Robin Thicke’s music video for Blurred Lines has been branded too hot for YouTube and has been banned from the website.
The clip features nude models prowling around Robin Thicke and rappers T.I. and Pharrell.
The video is still playing on the music video website Vevo.
Robin Thicke’s music video for Blurred Lines has been branded too hot for YouTube and has been banned from the website
Robin Thicke’s unrated clip was released last week and garnered more than 1 million views in days. The original video was released a week before and has 1.3 million views.
The R&B crooner said in an interview last week that he had sought the approval of his wife, actress Paula Patton, to shoot with nude models.
“Obviously if she didn’t like it, I wouldn’t put it out,” Robin Thicke said.
The original kid- and teen-friendly version debuted last month.
Robin Thicke, 36, said director Diane Martel came up with the idea of using nude models.
“As long as it’s fun and the girls are comfortable, let’s do something silly,” Robin Thicke said.
“Let’s take some chances.”
Blurred Lines will appear on Robin Thicke’s sixth album, due out this summer. The singer said because of his upcoming album, he won’t appear on the second season of BET’s Real Husbands of Hollywood, which also stars comedian-actor Kevin Hart.
Cathy’s Kids, a cancer charity set up by Lamar Odom, has failed to give considerable money raised to children in need, a new investigation has revealed.
According to ESPN, which conducted an investigation called Outside The Lines, Cathy’s Kids foundation has not given $2.2 million accumulated to any cancer-related causes since it was founded in 2004.
Questions were raised about the use of the money after investigators rifled through eight years of Lamar Odom’s tax records.
Cathy’s Kids, a cancer charity set up by Lamar Odom, has failed to give considerable money raised to children in need
Instead of funding cancer-related patients, the money has reportedly been mostly used to finance two elite youth basketball travel teams.
According to ESPN investigation, at least 60% of the $2.2 million has helped fund the AAU teams.
The sole employee on the books for the charity is Lamar Odom’s high school coach and best man at his wedding to Khloe Kardashian, Jerry DeGregorio.
Acting as secretary for the Cathy’s Kids – named in honor of Lamar Odom’s late mother who died of stomach cancer – from 2004 to 2011, Jerry deGregorio was reportedly paid a median annual salary of around $72,000, despite the charity operating at a loss since it was created.
Cathy’s Kids is currently $256,000 in debt largely due to a loan Lamar Odom made to the charity, according to his business manager and charity’s treasurer, Lester Knispel.
The new ESPN revelations now allegedly see Lamar Odom in danger of violating tax law as, as ESPN states, if a charity spends funds not consistent with its stated mission, including paying someone like Jerry DeGregorio a salary, it could be considered as fraud by the IRS or a state attorney general’s office.
If fraudulent activity is found, prosecutors could in turn file charges against Lamar Odom.
ESPN have apparently since sought a comment from LA Clippers star about his charity’s spending habits.
Lamar Odom reportedly simply responded with: “It’s my money.”
His wife Khloe Kardashian has been heavily involved with Cathy’s Kids by setting up a personal eBay account with her husband, in which they have been selling off personal effects, including items from her designer wardrobe, to raise funds.
Khloe Kardashian has even taken to her own personal blog to promote the charity and gush about her husband’s efforts.
The Outside The Lines report also investigated more than a hundred other charities attached to high profile athletes.
The investigation revealed that 115 of the big name charities were not handing out raised profits effectively or properly.
It also found that more than 74% were not operating under the Better Business Bureau and the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy standards.
Lindsay Lohan has confirmed she is not pregnant and her Twitter post was just an April Fool’s Day joke.
The star deleted a tweet in which she claimed to be pregnant and then wrote: “April Fools. Where’s everyone’s sense of humor?”
Lindsay Lohan has confirmed she is not pregnant and her Twitter post was just an April Fool’s Day joke
Lindsay Lohan, 26, posted the update on Tuesday morning after her message on Monday evening caused the rumor mill to go into overdrive.
The actress – who is dating City Of The Sun guitarist Avi Snow – published the message: “Its official. Pregnant” at around 10.30 p.m. PST on Monday, April 1.
Lindsay Lohan’s initial tweet had drawn more than 17,000 retweets and been favorited more than 6,000 times, as of this morning.
Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton also weighed in on the tweet last night and dragged Amanda Bynes into the joke writing: “Win!! RT @AmandaBynes Hey hos! I just want you all to know that @lindsaylohan is having my baby and @PerezHilton is gonna be the godfather!”
