Kim Kardashian got a surprise baby shower and book of names that start with “K” when she made an appearance with sister Kourtney on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Tuesday.
Kim Kardashian, 32, has revealed that her baby with Kanye West will not be appearing on her reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
She told Jimmy Kimmel: “The baby is not going to be on our show. When he or she decides that’s what they want to do, then that will be a decision.”
Kim Kardashian then gestured to Kourtney and backpedalled as she added: “I love seeing Mason and Penelope on TV. Mason is the highlight of our show, I think.”
She explained that while she and Kanye West want to keep their bundle of joy out of the public eye, they would “support” their child should it decide to seek fame later in life.
Kim Kardashian got a surprise baby shower and book of names that start with “K” when she made an appearance with sister Kourtney on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Tuesday
“It’s a tough decision,” Kim Kardashian said.
“From the start, as of now, that’s just a personal choice that Kanye and I have made… We’re going to try to keep it as private as possible.”
On Sunday night’s Kourtney and Kim Take Miami, Kim Kardashian wailed to her elder sister that she was worried her “ass” would grow during pregnancy.
Snooki & JWOWW reality show has revealed touching moments of Snooki giving birth to baby Lorenzo.
There were some comedy moments after father Jionni LaValle wondered if he could put gel in Lorenzo’s hair and if Snooki – real name Nicole Polizzi – ate chocolate would her breast milk taste like chocolate milk.
The proud father also described seeing the placenta – “a big bloody stingray flapping out of her vagina”.
Snooki and Jionni LaValle had some big decisions to make, with circumcision being their first and while both were nervous about it, they decided to do it.
“He’ll thank me for it one day,” Snooki said.
“Bye Wiener!” she shouted as they took him out to do the procedure.
Snooki & JWOWW reality show has revealed touching moments of Snooki giving birth to baby Lorenzo
Snooki, 25, also wanted to know if she could keep the foreskin to add to her scrapbook.
Luckily for the pair, Jionni LaValle’s mother has already prepared their home for the baby, clothes stacked in piles and all.
French-led troops have entered Kidal in the north of Mali, the last major town they have yet to secure in their drive against Islamist militants.
French forces now control Kidal airport after a number of aircraft, including helicopters, landed there overnight.
Islamist militants were reported to have already left the town and it was unclear who was in charge.
French and Malian forces have been sweeping north, earlier taking Gao and Timbuktu with almost no resistance.
France – the former colonial power in Mali – launched a military operation this month after Islamist militants appeared to be threatening the south.
French army spokesman Colonel Thierry Burkhard confirmed that: “French elements were deployed overnight in Kidal.”
One regional security source told Agence France-Presse that French aircraft had landed at Kidal and that “protection helicopters are in the sky”.
Kidal, 1,500 km (930 miles) north-east of the capital Bamako, was until recently under the control of the Ansar Dine Islamist group.
However, the Islamic Movement of Azawad (IMA), which recently split from Ansar Dine, said it was now in charge in Kidal, although the Tuareg group – the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad – also claims control.
An MNLA spokesman said its fighters had entered the city on Saturday and there were no Islamist militants there.
Some reports say Ansar Dine leader Iyad Ag Ghaly and Abou Zeid, of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, have moved to the mountainous region north of Kidal.
French-led troops have entered Kidal in the north of Mali, the last major town they have yet to secure in their drive against Islamist militants
A spokesman for the IMA confirmed the French arrival in the town and said that its leader was now in talks with them.
The IMA recently said it rejected “extremism and terrorism” and wanted a peaceful solution.
The MNLA has also said it is prepared to work with the French “to eradicate terrorist groups” in the north but that it would not allow the return of the Malian army, which it accused of “crimes against the civilian population”.
Taking Kidal will mark the end of the first phase of the French military intervention, but that there will remain the difficult task of chasing the fighters down across the vast desert.
Islamist extremists took advantage of a military coup in March last year to control a number of cities in the north and impose Sharia law.
The French arrival at Kidal came only 24 hours after securing Timbuktu with Malian forces.
The troops had to secure the streets after hundreds of people looted shops they said had belonged to militant sympathizers.
France has been pushing for the swift deployment of an African Union-backed force, the International Support Mission to Mali (Afisma), to take control of Malian towns.
On Tuesday, international donors meeting in Ethiopia pledged $455.53 million for Afisma and for other projects.
African leaders say the overall budget could be around $950 million.
France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told the meeting impressive progress had been made but that this did not mean the danger was over.
Laurent Fabius also said credible elections in Mali would be vital to achieving sustainable peace in the country.
Mali’s interim President Dioncounda Traore said on Tuesday that he wanted to hold “transparent and credible” elections by July 31.
