Food experts have pointed out that the “fruit” many companies claim on their packaging is actually just balls of sugar and soybean oil, mixed with tiny bits of dried fruit.
Consumer watchdogs warn that some of biggest food companies are fooling us with unhealthy and high-sugar “fruit imposters” inside labels promising “real fruit, full of vitamins”.
An example is Special K Fruit and Yogurt cereal, with fresh berries on the front of the box.
Michael Jacobson, the head of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer watchdog group, told Today it actually contains “no berries whatsoever”.
He explained that these berry “imposters” are in a lot of foods, like blueberry Eggos and Aunt Jemima’s Blueberry Pancakes.
While the label proclaims “made with real blueberries”, it actually contains “blueberry bits” which are blue chucks shaped into balls made from “mostly sugar and soybean oil, then little bits of real blueberry that’s been artificially colored”.
Today‘s National Investigative Correspondent Jeff Rossen said: “If the companies were in this room, they would say: <<Look, we’re printing the ingredients on the label. No misleading advertising here.>>”
Food experts have pointed out that the fruit many companies claim on their packaging is actually just balls of sugar and soybean oil, mixed with tiny bits of dried fruit
But Michael Jacobsen disagreed: “You can’t deceive people in big print and pictures on the front of the label, and then give the correct answers on the back of the label.”
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which oversees such labeling, told Today that it “supports laws requiring labels to be truthful and non-misleading”, and these labels “are permitted” under FDA regulations as long as the word “flavored” is also printed.
Nutritionist Joy Bauer explained: “If you see the word <<flavored>>, either natural or artificial, it could be a red flag that there’s actually no fruit within that product.”
“The Food and Drug Administration is asleep at the wheel. It rarely brings complaints against these companies,” said Michael Jacobsen, whose own group is suing Coca-Cola, which owns vitaminwater because “there aren’t any strawberries and there aren’t any kiwis in there”.
“I suspect the FDA doesn’t want to tangle with big companies who could keep them tied up in court for years… [But] that bottle contains almost as much sugar as a 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola.
“Companies are gonna make a lot more money if they can imply that there are berries in the product, but not put them there. They’re saving a lot of money, but they’re cheating consumers.”
Jeff Rossen added: “The food companies told us some of that real fruit on the package is meant as a serving suggestion, and is disclosed in small print.
“The FDA says it does inspect labels, and it’s cracking down on companies that break the law. The agency told us it’s your responsibility to read the entire label, not just the front.”
Despite the ongoing FBI investigation into the extra-marital affair that led to his resignation as Director of the CIA, David Petraeus has agreed to testify this Friday before a House Committee on the Benghazi consulate attack.
The hearing, which will be held before the Senate Intelligence Committee, is closed to the public and the media and the retired four-star general will answer questions on the CIA’s knowledge and handling of the September 11th assault that left U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other American dead.
Last night it was confirmed by the Committee that David Petraeus would appear before them at 7.30 a.m. putting an end to the speculation the former CIA chief would decline to testify following his resignation over the Paula Broadwell affair.
David Petraeus hopes that by offering to give testimony he will clear up some of the wilder rumors that are circulating.
“He did not like the conspiracies going around that somehow he had something to hide on Benghazi,” said retired Colonel Peter Mansoor who served as David Petraeus’ executive officer in Iraq.
“I think his offer to testify crossed with the Congress’ request to him to testify. But anyway, he looks forward to that.”
David Petraeus has agreed to testify this Friday before a House Committee on the Benghazi consulate attack
This comes as the former CIA director told his close friend Peter Mansoor that he was ignoring the media firestorm that has erupted in the wake of his resignation.
“He wants to maintain a distance and focus on his family at this time,” said retired Peter Mansoor to CNN.
“He realizes it was a severe and morally reprehensible action, but he violated no laws.”
Asked how David Petraeus, 60, was dealing with the scandal, Peter Mansoor said: “He describes it as putting one foot in front of the other, and then repeating the process. So it’s going to be a long, long road of healing for them. He understands that and he’s focusing on it.”
Sources have told CBS’ Margaret Brennan that intelligence officials will show footage from unmanned drones that were overhead during the assault.
“General Petraeus is willing to come before the committee and the details are being worked out,” Senator Diane Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said today. No date for his testimony has been set.
Dianne Feinstein has been among those in Congress who have complained that lawmakers should have been notified about an FBI investigation that led to the disclosure of David Petraeus’ affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.
But she said that David Petraeus’ testimony to her committee will be limited to the Benghazi attacks that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others. David Petraeus was CIA director at the time of the attacks and visited Libya afterward.
David Petraeus was originally supposed to give evidence to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday before his resignation and subsequent investigation that has expanded to include General John Allen, the chief of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
When asked if there had been a national security breach with the Petraeus affair, Feinstein replied: “I have no evidence that there was at this time.”
The new details of what uncovered David Petraeus’ months-long relationship with his biographer Paula Broadwell come as the FBI continue to search military documents Broadwell admitted to stashing in her home.
Security officials have revealed Paula Broadwell had “substantial” classified information on her computer which should have been stored more securely.
The computer was taken from Paula Broadwell’s Charlotte, North Carolina home on Monday night after she admitted to FBI investigators that she had taken classified military documents, a source told ABC.
President Barack Obama said on Wednesday there was no indication so far that any classified documents had been found but said he will not prejudge the investigation results.
Security officials have revealed Paula Broadwell had substantial classified information on her computer which should have been stored more securely
Officials continue to investigate exactly how Paula Broadwell acquired the files, but as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Military Reserve, she had security clearance to review the documents.
The government had demanded she return the documents and organized the visit to her home. Prosecutors are now deciding whether to charge her with a crime.
Paula Broadwell, who has kept a low profile since the scandal broke, was seen taking refuge at her brother’s home in the Petworth suburb of Washington D.C. on Tuesday night.
Thirteen deaths have been linked to the consumption of Focus 5-Hour energy drinks according to a report by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just weeks after an eerily similar report involving caffeinated drinks and death.
With the fatalities the energy “shot” has been additionally linked to heart attacks, convulsions and in one case a spontaneous abortion according to 90 filings with the FDA released to the New York Times this week.
The reports covering the last three years come just weeks after popular brand Monster Energy was similarly linked by the FDA to five deaths including of a 14-year-old Maryland girl.
Focus 5-hour energy, who voluntarily submitted their incident reports to the FDA complying with a 2008 regulation, has noted no deaths proven to be caused by the two-ounce “shot”.
The FDA’s director of dietary supplement programs said on Wednesday that the agency is looking into the death reports, including the direct link to each possible victim.
Describing its product as a “compact-sized energy shot intended for busy adults” and “not an energy drink, nor marketed as a beverage”, according to a company statement objected by the Times, they estimate the “shot” to contain “about as much caffeine as a cup of the leading premium coffee”.
The product does not list its exact caffeine content though Consumer Reports has figured it being around 215 milligrams – twice as much as an average cup of coffee.
Thirteen deaths have been linked to the consumption of Focus 5-Hour energy drinks according to a report by the FDA
Monster Energy, which sells its product in 24-ounce cans, in comparison contains 240 milligrams of caffeine.
When 14-year-old Anais Fournier from Hagerstown, Maryland consumed two cans of the energy drink, back-to-back, an autopsy found the teen died of cardiac arrhythmia due to caffeine toxicity, impeding her heart’s ability to pump blood.
Worries have arisen on the quick swallow of two or more 5-hour Energy shots with each being merely two-ounces.
“We recommend on product labels and the 5-hour ENERGY website that individuals consume no more than two bottles of 5-hour ENERGY shots per day, spaced several hours apart,” Living Essentials spokeswoman Elaine Lutz, the products’ distributor, said in the release to the Times.
BP is set to receive a record fine of between $3 billion and $5 billion to settle criminal charges related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster.
It will be the biggest criminal penalty in US history.
The settlement with the Department of Justice involves BP pleading guilty to criminal charges.
It is thought that up to four BP staff will be arrested.
Details of the settlement are expected to be confirmed by the Washington-based Department of Justice later.
Earlier, BP said it was in “advanced discussions” with US agencies about settling criminal and other claims.
