A new study has shown that scientists have succeeded in “cloaking” an object perfectly for the first time, rendering a centimetre-scale cylinder invisible to microwaves.
Many “invisibility cloak” efforts have been demonstrated, but all have reflected some of the incident light, making the illusion incomplete.
A Nature Materials study has now shown how to pull off the trick flawlessly.
However, the illusion only works from one direction and would be difficult to achieve with visible light.
The idea of invisibility cloaking got its start in 2006 when John Pendry of Imperial College London and David Schurig and David Smith of Duke University laid out the theory of “transformation optics” in a paper in Science, demonstrating it for the first time using microwaves (much longer wavelengths than we can see) in another Science paper later that year.
The papers sparked a flurry of activity to move the work on to different wavelengths – namely those in which we see.
As the “Where’s my cloak of invisibility?” article points out, the field has moved on considerably since then.
But no effort to date has been able to achieve the “perfect” cloaking that the theory originally described.
The structures that can pull off this extraordinary trick of the light are difficult to manufacture, and each attempt has made an approximation to the theoretical idea that results in reflections.
So someone would not see a cloaked object but rather the scene behind it – however, the reflections from the cloak would make that scene appear somewhat darkened.
The trick was to use a diamond-shaped cloak, with properties carefully matched at the diamond’s corners, to shuttle light perfectly around a cylinder 7.5 cm in diameter and 1 cm tall
Now, Prof. David Smith and his Duke colleague Nathan Landy have taken another tack, reworking how the edges of a microwave cloak line up, ensuring that the light passes around the cloak completely with no reflections.
The trick was to use a diamond-shaped cloak, with properties carefully matched at the diamond’s corners, to shuttle light perfectly around a cylinder 7.5 cm in diameter and 1 cm tall.
“This to our knowledge is the first cloak that really addresses getting the transformation exactly right to get you that perfect invisibility,” said Prof. David Smith.
However, the cloaking game is always one of trade-offs; though the illusion is perfect, it only works in one direction.
“It’s like the card people in Alice in Wonderland,” Prof. David Smith explained.
“If they turn on their sides you can’t see them but they’re obviously visible if you look from the other direction.”
The design principles that make the cloak work in microwaves would be difficult to implement at optical wavelengths. But microwaves are important in many applications, principally telecommunications and radar, and improved versions of cloaking could vastly improve microwave performance.
“The cloak we demonstrated in 2006 as a kind of microwave device would be very poor, but this one gets us to something that could be potentially useful,” Prof. David Smith said.
“I think it’s something that a lot of people can build on. Everything in this field is going to come down to what you can make, what you can design. And I think this steps up the design.”
Japan’s economy contracted in the third quarter of 2012, as a global economic slowdown and anti-Japan protests in China hurt its exports, while domestic consumption remained subdued.
Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted 3.5% from a year earlier.
Compared with the previous three months, the economy contracted 0.9%.
The weak data is likely to put pressure on the government to boost stimulus measures to spur growth.
“There are risks from both domestic and external factors,” said Tatsushi Shikano, senior economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities in Tokyo.
“As such, the Bank of Japan [BOJ] will stand ready to ease monetary policy again, and it would not surprise me if the BOJ eased again by the end of this year.”
Japan’s economy, the world’s third-largest, has been trying to recover from last year’s earthquake and tsunami, which caused widespread destruction in the country.
However, its recovery has been hampered by a combination of factors.
A slowdown in key markets, such as the US and eurozone has hurt demand for its exports, one of the biggest drivers of Japanese growth.
Slowing growth and anti-Japan protests in China – Japan’s biggest trading partner – have further impacted its export sector.
To add to its woes, the debt crisis in the eurozone and weak recovery in the US have seen many investors flock to safe-haven assets such as the yen, resulting in the Japanese currency strengthening against the US dollar and the euro.
The yen has risen 5% against the US dollar since March this year and 8.5% against the euro during that period.
That makes Japanese goods more expensive for American and European consumers, hurting the earnings of the country’s exporters.
To make matters worse, attempts by policymakers to boost domestic demand have had little effect. Private consumption fell 0.5% in the July to September quarter, from the previous three months.
Analysts said that given these factors the economy was likely to shrink further in the current quarter and enter a technical recession.
“The decline in exports seems large. Consumption and capital expenditure were also weak, showing that both external and domestic demand are weak,” said Yasuo Yamamoto, senior economist at Mizuho Research Institute in Tokyo.
