Venezuela’s Supreme Court has ruled that the delay of President Hugo Chavez’s inauguration for a new term in office is legal.
Earlier, the National Assembly voted to give Hugo Chavez as much time as he needed to recover from cancer surgery.
The opposition argues that Hugo Chavez’s current mandate expires on 10 January, the day he is due to be sworn in.
Hugo Chavez is in hospital in Cuba and has suffered complications caused by a lung infection.
Supreme Court President Luisa Estella Morales said it would be “absurd” to consider Hugo Chavez’s treatment in Cuba as an unauthorised absence.
She said that the oath of office could be taken at a later date, as the constitution states, and Hugo Chavez’s re-election had guaranteed “continuity” in government.
In a televised statement, Estella Morales read out the unanimous decision of the panel of seven magistrates who handle constitutional issues before the court.
She said there was a clear distinction between the act of taking the oath and the beginning of a new mandate.
Venezuela’s Supreme Court has ruled that the delay of President Hugo Chavez’s inauguration for a new term in office is legal
The Supreme Court considered the swearing-in an important formality, but not indispensable for the start of the new presidential term, she said.
According to the opposition, Hugo Chavez should be declared temporarily incapacitated with the current Speaker of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, not Vice-President Nicolas Maduro, taking over as caretaker leader.
They argue that Nicolas Maduro, who was appointed by Hugo Chavez not elected, will cease to be vice-president on 10 January.
But Estella Morales said that “the executive power made up of the president, vice-president, ministers and other organs, as well as administration officials, will continue to carry out their functions under the principle of administrative continuity”.
She said that the swearing-in ceremony would no doubt happen.
“But at this moment, we can’t say when, how, or where he [the president] will be sworn in,” Estella Morales said.
President Hugo Chavez, who has been in power since 1999 and was re-elected in October for a fourth term, has not been seen or heard in public for almost a month.
Diosdado Cabello has called on Hugo Chavez supporters to take to the streets of Caracas on Thursday to show support for him.
He said several foreign leaders had agreed to be at the Miraflores Presidential Palace on inauguration day.
New York Seastreak Wall Street ferry has hit a dock during the Manhattan rush hour, injuring as many as 57 people and tearing a hole in the vessel’s bow.
More than a dozen passengers were seen lying on dockside stretchers under blankets as they awaited medical attention on a chilly January morning.
Two people have been critically injured, the Associated Press reported.
The Seastreak Wall Street ferry hit the mooring as it docked about 08:45 after a trip from New Jersey.
The ferry, which was carrying about 340 passengers and five crew members, was able to dock and witnesses say people rushed to disembark.
Of 11 people with serious injuries, the most severe is believed to be a head trauma sustained by a passenger who fell down some stairs as a result of the crash, the Associated Press reported.
Pier 11 in Lower Manhattan has not closed as a result of the collision, avoiding a major disruption to water traffic.
The 140 ft (43 m) vessel remains afloat.
New York Seastreak Wall Street ferry has hit a dock during the Manhattan rush hour, injuring as many as 57 people and tearing a hole in the vessel’s bow
“We don’t know what happened,” a still-bleeding passenger told the New York Daily News.
“The boat hit something, and we went flying. People were bleeding all over the place.”
A woman who witnessed the crash from the dock told CBS News the boat did not appear to have been coming in at high speed, but said “it was a very hard hit”.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has visited the scene of the crash, along with senior police, fire and emergency management officials.
Manhattan, an island, is served by several commuter ferry lines, the largest of which brings passengers from the Staten Island borough.
In 2003, 11 people were killed and dozens injured when a Staten Island ferry boat crashed into a pier on Staten Island, across New York Harbor from Manhattan. Dozens more were injured in a State Island ferry crash in 2010.
Elvis Presley fans from as far as Japan and Brazil gathered Tuesday in Memphis to sing ”Happy Birthday” to the late rock ‘n’ roll legend on the day he would have turned 78.
Hundreds of Elvis Presley devotees watched as 13-year-old Isabella Scott cut a birthday cake on the lawn at Graceland, the singer’s longtime Memphis home. Scott, of Bonifay, Florida, heads an Internet-based Elvis fan club with more than 2,000 members.
The mayors of Memphis and Shelby County also read a proclamation of Elvis Presley Day during the ceremony, which was attended by fans from Brazil, England, France, Japan, Spain and the U.S.
Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935, and moved to Memphis with his parents at age 13. He was 42 when he died August 16, 1977.
Elvis Presley recorded his first song That’s All Right at Sun Studio in Memphis in 1954 and made the West Tennessee city his primary home until his death.
Elvis Presley fans from as far as Japan and Brazil gathered Tuesday in Memphis on the day he would have turned 78
“Like coffee and cream, grits and gravy, peanut butter and bananas … Memphis and Elvis is a combination that was just meant to be,” Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. told the crowd.
Fans have been celebrating since Saturday, when The Memphis Symphony Orchestra presented a concert commemorating the 40th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s landmark Aloha from Hawaii show.
A new exhibit about Elvis Presley’s movies and concerts in Hawaii opened Tuesday at the Graceland tourist attraction, which is across the street from the mansion.
US civil war drama, Lincoln has led 2013 BAFTA Film Awards with 10 nominations including best film and best actor for Daniel Day-Lewis.
Daniel Day-Lewis’s co-stars Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field have been shortlisted for best supporting actor and actress.
However, the film’s award-winning director Steven Spielberg missed out in the best director category.
Musical adaptation Les Miserables and Ang Lee’s Life of Pi have both received nine nominations.
Following closely behind the leaders pack was Bond film Skyfall with eight nominations, including best British film and best supporting actor and actress for Javier Bardem and Judi Dench.
It will battle it out with four other titles to be named outstanding British film at the awards ceremony on February 10.
They were The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Anna Karenina, Les Miserables, and Seven Psychopaths.
The nominations were announced by Alice Eve and Jeremy Irvine at the The British Academy of Film and Television Arts headquarters in London on Wednesday.
Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman have been recognized in the lead actor and supporting actress categories in Tom Hooper’s big-screen adaptation of Les Miserables.
Political thriller Argo has received seven nominations with Ben Affleck in the running for best director and best actor.
Other American movies to feature in the shortlist for this year’s BAFTA awards were Zero Dark Thirty with five nominations, including best director for Kathryn Bigelow and Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master which received four.
Silver Linings Playbook garnered nods for Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in the best actress and best actor categories. The romantic comedy-drama has also been nominated for best adapted screenplay.
Dame Helen Mirren has been nominated for best actress for her role as Alfred Hitchcock’s wife in Hitchcock.
“This was a wonderful role,” said Helen Mirren.
She added: “Alma Reville was more than Hitchcock’s wife, in many ways she was his muse, his assistant, his editor and more, and I am proud to have had the opportunity to portray her.”
There were some notable exclusions in this year’s shortlist.
Lincoln has led 2013 BAFTA Film Awards with 10 nominations including best film and best actor for Daniel Day-Lewis
While Les Miserables was the only British film to feature in both the best film and best British film categories, its Oscar-winning director, Tom Hooper, missed out on a director’s nod while another British Oscar-winner, Sam Mendes, was also left out of the same category for Skyfall.
Eric Fellner of Working Title Films, which produced Les Miserables, said Tom Hooper may be upset he was left off the roll for best director “on a personal level”.
“But on a professional level he’ll realize he’s made a film that’s got nine nominations and as far as we’re concerned, the director is the heart and centre of all the films that we make and it’s just not possible to get nine nominations without great directorial input.”
He added: “The great news is that yesterday, Tom Hooper got a Directors Guild of America (DGA) nomination, which is really prestigious.”
