Robel Phillipos, friend of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev who is accused of lying to FBI investigators, will be released on bail with house arrest, a federal judge has ruled today.
American citizen Robel Phillipos, 19, is to be freed on a $100,000 bond provided he wears an electronic monitoring bracelet and is confined to his home.
He and two other friends of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were charged last week with hindering the investigation.
Robel Phillipos faces up to eight years in prison if convicted.
Robel Phillipos, friend of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, will be released on bail with house arrest
He is accused of lying to investigators about visiting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s dormitory at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth on April 18, three days after the bombings.
Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, two other college friends, have been charged with conspiring to obstruct justice by taking a backpack with the remains of fireworks and a laptop from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s dorm room before the FBI searched it.
None of the three men are implicated in the planning of the bombings.
In court documents, defense attorneys for Robel Phillipos said their client had nothing to do with the attack and was not a flight risk.
According to a resume filed with the court, Robel Phillipos was studying marketing and sociology at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, and was expected to graduate in 2015.
But the university has said he was not enrolled during the current semester.
In letters filed with the court, friends and family members described Robel Phillipos as peaceful and non-violent.
“I do not believe that my beloved Robel crosses the line intentionally to support or assist such a horrendous act against us the people of the USA,” his aunt, Zewditu Alemu, wrote.
The Rolling Stones opened their North American 50 and Counting tour in Los Angeles on Friday in a packed house, but only after websites slashed ticket prices and the band released additional cheap seats at the last minute.
The 17-date tour is the Rolling Stones’ biggest in six years and follows a handful of dates in London, Paris and New York at the end of 2012 marking 50 years since they burst on to the music scene at London’s Marquee Club in 1962.
Only one week ago the band said it was slashing the ticket price of thousands of premium seats to avoid playing to half empty arenas.
The Rolling Stones opened their 50 and Counting tour in LA after being forced to slash ticket prices to ensure full houses
“Total disaster, too expensive and no vibe,” a source told The Observer, adding the band could see their $20 million tour fee revised.
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are each 69 years old, and Charlie Watts is 71, but they transformed into their younger selves for the night.
Sir Mick Jagger might not hit all the notes he once did, but he still busted out his almost spastic, serpentine dance moves on song after song. He’s impossibly thin, and his spine showed through the light shirt he wore.
Staples Center was packed to capacity for the concert, the first of 17 dates the Stones are set to play throughout the US.
The stage was modeled after the band’s iconic logo, with lips and teeth above the stage and a tongue-shaped platform that extended into the crowd.
A video of famous folks sharing their favorite Rolling Stones memories played before the band took the stage, with Johnny Depp, Martin Scorsese, Perry Farrell and others, reminiscing about their favorite tunes.
Actress Cate Blanchett recalled “just how skinny they were”.
“It really, really pisses me off,” she said.
Other videos showed the aging rockers as young men.
Jack Nicholson was among the stars in the audience, and fans welcomed him with a round of applause as he took his seat.
“It was either us or the Lakers, so now you got us,” Mick Jagger said early in the show, referring to the basketball playoffs that forced the band to postpone its opening concert from Thursday to Friday.
“It doesn’t matter to Jack Nicholson because he was coming to both of them,” Mick Jagger continued.
Jack Nicholson wasn’t the only star in the house. Gwen Stefani, wearing long blond hair and a bedazzled Rolling Stones tank top, joined the group onstage to sing Wild Horses.
“I’ve got to get one of these T-shirts,” Mick Jagger said, admiring her top.
Keith Urban played guitar and sang backup on Respectable.
Former Stones member Mick Taylor added guitar to Midnight Rambler.
Keith Richards sang a pair of tunes: Happy and Before They Make Me Run. Mick Jagger also played guitar and harmonica, and came out in a floor-length marabou cape to perform Sympathy for the Devil.
“We first played in LA in 1965,” Mick Jagger said.
“Thank you for keeping on coming to see us.”
The Rolling Stones’ tour continues through June 21.
Jennifer Lopez was rushed to safety after gunshots were fired in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, near the place she was filming a music video.
Security guards took JLo to a vehicle after hearing several gunshots about 400 yards from where she was filming on Sunday night in Fort Lauderdale.
Security guards took JLo to a vehicle after hearing several gunshots about 400 yards from where she was filming in Fort Lauderdale
Police converged on the area, but the people involved in the shooting were not found, although police detained several people at the scene.
Jennifer Lopez, 43, was in Fort Lauderdale to shoot the music video for Live It Up, her upcoming collaboration with Pitbull.
She was filming an interview with Entertainment Tonight on the set of her music video when the shots were heard.
Entertainment Tonight‘s Rob Marciano, who was interviewing JLo, reported that “Security scrambled [Jennifer Lopez] away” after the shots rang out.
He tweeted: “BREAKING: Gunshots fired on Fort Lauderdale Beach DURING my JLo interview. No kidding. Security scrambled her away.”
Rob Marciano added: “Can hear & see ambulances converging ~400 yards down the street.”
Before adding: “Police confirming: <<shots fired. no one hit>>. Whew.”
Security officials said Jennifer Lopez was secure in her vehicle when the incident was reported, but it’s bound to have brought back memories from the time she and then boyfriend P. Diddy were arrested over a shooting at a nightclub in New York in the late ’90s.
JLo is being supported on the shoot by her partner, Casper Smart, 25, who has brought his mother along too.
Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the Boston Marathon bombers lived prior to their terror attack, has announced they will not allow dead suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s body to be buried there, it was revealed Sunday.
City manager Robert Healy said Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s body was not welcomed in one of its cemeteries.