South Korea has launched KSLV-1 rocket in its third attempt to place a satellite into space.
Live television footage showed the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1) blasting off from the Naro Space Center at 16:00.
Shortly after, officials said the launch appeared to have been a success.
The operation comes weeks after North Korea used its own three-stage rocket to place a satellite into orbit, sparking international criticism.
South Korea’s 140-tonne rocket, known as Naro, was partly built domestically and partly in Russia, which has said it will partner with Seoul for three attempts.
Previous launch attempts in 2009 and 2010 failed, and this attempt has been postponed twice for technical reasons.
But officials said Wednesday’s launch from the site 480 km (298 miles) south of Seoul had gone as planned, Yonhap news agency reports, and that the rocket had reached its target altitude and deployed its satellite.
“The launch of the rocket itself succeeded,” an official told Yonhap. But he said it was not yet possible to determine whether the satellite was in its correct orbit.
South Korea has launched KSLV-1 rocket in its third attempt to place a satellite into space
The satellite, called Science and Technology Satellite-2C, is designed to collect climate data. It is expected to make contact with its ground station at 05:00 on Thursday, at which point its operators will be able to determine whether it is in the right place and functioning properly.
Two warships with advanced radar equipment have been deployed to track the operation, says Yonhap.
South Korea does already have satellites in space, but they were launched from other countries.
On its first attempt to carry out a launch on its own soil, in 2009, the satellite failed to detach from the rocket in orbit. In 2010, the rocket exploded seconds after take-off.
Pressure for success has increased since North Korea launched a rocket that placed a satellite in orbit on December 12. It followed the launch by announcing plans for a “high-level nuclear test” and more long-range rocket launches.
The UN said the North Korean launch constituted a banned test of missile technology and voted to extend sanctions against Pyongyang. There have been international calls for Pyongyang not to carry out the nuclear test.
Brandi Glanville has revealed how she got her revenge on Eddie Cibrian after he cheated on her with singer LeAnn Rimes back in 2009 – by spending $12,000 of his money on vaginal rejuvenation surgery.
Brandi Glanville, 40, makes the startling confession in her new book Drinking & Tweeting and other Brandi Blunders.
“This pretty intense surgery had an even more intense price tag: $12,000,” the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star writes.
“A brand-new vagina would be an Eddie-free vagina.
“I decided that since Eddie had ruined my vagina for me, he could pay for a new one. I gave [the doctor’s office] Eddie’s credit card number.”
In excerpts of the new tell-all tome, Brandi Glanville reveals what happened when she found out about Eddie Cibrian and LeAnn Rimes’ affair.
“I’m not entirely sure how I ended up on the floor of my closet sobbing…a teary-eyed Eddie found me lying there,” she writes.
“Minutes later, and without saying so much as a word, he started kissing me all over…and we started having sex right there.
“He swore up and down my body that it wasn’t true…that it was completely innocent. In that moment, it was easier to believe him, because I just couldn’t stand the thought of being without him.”
Brandi Glanville has revealed how she got her revenge on Eddie Cibrian after he cheated on her with singer LeAnn Rimes back in 2009
Brandi Glanville, who has two sons Mason and Jake with Eddie Cibrian, also discusses her suspicions regarding the affair which began after Eddie and LeAnn Rimes met on the set of TV movie Northern Lights back in 2008.
She recalls a moment when she began to suspect there was something going on between them.
“LeAnn had <<accidentally>> smeared some cake frosting on her top (she was still a bigger girl and completely flat-chested at the time) and asked my husband, not realizing that I was standing behind the both of them, if he wanted lick it off her,” Brandi Glanville recalls in an excerpt published on Life & Style.
“This woman asked my husband if he wanted to eat the frosting mess she’d dropped on her non-existent chest? He hadn’t realized I was there, either, and he laughed with hungry eyes at the suggestion.”
Brandi Glanville appeared at a launch party for the book in West Hollywood on Tuesday, where she made some outspoken comments about LeAnn Rimes.
When questioned about her ex’s new wife she said: “She can go f**k herself!,” before adding: “Well, she has to, because who would want to?”
Pictures then emerged of LeAnn Rimes in West Hollywood looking like she was crying, which she has denied.
“Boys and girls, I was not crying yesterday at lunch,” LeAnn Rimes wrote on Twitter.
“We ate and hugged goodbye. I must have been so sad to see all of them go 3 blocks to the establishment where we were all ending up. #givemeabreakwiththebulls***tmeadiaheadlines. Lol thanks for all the sweet concern though.”
Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways, Japan’s two top airlines, said they had replaced a number of batteries in the 787 Dreamliners over the past months.
All Nippon Airways said it changed batteries 10 times. JAL said it did so in a “few cases”.
