Zero Dark Thirty, the new film about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, is “inaccurate” for suggesting torture helped lead to his discovery.
That is according to three US senators who outlined their objections to Zero Dark Thirty in a letter to the head of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar-tipped drama, their letter claims, is “perpetuating the myth that torture is effective”.
In a statement, Kathryn Bigelow said her film depicts “a variety of controversial practices and intelligence methods”.
According to the director and Zero Dark Thirty screenwriter Mark Boal, no single method was responsible in the successful manhunt for the terrorist leader.
The letter, made public on Wednesday, was co-signed by Dianne Feinstein, Carl Levin and former Presidential candidate John McCain.
Zero Dark Thirty, the new film about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, is considered inaccurate for suggesting torture helped lead to his discovery
The trio, all of whom are members of the Senate Intelligence committee, said that Sony and its CEO, Michael Lynton, had an obligation to alter the movie.
“The fundamental problem is that people who see Zero Dark Thirty will believe that the events it portrays are facts,” the three senators wrote.
“The film therefore has the potential to shape American public opinion in a disturbing and misleading manner.”
The senators said the “use of torture in the fight against terrorism did severe damage to America’s values and standing that cannot be justified or expunged”.
The makers of Zero Dark Thirty, they went on, had “a social and moral obligation to get the facts right”.
Earlier this year Kathryn Bigelow’s film was accused of being a propaganda tool intended to assist President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.
The release of the film was subsequently put back until after November’s election.
It was also claimed Mark Boal, who previously worked with Bigelow on Oscar-winning drama The Hurt Locker, had been granted access to classified information, an allegation he denied.
Olivia Culpo, a 20-year-old Boston University sophomore and a self-described “cellist-nerd”, brought the Miss Universe crown back to the United States for the first time in more than a decade when she won the televised contest Wednesday.
Olivia Culpo beat out 88 other beauty queens to take the title from Leila Lopes of Angola during the two-hour competition at the Planet Hollywood casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
She wore a tight navy blue mini-dress with a sequined bodice as she walked on stage for the competition’s opening number. Later in the night, she strutted in a purple and blue bikini, and donned a wintery red velvet gown with a plunging neckline.
Olivia Culpo’s coronation ends a long losing spell for the U.S. in the competition co-owned by Donald Trump and NBC. An American had not won the right to be called Miss Universe since Brook Lee won the title in 1997.
She was good enough during preliminary competitions to be chosen as one of 16 semifinalists who moved on to compete in the pageant’s finale. Her bid lasted through swimsuit, evening wear, and interview competitions that saw cuts after each round.
Olivia Culpo won over the judges, even after tripping slightly during the evening gown competition. Telecasters pointed it out but also noted her poised recovery.
Minutes before the middle child of five was crowned, she was asked whether she had she had ever done something she regretted.
“I’d like to start off by saying that every experience no matter what it is, good or bad, you’ll learn from it. That’s just life,” Olivia Culpo said.
“But something I’ve done I’ve regretted is probably picking on my siblings growing up, because you appreciate them so much more as you grow older.”
Miss US Olivia Culpo won Miss Universe 2012 crown
Miss Philippines, Janine Tugonon, came in second, while Miss Venezuela, Irene Sofia Esser Quintero, placed third.
All the contestants spent the past two weeks in Sin City, where they posed in hardhats at a hotel groundbreaking, took a painting lesson, and pranked hotel guests by hiding in their rooms.
Olivia Culpo was the first Miss USA winner from Rhode Island when she took the national crown in Las Vegas in June.
She grew up in Cranston with two professional musicians for parents and has played the cello alongside world-renowned classical musician Yo-Yo Ma. On her Miss Universe page, she said she hopes to pursue a career in film or television, and cites Audrey Hepburn as a role model because of her “generosity, intelligence and grace.”
With Olivia Culpo’s promotion, Miss Maryland Nana Meriwether becomes the new Miss USA.
The Miss Universe pageant was back in Las Vegas this year after being held in Sao Paulo in 2011. It aired live on NBC and was streamed to more than 100 countries.
Organizers had considered holding the 61st annual Miss Universe in the popular Dominican Republic tourist city of Punta Cana, but Miss Universe Organization President Paula Shugart said that country’s financial crisis proved to be too much of an obstacle.
The panel of 10 judges included singer Cee Lo Green, “Iron Chef” star Masaharu Morimoto and Pablo Sandoval of the San Francisco Giants.
Asked on the red carpet whether he found playing in the World Series or judging the beauty pageant to be more difficult, Pablo Sandoval said both were hard.
Sharply dressed women and men, including a large contingent from South America, held banners and cheered on their favorite contestants.
The pageant started as a local revue in Long Beach, California, organized by Catalina Swimwear. It is not affiliated with the Miss America pageant and unlike that contest, does not include a talent section.
Contestants in the pageant cannot have been married or have children. They must be younger than 27 and older than 18 by February 1 of the competition year.
As Miss Universe, Olivia Culpo will receive an undisclosed salary, a wardrobe fit for a queen, a limitless supply of beauty products, and a luxury apartment in New York City.
One in ten of us is said to be anxious that December 21st marks the end of the world. The Ancient Mayans predicted this doomsday, and the press is eating it up. But where are all the believers?
That the world will end in 2012 is the most widely-disseminated doomsday tale in human history, thanks to the internet, Hollywood and an ever-eager press corps.
Recent hurricanes, unrest in the Middle East, solar flares, mystery planets about to collide with us – all “proof” of what the ancient Mayans knew would come to pass on 21 December 2012.
According to a Reuters global poll, one in ten of us is feeling some anxiety about this date.
Russians have been so worried that the Minister of Emergency Situations issued a denial that the world would end.
Authorities in the village of Bugarach in the South of France have barred access to a mountain where some believe a UFO will rescue them.
And survivalists in America – many of whom use the term “prepper” – have been busy preparing for all manner of cataclysm.
In 1987, Jose Arguelles, a man who devoted much of his life to studying the Mayan Calendar, organized what was called the Harmonic Convergence, a sort of post-hippy Woodstock. It attracted tens of thousands around the globe.
The event was an attempt to “create a moment of meditation and connection to the sacred sites around the earth,” says Daniel Pinchbeck, author of 2012: The Year of the Mayan Prophecy.
It was also the beginning of what many in the loosely-defined New Age movement regard as a process in the transformation of our consciousness – a transformation that goes into full effect at the end of this year.
Daniel Pinchbeck calls 21/12/12 the “hinge point” of the emergence of a new, more enlightened age – not an ending point for all civilization.
“It is quite clear that the Mayan system envisages a new cycle of the calendar beginning on the 22 December 2012,” says Graham Hancock, author of Fingerprints of the Gods, and something of a rock star in the world of ancient mysteries enthusiasts.
He says the ancient Mayan culture was a shamanic one. Those who left us the calendar were visionaries who were providing clues to this ending of one cycle and the beginning of another.
Recent hurricanes, unrest in the Middle East, solar flares, mystery planets about to collide with us, all proof of what the ancient Mayans knew would come to pass on 21 December 2012
That is not to say that New Agers do not see catastrophic events as necessary in some way to this new birth.
In fact they tend to embrace eastern faiths and native cultures with their cyclical views of time. In these visions, the world has been and will be destroyed – to some degree – and we start anew.
Accordingly, some believe the Mayans were sending us a warning for 2012.
“We may see a lot of destruction,” says Daniel Pinchbeck. He points to Hurricane Sandy, which recently hit his home city of New York.