Cambridge, MA, has announced they will not allow dead suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s body to be buried there
“I have determined that it is not in the best interest of peace within the city to execute a cemetery deed for a plot within the Cambridge Cemetery for the body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev,” Robert Healey said.
The news comes as Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, arrived in the Bay State to claim his nephew’s body and prepare for a funeral.
Meanwhile funeral director Peter Stefan, whose business is being protested and has turned away by every cemetery, is determined with burying Tamerlan Tamerlan’s body, saying everyone deserves a dignified burial regardless of the circumstances of their death.
Hans Lipschis, a 93-year-old alleged former guard at the Auschwitz extermination camp, has been arrested in southern Germany.
Hans Lipschis was taken into custody in Aalen after prosecutors concluded there was “compelling evidence” that he had been complicit in murder.
He acknowledges he served with the Waffen SS at the camp in occupied Poland, but claims he was only a cook.
Last month, the Simon Wiesenthal Center placed his name as number four on its list of most-wanted Nazis.
The organization accused him of participating in the mass murder and persecution of innocent civilians, primarily Jews, at Auschwitz between October 1941 and 1945.
Hans Lipschis is the first person arrested as a result of a series of new investigations launched by the German authorities into some 50 former Auschwitz guards who are still alive.
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) report has revealed today that debt-laden Greece has made progress in improving its finances, but the country must do more to fight tax evasion.
In a report, the IMF said Greece had made “exceptional” progress on reducing its budget deficit since 2010.
But the IMF, one of the lenders that backed a bailout of Greece, said the “notorious” problem of tax evasion was still a major issue.
Also, Athens was still too slow to cut public sector jobs, the IMF said.
IMF report revealed Greece has made progress in improving its finances, but the country must do more to fight tax evasion
Cutting the budget deficit and making its economy more competitive were key conditions of the 240 billion-euro bailout from the European Union and the IMF.
“Progress on fiscal adjustment has been exceptional by any international comparison,” the IMF said in its report, which followed a visit by officials to the country.
“Greece has also made a significant dent in its competitiveness gap,” the report said.
But the IMF added that “insufficient” structural reforms have meant that deficit cutting has been achieved primarily through cutting jobs and salaries bringing “unequal distribution of the burden of adjustment”.
The IMF also said that “very little” had been done to tackle Greece’s “notorious tax evasion,” with the rich and self-employed “simply not paying their fair share” as austerity unfairly hits mostly public sector workers earning a salary or a pension.
It also called on the government to strengthen the independence of the tax administration to make it easier to reform the system.
On public sector jobs, the IMF said Greece is too reliant on voluntary departures.
“The taboo against mandatory dismissals must be overcome,” the report said.
Last month, the Greek parliament adopted a law that will allow the dismissal of 15,000 civil servants.
But under Greece’s current bailout plan agreed in November, Athens has to cut 150,000 public sector jobs overall from 2010 to 2015, about a fifth of the total.
Compulsory redundancies are a sensitive issue in Greece where unemployment has hit a record high of 27.2% and the economy is now in its sixth year of recession.
Last week, an EU report forecast that Greece would end years of recession in 2014 with growth of 0.6%, in line with an earlier forecast by the IMF.
Following what the IMF forecast will be a 4.6% contraction of the economy this year, the Fund warned that attempts to “artificially” stimulate growth should be resisted.
Justin Bieber kept his fans in Dubai waiting for two hours in humid 86F (30C) heat.
When he finally took to the stage in Dubai at 10 p.m. on Saturday Justin Bieber performed only one song before disappearing for a break.
By the time he returned, many of the 15,000-strong audience, who had paid up to $275 for tickets, were leaving because Sunday is a school day in the United Arab Emirates.
Some had travelled miles to get there as the concert venue is in the middle of the desert on the outskirts of Dubai then parents and fans vented their anger on Twitter.
In his first show in the Middle East, Justin Bieber, 19, opened at 10 p.m. with All Around the World – then disappeared while a DJ took over.
Justin Bieber kept his fans in Dubai waiting for two hours in humid 86F
By the time he reappeared in a different outfit, fed-up parents were already leaving in droves.
Justin Bieber’s performance was later interrupted when a male member of the audience tackled him and tipped over a piano after climbing onto the stage.
The singer managed to finish the song as security took the man away, and returned to perform the gig finale after a three-minute break.
It is not the first time that Justin Bieber has come under fire for treating his fans badly.
In March, he was two hours late for a performance at London’s O2 arena. Many of the youngsters had to leave before he even appeared on stage and others missed their last trains home.
Miley Cyrus claims she tops Maxim‘s annual Hot 100 list stealing the crown from Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli.
Miley Cyrus, 20, accidentally revealed in a Twitter post on Saturday that she’s been named Maxim‘s sexiest woman of the year.
Though her admission comes weeks before the magazine had planned to officially announce the results of the competition, Miley Cyrus gushed that it is “a dream come true” to top the compilation.
The Hannah Montana star tweeted: “Didn’t know this was coming out yet! I’m so happy to be #1 on Maxims HOT 100! #myfanskickass #dreamsdocometrue.”
Miley Cyrus claims she tops Maxim’s annual Hot 100 list stealing the crown from Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli
Miley Cyrus also posted an exclusive picture of herself from Maxim‘s upcoming steamy spread, in which she is laying seductively on a beach in a plunging gold swimsuit and an assortment of chain necklaces.
The singer shared the same image on her new Instagram profile, and wrote: “My 1st Instagram is dedicated to all my fans thank you for crowning me #1 Maxim Hot 100.”
Miley Cyrus recently claimed she was no longer interested in stripping down for photo shoots telling Elle magazine: “A star is someone who doesn’t have to take her clothes off to be sexy because you naturally have star power.