BP is set to receive a record fine of between $3 billion and $5 billion to settle criminal charges related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster
BP said that any deal would not include a range of other claims including individual and federal claims for damages under the Clean Water Act, and state claims for economic loss.
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster killed 11 workers and released millions of barrels of crude into the Gulf of Mexico over 87 days.
The settlement is much bigger than the largest previous corporate criminal penalty assessed by the Department of Justice, the $1.2 billion fine imposed on drug maker Pfizer in 2009.
The oil giant has been selling assets worth billions of pounds to raise money to settle all claims. The company is expected to make a final payment of $860 million into the $20 billion Gulf of Mexico compensation fund by the end of the year.
BP has booked provisions of $38.1 billion to cover its liabilities from the incident, but the company has said the final cost remained highly uncertain.
Champion Lance Armstrong’s name has been removed from the very cancer fighting charity he founded, dropping its name to the Livestrong Foundation.
The move is the latest of several by the charity to separate itself from its founder, who has been stripped of his seven Tour De France titles.
The U.S. Anti-doping agency (USADA) revealed evidence of performance-enhancing drug use by Lance Armstrong and his teammates.
Foundation spokeswoman Katherine McLane said on Wednesday that the name change was approved by the Texas Secretary of State on October 30th.
Lance Armstrong had previously stepped-down as chairman of the foundation and last week resigned from its board of directors.
Lance Armstrong’s name has been removed from the very cancer fighting charity he founded, dropping its name to the Livestrong Foundation
Katherine McLane said the charity’s supporters recognize its already popular Livestrong brand, which the foundation has used for several years to raise money for cancer survivors programmes.
Leaving one mark of Lance Armstrong unscrubbed from their website is his cancer success story, however, rallying his defeat of testicular cancer to his consequential creation of the foundation.
Adding a six-worded update to that story, they write: “During his treatment, before his recovery, before he even knew his own fate, he created the Lance Armstrong Foundation (now known as the LIVESTRONG Foundation). This marked the beginning of Lance’s life as an advocate for people living with cancer and a world representative for the cancer community.”
In a conference call with his national finance committee on Wednesday, Republican Mitt Romney attributes his election loss to President Barack Obama’s “gifts” that he bestowed on minorities and young people during his first term.
Mitt Romney said Barack Obama’s win was buoyed in large part by loyal Democratic constituencies including the poor that he had promised “free health care”, the immigrants that he had protected from deportation and the college-aged women that he had offered free contraceptives.
“You can imagine for somebody making $25,000 or $30,000 or $35,000 a year, being told you’re now going to get free health care, particularly if you don’t have it, getting free health care worth, what, $10,000 per family, in perpetuity? I mean, this is huge.”
“Likewise, with Hispanic voters, free health care was a big plus,” he added.
“But in addition with regards to Hispanic voters, the amnesty for children of illegals, the so-called DREAM Act kids, was a huge plus for that voting group.”
Barack Obama announced in June that he would grant temporary amnesty to some children of undocumented immigrants who met certain requirements and had clean criminal records. The program resembled the DREAM Act, which had long been stalled in Congress.
Mitt Romney chided Barack Obama over the summer for waiting so long to address immigration reform, charging that his amnesty program was politically motivated.
“He saves these sort of things until four-and-a-half months before the general election,” Mitt Romney said in June on CBS’ Face the Nation.
“I think the timing is pretty clear. If he really wanted a solution that dealt with these kids or illegal immigration in America, then this is something he would have taken up in his first three-and-a-half years, not in his last few months.”
Now Mitt Romney is saying that the program is what persuaded Hispanics to support Barack Obama.
Mitt Romney attributes his election loss to Barack Obama’s gifts that he bestowed on minorities and young people during his first term
Mitt Romney won 59% of the white vote, while Barack Obama was backed by 93% of black voters, 71% of Latinos and 60% of voters younger than 30, according to exit polls.
He said that Barack Obama directed his campaign according to the “old playbook” of targeting specific groups with promises of legislation that would persuade them to vote a certain way.
“In each case they were very generous in what they gave to those groups,” Mitt Romney said.
“With regards to the young people, for instance, a forgiveness of college loan interest, was a big gift,” Mitt Romney said.
“Free contraceptives were very big with young college-aged women. And then, finally, Obamacare also made a difference for them, because as you know, anybody now 26 years of age and younger was now going to be part of their parents’ plan, and that was a big gift to young people.
“They turned out in large numbers, a larger share in this election even than in 2008,” Mitt Romney said.
Similarly, Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney’s running mate, blamed the Republican ticket’s loss on high turnout among “urban” voters.
“I think the surprise was some of the turnout, some of the turnout especially in urban areas, which gave President Obama the big margin to win this race,” Paul Ryan told a television station in Wisconsin.
“When we watched Virginia and Ohio coming in, and those ones coming in as tight as they were, and looking like we were going to lose them, that’s when it became clear we weren’t going to win.”
Mitt Romney told his finance team that the sting of his loss was still too strong to begin mapping out his plans going forward for himself and for the Republican Party.
“I am very sorry that we didn’t win,” he said.
“I know that you expected to win. We expected to win… It was very close, but close doesn’t count in this business.”
Mitt Romney added: “And so now we’re looking and saying, <<O.K., what can we do going forward?>>. But frankly we’re still so troubled by the past, it’s hard to put together our plans from the future.”
Barack Obama’s “gifts”
Mitt Romney says President Barack Obama targeted blacks, Hispanics and young people with certain “gifts” including:
Obamacare’s provisions allowing children to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans through age 26
A program that caps federal student loan payments at 10% of income and forgives any remaining debt after 20 years of consistent payments
Temporary deportation exemptions granted to young illegal immigrants who meet certain requirements
Requirement that most employers provide health insurance covering birth control
Paula Broadwell and Jill Kelley, the two women at the centre of the Petraeus sex scandal are facing the prospect of being blackballed by the military establishment.
The US military has revoked access for two women at the heart of the scandal that led to Friday’s resignation of General David Petraeus as CIA director.
Jill Kelley, a 37-year-old Tampa socialite who hosted parties for the nation’s top brass, has been told yesterday that she is no longer welcome at military HQ near her Florida home. Her pass at the Florida air force base where she organized social events has been frozen.
An FBI inquiry into Jill Kelley’s complaints of email harassment revealed that Paula Broadwell and General David Petraeus had been having an affair.
Paula Broadwell, who is a military intelligence reservist with the rank of lieutenant colonel has had her government security clearance suspended pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation.
Paula Broadwell, a 40-year-old married mother of two, had apparently sent the anonymous emails to Jill Kelley warning her to stay away from David Petraeus.
Paula Broadwell and Jill Kelley, the two women at the centre of the Petraeus sex scandal are facing the prospect of being blackballed by the military establishment
Frederick W. Humphries, the mysterious “Shirtless FBI Agent” who began the investigation that led to the resignation of David Petraeus, has broken his silence to say he did not send Tampa socialite Jill Kelley any pictures of a sexual nature.
While not denying the now notorious, but unseen “shirtless” picture exists, Frederick W. Humphries, 47, said the photograph was sent as a “joke” and described it as him “posing with a couple of dummies”.
Refuting media suggestions that the picture was sent because he had become enamored with Jill Kelley, the decorated FBI agent said that the photo was sent years before she contacted him about threatening emails she received from David Petraeus’ biographer-turned-mistress Paula Broadwell.
According to the general counsel for the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association who have spoken to Frederick Humphries, the FBI counter terrorism agent only passed on the information Jill Kelley provided him with and played no part in the subsequent investigation.
Lawrence Berger told theNew York Times that Frederick Humphries, who played a key role in stopping a terrorist attack aimed at blowing up Los Angeles International Airport in 1999 and his wife had been “social friends with Ms. Kelley and her husband prior to the day she referred the matter to him”.
“They always socialized and corresponded.”
Lawrence Berger denied any suggestion that Frederick Humphries sent inappropriate shirtless pictures to Jill Kelley during the course of the investigation which has now engulfed the intelligence community in Washington.
“That picture was sent years before Kelley contacted him about this, and it was sent as part of a larger context of what I would call social relations in which the families would exchange numerous photos of each other,” said Lawrence Berger.