Many, including the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, linked that hurricane to global warming, which tends to be seen by New Agers as the main threat to our planet.
However, the New Age movement is full of optimists. Crucially, they say we have a choice in how this story ends.
“We do not have to step over the edge of the abyss into darkness and destruction,” Graham Hancock says, calling this point in time a “cusp moment.”
“It’s up to us. It’s totally up to us.”
Morandir Armson, the Australian scholar, says the belief that 2012 marks a positive shift is one also shared by UFO groups, such as the Ashtar Command and the Ground Crew. These groups have no headquarters but for internet sites.
He says they refer to themselves as “lightworkers” who believe a fleet of alien space ships hover around our solar system.
“By doing good works on earth [they believe] you can speed up the consciousness of our humanity,” says Morandir Armson.
In many ways, they emphasize the more positive aspects of the traditional Christian Apocalypse. The fire-and-brimstone part gets downplayed in favor of the glorious Kingdom to come.
Some 20% of Americans believe we are in the end times, and that they will see the return of Jesus Christ in their lifetime.
This month marks Advent in the Christian Calendar, during which Christians are encouraged to read from the Book of Revelation, the apocalyptic vision of St John the Divine.
“It’s full of gory and grotesque detail of how the wicked are going to be punished,” says Ted Harrison, author of Apocalypse When: Why We Want to Believe there Will Be No Tomorrow.
The twenty-first of December, however, is not on the biblical calendar and few, if any, believers in the traditional Book of Revelation are attached to this date.
The supposed date of the coming apocalypse, 21 December, also marks the Winter Solstice, symbolic in many cultures of the end of darkness and the renewal of the light.
It might, suggests Harrison, focus our minds on how we have been treating the planet and those on it, and how we could mend our ways.
In this respect, he says: “It might become a self-fulfilling prophecy. That’s one hope. A remote one, but it is one hope.”
South Korea’s new elected President Park Geun-hye spoke of a “grave” security challenge from North Korea but called for “trust-based dialogue”.
Park Geun-hye, the ruling Saenuri Party candidate, defeated her liberal rival Moon Jae-in in Wednesday’s election.
Speaking after a visit to honor late leaders, she pledged again to “open a new era” on the Korean Peninsula.
The North has not yet commented on her victory, but earlier labeled the Saenuri Party “maniacs”.
A dispatch from state media outlet KCNA, released on Wednesday, accused the party of escalating tension on the peninsula during President Lee Myung-bak’s time in office.
“All facts prove that the Saenuri Party is a group of traitors who stoop to any infamy to realize its ambition to seize power,” the story said.
The North launched a rocket that put a satellite into orbit last week, a move condemned by the international community as a banned test of missile technology.
Park Geun-hye, daughter of former military strongman Park Chung-hee, will become South Korea’s first female president.
President Barack Obama congratulated her, calling South Korea “a lynchpin” of security in Asia.
“Our two nations share a global partnership with deep economic, security and people-to-people ties,” Barack Obama said in a statement.
South Korea’s new elected President Park Geun-hye spoke of a grave security challenge from North Korea but called for trust-based dialogue
The election race saw high turnout, with 75.8% of the electorate casting their ballots. With more than 99% of the vote counted, Park Geun-hye had won 51.6% of the vote to Moon Jae-in’s 48%.
Economic issues including welfare spending, job creation and inequality had dominated campaigning, while the national security focus fell on North Korea.
“The launch of North Korea’s long-range missile symbolically showed how grave the security situation facing us is,” Park Geun-hye said after a visit to the National Cemetery to pay her respects to former leaders.
“I will keep the promise I made to you to open a new era on the Korean peninsula, based on strong security and trust-based diplomacy.”
Relations with North Korea under Lee Myung-bak – who linked the provision of aid to progress on denuclearization – have been poor.
Park Geun-hye has promised greater engagement than her predecessor and the possible resumption of aid, but also a robust defence.
South Korea is also one of several nations currently seeking a strong response to North Korea’s recent rocket launch in the UN Security Council.
On the economy, the president-elect said she would work “to make the society share economic benefits without anybody isolated from the fruits of the economic growth”.
Economic growth has fallen to about 2% after several decades in which it averaged 5.5%.
And in an apparent nod to tensions with Japan over a territorial dispute and historical issues, she said she would work for ” greater reconciliation, co-operation and peace in North East Asia based on correct perception of history”.
Park Geun-hye’s defeated rival, former human rights lawyer Moon Jae-in, also offered his congratulations, saying he accepted the outcome of the polls.
“I feel so sorry and guilty that I have failed to accomplish my historic mission to open a new era of politics,” he said.
Park geun-hye’s campaign was both bolstered and dogged by the legacy of her father, who built South Korea’s economy while crushing dissent.
With the country having split almost equally along party lines, Park Geun-hye will have to work hard to improve relations with her detractors.
Who is Park Geun-hye?
Daughter of former President Park Chung-hee
Served as South Korea’s first lady after her mother was murdered by a North Korean gunman in 1974
First elected to the national assembly in 1998; first bid for the presidency in 2007
Has promised to redistribute wealth, reform big conglomerates and seek greater engagement with North Korea
US security chief Eric Boswell has quit and three others are suspended after a damning report into a deadly attack on a US mission in Benghazi.
The state department said diplomatic security chief Eric Boswell resigned and three other unnamed officials had been put on administrative leave.
US envoy to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other officials were killed in the attack on September 11.
An internal report said “grossly inadequate” security led to the deaths.
However, the report did not suggest disciplinary action be taken against any individuals.
“The Accountability Review Board identified the performance of four officials, three in the Bureau of the Diplomatic Security and one in the Bureau of Near East Asia Affairs,” state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.
“The secretary has accepted Eric Boswell’s decision to resign… The other three individuals have been relieved of their current duties.”
US media have named one of Eric Boswell’s deputies, Charlene Lamb, and Raymond Maxwell, deputy assistant secretary for the Maghreb, among those relieved of their duties.
US security chief Eric Boswell has quit and three others are suspended after a damning report into a deadly attack on a US mission in Benghazi
Christopher Stevens died of smoke inhalation when he was trapped alone in the burning building after armed men had stormed the compound.
Days after the attack, US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said the attack seemed to have developed out of protests over an anti-Islamic film.
But later intelligence reports suggested it was a planned attack by Islamist gunmen.
Susan Rice was forced to pull out of the race to be the next secretary of state after being subjected to widespread criticism.
The board’s report found “a lack of transparency, responsiveness, and leadership” among certain senior state department officials.
But the review found no “reasonable cause” that any specific individuals had “engaged in misconduct or willfully ignored” their responsibilities.
It also said there had been “no immediate, specific” intelligence about the September 11 attack or threats to the consulate.
The probe concluded that the US personnel had “performed with courage and readiness to risk their lives to protect their colleagues in a near-impossible situation”.
But the Benghazi mission had nevertheless been hampered by a lack of resources.
Its reliance on armed “but poorly skilled” local militiamen and contract guards was “misplaced”, the report said.
In a letter to Congress, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she accepted all 29 of the recommendations put forward in the report.
Hillary Clinton outlined some steps the agency would take, including sending hundreds of US Marines guards to missions abroad and assigning a state department official to oversee “high-threat posts”.
In addition, Hillary Clinton said the state department would request more funding from Congress to make improvements to security.