James Bond star Daniel Craig, who was nominated for his role as the suave spy in the film Casino Royale, also missed out in the acting category.
Though the film is in the running for best British film, it means the Bond series is still looking for its first ever nomination for best film.
Anna Karenina, based on the original Tolstoy novel and directed by Joe Wright, received a total of six nominations, including best British film. It is also in the running for best original music, and best cinematography.
There were just three technical nominations for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
Searching for Sugar Man, the true story of the 1970s rocker Rodriguez is up against The Imposter, about the 1997 case of the French confidence man Frederic Bourdin for best documentary.
Also in the category were McCullin, West of Memphis and Marley.
Director of The Imposter, Bart Layton, who was nominated for outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer, said he did a “double take” when the nominations were announced.
“I think this is one of the strongest years for documentaries that I can remember across the board, so the fact that we made it into that final group [is amazing].
“It is a documentary, but it should be up there competing with non-documentaries. The fact it’s been acknowledged in that context is testament to that being successful,” he said.
Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or-winner, Amour, about an octogenarian couple coping with illness received four nominations, with Emmanuelle Riva, 85, announced as in the running for best actress and Haneke up for best director.
Completing the line up for best director was Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained, which received a total of five nominations, including best supporting actor for Christoph Waltz.
The nominees for this year’s BAFTA rising star award were announced on Monday with four out of the five contenders female.
Juno Temple, Andrea Riseborough, Elizabeth Olsen, Alicia Vikander and Life of Pi actor Suraj Sharma have all been tipped as the future stars of cinema.
Previous winners include James McAvoy, Kristen Stewart and Tom Hardy.
It is the only accolade at the annual awards ceremony to be voted for by the public.
The winners of the 2013 BAFTA film awards will be announced at a ceremony which takes place for the seventh year running at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London, hosted by Stephen Fry.
The shortlist for 2013 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Film Awards have been announced in London, with Stephen Spielberg’s film Lincoln receiving 10 nominations.
The full list of nominees:
BEST FILM
Argo
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
Anna Karenina
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Miserables
Seven Psychopaths
Skyfall
LEADING ACTOR
Ben Affleck – Argo
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
LEADING ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard – Rust and Bone
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Dame Helen Mirren – Hitchcock
Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin – Argo
Javier Bardem – Skyfall
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams – The Master
Dame Judi Dench – Skyfall
Sally Field – Lincoln
Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables
Helen Hunt – The Sessions
DIRECTOR
Ben Affleck – Argo
Kathryn Bigelow – Zero Dark Thirty
Michael Haneke – Amour
Ang Lee – Life of Pi
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Amour – Michael Haneke
Django Unchained – Quentin Tarantino
The Master – Paul Thomas Anderson
Moonrise Kingdom – Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty – Mark Boal
The shortlist for 2013 BAFTA Film Awards have been announced in London, with Stephen Spielberg’s film Lincoln receiving 10 nominations
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Argo – Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild – Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi – David Magee
Lincoln – Tony Kushner
Silver Linings Playbook – David O Russell
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
James Bobin (director) – The Muppets
Dexter Fletcher (director/writer) and Danny King (writer) – Wild Bill
Tina Gharavi (director/writer) – I Am Nasrine
Bart Layton (director) and Dmitri Doganis (producer) – The Imposter
David Morris (director) and Jaqui Morris (director/producer) – McCullin
Forty-eight Iranians held hostage by rebels in Syria since August have been freed, Iranian state TV reports.
The Iranians were released in exchange for 2,130 prisoners held by the Syrian authorities, a Turkish charity said.
Rebel fighters claimed the hostages had been carrying out a mission on behalf of Syrian government forces.
Iran said a number were retired members of the armed forces, but insisted they were pilgrims who had visited a Shia shrine in the south-east of Damascus.
Officials at the Iranian Pilgrimage and Travel Organization said the group included university students and some public servants.
Shortly after they were seized, the Free Syrian Army’s al-Bara Brigade said it had evidence showing that the Iranians belonged to the Revolutionary Guards and had come to Syria to “serve the regime”.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army, Ahmed al-Khatib, told the AFP news agency that the hostages had been freed.
The Syrian government has not yet confirmed their release and Iranian state TV made no mention of a swap deal.
But earlier, the Turkish Islamic aid organization, Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), said 2,130 civilian prisoners would be released by the Syrian authorities in return for the Iranians.
Forty-eight Iranians held hostage by rebels in Syria since August have been freed
“Most of the prisoners to be swapped are Syrian citizens in exchange for Iranians, and there are a few Turks as well,” IHH board member Osman Atalay told Reuters news agency.
The head of the agency, Bulent Yildirim, was in Damascus to help co-ordinate the prisoner swap, which was already under way, he added.
The Turkish state news agency, Anadolu, said the deal was brokered by Turkey and Qatar, which have backed the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, in which the UN says at least 60,000 people have died.
Meanwhile, the UN’s envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, will meet top US and Russian diplomats in Geneva on Friday, Russia’s Interfax news agency reports, citing the country’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Mikhail Bogdanov.
The meeting will take place less than a week after President Assad dismissed any chance of dialogue with the opposition in a speech on Sunday, and called on Syrians to fight the “murderous criminals” he claimed were responsible for the violence in their country.
On Monday, a spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he had been disappointed that the speech did not “contribute to a solution that could end the terrible suffering of the Syrian people”.
Ban Ki-moon and Lakhdar Brahimi strongly support the peace plan outlined by the Action Group for Syria in June.
The group called for an immediate cessation of violence and the establishment of a transitional government that could include officials serving under President Bashar al-Assad and members of the opposition.
Lakhdar Brahimi has said any plan must also include a “large, robust peacekeeping force” to ensure the ceasefire is observed.
India says one of two soldiers killed in an alleged cross-border attack by Pakistan troops in the disputed territory of Kashmir was beheaded.
Pakistan has rejected accusations that it killed any Indian soldiers or fired across the Line of Control (LoC) which divides Kashmir.
India called the attack “barbaric” and summoned Pakistan’s top envoy in Delhi over the incident.
Claimed by both countries, Kashmir has been a flashpoint for over 60 years.
A statement from the Indian foreign ministry said the soldiers’ bodies had been subjected to “barbaric and inhuman mutilation” which was “in contravention of all norms of international conduct”.
India’s chief military spokesman said one of the soldiers had been beheaded by the Pakistani army.
Troops searched the area afterwards but could not find the head, the spokesman said. India believes the Pakistanis took the head with them when they retreated.
The spokesman confirmed the body of the other soldier had been mutilated but would not give any further details.
The Pakistani foreign ministry says India’s allegations are “baseless” and it is willing to have a UN investigation.
A Pakistani military official said Pakistan had verified the facts on the ground and found “nothing of the sort” had happened.
He denounced the Indian claim as “propaganda” to divert attention away from a clash on the LoC two days earlier.
India says one of two soldiers killed in an alleged cross-border attack by Pakistan troops in the disputed territory of Kashmir was beheaded
Pakistan said one of its soldiers was killed on 6 January after an Indian incursion. India denies its soldiers crossed the line.
India says a patrol was attacked by Pakistani soldiers near the Line of Control (LoC) on Tuesday. It says two soldiers were killed in the firefight near Mendhar, 220 km (140 miles) north of the Indian city of Jammu.
The battle lasted about half an hour before “the intruders retreated back towards their side” of the LoC, an Indian statement said.
Defence Minister AK Antony told reporters that the “Pakistan army’s action is highly objectionable and also the way they treated the body of the Indian soldier is inhuman”.