Earlier this month, a battery in a JAL Boeing 787 plane caught fire, while an All Nippon Airways flight was forced to make an emergency landing because of a battery malfunction.
The issues have resulted in the entire fleet of Boeing 787s being grounded.
Boeing, which has orders for more than 800 Dreamliners and competes against Europe’s Airbus, has halted deliveries of 787s.
The incidents prompted authorities both in the US and Japan to launch inquiries to try to find out what caused the battery problems.
JAL and All Nippon Airways said they had replaced a number of batteries in the 787 Dreamliners over the past months
However, earlier this week, Japan’s transport ministry said that safety inspectors had found no faults with the battery, leading to concerns that the planes might remain grounded for a while.
Some analysts have warned that Boeing may even have to go in for a major redesign if the problems are not related to the battery.
The fear is that any such move could end up being a lengthy one, depending on how serious the problem is, and may also require the 787 to go through a fresh airworthiness certification process.
After the incidents involving the JAL and All Nippon Airways planes, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said both the batteries had leaked electrolyte fluid and there had been smoke damage to parts of the aircraft.
The FAA has said that the airlines must demonstrate battery safety before flights can resume.
Microsoft has launched Office 2013, the new version of its software suite.
Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook have been redesigned to work better with touch-screen-controlled computers.
Microsoft also integrate the firm’s Skype video chat facility. Users can add further functions via a new app store.
The programs account for a major part of Microsoft’s earnings. The firm hopes to keep users loyal by offering more powerful features than cheaper online alternatives.
In the last year the firm’s Business Division, which creates the software, generated just under $24 billion, roughly a third of the firm’s revenue.
However, a 4% dip in Microsoft’s most recent quarterly profits was linked to the fact that many consumers had held off buying the older version of the software ahead of the revamp.
If it proves a success it might also drive sales of new Windows 8 or Windows RT-powered computers, which can take advantage of the applications’ improved touch controls.
Studies suggest users are switching to the systems at a slower rate than they adopted Windows 7 and Windows Vista.
Microsoft confounded rumors by not releasing a version of the Office software for Apple’s iPad tablets. It has also decided not to offer the products on Android devices.
The retooled software offers a touch mode that makes several of its controls bigger so they are more finger-friendly as well as including the ability to swipe and pinch-and-zoom documents. Files can also be viewed in “read mode”, which displays them in a format that particularly suits tablets.
By default, files are saved to the firm’s SkyDrive online cloud storage facility, although users can choose to save them on their hard drive if they wish.
Microsoft has launched Office 2013, the new version of its software suite
Additional plug-ins are available from a new Office Store. These include the ability to add Twitter functionality to the Outlook email tool and to consult Encyclopaedia Britannica articles from within Word.
Many of these are free, although US firm Sensei Project Solutions is among the first to charge a fee, for its “task analyzer”, which is designed to identify problems or missing information in users’ documents.
Consumers can buy the suite for use on one PC for $140, but Microsoft appears to favor a subscription deal for its Office 365 Home Premium edition, which is the focus of the promotional activity on its site.
This charges $100 for one year’s access on up to five PCs or Macs and bundles in 60 minutes of Skype calls a month as well as more SkyDrive storage.
The prices mark a discount on the fees the company used to charge for Office, reflecting the competition it faces from the growing popularity of cheap and free alternative applications offered by Google, Zoho, Apache OpenOffice and others.
A version of the online Office 365 apps for businesses is due for release on February 27.
President Barack Obama has rallied support for “common-sense, comprehensive” immigration reform.
Barack Obama made his case at a high school in Las Vegas, Nevada, a day after a bipartisan group of senators said the time was right for reform.
It partly mirrors the senators’ plan, including a path to citizenship for many of an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US.
The move reflects the growing influence of Hispanic voters.
In his opening remarks, Barack Obama said: “The time has come for common sense, comprehensive immigration reform.”
He noted that many of the undocumented workers believed to be in the US were already “woven into the fabric of our lives”, and there were economic imperatives for reform.
Barack Obama’s case for an immigration revamp reflects a blueprint he rolled out in 2011, though that did not go far, to the disappointment of Latino voters.
The president did not unveil legislation, but championed the proposals outlined on Monday by a group of four Democratic and four Republican senators.
“The good news is that – for the first time in many years – Republicans and Democrats seem ready to tackle this problem together,” Barack Obama said, urging Congress to act.
President Barack Obama has rallied support for immigration reform
Like the bipartisan plan, Barack Obama also backed an overhaul of the existing legal immigration system and securing US borders.
His 2011 blueprint also focused on a path to permanent residency and eventual citizenship, as well as making it easier for businesses to verify the legal status of workers.
But he asked: “Do we have the resolve as a people, as a country, as a government?”