“Economic data deteriorated sharply from September, and this means Japan is already in recession,” he added.
Faced with slowing external and domestic demand, Japan’s central bank has taken various steps to try and spur growth.
Earlier this month, the BOJ extended its asset purchase programme by 11 trillion yen ($138 billion). Under the programme, the central bank buys bonds to keep long-term borrowing costs down.
It also said that it will offer unlimited loans to banks to encourage lending in an effort to boost domestic consumption.
However, analysts said the measures were unlikely to have a major effect, not least because firms were holding back expansion plans in the wake of an uncertain economic environment.
“There is very little demand for credit. In fact Japanese firms are holding back on capital expenditure,” said Junko Nishioka, the chief economist of RBS Securities in Tokyo.
Junko Nishioka added that policymakers instead needed to focus on measures that will help weaken the yen, as the uncertain global economic environment was likely to see the Japanese currency, which is seen by some as a safe-haven asset in such times, remain strong.
Members of US Congress said Sunday they want to know more details about the FBI investigation that revealed an extramarital affair between ex-CIA Director David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell, questioning when the retired general popped up in the FBI inquiry, whether national security was compromised and why they weren’t told sooner.
“We received no advanced notice. It was like a lightning bolt,” said Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The FBI was investigating harassing emails sent by David Petraeus biographer and girlfriend Paula Broadwell to a second woman. That probe of Paula Broadwell’s emails revealed the affair between her and David Petraeus. The FBI contacted David Petraeus and other intelligence officials, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper asked Petraeus to resign.
A senior U.S. military official identified the second woman as Jill Kelley, 37, who lives in Tampa, Florida, and serves as a social liaison to the military’s Joint Special Operations Command. The U.S. official said the coalition countries represented at the military’s Central Command in Tampa gave Jill Kelley an appreciation certificate on which she was referred to as an “honorary ambassador” to the coalition, but she has no official status.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the case publicly, said Jill Kelley is known to drop the “honorary” part and refer to herself as an ambassador.
The military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation, said Jill Kelley had received harassing emails from Paula Broadwell, which led the FBI to examine her email account and eventually discover her relationship with David Petraeus.
A former associate of David Petraeus confirmed the target of the emails was Jill Kelley, but said there was no affair between the two, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the retired general’s private life. The associate, who has been in touch with David Petraeus since his resignation, says Jill Kelley and her husband were longtime friends of Petraeus and wife, Holly.
David Petraeus resigned while lawmakers still had questions about the September 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate and CIA base in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. Lawmakers said it’s possible that David Petraeus will still be asked to appear on Capitol Hill to testify about what he knew about the U.S. response to that incident.
David Petraeus resigned while lawmakers still had questions about the September 11 attack on the US Consulate and CIA base in Benghazi
Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the circumstances of the FBI probe smacked of a cover-up by the White House.
“It seems this [the investigation] has been going on for several months and, yet, now it appears that they’re saying that the FBI didn’t realize until Election Day that General Petraeus was involved. It just doesn’t add up,” said Peter King, R-N.Y.
David Petraeus, 60, quit Friday after acknowledging an extramarital relationship. He has been married 38 years to Holly Petraeus, with whom he has two adult children, including a son who led an infantry platoon in Afghanistan as an Army lieutenant.
Paula Broadwell, a 40-year-old graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and an Army Reserve officer, is married with two young sons.
David Petraeus’ affair with Paula Broadwell will be the subject of meetings Wednesday involving congressional intelligence committee leaders, FBI deputy director Sean Joyce and CIA deputy director Michael Morell.
David Petraeus had been scheduled to appear before the committees on Thursday to testify on what the CIA knew and what the agency told the White House before, during and after the attack in Benghazi. Republicans and some Democrats have questioned the U.S. response and protection of diplomats stationed overseas.
Michael Morell was expected to testify in place of David Petraeus, and lawmakers said he should have the answers to their questions. But Dianne Feinstein and others didn’t rule out the possibility that Congress will compel David Petraeus to testify about Benghazi at a later date, even though he’s relinquished his job.
“I don’t see how in the world you can find out what happened in Benghazi before, during and after the attack if General Petraeus doesn’t testify,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Lindsey Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wants to create a joint congressional committee to investigate the U.S. response to that attack.
Dianne Feinstein said she first learned of David Petraeus’ affair from the media late last week, and confirmed it in a phone call Friday with Petraeus. She eventually was briefed by the FBI and said so far there was no indication that national security was breached.
