient to see any significant weight loss.
Rihanna has won a legal battle with British clothing retailer Topshop over a T-shirt bearing her image.
Rihanna, 25, sued Topshop’s parent company Arcadia for $5 million over the T-shirts, which featured a photo taken during a video shoot in 2011.
The singer’s lawyers told the High Court in London the fashion chain duped fans and may have damaged her reputation.
They said the picture was “very similar” to images used on CD sleeves for one of her albums.
Judge Colin Birss ruled that a “substantial number” of buyers were likely to have been deceived into buying the T-shirt because of a “false belief” it had been approved by Rihanna.
He said it was damaging to her “goodwill” and represented a loss of control over Rihanna’s reputation in the “fashion sphere”.
Topshop’s lawyers had claimed Rihanna was making an unjustifiable bid to establish a “free standing image right” over use of her picture in the UK.
Rihanna sued Topshop for $5 million over the T-shirts, which featured a photo taken during a video shoot in 2011
The photograph used by Topshop had been taken during filming of a music video in Northern Ireland in 2011.
In a two-minute judgment, Justice Colin Birss said there was “no such thing as a general right by a famous person to control the reproduction of their image”.
“The taking of the photograph is not suggested to have breached Rihanna’s privacy,” he continued.
“The mere sale by a trader of a T-shirt bearing an image of a famous person is not an act of passing off.
“However, I find that Topshop’s sale of this T-shirt was an act of passing off.”
Justice Colin Birss did not make an assessment of any liable damages in his ruling.
Topshop said it was “surprised, disappointed and perplexed” by the High Court decision.
“There was no intention to create an appearance of an endorsement or promotion,” it said.
“We feel that the fact that Rihanna has shopped, worn and had a relationship with Topshop for several years appears to have been detrimental to our case.”
Rihanna has her own fashion line at River Island. Her first collection for the fashion retailer went on sale in spring 2013.
Actress Eileen Brennan, best known for her Oscar-nominated role as Goldie Hawn’s tormentor in 1980 army comedy Private Benjamin, has died aged 80.
Eileen Brennan’s managers said she died on Sunday at her home in Burbank, Los Angeles after suffering from bladder cancer.
Eileen Brennan, who also appeared in The Last Picture Show and Clue, was known for her husky voice and spiky demeanor.
“Our world has lost a rare human,” said Goldie Hawn in a statement in which she paid tribute to her “old friend”.
“Eileen was a brilliant comedian, a powerful dramatic actress and had the voice of an angel.”
Eileen Brennan earned a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role as US Army Captain Doreen Lewis in Private Benjamin.
She reprised the role in an adapted TV series from 1981 to 1983, winning an Emmy and a Golden Globe in the process.
Born Verla Eileen Regina Brennan in September 1932, the actress began her career on the New York stage before heading to Hollywood in the late 1960s.
Eileen Brennan was best known for her Oscar-nominated role in 1980 army comedy Private Benjamin
After appearing alongside Goldie Hawn in the first series of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, she was singled out for praise and a BAFTA nomination, for her role as careworn waitress Genevieve in The Last Picture Show.
Eileen Brennan continued her association with its director, Peter Bogdanovich, by appearing in his films Daisy Miller and At Long Last Love.
She was also seen in comic roles in Murder By Death and The Cheap Detective, appearing in both alongside the late Peter Falk.
Eileen Brennan was seriously injured in 1982 when she was hit by a car after a dinner with Goldie Hawn in Los Angeles.
The actress became dependent on painkillers as a result and later entered the Betty Ford clinic to cure her addiction.
She returned to the screen in 1985’s Clue, a murder spoof inspired by a board game.
In later life Eileen Brennan gave supporting turns in such films as Jeepers Creepers, Miss Congeniality 2 and TV’s Will and Grace.
“I love meanies… because they have no sense of humor,” Eileen Brennan told the Associated Press in 1988.