“Sex does sell, but you have to find a way that’s not just showing your t***.
“I don’t want to be a glorified model. They just walk on stage and it’s all about their clothes – or lack of clothes.”
The annual Maxim party celebrating the special issue dedicated to the 100 most beautiful women of the year is set to take place on May 15 in Hollywood.
Maxim has yet to comment on Miley Cyrus’ claims.
Last year Miley Cyrus earned a ranking of 68 on Maxim’s list, falling substantially behind victor Bar Refaeli and runners-up Olivia Munn, Mila Kunis, Katy Perry and Olivia Wilde.
Chris Brown celebrated his 24th birthday for a second night and he did not seem to be missing Rihanna.
Chris Brown continued his birthday bender on Saturday night at 1 OAK Nightclub in Las Vegas, where he wound up shirtless, smoking cigarettes and drinking the night away.
He brought an entourage of friends to the club where they took over the DJ booth and made the place their own until 5 a.m.
Chris Brown continued his birthday bender on Saturday night at 1 OAK Nightclub in Las Vegas
Chris Brown started the night off dressed in a rather civilized all-black hooded ensemble.
He posed outside of the 1 OAK Nightclub, sunglasses on and ready to party.
Chris Brown is said to have signed a lucrative deal with the club, which may be what brought him to the venue for the second round of his birthday celebrations.
Later in the night, the raging began when Chris Brown rid himself of the hooded sweater revealing a black singlet.
He popped a cigarette in his mouth and seemingly took control of the DJ booth whilst his friends partied it up at a VIP table.
It was not long before even the singlet became too much, so Chris Brown tore it off and danced raucously above the crowd with a group of friends, including a horde of excited women.
There was almost always a cigarette and drink in hand as singer partied for hours.
Chris Brown, who seems to have regained control of his Twitter account after having it suspended, gave all the gory details of what seems to have been a rather intense night of partying.
“Do too wasted at the party. Threw up crazy!! Lol!” he tweeted, giving away a little too much information.
Meanwhile, Chris Brown’s on-again-off-again girlfriend Rihanna enjoyed her own celebration – at a basketball game.
Rihanna looked glamorous in a slinky black outfit and sexy black lace-up heels as she sat courtside to watch the Chicago Bulls play against the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday night.
She is currently in New York on her Diamonds World Tour… hence her inability to attend round one and two of Chris Brown’ s celebrations.
But if what the singer tweeted last week is anything to go by, a party with Rihanna may be next on his list.
“LA, VEGAS, NEW YORK! Celebrating this WEEK on to the next week! #birthdayturnup,” Chris Brown tweeted last Thursday.
YouTube, the video site owned by Google, is set to launch a paid-for subscription service later this week that will charge users to access content on some of its specialist channels.
A single-channel subscription is expected to cost $1.99 a month and will apply to as many as 50 YouTube channels, the Financial Times reported.
Paying customers will be able to get access to exclusive videos, TV shows and films from select specialist channels.
Paying a subscription may also remove adverts from free videos.
YouTube revamped the site and introduced channels in December 2011.
In October 2012, YouTube launched 60 partner channels, including BBC Worldwide On Earth, ITN, the Jamie Oliver Food Channel and Mixmag TV.
Other partners include Channel 4 and Film 4, Howcast and The Onion.
YouTube is set to launch a paid-for subscription service that will charge users to access content on some of its specialist channels
It is not yet known which of these partner channels will be included in YouTube’s subscription service when it launches.
A “person familiar with the plans” told the FT that the channels will show archived content or exclusive previews and clips.
The extra money is also expected to fund new TV and film shows that will be shown exclusively online.
Paid-for subscriptions are an alternative way for YouTube to make money, in addition to its advertising revenues.
The new channels have helped expand YouTube’s audience to 1billion users who watch 6 billion hours of video each month.
You can already subscribe to get updates from channels for free.
YouTube hasn’t confirmed the paid-for subscription plans, but a Google spokesman said: “We’re looking into creating a subscription platform that could bring even more great content to YouTube for our users to enjoy and provide our creators with another vehicle to generate revenue from their content, beyond the rental and ad-supported models we offer.”
Rumors about paid-for subscriptions began in January when AdAge reported YouTube had been in touch with a “small group of channel producers”.
The reports claimed YouTube had asked them to submit applications to create channels that users would have to pay to access.
Then in February, Android fan blog Android Police noticed the YouTube app had been updated to include “channel subscribe” code.
The code appeared to describe a function in the app which tells users they can only subscribe to or unsubscribe from paid channels from their desktop or laptop computers.
It reads: “<string name=”paid_channel_subscribe_message”>You can only subscribe to this paid channel on your computer.</string>”
And: “<string name=”paid_channel_unsubscribe_message”> You can only unsubscribe from this paid channel on your computer.</string>”
In addition to episodic content, YouTube is also considering charging for content libraries and access to live events on a pay-per-view basics, as well as self-help or financial advice shows.
YouTube is expected to launch the paid-for subscription as an experiment.
The revenue split between YouTube and the channel producers is expected to be similar to the 45-55 split that YouTube currently has with advertising revenue.
At a media conference last year, YouTube’s CEO Salar Kamangar said that a subscription model would give TV networks and producers of these networks a more direct line to their audience with lower costs.
A Google spokesman added: “We have long maintained that different content requires different types of payment models.
“There are a lot of our content creators that think they would benefit from subscriptions, so we’re looking at that.”
Former Italian PM Giulio Andreotti, one of the most prominent political figures of post-war Italy, has died aged 94.