Barack Obama warned that immigration was a polarizing issue, even though he believed reform was “within our grasp”.
Under his previous proposal, Barack Obama required those in the US illegally to register with the government and pass a background check, as well as pay a series of fines and back taxes if necessary.
After eight years, individuals would be allowed to become legal permanent residents and could eventually become citizens five years later.
The process is similar to the path outlined by senators on Monday – paying taxes and passing background checks would allow undocumented immigrants to live and work in the US legally but not qualify for benefits.
Once immigrants are able to apply for permanent residency, they would do so behind everyone else who had already applied for a green card.
But the senators’ proposals would allow undocumented immigrants to start the process of becoming citizens only after US borders are deemed secure, a link that did not feature in the president’s plan.
At their news conference on Monday, the so-called gang of eight promoted their blueprint, which they hope could pass the Senate by summer.
While passage of such a bill is not assured in the Senate, it faces a tougher route in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
Many conservative lawmakers there denounce a path to legalization as an “amnesty” for lawbreakers.
But many Republicans recognize their party’s hard line on immigration has become a liability, after November’s election when the Democratic president won more than 70% of the Latino vote.
Arizona Senator John McCain, the former Republican presidential candidate who lost to Barack Obama in 2008, said on Monday: “The Republican Party is losing the support of our Hispanic citizens.
“And we realize that there are many issues on which we think we are in agreement with our Hispanic citizens, but this is a pre-eminent issue with those citizens.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin is now rumored to have a second love child with former Olympian gymnast Alina Kabaeva.
Vladimir Putin has long been linked to the 29-year-old rhythmic gymnast, and the two were already believed to have a 3-year-old son together.
The new child, a daughter, was born in November, a source tells the New York Post. Russian media have never officially named Vladimir Putin and Alina Kabaeva the parents of the boy, and she’s called the child her nephew in the past.
The Russian media has, however, reported Vladimir Putin and Alina Kabaeva were engaged in the past, though the newspaper that did so quickly retracted the story and was then shut down.
Vladimir Putin’s wife, Lyudmila, hasn’t been seen in public in quite some time and the Chechen president recently referred to her as Putin’s “first wife.”
President Vladimir Putin is now rumored to have a second love child with former Olympian gymnast Alina Kabaeva
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of extreme right-wing Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), was pelted with sour cabbage during a news conference in the Ukrainian capital Kiev.
The woman who threw pickled cabbage salad at Vladimir Zhirinovsky accused him of being a “Ukrainophobe.”
“Where are my bodyguards? Remove this schizophrenic woman!” Vladimir Zhirinovsky shouted, before asking journalists at the news conference to explain what the word “Ukrainophobe” meant.
“It means that you don’t love Ukraine,” they said, but Vladimir Zhirinovsky protested that he had always called for friendly relations between Russia and Ukraine.
“There is not a milligram of anti-Ukrainian feelings in Russia,” he said as the news conference continued.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky was pelted with sour cabbage during a news conference in the Ukrainian capital Kiev
The UK has decided to deploy about 330 military personnel to Mali and West Africa to support French forces, No 10 has said.
This includes as many as 40 military advisers who will train soldiers in Mali, and 200 British soldiers to be sent to neighboring African countries, also to help train the Malian army.
French-led forces are continuing their offensive against Islamist militants who seized northern Mali last year.
International donors have pledged $455.53 million to tackle militants.
The 330 military personnel comprises of 200 to West African nations, 40 military advisers to Mali, 70 on an RAF Sentinel surveillance aircraft and 20 on a C17 transport plane. None will have a combat role.
The UK has decided to deploy about 330 military personnel to Mali and West Africa to support French forces
A conference taking place in Brussels is expected to decide which countries will contribute troops for an EU military training mission for Mali and discuss details of the mission.
Meanwhile, French-led troops are consolidating their position in the historic Malian city of Timbuktu after seizing it from Islamist extremists. They are then expected to focus on the last rebel stronghold, Kidal. They seized Gao, northern Mali’s biggest city, on Saturday.
Islamist militants took the north of the country last year, but have been losing ground since French forces launched an operation earlier this month.
Carmaker Ford shares have fallen 3.9% in early Wall Street trading on the rising cost of fixing its European business.
Ford cautioned that 2013 losses in Europe would be $2 billion, greater than its previous $1.5 billion estimate.
The stock market reacted negatively, despite Ford reporting profits for the last three months of 2012 that beat expectations thanks to strong US sales.
Earnings after tax for the quarter were $1.6 billion, with underlying profits up 55% from the same period in 2011.
Revenues rose 5% overall, driven by a 13% rise in North America.
Ford boasted that its North American unit had enjoyed its most profitable fourth quarter and year since it first began recording the region’s performance in 2000.