“If we can’t laugh at ourselves and the human condition, we’re going to be mean.”
Eileen Brennan is survived by her ex-husband, David John Lampson, and their two sons, Patrick and Sam.
In a statement, Eileen Brennan’s family remembered her as “funny and caring and truly one of a kind”.
Simon Cowell is reportedly expecting a baby with married New York socialite Lauren Silverman.
According to MailOnline, a friend of Simon Cowell said that Lauren Silverman, who is technically still married to real estate mogul Andrew Silverman, a close friend of Cowell’s, had revealed that she wants to marry the star just a few weeks ago.
Lauren Silverman and real estate mogul Andrew have been long friends with Simon Cowell and have enjoyed holidays with him for the past few years.
But it wasn’t until Lauren and Andrew Silverman ended their relationship that her friendship with Simon Cowell turned into romance, around a year ago.
A friend of Lauren Silverman’s said: “Lauren loves Simon, she says that she wants to marry him. And with the baby, she’s going the right way about it! But I think this could be really good for Simon.”
Another friend confirmed the baby news and said “yes, all true”.
Lauren Silverman, 36, is said to be “around 10 weeks along” in the pregnancy, according to Us Weeklymagazine.
However, Simon Cowell and Lauren Silverman’s situation is made more complicated by the fact that she is still technically married to Andrew.
The source told Usmagazine.com: “Lauren and Andrew have been unhappy in their marriage for some time, and their divorce has been in the works for a while. As their marriage deteriorated, she and Simon became close.”
Simon Cowell is expecting a baby with married New York socialite Lauren Silverman
Simon Cowell, 53, and Lauren Silverman have been seeing each for at least a year, according to friends, and were even seen viewing houses together in Los Angeles earlier this year.
In January, Simon Cowell and Lauren Silverman were even seen lounging together on the deck of the yacht alongside Cowell’s ex-fiancée Mezhgan Hussainy and Andrew.
Their close friend, fashion designer Rachel Roy, posted a picture of the couple cuddling up together while on holiday with them at New Year. While on board a luxury yacht, she thanked both her ‘hosts’ for inviting her on the trip.
Simon Cowell made no reference to impending fatherhood when he opened up to Chelsea Handler during an interview on her talk show on Tuesday night, sticking to topics including One Direction and his recent health kick.
It remains to be seen just how the news that he is to be a father will go down with Simon Cowell, who has never made a secret of the fact that he doesn’t believe he is the right material to become a parent.
In an interview in 2009, Simon Cowell said: “God, no. I couldn’t have children. If I had them here drawing on the walls I’d go nuts.
“With kids, you’ve got a routine you can’t escape from. You’ve got to be up at a certain time. Got to listen. When all you want to do is sit in a corner thinking.”
However, in a more recent interview in April this year, Simon Cowell appeared to have somewhat changed his mind, saying: “I haven’t ruled it out. If I knew I could be – how do I put this delicately – faithful, I would.
“I do like kids, I’m just not sure I’d be any good for the first six months. I don’t think I’d adopt because I’d rather have my own. I’d have to say I’d like a little girl.”
Simon Cowell’s relationship history includes romances with Sinitta, Terri Seymour and Alicia Douvall.
He is believed to have been engaged twice, once to Page Three model Louise Payne back in 1995, and more recently to make-up artist Mezhgan Hussainy.
Simon Cowell and Mezhgan Hussainy, who met when she was employed as a make-up artist on American Idol back in 2003, broke off their engagement last year.
Their split was later confirmed by mutual friend Zetta Graff, who said that Mezhgan Hussainy had become “too needy” for the mogul.
Simon Cowell later described the engagement as his “big mistake”, adding: “I’m attracted to crazy women. I encourage crazy behavior and I make them crazy.
“I’m attracted to certain personalities who are difficult to control. So there are tantrums, tears and fights, which is all part of the drama. My life is really odd.
“Every girl wants to be number one and they’re very territorial. I like the fight, because otherwise I’d have a dull group of girlfriends.”
