Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson was seen holding onto her dad Michael, known as Sugar Bear, as he returned to their Georgia home after spending over a week in hospital.
Sugar Bear was rushed to the hospital after suffering chest and stomach pains and was diagnosed with pancreatitis.
Despite the TLC network’s cameras rolling Honey Boo Boo was completely focused on her sick father as he arrived home.
Honey Boo Boo, 7, tenderly guided her dad up the stars and gave him a big hug as he crossed the threshold.
Clearly, still struggling with his illness, Sugar Bear stayed in his pajamas and wrapped a large blanket around his shoulders.
Making sure to stay close was Honey Boo Boo’s mother June Shannon.
June Shannon has been updating fans on her partner’s condition via their official Facebook.
Sugar Bear was rushed to the hospital after suffering chest and stomach pains and was diagnosed with pancreatitis
Just prior to his release, June Shannon thanked fans for their support: “Another update on Sugar Bear – it’s a great one – thanks to all the prays and thoughts Sugar Bear is going to be released [he] will be so glad to be going back home.
“Hope we are not back for a while, hospitals are very draining.”
And no wonder, Sugar Bear had himself moved from the first hospital he was admitted to, and spent a night in Intensive Care, and after not feeling like he was “was getting the best treatment possible” he checked into a new hospital where it was revealed he was also suffering from pneumonia.
It has already been a tough few months for Honey Boo Boo’s father after numerous health complaints.
Following a quad bike accident Sugar Bear’s foot got an infection landing him in the hospital in September.
Paramedics had to be called to the home when Sugar Bear fell ill during the family’s Christmas toy drive, after suffering from high blood pressure.
Facebook has admitted that teenagers are becoming bored with the social networking giant.
Facing competition from younger, more agile and “cooler” apps such as Snapchat and Instagram, Facebook fears its long-term business could be harmed.
And as Facebook approaches its tenth anniversary the firm published its annual 10-K report last month revealing that its younger users are increasingly turning away from the multi-billion dollar business.
Published last month, Facebook annual report states: “We believe that some of our users, particularly our younger users, are aware of and actively engaging with other products and services similar to, or as a substitute for, Facebook.
“For example, we believe that some of our users have reduced their engagement with Facebook in favor of increased engagement with other products and services such as Instagram.
“In the event that our users increasingly engage with other products and services, we may experience a decline in user engagement and our business could be harmed.”
The sobering admission that they need to sharpen their public image comes as Facebook Director of Product Blake Ross announced in scathing terms why he was leaving the social networking powerhouse.
“I’m leaving because a Forbes writer asked his son’s best friend Todd if Facebook was still cool and the friend said no, and plus none of HIS friends think so either even Leila who used to love it, and this journalism made me reconsider the long-term viability of the company.”
Facing competition from younger, more agile and “cooler” apps such as Snapchat and Instagram, Facebook fears its long-term business could be harmed
Maybe because of the seriousness of his jesting post, Blake Ross pulled the message from his Facebook page.
However, it did not divert from the fact that teenagers are very often a plausible, but non-scientific barometer for trends – especially what is cool and what is not.
Indeed, the founder and of new social networking site Branch, Josh Miller, asked his 15-year-old sister for her opinion on Facebook.
Her verdict was damning.
“She tries to visit Facebook as infrequently as possible,” Josh Miller wrote, because it’s addictive, and because it’s not as fun as Instagram.
“Facebook may have an irreversibly bad brand,” Josh Miller concluded.
Web-expert, Laura Portwood-Stacer was more concise in her opinion of how Facebook relates to today’s teenagers.
“I think it has less to do with kids consciously looking for <<the next big thing>> than Facebook just no longer being a space that serves them,” said Laura Portwood-Stacer.
“I think kids are less self-conscious about trying to be cool than marketers would like to think,” she added.
Teenagers are turning to sites like Tumblr and apps like Snapchat and Instagram as their preferred methods of communication.
“Tumblr is mainly my obsession as of now,” said 15-year-old Collin Wisniewski to The Verge.
“It just seems more intimate and it’s not really a place of bragging, but more of a place of sharing.”
Apps such as Snapchat give power to younger users who do not like the idea of their images existing forever and tagged on Facebook,
“I would say that this app really is one of my major communicating devices more than really a social network,” said Collin Wisniewski.
However, this does not mean that teens are leaving Facebook similar in manner to the demise of MySpace.
They are simply using the service less and other newer products more.
And, of course, monetarily, Facebook owns Instagram and is still at the forefront of mobile device apps.
A new study has found that skin patches which deliver oestrogen into the blood may be a cheaper and safer treatment for prostate cancer than current therapies.
The main treatment is injections of a chemical to cut levels of testosterone – the driving force of many prostate cancers – but it causes side effects.
The Imperial College London study in the Lancet Oncology compared patches and injections in 254 patients.
It found patches were safe and should avoid menopause-like side effects.
Using oestrogen to treat prostate cancer is an old treatment.
Both oestrogen and testosterone are very similar chemically, so ramping up the levels of oestrogen in the body can reduce the amount of testosterone produced – and slow prostate cancer growth.
Skin patches which deliver oestrogen into the blood may be a cheaper and safer treatment for prostate cancer than current therapies
However, taking oral oestrogen pills caused significant health problems by overdosing the liver. The organ then produced chemicals which caused blood clots, heart attacks and strokes.
The preferred treatment is injections of a drug, LHRHa, which reduces the production of both oestrogen and testosterone. However, this has side effects similar to the menopause in women – resulting in poor bone health and diabetes.
Prof. Paul Abel, from Imperial College London, said: “We’re not claiming this is equivalent to current therapies yet, but it does look like we are getting castration levels of testosterone.”
However, the researchers need to follow patients for longer.
“The next step is to test if the oestrogen patches are as effective at stopping the growth of prostate cancer as the current hormone treatments, we’re now testing this in over 600 patients.”
Kenya is voting in an election that observers describe as the most important in the country’s history.
It is the first time a vote has taken place under Kenyan new constitution, designed to prevent a repeat of violence that followed the 2007 polls.
More than 1,000 people died in widespread ethnic violence when supporters of rival candidates clashed.
Despite appeals for calm, at least four police officers died when they were attacked near Mombasa on Monday.
At least six other people – including several attackers – are also reported to have died in the assault in the early hours in Changamwe, half an hour’s drive from the centre of Mombasa.
Reports from around the country suggested long lines of voters were forming before polling stations opened.
Some technical difficulties were reported with newly instituted biometric voting kits – designed to counter claims of vote-rigging and long delays in announcing poll results that were partly blamed for the violence last time.