Still, Dianne Feinstein called the news “a heartbreak” for her personally and U.S. intelligence operations, and said she didn’t understand why the FBI didn’t give her a heads up as soon as David Petraeus’ name emerged in the investigation.
“We are very much able to keep things in a classified setting,” she said.
“At least if you know, you can begin to think and then to plan. And, of course, we have not had that opportunity.”
Jason Clapper was told by the Justice Department of the Petraeus investigation at about 5 p.m. on Election Day, and then called David Petraeus and urged him to resign, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.
FBI officials say the committees weren’t informed until Friday, one official said, because the matter started as a criminal investigation into harassing emails sent by Paula Broadwell to another woman.
Concerned that the emails he exchanged with Paula Broadwell raised the possibility of a security breach, the FBI brought the matter up with David Petraeus directly, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.
David Petraeus decided to quit, though he was breaking no laws by having an affair, officials said.
Dianne Feinstein said she has not been told the precise relationship between David Petraeus and the woman who reported the harassing emails to the FBI.
Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the top Republican on the Senate intelligence committee, called David Petraeus “a great leader” who did right by stepping down and still deserves the nation’s gratitude. He also didn’t rule out calling David Petraeus to testify on Benghazi at some point.
“He’s trying to put his life back together right now and that’s what he needs to focus on,” Saxby Chambliss said.
The coterie of officers and advisers surrounding General David Petraeus had become suspicious of Paula Broadwell, now known to have been his mistress, due to her playful Facebook status updates they claim disclosed sensitive details of military operations in Afghanistan.
Paula Broadwell, the woman who penned David Petraeus’s biography and ultimately began a romantic relationship with the married 60-year-old, became a cause of concern back in 2009 when those in Petraeus’ inner circle saw her lighthearted postings on the social networking website.
Though Paula Broadwell was a West Point graduate and had served in Army intelligence, officers, unaware at the time of the extramarital liaison, thought she should have used better judgement and now see her inappropriate behavior in a new light – in the wake of the former CIA Director’s fall from grace.
Though hindsight is always 20/20, former David Petraeus aides told the Washington Post that Paula Broadwell’s behavior at the time seemed odd and her closeness to the notoriously straight-laced family man was not without controversy.
Without any specific examples of her Facebook postings, aides said they were stunned that Paula Broadwell was so free to describe her daily movements in Afghanistan on the networking site, so her friends back home could chronicle her adventures.
Another social media no-no occurred when Paula Broadwell posted a picture to her Facebook page of David Petraeus with actress Angelina Jolie, that had been captured at his 7th floor office at CIA headquarters, where only the official agency photographer is allowed.
It is believed David Petraeus had given the picture to Paula Broadwell but the break with protocol was uncharacteristic for someone in his position.
Officers have also revealed their shock at her frequent trips to Afghanistan to interview David Petraeus and the access she was granted to the Chief of Central Command, the role he assumed in 2008.
Paula Broadwell became a cause of concern back in 2009 when those in David Petraeus’ inner circle saw her lighthearted postings on Facebook
Others were having said to be unimpressed with her style and lack of journalistic know-how.
“Her credentials didn’t add up,” an unnamed former staff member, who had been interviewed by Paula Broadwell for her book All In:The Education of General David Petraeus, told the Washington Post.
“I was underwhelmed. It was surprising to me that she was his official biographer.”
Peter Mansoor, a former executive officer on David Petraeus’ staff, also told the Post that he found it “strange” that David Petraeus put so much trust in Paula Broadwell’s abilities.
“My gosh, if you are going to have someone interview everyone who has ever touched you in your life, choose someone who has written a biography or at least a history book,” he said.
Additionally, in the conservative culture of Kabul, aides said Paula Broadwell wore tight shirts and pants to display her figure to the best advantage.
“She was seemingly immune to the notion of modesty in this part of the world,” a general who served under David Petraeus in Afghanistan said.
But many who worked in close quarters with David Petraeus have said that few would have given credence to rumors of a torrid affair, given Petraeus’ solid reputation.
The sex scandal has only just come to light after Paula Broadwell, who is married with two young sons, allegedly accessed the general’s email account to send threatening emails to Jill Kelley, whom she accused of getting too close to him.
Paula Broadwell allegedly told the other paramour, believed to be an unpaid social liaison officer to military headquarters – Jill Kelley – to “back off” and “stay away” from the retired general in email communication uncovered by the FBI.
