Family members of the people who perished alongside Jenni Rivera in a gruesome plane crash last month have just filed a lawsuit – blaming the plane’s owners for negligence.
They are also going after Jenni Rivera’s company for money, calling the plane “a bucket of bolts”.
Relatives of Arturo Rivera (Jenni Rivera’s publicist),Jacobo “Jacob” Yebale(her makeup artist), Jorge Armando Sanchez Vasquez (her stylist), and Mario Macias Pacheco (her lawyer) have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Starwood Management, the owner of the Learjet that was carrying Jenni and her entourage when it crashed into the mountains of Northern Mexico, killing everyone on board.
Family members of the people who perished alongside Jenni Rivera in a plane crash last month have just filed a lawsuit, blaming the plane’s owners for negligence
According to the lawsuit, the families claim Starwood negligently allowed the plane to take off that fateful day – among other things, they say the 78-year-old pilot was not licensed to fly “passengers for hire”. They also say the pilot didn’t have an instrument flight rule license, something that was necessary at 35,000 feet.
The families are also suing Jenni Rivera’s company for the same negligence. They want unspecified damages.
As we reported the DEA has been investigating Starwood Management and its planes for a while now, and even seized two of the company’s planes early last year.
Jenni Rivera’s plane – a 1969 Learjet 25 – had reportedly logged 43 years worth of flights and been previously damaged in an accident back in 2005. An exec at Starwood said the plane was perfectly maintained.
Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera had ties to one of Mexico’s most notorious drug cartels before she was killed last month in a plane crash, a shocking report have claimed.
A witness reportedly came forward with claims that Jenni Rivera, known as “La Diva de la Banda”, was connected to the Beltran-Leyva cartel, which is regarded as one of the country’s most feared criminal syndicates.
The report by the Reforma newspaper also accused Rivera of performing at private events for the cartel and its one-time boss, Edgar “La Barbie” Valdez, who was arrested in 2010.
In one instance, La Barbie mortified Jenni Rivera when he kicked her as part of a practical joke, according to Reforma.
The witness statements made in 2009, also alleged that Jenni Rivera used cocaine and ecstasy.
The capture of Edgar Valdez – a Texas-born drug kingpin who got his nickname from his fair complexion – was seen as a major coup in the government’s desperate battle against drug traffickers.
Before he was caught, Edgar Valdez had been battling for control of the cartel after its leader, Arturo Beltran Leyva, was killed in a 2009 December shootout with marines in Cuernavaca, a favorite weekend getaway south of Mexico City.
Jenni Rivera died on December 9 in a plane crash after she had performed in Monterrey, Mexico.
Also on Thursday, family members of the other plane crash casualties filed a lawsuit against the jet’s owners for “negligence” in letting the plane take off.
TMZ reported that the family of Jenni Rivera’s publicist Arturo Rivera, her lawyer Mario Macias Pacheco, Her stylist Jorge Armando Sanchez Vasquez and her makeup artist Jacobo Yebale filed the wrongful death suit against Starwood Management.
A similar lawsuit has also been filed against Jenni Rivera’s company.
Jenni Rivera had ties to one of Mexico’s most notorious drug cartels before she was killed last month in a plane crash
Jenni Rivera was in the process of buying the doomed private jet from business executive Christian E. Esquino Nunez, who owns Starwood.
Christian E. Esquino Nunez is wanted for questioning regarding his ties to the plane, and has been convicted of drug-trafficking and counterfeiting government inspection stamps.
RadarOnline.comreports that Christian E. Esquino Nunez also has ties to a Tijuana drug cartel, and has also been accused of trying to sneak the son of late Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi into Mexico.
Court records show that Christian E. Esquino Nunez obtained details from aircrafts and forged details so as to mark up aircraft prices, thinking the models had fewer miles on them or had more maintenance work than they actually had.
Christian E. Esquino Nunez’s current whereabouts are unknown.
The plane carrying the superstar plunged from more than 28,000 feet and hit the ground in a nose-dive at more than 600 miles an hour, Mexico’s top transportation official says.
Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, Mexico’s secretary of communications and transportation, revealed the first detailed accounts of the moments leading up to the crash that killed Jenni Rivera and six other people aboard their Learjet on Sunday in northern Mexico.
According to Gerardo Ruiz Esparza told Radio Formula the plane hit the ground 1.2 miles from where it began falling, and plummeted at a 45 degree angle.
“The plane practically nose-dived,” he said.
“The impact must have been terrible.”
Gerardo Ruiz Esparza did not offer any explanation of what may have caused the plane to plummet, saying only that: “The plane fell from an altitude of 28,000 feet … It may have hit a speed higher than 1,000 kph [621 mph].”
Gerardo Ruiz Esparza said the pilot of the plane, Miguel Perez Soto, had a valid Mexican pilot’s license that would have expired in January.
Photos of a temporary pilot’s certificate issued by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and found amid the wreckage said that Miguel Perez Soto was 78.
Gerardo Ruiz Esparza said there is no age limit for flying a civil aviation aircraft, though for commercial it’s 65.
Mexican authorities were performing DNA tests Tuesday on remains believed to belong to Jenni Rivera and the others killed when her plane went down in northern Mexico early Sunday morning.
Investigators said it would take days to piece together the wreckage of the plane carrying Jenni Rivera and find out why it went down.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to help investigate the crash of the Learjet 25, which disintegrated on impact in the rugged terrain in Nuevo Leon state in northern Mexico.
The 43-year-old California-born Jenni Rivera known as the “Diva de la Banda” died as her career peaked. She was perhaps the most successful female singer in grupero, a male-dominated Mexico regional style, and had branched out into acting and reality television.
Besides being a singer, Jenni Rivera appeared in the indie film Filly Brown, which was shown at the Sundance Film Festival, and was filming the third season of “I love Jenni”, which followed her as she shared special moments with her children and as she toured through Mexico and the United States.
The Learjet 25, number N345MC, with Rivera and her handlers aboard, was en route from Monterrey to Toluca, outside Mexico City, when it was reported missing about 10 minutes after takeoff.
The US trade deficit widened unexpectedly in November, after a rise in the import of consumer goods.
Figures from the Commerce Department showed that the gap widened by 16% to $48.7 billion. The markets were expecting the deficit to shrink.
The deficit was the widest recorded since April last year.
Imports increased by 3.8%, the largest rise in eight months, to $231.3 billion. The value of exports increased by 1% to $182.6 billion.
Imports of consumer goods rose by $4.6 billion. Analysts say this is a sign that the US retail sector is growing stronger, with rising consumer spending.
The US trade deficit widened unexpectedly in November, after a rise in the import of consumer goods
France is ready to stop Islamist militants who control northern Mali if they continue their offensive, President Francois Hollande has said.
However, President Francois Hollande said France would only act under UN authorization.
Francois Hollande was responding to a plea by Malian President Dioncounda Traore for help to counter a renewed rebel offensive.
Earlier, an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council called for the rapid deployment of an African-led international force to Mali.
Armed groups, some linked to al-Qaeda, took control of northern Mali in April 2012.
They have enforced an extreme interpretation of Islamic law.
Analysts say Western nations are concerned that Mali’s north could become a base for terrorists to plan and launch international attacks.
The UN has approved plans to send some 3,000 African troops to Mali to recapture the north but they are not due to arrive until September.