Giulio Andreotti was prime minister seven times between 1972 and 1992. He led the Christian Democrat party, which dominated Italian politics for decades.
He was dogged in later years by allegations of corruption and Mafia links.
Giulio Andreotti had been seriously ill for some time, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported.
Former Italian PM Giulio Andreotti, one of the most prominent political figures of post-war Italy, has died aged 94
He entered the Italian parliament in 1946 and remained there for more than 60 years, before seeing out his days as a senator-for-life.
He was reputed to have met the pope as an 8-year-old after sneaking away from a Vatican tour group.
Giulio Andreotti later became one of the founding fathers of the post-war Italian republic.
He was a junior minister at the age of 28, and went on to serve as either prime minister or a senior minister in the many frequently changing Christian Democratic coalitions that held power almost continuously between 1946 and 1992.
The party then lost power and collapsed.
Giulio Andreotti was known as a pro-European who committed Italy to European integration and helped forge the way forward to a single currency.
But he also faced a growing string of allegations, many related to his links with corrupt financiers and top criminals.
Giulio Andreotti was accused by a super grass of sharing a “kiss of honor” with the Mafia’s “boss of bosses”, Toto Riina, at a secret meeting in 1987.
And he was tried for allegedly ordering the murder of a journalist who had threatened to publish details of his alleged Mafia involvement.
Giulio Andreotti’s conviction and 24-year jail sentence for the killing was overturned on appeal.
However, in 2004, Italy’s top appeals court did uphold a verdict that he had “consciously and deliberately cultivated a stable relationship” with Mafia bosses right up to 1980.
But he was not formally convicted because the offence had lapsed under Italy’s statute of limitations.
Giulio Andreotti remained a senator and an influential political figure until his final years, not least because of his close ties with the Vatican.
Iron Man 3 has triumphed at the US box office, with the second biggest ever opening weekend in the US.
Comic book sequel Iron Man 3, starring Robert Downey Jr., took an estimated $175.3 million across the weekend.
Only 2012’s The Avengers, which united Iron Man with fellow Marvel characters, had a bigger opening, taking $207.4 million when it opened last May.
Iron Man 3 is the final episode in the trilogy, and follows Tony Stark’s battle with terrorist “the Mandarin”.
Iron Man 3 has triumphed at the US box office, with the second biggest ever opening weekend
Directed by Shane Black, who previously worked with Robert Downey Jr. on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, the film co-stars Gwyneth Paltrow, as Pepper Potts, and Sir Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin.
Iron Man 3, which has enjoyed largely positive reviews, has easily outstripped the opening weekends of the first two films, which took $98.6 million and $128.1 million respectively.
The film opened a week earlier overseas, taking $504.8 million at the international box office – meaning it has already grossed $680.1 million in total.
Robert Downey Jr. is expected to reunite with fellow comic book characters Captain America, Thor and the Hulk in the forthcoming Avengers sequel, which is scheduled to be released in 2015.
Hard rock band Aerosmith has cancelled a concert in the Indonesian capital Jakarta over safety concerns, a concert promoter has confirmed.
Aerosmith had been due to play in Jakarta next weekend.
The band issued a statement posted on the Facebook page of concert promoter Ismaya Live apologizing to fans and also saying: “We… hope one day we can make it up to them.”
“They gave no specific reasons for the cancellation,” said spokeswoman Sarah Deshita.
“We are sad and disappointed.”
Aerosmith has cancelled a concert in the Indonesian capital Jakarta over safety concerns
“We did all we could to ensure security was tight and even engaged the marines but it’s not enough,” she told news agency Agence France Presse.
Sarah Deshita said around 85% of the tickets for the concert had been sold.
Security was tightened around the Burmese embassy and ambassador’s house in Jakarta on Friday after two men suspected of plotting a bomb attack were arrested.
Last year, Lady Gaga cancelled a concert in the Indonesian capital, citing security concerns following protests by religious groups.
Police in Indonesia had refused to issue a permit for Lady Gaga after Islamic groups objected to her show, claiming it was too vulgar.
They had called upon the singer to tone down her performance but her management took the decision to pull the plug instead.
Rihanna also twice pulled out of concerts in the city in 2008 and 2009.
Singer Steven Tyler arrived in Manila on Sunday, where Aerosmith is due to play on Wednesday as part of their ongoing world tour.
June Shannon and Sugar Bear rode off into the sunset on an all-terrain vehicle with a “Just Married” sign after celebrating their nuptials in a garden ceremony on Sunday morning.
Newlywed Honey Boo Boo’s parents departed their Georgia reception – which included a roasted pig and an inflatable slide – on a mud-encrusted yellow four-wheeler.
Mama June, 33, and Sugar Bear, 41, slipped into matching camouflage T-shirts and khakis for the romantic moment.
Their coach even included a “Just Married” sign and an assortment of tin cans and streamers affixed to its rear bumper.
Mike “Sugar Bear” Thompson and his bride put on quite a show for their guests as he manned the wheel while Mama June clutched his waist.
Seven-year-old Honey Boo Boo – who had changed into a pink bathing suit – could not bear to be left behind as her parents fled the scene and hopped onto the back of a red ATV.
June Shannon will be seen tying the knot with her partner of nine years, Mike Thompson, on a new episode of their reality show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.
Paris Jackson and her biological mother Debbie Rowe spent Saturday getting to know each other at a horse ranch in Temecula, California.
Showing just how close they are becoming, Paris Jackson, 15, chose to be with Debbie Rowe, 54, rather than her grandmother and guardian Katherine Jackson, who was celebrating her 83rd birthday.
Debbie Rowe and Paris Jackson spent a large chunk of the day together, as they followed up the pony-scouting with a bite to eat with the owners of the ranch, in the countryside almost two hours away from Paris’ home.