Pakistan’s high commissioner in Delhi was summoned to a meeting with the Indian foreign secretary.
Earlier, Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid pledged a “proportionate” response to the attack.
He said Tuesday’s incident was an “attempt to derail the dialogue” between the two countries.
Exchanges in the disputed area are not uncommon but rarely result in fatalities.
There has been a ceasefire in Kashmir since late 2003.
India suspended a peace process with Pakistan following attacks by Pakistan-based militants in Mumbai in 2008. Negotiations resumed in February last year.
Thousands of people have been killed in Indian-administered Kashmir since an armed revolt against Indian rule erupted in 1989.
Last month, India and Pakistan signed an agreement to ease visa restrictions on travel for some citizens.
Kashmir dispute
Claimed by both India and Pakistan; divided by the Indian Independence Act of 1947
Jammu and Kashmir is the only Indian state with a Muslim majority (60%)
Sparked wars between India and Pakistan in 1947-48 and 1965
Third conflict in 1999, when Pakistani-backed forces infiltrated Indian-controlled territory in the Kargil area
Armed revolt against Indian rule erupted in 1989, since when thousands have been killed
Fears it could trigger a nuclear conflict, as Pakistan and India both declared themselves nuclear powers in 1998
Ceasefire across Line of Control (LoC) agreed in 2003
Two fresh setbacks have hit Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner plane, two days after an electrical fire broke out on board a Japan Airlines Dreamliner on Monday.
In the latest incident, Japan’s All Nippon Airways cancelled a domestic 787 flight from Yamaguchi to Tokyo on Wednesday because of a brake problem.
On Tuesday, Japan Airlines cancelled a Boston to Tokyo flight after about 40 gallons (151 litres) of fuel spilled.
Passengers got off safely and no-one was hurt, an airport spokesman said.
A spokeswoman for Japan Airlines, Carol Anderson, said on Tuesday that the second Dreamliner had returned to the gate because of mechanical issues and details were not yet confirmed, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, the US National Transportation Safety Board said that it would not investigate Tuesday’s incident, because there had not been an accident.
Commenting on the ANA flight, a spokesman at Yamaguchi Ube airport in western Japan said the flight was cancelled because brake parts from the rear left undercarriage needed to be replaced.
Two fresh setbacks have hit Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner plane, two days after an electrical fire broke out on board a Japan Airlines Dreamliner on Monday
ANA was the first company to take delivery of a Dreamliner and started providing flights on the aircraft in October 2011.
On Monday, a fire broke out in a Dreamliner operated by Japan Airlines soon after it landed in Boston from Tokyo.
The fire started after a battery in the jet’s auxiliary power system overheated.
Nobody was hurt as passengers and crew had already disembarked.
The Dreamliner is one of the most advanced planes ever built. However, a spate of technical issues has hurt its image.
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.
To add to Boeing’s woes, the US Federal Aviation Administration said in December that it had identified errors in the assembly of fuel line couplings in the Dreamliner.
It warned that these errors could result in fuel leaking on to hot engine parts and start a fire, cause engine failure, or simply see the plane run out of fuel.
Analysts said the latest incident on the Japan Airlines flight was a blow to Boeing.
“Even though it happened on the ground, rest assured the FAA is asking, <<What if it happened in the air?>>,” Carter Leake, an analyst at BB&T Capital Markets in Virginia.
Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj have revealed that their cat fighting on American Idol isn’t an act – and their latest public snipe-fest is proof.
The judges of the hit singing show were at a press conference for the Television Critics Association Winter Tour on Tuesday morning and while things started out pleasantly enough with the two stars complementing each other, the atmosphere soon soured.
When asked if their sparring was real or merely a ploy to generate more buzz about the show, Mariah Carey, said: “It’s a passionate panel. The fight is what it is.”
According to the blog Vulture.com, a journalist then asked the warring women to say something nice about each other.
Nicki Minaj, 30, went first and said: “I say nice things about Mariah all the time. She is one of my favorite artists of all time.
“To be on a panel with her, it’s kind of crazy. All the singers come in aspiring to be Mariah, in terms of talent and in terms of career length.”
Mariah Carey apparently “flinched” before replying: “That was a very sweet thing to say.
“We did a song that was from my album and it was called, ironically, Up Out My Face. It was one of my favorite songs.”
Mariah Carey added: “And I did feel like she was going to go very far and still have that feeling. I am grateful for anything nice that she or anyone has to say.”
Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj have revealed that their cat fighting on American Idol isn’t an act, and their latest public snipe-fest is proof
The stars both agreed that their fighting – most sensationally seen on leaked footage from an audition last October – “distracts” from the show so they decided to put in behind them.
However, it wasn’t long before the simmering animosity between the two resurfaced.
“It was sort of a one-sided thing,” Mariah Carey said.
“No, it wasn’t!” Nicki Minaj snapped back.
“See? They don’t want a rising star, they want drama.”
Throughout the rest of the press conference the pair rolled their eyes at each other’s comments, sneered or just stared daggers at each other.
Separated by the other judges, Keith Urban and Randy Jackson who tried to keep the peace, Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey also seemed to be competing in the style and cleavage displaying stakes too.
Both were pouring out of their dresses – Mariah Carey opted for a strapless, emerald green mini dress with strappy Louboutins while Nicki Minaj wore a short gold, grey and white number.
The Make Me Proud singer also sported skyscraper Louboutins and both went for big, voluminous hair and fierce jewellery.
And to make things even more awkward, Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj each said they neither of them would ever have entered a reality singing contest at the start of their careers.
Meanwhile, Kevin Bacon and James Purefoy shared a bromantic kiss during the TCA panel for their new show The Following.
Tax policy rarely makes headlines in France, but the row between Gerard Depardieu and the government has given the issue unusual prominence in recent weeks.
Gerard Depardieu’s opposition to plans for a new 75% rate of income tax prompted him to announce last month that he was leaving the country. When Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called the move “shabby”, the actor said he would tear up his French passport.
The row took a new twist last week, when Gerard Depardieu applied for Russian citizenship, professing his love for a “great democracy”. Russian President Vladimir Putin gave him his new passport in person at the weekend.
The very public row between a larger-than-life personality and the Socialist government has put the issue of tax exiles to the fore.
But over the years many sportsmen, entertainers and economic leaders have quietly chosen to leave France for a variety of reasons.
Switzerland – the adoptive homes of celebrities from the world over – appears to be the destination of choice for prominent French exiles.
Tax policy rarely makes headlines in France, but the row between Gerard Depardieu and the government has given the issue unusual prominence in recent weeks
Singer Charles Aznavour – who had public rows over taxes with French authorities in 1970s – has lived there for four decades.
Actor Alain Delon set up a luxury goods company in his name in Geneva in 1978 and acquired Swiss citizenship in 1999.
Singer Johnny Hallyday moved to the ski resort of Gstaad in 2006. Media reports suggest he is paying much less in tax in Switzerland than he would in France at the moment – let alone if he had to face a 75% rate over 1 million euros in earnings.
World rally champion Sebastien Loeb became a Swiss resident in 2003. Three years ago he gave the following reason for the move: “French taxes are huge and the career of a sportsman does not last forever.”
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, France’s top male tennis player, has resided in Switzerland since 2008, although he has not cited lower taxes as a reason for his decision.
Other past and present French tennis stars who have become Swiss residents include Guy Forget, Amelie Mauresmo, Richard Gasquet, Gilles Simon, Fabrice Santoro, Gael Montfils, Cedric Pioline, Henri Leconte, and Marion Bartoli.
