Boyband One Direction has decided to capitalize on their female fans’ adulation by launching a cosmetics range in collaboration with high street beauty brand MUA.
One Direction has unveiled the “Little Things” beauty range, which will sell for pocket money prices.
One Direction has decided to capitalize on their female fans’ adulation by launching a cosmetics range in collaboration with high street beauty brand MUA
The range includes lipsticks, lip gloss, cheek tints and nail polish.
The Lip Polish products come in a different color and flavor for every band member and are available in Harry loves Strawberry, Zayn loves Watermelon, Louis loves Vanilla, Niall loves Cherry and Liam loves Blueberry.
Meanwhile, the “Kiss You” Lipstick range is named after their songs, with shades that include “Be Mine”, “Moments”, “I Wish”, “Rock Me” and “I Want”.
Last but not least, the boys have each put their face to a different shade of nail polish, with Harry Styles plumping for hot pink and Liam Payne choosing emerald green.
Lipsticks and lip polishes come decorated with autographs, while polish bottles come with plectrum charms featuring photographs of One Direction band members.
Fans have been tweeting about the range, and despite some initial skepticism, the reception has been generally warm.
Kate Middleton’s sapphire blue Issa dress worn for her engagement announcement in 2010 is a silk wrap design by Brazilian designer Daniella Helayel.
The dress was reproduced in the same shade and went on to sell out again and again on net-a-porter and in Harvey Nichols, as “copy-Kates” rushed out to emulate their style icon.
Now, a more purse-friendly version has been unveiled as the star piece in the brand’s new capsule collection for Banana Republic, which goes on sale next month.
The jersey dress is a tad shorter than the original sell-out version but still features a wrap waist and ruched detailing. It’s available in both navy and plum and another similar style features short sleeves and a deep V-neck.
When Kate Middleton wore the sapphire blue Issa dress for her engagement announcement in 2010, she sparked one of the first of many Kate fashion frenzies
The collaboration was first announced back in April 2013, almost two years after Camilla Al Fayed bought a majority stake in the company and one month before founder and designer Daniella Helayel left the brand following rumors that both sides were unhappy.
The 40 piece collection promises that Kate Middleton’s style “will soon be within reach” thanks to a limited edition range that includes plenty of Duchess inspired wrap dresses as well as light knits, tops and accessories.
Speaking about the project earlier this year Simon Kneen, Banana Republic’s creative director and executive vice president of design, told WWD: “We always love animal prints such as zebra and giraffe stripes.
“Issa took that and modernized it. I love that the collection is our world and their world.”
Brazilian designer Daniella Helayel left the company after nine years, saying in May: “The time has come for me to move on to focus on my art, travel and other interests.”
“Creating Issa has been one of the most rewarding things in my life. I may be leaving, but the Issa girl will live forever in my heart.”
Camilla Al Fayed, daughter of ex-Harrods owner Mohammed Al Fayed, remains the majority shareholder as she oversees the company’s global expansion.
Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, the driver of the Spanish train that derailed on Wednesday killing 78 people, has been formally detained, police say.
Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, who was injured and is under guard in hospital, is accused of “crimes related to the accident”, they say.
There are reports that the train was travelling at more than double the speed limit at the time of the crash.
Spain has declared three days of national mourning over the crash, one of its worst-ever rail disasters.
The police chief in the Galicia region, Jaime Iglesias, said on Friday that 52-year-old driver Francisco Jose Garzon Amo would be questioned “as a suspect for a crime linked to the cause of the accident”.
He added that Francisco Jose Garzon Amo could not yet testify because of his medical condition.
Police also put the confirmed number of deaths at 78 – down from 80 announced earlier.
Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, the driver of the Spanish train that derailed on Wednesday killing 78 people, has been formally detained
They said the difference arose because human remains had been wrongly identified in the initial stages.
At least 130 people were taken to hospital after the accident near the north-western city of Santiago de Compostela, and 95 are still being treated.
The 32 seriously injured include children. People from several nationalities are among the wounded, including five Americans and one Briton. One American was among the dead.
On Thursday junior transport minister Rafael Catala said early indications suggested the train had been going too fast.
The Madrid to Ferrol train’s data recording “black box” is now with the judge in charge of the investigation.
It is unclear whether anyone else is subject to investigation.
The president of railway firm Renfe, Julio Gomez Pomar, was quoted by El Mundo newspaper as saying the driver had 30 years of experience with the company and had been operating trains on the line for more than a year.
He said the train which derailed had no technical problems.
Renfe said the train came off the tracks about 3 or 4 km (2-2.5 miles) from Santiago de Compostela station at 20:41 local time on Wednesday.
It was on the express route between the capital, Madrid, and the port city of Ferrol on the Galician coast, with 218 passengers on board and four crew.
The derailment happened on the eve of Santiago de Compostela’s main annual festival where thousands of Christian pilgrims were expected to flock to the city in honor of St James.
Valeria Lukyanova has sparked international controversy by turning herself into a human doll using plastic surgery and thick layers of dramatic make-up, confessing she wishes to be considered “the most perfect woman on the internet”.
Ukraine’s Valeria Lukyanova, 23, believes she has become a living, breathing Barbie, something she sees as the ultimate embodiment of perfection.
Vice.com documentary-maker Will Fairman has gone behind the scenes with Valeria Lukyanova – who currently has 876,000 fans on her Facebook page – journeying to Ukraine to capture her idiosyncratic life on film.
Will Fairman negotiated coming to the Ukraine to film Valeria Lukyanova, despite the model being “a little bit skeptical” at first.
Valeria Lukyanova believes she is from another planet – possibly Venus, but she isn’t quite sure – so isn’t really human like the rest of us.
“She’s not a fraud,” clarified Will Fairman.
“She genuinely believes she’s from another planet. 100 per cent. She’s not making any money from her life – not even from the seminars she gives – which is originally why I thought she was doing this.”
Valeria Lukyanova has sparked international controversy by turning herself into a human doll using plastic surgery and thick layers of dramatic make-u
Valeria Lukyanova, who is supported by her construction-working husband who also acts as her manager, spends the film discussing theories about her pre-Earth space life, and how she has become an object of hatred within some internet communities.
“I come from a place where only love and joy exist,” she says.
“But I noticed the media is only interested in negativity: show someone in a bad light, show someone’s mistakes.
“There are hate blogs and communities about me who post bad pictures about me and try and worsen my mood.
“Perhaps at some point I was an energy vampire, because I constantly received their negative reactions and enjoyed it. Specifically for them I created posts that would make them angry.
“But people who think badly of me just aren’t happy in their own lives. When they are happy they will forget about me.”
Valeria Lukyanova, who says she has a “small group of friends who accept me for who I am”, also admits she has visited a psychiatrist about the voices in her head.
Describing how he found Valeria, Will Fairman added: “She’s kind of like the really pretty, popular girl at school who you’re completely blown away by.
“She’s like a little queen, and she carries herself like that all the time. She never breaks. It’s not like the camera turns off and she whips out a cigarette and gets into a tracksuit.
“She’s naturally like that: a girl who has been getting attention ever since she was a teenager and gets crazy attention wherever she is.
“And she is paranoid about not looking perfect. I don’t know exactly where it comes from, but I suspect really it’s down to… she seems to have a quite a lot of issues about her physical self, and is incredibly fixated with her image.
“She manages it down to the finest detail, which is why something so much as a missing belt can trigger a stroke.”
Researchers have uncovered the first evidence that blood pressure drugs, called ACE inhibitors, may actually boost brainpower, as doctors have long recognized that taking the drugs may slow the onset of Alzheimer’s.