Benghazi report: Key findings
There were “systematic failures at senior levels” within two bureaus of the state department, but no individual official ignored their duties
Reliance on armed “but poorly skilled” local militiamen and contract guards was “misplaced”
US personnel had “performed with courage and readiness to risk their lives to protect their colleagues in a near-impossible situation”
There was “no immediate, specific” intelligence about the September 11 attack or threats to the consulate
The Libyan government’s response to the attack was “profoundly lacking”
Qantas Airways has been given initial approval from Australia’s competition authority for its proposed alliance with Dubai-based Emirates.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said the benefits of the tie-up – such as co-ordinating ticket prices and schedules – would outweigh the reduced competition.
It will make a final decision in March.
Qantas and Emirates announced their alliance plans back in September. Neither is investing in the other.
“The ACCC considers that the alliance is likely to result in material, although not substantial, benefits to Australian consumers,” ACCC chairman Rod Sims said in a statement.
“The main benefit arising from the alliance is an improved product and service offering by the two airlines to their customers.”
Qantas Airways has been given initial approval from Australia’s competition authority for its proposed alliance with Dubai-based Emirates
Qantas is seeking the alliance as it aims to turnaround its loss-making international service.
“A key objective is to make Qantas International strong and viable, and bring it back to profitability,” said Alan Joyce, chief executive of Qantas.
“This partnership will help us do that.”
The tie-up with Emirates will see Qantas end its existing relationship with British Airways.
Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani is flying to Germany for further treatment after a reported stroke.
German doctors have assessed 79-year-old Jalal Talabani and decided his condition has improved sufficiently to permit travel.
A presidential statement said: “Treatment has allowed suitable conditions for his Excellency to be transferred outside the country.”
The president has struggled with his health in recent years and has often been treated abroad.
Jalal Talabani was reportedly rushed to the Baghdad Medical City on Monday evening.
Iraqi officials conceded in private that his condition was serious and state television reported that he had suffered a stroke.
Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani is flying to Germany for further treatment after a reported stroke
A veteran of the Kurdish guerrilla movement, Jalal Talabani is Iraq’s first president from the ethnic group.
His illness comes at a time of heightened political tensions between Iraq’s Arab-led central government and the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north.
In recent weeks, he has been mediating in the dispute triggered by the government’s attempt to take greater control of security in oil-rich territory around the city of Kirkuk, which is claimed by both Arabs and Kurds.
Kurdish forces have been deployed in the region since 2003.
A deal brokered by Jalal Talabani called on both sides to withdraw troops from the contested areas, though no deadline was set.
The president, whose powers are limited, is seen as a unifying figure who has helped prevent the disintegration of Iraq’s fragile national unity government, which includes Shia and Sunni Arabs as well as Kurds.
According to a BMJ Open report, successful solo artists are twice as likely to die early compared to those in bands.
The study looked at the careers of 1,400 European and North American rock and pop stars who were famous between 1956 and 2006.
The chances of a European solo artist dying young was one in 10 – and twice as likely for those in North America.
Experts suggest that peer support from band mates may be protective.
The cut-off point of the study was February 20, 2012 – at which point 137 performers had died prematurely.
These included solo artists like Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, rapper 2Pac, Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston.
And band members like Kurt Cobain from Nirvana, Sid Vicious from the punk group Sex Pistols and Stuart Cable from Stereophonics.
The stars’ achievements were determined from international polls and top 40 chart successes, while details of their personal lives and childhoods were drawn from a range of music and official websites, published biographies and anthologies.
The average age of death was 39 years for European stars, with those from North America being six years older on average.
Solo performers were about twice as likely to die prematurely compared to those in a band, irrespective of whether they were European or Northern American.
And while the chances of a European solo artist dying young was one in 10 – it was double that for American solo artists at one in five. The authors speculate this may be due to longer tours in North America plus variations in access to health care and exposure to drugs.
Solo performers were about twice as likely to die prematurely compared to those in a band, irrespective of whether they were European or Northern American
Honey Langcaster-James, a psychologist who specializes in celebrity behavior, believes the support of a band may be protective.
She said: “Solo artists in general approach life in a solitary manner – deliberately choosing to go it alone.
“They can find themselves in a situation where everyone around them are paid employees – the PR guru, their manger – all interested in them from a financial point of view and not in their personal needs – it’s hard for the artist to know who to trust.
“They travel a lot, are away from friends and family for long periods of time and only seen for their public image, not their real self – which can make them feel inferior, isolated and invalidated.
“Even for the general population, psychology research has found that people with support have increased lifespan – and those in a band may benefit even more from this – they are all in the same boat.
“It is easier to know who to trust – other members can stop an individual spiralling into self-destruction and pull them back into the group – both because of concern for the band mate, but also because they are all in it together.”
The study also found that while gender and the age at which fame was reached did not influence life expectancy, ethnicity did – with those from non-white backgrounds more likely to die early.
And those that died of drug and alcohol problems were more likely to have had difficult or abusive childhood than those dying of other causes.
The authors of the study suggest that a music career may be attractive to those escaping an unhappy childhood, but it may also provide the wealth and access to feed a predisposition to unhealthy and risky behavior.
In the paper they write: “Pop/rock stars are among the most common role models for children, and surveys suggest that growing numbers aspire to pop stardom.
“A proliferation of TV talent shows and new opportunities created by the internet can make this dream appear more achievable than ever.
“It is important they [children] recognize that substance use and risk taking may be rooted in childhood adversity rather than seeing them as symbols of success.”
Scientists say it won’t happen, at least not on Friday, December 21, but in the event the Mayan prophecy of the end of the world is right, they have foretold a raft of bloody and catastrophic fates for us all.
Dark comets, famine, super-volcanoes, catastrophic climate change, and a plague of cancers are just some of the ends that could fulfill the prophecy.
Astrophysicist Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who discovered pulsars, believes the most likely disaster that could pencil Doomsday into Friday’s diary is a black comet.
Such an end would match that of the dinosaurs who after walking the planet for about 165 million years – homo sapiens has been around for a mere 200,000 years – were killed off by a 10 km asteroid or comet that slammed into the planet.
Prof. Jocelyn Bell Burnell believes if the world as we know it is to end on December 21 it would have to be a dark comet that strikes.
Dark comets have little of the ice and snow that most comets have, and a lot more dust which makes it much more difficult to spot them as they speed through Space.
“Comets normally are big, dusty snowballs. A dark comet has not much snow and a lot of dust. They are much harder to get a handle on,” shesaid.
The collision itself, except for those near the point of impact, would be unlikely to be fatal to the world’s population but it would throw up so much dust into the atmosphere that billions of people could expect a slow death.
Huge quantities of dust would bring on an “eternal winter” in which the sun would be obscured and crops around the world would fail, leading to mass famine.
Dr. Dave Rothery, a volcanologist at the Open University, foretells a similar end but he thinks the death-bringing dust would be put into the atmosphere by a supervolcano.
More than 240 cubic miles of molten rock and debris are blasted into the sky by super-volcanoes.
Much of it would remain in the atmosphere as volcanic dust which would, just as with a massive asteroid or comet, block out the sun and cause famine.
“It would put so much ash and sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere that photosynthesis may break down,” he warned.
In the event the Mayan prophecy of the end of the world is right, scientists have foretold a raft of bloody and catastrophic fates for us all
A similar, albeit less devastating, even took place in 1816 when a volcano in Indonesia erupted and put so much dust into the atmosphere that it became known as “the year of no summer”.
Other scientists asked by The Times what cataclysms could bring on the end of the world on Friday, in line with what many people believe is foretold by the ancient Mayan prophecy, included Bryan Lovell, a former president of the Geological Society.
