Kim Kardashian had another unflattering choice of maternity wear with a salmon pink dress that billowed dramatically at the hips as she attended church with her mother Kris Jenner on Sunday in Los Angeles.
Kim Kardashian, 32, who is six months pregnant, wore a floaty dress with the bottom tapered in.
The reality star showed off ample cleavage in the low-cut frock, while the draping material of her dress concealed her pregnant belly for the most part.
Kim Kardashian completed the look with stylish beige sandals and a brown suede handbag.
Kim Kardashian had another unflattering choice of maternity wear with a salmon pink dress that billowed dramatically at the hips as she attended church with her mother Kris Jenner
She wore her long dark hair straight and loose over her shoulders and shielded her eyes with giant aviator sunglasses.
Kim Kardadshian attended church with her mother Kris Jenner, who opted for a low-key look in black skinny jeans, a white blazer and black trainers.
Kris Jenner and her daughter walked closely together as they chatted while making their way into the church.
Kim Kardashian has received criticism for her unflattering maternity style, which has regularly consisted of either ill-fitting baggy clothing or tight, skimpy attire.
Much of the clothing has made her appear bigger than what she is, which became especially clear when she posted a Twitter snap of her bare baby bump on Saturday.
The star looked surprisingly slender in black leggings and a white T-shirt, suggesting that her weight gain hasn’t been as severe as it has seemed.
Kim Kardashian recently took to her blog to respond to criticism of her maternity style.
“I saw some comments that were so critical!” the reality star wrote on Friday.
“It’s funny because Kourtney warned me that when I get pregnant people’s opinions will be on an all time high and everyone will chime in. So I now see what she means.”
Kim Kardashian added: “I saw some comments that the skirt is too tight for the pregnancy and that’s ridiculous! I bought this skirt a few sizes bigger and there is plenty of room.”
North Korea has announced today it is withdrawing all its workers from the joint-Korean Kaesong industrial zone and suspending operations there.
The move follows weeks of warlike rhetoric from Pyongyang after it was sanctioned by the UN for carrying out its third nuclear test in February.
Kaesong industrial park was established almost a decade ago and had been a symbol of co-operation between North and South Korea.
However, a North Korean official said it could now be closed permanently.
In a statement, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said the decision “cannot be justified in any way and North Korea will be held responsible for all the consequences,” the AFP news agency reports.
Kaesong complex, just over the border in North Korea, employs more than 50,000 North Korean workers but is funded and managed by South Korean firms.
North Korea has announced today it is withdrawing all its workers from the joint-Korean Kaesong industrial zone and suspending operations there
Pyongyang has already banned South Koreans from entering, but during a visit to the site, Kim Yang-gon, secretary of the party’s Central Committee, said North Korea would now “temporarily suspend the operations in the zone and examine the issue of whether it will allow its existence or close it”.
The North’s KCNA news agency quoted Kim Yang-gon as saying that South Korea and the US “insult the country’s dignity and make the zone a starting point of war”.
“How the situation will develop in the days ahead will entirely depend on the attitude of the South Korean authorities,” Kim Yang-gon said.
The statement made no reference to the nearly 500 South Koreans who are in Kaesong as managers.
One South Korean told the Associated Press he had heard nothing about the order from the North Korean government.
“North Korean workers left work at six o’clock today as they usually do. We’ll know tomorrow whether they will come to work,” he said.
Earlier, South Korean officials played down reports that the North could be about to carry out a nuclear test.
A defense ministry spokesman said the widely reported activity detected at the Punggye-ri underground test site appeared to be routine and that there was “no indication that a nuclear test is imminent”.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said such a nuclear test would be a “provocative measure”, and warned that North Korea cannot continue “confronting and challenging the authority of the Security Council and directly challenging the whole international community”.
Russia and China have called for calm and a return to dialogue.
Speaking during a visit to Germany, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that as a neighbor of North Korea his country was “worried about the escalation” of tensions.
Vladimir Putin warned there was a risk of a conflict on the Korean peninsula which would make the Chernobyl nuclear disaster “seem like a child’s fairy tale”.
The UN imposed tough sanctions on North Korea following its third nuclear test on February 12.
Pyongyang has responded by issuing almost daily threats to use nuclear weapons and saying it would restart its nuclear reactor.
North Korea has also shut down an emergency military hotline between Seoul and Pyongyang.
Last week it warned it would not be able to guarantee the safety of foreign embassy staff after April 10, and that countries should begin evacuating their diplomatic staff.
North Korea’s state media have been broadcasting a continuing diet of war and retribution with programmes about biochemical war, nuclear war and military preparations dominating the listing.
However, some analysts have suggested that the rhetoric is in large part designed to shore up the standing of a young, inexperienced leader, Kim Jong-un.
Meanwhile, Japan’s defence ministry said the country’s armed forces have been ordered to shoot down any North Korean missile headed towards its territory.
Over the weekend, the US cancelled a scheduled test of its Minuteman III ballistic missile, citing concerns that it could be misinterpreted by Pyongyang.
Kelly Clarkson arrived at this year ACM Awards in a complementary purple fit and flare dress but as she took to the stage at the event, her costume change wasn’t quite as flattering.
The 48th Annual Academy Of Country Music Awards ceremony was held at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.
Kelly Clarkson’s light blue mid sleeve mini dress appeared a tad too small on the 30-year-old American Idol star.
Kelly Clarkson’s light blue mid sleeve mini dress appeared a tad too small on the 30-year-old American Idol star
Bunching up around her middle area, the fabric of the attire appeared restrictive.
Nonetheless, Kelly Clarkson beamed as she performed her hit song Don’t Rush at the star-studded awards show.
Earlier Kelly Clarkson arrived at the event on the arm of her fiancé Brandon Blackstock.
She looked pretty in her purple dress which she wore with nude colored tights and a pair of peep toe polka dot platform heels.