It has been claimed that Paula Broadwell used David Petraeus’ own Gmail account to send the emails, and when the FBI began to investigate a possible security breach, they instead uncovered the messages between the two sent from the decorated war hero’s own account – indicating an affair.
Sources say that after an investigation, Justice Department officials were unclear on how to proceed because no crime or breach of security had actually occurred.
James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, was informed of the incident and he reportedly advised David Petraeus to resign.
David Petraeus quit his post as director of the CIA on Friday while offering an apology for the affair.
The investigation that brought the downfall of General David Petraeus, one of America’s most respected war heroes, began with Jill Kelley, a suburban housewife in Tampa, Florida.
Jill Kelley, a 37-year-old mother of three, became close with the former CIA director when he was serving at nearby MacDill Air Force Base between 2008 and 2010.
Jill Kelley served as an unpaid, unofficial social liaison for U.S. Central Command, which David Petraeus led at the time, and was reportedly a fixture at parties among the top brass – along with her husband Scott, a prominent cancer surgeon.
David Petraeus biographer Paula Broadwell, revealed to be his mistress, sent harassing emails to Jill Kelley.
Jill Kelley responded by calling the FBI, which stumbled on Paula Broadwell’s affair when agents examined her email account and found steamy exchanges with David Petraeus.
Scott and Jill Kelley lives in a $1.4million brick mansion in an upscale neighborhood of Tampa – and they love to entertain.
Jill Kelley and her children, age six, seven and nine, packed their bags and left the home in one of Tampa’s most exclusive neighborhoods as national news crews lined up outside her door.
She boasted about serving dinner to David Petraeus and his wife Holly in 2007.
The general and his wife, Holly Petraeus, were both pictures to the Kelleys and Jill Kelley’s twin sister Natalie Khawam.
On Sunday, as news of her involved in the scandal made her a national figure, Jill Kelley did not postpone a lavish garden party that was thrown for her daughter’s birthday.
The gathering featured a professional deejay, an inflatable bouncy castle and catered meals and more than 100 adult guests.
Neighbors said Jill Kelley was a “devoted mother” who enjoyed entertaining at her 5,000 sq ft home.
One neighbor said: “Jill is very proud of her work with the military and she does all she can for them.
“She is a great morale booster and uses her social position as the wife of a prominent surgeon to make sure she makes a difference.”
Scott and Jill Kelley lives in a $1.4million brick mansion in an upscale neighborhood of Tampa and they love to entertain
Each year Jill Kelley and her husband Scott host a party on their extensive manicured front lawn to celebrate the Gasparilla Festival in Tampa.
In 2010, General David Petraeus and his wife Holly attended the pirate themed festival staged at Jill Kelley’s home.
David Petraeus arrived with a 28 motorcycle escort and mingled with more than 200 guests who dined on crab cakes and lamb chops.
At this year’s Gasparilla festival, where pirate themed floats are driven through Tampa, the Kelley’s hosted military officers from 60 nations to a coalition appreciation party.
Tight security surrounded the Kelley’s home during the event.
One neighbors complained that it resulted in the street running alongside the Kelley’s red and white painted mansion being closed off to traffic for the day.
“You soon know when Jill is having a party It’s like having the president come to town as everything shuts down. There is security everywhere and you cannot move,” said one neighbor.
Jill Kelley, who said she has known David Petraeus and his wife Holly for five years, has visited them in Washington DC.
She is also reported to have been invited to a breakfast at the White House.
In recognition of her work with officials at CENTCOM, Jill Kelley was recently named as a honorary consulate general to South Korea.
Jill Kelley is said to regard David Petraeus as being like a grandfather to her children, aged nine, seven and six.
Jill Kelley and her friends and family maintain her relationship to the four-star general was never anything more than friendship.
“We and our family have been friends with General Petraeus and his family for over five years. We respect his and his family’s privacy and want the same for us and our three children,” the Kelleys said in statement on Sunday.
Military sources say that Jill Kelley was frequently seen in David Petraeus’ company at social events held at Central Command headquarters.
Central Command oversees U.S. military operations across the Middle East – including in Iraq and Afghanistan. David Petraeus was promoted lead the command, based in Tampa, in October 2008 after successfully engineering and executing the surge strategy.
While in Tampa, David Petraeus worked to reorganize Central Command from its original Cold War era footing to focusing more on counterinsurgency.
David Petraeus left Tampa in June 2010 when President Barack Obama tapped him to lead a turnaround of the war in Afghanistan.
Jill and Scott Kelley have lived in the Bayshore Boulevard mansion since 2006.