Laughing Paris Jackson appeared comfortable in the company of her mother, who signed away all legal rights to her and her siblings in 2001.
Paris Jackson and her biological mother Debbie Rowe spent Saturday getting to know each other at a horse ranch in Temecula
Debbie Rowe looked to be right at home on the ranch, Bricker Performance Ponies.
The former dermatologist’s assistant now lives in the countryside in Palmdale, California, and has been seen visiting rodeos of late.
Paris Jackson was stylishly clad in her usual alternative attire: cutoff denim shorts and a tank, with her pixie locks at times held back in a red beanie.
She added a pair of western style cowboy boots to go with the theme of the day.
It seems she got her style from her late father, Michael Jackson, rather than her mother.
Debbie Rowe was comfortably though not exactly stylishly clad in baggy jeans, a blue long-sleeved top and flip-flops, with her blonde tresses unkempt.
The owners of the ranch looked to be rather star struck by the visit, smiling graciously as they toured the pair around the property.
They then joined Paris Jackson and Debbie Rowe for sushi, despite the fact that it was Paris’ grandmother’s birthday that very day… almost two hours away, back in West Los Angeles.
After Michael Jackson’s sudden death, Paris and her brothers Prince and Blanket were placed under court-mandated guardianship of their cousin T.J. Jackson and 83-year-old grandmother Katherine.
Though Debbie Rowe has been absent from the children’s lives and shockingly said in the past that: “My kids don’t call me mom because I don’t want them to,” it appears she may be determined to forge a real relationship with Paris Jackson.
Prince Harry has reportedly told friends that Kate and William are expecting a boy.
Prince Harry is so happy about becoming an uncle he couldn’t keep the secret of the baby’s sex to himself.
The bookies are offering odds of 1/3 favorite on Kate Middleton having a girl and 5/2 for a boy, even though couple have made no official announcement about the baby due in mid-July.
But those odds may change after a source close to Prince Harry said: “Harry has been telling everyone Wills and Kate are having a boy and how thrilled he is at the prospect of having a little nephew.
“He said the whole family were excited about it. Apparently Kate has always wanted a boy. They’re really working hard on baby names now and think they have it sorted.”
Prince Harry has reportedly told friends that Kate and William are expecting a boy
Princess Eugenie, Prince William’s cousin, has also been telling friends the baby is a boy, according to another royal insider quoted by the Sunday People.
The source said: “They won’t reveal anything to anyone – not even Harry. Of course, Harry’s been making up crazy suggestions and winding them up too.
“The close inner circle all know that it’s a boy and they’re busily buying gifts with a boy theme. There will be an awful lot if blue in their house.”
Although the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have kept mum about the baby’s name, Kate Middleton, 31, has accidentally dropped a couple of hints about the sex of the child in recent months.
In March she appeared to suggest a girl was on the way when she given a teddy by a well-wisher during a walkabout in Grimsby.
Kate Middleton said: “I will take that for my d..” –and then stopped herself.
A nearby listener said: “You were going to say daughter, weren’t you?”
Kate replied: “No, we don’t know.”
Weeks later Kate Middleton appeared to drop another clue as she revealed she had bought a Bugaboo pram in light blue which could indicate the newborn would be a boy.
The pram’s color came to light when the duchess chatted to a group of Army wives at a reception on St Patrick’s Day.
Then Prince Harry was seen holding a blue teddy bear as he walked to Kensington Palace, the home he shares with Kate and William in London.
But there was a simple explanation – the bear had been given to him by a little girl while he toured Nottingham. She asked him to give it to Kate’s baby and he delivered it in person.
But another insider added: “Even though there’s a lot of gossip doing the rounds, there’s no way anyone can confirm it at the moment.”
The Sunday People claims that no decision has been made where Kate Middleton will have the baby, but the choice has been narrowed down to two hospitals.
Princess Diana Prince had William and Harry at St Mary’s hospital in Paddington, West London, while there is speculation that the child could be born at the Royal Berkshire Hospital – the birthplace of Kate Middleton and her sister Pippa.
Amanda Bynes took to Twitter as usual, this time to reveal she had a nose job.
Amanda Bynes, 27, claims: “I had a nose job to remove skin that was like a webbing in between my eyes. Having surgery was the most amazing thing for my confidence!”
Amanda Bynes wanted to be open about her surgery so magazines would stop publishing old pictures of her
The troubled actress said she wanted to be open about her surgery so magazines would stop publishing old pictures of her.
Amanda Bynes wrote: “I wasn’t going to tell anyone, but I look so much prettier in my new photos that I don’t want old photos used anymore!
“I’m so sick of magazines and blogs using old photos! When will they stop? I will never look like that again!”
According to leading United Nations investigator Carla del Ponte, testimony from victims of the Syrian conflict suggests rebels have used the nerve agent sarin.
Carla del Ponte told Swiss TV there were “strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof”.
However, she said her panel had not yet seen evidence of government forces using chemical weapons.
Syria has recently come under growing Western pressure over the alleged use of such weapons.
Carla del Ponte, who serves on the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, said in an interview with Swiss-Italian TV: “Our investigators have been in neighboring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals.
Carla del Ponte said there were strong suspicions that Syrian rebels used sarin
“According to their report of last week, which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated.”
Carla del Ponte, a former Swiss attorney-general and prosecutor with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, did not rule out the possibility that government troops might also have used chemical weapons, but said further investigation was needed.
She gave no details of when or where sarin may have been used.
Her commission was established in August 2011 to examine alleged violations of human rights in the Syrian conflict since March 2011 and is due to issue its latest report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in June.