Kelly Clarkson accessorized with a black clutch bag and wore her blonde locks out in a straight style.
Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s remains are to be exhumed, forensic experts have announced.
Chilean authorities want to establish whether Pablo Neruda died of cancer or was poisoned on the orders of country’s former military ruler General Augusto Pinochet.
Pablo Neruda, a Nobel Prize winner who died in 1973, was a member of the Communist Party and a staunch supporter of ousted Chilean president Salvador Allende.
The poet died aged 69 just 12 days after Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s coup against Salvador Allende.
Pablo Neruda’s family maintains that he died of advanced prostate cancer.
Pablo Neruda, a Nobel Prize winner who died in 1973, was a member of the Communist Party and a staunch supporter of ousted Chilean president Salvador Allende
In 2011, Chile started investigating allegations by his former driver and personal assistant, Manuel Araya, that Pablo Neruda had been poisoned.
Manuel Araya says Pablo Neruda called him from hospital, and told him he was feeling sick after having been given an injection in the stomach.
His allegations are backed by the Chilean Communist Party, which says that Pablo Neruda did not exhibit any of the symptoms associated with the advanced cancer he is reported to have died from.
Members of Chile’s Medical Legal Service began to dig up Pablo Neruda’s grave on Sunday.
Pablo Neruda is buried next to his wife Matile Urritia in the garden of their home on Chile’s Pacific coast in Isla Negra, some 75 miles west of the capital, Santiago.
A nephew of Pablo Neruda, Rodolfo Reyes, said the family wanted to know the truth “regardless of whether he died of natural causes or was murdered”.
Pablo Neruda, best known for his love poems, was a close friend of the socialist president Salvador Allende.
After Salvador Allende was toppled in the 11 September 1973 coup, the poet arranged to go into exile in Mexico, where he was expected to join the opposition to the military rule of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
Historian Fernando Marin is one of those who thinks Pablo Neruda’s plans to go abroad, and his sudden death, were linked.
“No one doubts that there was a plane waiting for Pablo Neruda at Pudahuel airport when he died,” according to Fernando Marin.
“He had a urinary infection and an adenoma [benign tumor] on his prostate according to the medical tests, but he wasn’t going to die,” Fernando Marin told Reuters news agency.
More than 3,000 people were disappeared and killed under Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s military rule between 1973 and 1990.
Wikileaks has published a new collection of more than 1.7 million of US diplomatic and intelligence documents from the 1970s.
The documents include allegations that former Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi was a middleman in an arms deal and the first impressions of eventual British PM Margaret Thatcher.
The records have not been leaked and are available to view at the US national archives.
Wikileaks says it is releasing the documents in searchable form.
Wikileaks has published a new collection of more than 1.7 million of US diplomatic and intelligence documents from the 1970s
Much of the work has been carried out by the website’s founder Julian Assange while he has been holed up at the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
Julian Assange took refuge in the embassy last June to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations that he assaulted two female ex-Wikileaks supporters in 2010.
He denies the allegations, and has said they are politically motivated and part of a smear campaign against him and his whistle-blowing website.
Wikileaks made headlines around the world in 2010 after it released more than 250,000 leaked US cables.
Julian Assange told Britain’s Press Association that the latest collection, entitled the Public Library of US Diplomacy (PlusD), reveal the “vast range and scope” of US diplomatic activity around the world.
The data comprises diplomatic cables, intelligence reports and congressional correspondence running from the beginning of 1973 to the end of 1976.
Much of the correspondence is either written by or sent to Henry Kissinger, who was US Secretary of State and National Security Adviser during that period.
It includes claims, being widely reported by the Indian media, that Rajiv Gandhi – of India’s most famous political family – was employed by the Swedish firm Saab-Scandia as it tried to sell its Viggen fighter jet to India.
Rajiv Gandhi was working as a commercial pilot and not in politics himself at the time.
A US diplomat is quoted in a February 1976 cable as saying: “We would have thought a transport pilot is not the best expert to rely upon in evaluating a fighter plane, but then we are speaking of a transport pilot who has another and perhaps more relevant qualification.”
Rajiv Gandhi became India’s prime minister in 1984 and was assassinated in 1991.
Saab-Scandia did not win its bid to sell Viggen fighter jets to India; the contract went to Britain’s Jaguar planes.
Another cable, dated February 1975, from London sets out “some first impressions” of new leader of the Conservative Party, Margaret Thatcher.
The diplomat wrote that “she has a quick, if not profound, mind, and works hard to master the most complicated brief”.
Margaret Thatcher is “crisp and a trifle patronizing” with the media, but “honest and straight-forward” with her colleagues, “if not excessively considerate of their vanities”, the diplomat wrote.
“The personification of a British middle class dream come true,” she is the “genuine voice of a beleaguered bourgeoise [sic], anxious about its eroding economic power and determined to arrest society’s seemingly inexorable trend towards collectivism”, the cable said.
The diplomat noted she had “acquired a distinctively upper middle class personal image”, which might damage her chances of becoming prime minister, but said she should not be underestimated.
US scientists say carnitine, a chemical found in red meat, helps explain why eating too much steak, mince and bacon is bad for the heart.
Their work has been published in the journal Nature Medicine and showed that carnitine in red meat was broken down by bacteria in the gut.
This kicked off a chain of events which resulted in higher levels of cholesterol and an increased risk of heart disease.
Dieticians also warned there may be a risk to people taking carnitine supplements.
US scientists say carnitine, a chemical found in red meat, helps explain why eating too much steak, mince and bacon is bad for the heart
There has been a wealth of studies suggesting that regularly eating red meat may be damaging to health.
Saturated fat and the way processed meat is preserved are thought to contribute to heart problems. However, this was not thought to be the whole story.