Kenyans will choose a president, members of parliament and senators, county governors and members of 47 county assemblies.
Eight presidential candidates are standing but it is essentially a two-horse race pitting Prime Minister Raila Odinga against Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta.
Some observers say they are particularly concerned about violence erupting should neither of the two frontrunners poll more than 50% – in which case the vote will go to a run-off, probably on April 11.
Uhuru Kenyatta, son of Kenya’s founding father Jomo Kenyatta, is due to stand trial at the International Criminal Court for his alleged role in orchestrating the violence five years ago.
His running mate, William Ruto, has also been indicted by the court. Both men deny any wrongdoing.
Kenya is voting in an election that observers describe as the most important in the country’s history
The post-election violence of 2007-8 broke out after Raila Odinga claimed he had been cheated of victory by supporters of President Mwai Kibaki.
Supporters of the rival candidates, from different ethnic groups, took up arms against each other.
Raila Odinga later joined a government of national unity under a peace deal.
In the run-up to Monday’s vote, President Mwai Kibaki – who is not seeking re-election – urged Kenyans to vote peacefully and for the losers to accept defeat.
“Cast your vote and keep the peace,” he said in a televised address to the nation on Friday.
“Let us send a clear message to the world that our democracy has come of age. A peaceful vote is a vote for a secure, prosperous and stable Kenya.”
Candidates have also promised to respect the result and urged their supporters to refrain from violence.
Clerics across Kenya also gave sermons dedicated to peace on Sunday.
The police, however, have warned of conspiracies to cause chaos – in Nairobi and elsewhere – and have made it clear that violence will not be tolerated.
Security is being stepped up with some 99,000 police officers being deployed around the country, at polling stations and vote-counting centres.
The polling stations are open from 06:00 to 17:00 local time.
Presidential candidates must secure support from across the country to be declared the winner, so they cannot just rely on support from their ethnic groups, as has been the case in previous elections.
Official results will be announced by March 11 by the electoral commission.
Kenyan election in numbers:
14 million registered voters
8 presidential candidates
99,000 police officers being deployed
First election under new constitution
Winning presidential candidates need 50% of vote + 25% in half of 47 counties
Voters will get ballot papers for 6 different elections
100,000 people still living in camps after violence followed 2007 poll
Uhuru Kenyatta among the favorites despite facing trial at the ICC, where he is accused of crimes against humanity over last election
Researchers have announced that a baby girl in the US, who was born with HIV, appears to have been cured after very early treatment with standard drug therapy.
The Mississippi child is now two-and-a-half years old and has been off medication for about a year with no signs of infection.
More testing needs to be done to see if the treatment would have the same effect on other children.
But the results could possibly lead to a cure for children with HIV.
If the girl stays healthy it would be only the world’s second reported cure.
Dr. Deborah Persaud, a virologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, presented the findings at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Atlanta.
“This is a proof of concept that HIV can be potentially curable in infants,” she said.
In 2007, Timothy Ray Brown became the first person in the world believed to have recovered from HIV.
His infection was eradicated through an elaborate treatment for leukaemia that involved the destruction of his immune system and a stem cell transplant from a donor with a rare genetic mutation that resists HIV infection.
A baby girl in the US, who was born with HIV, appears to have been cured after very early treatment with standard drug therapy
In contrast, the case of the Mississippi baby involved a cocktail of widely available drugs already used to treat HIV infection in infants.
It suggests the treatment wiped out HIV before it could form hideouts in the body.
These so-called reservoirs of dormant cells usually rapidly re-infect anyone who stops medication, said Dr. Deborah Persaud.
The baby was born in a rural hospital where the mother had only just tested positive for HIV infection.
Because the mother had not been given any prenatal HIV treatment, doctors knew the baby was at high risk of being infected.
Researchers said the baby was then transferred to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.
Once there, paediatric HIV specialist Dr. Hannah Gay put the baby on a cocktail of three standard HIV-fighting drugs at just 30 hours old, even before laboratory tests came back confirming the infection.
“I just felt like this baby was at higher-than-normal risk and deserved our best shot,” Dr. Hannah Gay said.
Roman Catholic cardinals from around the world are due to meet in Rome to begin the process of electing the next Pope.
The College of Cardinals will hold daily talks leading up to a conclave in which a new Pope will be chosen.
The election process comes after Pope Benedict XVI stepped down after nearly eight years in office leading the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.
Pope Benedict XVI was the first pontiff to resign in 600 years.
The first pre-conclave meeting on Monday morning is to be headed by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.
Cardinals – known as the “princes” of the Church – will discuss future challenges to the Church and discreetly weigh up possible papal candidates.
The conclave – to be held in the Sistine Chapel – is expected to take place next week.
Correspondents say the 115 cardinal electors, those under the age of 80 who will take part in the conclave, will want the new Pope to be officially installed in time to preside over Holy Week.
Roman Catholic cardinals from around the world are due to meet in Rome to begin the process of electing the next Pope
Ceremonies start with Palm Sunday on March 24 and culminate in Easter the following Sunday.
Strict precautions against leaks of unauthorized information will be in operation at the Vatican until the next Pope has been chosen.
Technicians will debug the cardinals’ lodgings and mobile phones will be banned altogether during the conclave.
Britain’s formerly most senior Roman Catholic cleric, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, has said he will not take part in the conclave after standing down amid allegations of improper behavior.
On Sunday, Cardinal Keith O’Brien admitted his sexual conduct had at times “fallen beneath the standards expected of me”.
He apologized and asked forgiveness from those whom he had “offended”.
Cardinal Keith O’Brien resigned as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh last Monday after three priests and a former priest made allegations against him dating back to the 1980s.
Benedict, 85, officially ceased to be the Pope at 20:00 local time on Friday.
He left the Vatican in a motorcade before being flown by helicopter to the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo, near Rome.
The German pontiff, who was born Joseph Ratzinger, will continue to be known as Benedict XVI, with the new title of “pope emeritus”.
He is expected to retire to a monastery on a hill inside Vatican City. Officials say he will not be able to intervene publicly in the next papacy although he may offer advice.
Newly elected South Korean President Park Geun-hye has warned that the country is facing “unprecedented” political deadlock which is hampering economic progress.
Park Geun-hye was sworn in as president last week, but has not yet been able to form a cabinet.
She has failed to reach agreement with the opposition over her plans for reorganizing the government.
They say plans to move the media into a new ministry would effectively put broadcasting under state control.
In a televised address, Park Geun-hye apologized for the deadlock, saying it had “caused serious delays to state affairs” and was “unprecedented since the country’s founding”.