Claiming that the picture was sent as a “joke”, Lawrence Berger said that Frederick Humphries was “posing with a couple of dummies” at the time of the photograph and that it was not sexual in nature.
However, those with knowledge of the investigation that Frederick Humphries sparked said that he was given a dressing down by his superiors for trying to push the complaint forward.
In fact, according to the New York Times, Frederick Humphries believed that the case was purposefully being stalled for political reasons.
So much so, that in October, Frederick Humphries contacted Representative Dave Recihert, a Republican from Washington State, where Humphries had worked before to ask for his help – purposefully going over his bosses heads.
Dave Reichert directed him to House majority leader, Eric Cantor who eventually passed the message onto the FBI director, Robert S. Mueller.
Frederick W. Humphries is the mysterious Shirtless FBI Agent who began the investigation that led to the resignation of David Petraeus
According to Wired Magazine, Eric Cantor and his staff personally met with Frederick Humphries in October but were unable to act on the information he was giving them because they doubted his credibility.
They also had no idea that FBI were investigating David Petraeus in the first place and after conferring they decided to contact FBI Director Robert Mueller on October 31st.
One week later, on November 6th, Election Day, Robert Mueller went to James Clapper the director of national intelligence and David Petraeus’ immediate superior – who urged him to resign his position as head of the CIA.
In fact, the House Judiciary Committee has written to Robert Mueller to ask why it took him a week to come forward with the information that Frederick Humphries had given him.
This information puts severe doubt over Frederick Humphries assertion that he took no active interest in the case that has caused the resignation of the CIA chief David Petraeus and could cause the downfall of General John Allen, who commands U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
“Fred is a passionate kind of guy,” said one former colleague.
“He’s kind of an obsessive type. If he locked his teeth onto something, he’d be a bulldog.”
Frederick Humphries has since been reassigned and his status is being reviewed by the FBI.
Jon Adler, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, defended Frederick Humphries as an experienced professional.
“From my view issues of national security have unfortunately been reduced to a bad episode of <<Real Housewives>>,” he said to the Wall Street Journal.
“The photos should not undermine the fact that the agent responded in a timely way and appropriately, nor do they reflect any amorous relationship,” he said.
It was Frederick Humphries who passed on Jill Kelley’s complaint about disturbing emails she had received to his superiors in the FBI Tampa field office.
The investigation tracked down the emails to Paula Broadwell and subsequently discovered the extramarital affair between 60-year-old David Petraeus and the married mother-of-two.
Frederick Humphries grew up in Steilacoom, Washington, attended high school in Canada and rose to become a captain in military intelligence in the U.S. Army.
Studying criminology at the University of Tampa, Frederick Humphries joined the FBI and in 1999 he was involved in the investigation which foiled Ahmed Rassam the “Millennium Bomber” who planned to attack Los Angeles International Airport.
Two years ago the passionate officer was attacked outside of MAcDill Air Force Base in Tampa by a knife wielding man, who Frederick Humphries fatally shot.
It’s a common grumble that politicians’ lifestyles are far removed from those of their electorate. Not so in Uruguay. Meet the president – who lives on a ramshackle farm and gives away most of his pay. Jose Mujica.
Laundry is strung outside the house. The water comes from a well in a yard, overgrown with weeds. Only two police officers and Manuela, a three-legged dog, keep watch outside.
This is the residence of the president of Uruguay, Jose Mujica, whose lifestyle clearly differs sharply from that of most other world leaders.
President Jose Mujica has shunned the luxurious house that the Uruguayan state provides for its leaders and opted to stay at his wife’s farmhouse, off a dirt road outside the capital, Montevideo.
The president and his wife work the land themselves, growing flowers.
This austere lifestyle – and the fact that Jose Mujica donates about 90% of his monthly salary, equivalent to $12,000, to charity – has led him to be labeled the poorest president in the world.
“I’ve lived like this most of my life,” Jose Mujica says, sitting on an old chair in his garden, using a cushion favored by Manuela the dog.
“I can live well with what I have.”
His charitable donations – which benefit poor people and small entrepreneurs – mean his salary is roughly in line with the average Uruguayan income of $775 a month.
In 2010, his annual personal wealth declaration – mandatory for officials in Uruguay – was $1,800, the value of his 1987 Volkswagen Beetle.
This year, Jose Mujica added half of his wife’s assets – land, tractors and a house – reaching $215,000.
That’s still only about two-thirds of Vice-President Danilo Astori’s declared wealth, and a third of the figure declared by Jose Mujica’s predecessor as president, Tabare Vasquez.
Elected in 2009, Jose Mujica spent the 1960s and 1970s as part of the Uruguayan guerrilla Tupamaros, a leftist armed group inspired by the Cuban revolution.
He was shot six times and spent 14 years in jail. Most of his detention was spent in harsh conditions and isolation, until he was freed in 1985 when Uruguay returned to democracy.
Those years in jail, Jose Mujica says, helped shape his outlook on life.
President Jose Mujica has shunned the luxurious house that the Uruguayan state provides for its leaders and opted to stay at his wife’s farmhouse, off a dirt road outside the capital, Montevideo
“I’m called <<the poorest president>>, but I don’t feel poor. Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle, and always want more and more,” he says.
“This is a matter of freedom. If you don’t have many possessions then you don’t need to work all your life like a slave to sustain them, and therefore you have more time for yourself,” Jose Mujica says.
“I may seem a mad and eccentric old man. But this is a free choice.”
The Uruguayan leader made a similar point when he addressed the Rio+20 summit in June this year: “We’ve been talking all afternoon about sustainable development. To get the masses out of poverty.
“But what are we thinking? Do we want the model of development and consumption of the rich countries? I ask you now: what would happen to this planet if Indians would have the same proportion of cars per household than Germans? How much oxygen would we have left?
“Does this planet have enough resources so seven or eight billion can have the same level of consumption and waste that today is seen in rich societies? It is this level of hyper-consumption that is harming our planet.”
Jose Mujica accuses most world leaders of having a “blind obsession to achieve growth with consumption, as if the contrary would mean the end of the world”.
But however large the gulf between the vegetarian Jose Mujica and these other leaders, he is no more immune than they are to the ups and downs of political life.
“Many sympathize with President Mujica because of how he lives. But this does not stop him for being criticized for how the government is doing,” says Ignacio Zuasnabar, a Uruguayan pollster.
The Uruguayan opposition says the country’s recent economic prosperity has not resulted in better public services in health and education, and for the first time since Jose Mujica’s election in 2009 his popularity has fallen below 50%.
This year Jose Mujica has also been under fire because of two controversial moves. Uruguay’s Congress recently passed a bill which legalized abortions for pregnancies up to 12 weeks. Unlike his predecessor, Jose Mujica did not veto it.
He is also supporting a debate on the legalization of the consumption of cannabis, in a bill that would also give the state the monopoly over its trade.
“Consumption of cannabis is not the most worrying thing, drug-dealing is the real problem,” he says.
However, Jose Mujica doesn’t have to worry too much about his popularity rating – Uruguayan law means he is not allowed to seek re-election in 2014. Also, at 77, he is likely to retire from politics altogether before long.
When he does, Jose Mujica will be eligible for a state pension – and unlike some other former presidents, he may not find the drop in income too hard to get used to.
Even before Paula Broadwell’s affair with David Petraeus emerged this was a point which bothered talk-show hosts, perplexed interviewers and left onlookers faintly bewildered at the string of appearances which constituted Broadwell’s publicity tour for that book, All In.
Her own explanation, such as it was, is glib at best. They met, Paula Broadwell repeatedly trotted out, at a dinner for West Point alumni back in 2006.
After dinner there were drinks and at drinks David Petraeus gave her his business card and they just kept in touch.
Two years later, in 2008, Paula Braodwell was working on a dissertation on theories of leadership and so, she told Jon Stewart: “I shot him an email, and said, <<I’m gonna to go for it>>.”
David Petraeus’ reaction was to invite Paula Braodwell well and truly into his camp. For a man of such experience the extent to which he let his guard down is breathtaking.
But then Paula Broadwell is nothing if not convincing when it comes to outlining her own credentials and, given the glowing portrait of “strategic leadership” she penned as David Petraeus’s biography, nothing if not flattering.