His favorite Doomsday scenario was a vast escape of methane caused by an undersea landslide.
Methane is a greenhouse gas but it is about 20 times more powerful in warming the world than is carbon dioxide.
Dr. Bryan Lovell said a huge release of sub-sea methane deposits would accelerate man-made climate change and lead to “catastrophic climate change not too many Fridays from now”.
But it is not just scientists who are putting forward theories as to how the world will end and they range from the unlikely to the fantastical.
Among the favorites is that a rogue planet, Nibiru, which has long been inhabiting the far reaches of the solar system, beyond even Pluto, is now on a collision course with Earth.
Scientists have dismissed the theory as ridiculous not just because no one has ever managed to detect it in the outer reaches of the solar system but because if such a large object was heading this way it would have been spotted by now
Skepticism on the part of experts, however, has done little to diminish the determination of thousands of people to find a safe haven from disaster.
In France the authorities have had to bar New Age followers from travelling to Bugarach, a tiny village home to fewer than 200 people, and the “mystical mountain” where it is located.
Doomsday fanatics have identified Bugarach as a place of safety on the grounds that aliens live hidden within the mountain and are waiting for the end of the world when they will rescue humans in the area.
“I have issued an order barring anyone from climbing the mountain. And those trying to get into the village will be stopped and asked what their business is,” said Regional prefect Eric Freysselinard.
The village and the mountain will only be re-opened to outsiders two days after the end of the world is scheduled to have taken place.
The Doomsday prophecy is based on an ancient calendar from the Mayan civilization that was based in what is now Guatemala in Central America.
The calendar lasts for more than 5,000 years but comes to an end on Friday, which has prompted fears it forecasts the end of the world.
Other favorite Doomsday scenarios include a vast solar storm which will flare out from the Sun and engulf the Earth.
An alternative doom-laden theory is that a rogue black hole will swallow up the Earth, or that a quirk of galactic alignments will trigger a disastrous reversal of the Earth’s magnetic field.
Vivienne Parry, a former presenter of Tomorrow’s World, suggested a cancer that starts in foxes but can be transmitted to humans.
Dogs, she suggested, would cease to be man’s best friend and instead become man’s worst enemy because the cancer would be transmitted through them.
Foxes would bite the dogs, transmitting the cancer to them, and they would bite their human owners.
She said that were all dogs to be destroyed as soon as people realized they were passing on an untreatable cancer the end of the world for humans could be postponed.
But she suspects man’s love of his canine companions would seal his fate because putting down every dog would be too much to ask.
Use this method the next time you want to share a bottle of Champagne with a date.
Prepare the Champagne bottle
The first thing to do is remove the packaging foil around the neck of the bottle. There should be a small tab to get you started. Next, untwist the wire around the cork and remove it.
Aim the bottle safely
Here is a quick safety tip – make sure the bottle is not pointed toward anyone or anything breakable when you go to open it.
How to open a Champagne bottle
Remove the Champagne bottle cork
Grip the neck of the bottle firmly in one hand and the cork in the other. Using slow but firm motions, gently twist the cork up and out of the bottle. You should hear a satisfying pop, but there will be no dangerous explosion.
All that is left to do now is pour your Champagne into a couple of flutes and enjoy.
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Nails Inc. leather-look nail polish Bling It On Rebel Kit sold out in seconds after going on sale in the U.S. yesterday.
The Nails Inc. product, which was sold exclusively in Sephora stores and on its website, was the subject of attention earlier this month after Alexa Chung got her hands on a sample bottle before it was released to the public.
Alexa Chung tweeted a picture of her manicured hands before the British Fashion Awards, along with the caption “thanks @nailsinc for my leather nails! #kinky”, which prompted an 800-strong waiting list in the UK.
According to She Finds, there was only a “two second shopping window” to buy the edgy polish as it launched in America on Tuesday.
Individual bottles of the varnish haven’t yet been released, and customers must purchase a $25 set called Bling It On Rebel Kit, that includes crystal and skull embellishments.
Nails Inc leather-look nail polish Bling It On Rebel Kit sold out in seconds after going on sale in the US yesterday
On the Sephora website the sets are no longer available, but the retailer states that new stock will be ‘coming soon’. A spokesperson for the beauty chain declined to comment on in-store sales.
Just like matte polishes, the polish appears glossy at first but dries with a leather look texture.
The London-based company Nails Inc. said it was “inspired by the leather trend that we spied at Fashion Week”.
Sam Heath, Nails Inc. marketing manager, said that the company was expecting record sales.
She said: “We presented the kit to press at our press showcase a few weeks ago and it started a social media frenzy as they all loved it so much.
“Then we also presented to the US press and had a similar reaction.”
The leather effect polish is now available on the Nails Inc. website and will launch at Selfridges in the UK on Thursday.
Two Texas women are suing after state troopers subjected them to a humiliating and invasive “roadside body cavity search” that was caught on video.
Trooper Kellie Helleson is seen in the footage aggressively searching the private parts of Angel Dobbs, 38, and her niece, Ashley Dobbs, 24, in front of passing cars.
The women, who claim trooper Kellie Helleson used the same rubber glove for both of them, were initially stopped by Helleson’s colleague David Farrell on State Highway 161 near Irving after he saw one of them throw a cigarette butt out the window.
David Farrell can be heard in the disturbing video questioning the pair about marijuana though he failed to find any evidence of the drug in the vehicle.
However, he requested the women be searches after allegedly claiming they were “acting weird”.
The lawsuit states he then tried to “morph this situation into a DWI investigation”, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Trooper Kellie Helleson is seen in the footage aggressively searching the private parts of Angel Dobbs and her niece Ashley Dobbs in front of passing cars
Angel Dobbs passed a roadside sobriety test and the women were given warnings for littering.
Angel Dobbs said Kellie Helleson irritated an anal cyst she suffers from during the search, causing her “severe and continuing pain and discomfort”.
The suit said: “Angel Dobbs was overwhelmed with emotion and a feeling of helplessness and reacted stating that Helleson had just violated her in a most horrific manner.”
The two women are also suing the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Steven McCraw, who they claim ignored previous complaints about “unlawful strip searches, cavity searches and the like”.
The Dobbs’ lawyer Scott H. Palmer said the shocking incident, which was filmed on one of the trooper’s dash-mounted cameras, was a roadside “sexual assault”.
He said the Texas Rangers investigated his clients’ complaints but failed to take any action against the troopers.
“You can see what’s happening clearly,” he told the Dallas Morning News of the video.
“No one’s ever seen the likes of this. We can’t let them get away with it.”
Kate Middleton was said to have cancelled all engagements this month so she could rest and recover from the bout of severe morning sickness that left her hospitalized.
But there are some events that not even a convalescing Duchess of Cambridge can get out of – Firm (a nickname for the British Royal Family) commitments.
Kate Middleton, who is less than 12 weeks pregnant, was seen today arriving at Buckingham Palace today to enjoy a pre-Christmas lunch with other members of the Royal family.
Fortunately Kate Middleton seems to have put the worst of her illness behind her and looked in good health for the annual event hosted by the Queen to ensure those family members she doesn’t have enough room for at Sandringham still get a chance to celebrate in style.
Christmas itself is spent at the private Norfolk estate where her immediate family celebrates the festive season each year.
Unusually, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived for today’s gathering separately, Prince William hitching a ride with his cousin Lord Linley.
Sources said it was more than likely because they had come from different venues that morning – perhaps Prince William was picking up some last minute Christmas presents at Linley’s eponymous Pimlico shop.