“The cholesterol and saturated fat content of lean red meat is not that high, there’s something else contributing to increases in cardiovascular risk,” said lead researcher Dr. Stanley Hazen.
Experiments on mice and people showed that bacteria in the gut could eat carnitine.
Carnitine was broken down into a gas, which was converted in the liver to a chemical called TMAO.
In the study, TMAO was strongly linked with the build-up of fatty deposits in blood vessels, which can lead to heart disease and death.
Dr. Stanley Hazen, from the Cleveland Clinic, said TMAO was often ignored: “It may be a waste product but it is significantly influencing cholesterol metabolism and the net effect leads to an accumulation of cholesterol.
“The findings support the idea that less red meat is better.
“I used to have red meat five days out of seven, now I have cut it way back to less than once every two weeks or so.”
He said the findings raised the idea of using a probiotic yogurt to change the balance of bacteria in the gut.
Reducing the number of bacteria that feed on carnitine would in theory reduce the health risks of red meat.
Vegetarians naturally have fewer bacteria that are able to break down carnitine than meat-eaters.
A Vajacial is a beauty treatment of the bikini area that serves up an anti-bacterial cleanser, an exfoliating treatment, a mask for a specific skin concern and a slathering of lightening cream to undo any hyper pigmentation caused by in-growns.
San Francisco Stript Wax Bar owner Katherine Goldman said that demand for Vajacial has increased 30% each year since she started offering it in 2010.
Katherine Goldman’s wax bar offers the “key needs” of the modern waxed woman.
A Vajacial is particularly beneficial after a Brazilian wax, to make sure the area looks perfect after the heavy-duty procedure
Apparently this requires a papaya enzyme mask, a cleanse and extraction of ingrown hairs with a pair of tweezers.
All in all the treatment takes 50 minutes of focused cleansing and smoothing.
They are particularly beneficial after a Brazilian wax, to make sure the area looks perfect after the heavy-duty procedure.
At the Stript Bar one of three options is available: anti-freckle, anti-acne or calming to reduce redness.
Vajacial is a term that Stript Wax Bar has now trademarked.
However, other salons around the US offer the service under different names. One New York salon calls it a Peach Smoothie.
Alexis Wolfer, editor of TheBeautyBean.com told ABC News, that the Vajacial and its spinoffs result from “the trend of women hyper-focusing on every last flaw in themselves”.
Fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer died at her home Sunday at the age of 81, according to Quattlebaum Funeral and Cremation Services.
Lilly Pulitzer’s tropical print dresses became a sensation in the 1960s when then-first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who attended boarding school with Pulitzer, wore one of the sleeveless shifts in a Life magazine photo spread.
The colorful revolution came as fashion shed its reliance on neutrals, and Lilly Pulitzer’s stuff was almost the housewife version of the more youthful mod look that was migrating from London.
To this day, the Lilly Pulitzer dress remains a popular, if not a necessary, addition to any woman’s closet.
Lilly Pulitzer’s tropical print dresses became a sensation in the 1960s when then-first lady Jacqueline Kennedy wore one of the sleeveless shifts in a Life magazine photo spread
“I designed collections around whatever struck my fancy… fruits, vegetables, politics, or peacocks! I entered in with no business sense. It was a total change of life for me, but it made people happy,” she told The Associated Press in March 2009.
Lilly Pulitzer’s dresses hung behind her juice stand and soon outsold her drinks.
The line of dresses that bore her name was later expanded to swimsuits, country club attire, children’s clothing, a home collection and a limited selection of menswear.
In 1966, The Washington Post reported that the dresses were “so popular that at the Southampton Lilly shop on Job’s Lane they are proudly put in clear plastic bags tied gaily with ribbons so that all the world may see the Lilly of your choice. It’s like carrying your own racing colors or flying a yacht flag for identification”.
But changing taste brought trouble. Lilly Pulitzer closed her original company in the mid-1980s after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The label was revived about a decade later after being acquired by Pennsylvania-based Sugartown Worldwide Inc. Lilly Pulitzer was only marginally involved in the new business but continued reviewing new prints from Florida.
Lilly Pulitzer retired from day-to-day operations in 1993, although she remained a consultant and a muse for the brand.
Sugartown Worldwide was bought by Atlanta-based Oxford Industries in 2010.
Sales of the Lilly Pulitzer brand were strong in the earnings period that ended February 2.
The brand’s revenue increased 26% to $29.1 million, according to Oxford Industries’ earnings report.
The company said last week it planned to add four to six new stores each year for its Lily Pulitzer brand.
Lilly Pulitzer was born Lilly McKim on November 10, 1931, to a wealthy family in Roslyn, New York.
In 1952, she married Pete Pulitzer, the grandson of newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, whose bequest to Columbia University established the Pulitzer Prize.
Lilly Pulitzer had three children in quick succession.
The Pulitzers divorced in 1969. Lilly Pulitzer’s second husband, Enrique Rousseau, died in 1993. She also had three grandchildren.
The Japanese yen has reached its lowest level since 2008 against the US dollar after the central bank began the latest round of its stimulus programme.
The yen fell as low as 98.85 against the dollar, before rebounding slightly.
Investors said the Bank of Japan’s plan to buy assets worth trillions of yen, which has government backing, would continue to weaken the currency.
As a result, the yen may break through the 100 mark against the dollar as early as this week.
The Japanese yen has reached its lowest level since 2008 against the US dollar after the central bank began the latest round of its stimulus programme
“This has really shaken up many people’s attitudes toward the Bank of Japan and the new government,” said Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak and Co in New York.
“It feels like it’s gathered a whole new momentum behind it, as the doubters have joined the bandwagon and it’s becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Last week, the BOJ said it would double the supply of the currency in the market.
The central bank added that it would be much more aggressive in pursuing a 2% inflation target to boost growth.
A weak yen helps Japanese exporters keep their products competitive, as well as boosting profits earned overseas.