In one television interview Paula Broadwell recalled approaching General David Petraeus and asking him to be a case-study for her dissertation. She wanted to show: “What Petraeus’s role was in forcing the military to adapt to win the wars we were in”.
“There was no room for a conversation of shortcomings of the Petraeus theology. She wasn’t a reporter. She struck me as an acolyte,” one advisor to David Petraeus is quoted as telling the New York Post.
And while Paula Broadwell stroked her subject’s ego with one hand she shored up her own credibility with the other; part Mata Hari, part blue-stocking.
Another in the Petraeus camp noted, on meeting her: “I was underwhelmed. It was surprising to me that she was his official biographer.”
But, when it came to promoting her book, for Paula Broadwell establishing her own academic, military and security credentials came second only to establishing whether General David Petraeus was, as Jon Stewart put it, “awesome or incredibly awesome”.
She dropped academic qualifications and security clearance the way a socialite might pepper her conversation with boasts of parties attended and ‘BFFs made.
According to Paula Broadwell, being embedded in Afghanistan with David Petraeus was not the huge leap many imagined because, she explained: “We had previously met through academia.”
Paula Broadwell herself was a graduate of West Point and a specialist in counter-terrorism with black ops experience, high security clearance, “and then some”.
She was High School Valedictorian, All State Basketball player, top of her class at West Point, holder of a masters from Harvard…and how do we know all of this? Because Paula Broadwell has taken great pains to tell us.
Paula Broadwell was an acolyte, never a reporter and an unquestioning devotee of David Petraeus
We know that her husband Scott Broadwell is not “just” a radiologist but an “interventional radiologist”.
Writing in The New Republic, Noam Scheiber states: “When my friend met her, she was fond of pointing out that her husband was no mere radiologist but a special breed known as <<interventional radiologist>>. She would draw out the word <<interventional>> for emphasis.”
We know that she can run 6-minute miles and do hundreds of press-ups, that she has 13% body fat and is an ironman triathlete and marathon runner.
We know all this because Paula Broadwell has told us. We know that she hosted a charity BBQ for wounded veterans because she invited Jon Stewart and the assembled press.
Meanwhile, until Paula Broadwell stopped posting, her Twitter feed was a dizzying mixture of her following both world-causes and the world-famous.
According to the Times, Paula Broadwell recently tweeted: “Heading 2 @AspenInstitue 4 the Seucirty Forum tomorrow! Panel (media & terrorism) followed by a 1v1 run with Lance Armstrong.”
The political, professional and academic platform on which Paula Broadwell now teeters is one entirely of her own, formidable, construction: itself an exercise in strategy to rival David Petraeus’s own.
Paula Broadwell has set out her credentials relentlessly with faux humility, referring to herself as a mere “mentee” of David Petraeus on one hand then telling the Charlotte Observer in her hometown in North Carolina: “Petraeus once joked I was his Avvatar” a breathtakingly arrogant aside.
Margaret Thatcher once noted that if you had to tell people you were a lady, you probably weren’t. But self-effacement seems the only class that Paula Broadwell ever sat out.
And the more impressive Paula Broadwell made herself the more flattering her interest in David Petraeus must surely have been. What better way to appeal to a man in power than to appeal to his vanity?
Noam Scheiber, describes David Petraeus as a man of “overachieving impulses and intellectual pretensions”.
Recognizing that, Paula Broadwell seems to have taken those dubious attributes as her own template for what she described in several publicity interviews as her “new path of the soldier-scholar”.
As such Paula Broadwell has been a keen writer of opinion pieces and regular poster on the West Point Alumni Notes page.
Writing in the Boston Globe in 2009, Paula Broadwell tackled the issue of fraternization between the sexes on the front line: “Human sexuality will always present a challenge to organizational discipline. In isolated outposts [it] could create a situation where issues of sex impede an organization’s survival skills.”
Rather presciently she concluded: “Banning sex is futile and impossible; the best approach is to set rules regarding fraternization, maintain awareness of relationships within the command, and strictly and fairly discipline transgressors.”
On many occasions Paula Broadwell has noted of David Petraeus that he “spoke truth to power”.
But if the events of the past week have shown anything it is that the court of the man known as “King David”, lacked anyone willing or able to do the same to him.
Because where David Petraeus “spoke truth to power” Paula Broadwell wanted to dissect that power and to get close to it.
Revealingly, in a recent address to the University of Denver Paula Broadwell claimed to have been drawn to the military as an “instrument of power” and that she wanted to understand how that instrument worked – presumably so she could play it.
Harassing emails sent by Paula Broadwell to her love rival, Jill Kelley, contained confidential information about David Petraeus’ movements, a law enforcement source has revealed.
After Jill Kelley contacted the FBI, agents launched a massive in-depth investigation into who was sending the emails because they shared this detailed information that was not publicly available.
The catty emails, which told Jill Kelley to “back off” from David Petraeus, were sent to Kelley from several fake email addresses. In order to find who had confidential information about David Petraeus’ whereabouts, the FBI obtained an administrative subpoena, and traced them back to Paula Broadwell.
In the course of the investigation, they also unearthed emails indicating the affair between Paula Broadwell and David Petraeus, leading to his resignation on Friday.
The new details of what uncovered David Petraeus’ months-long relationship with his biographer come as the FBI continue to search military documents Paula Broadwell admitted to stashing in her home.
Security officials have revealed she had “substantial” classified information on her computer which should have been stored more securely.
The computer was taken from Paula Broadwell’s Charlotte, North Carolina home on Monday night after she admitted to FBI investigators that she had taken classified military documents, a source told ABC.
FBI agents left Paula Broadwell’s Charlotte home on Monday evening with documents and computers
President Barack Obama said on Wednesday there was no indication so far that any classified documents had been found but said he will not prejudge the investigation results.
Officials continue to investigate exactly how Paula Broadwell acquired the files, but as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Military Reserve, she had security clearance to review the documents.
The government had demanded she return the documents and organized the visit to her home. Prosecutors are now deciding whether to charge her with a crime.
Paula Broadwell, who has kept a low profile since the scandal broke, was seen taking refuge at her brother’s home in the Petworth suburb of Washington D.C. on Tuesday night.
Preparing an evening meal with a glass of wine in her hand, the 40-year-old mother-of-two wore the strain of the last few days clearly on her face. There was no sign of her husband, Scott Broadwell.
Xi Jinping has been confirmed as China’s leader for the next decade.
Xi Jinping led the new Politburo Standing Committee onto the stage at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, signaling his elevation to the top of China’s ruling Communist Party.
The party faced great challenges, he said, but would work meet “expectations of both history and the people”.
Most of the new committee are seen as politically conservative, and perceived reformers did not get promotion.
Xi Jinping replaces Hu Jintao, under whose administration China has seen a decade of extraordinary growth.
The move marks the official passing of power from one generation to the next.
Xi Jinping was followed out onto the stage by Li Keqiang, the man set to succeed Premier Wen Jiabao, and five other men – meaning that the size of the all-powerful Standing Committee had been reduced from nine to seven.
Those five, in order of seniority, were Vice-Premier Zhang Dejiang, Shanghai party boss Yu Zhengsheng, propaganda chief Liu Yunshan, Vice-Premier Wang Qishan and Tianjin party boss Zhang Gaoli.
The new leaders had great responsibilities, Xi Jinping said, but their mission was to be united, and to lead the party and the people to make the Chinese nation stronger and more powerful.
“The people’s desire for a better life is what we shall fight for,” he said.
Corruption had to be addressed, he said, and better party discipline was needed.
“The party faces many severe challenges, and there are also many pressing problems within the party that need to be resolved, particularly corruption, being divorced from the people, going through formalities and bureaucratism caused by some party officials,” Xi Jinping said.
“We must make every effort to solve these problems. The whole party must stay on full alert.”
The new Standing Committee was endorsed in a vote early on Thursday by the new party Central Committee, but in reality the decisions had been made in advance.
The new leaders will gradually take over in the next few months, with Hu Jintao’s presidency formally coming to an end at the annual parliament session in March 2013.
Xi Jinping has also been named chairman of the Central Military Commission, a Xinhua news agency report said, ending uncertainty over whether that post would be transferred from Hu Jintao immediately.