Simon Cowell’s most recent relationship was with fellow X Factor USA judge Carmen Electra, with whom he was seen on several dates in 2012.
However, in February this year, Simon Cowell confirmed he was single, saying: “We spent time together and she is so much fun. But I’d like to find a girlfriend.”
But while Simon Cowell has spoken in recent months about his desire to settle down, he then called relationships “boring” in an interview last month.
Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi moved a step closer to ending their marriage today.
Court paperwork shows that Nigella Lawson, 53, applied to divorce Charles Saatchi, 70, on the grounds of his “continuing unreasonable behavior”.
During a hearing at London’s High Court which lasted less than a minute, District Judge Anne Aitken granted the couple a decree nisi – the first legal step to ending their 10-year marriage.
The marriage was said to have irretrievably broken down and an “order for financial relief” has been agreed between the petitioner and respondent.
On the petition before court, Nigella Lawson had ticked “Yes” to the question: “Is the respondent’s behavior as set out in your petition continuing?”
Nigella Lawson also confirmed in the document that they were living apart.
The document was signed by the popular cook and broadcaster on July 9.
Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi now have to wait for a decree absolute, which is usually issued six weeks and a day later, ending their marriage.
Nigella Lawson applied to divorce Charles Saatchi on the grounds of his continuing unreasonable behavior
Neither the couple or their legal representatives attended the hearing.
In Court 9, Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi’s names were read out with 14 other divorcing couples.
The judge asked: “Does any party or person wish to show cause against decrees being made or in the question of costs?”
A decree nisi is a statement saying the court sees no reason why a divorce cannot be granted.
It is thought the divorce will be rubber-stamped some time in September.
Nigella Lawson flew into Heathrow Airport last night ahead of the hearing.
Charles Saatchi and Nigella Lawson, who are said to be worth an estimated £150 million ($235 million) and shared a £12 million ($19 million) home in Chelsea, are believed to have agreed never to publicly disclose the terms of the divorce or financial settlements.
They are also understood to have signed a pre-nuptial agreement when they wed in 2003.
Nigella Lawson was the applicant in the case.
It is understood Charles Saatchi dispensed with lawyers to deal directly with Nigella Lawson’s high profile lawyer Fiona Shackleton in an attempt to keep his multimillion pound art collection intact.
The couple’s marriage ended after Charles Saatchi was pictured choking his wife, who has made her fortune as TV’s Domestic Goddess, at their favorite London haunt, Scott’s restaurant, last month.
Nigella Lawson was then left reeling by Charles Saatchi’s “cruelty” after he announced in The Mailon Sunday that he would be seeking a divorce.
In a final, crushing act of emotional control, Charles Saatchi released an extraordinary statement to say that the marriage was over – without giving her any warning of his intentions.
Nigella Lawson moved out of their home and has rented an apartment with her son Bruno.
She is soon planning to head to Los Angeles where she is filming the new season of her ABC show The Taste.
JK Rowling has accepted a substantial charity donation from the law firm that revealed she was writing under a pseudonym.
The Harry Potter author brought a legal action against Chris Gossage, a partner at Russells Solicitors, and his friend, Judith Callegari.
JK Rowling was revealed as the writer of crime novel The Cuckoo’s Calling in a Sunday Times article.
She had published the book under the pen name Robert Galbraith.
JK Rowling’s solicitor told Mr. Justice Tugendhat that Russells had contacted the writer’s agent after the story was published, revealing it was Chris Gossage who had divulged the confidential information to Judith Callegari.
Judith Callegari then revealed the information in the course of a Twitter exchange with a journalist.
JK Rowling has accepted a substantial charity donation from the law firm that revealed she was writing under a pseudonym
The court heard JK Rowling had been “left dismayed and distressed by such a fundamental betrayal of trust”.
Chris Gossage, Judith Callegari and Russells all apologized and the firm agreed to pay the author’s legal costs.