French-speaking southern Belgium is favored by some. Gerard Depardieu announced he was buying a house there last month. The Meunier family, which controls Carrefour, a supermarket chain, lives just across the border from France.
Bernard Arnault, head of the luxury goods group LVMH and France’s richest man, applied for Belgian citizenship in September – although he denied that this was for tax reasons, and said he would continue to pay taxes in France.
The actor Christian Clavier, Gerard Depardieu’s fellow star in the Asterix film franchise, moved to London last year. His agent described the move as temporary and not motivated by taxes.
Experts are questioning whether diet drinks could raise depression risk, after a large study has found a link.
The US research in more than 250,000 people found depression was more common among frequent consumers of artificially sweetened beverages.
The work, which will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting, did not look at the cause for this link.
Drinking coffee was linked with a lower risk of depression.
People who drank four cups a day were 10% less likely to be diagnosed with depression during the 10-year study period than those who drank no coffee.
But those who drank four cans or glasses of diet fizzy drinks or artificially sweetened juice a day increased their risk of depression by about a third.
Experts are questioning whether diet drinks could raise depression risk, after a large study has found a link
Lead researcher Dr. Honglei Chen, of the National Institutes of Health in North Carolina, said: “Our research suggests that cutting out or down on sweetened diet drinks or replacing them with unsweetened coffee may naturally help lower your depression risk.”
But he said more studies were needed to explore this.
There are many other factors that may be involved.
And the findings – in people in their 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s and living in the US – might not apply to other populations.
The safety of sweeteners, like aspartame, has been extensively tested by scientists and is assured by regulators.
Gaynor Bussell, of the British Dietetic Association, said: “Sweeteners used to be called <<artificial>> sweeteners and unfortunately the term ‘artificial’ has evoked suspicion. As a result, sweeteners have been very widely tested and reviewed for safety and the ones on the market have an excellent safety track record.
“However, the studies on them continue and this one has thrown up a possibly link – not a cause and effect – with depression.”
She said the study was a “one-off” and did not mean that sweeteners caused depression.
“For a start, people who suffer from depression may latch on to the idea that it is their sweetened beverages that caused it and so add a bias to their reporting of past intake, especially as <<soda>> in the US is demonized even more than in the UK. Also, it may be that drinking <<diet>> drinks is a marker for obesity or diabetes which in themselves can cause depression.
“Non-calorific sweeteners can play a useful role in the diets of those trying to lose weight and diabetics and it is certainly not advocated that people should replace their diet sodas with more coffee.”
Few complementary therapies appear to help musculoskeletal conditions like arthritis, say British experts who have looked at the available trial evidence.
Most alternative treatments have either not been scientifically tested or subjected to limited investigations, says Arthritis Research UK.
Of 25 therapies, only a handful were judged to have enough medical evidence to support their use.
These included acupuncture, massage, tai chi and yoga.
Very little evidence was found in support of commonly-used therapies such as copper bracelets and magnetic therapy for arthritis, fibromyalgia or lower back pain.
For their analysis the researchers searched for randomized controlled trials – comparing the given therapy with a placebo, usual care or another treatment – that had been written up in English and published before the end of May 2011.
For arthritis, they found 53 trials of 14 different therapies among nearly 6,000 patients. Only tai chi and acupuncture appeared to work.
For fibromyalgia there were 50 trials of 17 different therapies in more than 3,000 patients. Acupuncture and massage came out top, closely followed by tai chi and relaxation therapy.
For sore backs, yoga and acupuncture appeared the most effective, and there was some evidence to also support the use of osteopathy and relaxation therapy as well as the Alexander technique which focuses on posture and movement.
Lower back pain was the most investigated condition, with 75 trials of 14 different therapies across over 11,600 participants.
According to the lead author of the report, Dr. Gareth Jones from the University of Aberdeen, there is very little evidence for most complementary therapies.
“There’s either no evidence that they’re effective or there’s some evidence that they are not effective.
“But there are some exceptions, like acupuncture and the whole body therapies like massage and tai chi, which do appear to work.”
Reassuringly, all of the therapies looked at are relatively safe with only minor side effects, even if they may not be effective, says Dr. Gareth Jones.
But they could be a waste of money, he says.
Few complementary therapies appear to help musculoskeletal conditions like arthritis
Estimates suggest each year £250 million ($400 million) is spent on complementary medicines, including supplements.
“This is an enormous cost for something without much evidence to show it works.
“People might be wasting their money.
“Some of these therapies are provided on the NHS.”
He said the NHS should evaluate which alternative therapies it offers: “If there’s evidence that something does not work they should take a serous look at whether they should be offering it.”
Terry Cullen of the British Complementary Medicine Association said: “I am not disappointed or surprised that a number of therapies did not indicate any apparent benefit – there are no treatment panaceas in any form of medicine.”
He said there was insufficient funding available to carry out extensive and meaningful trials to prove the worth of alternative therapies.
“Slowly, but surely, complementary and alternative therapies are being recognized as a having health and well-being value,” he said.
Lance Armstrong will be interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, amid reports that he might publicly admit to doping.
Cyclist Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles by the sport’s governing body, following a report by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).
Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network said the 90-minute interview would address “years of accusations of cheating”.
Lance Armstrong has maintained his innocence as he received a life ban from USADA.
But the New York Times reported on Friday that the 41-year-old was considering a public admission that he used banned performance-enhancing drugs. An admission could lead to an apparent bid to return to competing in marathons and triathlons, the paper reported.
The interview announcement was first made on Oprah Winfrey’s Twitter account on Tuesday, and confirmed when Lance Armstrong retweeted it 15 minutes later.
The interview – his first since being stripped of his wins – will be broadcast on January 17 on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network and live-streamed online.
Lance Armstrong will be interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, amid reports that he might publicly admit to doping
Lance Armstrong ended his fight against doping charges in August 2012. In October, USADA released a 1,000-page report saying he had been at the heart of “the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme” ever seen in sport.
He was stripped of his titles by the International Cycling Union (UCI) shortly afterwards and given a lifetime ban from the sport.
Lance Armstrong also resigned as chairman of the Livestrong foundation – the cancer charity he created – after the cycling body’s decision.
His lawyer, Tim Herman, has described the USADA report as a “one-sided hatchet job” and the cyclist himself has accused the agency of offering “corrupt inducements” to other riders to speak out against him.
It is believed he is considering an admission because he wants to resume his athletic career, and has shown an interest in competing in triathlons.
Asked whether the 41-year-old was set to come clean, Tim Herman told the New York Times: “Lance has to speak for himself on that.”
Separately, the head of USADA told a US investigative programme that Lance Armstrong offered the agency a donation of some $250,000 in 2004, reports said.
Speaking to 60 Minutes Sport, to be broadcast in the US on Wednesday, Travis Tygart said the offer was a “clear conflict of interest” and quickly rejected.
Venezuela’s National Assembly has approved a request by President Hugo Chavez to postpone his inauguration for a new term in office, which was scheduled for Thursday, January 10.
Hugo Chavez is in hospital in Cuba after cancer surgery, and has suffered complications caused by a lung infection.
Legislators voted to give Hugo Chavez as much time as he needs to recover.
He has not been seen in public since his last operation a month ago.
Earlier, Vice-President Nicolas Maduro had confirmed that Hugo Chavez would be unable to attend the ceremony.
Venezuela’s opposition has called for the Supreme Court to rule on what should be done if Hugo Chavez is absent.
Its leader, Henrique Capriles, says Hugo Chavez should be declared absent, with the speaker of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, taking over as interim president.
President Hugo Chavez, who has been in power since 1999, was re-elected in October for a fourth term.