“They (rebels) are trying to deliver a fatal blow to the very existence of this country,” Francois Hollande said.
“France, like its African partners, cannot accept this. I have decided that France will respond, alongside our African partners, to the request from the Malian authorities.
“We will do it strictly within the framework of the United Nations Security Council resolution. We will be ready to stop the terrorists’ offensive if it continues.”
France is ready to stop Islamist militants who control northern Mali if they continue their offensive, President Francois Hollande has said
Diplomatic sources said Francois Hollande and Dioncounda Traore would meet for talks in Paris next Wednesday.
It is not clear what form French intervention might take, but one possibility is the use of air strikes if the rebels advance on the strategic central town of Mopti.
Speaking shortly before Francois Hollande’s address, French War Veterans Minister Kader Arif appeared to rule out a speedy deployment of French troops to Mali.
“There is clearly an emergency but… there’s no point in rushing in,” said Kader Arif.
“At the same time, there can be no kind of engagement that could take place in this emergency without taking account of the international scale.”
Earlier this week, the militant Islamist group Ansar Dine said it had entered the key central town of Konna and intended to advance further south.
The army has refused to comment on the claim.
Following its emergency meeting on Mali on Thursday, the UN Security Council called for a “rapid deployment” of the African force and expressed “grave concern” at the capture of Konna by “terrorists and extremist groups”.
UN diplomats in New York said President Dioncounda Traore had appealed for help to Paris and to UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
“It basically said <<Help, France>>,” the US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice told reporters in describing the letter.
US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered a review of the 787 Dreamliner plane after a series of incidents put a question mark over the safety of Boeing’s flagship plane.
The review by the FAA will look at the design and manufacture of the planes.
It is not clear whether the planes in the air at the moment will be grounded.
An electrical fire, a brake problem, a fuel spill and cracks in the cockpit’s windshield have affected Dreamliner flights in the past week.
“We are absolutely confident in the reliability and performance of the 787,” Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel said.
“We are working with the FAA and our customers to ensure we thoroughly understand any introductory issues that arise.
“While we take each issue seriously, nothing we’ve seen in service causes us to doubt the capabilities of the airplane.”
FAA has ordered a review of the 787 Dreamliner plane after a series of incidents put a question mark over the safety of Boeing’s flagship plane
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is one of the most advanced aero planes ever created. Much of it is made from very strong, light carbon-fibre composite material.
However, a spate of technical issues has hurt its image. On Friday, two new problems were found, adding to Boeing’s woes.
On Friday, All Nippon Airways reported a crack in the window on the pilot’s side of the cockpit. It caused no problems for the 237 passengers and nine crew on a flight from Tokyo’s Haneda airport to Matsuyama, but the return flight was cancelled
The same airline said another Dreamliner flight, shuttling between Haneda and the southern Miyazaki prefecture, experienced a delay due to an oil leak from a generator inside an engine
On Wednesday, ANA cancelled a 787 flight from Yamaguchi to Tokyo because of a brake problem
On Tuesday, Japan Airlines cancelled a Boston to Tokyo flight after about 40 gallons (151 litres) of fuel spilled
An electrical fire broke out on board a Japan Airlines Dreamliner on Monday shortly after it landed in Boston, following a flight from Tokyo
Last year, a United Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing because of an electrical problem
In December, Qatar Airways grounded one of its 787 Dreamliners after several manufacturing faults caused electrical problems similar to those that affected the United plane.
Last month, the head of Qatar Airways criticized Boeing over several manufacturing faults that have resulted in the grounding of one of its three 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
Boeing has delivered 50 of the 787s, starting in late 2011, and has orders for nearly 800 more. To get through the backlog, Boeing is increasing production to build 10 of the planes per month by the end of the year.
By comparison, it builds more than one 737, Boeing’s best seller, every day.
The first official painting of the Duchess of Cambridge has been unveiled this morning and provoked a dismayed reaction.
It was painted by the artist Paul Emsley and took several months using a technique of building thin layers of oil and glazes on canvas.
Kate Middleton sat for the artist twice. Paul Emsley also worked from a series of photographs he took of Catherine.
The portrait is due to go on show on Friday afternoon at London’s National Portrait Gallery, of which the duchess is patron.
Paul Emsley was chosen to paint the portrait by the gallery’s director, Sandy Nairne. Kate Middleton, who studied history of art at St Andrews University, was also involved in the selection process.
Kate Middleton, 31, whose pregnancy was announced by the Royal Family last month, sat for the artist in May 2012 at his studio, and again in June at Kensington Palace.
Paul Emsley said she had expressed a desire to be portrayed as her natural self, rather than her official self.
The artist described his work as simple.
“I don’t have lots of things in the background. I do like large faces, I find them strong and contemporary,” he said.
“I’m interested in the landscape of the face, the way in which light and shadow fall across the forms. That’s really my subject matter.
“To have anything else in there is really just an interference.”
The artist’s other subjects have included the former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, and the author V S Naipaul. In 2007 Paul Emsley won the BP Portrait Award for his depiction of fellow artist, Michael Simpson.
Paul Emsley said it was easier to work from photographs.
“I’m always worried about the sitter – are they cold, are they hot, are they comfortable?” he said.
“Photography today is so accurate and so good that it’s really so much easier just to take photographs and work from them.”
Originally Paul Emsley had planned to produce an unsmiling portrait. But on meeting the duchess he changed his mind.
“I think it was the right choice in the end to have her smiling. That’s really who she is, I think,” he said.
He also knew he wanted to make a feature of Kate Middleton’s hair.
“Everyone, I think, recognizes her partly through her lovely hair,” he said.
“I’ve altered the color of the eyes slightly to match the color of the blouse and the blue background.”
The painting took three-and-a-half months to complete and was presented to the portrait gallery’s trustees in November.
The first official painting of Kate Middleton has been unveiled this morning at London’s National Portrait Gallery
Sandy Nairne said it was an “exciting moment” to display the first commissioned public portrait of the duchess.
He added that she was grateful to the duchess for giving up her time for the sittings and to Paul Emsley for creating a “captivating contemporary image”.
The portrait, called HRH The Duchess of Cambridge, will be displayed as part of the National Portrait Gallery’s Contemporary Collections.
Critics slammed the “rotten” picture by Paul Emsley after it was unveiled at London’s National Portrait Gallery, saying it looked “nothing like Kate in real life”.
Sunday Times art critic Waldemar Januszczak called the portrait “pretty ordinary… He made her look older than she is and her eyes don’t sparkle in the way that they do and there’s something rather dour about the face”.
Paul Emsley- who is famous for dividing opinion with his extraordinarily realistic, almost “photographic” style – was commissioned by the gallery after Kate Middleton chose him from a shortlist.
Kate Middleton and husband Prince William visited the gallery early this morning ahead of a public viewing, and she was said to be “thrilled” with the results of her latest royal rite of passage.
Since joining the Royal Family Kate Middleton has become one of the most scrutinized women on the planet – and her portrait is sure to cause controversy.
Robin Simon, editor of the British Art Journal, said today: “Fortunately, the Duchess of Cambridge looks nothing like this in real life.
“I’m really sad to say this is a rotten portrait.”
The head and shoulders portrait shows the Duchess, who celebrated her 31st birthday on Wednesday, staring directly out of the picture with a “serious but serene” expression on her face.