Those with high blood pressure are more at risk of developing Alzheimer’s and similar diseases, but the study found their memory and thinking skills were protected by the drugs they were taking.
ACE inhibitors – whose names include ramipril, captopril and perindopril – have become increasingly popular in the past ten years, particularly for younger patients.
Researchers in Ireland and Canada investigated drugs which target a specific biochemical pathway called the renin angiotensin system – a hormone system which is thought to affect the development of Alzheimer’s.
The study compared the rate of cognitive decline in 361 patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia (caused by problems in blood supply to the brain), or a mix of both. Of that group, 85 were already taking ACE inhibitors; the rest were not.
Doctors have long recognized that taking ACE inhibitors may slow the onset of Alzheimer’s
The researchers also analyzed the impact on 30 patients, with an average age of 77 years, who were taking the drugs for the first time.
They were assessed over six months, using the Standardized Mini Mental State Examination or the Quick Mild Cognitive Impairment tests.
Those taking ACE inhibitors experienced marginally slower rates of cognitive decline than those who were not, found the study in the journal BMJ Open.
Meanwhile, the brainpower of those patients who had been newly prescribed ACE inhibitors actually improved, the experts from University College Cork in Ireland and McMaster University in Ontario, Canada found.
It is the first evidence to suggest these drugs may not only halt cognitive decline, but may actually improve brainpower.
The researchers said: “Although the differences were small and of uncertain clinical significance, if sustained over years, compounding effects may well have significant clinical benefits.”
They warn that ACE inhibitors are harmful to some patients, so if larger studies confirm they work well in dementia, it may be only certain people with high blood pressure who stand to benefit.
Previous studies have linked other forms of blood pressure medication with anti-dementia benefits.
Among the most widely used ACE inhibitors are perindopril (also known as Coversyl), ramipril (Tritace), captopril (Capoten), trandolapril (Gopten), fosinopril (Staril), lisinopril (Zestril and prinivil).
They work by stopping the body from creating the hormone angiotensin II. This has a variety of effects but essentially relaxes blood vessels and helps reduce the amount of water re-absorbed by the kidneys – helping decrease blood pressure.
King Juan Carlos of Spain has said all Spanish people feel the pain of the families of the 80 people killed in a high-speed train crash near Santiago de Compostela.
The king was speaking on a visit to the dozens of hospitalized survivors in Santiago de Compostela, near to where the train derailed on Wednesday night.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who hails from the city of the crash, declared three days of official mourning on Thursday.
One of the train drivers is under formal investigation, officials say.
The driver, named by Spanish media as Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, was slightly injured and will be questioned by police in hospital, the Galicia Supreme Court said in a statement.
Spain’s national train operator Renfe said it was too early to say what caused the train to derail. However, survivor accounts and media reports suggest the train was travelling at excessive speed as it hit a curve in the track.
Footage captured by a security camera shows the train crashing as it hurtled round a bend.
King Juan Carlos and his wife Queen Sofia visited survivors and the families of victims at Santiago’s University Hospital on Thursday.
“All Spanish people join in the sorrow of the relatives of the deceased,” he said, praising what he called the spirit of citizenship shown by rescue workers and blood donors.
King Juan Carlos of Spain on a visit to the dozens of hospitalized survivors in Santiago de Compostela
PM Mariano Rajoy was at the scene of the crash on Thursday.
“For a native of Santiago like me, this is the saddest day,” he said.
At least 130 people were taken to hospital after the crash, and 94 are still being treated, health officials say.
Thirty-two people are seriously injured, including children.
People from several nationalities are among the wounded, including five Americans and one Briton. One American was among the dead.
The Madrid to Ferrol train’s data recording “black box” is now with the judge in charge of the investigation.
Meanwhile, the train’s carriages have been removed from the track by cranes and sent for analysis.
The president of railway firm Renfe, Julio Gomez Pomar, was quoted by El Mundo newspaper as saying the driver, who was aged 52, had 30 years of experience with the company and had been operating trains on this line for more than a year.
He said the train which derailed had no technical problems.
“The train had passed an inspection that same morning. Those trains are inspected every 7,500km… Its maintenance record was perfect,” he told Spanish radio.
But Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, who was trapped in the cab after the accident, is quoted as saying moments after the crash that the train had taken the curve at 190 km/h (120mph) despite a speed limit on that section of 80 km/h.
If this is the case, it remains to be seen whether a systems failure or driver error was the cause, correspondents say.
Spain has invested huge amounts of money in its rail network and has a relatively good safety record.
According to official figures, the crash is one of the worst rail disasters in Spanish history.
Renfe said the train came off the tracks a few kilometres before Santiago de Compostela station at 20:41 local time on Wednesday.
It was on the express route between the capital, Madrid, and the port city of Ferrol on the Galician coast, with 218 passengers on board – in addition to an unknown number of staff and crew.
Witnesses to the crash described seeing carriages “piled on top of one another” after the train hit a curve.
The derailment happened on the eve of Santiago de Compostela’s main annual festival where thousands of Christian pilgrims were expected to flock to the city in honor of St James.
The local tourism board cancelled all festivities as the city went into mourning.
Pope Francis has met thousands of pilgrims at Copacabana beach, in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, to hold the greeting ceremony for World Youth Day.
After arriving by helicopter, Pope Francis drove along the 2.5 miles of the beach, stopping many times to greet the crowd.
An estimated 1 million pilgrims attended the event, following a papal visit to a shanty town, or favela.
Meanwhile, bad weather has forced this weekend’s events to be moved from a drenched farm on the outskirts of Rio.
A site set up at a farm on the western outskirts of the city for Saturday’s vigil and Sunday’s service, where up to 2 million people are expected, was covered with mud and puddles after two days of relentless rain.
The authorities have announced that these events will now also take place at Copacabana beach.
Hours before Pope Francis arrived at Copacabana on Thursday, young pilgrims started gathering along the beach.
“I’ve always heard that Cariocas [Rio-born people] did not like the cold or the rain. But you are showing your faith is stronger. Well done!” Pope Francis joked with the crowd at the start of his address.
Groups resembling Olympic delegation were holding up the flags of their countries and many were carrying the distinct World Youth Day backpacks in yellow, green or blue, the colors of the host-country’s flag.
Pope Francis has met thousands of pilgrims at Copacabana beach to hold the greeting ceremony for World Youth Day
Big screens were set up on the sand and the rain stopped before the event.
On the fourth day of his visit to Brazil, the first international trip of his papacy, Pope Francis also addressed Argentine faithful in Rio’s cathedral.
During the event, the pontiff told pilgrims to take to the streets and “stir things up”.
“I expect a messy World Youth Day. But I want things messy and stirred up in the congregations, I want you to take to the streets. I want the Church to take to the streets,” the Argentine-born pope told the crowd.
Before the meeting with his fellow countrymen, Pope Francis blessed the new altar at a tiny church and hugged and kissed locals who crowded the Varginha community streets.
Security was tight in the shanty town, which is part of the larger Manguinhos favela, one of the many hillside shanty towns which surround Rio.
Helicopters and sharpshooters were on patrol as Pope Francis visited the area while school children waved flags and held up balloons.
The Brazilian government has made the “pacification” of these communities, once a byword for poverty, crime and drugs, one of its priorities.
Heavily-armed police have moved into some of the more lawless favelas, including Varginha, to “flush out” the criminals and drug dealers who controlled large swathes of these communities.