The couple were later seen being driven away together.
Kate Middleton, who is less than 12 weeks pregnant, was seen today arriving at Buckingham Palace today to enjoy a pre-Christmas lunch with other members of the Royal family
Yesterday the couple made a surprise appearance at their office Christmas party at a restaurant in London’s Notting Hill, showing that the pregnant Kate Middleton is clearly on the mend after being hospitalized for three days with hyperemesis gravidarum, a condition which causes severe sickness in pregnant women, earlier this month.
Prince William, like the other male members of the Royal Family, was suited and booted to within an inch of his life.
Prince Charles arrived with his beaming wife, the Duchess of Cornwall. Only his younger son, Prince Harry, was absent as he will spend Christmas fighting on the frontline in Afghanistan as an Apache attack helicopter pilot.
Princess Beatrice, wearing a floral dress, drove herself in without fanfare – although she still, contrary to reports, had a police protection officer in tow – as did her sister, Princess Eugenie.
Their father the Duke of York was also present but not, unsurprisingly, their mother Sarah, Duchess of York, who has been barred from family events for several years following a series of scandals.
Princess Michael of Kent, who celebrates her 68th birthday in January, looked astonishingly youthful as she smiled for the camera.
The royal, who is married to the Queen’s cousin, Prince Michael of Kent, has admitted using botox in the past and once joked that “toyboys keep me young”.
Also present were the Earl and Countess and Wessex and their elder daughter, Lady Louise, a particular favorite of the Queen who even watches the children’s television channel CBeebies with her.
Princess Margaret’s daughter, Lady Sarah Chatto was there with her brood, as was the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent and Princess Alexandra.
The reclusive Duchess of Kent did not appear to have accepted an invitation but her glamorous daughter, Lady Helen Taylor, was there with her art dealer husband Timothy.
The lunch lasted two hours with Prince William and Kate Middleton leaving together this time. Eugenie was the first to head off with Charles and Camilla following shortly afterwards.
The Queen is expected to leave for Sandringham, one of her favorite residences, after the lunch for an extended Christmas break with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh.
Hopefully this year will be happier than the last, when elderly Philip was rushed to hospital for heart surgery shortly before his family was due to arrive.
In line with their German roots – and the fact that the Queen regards Christmas Day as a religious festival – the royals swap presents on Christmas Eve.
Everyone gathers in the White Drawing room at around 4pm where the Queen and the younger members of the family put the finishing touches to a Norfolk spruce cut from the 1,000-acre estate before exchanging gifts.
Park Geun-hye, the daughter of former dictator Park Chung-hee, defeated her liberal rival Moon Jae-in in South Korea’s presidential election.
Park Geun-hye will be South Korea’s first female leader.
Votes are still being counted, but Moon Jae-in has admitted defeat. Turnout was high in a poll dominated by economic and social welfare issues.
Park Geun-hye, 60, will replace her party colleague Lee Myung-bak.
He is stepping down as the law requires after his five-year term.
Combined figures from the networks released after polls closed gave Park Geun-hye 50.1% of the vote over Moon Jae-in’s 48.9%.
“This is a victory brought by the people’s hope for overcoming crisis and economic recovery,” she told supporters in the capital Seoul.
Park Geun-hye, the daughter of former dictator Park Chung-hee, defeated her liberal rival Moon Jae-in in South Korea’s presidential election
Economic growth has fallen to about 2% after several decades in which it averaged 5.5%.
With the country having split almost equally along party lines, Park Geun-hye will have to work hard to improve relations with her detractors.
From the moment polls opened at 06:00 on Wednesday, millions of South Koreans queued to cast their ballots despite freezing temperatures.
Park Geun-hye’s supporters, wearing red party scarves, cheered as poll figures emerged.
Both bolstered and dogged by the legacy of her father, who built South Korea’s economy while crushing dissent, she apologized in September for human rights abuses under his administration.
Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party is a former human rights lawyer who served under former President Roh Moo-hyun. He was briefly jailed by Park Geun-hye’s father in the 1970s.
Both candidates put forward broadly similar policies, promising to boost social welfare spending, close the gap between the rich and poor and rein in the family-run giant conglomerates known as chaebol.
The issue of North Korea did not feature heavily in the campaign despite its recent rocket launch.
Both candidates promised more engagement with Pyongyang – though in Park Geun-hye’s case, more cautiously than her rival.
Ties between the two Koreas deteriorated during Lee Myung-bak’s term.
Robert Bales, the US soldier accused of killing 16 Afghans and injuring six others, could face the death penalty if found guilty of murder, the US Army says.
Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, 38, will face a court martial on murder and assault charges for a March attack on two villages in southern Afghanistan.
No date has been set for the trial, which will take place at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.
No US service member has been executed in more than 50 years.
Seventeen victims were women or children, with most shot in the head.
Robert Bales, the US soldier accused of killing 16 Afghans and injuring six others, could face the death penalty if found guilty of murder
Milan’s famous La Scala theatre has cancelled the opening day of its ballet season due to a strike by performers.
Chorus members in the production of Romeo and Juliet walked out over a request by the choreographer to perform dance moves along with the ballerinas.
The singers wanted special payments if they were to appear on stage.
But La Scala claimed “nothing extraordinary” was requested from the performers and said it could not afford to pay any additional money.
The chorus members’ strike comes shortly after ballerinas involved in the production complained a sloping platform used in the performance had given them backache and muscle pain.
A spokeswoman from La Scala said the dancers had now backed down from threatened industrial action, and were “really interested” to perform.
The ballerinas “only wanted to focus” attention on “some difficulties of this stage project”, she added.
The chorus, however, has confirmed its intention to strike.
“It was not our intention to get the premiere cancelled,” said Mauro Peconi, choir member and union representative.
“The theatre’s direction has closed the door to any negotiations and called off the premiere. We were willing to continue negotiations.”
Milan’s famous La Scala theatre has cancelled the opening day of its ballet season due to a strike by performers
Mauro Peconi said the new production of Romeo and Juliet “is different from others” as the chorus “are in costume” and “interact with the ballet”.
Appearing on stage meant that they would have to perform from memory, without a score.
“So the contractual conditions are different and we should be compensated in accordance,” he claimed.
Wednesday night’s premiere of Romeo and Juliet was to launch the theatre’s new ballet season.
A statement on the La Scala website said the opera house “deeply regrets” the cancellation of Romeo and Juliet and apologized to ticket holders.
Mauro Peconi said the union would attempt to renegotiate with representatives from La Scala before the second performance, which is due to take place on December 28.
La Scala has been forced to cancel several performances in recent years owing to walk-outs by performers, in a country prone to wildcat strikes.
In September 2011, an Austrian production of Beethoven’s Fidelio was scrapped while in March 2012, the premiere of the ballet L’altra meta del cielo, had to be called off due to industrial action.
Dutch police are investigating how the body of skydiver Mark van den Boogaard lay undetected in a field for more than a week.
Mark van den Boogaard was not reported missing and his body was discovered by chance by rabbit hunters. His parachute had failed to open.
He organized his jump with the largest skydiving club in the Netherlands.
But the club said it had not launched a search as it was not usual for skydivers to report back after their jump.
Police information officer Anton De Ronde said a local team had visited Mark van den Boogaard’s family to inform them, but that he was not close to any of his relatives – which is, the police believe, why no-one reported him missing.
Dutch police are investigating how the body of skydiver Mark van den Boogaard lay undetected in a field for more than a week
Simon Woerlee, manager of the Nationaal Paracentrum skydiving club, in the village of Teuge in Gelderland province, described his members as “shocked”.