The government insists that the inauguration is a mere formality for an incumbent leader.
Venezuela’s National Assembly has approved a request by President Hugo Chavez to postpone his inauguration for a new term in office
After weeks of speculation, Diosdado Cabello announced to legislators that Hugo Chavez had requested to be sworn in at a later date before the Supreme Court, according to Article 231 of the Constitution.
“On the recommendation of his medical team, the process of post-operation recuperation will have to be prolonged beyond 10 January, [as a result of which] he will be unable to present himself on this date to the National Assembly,” he said, reading a letter from Vice President Nicolas Maduro.
On Monday, Diosdado Cabello called on Hugo Chavez supporters to take to the streets of Caracas on Thursday to show support for him.
He said several foreign leaders had agreed to be at the Miraflores Presidential Palace on inauguration day.
But Henrique Capriles urged them to stay away and not succumb to “a game by a political party”, meaning Hugo Chavez’s ruling party.
In his most recent update on Hugo Chavez, Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said his condition was “stable”, and he was “responding to the treatment”.
Venezuela’s constitution
Article 231: The president-elect shall take office on January 10 of the first year of their constitutional term, by taking an oath before the National Assembly. If for any reason, (they) cannot be sworn in before the National Assembly, they shall take the oath of office before the Supreme Court.
Article 233:(…) When there is an absolute absence of the president-elect before taking office, there shall be a new election by universal, direct and secret vote within the next 30 consecutive days. Pending the election and inauguration of the new president, the president of the National Assembly will assume responsibility for the presidency of the Republic.
If the absence of the president of the Republic occurs during the first four years of the constitutional period, there shall be a new election by universal, direct and secret vote within 30 consecutive days. Pending the election and inauguration of the new president, the executive vice-president will be responsible for the presidency of the Republic.
Article 234: When the president is temporarily unable to serve, they shall be replaced by the executive vice-president for a period of up to 90 days, which may be extended by resolution of the National Assembly for an additional 90 days.
From a cornflower blue dress from Zara to a pair of vibrant pink jeans, Kate Middleton’s wardrobe choices have sent high street sales soaring with shoppers desperate to emulate her impeccable style.
But it seems that not everyone is reaping the rewards of the “Kate effect”, with designer Roland Mouret admitting that Kim Kardashian has more selling power than the Duchess.
Kate Middleton wowed the world when she stepped out in one of his show-stopping cream gowns at Claridge’s last year, but French designer Roland Mouret said the 30-year-old doesn’t boost his sales as much as reality TV star Kim Kardashian.
“You don’t see hundreds of women running around looking like her [Kate Middleton],” he said.
“To be honest, we’re more likely to get orders on a dress that Kim Kardashian’s worn,” he told The Telegraph.
Roland Mouret has admitted that Kim Kardashian has more selling power than Kate Middleton
Roland Mouret attributes this to the fact that the Duchess has no interested in drawing in the attention of the media, unlike Kim Kardashian who lets the media follow her life on a daily basis.
Speaking about Kate Middleton’s fashion choices, Roland Mouret said: “She’s highly attuned to those details that will provoke a tabloid frenzy and above all, she does not want a tabloid frenzy.
“She doesn’t seem to feel the need to dress sexily to woo the world.
“She’s dressing for William and herself.”
And it seems that the Duchess is so afraid of the media frenzy that she once asked for one of her gowns to be altered to fit less tightly.
“She doesn’t want a bottom situation like Pippa had,” said Roland Mouret.
Roland Mouret earned himself the much coveted title of “King of the dress” after his Galaxy dress was named the “dress of the decade” and worn by every A-lister in tinsel town.
But after a few years out of the glare of the spotlight, Roland Mouret is back and ready to give his own iconic number a run for its money with a brand new collection – no doubt hoping for the endorsement of both Kim Kardashian and the Duchess of Cambridge.
According to the UN, 1 million Syrians are going hungry and helpless due to the 22-month civil conflict in the country.
The World Food Program (WFP) says it is helping 1.5 million Syrians, but continued fighting and an inability to use the port of Tartus to deliver food mean many people are not receiving aid.
The UN estimates that more than 60,000 people have been killed in the uprising, which began in March 2011.
Rebels have gained control of swathes of northern Syria in recent months.
The increasingly dangerous situation meant the WFP had pulled its staff out of its offices in Homs, Aleppo, Tartus and Qamisly, said agency spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs.
According to the UN, 1 million Syrians are going hungry and helpless due to the 22-month civil conflict in the country
Late 2012 saw a sharp rise in the number of attacks on WFP aid trucks, said the agency, which has also been hit by fuel shortages.
Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency said the number of refugees fleeing the violence in Syria had leapt by nearly 100,000 in the past month.
It said there were 597,240 registered refugees and individuals awaiting registration as of January 6 – up from 509,559 the month before.
The UN estimates that around four million Syrians are in need of humanitarian aid.
Opposition forces have been making considerable gains in recent weeks, but their efforts to take control of areas around major cities including Damascus have met with stiff resistance and increasingly destructive air strikes.
On Monday, the New York Times reported that Israeli intelligence indicated Syrian troops were mixing chemicals – suspected to be the deadly nerve gas sarin – at two storage sites, and filling dozens of 500-pound (225 kg) bombs that could be loaded on airplanes.
The reports in late November prompted a flurry of international statements warning the regime of President Bashar al-Assad against using chemical weapons on his own people.
It seems Lindsay Lohan has managed to take on another legend in the guise of Marilyn Monroe for another movie.
Although Lindsay Lohan has taken a rather more controversial slant to the role of the iconic beauty.
A trailer for upcoming film InAPPropriate Comedy shows Lindsay Lohan in her cameo alongside Adrien Brody in the eyebrow raising picture.
And it seems Lindsay Lohan’s up to her usual controversial antics as she’s seen wearing a white dress like the one worn by Marilyn Monroe during her iconic moment when her dress blows up in The Seven Year Itch.
Lindsay Lohan mimics the moment by standing on a pavement with her similar halterneck white frock blowing up in the air to almost reveal her modesty.
She even completed her look with platinum blonde hair and lashings of lipstick to emphasize her pout.
And then Lindsay Lohan can be seen facing a row or paparazzi before taking a gun hidden from behind her dress and shooting the photographers.
Lindsay Lohan having a Marilyn Monroe moment in InAPPropriate Comedy trailer
A description for the movie details Lindsay Lohan’s moment as her character living out “her fantasy of taking an ultimate revenge on the salivating paparazzi who haunt her”.
Lindsay Lohan appears alongside Adrien Brody in the comedy, which lives up to its name if the new trailer is anything to go by.
She is also due to appear in the thriller The Canyons with James Deen, and Scary Movie 5 with Charlie Sheen later this year.
It makes a nice change for Lindsay Lohan to be showing she’s been hard at work as opposed to her usual press for her off screen antics.
On Monday Lindsay Lohan even made headlines for being a no-show in court.
The troubled 26-year-old, who is widely reported to have severe money problems, is accused of punching a fellow clubber in the face during a nightclub brawl on November 29.
Lindsay Lohan was arrested and charged with third degree misdemeanor assault following the incident.
But as the troubled star failed to make an appearance in court on Monday, her lawyer revealed that she had no need to worry.
In fact he bizarrely told waiting reporters how a “fortune teller has predicted an extremely lucky 2013” for his client.
Following Larry Hagman’s death Dallas fans are set to be treated to another “Who Shot JR?” mystery.
Dallas producers are set to pay tribute to the late Larry Hagman by killing off his character JR Ewing, in an hour-long special of the new version of the show, according to reports.