It also agreed to make a payment, by way of damages, to the Soldiers’ Charity, formerly known as the Army Benevolent Fund.
JK Rowling explained that she was donating the money “partly as a thank you to the army people” who helped her with research.
“But also because writing a hero who is a veteran has given me an even greater appreciation and understanding of exactly how much this charity does for ex-servicemen and their families, and how much that support is needed,” the author said.
The Cuckoo’s Calling, about a war veteran turned private investigator called Cormoran Strike, had sold 1,500 copies before it was revealed that JK Rowling was its author.
Within hours, the novel rose more than 5,000 places to top Amazon’s sales list.
JK Rowling said she would also be donating all the royalties for the book to the charity.
She said she had “always intended to give The Soldiers’ Charity a donation out of Robert’s royalties but I had not anticipated him making the bestseller list a mere three months after publication (indeed, I had not counted on him ever being there!)”.
Major General Martin Rutledge, Chief Executive of ABF The Soldiers’ Charity said they were “absolutely thrilled” by her “extraordinary generosity”.
“This donation will make a huge difference to the lives of thousands of soldiers, former soldiers and their families who are in real need. Her tremendous show of support for The Soldiers’ Charity will help to remind people of the many sacrifices made by our soldiers, long after any news of Afghanistan has left the front page,” Martin Rutledge added.
Lindsay Lohan left rehab yesterday after completing her court-ordered 90-day stay.
Lindsay Lohan, 27, was pictured looking healthy and in good spirits as she climbed into a waiting car at the Cliffside Malibu Rehab Center in California.
She may be headed to a “lower level sober living facility” after allegedly wanting to delay her return to the outside world for a few days, according to TMZ.
Lindsay Lohan looked healthier than she has in a long time, sporting a curvier figure and laughing happily as she waved goodbye to her new friends.
Lindsay Lohan left California rehab after completing her court-ordered 90-day stay
The actress had clearly made an effort with her outfit, donning a summery blue dress paired with a suede jacket, black calf-length socks and ankle booties.
She wore her red hair loose and wavy over her shoulders and shielded her eyes with brown aviator sunglasses.
According to TMZ, Lindsay Lohan wants to stay another “three or four days in a lower level sober living facility”.
She apparently feels she needs a transition period for a while longer before returning to normal life.
Despite the star’s many previous attempts at rehab, sources have told TMZ they are “shocked” at Lindsay Lohan’s conduct this time around.
“It’s like invasion of the body snatchers,” one source said.
“She’s a different person.”
Lindsay Lohan is said to be moving to New York following her stint in rehab, but is ‘scared about the temptations she’ll face’ according to the insider.
She was ordered by a court earlier this year to spend 90 days in rehab as part of a plea deal after being found guilty of lying to the police about a car crash last year.
Lonnie Snowden, the father of CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden, has said the FBI asked him to travel to Moscow and see his son, but adds that he wants more details.
Lonnie Snowden said he had been asked several weeks ago about Edward, who is sought by the US for leaking details of electronic surveillance programmes.
However, Lonnie Snowden wants to know the FBI’s intentions, he told Russian state TV.
Lonnie Snowden said his son would not get a fair trial in America and, if he were in his son’s place, he would stay in Russia.
He described his son as a “true patriot” who had “made America a more democratic country” by revealing secret details of the National Security Agency’s surveillance programmes.
The interview was broadcast live, early in the morning, on the Russia 24 news channel.
Edward Snowden has been stuck in transit at a Moscow airport for more than a month as he has no valid travel documents
Lonnie Snowden spoke English, with a Russian translation.
Edward Snowden has been stuck in transit at a Moscow airport for more than a month as he has no valid travel documents.
“Edward, I hope you are watching this,” Lonnie Snowden said in the interview.
“Your family is well. We love you. We hope you are healthy, we hope you are well, I hope to see you soon, but most of all I want you to be safe. I want you to find a safe haven.”