Dr. Scott Kelley is head of Esophageal Oncology and Surgery at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer and Research Institute in Tampa.
He pioneered minimally-invasive, hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery of the esophagus and other gastrointestinal malignancies.
Jill Kelley, who drives a black Lincoln Escalade SUV, has a twin sister Natalie Khawam, who is a Tampa lawyer who represents corporate whistle blowers.
The sisters, who are from Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, took part in Food Fight, a culinary showdown for the Food Network channel in 2003.
Their Lebanese-American parents still reportedly own a restaurant in Philadelphia.
Paula Broadwell, the woman at the center of the David Petraeus cheating scandal, was caught gazing at the former CIA director as he entered a congressional hearing with his wife Holly in a photograph from 2011.
General David Petraeus resigned in disgrace from his post at the CIA last week after it was revealed that he had an affair with Paula Broadwell, who is shown smiling and looking up at him in the image.
David Petraeus’s now humiliated wife of 38 years, Holly, is also shown in the photograph, walking slightly ahead of her husband.
The image was taken during a June 23, 2011 Senate Select Intelligence Committee hearing on David Petraeus’s nomination to be director of the CIA.
The affair was discovered when Paula Broadwell, 40, sent a spate of threatening emails to 37-year-old Jill Kelley, who works for the State Department, warning her to “stay away” from David Petraeus.
Jill Kelley notified the FBI of the emails and their investigation revealed a number of sexually explicit emails between Paula Broadwell and David Petraeus, one of which referenced “sex under a desk”.
Paula Broadwell was caught gazing at David Petraeus as he entered a congressional hearing with his wife Holly in a photograph from 2011
Paula Broadwell often referred to the 60-year-old general as “peaches” in the emails, which was David Petraeus’s nickname in high school that stuck with him through his cadet years at West Point.
The nickname was a reflection of his wholesome character, according to a biography on him written in Vanity Fair.
At the time of the photograph it is thought that the affair between David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell was still continuing despite both being married with children.
David Petraeus issued a statement acknowledging the affair on Friday after President Barack Obama accepted his resignation, which was announced by the CIA soon after.
Taylor Swift was the big winner at Sunday night’s MTV Europe Music Awards in Frankfurt after picking up three awards.
Wiping the floor with the competition, Taylor Swift, 22, made off with gongs for Best Female Act, Best Live Act and Best Look.
Even though Kanye West was there to support girlfriend Kim Kardashian, he didn’t invade the stage like he did when Taylor Swift won an MTV award in 2009.
Not only did the star win three awards but she also wowed the audience with her energetic circus-inspired performance, dressed as a ringmaster.
Taylor Swift was only matched in her success by teen pop sensation Justin Bieber who won Best Male Act, Best Pop Act and Best World Stage, although he couldn’t be at the ceremony due to a concert in Brooklyn on Monday.
Carly Rae Jepsen was also a big winner, picking up awards for Best Song and Best Push.
The 26-year-old Call Me Maybe hitmaker took to the stage perform and got the crowd going with a spot of crowd-surfing.
Taylor Swift was the big winner at Sunday night’s MTV Europe Music Awards in Frankfurt after picking up three awards
One Direction couldn’t be at the awards either, as they were still in LA on promotional duties, although they won awards for Best New Act and Biggest Fans.
Lana Del Rey showed up to present Taylor Swift with an award and walked away with one of her own, for Best Alternative Act.
South Korean pop sensation PSY won the award for Best Video, while Nicki Minaj, who couldn’t be there, won Best Hip HopAct.
Taylor Swift closed the show in true style with a show-stopping performance of her hit We Are Never Getting Back Together.
Dressed as a circus ringmaster, the star danced under a shower of streamers and fireworks.
Taking to Twitter after the ceremony, Taylor Swift wrote: “Such an insane night!!! You guys won me 3 EMAs! Best female, best live act, best look. Can’t even begin to thank you enough. I love you!!.”
General David Petraeus took his mistress Paula Broadwell with him on a government funded trip to Paris after he was named director of the Central Intelligence Agency, according to news reports.
David Petraeus made the trip with 40-year-old Paula Broadwell, who has written a fawning biography of him, in July 2011, an unnamed source told Buzzfeed. He was heading to his new job as chief of the CIA at the time.
Sixteen months later, the four-star general has resigned from his post after his affair with Paula Broadwell was uncovered by the FBI.