A separate United Nations team was established to look specifically into the issue of chemical weapons.
The team is ready to go to Syria but wants unconditional access with the right to inquire into all credible allegations.
Both the Syrian government and the rebels have in the past accused each other using chemical weapons.
Sarin, a colorless, odorless gas which can cause respiratory arrest and death, is classed as a weapon of mass destruction and is banned under international law.
Justin Bieber was attacked by a male fan during a piano performance on Dubai stage on Sunday.
Justin Bieber, 19, was performing one of his last songs, Believe, when a youth in a white shirt and jeans stormed onstage and grabbed singer from behind.
The blindsided Canadian star managed to free himself and dashed to the side of the stage.
Justin Bieber was attacked by a male fan during a piano performance on Dubai stage on Sunday
Security guards rushed the stage and lunged at the attacker, according to a report in Dubai English language newspaper The National.
The attacker pushed the piano off its hinges and it fell damaged to the stage.
A video posted by a fan online showed security guards rushing around the stage as the piano lay upturned.
An accompanying tweet said: “Whoa. Crazy fan tackled @justinbieber and knocked the piano down the stage. Mayhem.”
According to reports, Justin Bieber was rattled, but he and his eight-piece band finished the song while the offender was taken off the stage.
After a three-minute break, Justin Bieber returned for an encore and finished the concert with Boyfriend and the finale Baby.
The singer also performed on Saturday in Dubai as part of his international Believe Tour and pulled a song out of respect for the country’s Muslim culture.
Justin Bieber skipped the song One Less Lonely Girl because the state religion of Islam frowns upon men touching women who are not their relatives.
The singer typically recruits a young female fan to join him during the song to flirt with onstage.
The respectful move followed another thoughtful incident on his international Believe Tour that occurred recently in Turkey.
Justin Bieber stopped his show multiple times on Thursday to allow fans to step away for the Muslim call to prayer.
June Shannon wore a bizarre camouflage wedding dress for her nuptials with Honey Boo Boo’s father Sugar Bear in their Georgia back garden on Sunday.
Honey Boo Boo, 7, was dressed for the occasion in an outlandishly poofy pink and peach gown.
June Shannon wore a bizarre camouflage wedding dress for her nuptials with Honey Boo Boo’s father Sugar Bear in their Georgia back garden
June Shannon, 33, will be shown tying the knot with her partner of nine years Mike Thompson on the family’s television show Her Comes Honey Boo Boo.
Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson was happy to play second fiddle as she finally watched her parents exchange vows.
Her sisters Lauryn “Pumpkin”, Anna “Chickadee” and Jessica “Chubbs” Shannon were also important attendees at the event.
But despite appearances, Mama June told People magazine they had been careful not to have an extravagant ceremony, which was marked with a family barbecue.
June Shannon said: “My sister baked the cake, and we spent most of the money on barbecue.
“We stayed true to our roots and made the focus on the family and my commitment to Sugar Bear.
“You can definitely plan an event on a budget!”
Mama June also revealed getting hitched to her 41-year-old partner will be a moment that lives long in the memory.
June Shannon said: “The day was very special mostly because my girls were able to take part in it.
“I felt like it was important for them to see this moment and celebrate my love for Sugar Bear.”
Honey Boo Boo’s mother also said she has plenty of tips to pass on to her family about finding the ideal husband.
“Never settle for a man who doesn’t treat you right. If a guy doesn’t love everything about you, move on! There are plenty of other fish in the sea.
“I give this advice to my daughters because I always want them to be themselves and surround themselves with people who love them for them,” said June Shannon.
Mama June and Sugar Bear first met on an online chat room nine years ago and hit it off.
Soon the pair got together, and their now famous daughter Honey Boo Boo was born two years later.
Video cameras captured the ceremony in all its glory, though guests were reportedly told no mobile phones or cameras were allowed at the wedding.
June Shannon and her daughter Alana Thompson shot to fame after appearing on reality show Toddlers and Tiaras before landing their own programme, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.
Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, widow of Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, enjoyed a fast food lunch with her daughter on Sunday as federal officials continue to investigate whether she had any involvement in the deadly terrorist attacks.
Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, 24, laughed and chatted with a friend at a branch of the Mexican fast-food chain Chipotle along with her 3-year-old daughter, Zahara.
Katherine Russell Tsarnaev laughed and chatted with a friend at Mexican fast-food Chipotle along with her 3-year-old daughter, Zahara
Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s widow appeared relaxed and carefree as she ordered at the counter before carrying a soda and bag of food to her car from the restaurant close to her home in Warwick, Rhode Island.
Katherine Russell Tsarnaev was likely trailed by undercover FBI agents in an unmarked car as officials remain suspicious about how much she knows relating to the planning and production of the pressure cooker bombs.
Her casual outing came as federal investigators revealed that they had discovered radical Islamist materials on her computer and the fact that she will not reveal what she spoke to her husband Tamerlan Tsarnaev about when they had a phone conversation on the night that his photo was released by the FBI.
PepsiCo has dropped Lil Wayne as Mountain Dew spokesman just days after pulling a racially-insensitive commercial for the soft drink featuring a goat voiced by Tyler, The Creator.
According to TMZ, PepsiCo decided to drop Lil Wayne on Friday after he “unapologetically” compared the beating of civil rights icon Emmett Till to rough sex.
The four-time Grammy winner, who’s fronted Mountain Dew since last year, came under fire in February for his verse in Odd Future’s song Karate Chop.
Lil Wayne rapped: “Pop a lot of pain pills/’bout to put rims on my skateboard wheels/beat that p***y up like Emmett Till.”