Kate Middleton is wearing a bottle-green pussy bow blouse imagined by the artist and a pair of earrings that were a wedding gift.
Paul Emsley, who has also painted Nelson Mandela, was apparently keen to capture her “charm, serenity and intelligence” as well as her “sparkling green eyes”.
At first glance the Duchess, who celebrated her 31st birthday this week, looks far older than her years.
There are shadows and creases under her eyes while her famous brunette locks have a strangely coppery tinge to them.
Her mouth is set in a grimace rather than the promised enigmatic smile.
Paul Emsley had said: “The Duchess explained to me that she would like to be portrayed naturally – her natural self as opposed to her official self. She struck me as enormously open and generous and a very warm person.
“After initially feeling it was going to be an unsmiling portrait, I think it was the right choice in the end to have her smiling – that is really who she is.”
Kate, Prince William and the entire Middleton family – Carole, Michael, James and Pippa – went for a private viewing of the portrait this morning before it was publicly unveiled.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were first to congratulate the artist on his work.
“I thought it was brilliant,” said Kate Middleton, who showed no sign of her 12-week bump in a deep red Whistles dress.
“It’s just amazing. Absolutely brilliant.”
Kate Middleton spent 10 minutes studying the portrait before gesturing with her hands, indicating that she was particularly pleased with the way he had captured her around her mouth and nose.
“Thank you,” added the polite royal, who met the 65-year-old artist with his wife Susanne and one of his daughters, Maria, in a separate room after viewing the portrait privately away from him.
“I had such a fun day at the studio,” Kate Middleton told Maria.
Prince William, wearing a dark suit, was equally enthusiastic.
“It’s beautiful. Absolutely beautiful,” he told Paul Emsley.
The Duchess is patron of the NPG in London, which has been keen to commission a picture of her for some time.
The gallery drew up a shortlist of four potential painters and Kate Middleton, who graduated from St Andrew’s University with a 2:1 in history of art, personally plumped for Paul Emsley.
Her portrait is situated in Room 37, next to a famous installation showing a video of a sleeping semi-naked David Beckham. It has been donated to the gallery by supporter Sir Hugh Legatt.
It is the same ground-floor gallery that holds a picture in oils of her husband Prince William and his younger brother, Prince Harry, which was unveiled there in 2010.
The two princes posed in full military regalia for artist Nicky Philipps for their first official depiction.
Prince Harry later joked that he was “a little too ginger and William had way too much hair” but declared himself otherwise pretty pleased with the result.
Sharon Osbourne has launched an attack on Lady Gaga, accusing the singer of being desperate for attention after openly criticizing her daughter, Kelly.
Sharon Osbourne published a letter to Lady Gaga on Thursday after Kelly and Gaga traded barbs.
“I am calling you a bully because you have 32 million followers hanging on your every word and you are criticizing Kelly,” Sharon Osbourne writes, asking: “Are you so desperate that you needed to make this public?”
The controversy erupted after Kelly Osbourne made comments about Lady Gaga’s weight gain late last year.
Speaking to Alan Carr for his Channel 4 chat show, Kelly Osbourne said: “I think she is pregnant because she has been covering up this part of her body recently and I have been noticing that a lot.”
Kelly Osbourne was referring to a photo of Lady Gaga wearing a burka to a London Fashion Week event.
“And her style has changed and you can’t bleach your hair blonde when you are pregnant,” she added.
Lady Gaga’s furious “little monster” fans responded with frightening death threats, prompting Sharon Osbourne to write the singer’s manager.
In an email to Vince Hebert sent on Thursday, Sharon Osbourne reminds him that she wrote last year about Lady Gaga’s fans bullying Kelly online, and complains that he “never really responded”.
“Well, it’s continuing again. I want you to read the blog below from a Lady Gaga fan,” she continues.
Sharon Osbourne includes a tweet: “Little Monster David @LilMonsterMaren @MissKellyO LITTLE MONSTER ARTPOP : Kelly Osbourne needs to kill herself”, with a link to a vitriolic post aimed at her daughter, calling her “an ugly whore” who “deserves to be hit by a car and die of AIDS”, while asking others to fill in the blank of what they think of Kelly.
Cruel taunts flood the page.
Sharon Osbourne continues: “I thought that Gaga was a main campaigner against bullying.
“Vince, I’m leaving it in your hands to do the right thing here. One tweet from Gaga can change this whole situation. I’m not asking her to deal with this directly but she if she could tweet something to her fans about being more respectful that may end this. I’m sure she doesn’t condone her fans saying such hideously offensive things.”
Vince Hebert responds with a curt: “I’m on it.”
Next, Lady Gaga, real name Stefanie Germanotta, responds in the form of an open letter on LittleMonsters.com, addressing Kelly Osbourne and stating she wished the television star had reached out to her personally.
“As the head of the Born This Way foundation with my mother Cynthia we would like to respond,” she writes, contending that it is part of her mission in life to “work towards a kinder and braver world with our community of followers”.
Sharon Osbourne has launched an attack on Lady Gaga, accusing the singer of being desperate for attention after openly criticizing her daughter, Kelly
Lady Gaga notes Kelly Osbourne has “chosen a less compassionate path”, and criticizes her work as a correspondent on E!’s Fashion Police, calling it “rooted in criticism, judgment, and rating people’s beauty against one another”.
“Your show breeds negativity, and over the years has even become comedic in nature. It glorifies you and Joan Rivers pointing in the camera, laughing, and making jokes about artists and celebrities as if we are zoo animals,” she continues.
Referring to Kelly Osbourne’s weight loss over the years, she asks: “To see you blossoming into a beautiful slender woman who makes fun of others for a living is astounding. Why not help others? Why not defend others who are bullied for their image and share your story?”
Lady Gaga says she has met Kelly Osbourne in person, calling her “lovely”, and asks that they both do their part do their part ‘to set a standard of respect, compassion, and love’.
Sharon Osbourne responded with her own open letter on Facebook, not taking Lady Gaga’s words in kind.
“I am perplexed as to why you would go public with an open letter,” she writes, calling it “hypocritical and full of contradictions”.
“How sweet that you have empathy for my daughter, as you feel that she has taken a less passionate path in life,” she continues.
Sharon Osbourne goes on to criticize Lady Gaga’s fashion choices, stating she was “sickened” when she saw the singer’s infamous meat dress at the 2010 MTV Music Video Awards.
“When I see you wearing fur, and using it as a fashion statement, the fact that defenseless animals have been killed so you can get your picture in the press is abhorrent to me,” Sharon Osbourne writes, asking: “Shouldn’t you be teaching your “little monster” fans to respect animals and life?”
The matriarch refuses to justify Kelly Osbourne’s career choices, and slams her for making the issue public.
“By your actions to Kelly right now, you have shown me that you are nothing more than a publicly seeking hypocrite and an attention seeker. You know it would have been much more dignified of you to do this privately. I am calling you a bully because you have 32 million followers hanging on your every word and you are criticizing Kelly in your open letter. Are you so desperate that you needed to make this public?”
Sharon Osbourne continues: “In closing, stop wearing fur, stop looking for publicity, and stop using your fans to belittle not just Kelly but an endless stream of celebrities. A word from you would stop all the hideous, negative and vile threats from your <<little monsters>>. Let me know if you want to continue this debate. I’m an open playing field for you my darling. Sincerely, Sharon Osbourne.”