Park Geun-hye dismissed the Democratic United Party’s claim that bringing the media into a new Ministry for Planning and Science was a move to control broadcasting.
“There is no other purpose than to strengthen the country’s competitiveness by creating a new growth engine and improving the people’s lives by creating many good jobs,” she said.
”We are in an urgent situation, and we cannot afford losing even just one minute or one second,” Park Geun-hye said, referring to South Korea’s struggling economy.
Newly elected South Korean President Park Geun-hye has warned that the country is facing “unprecedented” political deadlock which is hampering economic progress
The president also said South Korea was at “crisis level”, following the recent underground test by North Korea of a nuclear device and its launch of a three-stage rocket, both of which were seen as a breach of UN resolutions and condemned as a threat to stability in the region.
The debate between the DUP and Park Geun-hye’s Saenuri party has become uglier as it has drawn on, with many of those who oppose her plans reportedly accusing her of trying to force the bill through and behaving in an undemocratic way.
There is already a spotlight on how Park Geun-hye handles herself in power, because her father – also a former leader of the country – was a military autocrat who suppressed the pro-democracy movement.
Tony Award nominee Bonnie Franklin, who played a single mom at the center of the hit TV sitcom One Day At A Time, died Friday of complications from pancreatic cancer at the age of 69.
Valerie Bertinelli, who played the youngest daughter of Bonnie Franklin’s character on the CBS show, said her “heart is breaking” after hearing the news.
“Bonnie has always been one of the most important women in my life and was a second mother to me,” Valerie Bertinelli said.
“She taught me how to navigate this business and life itself with grace and humor, and to always be true to yourself.
“I will miss her terribly.”
Southern California-born Bonnie Franklin broke into show business 60 years ago, appearing on the Colgate Comedy Hour TV show.
She racked up roles on programs such as Gidget, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Munsters before heading out to Broadway after her graduation from UCLA.
Bonnie Franklin’s debut in Applause on stage earned her accolades and a Tony nomination in 1970 in the category of featured actress in a musical.
Eventually, Bonnie Franklin returned to television, including in 1975 landing the breakthrough role of Ann Romano in One Day At A Time. She played a recently divorced mother of two teenage girls who, together, move to Indianapolis to begin a new life.
“Ms. Franklin helped define and illuminate the role of single-working mothers within the cultural landscape,” CBS said in a written statement.
Bonnie Franklin, who played a single mom at the center of the hit TV sitcom One Day At A Time, died Friday of complications from pancreatic cancer at the age of 69
One Day At A Time, produced by Norman Lear, ran for nine seasons.
After it ended, Bonnie Franklin scored some jobs directing and acting, most recently in guest spots on the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland and the soap opera The Young And The Restless.
Bonnie Franklin was the spouse for 29 years of producer Marvin Minoff, who died in 2009, as well as a mother and grandmother.
The actress died Friday in her home surrounded by family and friends, according to CBS.
“She was a GREAT and comforting role model for single mothers, as I was one of them at that same time,” wrote a CNN.com commenter with the handle Gera Merix.
Demolition crews have partially razed Florida home of Jeffrey Bush, who is presumed dead after he was swallowed up by a sinkhole under his bedroom.
Rescuers earlier ended efforts to find the body of Jeffrey Bush, 36, whose bedroom was engulfed by the 6 m (20 ft) hole on as he slept on Thursday night.
Sinkholes are common in parts of Florida, although most are quite small.
Experts are trying to ascertain how far the underground cavity reaches and whether more homes are at risk.
All homes near to the house in Seffner – a suburb of 8,000 people 25 km (15 miles) east of central Tampa – have been evacuated.
Officials have created a 100ft-wide safety zone fearing the top of the sinkhole is growing.
Jeffrey Bush’s house covers most of the hole, and a local official said crews would try to move the building forward to enable surviving family members to retrieve their belongings from it.
“We don’t know, in fact, whether it will collapse or whether it will hold up,” said Hillsborough County Administrator Mike Merrill.
On Sunday, the demolition crews left standing only a few walls of the house.
They were proceeding as carefully as possible to salvage at least some of the home’s contents for five survivors.
Demolition crews have partially razed Florida home of Jeffrey Bush, who is presumed dead after he was swallowed up by a sinkhole under his bedroom
A Bible, family photos and a woman’s purse were among the items saved.
The demolition is expected to be completed on Monday and experts would then examine the hole.
Just before the crews started their work, 35-year-old Jeremy Bush, who had tried to save his brother, was seen praying outside the house.
Five people escaped unharmed, after hearing a loud crash and Jeffrey Bush screaming as the earth crumbled below the house.
Jeremy Bush said he jumped into the chasm to dig his brother out but failed. He was later rescued by police. .
Rescuers then used listening devices and cameras at the scene, but found no signs of life.
“There’s no way of possible survival,” said fire rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico on Saturday.
Jeremy Bush told reporters that someone had visited the four-bedroom house some weeks ago to check for sinkholes and other issues but found nothing wrong.
“And a couple of months later, my brother dies. In a sinkhole,” he said.
Florida state law requires home insurers to provide coverage against sinkholes.
Experts say much of Florida sits on a system of limestone caverns which are subject to water erosion, causing them to collapse.
Swiss voters have backed proposals to impose some of the world’s strictest controls on executive pay, final referendum results show.
Nearly 68% of the voters supported plans to give shareholders a veto on compensation and ban big payouts for new and departing managers.
Business groups argued the proposals would damage Swiss competitiveness.
But analysts say ordinary Swiss are concerned about a growing economic divide in the country.
The vote came just days after the EU approved measures to cap bankers bonuses.
The final results showed that all 26 Swiss cantons backed the proposals.
In all, 1.6 million voters said “Yes” against 762,000, who rejected the idea.
The multibillion dollar losses by Swiss banking giant UBS, and thousands of redundancies at pharmaceutical company Novartis, have caused anger in Switzerland – because high salaries and bonuses for managers continued unchanged.
The new measures will give Switzerland some of the world’s strictest corporate rules.
Shareholders will have a veto over salaries, golden handshakes will be forbidden, and managers of companies who flout the rules could face prison.
The “fat cat initiative”, as it has been called, will be written into the Swiss constitution and apply to all Swiss companies listed on Switzerland’s stock exchange.
Support for the plans – brain child of Swiss businessman turned politician Thomas Minder – has been fuelled by a series of perceived disasters for major Swiss companies, coupled with salaries and bonuses staying high.
The main example is banking giant UBS, which wrote off billions in the wake of the 2007 sub-prime mortgage crisis, and then had to be bailed out by the Swiss government.