Xi Jinping has been confirmed as China’s leader for the next decade
Hu Jintao’s predecessor, Jiang Zemin, held on to the post for two years after he stood down from the party leadership.
New Standing Committee member Wang Qishan has also been named head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection – the party’s anti-corruption watchdog.
Xi Jinping, a former Shanghai party chief, was appointed to the politburo in 2007.
A “princeling” – a relative of one of China’s revolutionary elders – he has spent almost four decades in the Communist Party, serving in top posts in both Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, as well as Shanghai.
His speech drew praise online, with a number of netizens liking his more informal style.
“This big boss at least is talking like a human being. I won’t comment on the rest,” well-known Chinese journalist Gong Xiaoyue said via micro-blog.
Xi Jinping, 59, is said to be a protégé of Jiang Zemin, while Li Keqiang is said to have been Hu Jintao’s preferred successor.
Hu Jintao has been the Communist Party chief since he led the Standing Committee line-up out on stage in November 2002.
Under his administration China has seen a decade of rapid development, overtaking Japan as the world’s second-largest economy.
But the development has been uneven, leading to a widening wealth gap, environmental challenges and rumbling social discontent over inequality and corruption.
Analysts say there has been division at the very top of the leadership in the lead-up to the party congress, with two rival factions jostling for position and influence.
The transition process has also been complicated by the scandal that engulfed Chongqing party leader Bo Xilai – a powerful high-flier once seen as a strong contender for the top leadership. His wife has been jailed for murdering a British businessman and he looks set to face trial on a raft of corruption-related charges.
That notwithstanding, the power transition process has been orderly, for only the second time in 60 years of Communist Party rule.
“The ostensible lack of drama throughout the week-long session may disappoint sensation seekers,”China Daily said in an editorial on Thursday before the new Standing Committee line-up was announced.
“But the confidence in continuity, instead of revolutionary ideas and dramatic approaches, means a better tomorrow is attainable.”
Xi Jinping
Born in Beijing in 1953, father was Xi Zhongxun, a founding member of the Communist Party
Sent to work at a remote village for seven years when he was 15
Studied chemical engineering at Tsinghua University and spent time at a US farm in 1985
Was Shanghai party chief in 2007 and became vice-president in 2008
Seen as having a zero-tolerance attitude towards corrupt officials
Married to well-known Chinese folk singer and actress Peng Liyuan with whom he has a daughter
Chinese Communist Party in numbers
Ruled China since 1949
83 million members in 2011
77% of members are men
Farmers make up one third of membership
6.8 million members work for the Party and state agencies
Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic last night scored the “greatest goal ever” to round off a crushing victory over England in the first match at his national stadium.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s remarkable overhead kick came when he was 30 yards from goal. He sprang six feet into the air to arch the ball over the helpless goalkeeper and into the net.
The world’s biggest football names are already queuing up to praise the goal, with even England’s gobsmacked stars hailing his achievement as “extraordinary” and “world class”.
England captain Steven Gerrard, playing his 100th match for his country, said: “It is the best goal I have seen live.
“The best goal I’d seen before that was Wayne Rooney’s against Manchester City.
“Everyone knows how special that was, but this one – an overhead kick from 30 yards when the ball is six feet in the air – only certain players can do that. And he is a special player.
“This was a world-class performance from a world-class player.”
Zlatan Ibrahamivic’s goal was his fourth of the match, taking the score to 4-2 to round off the first game at Friends Arena in Stockholm.
The propeller kick came after goalkeeper Joe Hart had come out of his area to head the ball clear.
Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic last night scored the greatest goal ever to round off a crushing victory over England in the first match at his national stadium
Silence fell as those inside the arena held their breath and watched the flight of the ball. Then the noise exploded as it landed in the net.
Even England supporters stood to applaud the audacity of Sweden’s captain, thrilled to witness such a brilliant flash of sporting beauty.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic ripped off his shirt, tossed it towards the crowd and shrugged as he was shown a yellow card.
Asked to rate his international career out of 10, Zlatan Ibrahimovic replied: “Ten. When I saw the goalkeeper was out of his net, I tried to put it over him. It was a good try, and when it comes off it’s fantastic.”
Former England manager Graham Taylor said: “That’s the greatest goal I’ve ever seen.”
England manager Roy Hodgson, who suffered his first defeat over 90 minutes, said: “Ibrahimovic’s fourth goal was extraordinary and it put the tin lid on the game. It was a fantastic goal.
“But it was the second and third goals which killed us.
“For 60-70 minutes we played very well and deserved to be leading. There are lots of reasons to be optimistic.”
Sweden substitute Tobias Sana said: “It was Zlatan against children. He has been criticized in England and this proves them all wrong.”
The Sweden player became the first footballer to hit four in a match against England.
No-one had even scored a hat-trick against England since Marco van Basten in 1988.
The two England goals came after Zlatan Ibrahimovic opened the scoring in the 20th minute, with Danny Welbeck and Steven Caulker taking the national side to a half-time lead.
The excitement was abruptly cut off in the last 14 minutes, however, when Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored three more and went down in history.
President Barack Obama has reiterated his call for high earners in the US to pay more in taxes, in his first news conference since winning re-election.
Barack Obama called for quick legislation to rule out tax rises on the first $250,000 of income, but refused to extend cuts for the wealthiest 2%.
“We should not hold the middle class hostage while we debate tax cuts for the wealthy,” he said.
The US faces an end-of-year “fiscal cliff” of spending cuts and tax rises.
The fiscal cliff would see the George W. Bush-era tax cuts expire in combination with automatic, across-the-board reductions to military and domestic spending.
Some $607 billion of savings and tax rises are planned, including reductions in the defence budget, the end of an employee tax holiday, changes to Medicare allowances and higher personal taxes.
The lower paid are set to lose some child and income credits, but Barack Obama has made fewer references to other portions of the stimulus deal set to expire beyond the tax cuts.
The fiscal cliff is due to take effect because Congress failed to reach a deal on deficit reduction after a stand-off over the US debt ceiling in mid-2011.
Congressional Republicans have said since last week’s US elections that they are open to raising revenue through tax reform and closure of loopholes, but oppose tax rises on the wealthy.
Glenn Hubbard, an economic adviser to Republican Mitt Romney’s failed presidential bid, writing in the Financial Times, called on fellow Republicans to accept the need for the rich to pay more tax, albeit through closing loopholes such as tax deductions.
Other Republicans favor ending the right of Americans to deduct mortgage interest payments from their taxable income – something analysts say is likely to hurt the middle classes far more than top earners.
During his news conference on Wednesday, Barack Obama was dismissive of a loophole-only reform, telling reporters that “the math tends not to work” in helping to cut the deficit.
“It really is arithmetic, not calculus,” he said.
The president has long opposed extending the Bush-era tax cuts for earnings above $250,000 a year, but gave into Republican demands in 2010 when the cuts were last up for renewal.
On Wednesday, Barack Obama said that would not happen this time.
“A modest tax increase on the wealthy is not going to break their backs,” he said.
“They’ll still be wealthy.”
President Barack Obama has reiterated his call for high earners in the US to pay more in taxes, in his first news conference since winning re-election
But the president said he was confident that the White House and Congress could reach a deal before 1 January to avoid the “fiscal cliff”, as the US economy could not afford it coming to pass.
Barack Obama suggested the immediate extension of all the expiring tax cuts except the top rate, followed by a more comprehensive reform of the tax code as well as some of the US’ largest benefits programmes, including Social Security in 2013.
In doing so, he distanced himself from some in his own party who want the combined tax rises and cuts to happen, in order to give Barack Obama a better negotiating position.
On Tuesday, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warned against extending all of the tax breaks that are due to expire in January as a way of giving Washington more time to broker a deal on the deficit.
Timothy Geithner claimed doing this would create more uncertainty in the financial markets.
House Speaker John Boehner has scheduled a response to Barack Obama on Wednesday, as the White House planned to meet with congressional leaders on Friday, when both sides are expected to designate aides in search of a compromise.
Barack Obama met on Tuesday with allies from labor and liberal groups, and also invited a group of chief executives to the White House.
Earlier, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois said that “many Republicans believe now is the time to sit down and talk more revenue”, saying up to 20 Republican senators are willing to work towards accommodation.