Lady Gaga and her mother had not issued comment at press time.
Nastassja Kinski has praised her half-sibling Pola for her courage in reporting that their late father Klaus abused her as a child.
Pola Kinski said she had been abused between the ages of 5 and 19 by the actor, who died in 1991 after a career making some of Germany’s most notable films.
Actress Nastassja Kinski was quoted by Bild newspaper as saying she was “deeply shocked” by the revelations.
But she was proud, she added, that her sister Pola Kinski had found the strength to speak out.
Pola Kinski, 60, made the revelations in an interview published by Stern magazine on Thursday, ahead of the publication of her autobiography.
Klaus Kinski acted in spaghetti westerns before starring in films by director Werner Herzog which included Aguirre The Wrath of God (1972), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) and Fitzcarraldo (1982).
Revered by many for his film work long after his death, he was also famous for his numerous sexual liaisons with adults.
Nastassja Kinski has praised her half-sibling Pola for her courage in reporting that their late father Klaus abused her as a child
“My sister is a heroine, because she has freed her heart, her soul and also her future from the weight of the secret,” Nastassja Kinski said.
“This is a difficult moment for me. I am on my sister’s side, I support her. I am deeply shocked.”
Nastassja Kinski, 51, whose films include Roman Polanski’s Tess and Paris Texas by Wim Wenders, said she had read Pola’s words and wept.
Pola’s book Kindermund, she argued, would help “all the children, adolescents and mothers who fear their father and swallow this fear to hide it in the depths of their souls”.
Pola Kinski, herself an actress, spoke to Stern ahead of the release of her autobiography.
She said she had decided to speak out about the abuse because of the continuing adulation for her father.
“The terrible thing is that he once told me that it was completely natural, that fathers all over the world did that with their daughters,” Pola Kinski said.
“He was paying for me to be his little sex object, placed on silk cushions.”
A biographer of Klaus Kinski, Christian David, said there had been rumors about the relationship between the actor and Pola for years before this week’s revelations.
Microsoft is switching off its Windows Live Messenger service on March 15.
On March 15 Messenger log-ins will no longer work and users must turn to Skype, said Microsoft in an email sent to all Messenger users.
The email also encouraged users to update to Skype and familiarize themselves with the service before the switch-off.
The service switch is a consequence of Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype in October 2011 for $8.5 billion.
In November 2012, Microsoft announced that it was switching off Live Messenger in early 2013 but gave no firm date. At the same time, Microsoft made it possible for Messenger users to talk to and swap messages with contacts via Skype.
Microsoft is switching off its Windows Live Messenger service on March 15
To help people migrate before March 15, Microsoft has added an upgrade button to its desktop Messenger that when clicked uninstalls Messenger and puts Skype in its place.
Until the switch-off date Messenger would work as it always did, said Microsoft.
The Windows Live Messenger instant messaging program was known as MSN Messenger when it first launched in 1999. The service is believed to be used by about 300 million people every month.
China is the only nation in which Messenger will keep operating, because it is run under licence there.
Japan’s government has approved a fresh 10.3 trillion yen ($116 billion) stimulus package in an attempt to spur a revival in its economy.
The package will include infrastructure spending, as well as incentives for businesses to boost investment.
Tokyo estimates that the stimulus will boost Japan’s economy by 2% and create 600,000 jobs.
Japan’s economy has been hurt by a dip in exports amid slowing global demand and subdued domestic consumption.
The world’s third-largest economy is currently in a recession, having contracted for two quarters in a row.
“Unfortunately, the previous administration failed to work out how to boost growth and expand the economic pie,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.
“It is vital that we have an economic strategy that can create jobs and raise incomes to sustain growth.”
Included in the spending package are plans to rebuild areas devastated by the earthquake and tsunami of 2011, support for regional economies, and more investment in education and social security.
Shinzo Abe, who took office in December, has promised to take aggressive measures to help put the economy back on a growth track.
Among those has been a pledge to take measures to weaken the yen.
Japan’s government has approved a fresh $116 bn stimulus package in an attempt to spur a revival in its economy
A weaker Japanese currency bodes well for the country’s exporters as it makes their goods less expensive to foreign buyers and also helps boost their profits when they repatriate their foreign earnings back home.
The yen has weakened nearly 12% against the US dollar since November last year on hopes of such moves. It was trading close to 88.97 yen against the US dollar in Asian trade on Friday.
The government said that it would continue to keep a watch on the currency’s movements and “respond as appropriate”.
Japanese shares rose on the news of the stimulus with the Nikkei 225 index gaining 1.4%.
The Japanese government also hopes the latest stimulus spending will help to tackle deflation. Japan has been fighting deflation, or falling prices, for many years. It has been a big hurdle in policymakers’ attempts to boost domestic demand because consumers tend to put off purchases in the hope of a better deal in the future.
However, some analysts said the stimulus was only a short-term solution to Japan’s economic issues.
They said that while such an big amount of money being injected into the economy was likely to help spur growth, further steps were needed to sustain it in the long run including measures to help exporters and reforms aimed at boosting domestic consumption.
“So far what we have seen is measures to kick-start the economy,” said Martin Schulz of Fujitsu Research Institute.
“But once the stimulus boost is over, the coffers will be empty again and Japan will have no more money to spend.”
Japan’s exports have been hurt by a slowdown in demand from key markets such as the US, eurozone and China.
While sales to the US and eurozone have been hit by economic issues in those markets, those to China have been affected by a territorial dispute between the two countries.
China is Japan’s biggest trading partner and is also among the fastest growing consumer markets.
Martin Schulz said Japan needed to improve its relations with China to help its exporters’ sales in the country, not least because demand from the US and eurozone is likely to remain subdued in the near term.
On the domestic front, Japan needs to ease regulations in key sectors such as construction, healthcare, retail and agriculture to make them more attractive for investors, Martin Schulz added.
A 10 ft (3 m) scrub python was battling to retain its grip on the wing as a Qantas plane made its way between the Australian town of Cairns and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea.
It held on the whole 1hr 50 min flight.
But on arrival in Port Moresby, ground crew found the snake had died.
Passengers first became aware of the reptile 20 minutes after take-off. A woman pointed out the python to fellow passengers and cabin crew.
At first only its head was visible, but as it tried to manoeuvre itself back to safety, its whole body was exposed. Time and again it tried to pull itself back into the shelter of the wing, but the wind was relentless.
The wind speed was 250 mph (400 km/h) and the temperature -12C.
The snake’s body was hammered against the engine, leaving blood stains on the white paint.
A 10 ft scrub python was battling to retain its grip on the wing as a Qantas plane made its way between the Australian town of Cairns and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea
One passenger, Robert Weber, a website designer in Cairns, told the Sydney Morning Herald: ”The people at the front were oblivious to what was going on but the passengers at the back were all totally focused on the snake and how it might have got on to the aircraft.
”There was no panic. At no time did anyone stop to consider that there might be others on board.”
The president of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association, Paul Cousins, said: ”It appears as though the snake has initially crawled up inside the landing bay, maybe housed himself in there, and then crawled into the trailing ledge flap assembly.”
Scrub pythons are Australia’s longest snakes. They feed on rodents and often conceal themselves in enclosed space to ambush their prey. The wing of a stationary aircraft may have appeared a likely place to this particular snake.