In February it was announced that the outgoing chairman of Novartis, Daniel Vasella, would be receiving a $78 million non-compete pay off over six years
A further incident came in February when it was announced that the outgoing chairman of Novartis, Daniel Vasella, would be receiving a 72 million Swiss francs ($78 million) “non-compete” pay off over six years, designed to stop him working for other related industries.
The payment was later scrapped, but it provoked anger and amazement in Switzerland, because Daniel Vasella’s salary had been regarded as too high and Novartis had been cutting jobs.
One of the organizers of the referendum, Brigitte Moser Harder, said she thought the Swiss people agreed with the proposals because the gap between rich and poor had become wider.
“From the beginning, 2006, we had the support of the people of Switzerland because you know not everybody in Switzerland is rich.
“It’s also a social problem because the high wages got higher and the small ones sometimes just got lower. I think people have the support of the Swiss people because of that.”
Meanwhile, under an EU deal agreed last week by the bloc’s 27 nations, bonuses will be capped at a year’s salary, but can rise to two year’s pay if there is explicit approval from shareholders.
The UK argued the EU bonus rules would drive away talent and restrict growth in the financial sector.
Former basketball star Dennis Rodman, who recently visited North Korea, says Kim Jong-un doesn’t want war with the United States.
Kim Jong-un just wants President Barack Obama to call him.
Dennis Rodman, the highest-profile American to meet Kim Jong-un since he took power in North Korea in December 2011, says Barack Obama and Kim share a love of basketball, so “let’s start there”.
The former NBA star is just back from a visit to North Korea with the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team and camera crews for the upcoming HBO series VICE, during which he spent two days with Kim Jong-un.
In his first interview about the trip, Dennis Rodman spoke on ABC’s This Week.
“He wants Obama to do one thing: Call him,” Dennis Rodman told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.
“He said, <<If you can, Dennis – I don’t want [to] do war. I don’t want to do war>>. He said that to me.”
The trip took place amid strained ties between the U.S. and North Korea over the North’s recent underground nuclear test.
Kim Jong-un is regarded as one of the world’s most oppressive leaders in a nation that builds prison camps and lets millions of its citizens starve to death.
In stark contrast to the poverty of his citizens, Kim Jong-un welcomed the group with a feast, ice skating, and an aquarium visit.
Dennis Rodman, who recently visited North Korea, says Kim Jong-un doesn’t want war with the United States
Upon returning, Dennis Rodman shocked many by praising Kim Jong-un.
“I love him,” he said.
“He’s awesome.”
Dennis Rodman stood by the controversial statement during his ABC interview.
“No, I’m not apologiz[ing] for him,” Dennis Rodman said.
“You know, he’s a good guy to me. Guess what? He’s my friend. I don’t condone what he does… [but] as a person to person – he’s my friend.”
Dennis Rodman is the first widely-known American to meet with Kim Jong-un since he became head of North Korea, succeeding his Kim Jong-il, who died in 2011.
Kim Jong-un has followed in his father’s footsteps, defying U.N. sanctions by pursing a nuclear arms and missiles program he says is aimed at the U.S.
He also shared a love of basketball with his father, and is particularly fond of the 1990s Chicago Bulls championship teams, which included Dennis Rodman.
On his trip the two watched an exhibition game between the Globetrotters and North Korean players, with Dennis Rodman telling Kim Jong-un before the crowd: “You have a friend for life.”
“I’m not a politician,” Dennis Rodman wrote on Twitter.
“Kim Jung-un & North Korean people are basketball fans. Love everyone. Period. End of story.”
The U.S. State Department has distanced itself from the visit and will not debrief Dennis Rodman on the meeting.
The decision not to talk to Dennis Rodman has been characterized as “ridiculous” by some intelligence experts.
“There is nobody at the CIA who can tell you more personally about Kim Jong-un than Dennis Rodman, and that in itself is scary,” said Steve Ganyard, a former deputy assistant secretary of state.
Dennis Rodman expects to return to North Korea.
“I’m not like a diplomat,” he said.
“I’m [going to] go back, do one thing and find out more, what’s going on. Find out more.”
Mitt Romney revealed today during his first interview since he lost US presidency that he believed in his heart he was going to win the election and go on to the White House, and that “it kills me” not to be president.
Former GOP candidate Mitt Romney, 65, said today in his first interview since losing the election that while he believed he was going to become commander-in-chief, early polling numbers spelled out trouble, and he began to have a “slow recognition” that Barack Obama would win once seeing that Florida was a close race.
In the interview with Fox News Sunday, Ann Romney, 64, also confirmed during the show that she was approached by ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, but turned it down, saying: “I would have loved to have done it…(but) I’m not really as flexible as I should be.”
The interview, led by Fox News’ Chris Wallace, was taped earlier this week, but aired Sunday morning.
It brushed upon Barack Obama’s second term, current events, and Mitt Romney’s newest grandchildren.
Mitt Romney reflected over his campaign, saying that he did not do a satisfactory job connecting with minority voters, and said that Republicans in general must strive to do better in appealing to black and Hispanic voters.
He later joked that he did better in his second run for the White House than he did the first time around – when he lost the 2008 nomination to Arizona Sen. John McCain. Regardless of his success making it as the GOP nomination, he said he won’t run for a third time.
Mitt Romney compared the experience of running for the presidency to riding a roller coaster. He told Chris Wallace: “We were on a roller coaster, exciting and thrilling, ups and downs.
“But the ride ends, and then you get off. And it’s not like, <<Oh, can’t we be on a roller coaster the rest of our life?>> It’s like, no, that ride’s over.”
Mitt Romney first interview since losing US election with Fox News Sunday
Mitt Romney’s wife Ann compared the experience to the service that the Romneys have carried out within the Mormon church.
“In our church, we’re used to serving and you know, you can be in a very high position, but you recognize you’re serving. And now all of a sudden, you’re released and you’re nobody. And we’re used to that. It’s like we came and stepped forward to serve.
“And you know, the other part of it was an amazing thing, and it was really quite a lot of energy and a lot of passion and a lot of – a lot of people around us and all of a sudden, it was nothing,” she said.
“But the good news is we like each other,” Ann Romney joked.
Sharing the next phase of their lives, the couple additionally took a moment to present their family’s latest additions after becoming grandparents to 20 children on Valentine’s Day.
Mitt and Ann Romney cradled their son Craig’s newborn twins before the cameras, one seen in a pink blanket and the other in blue.
The family has kept a low profile since Mitt Romney’s concession to President Barack Obama last November. The couple has been spotted doing ordinary things, such as going to see “Twilight” and, most recently, shopping for cereal at Target.
Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, lost to President Barack Obama by a margin of 332 to 206 electoral college votes.
He spent the month after the failed White House bid in solitude at his beachfront mansion in La Jolla, near San Diego, reflecting upon the campaign.
But almost four months on it is thought Mitt Romney is ready to return to public life and political debate.
Mitt Romney is also due to address the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington next month.
A new research into Mother Teresa’s life sparks controversy after calling into question her saintly image.
Born Agnes Gonxha in Albania, Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity and spent much of her life in Calcutta, caring for the sick and poor.
Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and was beatified by the Vatican in 2003, six years after her death – one miracle away from sainthood.
But a number of critics have questioned how much of the image is justified.
Writing in journal Studies in Religion/Sciences, Serge Larivie and Genevieve Chenard say Mother Teresa’s hallowed reputation does not stand up to scrutiny.
Prof. Serge Larivie said: “While looking for documentation on the phenomenon of altruism for a seminar on ethics, one of us stumbled upon the life and work of one of Catholic Church’s most celebrated woman and now part of our collective imagination – Mother Teresa.
“The description was so ecstatic that it piqued our curiosity and pushed us to research further.”
After studying nearly 300 documents on Mother Teresa’s life, they concluded that a number of issues surrounded the nun were not taken into account by the Vatican.
These included “her rather dubious way of caring for the sick, her questionable political contacts, her suspicious management of the enormous sums of money she received, and her overly dogmatic views regarding, in particular, abortion, contraception, and divorce”.
At the time of her death, Mother Teresa had opened 517 missions welcoming the poor and sick in more than 100 countries.
But these missions have been described as “homes for the dying” by doctors visiting several of these establishments in Calcutta.
Born Agnes Gonxha in Albania, Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity and spent much of her life in Calcutta, caring for the sick and poor
Doctors observed a significant lack of hygiene, even unfit conditions, as well as a shortage of actual care, inadequate food, and no painkillers.
But the authors say the problem is not a lack of money, as the foundation created by Mother Teresa has raised hundreds of millions of dollars.
They also say that following numerous natural disasters in India she offered prayers and medallions of the Virgin Mary but no direct or monetary aid.
Mother Teresa accepted the Legion of Honor and a grant from the Duvalier dictatorship in Haiti, said Prof. Serge Larivee, and although millions of dollars were transferred to the various bank accounts, most of the accounts were kept secret.
Prof. Serge Larivie says: “Given the parsimonious management of Mother Teresa’s works, one may ask where the millions of dollars for the poorest of the poor have gone?”
He says that Mother Teresa’s image may have been built upon a meeting in 1968 with the BBC’s Malcom Muggeridge, an anti-abortion journalist who shared her right-wing Catholic values.
It was his promotion of her which led to her fame, they say.
But whether or not Mother Teresa’s image is deserved, the authors accept that there are many positives to her reputation.
Prof. Serge Larivie said: “If the extraordinary image of Mother Teresa conveyed in the collective imagination has encouraged humanitarian initiatives that are genuinely engaged with those crushed by poverty, we can only rejoice.
“It is likely that she has inspired many humanitarian workers whose actions have truly relieved the suffering of the destitute and addressed the causes of poverty and isolation without being extolled by the media.
“Nevertheless, the media coverage of Mother Teresa could have been a little more rigorous.”
A bomb explosion in Karachi has killed at least 25 people, Pakistani police say.
The blast in the mainly Shia Muslim area of Abbas Town destroyed several buildings and set others on fire. Some reports spoke of a second explosion.
Rescuers have been struggling to reach people thought to be trapped under the rubble.
Pakistan’s Shia minority are the target of frequent sectarian attacks from Sunni militant groups.
The explosion sent a huge column of smoke into the sky above Karachi and caused a power cut in part of the city.
Residents have been using car headlights to help rescuers search for survivors, local media reports said.
More than 50 people were injured, and there are fears the number of dead will rise.
Rescue work was delayed as some residents fired guns into the air in anger at the carnage, reports say.
Pakistan’s main political and religious leaders rushed to condemn the attack – the latest to target the Shia minority.
The blast in the mainly Shia Muslim area of Abbas Town destroyed several buildings and set others on fire
Nearly 200 people were killed in two separate bombings targeting the Shia community in the south-western city of Quetta in January and February.
Some relatives of the victims there initially refused to bury their dead in protest at what they said was the failure of the authorities to protect their community from attack.
No group has yet said it carried out the Karachi bombing, but correspondents say suspicion is likely to fall on Sunni militant groups.
Groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi regard Shia Muslims as heretics and have stepped up attacks in recent years.
Some activists called 2012 the worst year in living memory for attacks on Pakistan’s Shia community.
Karachi – Pakistan’s biggest city and commercial capital – has a long history of violence.
As well as a sectarian divide between Sunni and Shia, that city has also seen conflict between different ethnic communities – Pashtuns from north-west Pakistan, Mohajirs (immigrants from India following the Partition) and Sindhis.
Queen Elizabeth II has been hospitalized as a precaution, while she is assessed for symptoms of gastroenteritis, Buckingham Palace says.
The 86-year-old monarch has been taken to King Edward VII Hospital in London, a palace spokesman said.
All official engagements for this week, including the Queen’s trip to Rome, will be either cancelled or postponed.
Queen Elizabeth was driven to hospital by private car on Sunday, and the palace said she was “in good spirits”.
She had earlier carried out a medal presentation at Windsor Castle, where she has been resting over the weekend.
A spokesman for the Queen said she was in “good health”, besides the symptoms of gastroenteritis.
He said: “This is a precautionary measure.
“She was not taken into hospital immediately after feeling the symptoms. This is simply to enable doctors to better assess her.”
The Queen will remain in hospital under observation for about two days.
Queen Elizabeth was last in hospital 10 years ago for a minor knee operation.
News of the Queen’s illness emerged on Friday night, and she was forced to cancel a trip to Swansea on Saturday to mark St David’s Day in a military ceremony.
Queen Elizabeth II has been hospitalized as a precaution, while she is assessed for symptoms of gastroenteritis
Gastroenteritis causes inflammation of the stomach lining and intestines.
The infection can be transmitted through contact with an infected person or contaminated food and drink. Symptoms can include vomiting, fever and stomach ache.
Commenting on the monarch’s medical condition, Professor Christopher Hawkey, of the University of Nottingham’s faculty of medicine and health sciences, said: “The likely cause with the Queen is the norovirus, the winter vomiting virus.
“Because it is infectious, we try to not admit people to hospital as it can start the outbreaks we hear of.”