MTV has decided to stop filming its reality show Buckwild after Shain Gandee was found dead in his truck with his uncle and another man in a mud pit close to his West Virginia home.
A close friend of Shain Gandee’s found the bodies of the Buckwild castmember, his uncle David Gandee, 48, and Donald Robert Myers, 27, after they had left a bar in Sissonville at about 3am on Sunday morning.
Buckwild star Shain Gandee was found dead in his truck with his uncle and another man in a mud pit close to his West Virginia home
Shain Gandee’s Ford Bronco was found more than a day later, partially submerged in deep mud off a dirt road, about a mile away from the reality star’s home.
Shooting for the second season of Buckwild had begun prior to the accident.
It is believed that the three men died of carbon monoxide poisoning, but autopsy results are pending.
Now struck with funeral costs, Shain Gandee’s family has organized a fundraiser to cover burial expenses.
According toTMZ , his cousin Ashley is putting together an off-road trucking event to raise money for the Gandee family.
After news of his death yesterday, Gandee’s fellow castmates wrote Twitter tributes to their friend, while some of the Jersey Shore stars also used the social networking site to share their condolences.
Cara Parrish, Shain Gandee’s love interest on Buckwild, tweeted: “This is the emptiest I’ve ever felt. Please pray for [Shain Gandee’s parents] Dale and Loretta.”
Jenny “JWOWW” Farley posted: “That’s awful that shain passed… He was just a baby.”
The cause of death is not yet known, although no foul play is suspected.
Sourced told TMZ that carbon monoxide poisoning is being explored as a possible cause of death.
If the truck’s exhaust pipe had been blocked by mud, the deadly gas may have seeped into the vehicle.
Buckwild, in which Shain is nicknamed Gandee Candy, has been dubbed the “Redneck Jersey Shore”.
The reality show follows Shain Gandee, 21, and eight other young adults in Virginia, all of whom love small-town American life.
Shain Gandee in particular shunned cell phones and social media, and was happiest when he was hunting and four-wheeling, according to the West Virginia Gazette.
The star’s father told Buckwild producers that his son “died doing what he loved”, according to ABC News.
The United Nations General Assembly has passed the first global arms trade treaty by 154 votes to three, with 23 abstentions.
Syria, North Korea and Iran had sought to block the treaty governing a trade worth some $70 billion annually.
The UN General Assembly has passed the first global arms trade treaty by 154 votes to three, with 23 abstentions
The treaty aims to prevent abuses against civilians and keep weapons out of the hands of terrorists and gangs.
Russia, the world’s second-biggest major exporter, was among those states which abstained from the vote at the UN Assembly in New York.
The treaty also prohibits states from exporting conventional weapons in violation of arms embargoes, or weapons that would be used for acts of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes or terrorism.
It also requires states to prevent conventional weapons reaching the black market.
Before the vote, Australia’s ambassador to the UN, Peter Woolcott, had said the final draft of the treaty was a compromise text to bring together the broadest range of stakeholders.
The UN Assembly had heard from member-states’ ambassadors objecting to, or supporting, the draft.
Speaking for Russia, Vitaly Churkin said it was a significant shortcoming that there was no clause in the draft treaty about banning the supply of weapons to non-state entities.
The first episode of Game of Thrones Season 3 has become the most pirated TV show ever, according to TorrentFreak.
According to the blog, the episode has been shared and downloaded on BitTorrents a million times in less than a day.
There were also more than 160,000 simultaneous peers sharing one file of the episode.
The first episode of Game of Thrones Season 3 has become the most pirated TV show ever
The previous record was for the series three premiere of Heroes which had 144,663 peers in 2008.
Data compiled by TorrentFreak shows that Australia had the highest piracy rate according to population size of popular download destinations, while London topped the list of pirate cities.
Reasons for the high piracy rate include staggered international release of Game of Thrones and the programme being shown on subscription channels.
In America the show airs on HBO while in the UK it is shown on Sky Atlantic.
Game of Thrones was the most-pirated TV show over the internet in 2012.
One episode of Game of Thrones racked up 4,280,000 illegal global downloads, according to Torrentfreak. That was slightly more than its estimated US television audience.
Samoa Air boss Chris Langton defends the airline’s decision to start charging passengers according to their weight.