Amazon has launched AutoRip, a service that stores free digital versions of CDs bought via its store.
AutoRip, which is only available in the US, will automatically keep a digital copy of eligible CDs in a customer’s cloud storage account.
Customers will be able to access the music via Amazon’s Cloud Player on the web or via tablet and smartphone apps.
Online retailer Amazon has drawn up a catalogue of 50,000 CDs that are eligible for AutoRip.
The catalogue has been compiled from those albums that have proved most popular with Amazon customers in the last 15 years.
The list includes Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, Thriller by Michael Jackson and 21 by Adele.
Amazon has launched AutoRip, a service that stores free digital versions of CDs bought via its store
Any customer who has bought a CD in the catalogue from Amazon since the firm started trading in 1998 will be eligible to get a free MP3 copy of it. Amazon said it anticipated creating copies of millions of CDs.
“When we picked those 50,000 titles we focused on having a substantial majority of our physical CD sales covered,” said Steve Boom, head of digital music at Amazon in a statement.
The service potentially makes it much easier for people to build up a library of digital music. Before now most CD owners had to rip the songs themselves to create digital versions.
The Amazon Cloud Player can be accessed a web browser, as well as on Android phones, iPhones, Kindle Fire tablets and other devices.
The move is widely seen as an attempt to take market share from arch-rival Apple’s iTunes music store.
The Cupertino giant has similar cloud storage services for music and leads the market with more than 50% of the market share, while Amazon has less than 15%. Google offers a similar service.
Astronomers have spotted NGC 6872, the largest known spiral galaxy, by accident.
A team was looking through data from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (Galex) satellite for star-forming regions around a galaxy called NGC 6872.
But they were shocked to see a vast swathe of ultraviolet light from young stars, indicating that the galaxy is actually big enough to accommodate five of our Milky Way galaxies within it.
The find was reported at the 221st American Astronomical Society meeting in the US.
NGC 6872, a galaxy about 212 million light-years away in the constellation Pavo, was already known to be among the largest spiral galaxies.
Near it sits a lens-shaped or lenticular galaxy called IC 4970, which appears to have crashed through the spiral in recent astronomical times.
Rafael Eufrasio of the Catholic University of America and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and colleagues from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil and the European Southern Observatory in Chile were interested in a number of regions away from the galaxy.
“I was not looking for the largest spiral – it just came as a gift,” said Rafael Eufrasio.
NGC 6872, a galaxy about 212 million light-years away in the constellation Pavo, was already known to be among the largest spiral galaxies
Galex – a space telescope designed to search for the ultraviolet light that newly born stars put out – hinted that NGC 6872 was made much larger in size by the collision.
The team went on to use data from a range of other telescopes including the Very Large Telescope, the Two Micron All-Sky Survey and the Spitzer space telescope – each of which sees in a particular set of colors, in turn evidencing stars of varying ages.
They found the youngest stars in the outer reaches of the galaxy’s enormous spiral arms, getting progressively older toward the centre.
That suggests a wave of star formation that travelled down the arms, set off by the collision with IC 4970, with the newest stellar neighborhoods pushing the galaxy into the top spot in terms of size.
“It’s been known to be among the largest for two decades, but it’s much larger than we thought,” explained Rafael Eufrasio.
“The galaxy that collided with the [central disc of NGC 6872] splashed stars all over the place – 500,000 light years away.”
Besides being one for the record books, NGC 6872 updates the catalogue of known galaxy smash-ups, demonstrating how dramatically galaxies can be changed and added to by collisions.
“It shows the evolution of galaxies in the larger context of the Universe – how the large galaxies we had before were accreted from small clumps in the early Universe,” Rafael Eufrasio said.
“We’re just seeing one example of two interacting galaxies but in the past that happened much more often – that’s how the big [spiral galaxy] discs we have were probably formed. Putting that in a larger context, it’s a very cool system.”
Almost a year ago, more than 3,000 people were relaxing aboard the opulent cruise liner Costa Concordia at the start of a week-long Mediterranean cruise. Today the ship is the subject of possibly the largest and most daunting marine salvage operation ever attempted.
On Friday 13 January 2012, Costa Concordia heeled over on to its side, with more than 4,000 people on board, just off the coast of the small Italian island of Giglio.
Thirty-two passengers and crew members died in the accident, which unfolded when Capt Francesco Schettino steered the ship too close to shore while trying to show it off to islanders, and hit a rock.
Pockmarked with rust smears, its once bright paintwork bleached by the sun, the hulk of the Costa Concordia makes a forlorn spectacle.
Winter storms have battered its exposed flanks, making the work of the 400-strong salvage team even more difficult.
It was originally planned that the vessel would be removed from Giglio by the spring of 2013. However, work is now expected to be complete “by the end of summer”.
Much of the work so far has been preparatory.
Appendages, steel cables and anchor chains have been welded to the hull by the salvage workers, who are working day and night to recover the 114,000-tonne metal bulk.
No operation on the scale of that to recover the Costa Concordia has ever been attempted. It is being carried out by salvage companies Titan and Micoperi, and will unfold in several stages.
The basic plan is to roll the ship upright and then refloat it using huge metal boxes, or caissons, welded to its sides.
The vessel, which still contains tons of rotting food, furniture, bedding and passengers’ belongings, will then be towed away intact to prevent damage to the environment.
To prepare for the rollover operation, divers have attached heavy steel cables to anchor the ship and prevent it slipping into deeper water.
Large steel plates will be positioned beneath the hull as support to prevent it breaking up while the operation is under way.
Costa Concordia is the subject of possibly the largest and most daunting marine salvage operation ever attempted
In December, the ship’s funnel was removed to allow better access to the ship.
Project director Franco Porcellacchia said: “This is a very delicate and unusual project. We have no reference here.
“At the moment, we are working on the preparation of the seabed so that the ship rotates properly. We’re using grout bags containing sand and cement to make an artificial seabed.”
With the ship stabilized, the rollover is expected to take two days, as it must be done painstakingly slowly to prevent further damage to the weakened hull.
A series of steel platforms is being positioned underneath to cradle the ship when it returns to its upright position.
Once upright, more caissons will be attached to the side that had been submerged, and the water in them will then be replaced with air to give buoyancy and allow the wreck to be towed away.
With the ship considered beyond economic repair, its final destination is expected to be a dry dock in Sicily, where it will be cut up.
Franco Porcellacchia said environmental risks were key concerns.
“Salvage teams do not have access to the inside, but we are working to prevent any substance from inside leaking. So far we have recorded no pollution and the situation is being constantly monitored by the authorities.
“The salvage is a joint venture [between Titan and Micoperi], but that contract is terminated when the ship is raised,” Franco Porcellacchia said.
“Dismantling it is another ball game.”
KEY EVENTS
13 January: Costa Concordia runs aground
28 January: Operation to remove fuel delayed due to bad weather
Ryan Heber, a science teacher at Taft Union High School in California, has been praised by police for averting a serious shooting incident.
Teacher Ryan Heber and a campus supervisor talked a gunman into putting down his weapon after he had shot and injured one pupil at Taft Union High School.
Police said the gunman had enough ammunition to kill many people.
The injured student was taken to hospital in an air ambulance and is in a critical condition.