The fugitive’s father also thanked the Russian authorities for keeping his son safe.
“I also would like to thank President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government for what I believe to be their courage and strength and conviction to keep my son safe,” Lonnie Snowden said.
“Like any mother or father who loves their child, I love my son and I will be forever grateful for what you have done, very much.”
Edward Snowden arrived in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on June 23 from Hong Kong, where he had made his revelations.
He has requested temporary asylum in Russia, while saying he hopes eventually to go to Latin America.
The Snowden affair has caused diplomatic ructions around the world, upsetting America’s close allies and traditional enemies.
The US Attorney General, Eric Holder, has given Moscow an assurance that Edward Snowden will not face the death penalty if extradited to America, but the Russians say they do not intend handing him over.
Temperatures in China have hit record highs, prompting an emergency level-two nationwide heat alert for the first time.
In Shanghai, at least 10 people have died from heatstroke, as the city experiences its hottest July in 140 years, reports say.
Local journalists have demonstrated the heat by frying meat on the pavement.
The national heat alert covers nine provinces, including Anhui, Jiangsu, Hunan, Hubei, Shanghai and Chongqing.
According to figures from the Shanghai Meteorological bureau, Shanghai has seen 24 days with temperatures at or above 35C in July.
“It should be a new record since Shanghai had its own weather recording,” said chief service officer Wu Rui.
“Also, in July of this year Shanghai reached 40.6 degrees Celsius, its highest ever temperature. So the highest temperature in July also broke a record.”
Temperatures in China have hit record highs, prompting an emergency level-two nationwide heat alert for the first time
More than 10 people in Shanghai have died after suffering from heatstroke, state-run news agency Xinhua said, citing health officials.
In a TV report, journalists from Shanghai TV said they successfully fried a pork chop on a marble slab outdoors in just 10 minutes.
The practice appears to have become popular, with photos of slices of bacon and fish being barbecued outdoors by the heat appearing online.
The China Meteorological Administration issued the level two emergency heat alert on Tuesday.
“Anhui, Jiangsu, Hunan, Hubei, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Chongqing and Shanghai meteorological bureaus should enter into emergency response on the basis of actual weather conditions,” it said on its website.
It added that weather forecasts suggested that some areas south of the Yangtze river, including Chongqing, could experience temperatures of over 35C until August 8.
It urged members of the public to avoid outdoor activities and to take protective measures against the heat.
“It’s impossible for people to live without an air-conditioner,” a resident was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.
“Just going outside in this kind of temperate can roast people.”
Daniel Chong, a university student in the city of San Diego, has received $4.1 million from the US government after he was abandoned for more than four days in a prison cell, his lawyer said.
Daniel Chong, now 25, said he drank his urine to stay alive, tried to carve a message to his mother on his arm and hallucinated.
He was held in a drug raid in 2012, but told he would not be charged. Nobody returned to his cell for four days.
The justice department’s inspector is now investigating what happened.
Daniel Chong said he slid a shoelace under the door and screamed to get attention before five or six people found him covered in his faeces in the cell at the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) San Diego headquarters.
After Daniel Chong was rescued, he spent five days in hospital recovering from dehydration, kidney failure, cramps and a perforated oesophagus. He also lost 15 lb (7 kg).
Daniel Chong was one of nine people detained in the raid in April 2012. Authorities determined that they would not pursue charges after questioning him.
One of Daniel Chong’s lawyers said a police officer then put him in the holding cell and told him: “We’ll come get you in a minute.”
Daniel Chong said he thought he was forgotten by mistake.
Daniel Chong has received $4.1 million from the US government after he was abandoned for more than four days in a prison cell
“It sounded like it was an accident – a really, really bad, horrible accident,” he said.
The 5-by-10-foot cell had no windows and Daniel Chong had no food or water while he was trapped inside for four-and-a-half days.
Daniel Chong said he started hallucinating on the third day.