He described Mark van den Boogaard as “a friendly and happy man, but a loner, someone who did not really talk to anyone and was always on his own”.
He was self-employed, so no-one from work called to see why he was absent.
Mark van den Boogaard was a regular and relatively experienced skydiver, according to club records, completing approximately 120 jumps since joining up in summer 2011.
The Royal Netherlands Aeronautical Association is examining the equipment to try to work out why neither the main chute or the reserve chute opened.
Simon Woerlee of the parachute club said there was no system to make sure that a jump had been completed safely.
“We never check, there is no law, no regulations,” he said.
“They have tried it in America but it didn’t work. Sometimes people come back to the club for a cup of tea and a chat, but sometimes they just pack up and leave.
“If you are forced to find out where everyone is, there can be a big drama for nothing. You can call all the emergency rescue teams and helicopters, then discover the person is sitting at home having tea with his granddad – that has happened before.”
Former first granddaughter and daughter Jenna Bush spent scores of Christmases at the White House while her grandfather and father were President.
Jenna Bush was more than qualified to sit down with Michelle Obama to compare notes about the holidays at America’s most famous address.
During the interview, aired this morning on Today, Jenna Bush recounted treasured memories including helping her grandmother, Barbara Bush, put the star on the tree when she was a child.
Meanwhile, Michelle Obama said the smells and sounds of the White House and opening it up to the public were the most magical things of the festive season.
“It’s the most special time to be in the White House,” Michelle Obama said.
“It is the one time of the year when the White House really opens up. We have thousands and thousands of visitors streaming through each day.
“Everything looks great. The smells are magnificent. I feel very blessed to be able to be here during these times.”
Michelle Obama said her daughters, Sasha and Malia, equally loved the holidays but were less involved now they’re getting older.
“We have a teen and a pre-teen so there is less involvement from them because their lives are so full,” she said.
“But they do still enjoy every second of the holidays.”
Jenna Bush and Michelle Obama compare notes on Christmas at the White House
Jenna Bush added that her and her sister Barbara’s favorite part was “the cookies”.
One member of the Obama family who will never grow out of Christmas is Bo – the family’s Portuguese water dog.
“We always find a way to incorporate Bo in our Christmas themes,” Michelle Obama said, agreeing that he was the family’s muse.
“He is the most popular member of the family,” she said.
“The President is clear on that. There are times when people recognize Bo and don’t even see him.”
When it comes to the Christmas meal, Michelle Obama, who refers to herself as “hostess-in-chief”, likes to serve up traditional fare, adding that it’s a time when diets go out the window.
“(The meal is) very traditional. There’s turkey, there’s string beans and stuffing, a little mac and cheese,” she said.
“Everybody deserves their mac and cheese.”
The family actually spends Christmas day in Hawaii, where President Barack Obama was born and went to high school.
“We go out there, and we spend time with friends and family,” she said.
“That tends to be our gift to each other, the president and I. We don’t exchange gifts. We say: <<We’re in Hawaii. Merry Christmas>>.”
Asked by Jenna Bush whether the First Family was looking forward to a relaxing vacation more than ever this year, Michelle Obama said yes, but that the family was prepared for anything.
“We are going to see,” she said.
“This job never stops. It’s a wonderful privilege. It’s a blessing. We’re so glad to be here for four more years.
“But you don’t have control over where the wind blows.”
However, one thing was certain.
“Whatever happens, we’ll be together. It really is just a time to be together and be thankful.”
During the slot on Today, Jenna Bush recounted a few more of her favorite memories from Christmas at the White House with presenter Susannah Guthrie.
“Reading with my sweet grandpa the night before Christmas, that was a tradition,” she said.
Jenna Bush agreed with Michelle Obama that the music and the festive scents wafting through the halls made the residence a magical place to be during the holidays, and she thanked the “amazing people” who put it all together.
“I have such precious memories… and it was really lovely being back,” she said.
Police are still searching for the motive of Adam Lanza’s killing spree, but one working theory is that he was angry that his mother was planning to commit him to a psychiatric facility because he was becoming too difficult for her to handle alone.
Given his decision to kill his mother Nancy Lanza while she lay sleeping in her bed at their Connecticut home and then drive to his former elementary school to purposefully kill innocent children, there had to be a strong connection in his mind between his anger and the school.
Nancy Lanza, 52, was thought to volunteer at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and so the theory extends to the fact that Adam felt he loved those children more than she loved him, since she was planning to send him away.
Fox News quotes a neighborhood figure, whose father works as the pastor of an area church, as saying that the 20-year-old shooter found out that his mother was in the legal process of having him committed and was upset.
That news, coupled with his jealousy of the time she allegedly spent with a group of kindergarteners at Sandy Hook, is thought to have served as the basis of the killing.
A number of factors are still unconfirmed in the theory, and it appears that they may remain as such for some time.
Records of conservatorship filings, which Nancy Lanza would have needed to make in order to commit her son since he is over 18-years-old, are sealed by the courts so if any such filings were made they will not be released publicly.
Sandy Hook gunman Adam Lanza feared his mother was planning to have him committed to psychiatric home and targeted the children that she loved more than him
“Adam Lanza believed she cared more for the children than she did for him, and the reason he probably thought this (was the fact that) she was petitioning for conservatorship and wanted to have him committed,” Joshua Flashman told Fox News.
One of the biggest questions remaining ever since the shooting was reported on Friday was Nancy Lanza’s connection to the school which was clearly singled out as a target by Adam.
The majority of his shooting was limited to the reception, where he forced his way into the building and killed those standing in his way, and then to a single first grade classroom.
Those children are thought to be the ones that Nancy Lanza grew close with during the last academic year, when they were in kindergarten.
Initial reports immediately after the shooting claimed that Nancy Lanza was a full time or even substitute teacher at the elementary school, though as the chaos of the day slowed, school officials said that she was not on any records of having worked there in any formal capacity.
That option leaves the possibility open that she volunteered her time with the young children.
That was echoed by Lillian Bittman, a former school board member who told the Wall Street Journal: “No one has heard of her. Teachers don’t know her.”
Though the court records will never back up the claim that Nancy Lanza was trying to have her son committed, her actions do lend credence to the idea because she had spent much time over the course of this year traveling to different schools to find a suitable place to send Adam.
Former babysitters of Adam Lanza’s said that she warned that she could never turn her back on the young boy, meaning that when she went to visit prospective schools, Adam was either with her or very aware of the fact that she had gone shopping for his next home.
In a Facebook conversation between Nancy Lanza and her former sister-in-law Marsha, Nancy revealed that she had wanted to downsize from her $1.4 million home in Newtown.
“I am still in the same place but getting to the point where I may want a smaller house. I travel a lot, spend time with friends, work with a couple of charities,” she wrote in one of the messages.
When Kate Middleton wore a delicate pair of imitation diamond-and-pearl earrings to the Diamond Jubilee service at St Paul’s Cathedral earlier this year, she could not have anticipated the chain of events she would set in motion.
The £48 fake pearl and cubic zirconia earrings were instantly familiar to Belinda Hadden who was at home watching the TV coverage.
They were part of a range of jewellery sold on her website Heavenly Necklaces – an online business selling convincing, understated fake jewels which Belinda Hadden used to describe as a “well-kept secret”.
But shortly after those earrings were worn by Kate Middleton, her secret was out – and life hasn’t been quite the same since. Belinda Hadden, 55, is no stranger to celebrity clients and the essence of her cottage industry has been its polite, discreet service.