The drama started after 09:00 local time when the gunman, also a student, arrived late, armed with a shotgun, at the school in the small town in California’s central valley.
Students and staff telephoned police, but before officers could arrive, the suspect had shot at two people in a class in the science block. One shot missed its target.
Ryan Heber, who had been grazed by a pellet, then intervened.
He and another school official who entered the classroom are reported by US media to have warned the suspect that there would be no shooting in his class – at which point the gunman put down his weapon and police officers arrested him.
Ryan Heber, a science teacher at Taft Union High School in California, has been praised by police for averting a serious shooting incident
“They talked him into putting that shotgun down. He in fact told the teacher, <<I don’t want to shoot you>>, and named the person that he wanted to shoot,” Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said.
“The heroics of these two people goes without saying. They could have just as easily… tried to get out of the classroom and left students, and they didn’t,” he added.
Parents of pupils said the suspect had been suspended last year from the school 120 miles (190 km) north of Los Angeles.
Deputies from the local sheriff”s office and town officials conducted a search of the school and its grounds to make sure no-one else was involved and all other students were safe.
The shooting comes four weeks after a gunman killed 26 pupils and staff at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
That incident has provoked a nationwide debate about gun laws in the US. Vice-President Joe Biden has said his task force on gun control will make its recommendations to President Barack Obama as early as Tuesday.
Taft Union High School will be closed for classes on Friday, but will have counselors on campus to talk to worried students.
Former pupils of the school include the distinguished US Air Force pilot, General Gordon Graham, the American football player Russell Letlow and the television actress Jeanne Cooper.
Crowds of supporters of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez have been rallying outside the presidential palace in Caracas, showing their backing for the cancer-stricken leader on the day he was due to be inaugurated for another term.
Supporters wearing red “I am Chavez” T-shirts waved flags as patriotic music blared from speakers.
The swearing-in ceremony has been indefinitely postponed.
Hugo Chavez, 58, is in hospital in Cuba after undergoing cancer surgery.
The National Assembly on Wednesday voted to give the ailing leader as much time as he needed to recover.
Crowds of supporters of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez have been rallying outside the presidential palace in Caracas
Supreme Court President Luisa Estella Morales said Hugo Chavez could take the oath of office at a later date, adding that Chavez’s re-election had guaranteed “continuity” in government.
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles said the uncertainties thrown up by President Chavez’s absence had not been ended by the court ruling, but he called on his supporters to refrain from taking to the streets in protest at the court’s ruling.
Henrique Capriles said the Supreme Court Justices had got involved in party politics by taking their “decision to solve the governing party’s problem”.
At least two people have been shot by a gunman at Taft High School in Bakersfield, California, police have said.
One victim suffered a “major injury”, the other a “minor injury” in the shooting at Taft High School in Bakersfield, about 80 miles (120 km) north of Los Angeles, they added.
A city official told the Associated Press that the incident occurred shortly after 09:00 local time.
US media are reporting that the gunman has been taken into custody.
At least two people have been shot by a gunman at Taft High School in Bakersfield, California
Pola Kinski, the elder daughter of the late German actor Klaus Kinski, has accused her father of sexually abusing her between the ages of 5 and 19.
Pola KInski, 60, told a German magazine she had broken her silence because of the continuing adulation Klaus Kinski enjoyed, more than 20 years after his death.
Klaus Kinski starred in some of the most famous German films of the 1970s and early 1980s, directed by Werner Herzog.
His numerous sexual liaisons with adults were well documented.
Klaus Kinski made a name for himself in spaghetti westerns such as For a Few Dollars More before starring in Herzog films including Aguirre The Wrath of God (1972), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) and Fitzcarraldo (1982).
Werner Herzog was not prepared to comment on the revelations, said the director’s brother, Lucki Stipetic.
A biographer of the actor, Christian David, said there had been rumors about the relationship between Klaus Kinski and his daughter Pola for years.
“In Europe, especially in Germany of course, Klaus Kinski has a solid fan base and is considered an idol by quite a few,” he said.
“We will see how this may change in the coming weeks or months.”
Pola Kinski, the elder daughter of the late German actor Klaus Kinski, has accused her father of sexually abusing her between the ages of 5 and 19
Pola Kinski, herself an actress, spoke to Stern ahead of the release of her autobiography, Kindermund (English: The Mouths Of Babes).
“The terrible thing is that he once told me that it was completely natural, that fathers all over the world did that with their daughters,” she said in the interview, published on Thursday.
“He was paying for me to be his little sex object, placed on silk cushions.”
She had kept quiet about the abuse for years, she said, because her father had forbidden her to talk about it.
Now 60, Pola Kinski said she had got to the point where she could no longer stomach the accolades heaped on her “genius” father.
She also wanted, through her book, to help “others who have lived through something similar”.
Germany’s top-selling tabloid Bild commended Pola Kinski as a “heroine” for having had the courage to talk about “what probably thousands of daughters do not dare to say”.
Before the revelations in Stern, Klaus Kinski, who died in 1991 in California aged 65, was best-known for his intense acting style and tempestuous character off-screen.
While some Germans went on social media to voice contempt for the dead actor, there were also fans who found the image conjured up by his daughter hard to believe.
But Christian David, whose biography of Klaus Kinski was published in 2006, defended the daughter’s decision to speak out now.
“Unfortunately, until recently she wasn’t ready to publicly speak about it – thus, I wasn’t able to mention any of it in my book,” he said.
“But Pola was totally entitled to choose the right day to come out on this. We have absolutely no right to blame her for this, and no right to immediately mistrust her or to suspect she would do this just to sell her book.
“Child abuse is a heinous crime, there is no room for forgiveness, and I support a zero tolerance policy.
“All accusations should be investigated, absolutely nobody should be immune, including legendary movie stars.”
There was no immediate comment on Pola Kinski’s book from her half-siblings, Nastassja and Nikolai, when their representatives were contacted by Reuters news agency.
Simon Rattle has announced that he will leave as chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra after his contract expires in 2018.
Sir Simon Rattle, who joined the orchestra in 2002, admitted it had not been an “easy decision”.
“In 2018 I will be nearly 64 years old,” the British conductor said.
“As a Liverpool boy, it is impossible not to think of the Beatles’ question, <<Will you still need me.., when I’m 64?>>.”
The 57-year-old conductor went on: “I am sure that then it will be time for somebody else to take on the magnificent challenge that is the Berliner Philharmoniker.
“This was not an easy decision. I love this orchestra and therefore wanted to tell them my decision as early as possible.
“I deeply hope that this will give them enough time to start new plans. I look forward with great pleasure to our next five years together and hopefully many years afterwards.”
Simon Rattle has announced that he will leave as chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra after his contract expires in 2018
Martin Hoffmann, the orchestra’s general manager said it was “very sad news” for the orchestra and the city of Berlin. But he said he had “great respect” for Sir Simon Rattle’s decision.
“With his outstanding musicality and creativity he has filled new listeners with enthusiasm for the orchestra every day and has shaped the national and international perception of the Berliner Philharmoniker as a vital cultural ambassador for Berlin,” he said.
Simon Rattle was born in Liverpool and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He made his Proms debut in 1976 and his opera debut in 1977 at the Glyndebourne Festival.
Between 1980 and 1998, he led the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He was knighted in 1994.
Simon Rattle appeared at the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony when he and the London Symphony Orchestra were upstaged by Mr. Bean while playing Chariots of Fire.