On Monday, exporters helped push the main Nikkei 225 stock index 3.1% higher, before the gains were pared back in later trading.
North Korea appears to be preparing for a fourth nuclear test, according to South Korean officials.
South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae told lawmakers there were signs of increased activity in North Korea’s main nuclear test site.
North Korea has stepped up its habitual fiery rhetoric against the US and South Korea in recent weeks.
Correspondents say it is unclear whether a test is being prepared or it is a ruse to boost the sense of crisis.
Ryoo Kihl-jae did not elaborate on the specific intelligence which led South Korea to suspect the North was set to carry out its fourth nuclear test.
North Korea appears to be preparing for a fourth nuclear test, according to South Korean officials
But when asked about a news report that North Korea had stepped up activity at the underground site it has used in previous tests, he said “there are such signs”.
Kim Min-seok, a spokesman for South Korea’s defense ministry, said it was possible that the North could fire a ballistic missile and conduct a nuclear test at the same time.
But South Korean official Yonhap news agency quoted him as playing down the threat of an imminent test, saying there were several facilities at the nuclear test site so the movement of vehicles and people there was expected.
“Currently, there is no new movement to add on to the previous briefing,” he said.
Newspaper JoongAng Ilbo quoted an unnamed South Korean official as saying that South Korean intelligence had detected “increased activity of labor forces and vehicles” at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the country’s north-east.
“We are closely monitoring the ongoing situation, which is very similar to the situation ahead of the third nuclear test,” the official told the newspaper.
“We are trying to figure out whether it is a genuine preparation for a nuclear test or just a ploy to heap more pressure on us and the US.”
The UN imposed tough sanctions on North Korea last month following its third nuclear test. Pyongyang responded by stepping up angry rhetoric, including threats to use nuclear weapons and restarting its nuclear reactor.
In recent weeks, North Korea has shut down an emergency military hotline between Seoul and Pyongyang, stopped South Koreans from working at the Kaesong joint industrial complex and warned it would not be able to guarantee the safety of foreign embassy staff in the event of a war.
On Monday, the North Korea’s state news agency said a senior official had visited the Kaesong complex and told workers there to prepare for all possible developments.
Analysts have suggested that the rhetoric is in large part designed to shore up the standing of a young, inexperienced leader, Kim Jong-un, in the eyes of his own people.
North Korea’s state media have been broadcasting a continuing diet of war and retribution with programmes about biochemical war, nuclear war and military preparations dominating the listing.
Meanwhile, Japan’s defense ministry said the country’s armed forces have been ordered to shoot down any North Korean missile headed towards its territory.
Over the weekend, the US cancelled a scheduled test of its Minuteman III ballistic missile, citing concerns that it could be misinterpreted by Pyongyang.
North Korea released a bizarre video of military dogs attacking an effigy of South Korean defense minister Kim Kwan-Jin and again threatened to attack their South neighbors.
The new propaganda clip was shown on state television on Sunday.
The animals can also be seen jumping through a flaming hole as they are put through their paces in training.
North Korea released a bizarre video of military dogs attacking an effigy of South Korean defense minister Kim Kwan-Jin and again threatened to attack their South neighbors
The new video was released as the US delayed an intercontinental ballistic missile test planned for next week amid fears it will be misinterpreted by Pyongyang.
In the same video troops can also be seen using the South Korean defense minister’s face as target practice.
At the very end of the clip the effigy is destroyed with a rocket launcher.
It is unclear when and where the video, released by North Korea’s official news agency KCNA, was filmed.
An unidentified North Korean soldier warns that they are ready to attack South Korea as soon as the order is given.
“On the Korean peninsula, it is not a matter of whether we will have a war or not but whether it will take place today or tomorrow,” he said.
“This is a situation like being on the eve of a big explosion. Every minute, every second counts. We are right now set to march, once the order is given.”
The claim follows weeks of ever-increasing threats from North Korea which claims to have missiles capable of hitting the US.
Portugal’s PM Pedro Passos Coelho has said a court ruling striking down parts of his government’s budget means it will have to make other deep spending cuts.
Pedro Passos Coelho said social security, health, education and public enterprises would have to be cut.
This would allow the country to avoid a second eurozone bailout, he said.
The European Commission warned it not to depart from the bailout terms, and said carrying out the agreed programme was a precondition for further help.
Portugal’s PM Pedro Passos Coelho has said a court ruling striking down parts of his government’s budget means it will have to make other deep spending cuts
“Any departure from the programme’s objectives, or their re-negotiation, would in fact neutralize the efforts already made and achieved by the Portuguese citizens,” it said in a statement.
The Portuguese Constitutional Court struck down more than 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) of savings that the right-of-centre government had said were needed to meet the terms of its existing bailout.
In a statement to the nation on Sunday evening, Pedro Passos Coelho repeatedly used the phrase “national emergency” to describe Portugal’s situation.
He said the ruling striking down the budget’s suspension of holiday bonuses for public sector workers and pensioners – about 7% of their annual income – meant it must find alternative savings or seek a second bailout.
The government would, he said, do everything in its power to avoid having to ask its European partners for more aid.
Since tax increases were out of the question after the unprecedented increases already in the budget, he said, the only option was to cut back on other public services.
“Today, we are still not out of the financial emergency which placed us in this painful crisis,” he said.
“After this decision by the Constitutional Court, it’s not just the government’s life that will become more difficult, it is the life of the Portuguese that will become more difficult and make the success of our national economic recovery more problematic.”
Opposition leaders have accused Pedro Passos Coelho of using the court ruling as an excuse to press ahead with cuts to public services that he was planning anyway.
They say the government must resign, having lost credibility after two budgets in two years were ruled unconstitutional.
Rumer Willis showed off her trim figure in a barely-there black triangle bikini as she attended the opening weekend celebration at the Marquee Dayclub in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Rumer Willis’outfit was oddly paired with a very Vegas-style sparkling silver sequinned mini skirt and strappy black leather sandals.