The contrasting fortunes of the number two US carmaker on either side of the Atlantic reflect the broader market trends. While total US car sales hit a post-financial-crisis high last year, 2012 sales in Europe fell more than 8% from the previous year.
Ford shares have fallen 3.9 percent in early Wall Street trading on the rising cost of fixing its European business
Ford, like many rivals, is in the process of downsizing its European business to reflect the shrinking market, with resulting losses due to redundancy payments and the write-off of the value of factories and other assets it owns in the region.
The company said these costs were turning out to be more than expected, thanks to the strength of the euro and the higher valuation of employee pension claims. It has also marginally cut its forecast for total European sales in 2013.
To add to the firm’s woes on the continent, chief financial officer Bob Shanks admitted to investors that the delayed launch of the new Mondeo in Europe would cost Ford several hundred million dollars in missed revenues.
South Korean tech company Pantech has unveiled Vega No 6, the biggest smartphone to date with a screen capable of showing 1080p HD video at full resolution.
Pantech’s Android-powered Vega No 6 features a 5.9 in (15 cm) display, which packs in 373 pixels per inch.
China’s Huawei recently unveiled a 6.1 in handset, but it was only a 720p display.
They add to the so-called “phablet” category, as manufacturers test how big customers are willing to go.
When Samsung pioneered the format with its 5.3 in Galaxy Note in 2011, many analysts suggested its size was too large to find favor.
But it proved a success for the firm, leading Samsung to announce a larger successor last August.
Pantech has unveiled Vega No 6, the biggest smartphone to date with a screen capable of showing 1080p HD video at full resolution
In recent months other firms, including Sony, LG, HTC and ZTE, have unveiled smartphones with 5 in and larger screens. More super-sized handsets are expected to be announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona which begins on February 25.
Technology consultancy Ovum suggested that demand for the format was proving particularly strong in emerging markets where most customers could not afford both a phone and a tablet.
“The Galaxy Note has been a proof-point that consumers will adopt the larger phone,” said the firm’s researcher Adam Leach.
“It’s an artificial barrier that a phone has to be below 5 in and a tablet above 7 in.
“There is a limit on what can be used with one hand, but there’s an economic point that if a device can be used like a tablet and a phone then it’s got more value, especially to people who can only afford to buy one device.”
The popularity of phablets is taking some manufacturers in unexpected directions.
Taiwan’s HTC recently announced it would bundle a bluetooth remote control with its 5in-screened Butterfly handset in China.
The add-on HTC Mini has its own screen and can be used to make calls or send messages when paired with the larger phone.
Messaging app WhatsApp has been criticized over privacy policies following a joint investigation by Dutch and Canadian regulators.
Investigators said that when smartphone owners installed the app it asked to access their address books.
They said the problem was that it then transmitted all the contained phone numbers to its servers, and failed to delete those belonging to people who had not signed up to the service.
WhatsApp has not commented on the report at this time.
The Dutch Data Protection Authority has said that it could take punitive action if the Silicon Valley firm behind the product does not change it.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada added that it would also continue to monitor the company, but said it did not have the power to issue sanctions despite its belief that the firm was breaking local laws.
Messaging app WhatsApp has been criticized over privacy policies following a joint investigation by Dutch and Canadian regulators
WhatsApp was launched in 2009 and allows users to send each other text, image, video and audio messages.
It works across Android, iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Phone and Symbian platforms and does not charge a fee per message.
Instead some users pay its developer an annual $0.99 subscription, while others face a one-off cost to download the app. This has helped make it a popular alternative to SMS and MMS message services.
On installation users are asked permission to share their contacts so that the software can identify which of their friends are also on the service.
The regulators noted that only iPhone users running the latest version of Apple’s iOS operating system were given the option of manually adding contacts rather than allowing their address book to be scanned.
They noted that although it was not illegal for the firm to have copied over data belonging to non-users, the problem was that it did not delete the information after running the friend-identification check.
Instead, the investigators said, the data was kept in a hashed form – in other words the telephone numbers were transformed into a short code and stored.
“This practice contravenes Canadian and Dutch privacy law, which holds that information may only be retained for so long as it is required for the fulfillment of an identified purpose,” said the regulators.
The agencies added that the app’s developer had taken steps to address some of their other concerns.
These included the introduction of encryption to prevent third-parties eavesdropping on messages sent via unprotected Wi-Fi networks, and the adoption of a stronger authentication process to make it harder for scammers to hack accounts in order to send messages from them.
French Employment Minister Michel Sapin made it clear that his government’s tax-and-spend policies are just not working and admitted that France is bankrupt.
Just half a year since his party came to power, Michel Sapin told radio listeners: “There is a state but it is a totally bankrupt state.