He urinated on a metal bench so he could have something to drink. He also unsuccessfully tried to set off a fire sprinkler to draw attention of the DEA authorities.
“I didn’t just sit there quietly. I was kicking the door yelling,” he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
“I even put some shoestrings, shoelaces through the crack of the door for visual signs. I didn’t stay still, no, I was screaming.”
At one point, Daniel Chong admitted, he thought he was going to die. He broke his eyeglasses by biting into them and tried to carve a “Sorry Mom” farewell message. He managed to finish an “S”.
DEA spokeswoman Allison Price confirmed that the $4.1 million settlement had been reached, without providing further details, according to the AP.
The incident prompted the head of the DEA to issue a public apology last May, saying he was “deeply troubled” by the incident.
Daniel Chong’s lawyer said that as a result of the incident the DEA had introduced new policies for detention, including checking cells daily and installing cameras inside them.
Daniel Chong, now an economics student at the University of California, says he plans to buy his parents a house.
Zimbabwe is voting in fiercely contested presidential and parliamentary elections which have already been hit by fraud allegations.
President Robert Mugabe, 89, has said he will step down after 33 years in power if he and his Zanu-PF party lose.
PM Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have accused Zanu-PF of doctoring the electoral roll, a charge it has denied.
Campaigning was mostly peaceful, with few reports of intimidation.
Zanu-PF and the MDC have shared an uneasy coalition government since 2009 under a deal brokered to end the deadly violence that erupted after a disputed presidential poll the previous year.
Morgan Tsvangirai won the most votes in the first round, but pulled out of the run-off with Robert Mugabe because of attacks on his supporters.
The government has barred Western observers from monitoring Wednesday’s elections, but the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), as well as local organizations, have been accredited.
Polls opened at 07:00 local time and are due to close at 19:00.
The turnout is expected to be high among the 6.4 million people registered to vote, with tens of thousands of people attending rallies in recent weeks. Results are expected within five days.
Zimbabwe is voting in fiercely contested presidential and parliamentary elections which have already been hit by fraud allegations
Wednesday has been declared a national holiday to ensure people can vote. Despite this, voters queued for several hours outside polling stations across the country before they opened.
At a news conference at State House on Tuesday, Robert Mugabe was asked if he and Zanu-PF would accept defeat.
“If you go into a process and join a competition where there are only two outcomes, win or lose, you can’t be both. You either win or lose. If you lose, you must surrender,” he said.
But Morgan Tsvangirai dismissed the president’s remarks.
“He does not believe in the right of the people to choose. He does not believe he can be voted out of office,” he said.
The 61 year old has vowed to push Robert Mugabe into retirement; it is his third attempt to unseat him.
An MDC spokesman said separately that the party was only prepared to accept the results of the elections if they were “free and fair”.
On Tuesday, the MDC accused Zanu-PF of doctoring the roll of registered voters, which was released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) only on the eve of the polls after weeks of delay.
The MDC claimed the roll dated back to 1985 and was full of anomalies.
It appears the document features the names of thousands of dead people and many names with the same address appear two or three times.
A Zanu-PF spokesman denied the allegations and pointed out that appointees from both parties were on the ZEC. He also accused Finance Minister Tendai Biti, a member of the MDC, of not funding the commission properly. The ZEC has not commented.
In addition to Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, there are three other candidates standing for the presidency – Welshman Ncube, leader of the breakaway MDC-Mutambara; Dumiso Dabengwa of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (Zapu), and Kisinoti Munodei Mukwazhe, who represents the small Zimbabwe Development Party (ZDP).
To be declared a winner, a presidential candidate must win more than 50% of the vote. If no candidate reaches this mark, a run-off will be held on September 11.
The elections will be the first to be held under the new constitution approved in a referendum in March this year.
Pharmaceutical company Pfizer has agreed to pay $491 million to settle a probe into illegal marketing of a drug by Wyeth, a firm it had acquired in 2009.