The mismatching items made the outfit standout for all the wrong reasons, with Bruce Willis and Demi Moore’s daugheter better off sticking to one trend instead.
Meanwhile, Rumer Willis proudly displayed her freshly dyed ombre locks, which were brightly offset against her long black knit cover-up.
Rumer Willis and Jayson Blair at Marquee Dayclub opening weekend celebration in Las Vegas
The 24-year-old finished off her bohemian style with a pair of vintage-inspired tortoise shell sunglasses and a delicate silver bracelet and ring combo.
Rumer Willis was beaming as she posed hand in hand in the sunshine next to her boyfriend, Jayson Blair, 28.
Jayson Blair, who stars in the NBC sitcom The New Normal, looked a bit less ready for a dip in a pink short-sleeved top, blue seersucker shorts and grey high top trainers.
Rumer Willis and Jayson Blair marked the opening weekend for the luxurious dayclub, which features infinity pools, in water private and ample dance space for those attracted to the popular DJ scene.
The poolside weekend is a welcome break for Rumer Willis, who just finished shooting the romantic comedy, There’s Always Woodstock, with Katey Sagal and Jason Ritter.
Rumer Willis will also be seen starring in this year’s drama, The Odd Way Home.
Lamar Odom was reportedly shocked by Ray J’s new single I Hit It First, which describes the rapper’s relationship with Kim Kardashian.
Lamar Odom, Kim Kardashian’s brother-un-law, was disgusted when he heard Ray J’s new song, HollywoodLife.comreported.
“His reaction was that he thought, <<It is totally f**ked up!>>” a source close to Khloe Kardashian’s husband told the website.
“He saw it and thought it was in bad taste.”
Lamar Odom was reportedly shocked by Ray J’s new single I Hit It First, which describes the rapper’s relationship with Kim Kardashian
Ray J’s I Hit It First references to the rapper and Kim Kardashian’s 2007 tape and includes lines like: “I had her head going North and her ass going South/But now baby chose to go West.”
However, Lamar Odom isn’t going to let a petty publicity grab by Ray J blossom into a full-blown feud as the NBA player is just focusing on his game.
It appears that Kim Kardashian’s beau Kanye West had a similar reaction of initial anger followed by the realization that Ray J doesn’t deserve the time of day.
”Kanye doesn’t condone broke ass, jealous [guys] who be trying to bite off he and Kim’s fame just to stay, wait, just to become relevant,” another source told the website.
Kanye West also described Ray J’s attention-hungry song “sad,” according to the same source.
Marvin LaFontaine, a friend of Adam Lanza’s mother, has said the Sandy Hook gunman may have launched his murder spree as an “act of revenge” after suffering years of bullying as a student at the Connecticut school.
Marvin LaFontaine said Adam Lanza, who killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School, one of the worst school shooting in America’s history, had been harboring resentment towards the Connecticut school for years.
The family friend also said mother Nancy Lanza was so angered by the school’s inability to protect Adam, she would sometimes sit in his class to make sure nobody touched him.
Marvin LaFontaine, who was also Adam Lanza’s Cub Scout leader when he was a young boy, told the New York Daily News:“I think Adam felt betrayed by the school and this was his act of revenge.”
He said he was told by Nancy Lanza that Adam was picked on at school.
Marvin LaFontaine said: “Adam was an easy target. He was quiet and he would never fight back.”
On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot his mother then went on to spray 155 bullets at innocent children and educators during a five-minute bloody rampage that ended with 20 dead school children and 6 dead staff members before he shot and killed himself.
Adam Lanza launched Sandy Hook murder spree as an act of revenge after suffering years of bullying as a student at the Connecticut school
Marvin LaFontaine said Adam Lanza’s childhood experience of Sandy Hook centered on bullying.
The family friend said this angered Nancy Lanza, who would sometimes attend the school unannounced to act as her son’s “bodyguard”.
“Adam didn’t like her showing up,” Marvin LaFontaine said.
“She would sometimes sit in the back of the class and make sure no one would touch him.”
Nancy Lanza also moved Adam in and out of the school and sometimes home schooled him, according to the report.
At the same time, Adam Lanza’s mother was amassing an arsenal of weapons at the house, where investigators found more than 1,600 rounds of ammunition, two rifles, a BB gun, a starter’s pistol, nine knives, a 7-foot spear, a bayonet and three samurai swords.
Documents released as part of the investigation noted that Nancy Lanza may also have been facilitating her son’s fascination with weapons.
Nancy and Adam Lanza reportedly “bonded” during several sessions spent together at a shooting range.
According to the investigation, which is ongoing and may not be complete until June or later, each of the weapons used in the attack was legally licensed to Nancy Lanza.
They also found that Adam Lanza possessed articles on other shootings and a holiday card containing a check made out to him for the purchase of a firearm, authored by Nancy Lanza
Documents indicate that authorities found Nancy Lanza’s gun safe open with shotgun shells and numerous boxes of bullets.
A family friend told the Daily News that, in the months leading up to the shooting, Adam Lanza would dress up in military camouflage and target shoot in his basement with a pellet gun.
The family friend also said Adam Lanza’s dream was to become a Marine like his uncle Jim.
However, a man with mental health issues as marked as Adam Lanza’s is all but guaranteed to be turned away from serving in the armed forces.
That may have also contributed to an emotional break in the young man that led to his killing spree.
“I think that when he found out he couldn’t be a Marine because of his condition, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” the source told the Daily News.
At least one person has been killed and more than 20 injured in clashes outside Cairo’s St Mark’s Cathedral following the funerals of four Coptic Christians killed in religious violence.
Coptic mourners leaving Cairo’s main cathedral are said to have clashed with local residents.
Police fired tear gas to break up the violence.