The 30-year-old New Orleans rapper, born Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr., deeply angered the Emmett Till’s family who rejected his apology letter for his refusal to write: “I am sorry.”
PepsiCo has dropped Lil Wayne as Mountain Dew spokesmanover Emmett Till offensive lyrics
Airickca Gordon-Taylor was Emmett Till’s cousin and serves as the executive director of the Mamie Till Mobley Memorial Foundation.
She told TMZ on Wednesday: “While it’s commendable that he has vowed to respect the legacy of Emmett Till and his memory to <<not use or reference Emmett Till or the Till family in his music>>, this statement falls short of an apology, as none is mentioned.”
Airickca Gordon-Taylor said the family want Lil Wayne to understand how his comparison of a sex act to the Chicago native’s torture death in Mississippi is hurtful to the black community.
“It was a heinous murder,” Airickca Gordon-Taylor said.
“He was brutally beaten and tortured, and he was shot, wrapped in barbed wire and tossed in the Tallahatchie River.
“The images that we’re fortunate to have [of his open casket], they demonstrate the ugliness of racism.
“So to compare a woman’s anatomy – the gateway of life – to the ugly face of death, it just destroyed me. And then I had to call the elders in my family and explain to them before they heard it from some another source.”
Emmett Till’s death became a symbol of the inequalities faced by the African-American population in society and the legal system.
He was just 14 when he went to Mississippi to visiting family when he was killed for flirting with a white woman in 1955.
Emmett Till was beaten, had his eyes gouged out and was shot in the head before his assailants tied a cotton gin fan to his body with barbed wire and tossed his body into a river.
Two white men, including the woman’s husband, were acquitted of the killing by an all-white jury.
Only months later, protected from being re-tried due to double jeopardy, the killers admitted in a magazine article that they had indeed murdered the teen.
Emmett Till’s body was recovered and returned to Chicago where his mother, Mamie Till, insisted on having an open casket at his funeral.
The pictures of his battered body and the trial were early flashpoints in the civil rights movement.
Bob Dylan even wrote a song about it, The Death of Emmett Till.
Malaysia’s ruling National Front coalition has won a simple majority in the country’s parliamentary election, extending its 56-year rule, with two-thirds of seats confirmed.
PM Najib Razak’s Barisan Nasional coalition had passed the threshold of 112 seats in the 222-seat parliament, the Election Commission said.
Defeated opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim accused the party of widespread fraud before and during the polls.
Some 80% of registered voters cast ballots, said election officials.
Voters had been faced with returning the ruling party, or choosing Anwar Ibrahim’s untested three-party alliance, Pakatan Rakyat.
As the result was confirmed, Najib Razak, 59, urged all Malaysians to accept his coalition’s victory.
Malaysia’s ruling National Front coalition has won a simple majority in the country’s parliamentary election, extending its 56-year rule
“The results show a trend of polarization which worries the government. If it is not addressed, it can create tension or division in the country,” he said.
“We have to show to the world that we are a mature democracy.”
With results trickling in overnight, Barisan Nasional had won 127 seats to Pakatan Rakyat’s 77 by 03:30, the Associated Press reported.
Earlier, Najib Razak had said he was confident Malaysians would retain his coalition and even return the two-thirds parliamentary majority it lost in the 2008 polls.
Barisan Nasional, while credited with bringing economic development and political stability, has also been tainted by allegations of corruption.
In what was considered a tight race, it had campaigned hard to shore up its base among poorer ethnic Malay neighborhoods and in rural areas.
But Anwar Ibrahim refused to concede defeat, accusing the authorities of widespread abuses which he said had distorted the result of the election.
“It is an election that we consider fraudulent and the Electoral Commission has failed,” he told a news conference after midnight on Monday.
Allegations of election fraud surfaced before the election. Some of those who voted in advance said that indelible ink on their hands – supposed to last for days and show they had already voted – had easily washed off.
The opposition also accused the government of funding flights for supporters to key states, which the government denied.
Independent pollster Merdeka Center also cited unconfirmed reports of foreign nationals being given ID documents and being allowed to vote.
The international organization Human Rights Watch also said there had been well-planned attacks against the country’s independent media ahead of the polls.
Most traditional media in Malaysia are linked to the governing parties so their opponents rely almost exclusively on the internet to get their message out, correspondents say.
Researchers have been able to regrow hair on bald patches by injecting the heads of follicular-challenged volunteers with a solution from their own blood.
The new treatment stimulates new stem cells below the skin which can assist regrowth, say specialists.
Injections of “platelet-rich plasma” (PRP) which have been extracted from the blood, are already used to combat ageing on the face and hands, reported the Sunday Telegraph.
In the latest research by scientists at the International Hair Research Foundation, the University of Brescia in Italy and the Hebrew University Medical Centre in Israel, used 45 volunteers with alopecia areata, affecting 2% of the population.
PRP injection stimulates new stem cells below the skin which can assist hair regrowth
The patients had injections on one half of their head. Some were given the PRP, some traditional steroid cream, while others received a placebo.
Three treatments were given every month. Hair growth was checked by measuring the area where new hairs grew on the bald scalp.
Results showed the plasma injections led to significant hair regrowth in the bald patches, compared with the placebo and the steroid treatment.
Following the publication of the study in the British Journal of Dermatology, the scientists are hoping to develop a cream, so needles won’t need to be used.
Dr. Fabio Rinaldi told the Sunday Telegraph the new treatment could also help those suffering more common hair problems like male-pattern baldness.
He said: “We think it can help to regrow hair on people with androgenic alopecia. We believe it is the best treatment available, apart from surgery.”