“That is why we had to put a deficit reduction plan in place, and nothing should make us turn away from that objective.”
While the admission was unlikely to have been intentional, it highlighted huge concern at Socialist President Francois Hollande’s handling of the economy.
Since Francois Hollande came to power, unemployment and the cost of living have continued to spiral in France, while “anti-rich” measures have provoked entrepreneurs to leave the country.
Francois Hollande is currently trying to revive France’s economic fortunes by cutting spending by the equivalent of more than $80 billion.
The president has also pledged to increase taxes by $30 billion over the next five years.
Shrinking economies make it difficult for eurozone countries to get debt levels under control despite pushing through harsh spending cuts and reforms because shrinking output makes the value of a country’s debt as a proportion of the size of its economy worse.
Last week the IMF downgraded its growth forecast for the eurozone from 0.1% to a minus 0.2% contraction, warning that the eurozone “continues to pose a large downside risk to the global outlook”.
The Bank of France has already produced data showing that capital investment is leaving the country every day, along with the business people who helped to build it.
French Employment Minister Michel Sapin made it clear that his government’s tax-and-spend policies are just not working and admitted that France is bankrupt
Among those who have moved their vast wealth out of France is Bernard Arnault, the country’s richest man.
Bernard Arnault, the 63-year-old head of luxury goods group LVMH, insists that he moved the cash and assets to Belgium for “family inheritance reasons”.
But others are convinced that, like numerous other tycoons and celebrities, he simply wants to avoid taxes including a 75% top rate on income being introduced by President Francois Hollande.
Bernard Arnault, who owns numerous homes around the world including one in London, applied for a Belgian passport soon after Francois Hollande’s Socialists won presidential and parliamentary elections last year.
Earlier this year, actor Gerard Depardieu became another high-profile Frenchman moving his assets abroad.
Gerard Depardieu obtained a Russian passport, bought a house in Belgium, and put his multi-million dollars Paris town house on the market.
There have even been reports that Nicolas Sarkozy, the last President of France, is preparing to move to London with his third wife, Carla Bruni, to set up an equity fund.
Prime Minister David Cameron has already said that Britain will “roll out the red carpet” to attract wealthy French people.
Pierre Moscovici, France’s finance minister, immediately tried to play down Michel Sapin’s comments, saying they were “inappropriate”.
He said: “France is a really solvent country. France is a really credible country, France is a country that is starting to recover.”
France is Europe’s second-largest economy and is suffering from rising unemployment, with figures up 10% on last year.
Meanwhile Greek opposition leader Alexis Tsipras said Europe must abandon austerity policies and hold a summit to make Greece’s debt sustainable.
Alexis Tsipras said a conference similar to the one that brought debt relief to Germany in 1953 is the only way to solve their financial crisis.
Greek GDP fell 6% in 2012, the lowest in Europe, as the country struggled with the financial crisis. Portugal’s GDP fell 3%, while Italy declined by 2.3% and Spain’s GDP shrank by 1.4%.
The French GDP rose by 0.2% last year while Ireland grew up 0.4% and Germany increased by 0.8%.
Sleepbox Hotel, located in the centre of Moscow, Russia, is the first capsule hotel to open in the city.
The hotel features fifty cramped, windowless pods, some of which can sleep up to three people, and which can be booked for the night, or for a matter of hours.
A night’s accommodation is reported to cost around $50.
Each modular capsule is kitted out with a bed, shelf, lamp, small wardrobe and table, while shared bathrooms are fitted with a shower.
Already a hit in Japan, the capsule hotel features a number of identikit rooms measuring around 10 square metres intended to provide cheap and basic overnight accommodation for guests not requiring the services offered by more conventional hotels.
Space-saving hotels in Japan are often located near railway stations and cater for business people or commuters who have missed the last train home.
The absence of windows ensures the hotels can be erected in such unlikely sites as underground stations.
Sleepbox Hotel, located in the centre of Moscow, Russia, is the first capsule hotel to open in the city
One capsule hotel in central Tokyo boasts more than 600 pods.
Many are used primarily by men and some have separate male and female sleeping quarters.
In the UK, YO! Sushi founder Simon Woodroffe came up with the idea for the YO! hotel chain after seeing the capsule concept in Japan.
The first Yotel opened at Gatwick South Terminal in 2007, offering travellers a pay-as-you-go base.
Staffing is kept to a minimum: guests check themselves in, while the purple-colored pod rooms cover essential needs.
Simon Woodroffe boasted of the high quality of the rooms describing them as “luxury liner meets The Fifth Element”.
He added that they included flat screen TVs, rotating beds and broadband internet access.