According to official estimates, more than 20% of the population of the city live in favelas.
Pope Francis, who has called for a “Church of the poor” and who during his time as Archbishop of Buenos Aires regularly visited some of the poorest areas of that city, specifically asked for a favela to be included in his schedule.
Locals say the government’s policy of sending large numbers of police to the area has gone some way towards calming the area, but not enough.
The visit comes just a day after Pope Francis said it was key to tackle the roots of drug abuse rather than consider legalizing them.
At a Mass at the shrine of Aparecida, the Pope also warned tens of thousands of faithful against the “passing idols” of money, power and pleasure.
B29, a juror in the trial of George Zimmerman, who killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, has come forward to say he “got away with murder”.
But the 36-year-old, named as Maddy in an ABC News’ Good Morning America interview, said they could not find him guilty based on the law.
The only non-white member of the six-woman jury, Maddy suggested the trial had been little more than a sham.
Florida neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman was cleared after shooting dead 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February 2012.
There were nationwide protests following his acquittal of murder and manslaughter charges earlier this month. George Zimmerman claimed self-defense.
Maddy, a nursing assistant and a mother of eight who had recently moved from Illinois to Florida, said she feels she owes an apology to Trayvon Martin’s parents.
Juror B29 has come forward to say George Zimmerman got away with murder
“I felt like I let a lot of people down, and I’m thinking to myself, <<Did I go the right way? Did I go the wrong way?>>” she told Good Morning America programme.
But she said that based on instructions from the judge, she could not convict George Zimmerman under Florida law.
“That’s where I felt confused, where if a person kills someone, then you get charged for it,” Maddy said.
“But as the law was read to me, if you have no proof that he killed him intentionally, you can’t say he’s guilty.”
Known as Juror B29, she said she initially voted to convict 29-year-old George Zimmerman of second-degree murder, but changed her mind after nine hours of discussing evidence on the second day of deliberations.
“I was the juror that was going to give them the hung jury,” she said.
“I fought to the end.”
Maddy, who is of Puerto Rican background, said the trial was “a publicity stunt”, because she believes Florida laws provided no opportunity to convict. But she said George Zimmerman will still be judged.
“George Zimmerman got away with murder, but you can’t get away from God. And at the end of the day, he’s going to have a lot of questions and answers he has to deal with.”
Earlier this month, another juror – known only as B37 – told broadcaster CNN that she believed George Zimmerman had good intentions, but events “just went terribly wrong”.
Anthony Weiner’s online mistress Sydney Leathers, the political wannabe at the center of the mayoral candidate’s latest texting scandal, pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana and appeared before Vanderburgh Superior Court, Indiana, in 2008.
Sydney Leathers, 23, had dropped out of Mt Carmel High School without graduating the previous summer.
And until just three months ago, Sydney Leathers was being pursued through the small claims court for close to $2,000 in unpaid medical fees in a case that lasted two years.
In an interview with Inside Edition, Sydney Leathers revealed Anthony Weiner told her he loved her and claims he even consulted her before deciding to run for mayor.
Sydney Leathers revealed Anthony Weiner told her he loved her and claims he even consulted her before deciding to run for mayor
“You told Anthony Weiner that you loved him?” Sydney Leathers was asked, according to a statement from Inside Edition.
“Yes,” she said.
“Did he tell you he loved you?”
“Yes,” she replied, adding that she was embarrassed by the whole thing.
“I feel embarrassed. I wish I could go back and change it but I know that I can’t so I just have to live with it. It’s embarrassing but it was how I felt at the time, and how he felt at the time,” Sydney Leathers said.
Sydney Leathers also started crying as she apologized for the hurt she has caused to Anthony Weiner’s wife Huma Abedin.
The revelation came as high school friends of Sydney Leathers described her as someone who was always desperate for fame just as it emerged she had got herself an agent and was hoping to make $100,000 by selling her story.
Sydney Leathers hoped Anthony Weiner would be her ticket out of “Conservative Hell” Indiana and alleges he promised to put her up in a condo in Chicago and a possible job at Politico.
She lives with her machinist father in Princeton and had a difficult relationship with her thrice-married mother since they split six years ago, it also emerged today.
Sydney Leathers’ mother Laura only learned about her daughter’s involvement with Anthony Weiner when the story broke nationally and are said to be still trying to absorb the shock.
On Wednesday, Laura Leathers blasted Anthony Weiner and his run for office.
“I have nothing to say except God help New York if he gets to be mayor. You can print that,” she told the New York Daily News.
It also emerged yesterday that Anthony Weiner and Sydney Leathers’ online relationship started when she emailed him in 2011.
Anthony Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin, was aware of her husband’s most recent indiscretions months before he decided to run for New York City mayor, her friends have revealed.
When 23-year-old Sydney Leathers released messages on Tuesday that showed Anthony Weiner continued his inappropriate online relationships well beyond his 2011 resignation from Congress, all eyes were turned to Huma Abedin to see if she knew.
Huma Abedin stood by her man – though looking nervous and uncomfortable while doing so – and declared that she was aware of his behavior and they decided a mayoral run was right for the family.
Her friends have now spoken out saying that she was devastated when she originally learned about his relapse but she has had months to come to terms with the news.
“When she found out, she was furious. She was furious, and she thought long and hard about leaving, and ultimately decided what was best for her and her son and her family was to continue to try to work through it,” unidentified friends told The Wall Street Journal.
They added that it was her decision to attend and speak at the press conference on Tuesday, and Huma Abedin did not make that choice under any pressure from her husband or his campaign.
Huma Abedin has taken a number of tactical steps during the campaign, as she made a conscious choice to speak to People Magazine alongside Anthony Weiner and their son Jordan in June 2012.
She also has been on the campaign trail with Anthony Weiner, appearing in his official launch video and attending events at his side.
An essay Huma Abedin wrote about their difficult journey over the past two years is scheduled to appear in next month’s issue of Harper’s Bazaar, timed so that the publication coincides with the Democratic primary on September 10.
Huma Abedin herself marked the biggest difference between Anthony Weiner’s two devastating press conferences – the first when he resigned in 2011 following the accidental release of a photo on his Twitter account, and then the press conference on Tuesday.
In 2011, a then-pregnant Huma Abedin was lauded for choosing not to stand next to her disgraced, weepy husband though he said that they decided to work on their marriage.
Anthony Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin, was aware of her husband’s most recent indiscretions months before he decided to run for New York City mayor
But now, following her press conference debut, immediate comparisons were drawn between she and Silda Spitzer, who served as the inspiration for CBS’s hit show The Good Wife following her decision to stand next to the former Governor when he admitted to using prostitutes.
“She’s not the <<good wife>>. If she had found out yesterday she wouldn’t have been standing there,” her friends told the Wall Street Journal.
“She knew it was going to be a long and tough time, and she knew he hadn’t hit rock bottom.”
In her statement on Tuesday, Huma Abedin was clear to mention that they have gone through “a whole lot of therapy” to get to the point where they are now, and other friends believe she sees his relapse as part of the healing process.
“She’s not fine and she’s not in good spirits. No one‘s fine when they go through this. But the emotional part of this was last fall,” and unidentified confidante told The New York Daily News.
“I assume [she stayed] because he was trying to beat this, and knew that’s part of the process.”
Aside from her appearance at Tuesday’s press conference, Huma Abedin has reverted to her low-profile ways, holing up in the couple’s Manhattan apartment on Wednesday with a brief escape when she went into an awaiting car.