Silver Linings Playbook has become the first film to win 2013 Oscar nominations in all four acting categories for more than 30 years.
The comedy drama, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, received 8 nominations in total.
Steven Spielberg’s drama Lincoln dominated the shortlist with 12, while Ang Lee’s Life of Pi picked up 11.
Nine films vie for the best picture award including action thriller Zero Dark Thirty, Argo and Les Miserables.
The musical, which takes its lead from Victor Hugo’s historical novel set during the Paris uprising, received 8 nominations in total – including nods for stars Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway.
Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, Beasts of the Southern Wild and French language film Amour complete the list of best picture contenders.
Quentin Tarantino once said Django Unchained, a western which sees Jamie Foxx as a freed slave on a mission to rescue his wife from a Mississippi plantation owner, would not win best picture, but “it’s nice to be invited to the party”.
The ceremony will take place at the Dolby Theatre on February 24.
Emmanuelle Riva and Quvenzhane Wallis became the oldest and youngest nominees in the best actress category at the age of 85 and nine respectively.
Quvenzhane Wallis, who was picked from obscurity to play the lead in Benh Zeitlin’s Sundance winner Beasts of the Southern Wild, was just six when she took the role of a young girl stranded by rising waters and tending to a sick father in a remote corner of Louisiana.
Emmanuelle Riva, a respected film actress in France, plays a retired music teacher afflicted by a stroke in Michael Haneke’s Amour, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival last year.
As well as both films appearing in the best film nominations, Haneke and newcomer Zeitlin won nominations in the best director category.
They will face competition from Spielberg, Ang Lee and Silver Linings Playbook’s David O. Russell. But there was no nomination for Zero Dark Thirty’s Kathryn Bigelow, who was named best director by the National Board of Review in the autumn, and had been considered a frontrunner following nominations at the Baftas and the Golden Globes.
Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win the best director Oscar with The Hurt Locker at the Academy Awards in 2010.
Silver Linings Playbook has become the first film to win 2013 Oscar nominations in all four acting categories for more than 30 years
Quentin Tarantino also failed to secure a best director nomination.
He said “it bites a little bit, but I got it from BAFTA” – referring to his success in the BAFTA shortlist earlier this week.
Britain’s Tom Hooper – who was named best director for The King’s Speech in 2011 – was also snubbed, for his work on Les Miserables.
“It was a complete shock,” said Working Title’s Eric Fellner.
“But not just for Tom, but also for Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty and Ben Affleck for Argo.”
Prior to the nominations it had been suggested that Skyfall might become the first Bond film to win a best picture nod, but the film was not shortlisted in any of the major categories despite BAFTA nominations for Dame Judi Dench and Javier Bardem earlier this week.
However, Adele did win a place on the best song shortlist and said she felt “like Meryl Streep”, while the film received a further four nominations in the technical categories.
Aside from Emmanuelle Riva and Quvenzhane Wallis, the best actress category is completed by Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook, Naomi Watts in The Impossible and Jessica Chastain, who plays a CIA agent hunting Osama Bin Laden, in Zero Dark Thirty.
Naomi Watts is the only nomination for The Impossible, the real-life story of a family caught up in the devastating 2004 tsunami, she said she was “truly honored”.
“I am so thrilled and humbled with this morning’s wonderful news. The journey of telling Maria Belon’s miraculous story of survival has been an incredible experience.”
Previous Oscar winner Dame Helen Mirren missed out on a best actress nomination for Hitchcock, which leaves Daniel Day-Lewis as the key British hope at this year’s ceremony.
Daniel Day-Lewis, 55, is currently the bookmakers’ favorite to win the best actor award for his role as US president Abraham Lincoln. Should he win, he will become the first actor to win the best actor honor three times, after earlier triumphs with There Will Be Blood (2008) and My Left Foot (1989).
Bradley Cooper, best known for the Hangover films, is among his competition, which also includes Hugh Jackman, Joaquin Phoenix in Paul Thomas Anderson’s cult drama The Master and former winner Denzel Washington, as an alcoholic pilot in The Flight.
All five supporting actors, including Silver Linings’ Robert De Niro, Argo‘s Alan Arkin, Phillip Seymour Hoffman in The Master, Christophe Waltz in Django Unchained and favorite Tommy Lee Jones have won an Oscar previously.
Anne Hathaway leads the supporting actress category for her role as the tragic Fantine, with competition from Amy Adams in The Master, Sally Field in Lincoln, Helen Hunt in The Sessions and Australia’s Jacki Weaver in Silver Linings Playbook.
Animated film The Pirates! Band of Misfits! (also known as Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists!) may also bring British success for Aardman Animations – of Wallace & Gromit fame – who have previously won four Oscars.
Producer Peter Lord called the nomination “amazing”.
“We tried to do something a little different with The Pirates, in terms of tone and comedy, and it’s just brilliant that the Academy has responded to it in such a wonderful way.”
The Oscars ceremony, which will feature a tribute to 50 years of the James Bond movie franchise, will be hosted by Seth MacFarlane, who created the animated series Family Guy.
The star, who is hosting for the first time, also secured an Oscar nomination on Thursday for best song, having written the lyrics for Everybody Needs A Best Friend from the movie Ted.
Elton John and David Furnish have welcomed their second child.
Sir Elton John and David Furnish- who already have a 2-year-old son, Zachary, together – have welcomed another child into the world via a surrogate.
According to the New York Post, the couple used the same California-based surrogate who gave birth to Zachary on Christmas Day 2010.
No further details about the birth or the baby have been revealed.
Last November, it was revealed Elton John and David Furnish were expecting their second child but had decided never to reveal the identity of the surrogate.
A source said: “Elton and David love this lady like a sister and they feel indebted to her for life.
“Naturally she has been well rewarded. But her identity will never be revealed. They are over the moon.”
Elton John and David Furnish have welcomed their second child
Elton John, 65, loves being a dad and has previously said he regretted waiting so long to have a child.
He said: “I think it changes everybody. It’s the most wonderful thing that you could possibly go through.
“I regret a little bit that I didn’t do it sooner, but he has changed our lives. Everything is about him now.
“He’s gorgeous, he travels brilliantly, he so loves people, and it makes our lives – he’s the icing on the cake.
“The first thing I do every morning is have breakfast with him. He shares my breakfast. Whatever I have, he wants.”
Zoe Harcombe spent a decade piecing together the answer to the question “Why do we overeat when all we want is to be slim?”.
Through experience and research she discovered three very common conditions that cause insatiable food cravings.
You may have heard of them, you may know that you have one or more of them, but you are unlikely to know how they have turned you into a food addict:
Candida: is a yeast that lives in all of us, but it can easily multiply out of control, creating many nasty symptoms – from bloating and fatigue to irritable bowel syndrome and mood swings.
Foods that encourage Candida growth are the ones you crave – bread, fruit, pickled foods, cereal: basically any processed carbohydrates.
The more you give in to the cravings, the more you feed this condition – and the more of a food addict you become.
Food Intolerance: occurs when you have the same foods every day and you literally become intolerant to them, but you crave them to avoid the withdrawal symptoms that occur when you don’t consume them.
The most common intolerances are to wheat and dairy foods – in that order.