Yotel managing director Gerard Greene said: “The rooms are very comfortable, highly fitted, with things like the leather you would get in an Aston Martin
“It is the look of a four or five-star hotel.”
Further Yotels have since opened at Heathrow Terminal 4 and Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, and near Times Square in New York.
Kris Jenner was noticeably missing her wedding ring when she stepped out to do some shopping with youngest daughter Kylie on Sunday.
Kris and Bruce Jenner have denied time and time again that their marriage is on the rocks.
Ironically, Kris Jenner was wearing a purple two-piece tracksuit with the word “Love” written all over it.
The mother and daughter duo hit the Topanga mall in Canoga Park to get in some retail therapy at Neiman Marcus.
Kris and Bruce Jenner have denied time and time again that their marriage is on the rocks
Kris Jenner, 57, was also sporting a pair of trainers and sunglasses covering her face despite the wet weather.
She also toted an expensive-looking crocodile skin bag which looked out of place against her casual outfit.
Kylie Jenner, 15, was dressed down for the lazy Sunday outing too.
The reality star sported an oversized grey knitted jumper along with black leggings tucked into matching motorcycle boots, and her stripy socks were poking out.
Rihanna uploaded an image of herself taken from her tourism campaign for the island of Barbados.
Standing in a rust red laced up swimsuit, Rihanna, 24, commands the attention in the sizzling shot.
With her raven locks partially covering her face, Rihanna, real name Robyn Rihanna Fenty, stares dead into the camera lens as she puts her svelte frame on display in the all-in-one.
A pair of hooped earrings, several rings, a necklace and body chain completes her look.
Another frame sees the fresh faced chart-topper bending forward as she gets a feel for the water.
Backed by the stunning view of rocky mountains and the ocean, Rihanna proves that she was the perfect choice to be the face of the 431 square kilometres haven.
Rihanna uploaded an image of herself taken from her tourism campaign for the island of Barbados
Rihanna flashes her pearly whites as she guides a horse across the waterfront in another shot.
With her long curly hair tucked under a blue and white patterned cap, Rihanna slips into a white bikini top and a pair of Daisy Dukes.
The campaign – which includes a promotional video – is the second part of an advertising drive, launched by the Barbados Tourism Authority, seeking to capitalise on the global fame of the Caribbean island’s most celebrated figure.
The scheduled 3D release of two episodes of the Star Wars franchise has been postponed to enable filmmakers to concentrate on the next installment in the series.
Lucasfilm confirmed that Star Wars: Episode II – Attack Of The Clones and Episode III – Revenge of the Sith would be delayed.
Last week Disney announced that Star Trek director JJ Abrams would direct the forthcoming movie, Episode VII.
The film is set for a 2015 release.
Disney bought Lucasfilm, the company behind Star Wars, from creator George Lucas last month for $4.06 billion.
The scheduled 3D release of two episodes of the Star Wars franchise has been postponed to enable filmmakers to concentrate on the next installment in the series
Episode I – The Phantom Menace was released in 3D last February and earned $22.4 million in the US in its opening weekend.
The original prequels were released between 1999 an 2005.
JJ Abrams directed the Star Trek reboot in 2009 and its upcoming sequel, Star Trek into Darkness, to be released May.
Lucas said he was the “ideal choice” to direct the seventh movie in the series – due out in 2015 – adding “the legacy couldn’t be in better hands”.
It will be scripted by Oscar-winning writer Michael Arndt.
Malaysian officials say ten endangered Borneo pygmy elephants have been found dead in a reserve and they may have been poisoned.
The animals, which had all suffered internal bleeding, were found near each other over the space of three weeks.
In one instance, a three-month-old calf was found alongside the body of its mother, apparently trying to wake her.
Sabah Environmental Minister Masidi Manjun said it was “a sad day for conservation and Sabah”.
Sen Nathan, head veterinarian at the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve in Malaysia’s Sabah state on the island of Borneo, said the elephants were all thought to be part of the same family group, and were aged between four and 20.
The bodies of four were found last week but then officials found another four animals dead or dying two days later.
Malaysian officials say ten endangered Borneo pygmy elephants have been found dead in a reserve and they may have been poisoned
Laurentius Ambu, Sabah’s wildlife department director, said two “highly decomposed elephant carcasses” had been found earlier in the year.
“We believe that all the deaths of these elephants are related,” he said.
The animals still had their tusks, indicating that they had not been killed by poachers, and none had gunshot wounds.
Samples have been sent for testing, but Sen Nathan said the damage evident in the elephants’ digestive systems had led officials to “highly suspect” acute poisoning. Tests will confirm whether they could have been deliberately poisoned.
“It was actually a very sad sight to see all those dead elephants, especially one of the dead females who had a very young calf of about three months old. The calf was trying to wake the dead mother up,” he said.