“But not everyone can keep up with oral hydration, so it is pretty routine to go to hospital and have a drip and wait for the thing to pass and keep yourself hydrated,” he added.
The Queen had been due to spend two days in Rome with the Duke of Edinburgh next weekend, at the invitation of Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano.
It is not now clear whether the visit will be re-scheduled.
A reception at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday for MPs and MEPs will go ahead with other members of the royal family present.
The Queen may well have gone to hospital slightly unwillingly, as her inclination is not to make a fuss.
During last year’s celebrations for the Diamond Jubilee, the Queen spent a rain-drenched day journeying down the Thames as part of the river pageant – after which her husband, the 91-year-old Duke of Edinburgh, was taken to hospital with a bladder infection.
Rachel Lundell, mother of rock chick Jo Wood, has revealed how as a teenager she stole the heart of Nelson Mandela.
Rachel Lundell was 16 when she won a pledge of undying love from Nelson Mandela, who at the time was living in a tiny village in Umtata in the Eastern Cape.
Jo Wood’s mother, now 78 and living in Devon, had just finished convent school in 1951. She was working in her aunt’s fruit store and cafe after having second thoughts about life as a nun.
Rachel Lundell had first been offered a job at a baker’s shop in nearby Mount Frere but was sacked before she had even started when the owner discovered that Desmond, the black delivery boy, was her brother.
She said: “Desmond was darker than me; I was blonde, freckled and white. My father was white and my mother looked white but her grandmother was black and she passed those genes on to us in varying degrees.”
Desperate for work, Rachel Lundell was then offered a job by her aunt, Gertie Morrison. But it was Gertie Morrison who put paid to any chance of romance with Nelson Mandela in apartheid-era South Africa.
Rachel Lundell explained: “We had a lot of black customers and he was no different, buying cigarettes and peanuts in quite large amounts.
“There was no frisson of excitement when he came in or anything like that. He certainly wasn’t what you would call handsome but he had a twinkle in his eye.
“One day he came in and I served him as usual but after he left, I noticed there was a letter on the counter addressed to me. I opened it and there was yards and yards of it.
“It started off lovey-dovey enough but before long it had turned into something of a political missive all about how he was going to free the blacks in our country. Not very romantic really.
“Then Gertie came in and saw me reading the letter. She asked who it was from and I told her.
“She snatched it out of my hands and threw it on the fire, saying I wasn’t going to be going out with any black men.”
Rachel Lundell never saw Nelson Mandela again. Soon afterwards, he moved for good from Umtata, now called Mthatha, a former military post for colonial forces, to Johannesburg where he continued his political struggle.
She continued: “I wish I still had the letter. Imagine what it might have told us today about how Mandela predicted what lay ahead for him and his country. It would have been a special piece of history.
“All I’ve got left are the memories and the endless jokes from my eventual husband and children about what might have been. I know he was a bit of a ladies’ man in later life and it would seem he might have been then, too.”
Little did Rachel Lundell know at the time that Nelson Mandela was already married to Evelyn Ntoko Mase, with whom he had three children: Thembekile, Makaziwe, who died aged just nine months, and Makgatho, born in 1951 – the year of the love note.
That same year, Nelson Mandela was elected president of the African National Congress Youth League and by April 1952 was spearheading the so-called Campaign of Defiance.
Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa in 1994, standing down five years later.
In November 1952, Rachel Lundell set sail herself for a new life in England on a Dutch cruise ship with a passport and ticket arranged for her by a missionary.
Her destination was suburban Surbiton, South-West London, where she lived with her sister Joan.
About a year after arriving, Rachel Lundell was gardening at the front of the house when a local boy, Michael Karslake, strolled past and persuaded her to go to the cinema instead of the square dance she had planned.
Rachel Lundell said: “I was all dressed up in my check shirt and denim trousers but something told me to go. I was supposed to be going off travelling in Europe and he had a job lined up in Canada.
“We never looked back, though. We married in 1954 and I’m proud to say I found the right one for me. Mike gave me four lovely children, the first of whom was Josephine.”
Jo Wood, now 57, was famously married to Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood for 26 years
Jo Wood, now 57, was famously married to Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood for 26 years and has just published a new memoir – Hey Jo.
Eventually, Mike karslake and Rachel Lundell retired to Devon. Mike Karslake died in 1990, leaving Rachel Lundell with just four cats for company.
Rachel Lundell said: “I still talk to him and only the other day his picture floated down off the shelf. I knew it meant he was still with me.”
Kimberley Walsh suffered an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction on stage at the O2 Arena in London on Friday night.
Girls Aloud‘s Kimberley Walsh seemed unaware of her appearance as she stood on the stage in the cut out monochrome playsuit
The singer’s chest certainly caught the eye of members of the audience and one tweeted that he was “mesmerized”.
The fan posted: “Currently mesmerized by @KimberleyJWalsh ‘s amazing prominent nipples. She’ll have your eye out. #GirlsAloudTenTour.”
While Kimberley Walsh might have looked chilly she posted a message to Twitter about how hot the show was.
The singer wrote: “What can I say London……….you were on fire tonight I could actual feel your heat #tentour.”
At one point during the show, the group had a little sit down together on some glowing white stairs – reserving their energy during a ballad maybe as their shows are known to be super-energetic.
During the upbeat numbers, star of the show Cheryl looked picture perfect as she strutted around the stage in her clinging corset and blinging costume.
The Geordie lass seemed to throw all her aggression into her following moves, a look of intense determination to get through this number.
And the girls said London was their best venue yet – with hundreds of screaming fans obviously in agreement.
Kimberley Walsh suffered an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction on stage at the O2 Arena in London on Friday night
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has accused the UK government of bullying and naivety in its approach to the conflict in his country.
In an interview with the UK’s Sunday Times newspaper, Bashar al-Assad said Britain was determined to militarize the situation.
Bashar al-Assad repeated his conditional offer of talks with the opposition and dismissed suggestions that he might step down.
The UK says it supports the Syrian opposition but does not provide rebels with arms.
However, at a recent Friends of Syria meeting in Rome, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said military aid was possible in the future.
Bashar al-Assad, in a rare interview with a Western newspaper, accused UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s “naive, confused, unrealistic” government of trying to end an EU arms embargo so that the rebels could be supplied with weapons.
“We do not expect an arsonist to be a firefighter,” he said.
“To be frank, Britain has played a famously unconstructive role in our region on different issues for decades, some say for centuries.
“The problem with this government is that their shallow and immature rhetoric only highlights this tradition of bullying and hegemony.”
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has accused the UK government of bullying and naivety in its approach to the conflict in his country
He added: “How can we expect to ask Britain to play a role when it is determined to militarise the problem?