A source told the Mirror: “We wanted Larry’s legacy to remain beyond this show.”
“We felt that one way would be to mirror the most memorable episode of all time.”
Larry Hagman passed away in November after losing a battle with cancer.
Dallas producers are set to pay tribute to the late Larry Hagman by killing off his character JR Ewing, in an hour-long special of the new version of the show
The “Who shot JR?” episode of the original oil drama in the 1980s was the second most-watched TV episode of all time.
It is estimated that more than 85 million viewers tuned in to see the episode that revealed that the character had actually survived and that the shooter was his sister-in-law Kristin Shepard.
Larry Hagman passed away on November 23 from complications of throat cancer aged 81.
The actor was in the middle of filming episode five of 15 in season two of the Dallas reboot when he passed away and writers evidently struggled with how to write him out of the show, before coming up with the “Who Done It” plot.
The episode is set to air in March in the US.
The original 1978 CBS series, only originally envisaged as a five-part drama, became a hit and counted millions of fans across the U.S. and in the 95 foreign countries where it was aired.
Shortly before his death, Larry Hagman took part in hidden camera show I Get That a Lot – to try and convince fans he was just an average Joe.
Vogue magazine gives a complete guide to Kate Middleton for those seeking to emulate the Duchess of Cambridge’s style.
From the diameter of Kate Middleton’s curls to the number of teeth she shows when she smiles, nothing has escaped the Vogue’s scrutiny.
Ahead of her 31st birthday tomorrow, Vogue has analyzed outfits the duchess has worn since her marriage to Prince William in April 2011, plus a handful from before the couple’s engagement – 100 in total.
So to be a true copy Kate Middleton, you should wear blue, ensure the average drop of your earrings is 33 mm – and carry your clutch bag with both hands.
According to Vogue’s guide, when it comes to her clothes, Kate Middleton’s favorite color appears to be blue, which she has worn on 24% of occasions.
From peacock to Prussian, it is her out and out favorite.
The Duchess of Cambridge also favors red (13%) – which she wore for the occasion of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant – followed by white (12%) and, less popularly with the public, grey (11%).
Next on the list is purple (9%), multi colored or patterned outfits (8%) pink (7%) and green (6%).
Cream and yellow both languish at the bottom of the league table on 5%.
By far and away most outfits worn on her last 100 official engagements come from top end High Street store LK Bennett – worn on 28 public engagements.
But designer Alexander McQueen, whose outfits cost several thousand pounds apiece and who the Duchess chose to design her wedding dress, is her next favorite label with 14.
Vogue magazine gives a complete guide to Kate Middleton for those seeking to emulate the Duchess of Cambridge’s style
Other designers in Kate Middleton’s top five are Jenny Packham (6), who has designed some of her most stunning evening dresses, and Temperley (8).
Once the high street Queen, Zara languishes at seven (probably because the firm have a huge store just a short hop from her home at Kensington Palace).
But surprisingly Reiss, the label Kate Middleton wore to meet US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle at Buckingham Palace, does not even register.
Vogue has even made it its business to scrutinize the length of the Duchess’s sleeves – finding that 6:1 being the most commonly seen arm-to-sleeve-length ratio.
“All the better to display the royal wrist-bling,” it says.
The magazine estimates that on her most recent tour of South East Asia and the Pacific, the Duchess took along 61 items of clothing, footwear and accessories worth around £1,427 per outfit (compared to the late Diana, Princess of Wales whose tour outfits costs the modern equivalent of £4,270 a pop).
Kate Middleton’s other most talked-about asset is her glorious tumbling tresses and the magazine has even, unbelievably, worked out the average diameter of her curls – 25 mm.
The Duchess goes for a glossy “Chelsea blow dry” 73.4 of the time – a perfectly achievable goal if one, like Kate Middleton, has a hairdresser on call 24 hours a day.
Just like on her wedding day, she favors a chic half-up half-down do 13.6% of the time, wearing it either naturally loose or curly or in a ponytail 6.5% of occasions.
Her accessories are equally closely monitored.
Apparently Kate Middleton has perfected the tilt of her hats and fascinators – always to the right at a stylish 50 degree angle – to show off her enviable cheekbones.
The average dimension of her favorite clutch bags is 194 mm by 132 mm and she carried them as thus: one handed 31%, left hand over right 15.5%, right hand over left 5.5%, hands together 48%.
Kate Middleton’s favored shoe designer is the upmarket Stuart Weitzman – sported on 13 public engagements out of the last 100 – closely followed by Jimmy Choo at nine official events.
Even her earrings do not escape scrutiny – the average drop measuring exactly 33 mm.
One of her favorite pairs is a glittering sapphire and diamond set once owned by William’s mother, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, who sported them on the cover of Vogue in July 1994.
Seventeen years later, on her July 2011 official tour to Canada, Kate Middleton wore them in public again after having them slightly remodeled.
Even her teeth do not escape the eagle eye of the fashionistas.
Apparently Kate Middleton, who is believed to have had her teeth whitened and straightened by “micro-rotation” – using invisible braces attached to the back of each tooth – shows an average of 8.6 teeth when she smiles.
The February issue of Vogue is on sale from Thursday.
Joe Warner, the deputy editor of Men’s Fitness, the UK’s best-selling fitness lifestyle magazine, went from flabby, out-of-shape man to a cover model star – complete with rock-hard six-pack – in just 12 weeks, and reveals the secrets to how you can build a brand new physique with only four hours of exercise per week.
So what’s his secret?
“I spent most of my 20s doing a lot of running but no matter for how far or how long I ran I would always have a bit of a belly and never any muscles on my chest, shoulders or arms,” he says.
“After turning 30 I decided to see whether I could get into the best shape I have ever been in.
“I deal with a lot of fitness models for my job but always thought I would never be able to get a physique like theirs.
“I believed I just didn’t have the right genetics or enough time to make it happen. But it turns out that there is no legitimate reason for not making huge changes to the way you look without a t-shirt on.
“If I can do it, anyone can. I’m an average guy with a busy, deadline-driven desk job so finding the time to train is always difficult, but the regime I followed proves that you don’t need to spend hour after hour exercising to dramatically transform the way you look, even in a relatively short period of time.”
Nick Mitchell, the founder of Ultimate Performance, which has two personal training gyms in London, who designed and oversaw Joe Warner’s training programme says: “When Joe came to me he had a <<skinny fat>> physique, which is when you have very little muscle mass on your torso but a large amount of fat stored around the stomach.
“It’s a body shape I’m seeing increasingly among UK men and one that can lead to a lot of long-term health issues, especially diabetes.
“But Joe and I have proved that an effective training regime, which doesn’t require hours of boring exercise, coupled with smart eating can radically reduce body-fat levels while also packing on significant amounts of lean muscle for a better, and ultimately healthier, body.”
Nick Mitchell’s training programme revolved around just one hour-long gym session four times per week, and in 12 weeks Joe Warner shed 8 kg of fat – the equivalent to 16 large packets of butter – while building 10 kg of lean muscle mass to completely transform his body into one worthy of gracing the cover of Men’s Fitness magazine.
Joe Warner’s four sessions were carried out on Monday, Wednesday and Friday lunch times, and first thing Saturday morning, so it had minimal impact on his work or social life.
“Instead of working through lunch with a sandwich at my desk I got out of the office, trained, worked off some steam them came back to my job more energized and focused,” he says.
“I found my productivity soared once I started training. Even if you have a very busy, very stressful job finding just four hours per week to train will not only have huge benefits to your physique, it will also help you combat stress levels and allow you to work more effectively and efficiently.