Belinda Hadden has smiled at photographs of Hollywood stars wearing her fake gems on the red carpet – keen to look a million dollars, but not prepared to insure against the loss or theft of real jewels worth a million dollars.
One client came to her after losing a real diamond earring on a beach in Kenya. Not daring to tell her husband, she contacted Belinda Hadden, asking if she had something similar. To this day, the woman’s husband remains blissfully unaware that she is sporting fakes.
Having kept her client list secret, Belinda Hadden was disconcerted when she received an email from one customer, with a photograph attached to it of the Duchess of Cambridge at the Jubilee, asking: “Could these by any chance be the same earrings that I have?”
“There was a problem with client confidentiality,” says Belinda Hadden now.
“So I emailed back saying <<it’s possible>>, because <<no>> would have been a lie, but <<yes>> a betrayal.”
She thought that would be the end of it, but soon internet chatrooms and websites such as www.whatkate wore.com, which catalogues everything that the Duchess wears, were abuzz with news about where the Duchess had bought her earrings.
Kate Middleton wore a delicate pair of imitation diamond-and-pearl earrings to the Diamond Jubilee service at St Paul’s Cathedral earlier this year
Orders started rolling in – from all over the world.
Heavenly Necklaces was swamped, selling out of the earrings almost instantly. More than 400 orders were placed within 48 hours – as many as the company might normally expect in a year. Belinda Hadden hurriedly set up a waiting list to cope with demand.
The company generated a year’s worth of business in a matter of days, as customers from the U.S. to Japan, disappointed at having to wait for up to two months for “Kate’s earrings”, consoled themselves with shopping from the rest of the catalogue. They bought everything from the cheapest £16 stud earrings to a fake diamond necklace costing just over £2,000.
But this extraordinary surge in orders threatened to overwhelm the small company. Belinda Hadden’s bank, viewing her sudden jump in income as “unusual activity”, froze her account.
“Thatwas not helpful,” she says, with measured understatement.
Eventually, the problem was sorted out but Kate Middleton’s decision to wear the firm’s earrings has utterly transformed the business. Belinda Hadden had to register for VAT, to take on new staff to cope with the backlog of orders and the website had to be redesigned to handle large amounts of internet traffic and a vastly greater volume of orders than before.
Belinda Hadden is a grateful beneficiary of what has been dubbed “The Kate Effect” which describes the phenomenon whereby when Kate Middleton wears a pair of shoes, a high-street dress or a fascinator hat, sales sky-rocket.
She says: “Here was the future Queen of England wearing fake diamond jewellery and everybody celebrated it. I think there’s a feeling that anyone can look great on an unlimited budget but the people with real style are those who can look good on a limited budget, particularly if they do that combination, Topshop-Prada thing.
“Those are certainly the people I admire . . . and the Duchess of Cambridge is the patron saint of that message.”
Anyone searching for proof of the Duchess’s ability to mix high and low need look no further than the £2,900 Kiki McDonough earrings she wore at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards last Sunday night – a sharp contrast to Belinda’s £48 pair.
Six months on, orders continue to flood in, and so do notes from other retailers, congratulating Belinda and hoping that Kate Middleton’s magic dust will fall on their own businesses.
“I had a message from someone who makes funky crutches – fabulously colorful, floral things – joking <<Congratulations on your success. If you could now just persuade the Duchess to break a leg. . .>>.”
Belinda Hadden’s own lucky break came after nearly 20 years of hard work building Heavenly Necklaces from a kitchen-table start-up to a business with a global client base.
The concept of fake jewellery became big in the Thirties when people went on cruises, left their jewels in the bank and wore replicas onboard.
When Belinda Hadden started her business in the early Nineties, after quitting a job in PR to spend more time with her three young daughters, her aim was to do fakes with a modern twist.
“At first it was semi-precious stones on invisible thread, but it morphed into the whole fake thing. Then I found a supplier in Hatton Garden [London’s jewellery quarter] who made very clever pieces that looked like the real thing, then I started designing and commissioning my own pieces.
“You don’t have to insure them or worry if they get lost, and everyone thought, <<How clever to sparkle without the risk>>.”
Even the wife of one of Bond Street’s top jewellers is a customer.
“If she borrows from their shop, it has to be delivered under armed guard.
“But when she wears one of my pieces she says everyone assumes it’s real and that if she loses the item, <<it’s 40 quid instead of 40,000>>.”
Another customer told Belinda that when she was burgled recently, the thieves ignored laptops, TVs and other luxury items – and took two of her rings, worth just £76.
Many stars now see the benefits of luxury fakes. Although rapper Jay-Z proposed to his pop star wife Beyonce with an 18-carat diamond ring worth $5 million, he also gave her an imitation to wear on stage.
Belinda Hadden says: “What has changed is that people now see it as an intelligent rather than a cheapskate thing to do.”
That means her “superb client list” continues to grow. This list – Hollywood stars, wives of millionaires, and now, thanks to Kate Middleton, royalty – is anything but fake.
French judges have decided to press ahead with the prosecution of Dominique Strauss-Kahn for pimping.
Lawyers for the former International Monetary Fund chief said they would appeal against the decision.
DSK has admitted attending sex parties in northern France, but says he did not know that some of the women present were paid prostitutes.
Last week he reached a settlement with a hotel maid who said he had raped her.
DSK had been accused of trying to rape Nafissatou Diallo in a hotel in New York in May 2011.
The civil case was settled for an undisclosed sum. A criminal investigation was dropped by US prosecutors last year.
On Wednesday, a court in the northern French town of Douai rejected a request by Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers to drop the inquiry into pimping.
The decision removes the prospect of a quick conclusion to the last inquiry DSK faces.
French judges have decided to press ahead with the prosecution of Dominique Strauss-Kahn for pimping
The case is the last major inquiry DSK faces, and the ruling Wednesday’s ruling removes any prospect of a quick conclusion.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s defence lawyers accuse the investigating judges in the case of being biased.
“Dominque Strauss-Kahn’s defence team is certain that he will ultimately be cleared of these absurd accusations of pimping,” lawyer Henri Leclerc said in a statement.
The lawyer added that he planned to take the matter to the supreme court.
The inquiry is known as the Carlton affair – after the name of the hotel in Lille in which the alleged orgies took place.
Consorting with prostitutes is not against the law in France, and DSK has acknowledged that he was at some of the parties with the women.
But DSK’s legal team says he had no idea they were prostitutes, and that there is no evidence to support a formal charge of pimping.
“I challenge you to distinguish a naked prostitute from any other naked woman,” his lawyer has said in his defence.
His lawyers have also argued that the investigation should be annulled due to insufficient grounds.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is reportedly taking steps to reinvent himself as a highly paid consultant and conference speaker, has said the authorities are trying to “criminalize lust”.
Other cases against him have already been dropped.
In October, French prosecutors ended an investigation into allegations of “gang rape” at a hotel in Washington after the woman who made the claim retracted her evidence.
Magistrates also dropped a sexual assault case brought by French author Tristane Banon on the grounds that the alleged 2003 incident had taken place too long ago.
The United Nations has suspended an anti-polio campaign in Pakistan after three more health workers died in the latest of a spate of gun attacks.
Attacks in the Peshawar region killed a female vaccination supervisor and her driver, as well as a student volunteer.
Coming after five deaths on Tuesday, the UN said it was suspending its three-day vaccination drive.
No group has claimed responsibility, but the Taliban have issued threats against the UN’s anti-polio campaign.