No official statements or plans have been released but insiders expect Huma Abedin will keep a lower profile moving forward in the campaign.
Huma Abedin’s decision to stay with Anthony Weiner after the first revelations in 2011 was largely accepted by the public, under the assumption that he stopped communicating other woman and focusing on their marriage.
“I tell my friends things that Anthony does and they’re always like, <<Really? He does that?! My husband doesn’t do that>>. I mean, I have not washed a single piece of clothing ever. Anthony does all our laundry. I have not been to our dry cleaner. He does that. He makes my tea when I get up in the morning. He’s just a loving, caring, thoughtful spouse and partner,” she told People in late June 2012.
Now his messages with Sydney Leather prove that he struck up a new virtual romance less than two weeks later.
“I have no way of knowing whether Huma, for whom I have great respect, is responding out of new motherhood, the Stockholm syndrome or a mystery,” women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem told The New York Times.
A number of commentators have linked her behavior – or her “Post Scandal Playbook” – come straight from the pages of her mentor and longtime boss Hillary Clinton. Huma Abedin is the former Secretary of States’ top aide and has worked with her since 1996 when she was First Lady.
Though the Clintons have said from the beginning of the mayoral race that they will not be endorsing any candidate – citing their close ties to many from when Hillary Clinton was the Senator of New York – Huma Abedin has used her connections to help bring in big money donors for her husband.
“Her loyalty is to Hillary Clinton and her role model is Hillary Clinton. Doormats. Doormats with the promise of a payoff later down the road,” conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said.
The criticism is not only coming from the right, though the Democrats are tending to focus on Anthony Weiner rather than Huma Abedin.
Minority leader Nancy Pelosi, who was one of the most vocal voices calling for Anthony Weiner’s resignation in 2011, today told NBC’s Luke Russert that his recent conduct is “reprehensible, disrespectful of women”.
Congressman Charles Rangel, who has been the Democratic representative for Harlem for over 40 years, echoed those sentiments on MSNBC Wednesday morning.
“Nobody that I know understands at all what Anthony Weiner was thinking about. And right now, I think you would agree that we all are concerned about his wife. She’s a brave lady,” Congressman Rangel told MSNBC on Wednesday.
“I have seen a lot of things like this in politics where males have to lean on their wives for support, but I don’t ever recall seeing a wife looking and feeling so sad and embarrassed, because Huma is a very private person, a very delicate, sophisticated person. And all the years that I’ve known her, putting her into this political situation, as bright and as intelligent as she is, is very awkward.”
New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner has admitted that he started three different virtual relationships with women after he resigned from Congress following his Twitter messages scandal in 2011.
Disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner held a press conference on Thursday afternoon where he disclosed an approximate break down of his texting timeline, just hours after the latest poll revealed he has lost his front-runner lead in the New York City mayoral race.
New York Magazine reports that at a press conference on Thursday, Anthony Weiner said “it’s six to ten [women] I suppose” as the total number of women he has had virtual relationships with in his lifetime.
When asked to clarify how many of those relationships started after he resigned from Congress in June 2011, he said: “I don’t believe more than three.”
The renewed discussion about Anthony Weiner scandal comes after one of the women, Sydney Leathers, came forward on Tuesday sharing the illicit chats and photos that they shared one year after he resigned.
Today has not been good in terms of any numbers for Anthony Weiner, as the first poll since Sydney Leathers revelation shows that he has been bumped out of the lead in the mayoral race.
His drop in the polls comes as Anthony Weiner confirmed he had virtual relationships with three women after his 2011 resignation from Congress and between six and ten similar situations prior to leaving office.
The first poll conducted after his relationship with then-22-year-old Sydney Leather was revealed just came out Thursday afternoon and has City Council Speaker Christine Quinn leading with 25% of the Democratic vote.
Anthony Weiner comes in second place with only 16% – down from his earlier 26% lead from a different poll that measured the public’s thinking the week preceding the Tuesday revelations.
“These new revelations have cost Anthony Weiner the lead in the Democratic field,” director of Marist College polling Lee Miringoff told The Wall Street Journal, which co-sponsored the poll.
In addition to taking away his lead, the release of photos and chats have driven up his unfavorability rating, bringing him up to an “all-time high” of 55%.
By comparison, his unfavorables were only at 36% in June.
This latest survey took place entirely on Wednesday, the day after the former Barack Obama campaign worker shared her illicit chats and photos of Anthony Weiner with gossip site The Dirty.
Later that same day, the disgraced congressman and his wife Huma Abedin held a joint press conference declaring their dedication to both one another and the campaign.
The Wall Street Journal/Marist poll suggests that there is a good number of New Yorkers who agree with that decision.
Of the 1,199 people surveyed, 47% of registered Democrats said he should stay in the race – which is the same number who believe he deserves a second chance.
That percentage of the electorate is just slightly bigger than the 43% who said he should drop out. And 45% of New York Democrats believe he does not have the character to be mayor of the country’s largest city.
Prior to this afternoon’s poll, things were still looking positive for Anthony Weiner.
The latest poll Quinnipiac University poll reveals that during the week leading up to the Sydney Leather scandal, Anthony Weiner came out on top with 26% of the Democratic vote, with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn following with 22% and former comptroller Bill Thompson with 20%.
The poll may not carry the same weight now, however, as it weighed the opinions of voters between July 18 and July 23, and Anthony Weiner’s messages to Sydney Leather were only made public on the 23rd.
Antony Weiner sent an email to supporters on Wednesday, just hours after he and his wife Huma Abedin gave a joint press conference about the messages and photos, where he said that the bid for New York City’s mayor was “too important” to give up over “embarrassing personal things”.
Anthony Weiner came in second place in latest NY mayoral poll conducted after the latest chat messages were revealed
Rivals, newspaper editorial pages and former New York congressional colleagues urged the Democrat to quit after he acknowledged exchanging raunchy messages and photos online after he had resigned from Congress for similar behavior.
Jerrold Nadler, Democratic representative for New York’s 10th congressional district, said: “I think he should pull out of the race. I think he needs serious psychiatric help.”
Nydia Velázquez, who was also Anthony Weiner’s colleague back when he was a Democratic representative for the city, said his antics were a “total distraction” from the real issues the mayoral campaign should be debating.
The latest scandal erupted on Tuesday after the gossip website The Dirty posted messages and photos it said Anthony Weiner exchanged with a woman last year while using the online alias “Carlos Danger”.
The New York Times cited his “marital troubles and personal compulsions’ as reasons for the 48-year-old Democrat to leave the race while The Wall Street Journal claimed he should be forced out “simply because of what he’s forced his wife to endure”.
“The serially evasive Mr. Weiner should take his marital troubles and personal compulsions out of the public eye and the mayoral race,” the Times wrote.
The Daily News declared Anthony Weiner to be “lacking the dignity and discipline that New York deserves in a mayor”, and said “his demons have no place in City Hall”.
At least three of his mayoral rivals, Bill de Blasio and Sal Albanese, both Democrats, and billionaire businessman John Catsimatidis, a Republican, said he should drop out.
“Anthony’s presence in this race has become a never-ending sideshow that is distracting us from the debate of the serious issues of this election,” Bill de Blasio said.
Anthony Weiner’s strongest rivals in the polls, Christine Quinn and Bill Thompson, criticized him but didn’t directly call on him to quit.
Bill Thompson said on WNYC-AM that Anthony Weiner should “think about the people of this city and make the right decision”, while Christine Quinn said at a news conference that it is up to Weiner and his family to decide whether he should end his run, but New Yorkers “need a mayor whose is sole focus isn’t self-aggrandizement”.