“I booked my training sessions into my diary just like I would any other meeting. It sounds silly but it makes them feel more important so you’re less likely to cancel them.”
“I started seeing major changes after the first week and after a fortnight by body-fat percentage had tumbled from nearly 17% to 12.8%, with nearly all of the fat falling off my stomach,” says Joe.
“I was also adding lean muscle mass to my chest, shoulders and arms, so being wider on my torso but narrower at my waist made me look radically different relatively quicker.”
“The key to getting rapid results is to work out intensively for a short amount of time, then give your body time to recover fully before training again,” says Nick Mitchell.
“Training for too long in one go is counter-productive to getting a better body: it places too much stress on your body, which actually eats away at your muscles and encourages the storage of fat.
“It’s also important to frequently change the exercises you do, and how many sets and reps of each you do so that your body is always out of its comfort zone so must keeping burning fat and building muscle so it’s ready for anything.”
How to build six-pack abs in 12 weeks
Joe Warner’s diet revolved around plenty of lean red meat and white meat, fish, fresh vegetables, eggs and slow-release carbs, such as sweet potatoes.
“The diet I followed was simple but effective so I was never hungry,” he says.
“You do need to be organized so that you are never tempted by a quick sandwich and crisps at lunch, but I found that I was actually enjoying my food more on the diet than before, mainly because steak, vegetables and sweet potato mash is far more delicious than a pre-packed sarnie or ready meal.
“And when you are training hard you want to feed your body the right food to keep your muscles growing and your belly shrinking.”
“I could even have a glass of red wine at the weekends, so never felt as though I was sacrificing anything,” he adds.
“At first it was hard to go out and not being able to drink or order anything I wanted off the menu.
“But most restaurants will serve steak, chicken or fish and happily give you as many vegetables as you want.
“It didn’t take long before I stopped craving for sugary foods and snacks because I could see that my training and diet regime were really working.”
“Joe has proved that training hard and eating healthily is all you need to do to transform your body into one that can grace the cover of a magazine,” Nick Mitchell adds.
“A smart training plan, executed with 100% effort, really is the best, and most effective, way to build the body you’ve always wanted.”
OLD FITNESS REGIME
Monday: 60-minute run Tuesday: 45-minute run Wednesday: 60-minute gym session Thursday: 60-minute run Friday: Rest Saturday: 45-minute run Sunday: Rest
Breakfast: Cappuccino and croissant Snack: Tea and biscuits Lunch: Jacket potato with cheese and coleslaw Snack: Fizzy drink and crisps Dinner: Pasta with vegetables in tomato sauce
NEW DIET
Breakfast: Bacon and scrambled eggs Snack: Handful of mixed nuts Lunch: Tuna salad with peppers and olives Snack: Greek yoghurt Dinner: Steak with sweet potato fries
Pregnant Kim Kardashian and her boyfriend Kanye West appear to be preparing a home fit for a little prince – or princess if a new report is to be believed.
TMZ claims Kim Kardashian and rapper Kanye West have bought an $11 million mansion in Bel Air, where they will set up home together for the first time.
The news website reports the soon to be parents are now the proud owners of a 10,000-square-foot home in a private gated community in California’s exclusive Bel Air suburb.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West will join A-list neighbor Jennifer Aniston, Los Angeles Clippers basketball player Chris Paul, and founder of the Girls Gone Wild entertainment franchise Joe Francis as the famous names in the neighborhood.
Kanye West, 35, is well known for his love of interior design and will no doubt be keen to put his stamp on their first home together.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are looking forward to the birth of their first child in June.
The website report that the couple have already gutted the interior and are planning to add an extra 4,000 feet to complete their dream home.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have reportedly bought an $11 million mansion in Bel Air, where they will set up home together for the first time
A source told TMZ the new home will be “an Italian-style villa, with a gym, movie theater, full hair and make-up salon, bowling alley, basketball court, indoor and outdoor pool”.
Not forgetting a nursery of course.
News of the couple’s nestbuilding came as Kim Kardashian, 32,was seen out in Miami on Monday, covering her bump in a billowing sheer tunic top, under a waterfall jacket.
And she opted for comfortable loose white trousers, and a fierce pair of caged heels.
Kim Kardashian was joined by her friend Jonathan Cheban as they spent a day wandering around the shops in Miami.
The reality star recently left the Florida city after completing filming her reality show, but returned over the weekend for a bikini photoshoot on the beach.
The couple surprised many when they reportedly turned down a $3 million offer for the first photos of their baby.
A source close to Kim Kardashian told gossip website TMZ.com that she and Kanye West have been flooded with lucrative offers for their child’s first pictures and were offered $3 million from one publication outside the US.
Kim Kardashian has already been offered $250,000 to host a pregnancy website after being approached by David Dginguerian, an Armenian filmmaker, about working with a planned membership-only website called MyPregnancy.com.
It is unclear if Kim Kardashian will sign up as it was recently revealed that she and Kanye West are reportedly planning to share the pregnancy and their adjustment to parenthood with their fans through a show on E!.
E! Entertainment network president Suzanne Kolb previously said: “Kim and Kanye are an incredibly dynamic couple, and their baby news is just so exciting.
“Like so many Kardashian fans, we love it when this close-knit family gets even bigger. We look forward to sharing the joy as they prepare for more diapers, more bottles and without a doubt, more fabulous baby wear.”
Sony has unveiled Xperia Z, a new smartphone that can be used in the shower or bath without the risk of damage.
This water-resistant feature is relatively common in Japan, but has not been included in many top-end smartphones released elsewhere.
The Xperia Z can also record HDR (high dynamic range) video, a facility borrowed from its camera division.
One analyst said it was evidence of Sony Mobile making progress but added “it still had a mountain to climb”.
The Japanese company announced it was taking control of the smartphone unit – which had previously been a joint venture with Ericsson – in October 2011.
Sony posted a full-year loss of 56.7 billion yen ($5.7 billion) in May and has continued to lose money over subsequent quarters.
Android-powered Xperia Z was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Sony has unveiled bath-friendly Xperia Z at 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas
Sony says the handset, which has a 5 in (12.7 cm) screen, is capable of being submerged in water of up to one metre (3.3 ft) in depth for 30 minutes.
“If you want to want to sit in the bath and watch an HD movie this is the device for you,” said Steve Walker, Sony Mobile executive.
“You can take it in the shower if you want, or more usefully if you get it dirty you can wash it under the tap.”
He added that about one in 10 people had dropped their phone down a toilet at some point, something this would protect against.
The trade-off is that handset’s various ports, including the one for its headphones, all feature protective plastic covers that must be unclipped before they can be accessed.
Other features on the 7.9 mm-thick (0.3 in) device include 4G LTE connectivity, a Micro SD slot, a 13 megapixel camera and a 1080p x 1920p high-definition screen that borrows technology from the firm’s Bravia TV division to enhance video playback.
In addition a NFC (near field communication) chip is used to start streaming content to Sony’s latest televisions by tapping the handset against their remote controls.
The firm also boasts that the device includes its proprietary Exmor RS image sensor technology, allowing it to record HDR video.
This allows it to combine exposure readings to tackle problematic situations such when a person is standing against a bright background; Sony says that without HDR either the person’s face looks too dark or the background too light.
Nvidia’s latest Tegra chip can also do this but has not been built into a handset yet.
Eurozone unemployment rate hit a new all-time high of 11.8% in November, official figures have shown.
This is a slight rise on 11.7% for the 17-nation region in October. The rate for the European Union as a whole in November was unchanged at 10.7%.
Spain, which is mired in deep recession, again recorded the highest unemployment rate, coming in at 26.6%.