Chris Langton told Australia’s ABC Radio that it was “the fairest way of travelling”.
Rather than pay for a seat, Samoa Air passengers pay a fixed price per kilogram, which varies depending on the route length.
Samoa Air boss Chris Langton defends the airline’s decision to start charging passengers according to their weight
Samoa Air flies domestically and to American Samoa.
It is thought the company’s move could encourage other airlines to introduce similar policies.
“Airlines don’t run on seats, they run on weight, and particularly the smaller the aircraft you are in the less variance you can accept in terms of the difference in weight between passengers,” Chris Langton told ABC radio.
“Anyone who travels at times has felt they have been paying for half of the passenger next to them.”
Under the new model, Chris Langton described how some families with children were now paying cheaper fares.
“There are no extra fees in terms of excess baggage or anything – it is just a kilo is a kilo is a kilo,” he said.
The company’s rates range from $1 to around $4.16 per kilogram. Passengers pay for the combined weight of themselves and their baggage.
Chris Langton also suggested that the move had helped promote health awareness in Samoa, which has one of the world’s highest levels of obesity.
“People generally are becoming much more weight conscious. That’s a health issue in some areas,” he told ABC Radio.
Chris Langton said he believed that charging by weight was “the concept of the future.”
“People generally are bigger, wider and taller than they were 50 years ago,” he said.
Alma Whitten, who was Google’s first privacy director, is to step down after three years in the role.
The position was created by the search giant after mistakes on privacy including Google’s Street View cars collecting personal data as they captured images of street scenes.
London-based Alma Whitten is being replaced in June by California-based Google software engineer Lawrence You.
Alma Whitten, who was Google’s first privacy director, is to step down after three years in the role
Google said Alma Whitten had “done so much to improve our products and protect our users”.
In a statement given to Forbes and other news sites, Google said: “The privacy and security teams, and everyone else at Google, will continue this hard work to ensure that our users’ data is kept safe and secure.”
In 2010, Google fell foul of governments, privacy watchdogs and users when it emerged that Street View cars copied e-mails and passwords from private Wi-Fi networks.
In the same year, the launch of the Buzz social network tool caused similar problems because Google enrolled millions of people into it without their permission.
Google also made lists of contacts and other details public.
In the wake of these mistakes – which led to multi-million dollar fines – Google appointed Alma Whitten to help ensure its software engineers took account of privacy as they developed new services and updated older ones.
Lawrence You, who has been at Google for 8 years, was one of the first recruits to the privacy team Alma Whitten assembled.
When he takes over, Lawrence You will manage a privacy and security team that numbers hundreds of workers.
Doctor Thierry Costa, who worked on French adventure reality TV show Koh Lanta, has killed himself in Cambodia after contestant Gerald Babin died.
Dr. Thierry Costa, 38, left a suicide saying his name had been “sullied by the media” over the death of 25-year-old Gerald Babin a week ago.
Gerald Babin had a heart attack during filming on the island of Koh Rong.
Dr Thierry Costa has killed himself in Cambodia after contestant Koh Lanta contestant Gerald Babin died
Some media reports had criticized Dr. Thierry Costa, saying he had taken too much time to treat Gerald Babin.
Gerald Babin had complained of cramps on the first day of filming on the southern Cambodian island on March 22.
Dr. Thierry Costa administered emergency care before Gerald Babin was airlifted to a mainland hospital where he died.
French authorities have launched a preliminary investigation into Gerald Babin’s death.
Broadcaster TF1 announced last week it would axe the show, described as France’s version of Survivor, in response to the contestant’s death.
The Koh Lanta’s producers, Adventure Line Productions (ALP), confirmed that Dr. Thierry Costa killed himself at a hotel in Cambodia on Monday.
Dr. Costa had been part of the Koh Lanta show for four seasons, assisting candidates who must survive on an uninhabited island and complete a series of challenges.
“This tragic event has to encourage those who accuse and comment without proper judgment to exercise responsibility,” ALP said, adding that Dr. Costa had left a suicide note.
In the suicide note, Thierry Costa wrote that the accusations leveled against him had been “unfair”.
“I am sure that I treated Gerald in a respectable manner, as a patient and not as a contestant. Even though I regret this sad end, I also acted in conformity with the Hippocratic oath.”
He added that “having to reconstruct this destroyed reputation would be unbearable”.