Anthony Weiner already made it clear that criticisms from the crowded field of competitors, though he did not pay it much mind, saying at the Tuesday press conference: “I’m sure many of my opponents would like me to drop out of the race.”
Democratic strategists in New York and Washington, where Anthony Weiner served seven terms before resigning in 2011, said there are few external means of pressuring Weiner to drop out.
Anthony Weiner has nearly $5 million to spend on the campaign, allowing him to mount a vigorous defense on television.
He is not particularly close to his colleagues in the congressional delegation, the strategists said, so he might be unmoved if they urge him to exit the race.
The public does not appear to be taking his decision to stay in the race much better, as he was greeted with boos as he took the stage to speak at a public housing meeting on Wednesday evening. That said, the crowd were cheering by the end of his speech.
Speaking afterwards he said: “I thought these things would come out by the end of the campaign, and some of them have. Look, I am pressing forward, running a campaign about the issues, and I’m getting a good response.”
Much of the attention at his Tuesday press conference went directly to his wife Huma Abedin, who made a purposeful statement in 2011 when she did not attend his resignation speech following the first Twitter scandal.
Huma Abedin, an advisor to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, reaffirmed her love and support for her husband and said the matter was “between us”.
Anthony Weiner has emphasized that he said when launching his campaign that more messages might emerge. But until Tuesday, he never said directly that some were sent as recently as last year.
“I regret not saying explicitly when these exchanges happened,” he told supporters in an email on Wednesday.
British scientists have discovered how allergic reactions to cats are triggered, raising hopes of preventative medicine.
A University of Cambridge team has identified how the body’s immune system detects cat allergen, leading to symptoms such as coughing and sneezing.
New treatments to block this pathway raise hopes of developing medicines to protect sufferers, they say.
British scientists have discovered how allergic reactions to cats are triggered, raising hopes of preventative medicine
Researchers led by Dr. Clare Bryant of the University of Cambridge studied proteins found in particles of cat skin, known as cat dander, which is the most common cause of cat allergy.
They found that cat allergen activates a specific pathway in the body, once in the presence of a common bacterial toxin.
This triggers a large immune response in allergy sufferers, causing symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, sneezing and a runny nose.
Dr. Clare Bryant said: “We’ve discovered how the cat allergy proteins activate the host immune cells.
“By understanding the triggering mechanism, there are now drugs that have been designed that are in clinical trials for other conditions, such as sepsis, that could potentially then be used in a different way to treat cat allergy and to prevent cat allergy.”
Allergic reactions happen when the immune system overreacts to a perceived danger.
Instead of responding to a harmful virus or bacteria, it misidentifies allergens, such as cat dander, and mounts an immune response.
The research was funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council.
Facebook shares jumped by more than 25% at the market opening on Thursday, after it beat profit forecasts with stronger than expected mobile ad sales.
On Wednesday, the social networking giant had reported profits of $333 million in Q2 2013.
When trading began in New York, Facebook shares were 25.6% higher at $33.30, the highest since May 2012.
Facebook, which is the world’s largest social networking company, floated on the Nasdaq at $38 a share last year.
Following the release of the latest results, at least 16 brokerages raised their price targets for the firm.
“Facebook has discovered the formula to begin significantly extracting value from its 1.16 billion global users,” said JMP Securities analyst Ronald Josey.
A year ago, Facebook had no mobile advertising and many analysts were skeptical about the firm’s ability to make money in the arena.
Internet companies have been struggling with how to display adverts on smaller screens, as more people use their smartphones to access the web.
Facebook’s revenue from smartphones and tablets made up almost half of total advertising revenue in the second quarter.
Facebook shares jumped by more than 25 percent after it beat profit forecasts with stronger than expected mobile ad sales
The company is widely expected to launch mobile video advertising in the fourth quarter.
“Facebook’s massive audience should be irresistible to brand advertisers as the company preps to launch 15-second video ads, which could be Facebook’s next billion-dollar business,” said analysts at Jefferies & Co.
Meanwhile, analysts at Morgan Stanley expect video advertisements to boost Facebook’s revenues by more than 10%.
In a statement, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said: “The work we’ve done to make mobile the best Facebook experience is showing good results and provides us with a solid foundation for the future.”
According to chief financial officer David Ebersman, 20 billion minutes a day were spent on Facebook in June.
“This quarter marks the end of our first year as a public company and I think we’ve created a good foundation for the future,” said Mark Zuckerberg on a call to discuss the earnings.
Facebook made $655.6 million from mobile ads between April and June – more than 41% of the $1.6 billion in overall advertising revenue, compared with 30% for the same period last year. The number of mobile users expanded 51% to 819 million.
“I’d say that Facebook is in a unique position with the ad market right now in that it is very far ahead of any other major ad platform in mobile display advertising,” said Clark Fredricksen of research firm eMarketer.
Facebook has focused on perfecting its ad sales programmes. Last month, it announced changes to its Ads Manager which it said would provide advertisers with better data.
In April, Facebook won back General Motors almost a year after the car company pulled advertising from the site.
Analysts said Facebook’s rival Google has fared less well in the mobile advertising market so far.
Last week, Google posted second-quarter results which fell short of Wall Street’s expectations.
“The Facebook versus Google debate will return to the investment community, after a year-long hiatus,” Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan said.
Tunisian opposition leader Mohamed Brahmi has been assassinated outside his home in Tunis, officials say.
Mohamed Brahmi, 58, led the nationalist Movement of the People party.
It is the second time an opposition party leader has been killed this year.
In February, prominent secular politician Chokri Belaid was also shot outside his house in Tunis. His murder sparked protests and forced PM Hamadi Jebali to resign.
An uprising in Tunisia in late 2010 kick-started a series of revolutions that spread through the Middle East and became known as the Arab Spring.
Gunmen on a motorbike shot Mohamed Brahmi in his car in front of his wife and daughter on Thursday morning, Movement of the People party officials said.
Local media said the assailants fired 11 bullets at the politician. It is not known yet who was behind the attack.
Mohamed Brahmi’s wife, Mbarka, said a “criminal gang has killed the free voice of Brahmi”.
Mbarka Brahmi and her daughter Belkis were joined by angry Tunisians outside the hospital in Ariana where the politician died.
Mohamed Brahmi has been assassinated outside his home in Tunis
Large crowds also gathered outside the Ministry of Interior in Tunis in protest at the killing.
There are also reports of demonstrators converging in the city of Sidi Bouzid, Mohamed Brahmi’s hometown and the birthplace of the Arab Spring.
“People have blocked roads and set tyres alight,” a local resident told the Reuters news agency.
The governing Islamist Ennahda party expressed “sadness and shock” at the assassination, which it described as a “cowardly and despicable crime”.
The killing came as Tunisia celebrated the 56th anniversary of becoming a republic after gaining independence from France.
French President Francois Hollande condemned Mohamed Brahmi’s murder and called on Tunisians to unite behind the democratic transition.
Mohamed Brahmi founded the Movement of the People party after the 2011 revolution.
He was also a member of the National Constituent Assembly, which is drafting a new constitution.
The assembly announced Friday would be a day of mourning.
Mohamed Brahmi was not as big a political figure as Chokri Belaid, but he too was a leftist critical of Ennahda.
Ennahda came to power following the overthrow of long-term ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011.
The party has faced growing popular unrest over a faltering economy and a rising extremist Islamist movement.