“How can you ask them to play a role in making the situation better, more stable? How can we expect them to make the violence less while they want to send military supply to the terrorists and don’t try to ease the dialogue between the Syrian(s).”
About 70,000 people have been killed in the Syrian uprising that started almost two years ago. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled to neighboring countries.
Meanwhile, fighting is continuing between Syrian government forces and rebels across the country.
Opposition activists reported fierce clashes around the northern provincial capital of Raqqa and said dozens of people had been killed.
Government forces shelled several areas of the city and there were running battles on the outskirts of the city, activists said.
Fighting was also reported at a police academy near the northern city of Aleppo; in the rebel enclave of Daraya and around the capital Damascus.
The violence comes amid the first overseas trip by new US Secretary of State John Kerry.
In the Turkish capital Ankara on Friday, he said the US and Turkey believed “the first priority is to try and have a political solution. We would like to save lives, not see them caught up in a continuing war”.
The main Syrian opposition alliance, the National Coalition, has dismissed offers of talks with the government while President Bashar al-Assad remains in power.
A new report says the upcoming 2013-2014 season will be Jay Leno’s last behind the desk of The Tonight Show before he’s replaced by Jimmy Fallon.
Jimmy Fallon, who now hosts NBC’s Late Show, will be officially announced as the new host sometime in the summer of next year.
The Hollywood Reporter cited two anonymous “high-level industry sources” who say the network wants to bring in Jimmy Fallon in response to Jimmy Kimmel’s show moving to the 11:35 time slot in January.
“The more time Jimmy Kimmel is in that slot, the more the young audience goes that way, the harder it is for [Fallon] to keep that audience,” one source said.
Jay Leno has kept his spot on top of the late-night ratings, but Jimmy Kimmel is competitive in the coveted 18-49 demographic.
“Kimmel has done extremely well,” said one unnamed network veteran.
“Jay wins overall, but on any given night, it’s neck-and-neck in 18-49. I understand where they might have fear and also feel that they own the solution [in Jimmy Fallon.]”
NBC denied the story, while Jay Leno’s reps said “we do not speculate on rumor”.
The Hollywood Reporter noted that Jay Leno would likely be reluctant to leave, especially if he were forced to retire while longtime rival David Letterman remains on the air.
The two famously battled to follow Johnny Carson’s legendary tenure as host of the Tonight Show, with Jay Leno eventually winning the spot while David Letterman left NBC for CBS to start his own 11:35 show.
Their fight over the show was the basis for the non-fiction book, The Late Shift, which was adapted into a film of the same name by HBO in 1996.
Both hosts are signed through 2014.
A new report says the upcoming 2013-2014 season will be Jay Leno’s last behind the desk of The Tonight Show before he’s replaced by Jimmy Fallon
It’s also possible NBC is worried that if David Letterman does leave next year, CBS would be looking for a replacement host, potentially leading to a battle over Jimmy Fallon.
Late night comedy brawled over talent in 2010 when Jay Leno left the Tonight Show to host another show at 10. Six years prior, then NBC-head Jeff Zucker had promised then-Late Night host Conan O’Brien that he would get the Tonight Show as part of a deal to re-sign with the network.
But the strategy was a disaster. Jay Leno’s 10 p.m. show tanked in the ratings and Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show struggled out of the gate against David Letterman. A year later Jay Leno was back, and NBC had gone through a costly and embarrassing debacle.
Conan O’Brien left the network and now hosts a show on TBS.
The network would also save money paying a far lower salary to Jimmy Fallon compared to the roughly $20 million per year Jay Leno makes.
If NBC does go through with ousting Jay Leno, one observer notes they will “get the benefit of selling Jay’s last year – again”.
Creighton Baird pushed his cautious girlfriend Jessica Powell off the edge of a cliff to take a ride on a 400ft pendulum swing in a narrow canyon in Utah.
Creighton Baird gently tried to coax his nervous companion, Jessica Powell, to try the stunt over a period of 45 minutes but she was too scared. Finally, he took control and nudged her closer toward the edge of the cliff and suddenly pushed her off.
As Jessica Powell descended into the canyon she let out a series of chilling screams and then yelled out: “I’m breaking up with you.”
Creighton Baird was just one of dozens who trekked to an undisclosed location in Utah to film the stunt for a YouTube video by Devin Graham. The video was posted on Tuesday and has gained over 4 million views.
Equipped with multiple carabiners, a harness and ropes, Creighton Baird ran off the cliff, falling into the wide expanse of the canyon and shouted with excitement.
The jumper even held on to a camera so that his face and the look of terror he flashed could be recorded.
Several other eager jumpers tested the swing but Creighton Baird was keen for his girlfriend, Jessica Powell, to give it a go.
Though Jessica Powell was all suited up for the endeavor, she couldn’t quite muster the courage to step out off the cliff and a period of 45 minutes passed while her friends tried to encourage her to take the jump.
Her boyfriend tried several times to coax her and encouraged her to face her fear.
Creighton Baird pushed his cautious girlfriend Jessica Powell off the edge of a cliff to take a ride on a 400ft pendulum swing in a narrow canyon in Utah
After multiple attempts, Creighton Baird walked her closer and closer to the edge and despite her protests, he quickly pushed her off.
“I’m breaking up with you!” Jessica Powell shouted, with her words echoing through the canyon.
Creighton Baird laughed at the comment and said he hoped that she would learn to appreciate his initiative one day.
The filmmaker told the Daily News that after the event, Jessica Powell admitted she was glad that Creighton Baird had given her the push because she probably wouldn’t have done it herself.
“She yelled that just because it was in the moment,” Devin Graham said.
“She came up and gave him a big hug and thanked him for pushing her off… Creighton is the nicest guy ever.”
Though her break-up message didn’t kill their relationship on the spot, Devin Graham revealed that the pair ultimately decided to call it quits.
“Sadly, last week they actually did break up,” said Devin Graham.
“It had nothing to do with getting pushed off the rope swing.”
Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer reportedly made the decision to ban telecommuting at the company after checking up on how many times remote workers were logging into the company’s network and discovering it wasn’t enough.
A recently released documentary shows Marissa Mayer criticizing feminism and explaining her own approach to women’s equality. Makers is a PBS/AOL documentary about the “women who make America”.
In the film Marissa Mayer says: “I don’t think that I would consider myself a feminist. I think that, I certainly believe in equal rights. I believe that women are just as capable, if not more so, in a lot of different dimensions.
“But I don’t, I think, have sort of the militant drive and sort of the chip on the shoulder that sometimes comes with that. And I think it’s too bad, but I do think feminism has become, in many ways, a more negative word.