The head of Egypt’s national ambulance service, Mohammed Sultan, said one person had died of birdshot wounds.
Mourners inside the church had earlier chanted slogans against Egypt’s Islamist President, Mohamed Morsi.
Witnesses told local TV stations that the violence started when a mob attacked mourners as they exited the cathedral, pelting them with rocks and petrol bombs.
At least one person has been killed and more than 20 injured in clashes outside Cairo’s St Mark’s Cathedral following the funerals of four Coptic Christians killed in religious violence
The Christians responded by throwing rocks back, the witnesses said, until police arrived and attempted to quell the unrest.
Egypt’s state news agency said the streets around St Mark’s Cathedral had seen “on-and-off” clashes between Christians and “unidentified persons”.
It was reported that a fire had started in a building adjacent to the Cathedral, but the blaze had since been extinguished.
Pope Tawadros II, the head of the Coptic Christian church, appealed for calm and the preservation of national unity.
Speaking on Sunday evening, he said he was in contact with government officials.
Egypt’s minority of Coptic Christians, who make up about 10% of the population, have accused the government of failing to protect them, following the fall of Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Clashes between Muslims and Coptic Christians have been seen numerous times since then, but this weekend’s violence was the worst seen in several months.
Police said five deaths – four Copts and one Muslim – occurred on Saturday in Khosous, about 10 miles north of Cairo, after inflammatory symbols were drawn on an Islamic institute, provoking an argument.
The dispute escalated into a gun battle between Christian and Muslim residents, while Christian-owned shops were also attacked.
Violence there flared again on Sunday, with police reporting more sectarian fighting on the streets and clashes between police and youths.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s top judicial body has urged the chief prosecutor appointed by Mohamed Morsi to step down.
Talaat Abdullah, who was named to the post by President Mohamed Morsi in December, has provoked anger by demanding the arrest of several high-profile political activists.
In a statement on Sunday, Egypt’s Supreme Judiciary Council urged Talaat Abdullah to return to his previous job as a judge.
Last week a court annulled the presidential decree that appointed him, but Talaat Abdullah continued to carry out his duties, including issuing arrest warrants for activists accused of insulting President Mohamed Morsi and Islam.
Up to 12 Afghan civilians, 10 children and two women, have been killed in a NATO air strike in Shigal district.
A further six women are believed to have been injured in the incident in Shigal district from Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan.
NATO confirmed that “fire support” was used in Shigal after a US civilian adviser died in a militant attack, but said it had no reports of deaths.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the killings.
Up to 12 Afghan civilians, 10 children and two women, have been killed in a NATO air strike in Shigal district
A statement issued by Hamid Karzai’s office said the president had already issued a decree banning aerial attacks on civilian areas.
Villagers and local officials said the casualties were inside their homes when they died.
Photographs apparently sent from the scene to international news agencies appeared to show the bodies of several dead young children, surrounded by Afghan villagers.
A local official said eight Taliban insurgents had also died in the air strike on Saturday, which is reported to have caused the roofs of several houses in three villages to collapse.
He said the strikes were called in to support a major operation by US and Afghan government forces targeting senior Taliban commanders and a local weapons cache.
Tribal elder Haji Malika Jan said: “The fighting started yesterday morning [Saturday] and continued for at least seven hours. There were heavy exchanges between both sides.
“The area is very close to the Pakistani border and there are hundreds of local and foreign fighters, mostly Pakistanis, in the area.”
In a statement, the NATO-led International Security Assistant Force (Isaf) said: “We are aware of an incident yesterday in Kunar province in which insurgents engaged an Afghan and coalition force.
“No Isaf personnel were involved on the ground, but Isaf provided fire support from the air, killing several insurgents. We are also aware of reports of several civilians injured from the engagement, but no reports of civilian deaths. Isaf takes all reports of civilian casualties seriously, and we are currently assessing the incident.
“The air support was called in by coalition forces – not Afghans – and was used to engage insurgent forces in areas away from structures, according to our reporting.”
A statement issued on behalf of President Hamid Karzai strongly condemned the NATO attack, and “military operations in residential areas that cause civilian deaths”.
“The president also strongly condemns the Taliban’s tactic of using civilians and their homes as their shields,” it said.
International forces are preparing to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Civilian deaths in Western military operations have been a source of tension between the Afghan government led President Hamid Karzai and the US and its NATO allies.
In February 2012, at least 10 civilians, mostly women and children, were killed in a NATO air strike in the same area.
In February this year, President Hamid Karzai ordered a complete ban on Afghan security forces calling in air strikes in residential areas.
Jockey Ryan Mania has been airlifted to hospital after suffering neck and back injuries in a fall at Hexham.
Grand National-winning Ryan Mania, who steered Auroras Encore to a famous 66-1 success at Aintree on Saturday, fell in the 15:10 St John Lee Handicap Hurdle.
Ryan Mania, 23, was riding for National-winning trainer Sue Smith on Stagecoach Jasper.
Jockey Ryan Mania has been airlifted to hospital after suffering neck and back injuries in a fall at Hexham
The Scottish jockey was said to be in a stable condition after being treated by medics for over half an hour before leaving the track.
A spokesman for the Great North Air Ambulance said: “Mr. Mania has received neck and back injuries. He came off the horse at high speed and may have been hit by another horse while he was on the ground.
“He has been given extensive painkillers and is currently in a stable condition. He has been taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.”
Kate Middleton is already six months pregnant but she appears to be almost as slim as ever, with the merest hint of a baby bump.
The Duchess of Cambridge looked slim as she played basketball and table tennis as she visited a homeless shelter in Glasgow this week with Prince William.
Dressed in a chic tartan coat and her trademark black suede boots, Kate Middleton was unusually happy to reveal details about her condition saying she plans to go on maternity leave from her royal duties from “around June time”.