British actor Mark Lester, godfather to all Michael Jackson’s kids, has vowed to have DNA tests to prove he is the father of Jacko’s three children, the Sunday People reported.
Mark Lester, 54, believes there is a “good possibility” he is their biological dad.
The former child star, who was Michael Jackson’s best pal for 30 years, donated sperm to the superstar a year before the singer’s first child, Prince Michael, was born.
Now Mark Lester, who has not been allowed to see Prince Michael, 16, Paris, 15, and Blanket, 11, since Michael Jackson’s death in June 2009, has sent them a message: “I’m here, come and visit England, we’ll look after you.”
Speaking exclusively to the Sunday People, Mark Lester said: “After Michael asked me to donate sperm for him I completely forgot about it.
“He was a great dad to them, brought them up and was brilliant with the kids so I just didn’t go there but there is obviously a good possibility (that I could be the biological father).
“I wouldn’t have a DNA test without the children’s permission but when the children come of age, and it’s not far away, and they decide they want me to do it then I will. It is up to them.
“I don’t want to tell them what to do. I just want to reconnect and be the godfather that Michael made me.”
In his first interview for almost four years, father-of-four Mark Lester says the resemblance between his 18-year-old daughter Olivia and Michael Jackson’s girl Paris is striking.
And young Prince Michael had an astonishing similarity to Mark Lester when he was a child star. But the actor now feels “locked out” by the Jackson family following claims he is the dad. Dozens of his calls have gone unanswered.
Last month Mark Lester was invited to Los Angeles by Michael Jackson’s former manager Dieter Weisner only to discover it would not be possible to see the children. The kids are set to take the stand as witnesses in a $40 billion lawsuit brought against concert promoter AEG Live.
Michael Jackson’s family claim AEG, which organized his 50 farewell gigs planned for London’s O2 Arena, ignored health fears about the singer.
Mark Lester says he would happily give evidence to defend his friend of 30 years. He said: “Michael was a great friend to me and I would defend his name in the court case if I have to.”
He first met Michael Jackson in 1978 at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park, North London, where the singer was performing with the Jackson 5.
The pair, then both 20, immediately hit it off, sharing burgers and soft drinks and chatting for over three hours.
Mark Lester, godfather to all Michael Jackson’s kids, has vowed to have DNA tests to prove he is the father of Jacko’s three children
When Michael Jackson flew back to America, they kept a long-distance friendship. The singer often phoned Mark Lester at 3 a.m. for a chat because he couldn’t grasp the different time zones.
Mark Lester, who shot to fame at the age of 8 when he starred in the Lionel Bart film Oliver!, said: “We ended up great friends. Michael had so many people and security around him but had very few people that knew him really closely. I became one of those lucky few.
“Michael lived in a bubble. He barely knew any famous person outside the music world.
“He was once introduced to tennis player Boris Becker in Germany and had no idea who he was.”
In 1991 Mark Lester fathered his first child to first wife Jane. Just two years later another daughter, Harriet, was born and in 1995 he fathered his third daughter, Olivia.
Just months later, Michael Jackson called Mark Lester with an unusual request.
The actor said: “I remember Michael ringing and saying, <<Oh, you don’t have any fertility difficulties do you?>>. He was half joking so I joked, <<Oh, I just look at her and she gets pregnant>>.
“So then in a light-hearted way he said, <<Will you help me out?>>. Initially I thought he wanted me to do something with his ex-wife Debbie Rowe and I was thinking, <<I don’t think so>>.
“Then out of the blue about a year later, he mentioned sperm donation and I agreed.
“Michael set it up for me to turn up to a clinic in Harley Street, London to do it. It was weird.
“I went in a couple of times to donate but we never talked about it ever again.
“It was a really strange request but while Michael was alive I never gave it another thought. I didn’t donate to get something out of it.”
In February 1997, Michael Jackson announced the birth of his first son with Debbie Rowe, Prince Michael.
Paris followed in 1998 and Prince Michael II, also known as Blanket, arrived in 2002.
As the children grew up, a paternity puzzle arose amid speculation Michael Jackson looked different to his three kids.
He and his family vehemently denied claims the children were not his.
Mark Lester, who was made godfather by the superstar to all three kids in 2001, said: “While he was alive, I never ever thought the children were anyone else’s but Michael’s.”
Mark Lester’s children, including son Felix, now 13, became close friends with Michael Jackson’s kids and the two families became almost inseparable, spending school holidays and weekends together. Mark Lester, now a trained osteopath living in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, said: “Every time Michael came to the UK, which was at least six times a year, I used to take my children to see his.
“They always got on really well. Olivia and Harriet would play with Paris.
“We always used to stay at an isolated cottage at the Cliveden House hotel in Berkshire. I even took the kids to his home in the US. We were like one big happy family.”
Just three months after announcing the AEG Live tour at the O2, Michael Jackson, who was reported to be $150 million in debt, was found dead at the age of 50 after overdosing on painkillers and tranquillizers.
His doctor Conrad Murray was later convicted of manslaughter and jailed for four years.
Mark Lester said: “When I heard the news I was devastated. I never saw him take any drugs. I managed to get to America for his memorial service and that was the last time I saw the children.”
Two months after Michael Jackson’s death, his friend Uri Geller mentioned to Mark Lester that he could be the dad.
Mark Lester, who claims he had never previously thought about it, said: “Then I noticed the likenesses in my own children and his.
“My daughter Olivia looks like Paris. People have also pointed out similarities between myself when I was younger and Prince.”
But after hearing the claims, the Jackson family stopped answering Mark Lester’s calls.
Mark Lester said: “I just feel it is really cruel that our relationship has just been cut off. It is not what Michael would have wanted.”