The case revolved around Rapamune, a drug prescribed to prevent rejection of transplanted kidneys.
It was alleged that sales staff of Wyeth encouraged doctors to prescribe Rapamune for other organ transplants, which were not approved by regulators.
Pfizer stressed the illegal marketing occurred before it acquired Wyeth.
Pfizer has agreed to pay $491 million to settle a probe into illegal marketing of Rapamune, a drug by Wyeth
“Pfizer was not a subject or target of this matter, and cooperated fully with the government from the time it learned of this investigation in October 2009,” the company said in a statement.
The US Department of Justice said: “Wyeth trained its sales force to promote Rapamune for off-label uses not approved by the FDA, including ex-renal uses, and even paid bonuses to incentivize those sales.”
This is not the first time that Pfizer has had to settle a dispute surrounding Wyeth.
Last year, it agreed to pay $55 million to settle charges that Wyeth promoted its heartburn drug Protonix for unapproved uses.
The latest settlement comes as Pfizer reported that its earnings more than quadrupled during the second quarter.
Pfizer made a net profit of $14.1 billion during the period, compared with $3.2 billion during the same period a year ago.
Snooki has lost a dramatic 50 lbs since giving birth to her first child Lorenzo Dominic LaValle in August last year.
It seems Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi is finally feeling beach body confident, as she took to the shores of New Jersey on Monday to show off the results of her incredible hard work.
Walking hand in hand with her fiance Jionni LaValle who held their baby son Lorenzo close to him, Snooki looked completely at ease as she flaunted her slimline figure in a high-waisted bikini on the public beach in Seaside Heights, New Jersey.
Snooki has lost a dramatic 50 lbs since giving birth to her first child Lorenzo Dominic LaValle in August last year
In March this year, Snooki commented on her weight loss, saying: “If I can lose 42 lbs. after giving birth six months [ago], I mean, anybody could do it.”
“You just need the dedication, and you need to want to have your body back.”
Now it seems that the 4ft 8in frame star is loving the end result, enjoying the sun in her two-piece bathing suit.
She arrived at the beach with her family wearing a pretty white dress, but as the heat intensified Snooki, 25, had no qualms about getting her bikini body out on display.
After losing a dramatic amount of weight over the past year, Snooki has of course received criticism from people who feel she has taken her weight loss too far.
In response, Snooki took to Twitter last month to tell people she was happy and that was what is important.
She tweeted: “Everyone’s saying the <<new fit me>> isn’t what I’m suppose to look what. I wasn’t always a fata** kids. Get used to my fitlife, cause I love IT.”
Snooki gave birth to her son in August last year, at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey.
Cricketer S Sreesanth has been charged with 38 other people over a spot-fixing scandal that has rocked the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Indian prosecutors brought charges of criminal conspiracy and cheating against S Sreesanth, two of his Rajasthan Royals team-mates, and other non-cricketers.
Spot-fixing involves players bowling wides and no-balls at certain times arranged beforehand with bookmakers.
S Sreesanth and team-mates Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan deny the charges.
They were arrested in May along with scores of bookmakers.
Cricketer S Sreesanth has been charged over a spot-fixing scandal that has rocked the IPL
A separate spot-fixing investigation by cricket officials led to cricket chief N Srinivasan stepping aside last month pending the outcome of the probe.
He left his post as the head of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was arrested for suspected spot-fixing.
He and his Chennai Super Kings (CSK) franchise were exonerated by the inquiry, but the Bombay High Court has now ordered a “re-investigation”.
Correspondents say the ruling could delay the return of N Srinivasan.
The scandal broke in May when S Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila were arrested.
S Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan were later freed on bail, but Ajit Chandila remains in jail.
The trio, all bowlers, were suspended by India’s cricket board and the Rajasthan Royals.
The IPL is considered to be the world’s showcase for Twenty20 cricket.
Top Indian and international players take part, contributing to what is the world’s richest cricket tournament.