Kate Middleton is already six months pregnant but she appears to be almost as slim as ever, with the merest hint of a baby bump
The duchess, who is six months’ pregnant, also revealed that her due date is “around mid-July” – a slightly more precise hint than the official announcement.
St James’s Palace has previously only confirmed the royal couple’s baby will be born “in July”, with officials refusing to give the exact due date.
Kate Middleton, 31, also said that she and Prince William had drawn up a list of boys’ and girls’ names for their first child – and that she has taken up knitting. “I’ve been trying to knit and I’m really bad. I should be asking for tips,” the duchess said.
When Rachel Sawyer, a project manager at Glasgow shelter, asked when her due date was and if she had any names, Kate Middleton replied: “It’s around mid-July but apparently babies have their own agenda …
“We have a shortlist for both [boy and girl] but it’s very difficult. My friends keep texting me names.”
When asked if she had got her nursery ready, Kate Middleton smiled and said: “No… we have got a lot to do!”
During the visit, the duchess also got an unusual insight into being a mother – from an eight-month-old baby with a taste for flowers. Kate Middleton chatted to Heidi Addison and her mother Shirley, who had a bouquet of flowers to give to the duchess, while they were in a crowd outside a sports centre.
Kim Kardashian tweeted a picture of her sizable belly as she hit six month mark pregnancy.
Kim Kardashian, 32, wore black skintight leggings and a white sheer top rolled up to reveal her pregnant belly.
Kim Kardashian revealed her sizable belly as she hit six month mark pregnancy
The reality star’s black bra is visible under her see-through white T-shirt, and she is seen with her dark hair in a glamorous high ponytail.
Kim Kardashian, who is six months’ pregnant, has been criticized for gaining weight during her pregnancy, but the brunette showed off a slender figure in the picture, which she accompanied with the simple caption “baby love” followed by a heart icon.
According to TMZ, the Keeping Up With Kardashians star weighed in at 151lbs at her latest check up.
Known for its highly secretive banking sector, Luxembourg would now consider a greater transparency in banks activity to help curb tax evasion, Finance Minister Luc Frieden has told a German newspaper.
In an interview published on Sunday, Luc Frieden said he wanted to “strengthen co-operation with foreign tax authorities”.
Germany is among the countries who say it is being used by foreign customers as a tax haven.
Speaking to Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper, Luc Frieden acknowledged that other countries were increasingly demanding more information on what their citizens were doing with their money in foreign banks.
Finance Minister Luc Frieden said Luxembourg would consider a greater transparency in its banking sector
“The international trend is going toward an automatic exchange of bank deposit information. We no longer strictly oppose that,” he said.
On Friday Germany signed a tax evasion treaty with Switzerland – another European banking centre known for its secrecy.
The treaty is designed to allow Germany to claw back taxes from German depositors hiding money in Swiss banks.
Luxembourg is a country of only 500,000 people, but its banks and other financial institutions have assets worth more than 20 times the country’s economic output.
Despite its heavy reliance on financial services, Luc Frieden insisted Luxembourg “does not rely on clients who want to save on their taxes”.
The finance minister has previously said he wants banking customers to be attracted to Luxembourg by the quality of its banking services, rather than it secrecy.
Calls for more transparent banking sectors have grown louder in Europe in recent years, as governments seek to raise more taxes to support their finances amid a global recession.
The recent bailout of Cyprus has also raised particular concerns about the risks posed by small European states with over-sized financial sectors.
China starts running tourism cruises to Paracel Islands, a chain of disputed islands in the South China Sea by next month, state media reports.
Chinese news agency Xinhua said tourists would live on board ships, as the largest island has only one hotel and no fresh water.
The islands, known in China as Xisha but the Paracels elsewhere, are claimed by China, Vietnam and Taiwan.
China has controlled Paracel Islands since a short war with South Vietnam in 1974.
In recent years tensions have been rising over the over-lapping territorial claims in the South China Sea, amid a more assertive stance from China.
The islands, known in China as Xisha but the Paracels elsewhere, are claimed by China, Vietnam and Taiwan
Analysts view the latest move as another step in China’s battle to demonstrate that the potentially oil-rich area is Chinese.
Xinhua quoted the Haihang Group ship company as saying that a 47,000-tonne ship, capable of accommodating nearly 2,000 passengers, was ready to sail and that another was being built.
The first tours would take place ahead of the May Day holiday, said Tan Li, the executive vice governor of Hainan province, just north of the islands.
Tan Li said tourists would eat and sleep on the ship but visit land for sightseeing, Xinhua reports, and that the currently limited facilities would be improved by the addition of more ports and sanitation infrastructure.
China claims a U-shaped swathe of the sea that extends well into what UNCLOS (UN Convention on the Law of the Sea) recognizes as the 200-mile-from-shore Exclusive Economic Zones of other claimants.
Last year, Beijing set up a local government office on the largest island, Yongxing – known in English as Woody Island – to oversee its territorial claims, a move which angered Vietnam.
And in March this year, Vietnam said China had fired on one of its fishing boats in the area, setting it alight.
China said the Vietnamese boats were illegally fishing in what it says is its territory when the incident occurred on March 20, and that it had fired flares not weapons.
Last year, the Philippines and China engaged in a lengthy stand-off over another disputed area, the Scarborough shoal, in a spat that left diplomatic ties very strained.
The South China Sea, seen to be rich in oil and natural gas reserves, has been a source of maritime conflict between several countries.
Back in February, a photograph of what appeared to be Miley Cyrus smoking a suspicious hand-rolled cigarette was uploaded on Instagram, and on Saturday, the star sparked concerns once again when she was pictured enjoying what appeared to be the same on her hotel balcony.
Miley Cyrus, 20, was seen inhaling and puffing smoke into the air as she sat outside at her accommodation in Miami, Florida, with the brown paper coated item.