We have cereal (wheat) and milk (dairy) for breakfast, sandwiches (wheat) and lattés (dairy) for lunch, pasta for dinner with maybe yogurt for dessert. No wonder wheat and dairy are our biggest problems.
Hypoglycaemia: is suffered by most people, most days at around 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. It’s that “can’t concentrate/must have some food” kind of feeling and it causes intense cravings for carbs – especially sweets and chocolate etc.
When blood glucose levels dip below normal, your body will do whatever it can to get you to eat something – to get the level back up.
When you get that 11 a.m./4 p.m. feeling – you reach for a muffin, or a bar of chocolate. Yet this gives you way more sugar than you need, so you may release too much insulin coping with this unrecognized modern “food” and then your blood sugar level dips again.
This is why many people find that they can’t stop eating once they start – you never manage to get stable blood sugar levels throughout the day.
Two books were to provide the key remaining bits of the puzzle: New Low Blood Sugar And You by Carlton Fredericks and Candida Albicans: Could yeast be your problem? by Leon Chaitow.
The final piece in the jigsaw was a show-stopper. There are many and varied causes of these three conditions, but they all have one cause in common – calorie counting.
Trying to eat less drives people down the route of eating more of the foods that make these problems worse.
Fruit, muesli bars, cereal, low-fat/low-calorie products – things that you think are healthy – are feeding these conditions beautifully. So, start a diet and you will end up a food addict – the pathway is as clear as that.
Zoë Harcombe, author of new book claiming to end food addiction, reveals how she finally won the battle of the bulge
And so Phase One of The Harcombe Diet was born. It only needed to be five days long – driven by food intolerance – as any food to which you are intolerant has passed through you in this time.
The core foods of meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, salads, brown rice and Natural Live Yoghurt (the latter helps to fight candida) emerged as the “super foods” that would fight these nasty ailments.
Candida and food intolerance both cause serious water retention, and pounds can be dropped in the first few days – shrinking you by one dress size in the process.
More typically, people lose 7 lb in five days – but without going hungry or counting a single calorie. In fact, it is vital that you eat plenty – trying to eat less will make you overeat faster than you can say “I’m starving!”.
Zoe Harcombe said: “Within days, not even weeks, of working out Phase One, I had reached my natural weight of eight stone and I have been there ever since. I could never have imagined that I could eat as much as I do and stay at my perfect weight so easily – not least while eating a 100g bar of 85 per cent dark chocolate every day!
“To say this has changed my life is an understatement. I wasted a decade of my life obsessed with food but terrified of it at the same time. I would turn down social invitations because I felt fat and then sit at home and stuff my face instead.
“I started every day thinking <<today will be different>>, but it never was because I simply did not know why I could not resist the urge to eat – not everything, but quite particular things: biscuits, chocolate, cakes, crisps…you know the foods I mean!
“I hated myself and beat myself up for my assumed lack of willpower, but it wasn’t my fault. I was an addict, and only when I understood the cause of the addiction could I overcome the causal conditions and get back in control of food.”
Freedom from any addiction is wonderful. Freedom from food addiction is the best thing of all, as we have to eat – we just need to be able to control what we eat and not have what we eat control us.
And so Zoe Harcombe wrote Why Do You Overeat? When All You Want Is To Be Slim.
She said: “I put my email address in the first edition of the first book – thinking that about 20 people would read it.
“Hundreds of emails later I realized that people were losing several pounds in Phase One, then going on to lose several more in Phase Two – and still keeping this weight off.” Some meal ideas on the Harcombe diet:
At least four people were injured in a car explosion in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, on Menachem Begin Street, a major thoroughfare.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said there was a strong possibility the blast was a criminal incident and a “settling of scores” but did not rule out political violence.
Israeli radio said the car belonged to the suspected head of an organized crime gang.
The black Mazda car burst into flames after being targeted by a motorcyclist nearby, Haaretz newspaper reported.
An empty bus nearby was also damaged in the explosion.
At least four people were injured in a car explosion in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, on Menachem Begin Street, a major thoroughfare
Israeli media say the car’s owner did not appear to have been in the vehicle at the time.
Correspondents say that in recent years Israel has become a ferocious battleground for criminal gangs involving several mafia families.
Wednesday’s blast initially prompted fears of a Palestinian militant attack. A blast in the city allegedly carried out by an Israeli Arab injured 15 people in November last year, during Israel’s campaign against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
Britney Spears has left The X Factor USA after just one season, as it has been claimed show boss Simon Cowell was about to fire her for being “boring”.
Britney Spears, 31, jumped before she was pushed as Simon Cowell, 53, made plans to terminate her $15 million contract after her judging style on the show had been heavily criticized, sources close to the show confirmed.
A source close to production explained: “Britney and her team knew it was unlikely she’d be asked back as a judge.
“The producers have already been making other plans for next season over the holidays.
“The reality is that toward the end of last season the main players knew they wanted to replace both Britney and LA Reid. LA Reid wasn’t at the top of his game in second season and he knew that.”
Britney Spears’ judging was heavily criticized throughout the last season, with critics dubbing her “boring”.
And show insiders complained that she insisted on having breaks every few contestants during auditions and was often unengaged in the whole process.
It was felt Britney Spears didn’t connect with her contestants, despite being employed to mentor them. Insiders complained that she would barely look at them on stage during the live round of the show.
“Most people didn’t expect Britney to make it through the season as its a demanding role but she did her best,” said a source.
Although the mother-of-two only lasted on the judges panel for one season it was an incredibly lucrative one.
Britney Spears has left The X Factor USA after just one season, as it has been claimed Simon Cowell was about to fire her for being boring
A previous report in Us Weekly pointed out that her $15 milllion contract had a lot to do with Simon Cowell’s decision, with one insider telling the publication: “They paid all that for her to say <<amazing>> and offer half-claps.”
At one time Simon Cowell had intimated to E! that he’d have Britney Spears back despite telling them he’s “pro change”, he said: “I don’t know yet, to be honest with you. I haven’t had the conversation with her whether she’d want to, what other commitments she’s got.”
Fellow judge L.A. Reid – a long-standing judge – already announced his departure to focus on his record label.
Midas-alike Simon Cowell has struggled to repeat the success of the smash hit British show since it debuted across the Atlantic in the autumn of 2011.
After the initial disappointing season, Simon Cowell fired judges Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger and host Steve Jones in January.
He then went all out to get a big name signing; and nobody could argue with Britney’s pedigree when she signed on the dotted line for the svengali.
Not only is she one of the biggest pop stars in the world; but her soap opera past lends the blonde an inherent fascination lacking in other stars.
But sadly that never translated into her on-screen presence, and Simon Cowell’s coup became a damp squib.
The blonde flubbed lines and often seemed disconnected from the the show’s narrative.
The December 20 second season finale was watched by 9.6 million viewers, down 18% from the first season finale.
Despite the setbacks, Simon Cowell himself is unlikely to be looking for another job anytime soon.
Artists discovered by the X Factor have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, including 110 No. 1’s, 270 Top 10, and 501 Top 50 releases – and the show has been commissioned in 41 territories.
Simon Cowell – who according to Forbes made $90 million last year alone – also saw his TV production business, Simco, boosted by 138% last year, mainly due to the launch of the Fox TV talent show.
His company also reported that total turnover almost doubled to £54.6 million ($87.89 million) in the year to 31 March 2012.