“There are amazing opportunities all over the world for women, and I think that there’s more good that comes out of positive energy around that than negative energy.”
As Business Insider points out, women still earn less than men at every level of education, and women hold just 17% of senior management roles in the U.S.
It has also been revealed that Marissa Mayer banned working from home as she believed employees had being taking advantage of the benefit.
In a business meeting last week Marissa Mayer noted that workers had not been logging on enough, as reported by AllThingsD.
Marissa Mayer, who places huge emphasis on the analysis of metrics and data, had studied the records of Yahoo’s Virtual Private Network (or VPN) which remote workers use and found employees hadn’t been using it as frequently as expected.
This reportedly made up her mind on the telecommuting ban.
Marissa Mayer imposed Yahoo ban on working from home after spying on employee log-ins
Last week Michael Bloomberg weighed in on the debate over working from home, as the opinionated mayor came out in support of Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer.
The billionaire businessman-turned-politician said that Marissa Mayer’s decision to ban telecommuting at her company was a smart one even though she came under a firestorm following the revelation that the new mom had a nursery built for her new son just prior to announcing the rule.
“I’ve always said, telecommuting is one of the dumber ideas I’ve ever heard,” Michael Bloomberg said during a radio interview on Friday.
“Yes, there are some things you can do at home. But having a chat line is not the same thing as standing at the water cooler. And standing at the water cooler is where you get a lot of ideas and information and it’s a euphemism for a lot of interpersonal dialogue,” Michael Bloomberg said according to NBC.
Marissa Mayer’s decision sparked an outcry from working mothers and other companies in Silicon Valley who blasted the hypocrisy of her banning the action but allowing herself an in-office space for her child.
Another big-name opponent was Virgin CEO Richard Branson who called the ban on working from home a “perplexing” decision.
“This seems a backwards step in an age when remote working is easier and more effective than ever,” he wrote in a post on his blog.
“If you provide the right technology to keep in touch, maintain regular communication and get the right balance between remote and office working, people will be motivated to work responsibly, quickly and with high quality.
“Working life isn’t 9-5 any more. The world is connected. Companies that do not embrace this are missing a trick.”
The Yahoo decision will only impact a small percentage of the company’s workforce, primarily customer service representatives or staffers who work in cities where Yahoo does not have an office.
But the internal announcement on Friday has ruffled feathers as many employees say the flexible work arrangement is a key part of their job and will have a significant impact on their personal lives.
Though Yahoo will not publicly comment on the internal matter, employees disclosed the new HR policy to AllThingsD co-executive editor Kara Swisher.
The move is described as harsh since it requires employees to “either comply without exception or presumably quit”.
“Many such staffers who wrote me today are angry, because they felt they were initially hired with the assumption that they could work more flexibly. Not so, as it turns out,” Kara Swisher wrote in a blog posting about the change expected to impact several hundred workers.
Yahoo! headquarters is located in Sunnyvale, California, near San Jose. The public corporation employs 11,500 people in more than 20 countries across the globe.
Marissa Mayer, a 37-year-old Silicon Valley whiz kid who was previously a big deal at Google before switching to the competition, was appointed the head of Yahoo in July 2012.
She instituted free lunches at the company headquarters and started giving out smartphones to employees.
“I want Yahoo to be the absolute best place to work, to have a fantastic culture. We’re working really hard right now to remind people about all the opportunities that are there,” Marissa Mayer said shortly after she was hired at a Fortune magazine event in November.
Jamie Lynn Spears and Jamie Watson have been dating for three years and now he has finally popped the big question.
Jamie Lynn Spears, 21, revealed the happy news on Saturday via her Twitter account.
The younger sister of pop star Britney Spears teased the announcement with picture of the couple, filtered through Instagram with the caption: “Guesssss what??????”
Jamie Lynn Spears also shared a photograph of the piece of jewellery Jamie Watson, 30, got her, writing alongside it: “:) #hedidgood.”
She recently posted some snaps of her new fiancé and her 4-year-old daughter Maddie.
Jamie Lynn Spears took time out of her career to focus on motherhood after falling pregnant as a teen.
She split from her fiancé and Maddie’s dad Casey Aldridge in March, 2009, just nine months after their daughter was born.
Jamie Lynn Spears and Jamie Watson have been dating for three years and now he has finally popped the big question
While shunning the spotlight all these years, Jamie Lynn Spears now feels she’s mature enough to take another crack at the music business.
Jamie Lynn Spears moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2011 to forge a new career and started performing on the country music circuit in America’s southern states.
Her relationship news comes just two months after her older sister’s broken plans to walk down the aisle for the third time.
Britney Spears, 31, has been married to friend Jason Alexander and dancer Kevin Federline, with whom she has two children.
She was due to get hitched to Jason Trawick but they parted ways in January 2013.
Rescue teams in Florida have called off their efforts to recover the body of Jeffrey Bush, the man who was swallowed by a huge sinkhole under his home.
Jeffrey Bush, 36, who is presumed dead, disappeared into the sinkhole that engulfed his bedroom while he slept on Thursday night.
The house, in the suburbs of Tampa, will be destroyed, officials said.
Sinkholes are common in certain parts of Florida, although most are quite small.
“At this point it’s really not possible to recover the body,” Hillsborough County Administrator Mike Merrill said.
He added: “We are dealing with a very unusual sinkhole.”
Experts are trying to ascertain how far the underground cavity reaches and whether more homes are at risk. Nearby houses have all been evacuated.
Early estimates put it at 20 ft (6 m) deep and 30 ft in diameter but officials have created a 100 ft-wide safety zone fearing the top of the sinkhole is growing.
Rescue teams in Florida have called off their efforts to recover the body of Jeffrey Bush, the man who was swallowed by a huge sinkhole under his home
Neighbor Soliris Gonzalez, 31, said: “I’ve had nightmares. In my dreams I keep checking for cracks in the house.”
Jeffrey Bush’s tearful brother, Jeremy, lay flowers and a stuffed toy near the house on Saturday.
Jeremy Bush was in the house on Thursday night and heard his brother scream as the concrete floor under the bedroom gave way.
He rushed into his brother’s room and jumped into the hole to try to save him but had to be rescued himself by police.
Jeremy Bush told reporters that someone had visited the four-bedroom house some weeks ago to check for sinkholes and other issues but found nothing wrong.
“And a couple of months later, my brother dies. In a sinkhole,” he said.
Florida state law requires home insurers to provide coverage against sinkholes.
Experts say much of Florida sits on a system of limestone caverns which are subject to water erosion, causing them to collapse.