Dr. Thierry Costa asked for his body to be cremated in Cambodia, “without ever going back to France”.
The head of TF1, Nonce Paolini, described Dr. Thierry Costa’s death as a tragedy.
“The authors of the anonymous comments about the circumstances of Gerald Babin’s death and those who spread them will have to face their conscience,” Nonce Paolini said.
Cyprus Finance Minister Michalis Sarris has decided to resign after completing talks on the controversial IMF-EU bailout deal.
Michalis Sarris will be replaced by Labour Minister Haris Georgiades, reports in the local media suggest.
Cyprus Finance Minister Michalis Sarris has decided to resign after completing talks on the controversial IMF-EU bailout deal
The 10 billion-euro ($13 billion) deal – agreed by the EU and IMF – originally envisaged a levy on all Cypriot bank depositors, triggering public anger.
Under the revised deal, Bank of Cyprus depositors with more than 100,000 euros could now lose up to 60% of their savings.
On Tuesday, Cyprus’ government said that President Nicos Anastasiades had accepted the resignation of Michalis Sarris, who had been under fire for his handling of the bailout deal.
Nicos Anastasiades earlier ordered an investigation into what led Cyprus to the brink of bankruptcy before it was forced to accept tough bailout conditions.
The inquiry will be carried out by a three-judge panel.
Kendall and Kylie Jenner furiously defended their sister Kim Kardashian’s pregnancy style from those who have been criticizing her weight gain.
“It p***es me off when people say, <<You’re so fat>>, to Kim,” Kylie Jenner, 15, admitted toE! News.
Kendall and Kylie Jenner defended their sister Kim Kardashian’s pregnancy style from those who have been criticizing her weight gain
Kendall Jenner added that all that matters is how Kim Kardashian feels in herself.
“If you like it, and you feel good…” Kendall Jenner, 17, began, before her sister interjected.
“I’m like, <<Are you dumb?>>” Kylie Jenner cut in, taking a slightly more angry approach.
She added: “I don’t get it.”
“She’s pregnant, people.”
They were speaking at a photo shoot to promote their clothing line PacSun, and as they flicked through rails of garments they had designed, they gushed that they are big fans of Kim’s maternity wear.
Kim Kardashian, 32, who is expecting a baby with boyfriend Kanye West, has also taken matters into her own hands.
After reading comments complaining that one of her leather pencil skirts was too tight, Kim Kardashian posted a blog hitting back at her critics.
“I saw some comments that the skirt is too tight for the pregnancy and that’s ridiculous!” she wrote.
“I bought this skirt a few sizes bigger and there is plenty of room.
“For any concern that my clothes are too tight, I have so many pieces custom fit for my growing body!”
Kim Kardashian added: “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.”
Justin Bieber is reportedly banned from Passage, one of Vienna’s biggest nightclubs, amid allegations of violent behavior from members of his entourage.
Justin Bieber’s bodyguards smashed the cameras of fans who were enjoying themselves in Passage nightclub over the weekend, and even destroyed mobile phones in the midst of the furor surrounding the singer after her performed his Believe world tour in Vienna, the Austrian Times.
Justin Bieber is reportedly banned from Passage, one of Vienna’s biggest nightclubs, amid allegations of violent behavior from members of his entourage
Passage nightclub manager Joachim Bankel told the Austrian Times: “Justin Bieber is no longer welcome here.”
This is not the first time Justin Bieber, 19, has been banned from an exclusive nightclub.
The teen idol claimed he had the “worst birthday ever” after he was turned away from London’s Cirque Du Soir when he arrived at the venue with underage friends in tow.
In February, Justin Bieber was snubbed by Manchester nightclub Sankeys as they didn’t want him to tarnish their edgy image.
Sankeys posted on Twitter at the time: “Yes the rumors are true, we turned Justin Bieber away. He shuffles on stage and we can’t be having that in Sankeys now can we!”
Justin Bieber is also facing criminal charges after for allegedly spitting on and threatening his neighbor after a fellow resident at his posh Calabasas gated community confronted him for driving recklessly on their private roads.
A major upgrade for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which is already known for its cutting-edge science, has begun.
Engineers work should double the energy of the LHC, already the most powerful particle accelerator in the world.
Scientists believe the upgrade will enable them to discover new particles which will lead to a more complete theory of how the Universe works.