But Senator Dick Durbin said “there is a great distance” between Republicans in the House and Senate.
“Basically it comes down to the question of whether Speaker Boehner is willing to look for a bipartisan solution.”
Deficit
The amount by which spending exceeds income over the course of a year.
In the case of trade, it refers to exports minus imports. In the case of the government budget, it equals the amount the government needs to borrow during the year to fund its spending. The government’s “primary” deficit means the amount it needs to borrow to cover general government expenditure, excluding interest payments on debts. The primary deficit therefore indicates whether a government will run out of cash if it is no longer able to borrow and decides to stop repaying its debts.
China is set to unveil the new leaders who will rule for the next decade.
Early on Thursday, selected Communist Party delegates will endorse the new Politburo Standing Committee – the highest decision-making body.
The committee line-up will then be made public at 11:00, when leaders walk out in order of seniority.
Vice-President Xi Jinping is set to succeed outgoing leader Hu Jintao as party chief. Vice-Premier Li Keqiang is also on course for a top-level post.
It is not yet clear who will fill the other spaces on the committee or indeed how many spaces there will be.
Recent months have seen speculation that the committee could be reduced from nine to seven members.
Front-runners include Vice-Premier Wang Qishan, propaganda chief Liu Yunshan, party organization chief Li Yuanchao, Tianjin party boss Zhang Gaoli and Vice-Premier Zhang Dejiang.
Guangdong party chief Wang Yang, Shanghai party boss Yu Zhengsheng and the only female politburo member, Liu Yandong, are also thought to be in contention.
Although the Central Committee delegates – elected before the week-long party congress closed on Wednesday – will vote for the new Standing Committee, in reality the selection will have been made ahead of time.
The move marks a generational shift in the party’s top ranks – the new leaders will be mostly in their late 50s.
They will gradually take over in the next few months, with Hu Jintao’s presidency formally coming to an end at the annual parliament session in March 2013.
The Communist Party will also announce on Thursday whether Hu Jintao will retain control of the Central Military Commission or pass it on to Xi Jinping. Hu Jintao’s predecessor, Jiang Zemin, held on to the post for two years after he stood down from the party leadership.
Vice-President Xi Jinping is set to succeed outgoing leader Hu Jintao as Chinese Communist Party chief
Hu Jintao has been the Communist Party chief since he led the Standing Committee line-up out on stage in November 2002.
Under his administration China has seen a decade of extraordinary growth, overtaking Japan as the world’s second-largest economy.
But the development has been uneven, leading to a widening wealth gap, environmental challenges and rumbling social discontent over inequality and corruption.
On Wednesday, a party congress resolution hailed achievements under Hu Jintao, saying China had seized “the important period of strategic opportunities” for development.
Centralized party leadership was “the source of its strength and a fundamental guarantee for China’s economic and social development”, it emphasized.
Xi Jinping, a former Shanghai party chief, was appointed to the politburo in 2007.
A “princeling” – a relative of one of China’s revolutionary elders – he has spent almost four decades in the Communist Party, serving in top posts in both Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, as well as Shanghai.
He is said to be a protégé of Jiang Zemin, while Li Keqiang is said to have been Hu Jintao’s preferred successor.
Analysts say there has been division at the very top of the leadership in the lead-up to the party congress, with two rival factions jostling for position and influence.
The transition process has also been complicated by the scandal that engulfed Chongqing party leader Bo Xilai – a powerful high-flier once seen as a strong contender for the top leadership. His wife has been jailed for murdering a British businessman and he looks set to face trial on a raft of corruption-related charges.
That notwithstanding, the power transition process has been orderly, for only the second time in 60 years of Communist Party rule.
Kim Kardashian shared with her 16.6 million plus Twitter followers that she was being “so lazy”, which apparently seemed a great reason to post a snap of her bottom.
The 32-year-old was spending the evening with her pal Larsa Pippen of Real Housewives of Miami fame after returning to Miami following a trip to London.
Kim Kardashian posted the picture of herself and Larsa Pippen displaying their shapes along with the words: “We are being so lazy! @larsapippen & I can’t get up for dinner!”
The brunette was seen looking exhausted upon her return to Florida the evening before and it seems she hadn’t caught up on her rest before sharing the photo.
The image sees Kim Kardashian and Larsa Pippen lying on their fronts on a plush cream rug, in what appears to be a walk-in wardrobe, while admiring themselves in a full-length mirror.
There’s no doubt Kim Kardashian had every intention of highlighting her famously voluptuous figure as she sported a pair of skin-tight beige jodhpurs.
Kim Kardashian posted the picture of herself and Larsa Pippen displaying their shapes
She teamed the sexy bottoms with a sheer white shirt and tied her glossy locks into a slick ponytail to complete her equestrian inspired look.
Meanwhile, Larsa Pippen sported leopard print yoga pants and a casual black top.
Two hours later, it seems the reality TV duo weren’t any closer to getting active.
Kim Kardashian posted another snap to her Twitter page – this time showing herself and Larsa Pippen pouting in front of the mirror.
As Kim Kardashian’s pal Jonathan Cheban can be seen in the background, she wrote alongside the photo: “Stop trying to photobomb @jonathancheban.”
Bruce and Kris Jenner have been hit by tabloid claims their marriage is on the rocks.
Former Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner has apparently consulted a divorce lawyer regarding his 21-year marriage to the Kardashian matriarch.
This week’s edition of the National Enquirer reports Bruce Jenner has reached breaking point because of Kris allegedly flirting with younger men – and her ego over the Kardashian clan’s growing business empire.
The couple – who have teen daughters Kendall and Kylie together and a $155 million fortune – renewed their wedding vows last year, which was aired during an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
Former Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner has apparently consulted a divorce lawyer regarding his 21-year marriage to the Kardashian matriarch
But insiders told the National Enquirer: “Bruce feels that Kris treats him like a doormat, and he’s had enough.
“She constantly belittles his appearance and complains to mutual friends that he’s a boring old fart.
“Then she has the gall to flaunt her relationships with younger guys in his face!”
The tabloid magazine reports that Bruce Jenner, 63, has been discussing the idea of divorce with golfing friends at Lake Sherwood Country Club in Calabasas, California, where he regularly attends.
The insider added that Bruce Jenner hates the way Kris Jenner, 57, is portrayed as the money-maker – and how his Country Club pals jokingly refer to him as “Bruce Kardashian”.
The National Enquirer claims Bruce Jenner has sought the help of an entertainment lawyer who has helped him value their assets in the event he decides to file for divorce.
“He’s also talked to a divorce attorney buddy about potential custody arrangements for his two girls with Kris,” the source added.
Jill Kelley, the woman at the center of the David Petraeus sex scandal, has refused to speak publicly about her involvement with former CIA chief and General John Allen.
Jill Kelley has remained at her colonial style mansion during the scandal, appearing briefly in bold designer dresses for the media who have gathered outside her home.
The mother-of-three has been bombarded with offers from TV networks to conduct a sit down chat about her relationship.
Jill Kelley is the most sought after person to be named in a Washington sex scandal since Monica Lewinsky and has hired a DC lawyer. A producer from CBS TV flew from New York to Jill Kelley’s Tampa home to drop off a request for a sit down.
The producer said the aim was to “get Kelley” to New York as the bids from other networks roll in.
Friends believe Jill Kelley will agree to talk – because she desperately needs the money.
Regions Bank filed a foreclosure lawsuit against her and husband Scott in April 2010, claiming they failed to make a payment on the mansion.
The bank demands repayment of $1.8 million in principal and interest on the mortgage.
Their company, Kelley Land Holdings, defaulted on a $2.1 million loan from Central Bank. Credit card issuer FIA Card Services sued Jill Kelley for defaulting on more than $25,000 in credit card debt.
It is a dramatic leap into the national media glare despite her eagerness to be a player on the local Florida social scene.
Jill Kelley, the woman at the center of the David Petraeus sex scandal, has refused to speak publicly about her involvement with former CIA chief and General John Allen
One unnamed officer at the base described Jill Kelley and her sister to the Washington Post as “rich Tampa socialites who like to hang out with four-generals”.
Since news of the affair between David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell broke on Friday the Kelleys have retained the services of high -owered Washington Lawyer Abbe Lowell.