The WWF estimates that there are fewer than 1,500 Borneo pygmy elephants in the wild, most of them in Sabah state.
They are the smallest elephant subspecies, with babyish faces, long tails and straight tusks. They are threatened by logging, hunting and increasing contact with humans.
Masidi Manjun said the death of “these majestic and severely endangered Bornean elephants is a great loss to the state”.
“If indeed these poor elephants were maliciously poisoned, I would personally make sure that the culprits would be brought to justice and pay for their crime,” he said.
Philips is to sell off its home entertainment business, including hi-fis and DVD players, to Japan’s Funai Electric.
Funai will pay 150 million euros ($200 million) and a regular brand licensing fee to take on the product lines.
Dutch electronics giant Philips wants to focus on its healthcare, light bulbs and home appliances businesses as part of its “Accelerate!” restructuring plan.
Philips also reported a 355 million-euro loss for the last three months of 2012.
The loss was in line with expectations and was largely due to a 509 million-euro fine imposed on the company last year by the European Commission for participating in a cartel to fix prices in the television business.
Philips is to sell off its home entertainment business, including hi-fis and DVD players, to Japan’s Funai Electric
Philips announced last year that it was transferring its loss-making television unit to a new joint venture arrangement with Hong Kong’s TPV.
Its latest divestments will not happen immediately – its audio business will pass to Funai in the latter half of this year, while the transfer of its video business will not take place until 2017.
Philips’ underlying profitability in the last quarter – net of the fine and various restructuring costs – improved to 875 million euros, beating the expectations of most market analysts.
However, chief executive Frans van Houten said he expected sales to remain subdued in the first half of this year, because of the “challenging market” in the US and Europe, which account for well over half of Philips’ revenues.
Kaela Humphries, Kim Kardashian’s sister- in-law, is making a name for herself in the world of fashion, modelling the new Spring/Summer 2013 line for plus-size brand Evans.
Kaela Humphries, 29, who lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a former competitive swimmer who signed to New York modelling agency Ford+ after hanging up her goggles.
She was a bridesmaid at Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries’ wedding in August 2011.
Kaela Humphries has spoken previously about how she had to give her diet a complete overhaul in order to lose the 40 lbs she gained after quitting swimming.
Kaela Humphries, Kim Kardashian’s sister- in-law, is making a name for herself in the world of fashion, modelling for plus-size brand Evans
The blue-eyed brunette beauty – who stands at 5’11” tall, has a 38DD chest and wears an American size 16 – appears in a number of glamorous campaign shots for the retailer, wearing elegant, brightly colored dresses, sparkly sleeveless tops and dark, slimming trousers.
Kaela Humphries relocated back to her hometown of Minnesota from New York in march last year, just as she was announced as was the face of Limited’s Eloquii line in April. She quit a job in medical sales to pursue plus-size modelling.
She revealed that her weight fluctuated from a US size 10 to 12 in high school, and went as far as an 18 after college.
Google has published for the first time mapping information on North Korea, a country that has so far been mostly blank on the popular website Google Maps.
The data was compiled on Google’s Map Maker tool which allows ordinary people to contribute information mainly using satellite images or local knowledge.
Map data is not widely available for the reclusive nation.
Launched in 2008, Map Maker data has been migrated to Google Maps for many countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
“This effort has been active in Map Maker for a few years and today the new map of North Korea is ready and now available on Google Maps,” said Jayanth Mysore, senior product manager at Google Map Maker.
“As a result, the world can access maps of North Korea that offer much more information and detail than before.”
The move comes after a private humanitarian visit to North Korea by Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt.
Google has published for the first time mapping information on North Korea, a country that has so far been mostly blank on the popular website Google Maps
In the case of North Korea, satellite images, not local knowledge, were the main source of data. North Koreans cannot access Google.
Google said a large number of South Koreans contributed information to create usable maps for the North.
“While many people around the globe are fascinated with North Korea, these maps are especially important for the citizens of South Korea who have ancestral connections or still have family living there,” said Jayanth Mysore.
However, at least one contributor is from Australia, and doesn’t speak Korean.
“I wanted to go to North Korea and because it was not yet mapped I decided to start mapping so I could at least see how easy it would be to travel within the country,” said Sebastiaan van Oyen who works as a risk manager for a financial trading firm in Sydney.
Sebastiaan van Oyen explained that he used satellite images to get his data saying they “are good enough to cover the whole country, although the quality and date of the data varies”.
“For a basic map you will be fine, but it will take time to get reliable street level navigation.”
However, he said that the biggest obstacle towards creating a more detailed map was to get enough local knowledge to name all the features.
“Keep in the back of your mind that there are restricted areas and not much (readily available) local knowledge outside of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.”