After Chokri Belaid’s assassination in February, many Tunisians accused Ennahda of not doing enough to stamp out a rise in Islamist violence, with some critics saying the party was actively fomenting it, correspondents say.
China is showing off its new wealth with an increasing number of landmark buildings.
The 27-storey Sheraton Huzhou Hot Spring Resort, looms over the skyline of Huzhou, near Shanghai, in the shape of a massive glowing doughnut.
Set on the shores of Lake Taihu and offering 321 spacious guest rooms, including 44 suites and 39 villas, it’s an ideal destination for China’s newly affluent business class.
The Sheraton website boasts that visitors to their latest hotel can see some of the areas top attractions and, perhaps more crucially, “gather with those who matter”.
At just seven degrees north of the Tropic of Cancer, Huzhou has a subtropical humid monsoon climate and an average annual temperature of 12.2-16.1C.
Known as “The City of Silk”, the ancient metropolis is situated on the southern shores of Lake Taihu in the northern part of Zheijang Province. It is hailed as the birthplace of the Far East’s famous tea culture.
Guests to the Sheraton Huzhou will stay in the most opulent surroundings.
While the hotel, which is designed by Beijing-born architect Ma Yanson, appears in the shape of a horseshoe the bottom ends are in fact connected by two basement levels.
The ostentatious lobby is lit by 20,000 Swarovski and European natural crystal lamps arranged in a wave-like formation across its ceiling, while the floor is paved with Afghan White Jade and Tiger’s Eye Stone from Brazil.
There are three restaurants, catering for tastes both domestic and international, each with private rooms, and informal liaisons can be conducted over cocktails of coffee in one of the two lounges.
Each of the Sheraton Huzhou’s guest rooms includes a private balcony, a large work desk with an ergonomic chair, High Speed Internet Access, an LCD flat screen television, and an iPod docking station.
Suites boast marble bathrooms complete with sunken bathtubs and walk-in “rainforest” showers.
The 27-storey Sheraton Huzhou Hot Spring Resort, looms over the skyline of Huzhou, near Shanghai
While the hotel, like much of what is going on in China, seems geared towards businessmen, with vast and well-equipped conference facilities and 16 meeting spaces covering a total of 2,200sq/m.
Sheraton boasted: “The Grand Ballroom is ideal for large, lavish gatherings or conferences. Private meeting rooms on the 22nd floor offer a heightened level of exclusivity, while the best lake view can be appreciated from the 300-square-meter multipurpose Taihu Room on the 27th floor.
“The resort’s event facilities are equipped with state-of-the-art audiovisual technology, and our planning and banquet teams will work with you on every detail.”
Guests can book in for treatments at the resort’s holistic spa, which features a steam room, saunas and a range of hydrotherapy pools. A fitness centre offers gym equipment, aerobics classes and massage treatments.
Sheraton said in a statement: “The hotel’s numerous facilities are designed to help you stay busy or relax. Keep in touch with home and the office via complimentary High Speed Internet Access; our business centre offers additional support services.
“Maintain your workout regimen at our modern fitness centre, featuring state-of-the-art machines, cardiovascular equipment, and a stretch area, or take a refreshing dip in our indoor or outdoor pools.
“Within a haven of tranquility, pamper yourself with a treatment in our holistic Shine Spa for Sheraton. Choose from a range of treatments that have originated throughout the world.”
Tourists are well catered for too. For guests who want to celebrate a special day there is a 1,600sq/m private wedding island and a full time wedding coordinator on hand to help them make sure it all goes smoothly.
And for those who merely want to take in the sites of Huzhou, a city dating back some 2,300 years, there is the unique 8th-century Feiying Ta Pagoda, the 14th-century Temple of the Iron Buddha and the Anji Bambbo Museum, set in beautiful forests showcasing more than 300 species where visitors can learn about the history and culture of bamboo.
For nature lovers there is also Mogan Mountain; one of China’s best summer resorts, the picturesque area is filled with wild bamboo, hundreds of springs and waterfalls, and some 200 villas representing various architectural styles from all over the world.
Visitors can enjoy more nature at Lake Taihu. Famous for its limestone formations, this scenic and popular attraction is China’s third-largest freshwater lake and home to about 90 islands.
And golfers can play a round at the Huzhou Hot Springs Golf Club, rated the #1 golf course in China.
Rooms at the Sheraton Huzhou start from $445 per night.
Jane Austen is to feature on the next £10 note, the Bank of England has announced, avoiding a long-term absence of women represented on banknotes.
The author of Pride and Prejudice will be the next face of the note, replacing Charles Darwin, probably in 2017.
Chancellor George Osborne tweeted the move showed “sense and sensibility”.
In April, the Bank prompted a high-profile campaign against the prospect of having no female characters, besides the Queen, on the UK’s currency.
It had announced that Sir Winston Churchill would be put on the £5 note from 2016, replacing social reformer Elizabeth Fry.
The latest announcement means that women could be absent from newly issued banknotes for up to a year, although the Elizabeth Fry £5 note will still be in circulation.
On Twitter, George Osborne wrote: “[Incoming Bank of England governor] Mark Carney’s choice of Jane Austen as face of £10 note is great. After understandable row over lack of women, shows sense and sensibility.”
Banknotes are regularly redesigned, in order to maintain security and prevent forgeries.
The most recent new design from the Bank of England to enter circulation was the £50 note. This features Matthew Boulton and James Watt, who were most celebrated for bringing the steam engine into the textile manufacturing process.
The decision to replace Elizabeth Fry on the £5 note prompted protests and discussions about female representation on banknotes, but Jane Austen was thought to have already been part of the Bank’s plans for the next new note.
Jane Austen is to feature on the next Bank of England’s £10 note, avoiding a long-term absence of women represented on banknotes
Mervyn King, in his last public appearance as governor of the Bank, said the author was “quietly waiting in the wings” to replace Charles Darwin.
Mark Carney started discussions about female representation on banknotes on his first day in office.
The Bank said in a statement that it was “never the Bank’s intention” that none of the four characters on banknotes would be a woman.
“Jane Austen certainly merits a place in the select group of historical figures to appear on our banknotes. Her novels have an enduring and universal appeal and she is recognized as one of the greatest writers in English literature,” Mark Carney said.
He also announced a review of the selection process for future banknote characters. Jane Austen will be the 17th historical figure to appear on Bank of England notes. The review will be completed by the end of the year.
The pressure was increased on the new governor through protests, an online petition – signed by 35,000 people, and a threat of legal action.
The campaign was led by Caroline Criado-Perez, from Rutland, who was invited to speak to Bank officials about the situation earlier in July.
Caroline Criado-Perez described the expected announcement as “a brilliant day for women and a fantastic one for people power”.
“We warmly welcome this move from the Bank and thank them for listening to us and taking such positive and emphatic steps to address our concerns,” she said.
“To hear Jane Austen confirmed is fantastic, but to hear the process will be comprehensively reviewed is even better.”
The money raised for a legal challenge will now be donated to women’s charities the Fawcett Society, Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis.
Jane Austen, who lived from 1775 to 1817, became one of the country’s most celebrated novelists. She was born in Hampshire as one of eight children.
She began to write as a teenager. Jane Austen’s first novel, Sense and Sensibility, appeared in 1811. She described her next novel, Pride and Prejudice, as her “own darling child”.
Jane Austen’s other published novels were Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey – the final two of which were published after her death.
Most of her novels were published anonymously.
The portrait of Jane Austen, which will appear on the banknote, is adapted from a sketch drawn by her sister Cassandra Austen. Other features include:
A quote from Pride and Prejudice: “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!”