Scientists believe the LHC upgrade will enable them to discover new particles which will lead to a more complete theory of how the Universe works
The engineers’ tasks also include testing and replacing some of the LHC’s main dipole and quadrupole magnets, which are used to bend the paths of the particles and keep them tightly bunched; conducting tests to detect any irregularities in the magnets or imperfections in the electrical insulation; and a range of other work to improve the machine.
The LHC upgrade will enable it to discover new particles leading to a radical change in our understanding of how the Universe works.
The discovery of Higgs particle last year was the end of a successful chapter of late 20th Century physics.
This was the development of the current theory in the 1960s and 70s called the “Standard Model”.
This theory says that most of the forces of nature, the objects around us and our own existence, are all down to the interaction of the Higgs with 16 other particles. It successfully explains how electricity, magnetism and light operate.
Since then, all the particles predicted by the Standard Model have been discovered – including most recently the Higgs.
The problem though is scientists known this theory is limited. It explains extremely well the world around us, but it cannot explain the way most of the Universe behaves.
Physicists hope that by operating at full power, the LHC will be able to find evidence of so-called supersymmetric particles. These are like the particles in the Standard Model – but more massive.
One form of supersymmetry predicts that there should be five Higgs bosons, which are each slightly different.
Martha Stewart has revealed on TodayShow how she struck up her unlikely friendship with Snoop Dogg by baking brownies together.
Martha Stewart was chatting with Today Show hosts Natalie Morales and Willie Geist about how “tight” she and Snoop Dogg are – reminiscing about their joint appearance on her Holiday show in 2009 when they made up a batch of “green” Christmas-themed brownies.
Martha Stewart has revealed on Today Show how she struck up her unlikely friendship with Snoop Dogg by baking brownies together
In response to Willie Geist’s question about whether they “hang out a lot”, Martha Stewart replied: “Oh yeah, I hang out with Snoop, [like] he has time for me. We, uh, like to bake brownies together.”
In a now famous cooking skit Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg performed together, making up a batch of the delicious chocolate cakes that have become synonymous with cannabis culture.
The two even launched into an impromptu rap of sorts as Snoop Dogg explained to the laughing audience that he and Martha Stewart were: “Trying to make some brownies, but we’re missing the most important part of the brownies.”
Martha Stewart humored the hip hop star by asking what the most important ingredient for a brownies made by Snoop Dogg would be.
“He wants green brownies. Brownish green brownies,” said Martha Stewart.
“The greener the better!” replied Snoop Dogg.
In 2008, Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg tried their hands at making mashed potatoes – with Snoop questioning why she was using an electric blender to make the mash and not by hand.
On her blog, Martha Stewart posted how Snoop Dogg “taught me some of his very own language called Snoop-guistics”.
“He and his posse add <<izzles>> onto the ends of words. It’s kind of a code, or a way of communicating so that others won’t know what they’re talking about. Example: fo shizzle is how they say, for sure.”
Eurozone unemployment rate reached new record high of 12% in February 2013, according to the official figures.
The number of people unemployed in eurozone, which includes 17 states, rose by 33,000 during February 2013, to hit 19.07 million, the statistics agency Eurostat said.
Eurozone unemployment rate reached new record high of 12 percent in February 2013
The highest rate was 26.4% in Greece, although the most recent figure for the country was from December.
The new figures from Eurostat have also confirmed a deterioration in the eurozone’s manufacturing sector in March.
The final Markit manufacturing PMI index for the month fell to 46.8, slightly higher than an initial estimate but below the 47.9 recorded in February.
Any score below 50 indicates a contraction in the sector.
Khloe Kardashian has unveiled several candid snaps on her blog of her family celebrating Easter at their Calabasas home.
One of Khloe Kardashian’s best shot was the picture of half-sister Kendall Jenner, who looked ultra-cute in a pair of fuzzy bunny ears.
Khloe Kardashian has unveiled several candid snaps on her blog of her family celebrating Easter at their Calabasas home
The Kardashian-Jenner family began their Easter festivities with a traditional Armenian breakfast dish, Beeshee, which is a thin, fried pancake topped with powdered sugar.
Khloe Kardashian’s husband Lamar Odom and her younger brother Rob, currently on a mission to drop 60 pounds, were tasked with strategically hiding eggs around the poolside backyard.
“We do the same thing every year, and it never gets old,” Khloe Kardashian wrote on her blog.
“It’s so important to stay true to your family traditions and pass them down from generation to generation.”