Pakistan is one of just three countries where the disease is still endemic.
The UN children’s agency Unicef and the World Health Organization were suspending work on the programme nationwide after Wednesday’s bloodshed, said Unicef spokesman Michael Coleman.
The programme was halted in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces on Tuesday after four female health workers were shot dead in the city, while another female worker was killed in an attack in Peshawar.
The vaccination supervisor and her driver died when their car was sprayed by gunmen riding motorbikes in Charsadda district, north of Peshawar, police said.
The student volunteer was shot in the head when gunmen on two motorbikes fired at a team of vaccinators in a northern suburb of Peshawar.
The UN has suspended an anti-polio campaign in Pakistan after three more health workers died in the latest of a spate of gun attacks
Gunmen riding motorbikes also shot at polio vaccinators in another area of Charsadda and in the adjoining district of Nowshera, although no injuries were reported.
Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Tuesday condemned the attacks and praised the work of the polio vaccination teams, calling on regional authorities to guarantee their safety.
Wednesday is the final day of a three-day nationwide anti-polio drive – during which an estimated 5.2 million polio drops were to be administered.
There has been opposition to such immunization drives in parts of Pakistan, particularly after a fake CIA hepatitis vaccination campaign helped to locate Osama Bin Laden in 2011.
Militants have kidnapped and killed foreign NGO workers in the past in an attempt to halt the immunization drives, which they say are part of efforts to spy on them.
Afghanistan and Nigeria are the only other countries where polio is still endemic.
Pakistan is considered the key battleground in the global fight against the disease, which attacks the nervous system and can cause permanent paralysis within hours of infection.
Almost 200 children were paralyzed in the country in 2011 – the worst figures in 15 years.
Earlier this year, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative warned that tackling the disease had entered “emergency mode” after “explosive” outbreaks in countries previously free of polio.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said polio was at a tipping point, with experts fearing it could “come back with a vengeance” after large outbreaks in Africa and Tajikistan and China’s first recorded cases for more than a decade.
Declaring polio a national emergency, the Pakistani government is targeting 33 million children for vaccination with some 88,000 health workers delivering vaccination drops.
Rihanna has hinted she’s once again split from Chris Brown.
Rihanna and Chris Brown reconciled earlier this year even though Chris is still on probation for beating her up in 2009 but she took to her Instagram account on Tuesday to post a message which appears to confirm reports the couple have called time on their relationship.
She posted an “R Card” which read: “Being single sucks. The only thing I get to do anymore is whatever the f**k I want to do.”
Rihanna, 24, was left reeling recently after her on/off boyfriend Chris Brown was pictured partying with scantily-clad girls on tour in Paris and enjoying a meal with his ex-girlfriend Karrueche Tran in Dubai and vented her feelings in a note to her fans.
She uploaded a photograph to Twitter of a heartfelt letter, thanking fans for their constant support and telling them to stand up for what they believe in and refusing to be defeated by mistakes and “curve balls”.
Rihanna has hinted she’s once again split from Chris Brown
The handwritten note contains the lines: “There’s no question that life throws us curve balls, we do our best to deal with them, take the lessons and keep it moving without regrets…
“I look forward to embarking on this ride with you, unwilling to sacrifice what we believe in, taking our lessons and growing from them. Don’t let one thing shake your core. Let our inspirations drive us, never steering from who we truly are….”
Rihanna also took to Twitter to vent her feelings, writing: “Examine what you tolerate’, ‘Goodbye muthaf*****’, ‘You give, you get, then you give it the f*** back’ and ‘Claps for the basic b****** (sic)”
In between posting raunchy images of herself, she followed it up yesterday, musing: “Never underestimate a man’s ability to make you feel guilty for his mistakes.”
Bradley Cooper revealed during the Ellen DeGeneres show on Tuesday that he has five nipples.
Bradley Cooper, 37, offered to take his shirt off but warned viewers that he had a “disgusting” secret.
Not only did he claim to have a third nipple underneath his regular one – not uncommon – he also has one on his arm and one on his leg.
The hunky bad boy said to Ellen DeGeneres: “Shall I take my shirt off?”
Bradley Cooper continued, while pulling down his shirt to reveal his chest: “You asked me before but I didn’t want to reveal too much…I’ll show you why.
“I have a third nipple – is that not weird? It’s disgusting.”
Bradley Cooper revealed during the Ellen DeGeneres show on Tuesday that he has five nipples
He then went on to confess to having two more nipples.
Bradley Cooper said: “I have a fourth. It’s so sick.
“And I have a fifth on my leg.”
Ellen DeGeneres then joked that her show had turned into a “show and tell” session.
However, it turned out the nipples were a joke and was just a ploy to segue the show.
Millions of South Koreans have cast ballots in a presidential election seen as too close to call.
Park Geun-hye of the governing Saenuri party is looking to make history as South Korea’s first female president.
But she faces a tough challenge from Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party, who has been steadily eroding her lead in the polls.
Whoever wins will replace President Lee Myung-bak, who is stepping down, as the law requires, after his five-year term.
Economic issues including welfare provision and job creation have dominated campaigning.
Polls opened at 06:00 and closed 12 hours later. Three television stations were expected to release joint exit polls shortly after voting closed, with formal results expected early on Thursday.
Turn-out at 16:00 – with two hours of polling to go – was 65.2%, already past the final turn-out figure of 63% in the 2007 election, Yonhap news agency said.
A national holiday has been declared so people can cast their ballots.
“Though it’s cold today, I hope you will take part in the voting and open up a new era that every one of you has yearned for,” Park Geun-hye said after voting in Seoul.
Park Geun-hye of the governing Saenuri party is looking to make history as South Korea’s first female president
Park Geun-hye is the daughter of former military ruler General Park Chung-hee, a polarizing figure credited with transforming South Korea into an economic success story during his 1961-1979 rule, but accused of ruthlessly crushing dissent.
Both Park Geun-hye’s parents were assassinated – her mother in 1974 by a pro-North Korea gunman and her father in 1979 by his own spy chief.
Park Geun-hye, 60, who in September apologized for human rights abuses during her father’s era, said on Tuesday she would be “a president of the people’s livelihoods, who thinks only about the people”.
“I will restore the broken middle class and open an era in which the middle class make up 70% of the population,” she said in a news conference at her party’s headquarters in Seoul.
Moon Jae-in, a former human rights lawyer, was once jailed for protesting against General Park’s regime.
He was a chief of staff to Lee Myung-bak’s predecessor, Roh Moo-hyun, who killed himself in 2009 while under investigation for corruption.
In his news conference, Moon Jae-in pointed to the current corruption and incompetency allegations surrounding Park Geun-hye’s own party.
“This overall crisis… will not be resolved by replacing the representative player. We must change the entire team,” the 59-year-old said.
Casting his ballot on Wednesday, he appealed for voters to turn out.
“If you have been unsatisfied over the last five years, please change the world with your votes,” he said.
For all their differences, the two candidates have put forward remarkably similar policies.
They have both promised to boost social welfare spending, close the gap between the rich and poor and rein in the country’s family-run giant conglomerates, known as chaebol.
On the issue of North Korea, which has not featured heavily in the campaign despite its recent rocket launch, both candidates have promised more engagement with Pyongyang – though, in Park Geun-hye’s case, more cautiously than her rival.
The electorate appears to be more engaged than usual, with one recent poll suggested more than 80% of voters are planning to cast their ballots
South Korea uses a first-past-the-post system, and so the candidate with the most votes will become president.