More than 26 million people are now unemployed across the EU.
For the eurozone, the number of people without work reached 18.8 million said Eurostat, the official European statistics agency said.
Greece had the second-highest unemployment rate in November, at 20%.
The youth unemployment rate was 24.4% in the eurozone, and 23.7% in the wider European Union. Youth unemployment – among people under 25 – was highest in Greece (57.6%), followed by Spain (56.5%).
Overall unemployment was lowest in Austria (4.5%), Luxembourg (5.1%) and Germany (5.4%).
Eurozone unemployment rate hit a new all-time high of 11.8 percent in November 2012
The eurozone and wider European Union economies are struggling with recession as government measures to reduce sovereign debt levels have impacted on economic growth.
However, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Monday that he believed the worst was over.
Jose Manuel Barroso said the turning point was last September’s promise from the European Central Bank to buy unlimited amounts of eurozone states’ debts.
But in the view of the UK’s Institute of Directors, whose members rely on demand from trading partners in the eurozone, this “has bought time, but that is all it has done”.
“It is clear that the economic implosion of several member states continues at a troubling pace,” said the business group’s chief economist Graeme Leach.
“The headline figures spell bad news, but that is compounded by the political and human impact of terrifying levels of youth unemployment in Spain, Greece and Italy.
“This saga is far from over, whatever President Barroso may believe, and it seems it is set to get worse in 2013.”
Rabobank economist Jan Foley said the rise in unemployment was “the other side of austerity or structural reform.”
“There is a very worrying picture painted by these numbers, and governments do need to wonder if they need more pro-growth strategies in the next few years,” she said.
The record low for the eurozone unemployment rate was 7.2%, which was recorded in February 2008, before the financial crisis that first gripped the banking sector spread to the real economy.
The historic low for the eurozone youth unemployment rate was 15% in March 2008.
Samsung Electronics has announced it expects to make a record profit for the last quarter of 2012, powered by growing sales of its smartphones.
It has estimated an operating profit of 8.8 trillion won ($8.3 billion) for the quarter, a 90% jump from the same period a year earlier.
That would make it the fifth quarter in a row of record profits for Samsung.
The success of its Galaxy smartphones helped Samsung overtake Nokia as the world’s biggest phone maker last year.
Analysts said that given the popularity of its smartphones, the South Korean firm was likely to see its profits grow further in the coming months.
“Not only are their smartphone sales growing, they have also learned how to make a good profit on those sales,” said James Rooney, chairman of Market Force Company, an advisory firm based in Seoul.
“Given these factors, this streak of record breaking quarters is likely to continue for a while,” he added.
Samsung Electronics has announced it expects to make a record profit for the last quarter of 2012, powered by growing sales of its smartphones
One of the key drivers of Samsung’s smartphone sales in recent months has been its Galaxy S3 model.
However, the phone is facing increased competition, not least from rival Apple, which launched its iPhone 5 in September last year.
Other rivals, such as Nokia and HTC, have also launched new handsets powered by Windows Phone 8, in an attempt to increase their market share.
At the same time, there are also concerns that the pace of growth of sales that Samsung has seen in recent quarters could slow in the coming months.
“Investors are a bit concerned that Samsung’s momentum may slow in the first half after posting a series of record profits,” said Kim Sung-Soo a fund manager at LS Asset Management.
“The smartphone market is unlikely to sustain its strong growth, as advanced markets are nearing saturation,” he explained.
Kim Sung-Soo added that a slowdown in the smartphone division may hurt Samsung as other parts of its business, such as manufacturing memory chips and televisions, have already been impacted by a contraction in global demand.
The U.S. real estate market seems to have a relatively steady progress toward recovery in 2013.
During 2012 area residential and commercial property sales hit their highest level in five years for some regions throughout the country.
Coastal town real estate market boom tendency, the U.S. apartment shortage and the high rents, along with the Extension of the Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act of 2007, low mortgage rates and the deduction for mortgage insurance premiums revived by the fiscal cliff deal, all of these facts seem to lead to a real estate market growing trend.
Under these circumstances, for real estate brokers it is important to have a good multiple listings service (MLS) for their websites. An interesting article on Internet Data Exchange (IDX) provider Boomtown ROI is published on Real Geeks blog.
According to real estate research firm Reis Inc., low apartment vacancies and high rents may encourage more renters to become home buyers.
There have been three years of vacancy declines and in the last three months of 2012 the national apartment vacancy rate dropped to 4.5 percent. That was the lowest vacancy rate since the third quarter of 2001, according to Reis data. Also, the average effective rent of $1,048 was up 0.6 percent from the prior period, and marked the twelfth straight quarter of rising rent.
“You’re starting to see the initial signs of rent versus own calculus that takes place. You’re starting to see it in New York and San Francisco, where people are paying $3,000, $4,000, $5,000, a month to rent. They look at it and say, ‘All right, I’m already dealing with 8 percent, 10 percent rent increases from year to year, how much longer do I really want to put up with this from landlords?” said Ryan Severino, senior economist at Reis.
Home values in Metro Detroit, while rising, remain low compared to the rest of the nation, and are also still below pre-recession levels.
“Southeast Michigan’s real estate market is making great strides. Without question, we are on the road to recovery,” Jeanette Schneider, vice president of RE/MAX of Southeastern Michigan, said in a press release.
Coastal town real estate market has a boom tendency.
Home prices are on the upswing, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index. Home prices rose 4.3% in October 2012 in comparison to October 2011. While some states are still struggling, others are making huge progress. Massachusetts home sales have increased 38% from November 2011 to November 2012, while home prices also increased 2%. The number of home sales in the month of November throughout the state was at a level that has not been seen since 2005.
In Louisiana, both residential and commercial property sales reached their highest level in five years during 2012. The outlook for 2013 looks very promising in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, according to Bill Boyd, Bayou Board of Realtors president. Data for existing and new properties in Terrebonne, Lafourche and St. Mary parishes, plus part of Assumption Parish, shows sales of $343.8 million for 2,086 units in 2012, compared to $313.3 million for 1,934 units in 2008 when the national recession started.
In Florida and California, beach homes are quickly leaving the market as investor demand is rising, which is turning the “buyer’s market” into more of a “seller’s market.”
How to calculate real estate return on investment (ROI)
To determine a property is a good investment, you need to calculate the real estate return on investment (ROI). Before you begin, gather all relevant information, such as tenant payments, any property costs such as taxes and insurance fees and the original amount of your investment.
1 Calculate how much you would earn from the real estate. Let’s say you make $1,000 per month on one property. Multiply by 12 to get the yearly total. This means $12,000 per year.
2 Add up your expenses for the real estate. Include taxes, insurance, mortgage payments and repairs and any other expenses pertaining to the property. Let’s say you pay $1,500 a year for taxes, $1,500 a year for insurance, $500 a month ($6,000 a year) for mortgage payments and $500 a year for repairs. That would be a total of $9,500 a year for expenses.
3 Calculate the investments. Down payment and costs of repairs made before renting or leasing the property are considered investments. Let’s say you put $20,000 down on the real estate and made $5,000 in initial repairs then your total investment is $25,000.
4 Calculate the net operating income. Your net operating income (NOI) can be found by subtracting the total expenses from the total amount that you would earn from renting or leasing the real estate. Using the examples above, if your yearly earnings were $12,000, your NOI would be $12,000 – $9,500 = $2,500.
5 Use the NOI to get the ROI. Divide the NOI by your total investment amount. The number that you will get will need to be converted to a percentage by moving the decimal point two places to the right. Using the examples above, $2,500/$25,000 = 0.10, which would be 10 percent for the ROI.