Khloe Kardashian also posted pictures of her older sister Kourtney holding baby Penelope while her stepfather Bruce Jenner checked out his lavish Easter basket in the family kitchen.
New episodes of Kourtney and Khloé Take Miami, now in its third season, air Sunday nights on E!
The 8th season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians is set to premiere in July – the same month Kim Kardashian is due to give birth to her first child with rapper Kanye West.
Reese Witherspoon has changed her iconic Legally Blonde hair color for a dark new look.
Reese Witherspoon, who has just turned 37, unveiled her hair color while heading out to lunch with her husband Jim Toth and their 8-month-old son Tennessee in Nashville over the weekend.
Reese Witherspoon has changed her iconic Legally Blonde hair color for a dark new look
It’s unclear if Reese Witherspoon’s latest change is for a film part this time around, or simply just for fun.
The actress currently has three movies in pre-production including Wish List, The Good Lie and Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus.
Reese Witherspoon, who also has two children, Ava, 13, and Deacon, 10, with her ex-husband Ryan Phillippe, is back from a romantic break in Cabo San Lucas, where she celebrated her birthday with her agent husband.
Lindsay Lohan, who is dating City Of The Sun guitarist Avi Snow, tweeted a message claiming she is pregnant, on Monday, April 1.
Her message was posted at around 10.30 p.m. PST, saying: “It’s official. Pregnant.”
It could just be that Lindsay Lohan, 26, is getting in on the April Fool’s Day revelry – albeit hours after the 12 noon deadline.
Lindsay Lohan claimed she is pregnant on April 1
Lindsay Lohan was last photographed in Brazil on Sunday night at Florianopolis Nightclub.
The actress’ new boyfriend Avi Snow recently opened up about their relationship, describing her as “a lot of fun”.
In his first interview since they were romantically linked, City Of The Sun guitarist Avi Snow refused to officially confirm or deny his relationship with Lindsay Lohan, but didn’t hold back in his compliments of the Mean Girls star.
Speaking to E! News at the band’s gig at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles, Avi Snow said of Lindsay Lohan: “She’s really awesome, and she’s a lot of fun.”
Referring to Lindsay Lohan’s support of his band, Avi Snow said: “I would definitely call her one of our biggest supporters.”
Meanwhile Lindsay Lohan has demanded Adderall during her time in rehab.
The star has reportedly insisted she will only enter a court ordered treatment facility if she is allowed to have the prescription drug – used to treat Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder – which she claims she needs to function, according to TMZ.
Lindsay Lohan was recently sentenced to 90 days in rehab after pleading “no contest” to charges for lying to police about driving during a car crash last June but has jetted to Brazil for some partying and promotional appearances before entering the facility, which has horrified her father.
North Korea has announced it will restart the facilities at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, including a reactor mothballed in 2007.
In a statement, it has been announced that the move would bolster North Korea’s nuclear forces “in quality and quantity”.
North Korea has announced it will restart the facilities at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, including a reactor mothballed in 2007
The move is the latest in a series of measures by Pyongyang in the wake of its third nuclear test in February 12.
North Korea has been angered by the resultant UN sanctions and joint US-South Korea annual military drills.
In recent weeks North Korea has issued a series of threats against both South Korean and US targets, to which the US has responded with high-profile movements of advanced aircraft and warships around the Korean peninsula.
The reactor at Yongbyon – which was the source for plutonium for North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme – was closed in July 2007 as part of a disarmament-for-aid deal.
The cooling tower at the facility was later destroyed, but then the disarmament deal stalled.
Part of the reason the agreement fell apart was because the US and North Korea’s other negotiating partners did not believe Pyongyang was fully disclosing all of its nuclear facilities.
The statement, carried by KCNA news agency, was attributed to a spokesman for the General Department of Atomic Energy.
The General Department of Atomic Energy had decided “to adjust and alter the uses of the existing nuclear facilities” including “readjusting and restarting all the nuclear facilities in Nyongbyon [Yongbyon]”.
The work would be put into practice without delay, the statement said.
California city of Stockton has become the most populous US city ever to enter bankruptcy protection after a judge has approved its bankruptcy filing.
Stockton would be unable to provide basic government services without bankruptcy protection, said a federal judge.
California city of Stockton has become the most populous US city ever to enter bankruptcy protection
Stockton is a city of 290,000, located at 90 miles east of San Francisco.