An illustration of Elizabeth Bennet, one of the characters in Pride and Prejudice
An image of Godmersham Park in Kent – the home of Jane Austen’s brother, Edward Austen Knight, and the inspiration for a number of novels
A central background design of the author’s writing table which she used at home at Chawton Cottage in Hampshire
Fellow writers William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens have appeared on banknotes in recent times. Charles Dickens was on the £10 note and William Shakespeare on the £20 note.
Bank of England notes can be spent throughout the UK. In addition, three banks in Scotland and four in Northern Ireland are authorized to issue banknotes.
Aston Martin is to team up with the Mercedes to develop a new generation of engines and components.
As part of the deal, German carmaker Mercedes owner Daimler will take a stake of up to 5% in the UK luxury auto maker.
Aston Martin is to team up with the Mercedes to develop a new generation of engines and components
It is hoped the partnership will allow Aston Martin to compete more effectively with Volkswagen’s Bentley and Tata Motors’ Jaguar Land Rover.
100-year old Aston Martin makes the V8 Vantage, DB9 and Vanquish sports cars.
Aston Martin and Mercedes did not release any financial details of the deal, which they aim to complete by the end of the year.
“The proposed deal will see Aston Martin access significant Mercedes-AMG and Mercedes-Benz Cars’ resources, allowing the development of bespoke V8 powertrains and the use of certain components of electric and electronic architecture,” Ian Minards, Aston Martin’s product development director, said in a statement.
Aston Martin has been struggling of late. In the nine months to the end of September last year it sold 2,340 cars, a 19% drop on the same period in 2011.
The moment Spanish passenger train hurtled off the tracks and smashed into a wall, killing at least 80 people, has been captured in a terrifying video.
All eight carriages of the Madrid to Ferrol train derailed near the city of Santiago de Compostela last night, leaving at least 140 people injured.
Dramatic video footage from a security camera shows the train careering into a concrete wall as it came off the rails on the bend, before flipping onto its side and hurtling down the railway line with its terrified passengers on board.
One of the drivers was trapped in his cabin and told the railway station by radio that the train entered the bend at 190 km/h (120 mph), reported newspaper El Pais.
The speed limit on that section of track is 80km/h.
“We’re only human! We’re only human!” he told the station, the newspaper said, citing sources close to the investigation.
“I hope there are no dead, because this will fall on my conscience.”
The moment Spanish passenger train hurtled off the tracks and smashed into a wall, killing at least 80 people
Police have put an unnamed train driver under formal investigation – the Galicia government said one driver was in hospital.
Newspaper reports cited witnesses as saying driver Francisco Jose Garzon, who helped rescue victims, had shouted: “I’ve derailed! What do I do?” into a phone.
The accident is the worst train accident in 30 years and television footage showed one wagon pointing upwards into the air with one of its ends twisted and disfigured.
Another carriage that had been severed in two could be seen lying on a road near the track.
State-owned train operator Renfe said in a statement that 218 passengers and an unspecified number of staff were on board at the time of the accident.
Renfe said the derailment happened at 8.41 p.m. local time on a high-speed section that was inaugurated two years ago.
After the crash, bodies were seen covered in blankets next to the tracks and rescue workers tried to get trapped people out of the train’s carriages, with smoke billowing from some of the wreckage.
Some passengers were pulled out of broken windows, and one man stood on a carriage lying on its side, using a pickaxe to try to smash through a window.
TVE showed footage of what appeared to be several bodies covered by blankets alongside the tracks next to the damaged train wagons and rescue workers entering toppled carriages through broken windows.
The crash happened about an hour before sunset after the train emerged from a tunnel and derailed on the curve – sending cars flying off the tracks.
As casualties were taken to hospitals in Santiago and two other cities in the region, authorities appealed for people to donate blood.
Neighbors responded to calls from the police to bring blankets and sheets to the scene along with bottles of water.
Lamar Odom, who trashed photographers’ cars over questions about his alleged marital strife, descended into fits of giggles when he told spouse Khloe Kardashian he had found a clip of her leaked online.
Holding a napkin over his face and laughing uncontrollably, 33-year-old Lamar Odom could barely breathe as he revealed his shocking discovery on latest episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
“They got the video of you with the candy in the tub,” Lamar Odom squealed, referring to a video Khloe Kardashian made for him three years ago.
The footage, which aired on the show in 2010, featured Khloe Kardashian sitting in a bathtub of sweets and sucking on a lollipop.
Khloe Kardashian made the candy bath video for Lamar Odom three years ago
Talking to the camera in a childish voice, Khloe Kardashian tells Lamar Odom: “You had such a good game tonight. I want you to come home with me and take a bath.”
A stunned Khloe Kardashian was not so impressed with Lamar Odom’s internet surfing.
Her mother Kris Jenner, unfazed by the news, quipped: “I’m going to make a candy video.”
“That is disgusting,” Khloe Kardashian replied.
Lamar Odom, who is at the centre of a media storm over tabloid claims he cheated on his wife with Jennifer Richardson, told Khloe Kardashian about the video during a surprise birthday dinner for her sister Kourtney at Malibu restaurant Taverna Tony.
The Kardashian and Jenner clans were seen partying away, with Bruce Jenner, Brody Jenner and Lamar Odom knocking back shots as they waited for the birthday girl to arrive.
David Beckham takes a starring role in the new advert for his latest fragrance, Classic, and gives fans a glimpse of his famously honed form in the process.
David Beckham, 38, posted the promo on his YouTube channel with the message: “Hope you all like it.”
The clip opens with David Beckham walking into his dressing room dressed casually in a t-shirt.
David Beckham then reveals his tattooed torso.
David Beckham reveals his athletic torso in ad for his new fragrance Classic
The star maintains a serious expression as he examines his reflection in the mirror, before pulling on a crisp white shirt and fastening his cuff links.
A butler then helps David Beckham into a crisp suit jacket, asking: “Can I be of further assistance sir?”
David Beckham replies: “I have all I need,” as he adds the final finishing touch – a spritz of his new Classic fragrance.
As the star makes for the door, the promo advises the viewer to “revise your classics”.
Classic is the latest in a string of fragrances for David Beckham, who has previously put his name to scents including Homme and Instinct.
David Beckham also previously teamed up with wife Victoria to release his and hers fragrances Intimately Beckham.
Victoria and David Beckham starred together in the advert for the scents.
Kylie Minogue shared a swimsuit photo on her Instagram page.
Alongside the picture, in which 45-year-old Kylie Minogue was seen wearing a cutaway leopard-print swimsuit, she wrote: “Ready to go…. into the blue.”
Kylie Minogue shared a swimsuit photo on her Instagram page
Since sporting the gold hotpants, which her stylist famously picked up for 50p in a charity shop, in her 2000 Spinning Around video, Kylie Minogue has well and truly cemented her status as having the celebrity world’s best bottom.
But speaking previously about the attention her behind attracts, Kylie Minogue mused: “I don’t know how it happened. Okay, so yes, I put them in gold hot pants, but really I don’t know.”
Kylie Minogue is currently on holiday in Portofino, Italy, and was seen out on Wednesday looking stunning in a red and white striped T-shirt and black pencil skirt.
Prince William and Kate Middleton have named their baby son George Alexander Louis.
When the baby rules the kingdom, perhaps not for half a century or more, he will be King George VII. Until then, he will be known formally as His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge.
Prince William and Kate Middleton came to a relatively quick decision yesterday about the hugely anticipated name. George had long been the favorite, with bookmakers shortening the odds in recent days.