The singer chatted to friends as they relaxed on a veranda, looking as though she had just woken up as she donned only a black T-shirt with gold writing across.
Miley Cyrus squinted her eyes as she took a deep drag of the cigarette with her left hand, which was missing the engagement ring given to her by fiancé Liam Hemsworth.
Miley Cyrus sparked concerns once again when she was pictured enjoying what appeared to be a hand-rolled cigarette on her hotel balcony
Afterwards the star laughed to herself as she peered down at the action below her.
Later on Miley Cyrus covered up her messy locks with a black beanie hat and covered her eyes with huge dark sunglasses.
Again a suspicious object was seen between her forefinger and thumb as she inhaled and exhaled the smoke.
Miley Cyrus and Snoop Lion released their new collaborative track Ashtrays And Heartbreaks on Wednesday.
While the track’s title may sound like Miley Cyrus is about to reveal the truth behind her rumored relationship split, she instead reflects on friends who have passed in a reggae – and drug reference infused – melody.
The collaboration, which will feature on Snoop Lion’s new album Reincarnated, is the first of many expected from Miley Cyrus as she prepares to release her new album.
Former Pakistani military leader Pervez Musharraf has been given the permission to run in the country’s general elections next month.
General Pervez Musharraf will be a candidate in the remote northern district of Chitral, after being rejected in two other parts of the country.
Pervez Musharraf, who led Pakistan for nine years after seizing power in a military coup, returned to the country from self-imposed exile last month.
Former Pakistani military leader Pervez Musharraf has been given the permission to run in the country’s general elections next month
The former president is facing a number of charges relating to his time in office.
Among them, is the accusation he failed to provide adequate security for former PM Benazir Bhutto ahead of her assassination in 2007.
He is also wanted in connection with the murder of a Baloch tribal leader, Nawab Akbar Bugti, and for sacking the entire higher judiciary in November 2007.
Pervez Musharraf has described the cases against him as “baseless” and politically motivated.
Last week, officials rejected his nomination papers in Kasur after objections were filed.
But officials in Chitral, close to the Afghan border, said Pervez Musharraf’s papers there were in order.
“He is not convicted so far so we cannot disqualify him,” returning officer Jamal Khan told AFP news agency.
Two US lawmakers from Florida are demanding to know if the government sanctioned Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s vacation to Cuba.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart have contacted the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the Treasury Department, asking if Beyoncé and Jay-Z obtained the correct license to travel to Cuba.
Angered by pictures showing Beyoncé and Jay-Z flaunting their retreat to the communist country, the legislators are criticizing the couple for indirectly supporting the oppressive regime of Raúl Castro by splashing as much as millions of dollars for luxurious accommodations for their entourage of family, friends and security.
A report in The Caribbean Journal said the two members of Congress have written to the director of the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Two US lawmakers from Florida are demanding to know if the government sanctioned Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s vacation to Cuba
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart, who have openly criticized the repressive government in Cuba, are inquiring after the type of license Beyoncé and Jay-Z obtained to enter Cuba.
“We would like to respectfully request, within all applicable rules and guidelines, information regarding the type of license that Beyoncé and Jay-Z received, for what purpose, and who approved such travel,” the lawmakers stated in their letter.
“If these individuals were given people-to-people licenses, we would like to bring to your attention the Cuba Travel Advisory issued by OFAC on July 25, 2011 which states, <<OFAC only licenses People-to-People Groups that certify that all participants will have a full-time schedule of educational exchange activities that will result in meaningful interaction between the travelers and individuals in Cuba>>,” they added.
According to a description of the license on the agency’s website: “OFAC does not authorize transactions related to activities that are primarily tourist-oriented, including self-directed educational activities that are intended only for personal enrichment.”
Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s trip coincides with the news that a Cuban editor, Roberto Zurbano, was fired from his post at publishing house because of an article he wrote that claimed the country had a history of discriminating against blacks.
Roberto Zurbano had mentioned the discrimination in an op-ed piece for the New York Times, For Blacks in Cuba, the Revolution Hasn’t Begun, published on March 23.
On Friday, The Havana Times reported that Roberto Zurbano told his colleagues that he had been dismissed from the publishing house of the Casa de las Americas cultural center, in the wake of the article.
Pictures showing Beyoncé and Jay-Z sauntering down a street in Havana, Cuba and taking in the island’s nightlife have sparked outrage among activists appalled that the couple could vacation in a country known for its oppressive regime.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z took a jaunt to Cuba this week to celebrate their 5th wedding anniversary but many wonder why they decided on a place known for extreme poverty and repression of political dissidents.
On Friday, the couple were pictured at the University of Arts in Havana and posed for pictures with students.
It was not reported if Beyoncé and Jay-Z participated in any classes nor were details provided about the visit.
Beyoncé, 31, even sang, though she was technically lip synching, the national anthem at Barack Obama’s 2013 inauguration and for his 2009 inauguration she sang while the president danced with First Lady Michelle Obama at a ball during the celebration.
Since the jet-setters have politically tied themselves to the 44th president and could literally select any location in the world to travel, why would they decide on such a controversial destination?
The US State Department classifies Cuba as “an authoritarian state that routinely employs repressive methods against internal dissent” and does not have diplomatic relations with the government, now lead by Fidel Castro’s brother Raúl.
The vacation has left one human rights activist in a state of disbelief.
“There are women getting beaten on a daily basis, women who are jailed for no reason…people are fighting for their freedom. It’s extremely insensitive,” Mauricio Claver-Carone, from the U.S.- Cuban Democracy Political Action Committee, told TMZ.
Washington’s 51-year embargo makes it illegal for US citizens to visit Cuba for mere tourism, although tens of thousands of Americans travel there each year on academic, religious, journalistic or cultural exchange visas.
The Obama administration eased many of the restrictions in 2011, but tourists still need a special visa to visit Cuba.