The city saw its tax base plummet in the US housing market crash.
The ruling grants Stockton protection from creditors – who opposed the filing – while it negotiates debt repayment.
Stockton’s creditors – bond holders and insurers who had financed the city’s debt – argued the city had not cut spending enough nor sought a tax increase to avoid bankruptcy. With the city now in bankruptcy, they may not be repaid their full principals.
However, lawyers for the city said it had slashed its budget to the bone after a 70% decline in the city’s tax base.
Stockton first filed for bankruptcy in June 2012 after failing to come to an agreement with its creditors. The judge came to his decision on Monday after a three-day trial.
“It’s unfortunate that we have been forced to spend millions of dollars, thousands of hours and almost a year on this effort,” city manager Bob Deis said, referring to the fight with creditors who opposed the bankruptcy filing.
“These are valuable resources and money that could have gone toward addressing the critical safety needs of our community, restoring services, and paying our creditors.”
During the housing boom, Stockton developed its waterfront, with a new marina and sports complex, and negotiated generous pension and healthcare benefits for city employees.
When the housing market crashed beginning in 2008, the city’s revenue sank when a rush of home foreclosures caused a dip in property taxes and developer fees.
Officials were forced to make dramatic spending cuts to patch a budget deficit – roughly $26 million this year. The city eliminated a quarter of its police officers, one third of the fire department staff and 40% of all other employees. It also cut wages and medical benefits.
Stockton’s unemployment and violent crime rates now rank among the worst in the nation.
The city’s case was being watched closely by other struggling US cities and towns that may also seek bankruptcy protection.
Stockton’s largest debt is $900 million owed to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System to cover pension promises. The city has kept up with pension payments at the expense of other debt, arguing it needs a strong pension plan to retain its workforce.
Princess Caroline of Monaco appeared in London today to visit her son Andrea Casiraghi, who last week became a father for the first time.
Andrea Casiraghi, 28, and his fiancée, Colombian heiress and fashion designer Tatiana Santo Domingo, 29, had a son, named Sacha, at London’s Portland Hospital on March 21.
Princess Caroline of Monaco in London
Princess Caroline’s dressed down appearance – accessorized with a cigarette clamped firmly between her lips on which she puffed away hands-free – was a far cry from the glamorous look she showcased a charity ball just last week, when she hosted the opening event of Monaco’s social calendar.
The 56-year-old princess had held a glittering charity event for 900 guests with the theme Belle et Pop that was a tribute to the heyday of Monte Carlo and its glitzy society life.
Paris Hilton joined Hugh Hefner and his ladies at the Playboy mansion for the annual egg hunt.
Paris Hilton, 32, who put on her rabbit ears and slipped her svelte fame into a sequined number, shared a few shots from inside the party with her followers via her Instagram account.
Paris Hilton joined Hugh Hefner and his ladies at the Playboy mansion for the annual egg hunt
The caption on the image of herself and Hugh Hefner read: “The Easter Bunny with Hef. Love you @HughHefner. Happy Easter!”
Paris Hilton also bumped into legendary rapper Snoop Lion, formerly known as Snoop Dogg.
Hours before partying at Hugh Hefner’s abode, Paris Hilton was in a great mood as she arrived at LAX stopping to sign a few autographs for her fans.
It seems Mike Tyson may have removed his facial tattoo he has had it for ten years.
Mike Tyson, 46, tweeted on Monday that he was about to get laser treatment to have the ink removed.
Mike Tyson tweeted on Monday that he was about to get laser treatment to have the ink removed
However, the boxer’s announcement may very well be an April Fools’ joke.
Mike Tyson posted on his Twitter page: “At the doctors office this morning. Getting this tattoo removed from my face. This is going to be painful.”
Then he retweeted a message from one of his fans urging him to keep the inking.
“@MikeTyson is getting his face tattoo removed !!!!!!” the user wrote.
“Don’t do it mike!!!”
While it seems likely that the declaration is just a prank, Mike Tyson was not quick to call April Fools on the social networking site.
It is understood that Mike Tyson got the swirling tattoo, which stretches from his forehead to his cheek on the left side of his face, in early 2003.
It can take several sessions using a laser to remove a tattoo, and the process is said to be extremely painful.
Mike Tyson is set to appear in cameo roles in upcoming film Scary Movie 5 and The Hangover Part III. In the second installation of The Hangover, Ed Helms’ character Stu gets a tattoo to match Mike Tyson’s.