Jill Kelley in the meantime has refused to draw the curtains on the large windows of her South Tampa home – a stately, two-story brick house with a half-dozen white columns – even visibly watching news coverage of the affair.
At least twice over the past two days Jill Kelley has left her home dressed up to the nines wearing dark sunglasses and ferried herself around town in her silver Mercedes.
Jill Kelley’s identical twin sister, Natalie Khawam, also lives inside the stately home with her.
South Tampa is a conservative Southern community of big houses, big bank accounts, garden clubs and wives who pride themselves on volunteer work.
Senior military figures from MacDill Air Force Base, where Central Command is headquartered, live and socialize in the area, where helping members of the military is a major volunteer activity.
Former Mayor Pam Iorio said that she went to several parties to benefit the military at the Kelleys’ home attended by figures including Petraeus.
But they were by far not the only parties held around the city for MacDill’s officers.
“Our community’s relationship with MacDill is just multifaceted,” said Pam Iorio, who later invited the Petraeuses over to her own home for dinner.
“It’s something that is generational. People sincerely care about the military.”
David Petraeus aides said Jill Kelley took it to another level, winning the title of “honorary ambassador” for her extensive entertaining. David Petraeus even honored Jill Kelley and her husband Scott with an award in a special ceremony at the Pentagon.
Jill Kelley, the woman at the center of the David Petraeus sex scandal, invoked her honorary diplomatic status on November 11 when she called to complain about reporters on her property.
“I’m an honorary consul general, so I have inviolability, so they should not be able to cross my property,” she told the 911 operator.
“I don’t know if you want to get diplomatic protection involved as well, because that’s against the law to cross my property because, you know, it’s inviolable.”
Jill Kelley was a frequent visitor to the sprawling military base. The doctor’s wife courted four star generals and other senior military figures as an unpaid liaison officer – describing herself as an “honorary consul” of South Korea – a position she achieved one official said “last August thanks to her good connections and network”.
She held lavish parties at her $1.3million home overlooking Tampa Bay where the General’s and their wives were feted.
In fact, her position of honorary consul, which she has proudly displayed on her Mercedes’ license plate, is symbolic and has no official duties.
Jill Kelley, the woman at the center of the David Petraeus sex scandal, invoked her honorary diplomatic status on November 11 when she called to complain about reporters on her property
“She does not work as a real consul,” the anonymous official said to Foreign Policy Magazine.
He added: “Jill Kelley helped to get support for [the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement] and she arranged meetings between the ROK Ambassador to Washington and local businessmen when the ROK Ambassador visited the Tampa area.”
Jill Kelley is a close friend of the Petraeus family, and photographs circulating in the media show the dark-haired woman at parties with David Petraeus and his wife Holly.
She also met General John Allen at Central Command, and now investigators are looking at 20,000-plus pages of documents and emails between Jill Kelley and Allen.
Jill Kelley, the woman at the center of the David Petraeus sex scandal, is facing the prospect of being blackballed by the military establishment.
Jill Kelley, a 37-year-old Tampa socialite who hosted parties for the nation’s top brass, has been told today that she is no longer welcome at military HQ near her Florida home.
Her complaint over threatening emails triggered an FBI investigation that led to CIA director David Petraeus’ resignation when it came to light that he was having an affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell.
In an increasingly tangled sex scandal, Jill Kelley is now at the center of an investigation over alleged “inappropriate communications” between her and General John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.
Jill Kelley and her identical twin sister Natalie Khawam rose from humble beginnings as daughter of Lebanese immigrants in Pennsylvania, to prolific networkers on the Tampa social scene close to Central Command.
However, her role in a sex scandal that may have heavy repercussions for national security led to a military official calling Jill Kelley to revoke her access pass while an investigation into the 30,000 “flirtatious” emails is carried out.
Defence Secretary Leon Panetta ordered the inquiry while President Barack Obama has given his backing to Allen while the investigation takes place.
“She did have base access but does not currently because of her involvement in an ongoing investigation,” a military official told the Tampa Tribune.
Jill Kelley, the woman at the center of the David Petraeus sex scandal, is facing the prospect of being blackballed by the military establishment
Jill Kelley was a frequent visitor to the sprawling military base. The doctor’s wife courted four star generals and other senior military figures as an unpaid liaison officer – describing herself as an “honorary consul” of South Korea – a position she achieved one official said “last August thanks to her good connections and network”.
In fact, the position of honorary consul is symbolic and has no official duties. Jill Kelley held lavish parties at her $1.3 million home overlooking Tampa Bay where the General’s and their wives were feted.
Both generals, David Petraeus and John Allen, met Jill Kelley, who friends have described as a “ferocious social climber”, when they were in charge at U.S. Central Command in 2008.
Jill Kelley has refused to speak publicly about her involvement with David Petraeus, who turned 60 last week, and General John Allen.
John Allen, 58, has denied any wrongdoing and insisted his relationship with Jill Kelley was purely platonic.
Jill Kelley has remained at her colonial style mansion during the scandal, appearing briefly in bold designer dresses for the media who have gathered outside her home.
The mother-of-three has been bombarded with offers from TV networks to conduct a sit down chat about her relationship.
Jill Kelley is the most sought after person to be named in a Washington sex scandal since Monica Lewinsky and has hired a DC lawyer. A producer from CBS TV flew from New York to Jill Kelley’s Tampa home to drop off a request for a sit down.
The producer said the aim was to “get Kelley” to New York as the bids from other networks roll in.
Friends believe Jill Kelley will agree to talk – because she desperately needs the money.
Jill Kelley, the Florida socialite who sparked the FBI’s discovery of the affair between David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell, scooped an invite to his daughter Anne’s high security wedding last month.
Jill Kelley – whose own alleged relationship with General John Allen has led to his nomination to lead American troops in Europe being put on hold – was invited to the wedding of Anne Petraeus and Matt Mauney, alongside her twin sister Natalie Khawam.
Pictures taken at the nuptials clearly show Jill Kelley, 37, standing just behind the elegant bride as she claps along to a band and mingles with guests said to have included Vice President Joe Biden – and illustrate just how far the ambitious brunette had infiltrated the high-powered political world.
Anne Petraeus has posted many pictures of her big day on her website fANNEtasticfood.com and in a post called We’re Married! the 30-year-old blonde, who is a trained dietician, gave a sneak peak at her reception – with Jill Kelley standing behind her in one of the photos.
Dressed in a smart black gown, Jill Kelley – who was the unpaid “social liaison” at MacDill Air Force base in Tampa – looked to be having a fine time at the wedding, held at Rosemont Manor in Berryville, Virginia, on October 13.
Frances Townsend, former Homeland and Counterterrorism security advisor to President George Bush, today even tweeted: “Sources tell me Jill Kelley & twin both attended the Petraeus daughter wedding last month whr 1 guest refrd 2 them as the Kardashian twins!”
Jill Kelley was invited to the wedding of Anne Petraeus and Matt Mauney, alongside her twin sister Natalie Khawam
The wedding was said to be a high security affair as pr service PR Log noted three days after the wedding that: “Berryville was abuzz this past weekend as residents noticed tightened security around Historic Rosemont Manor, the former estate of Virginia Governor and US Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr.
“Rumors began circulating around town that Vice-President Joe Biden was at Rosemont. Others thought Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta was visiting.
“Berryville Police and Clarke County Sheriff Department cruisers and several unmarked SUV’s were parked within the perimeter of the Rosemont estate, some noticeable from the road.”
General Manager Bill North acknowledged that while there was heightened security at Rosemont, all Rosemont clients are offered a high level of privacy and security, saying: “Obviously, this wedding has special significance because of General Petraeus’s presence, but there will be other weddings in the future that will have enhanced security.”
Stephanie Bongiovi, Jon Bon Jovi’s teenage daughter, was arrested at her college on Wednesday morning – after allegedly overdosing on heroin.
Police in Upstate New York responded to a call that Stephanie Rose Bongiovi, 19, was unresponsive in her dorm room at Hamilton College – a well respected, $55,000-a-year liberal arts institution in Kirkland.
Stephanie is understood to have received medical treatment and is set to be released from hospital at some point on Wednesday.
Cops and a volunteer ambulance squad were called to the scene at 1.51am, according to People.com.