Prince William and Kate Middleton have named their baby son George Alexander Louis
While there will be much speculation as to the inspiration behind the names, the Kensington Palace officials were quick to insist it was simply “because they liked them – no more no less”.
According to reports, Prince William and Kate Middleton had already decided by the time they introduced the Queen to her heir – and third great-grandchild – at Kensington Palace yesterday morning.
There is no royal protocol which dictates the sovereign must be given approval, but it is believed the couple discussed their choice with the Queen during their 30-minute meeting.
They then told other members of their immediate family before making the news public at 6.15 p.m.
A statement issued by their office at Kensington Palace said: “The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to announce that they have named their son George Alexander Louis.
“The baby will be known as His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge.”
It took only two days for the name to be released, compared with seven when Prince William was born in 1982.
At least 77 people died and more than 100 are injured following train derailment near Santiago de Compostela in north-western Spain, officials in the Galicia region say.
All eight carriages of the Madrid to Ferrol train carrying 218 passengers came off the tracks near the city of Santiago de Compostela.
Media reports say the train may have been travelling at more than twice the speed limit around a curve.
Officials have not commented on the cause. Analysts say it is the worst train accident in Spain in 40 years.
Spain generally has a relatively good record in terms of rail safety.
This is a country which has invested huge amounts of money in its rail network.
Spain’s last major rail disaster was in 1972 when 77 people were killed in a derailment in Andalusia in the south.
Railway firm Renfe said the train came off the tracks on a bend about 2-2.5 miles from Santiago de Compostela station at 20:41 local time.
It was on the express route between Madrid and the ship-building city of Ferrol on the Galician coast.
Renfe says it and the track operating company Adif are collaborating with a judge appointed to investigate the accident.
At least 77 people died and more than 100 are injured following train derailment near Santiago de Compostela in north-western Spain
Government officials said they believed the crash was an accident, but that no statement would be made regarding the cause without a proper investigation.
“We are moving away from the hypothesis of sabotage or attack,” one unnamed official said.
Rescue workers have continued to search for survivors in the wreckage.
They have so far recovered 73 bodies from the accident site, while four more people died in hospital, a spokeswoman for Galicia’s supreme court said on Thursday. Judges are responsible for registering deaths in Spain.
It is not known how many Renfe employees were on board the train.
Images from the site showed bodies covered with blankets next to the tracks, as emergency crews searched the wreckage.
More than 140 passengers were receiving treatment for a range of light to more serious injuries, a health official told reporters on Thursday morning.
Residents flocked to hospitals in the area to donate blood in response to an appeal.
Meanwhile, 320 Spanish police officers were deployed to help out the rescue operation.
The leader of the regional government Alberto Nunez Feijoo described it as “a Dante-esque scene”, in comments to Radio Cadena Ser.
One witness, Ricardo Montesco, described how the train carriages “piled on top of one another” after the train hit a curve.
“A lot of people were squashed on the bottom. We tried to squeeze out of the bottom of the wagons to get out and we realized the train was burning…I was in the second wagon and there was fire. I saw corpses,” he told Spanish Cadena Ser radio station.
Several eyewitnesses described the train travelling very fast before it derailed.
The derailment happened on the eve of Santiago de Compostela’s main annual festival where thousands of Christian pilgrims were expected to flock to the city in honor of Saint James.
The city’s tourism board said all festivities planned for Thursday have been cancelled.
Local journalist Francisco Camino said the region was in shock.
“This is a tiny place and nothing happens here, nothing important or tragic,” he said.
“We were preparing for the celebrations and now this could turn out to be the worst train crash in many years.”
PM Mariano Rajoy, who was born in Santiago de Compostela, convened an emergency ministerial meeting late on Wednesday. He is due to visit the scene of the accident on Thursday.
“I want to express my affection and solidarity with the victims of the terrible train accident in Santiago,” Mariano Rajoy said.
The US House of Representatives has rejected the Amash amendment, voting to continue collecting data on phone calls, in the first legislative move on the programme.
In a 205-217 vote, lawmakers rejected an effort to restrict the National Security Agency’s (NSA) ability to collect electronic information.
The NSA’s chief had lobbied strongly against the proposed measure.
The vote saw an unusual coalition of conservatives and liberal Democrats join forces against the programme.
The details of the NSA dragnet were made public by Edward Snowden, a former contractor for America’s electronic spying agency. He is now a fugitive, seeking asylum in Moscow.
The rejected amendment would have blocked funding for the NSA programme which gathers details of every call made by or to a US phone, unless the records were part of a specific investigation.
The amendment was introduced by Michigan Republican Justin Amash, who warned during Wednesday’s debate that the proposal’s critics would “use the same tactic every government throughout history has used to justify its violation of rights: fear”.
The US House of Representatives has rejected the Amash amendment, voting to continue collecting data on phone calls
“They’ll tell you that the government must violate the rights of the American people to protect us against those who hate our freedom.”
Despite the White House’s lobbying against the amendment, a majority of House Democrats – 111 – voted for it. Eighty-three Democrats voted against.
Among Republicans, 94 voted for the Amash amendment and 134 against.
Before Wednesday’s vote there were fierce exchanges on the House floor during what was the first sustained legislative debate on the NSA’s reach since Edward Snowden’s revelations.
“We’ve really gone overboard on the security side,” said Democratic Representative Peter Welch of the surveillance, which is part of a classified $30 billion intelligence budget.
But others said the practice was essential in America’s efforts against terrorism.
“Have 12 years gone by and our memories faded so badly that we forgot what happened on September 11?” said Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee.
Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann, not usually noted for her support of President Barack Obama, also backed the administration’s stance.
“Let us not deal in false narratives,” she said.
“Let’s deal in facts that will keep Americans safe.”
But Republican Jim Sensenbrenner, one of the original authors of the Bush-era Patriot Act, said “the time has come” to stop harvesting phone records.
On the eve of the vote, in a rare statement against a legislative amendment, the White House called the Amash proposal a “blunt approach” that would hamper US anti-terrorism efforts.
NSA director General Keith Alexander held separate, closed-door sessions with Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday to lobby them against the bill.
Another NSA surveillance programme, PRISM, allows the agency to sweep up global internet usage data through nine major US-based providers.
The programmes’ supporters say such surveillance has helped thwart at least 50 terror plots in 20 countries, including up to a dozen directed at the US.
Divided opinion in the US about the snooping was highlighted by a CBS News poll on Wednesday.
The survey found that 67% of Americans opposed the government’s collection of phone records, but 52% said it was necessary to counter terrorism.
Former President George H.W. Bush has shaved his head to show support for a boy who has leukaemia.
A Secret Service agent in his security detail has a two-year-old son who is losing his hair as a side-effect of treatment for the cancer.
George H.W. Bush has shaved his head to show support for a boy who has leukaemia
George H.W. Bush, 89, lost his greying locks earlier this week at his coastal home in the state of Maine, said a spokesman on Wednesday.
The former president acted after he saw other agents in his detail had shaved their heads.
A spokesman for George H.W. Bush identified the toddler only as Patrick.
George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, lost their second child, four-year-old Robin, to leukaemia almost 60 years ago.
The security detail have launched a website to help pay for Patrick’s medical treatment.
Republican George H.W. Bush, whose son is former President George W. Bush, was only himself released from hospital in January, two months after his admission for a bronchitis-related cough.
George H.W. Bush was the 41st US president, and served one term in office, from 1989-1993.