As Chris Brown tries to win back the public, he continues to be upfront and frank about his infamous 2009 assault on Rihanna which subsequently shattered his reputation.
Chris Brown, 23, once again opened up about vicious attack on Rihanna with Matt Lauer on the Today show on Monday morning.
Chris Brown once again opened up about vicious attack on Rihanna with Matt Lauer on the Today show
In an interview to promote his new album Fine China, Chris Brown said that his 52 week stint in domestic violence counseling finally made him see the error of his ways.
“I think it is just proving myself once again and me being a man. Knowing what I did was wrong and never doing it again,” the singer told Matt Lauer.
“As far as she [Rihanna] and I are concerned, she knows my heart and I know her heart. I am not really focused on the negative, everything is positive for me. I did my 52 weeks of couseling and learned it was absolutely wrong.”
Chris Brown said that during counseling he played the incident in his head over and over again.
“It was domestic violence counseling. A 52 week program. Every Monday in Virginia, I remember going, sitting in there thinking <<why did I do what I did?>> I really just wanted to get help,” he told Matt Lauer.
When Matt Lauer asked Chris Brown if he could promise that won’t ever happen again, the star repeatedly told him “absolutely”.
Chris Brown also told Matt Lauer that he was now concentrating on moving forward “positively”, but realized that not everybody will be willing to forgive him.
“I am moving forward, positively. I think for me it is about proving myself to my fans and for me my fans have been my number one support,” Chris Brown said.
“The naysayers are going to have their opinion. Anything I do… It’s not going to be <<Chris is the greatest>>. So I am not going to focus my life on pleasing those people. The only thing I can do is please my family, myself and please her [Rihanna] and my fans.”
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama kicked off the annual White House Easter Egg Roll this morning, welcoming 30,000 of visitors, children and families, into the grounds of their home.
First off, the Obamas took to the South Lawn to help young competitors in the traditional egg-rolling race and later took a well-earned break reading aloud snippets from their favorite books.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama kicked off White House Easter Egg Roll 2013
The theme of this year’s event was Be Healthy, Be Active, Be You! – fitting with Michelle Obama’s campaign to lower childhood obesity rates by encouraging physical activity. “We are so excited. The Easter Egg Roll is the biggest event that we have here on the South Lawn of the White House each year.
“Today we’re going have more than 30,000 people pass through this yard in celebration of nutrition, and health, and activity,” Michelle Obama announced from the balcony of the White House as the sun made a welcome appearance.
First daughters Malia and Sasha Obama also played a role in today’s event.
After President Barack Obama recited passages from his favorite book Chicka, Chicka, Boom Boom, they read aloud the popular children’s picture book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?.
Like their parents, Malia and Sasha Obama opted for casual wear, and looked comfortable dressed in jeans and sneakers.
Michelle Obama joined her daughter in the reading corner, narrating passages from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
“Thanks for coming, have fun,” the first lady said after her story-time session, which was also attended by the family pet, Bo the dog. She instructed him to keep his paws off her white pants.
The president’s basketball and tennis courts were open for play, along with an obstacle course and yoga garden.
A dance party was set up at the Hop To It Stage, and professional athletes and coaches were helping teach their sports in the Eggtivity Zone.
Among the stars scheduled to attend were Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, NASCAR driver Danica Patrick, gymnast John Orozco and Washington Wizards point guard John Wall.
Two of the younger celebrities in Monday’s lineup are Oscar-nominated actress Quvenzhane Wallis, star of Beasts of the Southern Wild, and Robbie Novak, who plays Kid President in a series of popular YouTube videos.
A track suit-clad Elmo and other Sesame Street Muppets performed and encouraged exercise.
The White House had warned more than 35,000 expected attendees that the 135-year tradition could have been cancelled because of budget battles with Congress this year.
White House tours have been called off because of government-wide spending cuts, but the egg roll was not.
The National Park Service, which organizes the event, says it’s largely funded by sales of commemorative wooden eggs, plus some private donations.
The park service would not say how much the event costs.
The White House said 14,500 eggs were dyed for the egg roll and hunt, with another 4,500 hard-boiled eggs available for children to decorate.
There are also special eggs that make a sound like a chirping bird so visually impaired children can participate in the hunt.
Yesterday the First Family attended an Easter service at St. John’s Church.