The room was searched and a “small quantity” of heroin along with marijuana and drug paraphernalia was found, according to the Town of Kirkland Police Department.
Stephanie Bongiovi – also an aspiring model – was arrested and charged on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance possession of marijuana and criminally using drug paraphernalia, police say.
She has since been released from custody and ordered to appear in court at a later date on the misdemeanor charges, TMZ reports.
Police also arrested and charged 21-year-old student Ian S. Grant on suspicion of drug possession, who like Stephanie Bongiovi, is from Red Bank, New Jersey, People reports.
Stephanie Bongiovi, Jon Bon Jovi’s teenage daughter, was arrested at her college after allegedly overdosing on heroin
Hamilton College has released a statement, saying it is co-operating with the police investigation – but would not say what action it will be taking against Stephanie Bongiovi.
It says say the “alleged actions” not only violate state law, but also contravene college policy – stressing the primary concern is with “the safety of our students”.
The statement, obtained by WKTV, reads: “The college is cooperating with the police investigation.
“Our first concern is always for the safety of our students. Out of respect for the privacy of our students and in accordance with federal regulations we do not discuss individual health or disciplinary matters.”
Stephanie Bongiovi is Jon Bon Jovi’s only daughter and the oldest of his four children, who he shares with wife Dorothea Hurley.
The news will no doubt come as a huge blow to Jon Bon Jovi, 50, who these days prides himself on his family-man reputation.
Jon Bon Jovi has been married to Dorothea Hurley – his childhood sweetheart – for 23 years and is regarded as having one of the strongest marriages in Hollywood.
He has admitted to dabbling in drugs himself in the past – but says he “wised up quickly”.
In a 2007 interview with Best Life magazine, Jon Bon Jovi confessed: “I did the drug thing very young and wised up very young too, because I was into drugs a little too much.
“I’ve never been a drug guy. I’ve always felt I didn’t have the mental stability to handle drugs.”
President Barack Obama says he has seen “no evidence” that former CIA director David Petraeus’ extramarital affair compromised national security.
General David Petraeus’ resignation should be a “sidenote” to his distinguished career, Barack Obama added in his first public comments on the scandal.
The general will testify to Congress about September’s attack on the US consulate in Libya, a top senator says.
Republican senators have called for a joint committee to probe that attack.
Barack Obama declined to say whether the White House should have been informed earlier of the investigation into David Petraeus.
“I am withholding judgment with respect to how the entire process surrounding General Petraeus came up. We don’t have all the information yet,” Barack Obama said.
He added that he had a lot of confidence in the FBI and that they have a “difficult job” to do.
News of the scandal shocked officials in Washington in the immediate aftermath of the US election. Congressional leaders of both parties have said they should have been informed earlier.
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said General David Petraeus, who stepped down on Friday, would give evidence only about the Benghazi attack, in which four Americans were killed.
He would not testify about his resignation over an affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell, she added.
Confirmation that David Petraeus will attend a committee hearing comes after days of reports focusing on the fallout from the revelation that he had an extramarital affair with Paula Broadwell.
After the CIA director’s resignation, it then emerged that Jill Kelley, who filed a harassment report over emails she received that led to the discovery of the affair, was in contact with Marine General John Allen.
The link to General John Allen – currently commanding US forces in Afghanistan and nominated to be the top NATO commander in Europe – prompted the US defence secretary and the White House to stress they have complete confidence in him.
But Leon Panetta requested that Gen Allen’s nomination as Supreme Allied Commander of US and NATO troops in Europe be placed on hold, saying it was the “prudent” thing to do.
President Barack Obama says he has seen no evidence that David Petraeus’ extramarital affair compromised national security
General John Allen has denied any wrongdoing and has spoken to Gen Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to emphasize he is innocent of misconduct, a spokesman for Gen Dempsey said.
David Petraeus could appear before congressional committees as early as Thursday, although no final date for a hearing has been confirmed.
Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the general would be asked about the Benghazi attacks, which took place while he was in charge of the CIA.
The attack – initially blamed on a spontaneous protest over an anti-Islamic film – remains a divisive issue in Washington and a focal point of Republican anger.
Arizona Senator John McCain led a group of Republican senators on Wednesday calling for the establishment of a special committee to investigate the deaths of the four Americans, which included the Ambassador Christopher Stevens, in Benghazi.
They said there was need to find out whether there had been a cover-up over the attack, which Senator Lindsay Graham referred to in the same breath as Watergate and the Iran/Contra scandal.
Republicans have also criticized UN Ambassador Susan Rice, after she cited the protests as the reason for the attacks in appearances on US media.
On Wednesday, Barack Obama said Susan Rice had fulfilled her diplomatic duties with “skill and professionalism, and toughness and grace”, and that it was “outrageous” to muddy her reputation.
The president suggested that Republicans had criticized Susan Rice “apparently because they think she’s an easy target”, and said he would co-operate with congressional investigations into what happened in Benghazi.
Meanwhile, acting CIA Director Michael Morell began meetings with legislators in the Senate on Tuesday to answer questions about David Petraeus’ resignation.
Legislators are concerned about a possible breach of national security after it was reported that classified material was discovered on Paula Broadwell’s computer.
However, FBI officials have said the agency concluded in its investigation that there had not been any security breach.
President Barack Obama has made his first public comments on the scandal at a news conference, before meeting business leaders.
His remarks concentrated on his economic agenda and plans for reaching a deal to avoid a package of spending cuts and tax rises known as the “fiscal cliff”.
While David Petraeus attempts to focus on Benghazi, Pentagon investigators are also examining as many as 30,000 pages of Gen Allen’s documents.
They are said to include extensive communication between the general and Jill Kelley, a 37-year-old, married Florida socialite.
The emails are now understood to have included pet names such as “sweetheart” or “dear” but were not sexually explicit or seductive, the Associated Press reports.
In May, Jill Kelley reported anonymous, harassing emails to the FBI. The agency launched an investigation that traced the emails to Paula Broadwell and revealed her affair with David Petraeus.
Jill Kelley has been described as a “social liaison” for the MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Florida. Home to the US Central Command, both generals have served at the base in recent years.
The Kelleys are said to have developed close friendships with General David Petraeus and General John Allen, both of whom wrote letters supporting Jill Kelley’s twin sister, Natalie Khawam, in a messy custody battle for her son.
Jill Kelley is known to have thrown extravagant parties for the officers posted there and in August was appointed as an honorary consul representing South Korea, ABC News reports.
It is reported that her Mercedes car displays consular license plates reading “JK1”.
In a recording of a phone call to police on Monday, Jill Kelley asked for diplomatic immunity to have media crews waiting outside her house removed.
“I’m an honorary consul general, so I have inviolability, so they should not be able to cross my property. I don’t know if you want to get diplomatic protection involved as well,” Jill Kelley can be heard saying.
A “drunk” businessman, who was so determined to reach his platform at the London Underground, attempted to walk the wrong way down an escalator.
A fellow commuter captured this footage of the businessman, wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase, trying to ride down to the tube on an escalator moving upwards at Tottenham Court Road.
Despite moving absolutely nowhere, the unnamed man continues to take on the escalator with dogged determination.
And he keeps going even when several other passengers point out he is walking the wrong way.
One good Samaritan makes several attempts to lead him off the escalator but the businessman takes no notice and continues on his fruitless journey.
After struggling for more than two minutes as people push past – he is guided off by a helpful commuter who pushes the emergency stop button and points him in the right direction.
The incident was caught on camera last Friday by Sam Napper, 27, who described the man as a “drunk Japanese businessman”.
A drunk businessman, who was so determined to reach his platform at the London Underground, attempted to walk the wrong way down an escalator
Sam, from London, said: “I was making my way home after dinner when we quite literally bumped into this chap on the escalators between the Northern and Central Lines at Tottenham Court Road station.
“At first I thought he was playing silly buggers with a few of his FX Trader mates but then we saw his dogged stagger and realized he was alone.
“One by one, concerned commuters tried to steer him in the right direction, to no avail.
“Eventually, someone pushed the emergency stop button.
“After pausing for a few seconds, he turned around and walked out, as if nothing ever happened, saying nothing, leaving us stunned.”