Buzzfeed also reports that David Petraeus’s unofficial press agent, Tom Ricks, helped Paula Broadwell score a literary agent, a publisher and a six-figure deal for her biography.
Paula Broadwell isn’t the only biographer of David Petraeus’s who has gotten special treatment from him.
His first biographer, former U.S. News and World Reporter Linda Robinson, went to work for David Petraeus at U.S. Central Command shortly after publishing her book, Tell Me How This Ends: General David Petraeus and the Search for a Way Out of Iraq.
General David Petraeus took his mistress Paula Broadwell with him on a government funded trip to Paris after he was named CIA director
David Petraeus’s affair with Paula Broadwell was uncovered when the FBI began an investigation after suspecting corruption between the pair.
He issued a statement acknowledging the affair after President Barack Obama accepted his resignation, which was announced by the CIA soon after.
“After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair,” he said in the statement.
“Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours. This afternoon, the president graciously accepted my resignation.”
Venice may be known as the Floating City of love, but romance was cast aside today as gondolas were swapped for wellington boots and swimwear.
High tides and heavy rain flooded Venice’s dry streets, leaving tourist hotspots virtually deserted.
Tourists chose to wade through the waters in boots, with one group donning swimwear to sit at a table in the iconic submerged St. Mark’s Square.
One hardy couple even decided to go for a quick swim.
Others had less enjoyable tasks, with some visitors being forced to wade through nearly waist-high waters carrying suitcases on their shoulders.
Heavy rains and seas whipped up by strong winds brought the lagoon city’s high tide mark to its sixth-highest level since records began being kept 150 years ago in 1872.
The water levels rose to critical levels overnight.
Venice may be known as the Floating City of love, but romance was cast aside today as gondolas were swapped for wellington boots and swimwear
It was reported that 70% of central Venice was under water today as the high tide mark reached 59.06inches.
Those who decided to take a break from the flooded streets were captured in wellington boots standing in water in coffee shops.
Makeshift wooden walkways had to be used to cross areas of St. Mark’s square, with transportation proving difficult for residents.
Italian news reports said the same weather system causing chaos in Venice was wreaking havoc elsewhere in north and central Italy, with some 200 people evacuated from their homes in hard-hit Tuscany.
Flooding is common in the city at this time of year. Moveable barriers that would rise from the sea bed to protect Venice from high tides have been in the works for years but will not be operational before 2014.
Holly Petraeus, David Petraeus’ wife, aka Holly Knowlton, is remaining silent about the General’s cheating scandal.
Holly Petraeus is battling a scandal striking her own family after David Petraeus admitted to Paula Broadwell cheating affair scandal.
As assistant Director for the Office of Servicemember Affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Holly Petraeus regularly helps families navigate through different matters. Today she is watching as her own troubles at home become very public.
While Holly Petraeus has yet to comment about the struggles of her husband’s affair, she has often spoken about the need to keep military families together. She expressed to news recently that some financial situations have caused many service members to have “opted to avoid foreclosure by leaving their family in their home and going alone to their new duty station – a separation that can last three years or more”.
As news of her husband’s scandal broke this week, Holly Petraeus did not stop what she was doing. Her most recent post her blog was issued on Friday just as her husband had tendered his resignation. Her team at the Office of Servicemember Affairs (OSA) includes “veterans of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force”, she tells news midday Friday.
“We can truly say we have a joint perspective on military matters.”
Holly Petraeus, David Petraeus’ wife, aka Holly Knowlton, is remaining silent about the General’s cheating scandal
David Petraeus, 60, has been married to Holly, née Knowlton, since 1975, after they meet when he was a military cadet at West Point.
Holly Petraeus is the daughter of four-star General William Knowlton, who was superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point when David Petraeus was a cadet.
When David Petraeus was sworn in as director of the CIA by Vice President Joe Biden, Holly held the Bible on which he swore his oath of office.
David and Holly Petraeus have two grown children, a son, Stephen, who was an Army Ranger who served in Afghanistan, and a daughter, Anne.
Jill Kelley is the woman who complained to the FBI about harassing emails from Paula Broadwell, the mistress of former CIA Director David Petraeus.
Jill Kelley, 37, of Tampa, Florida, is a State Department military liaison officer who appears to have a longstanding friendship with David Petraeus, who quit as CIA director in disgrace last week.
She lives in a $1.2million house with her husband Scott Kelley, a surgeon, and their three children.
Jill Kelley told FBI agents that Paula Broadwell, the 40-year-old biographer who has been identified as the ex-CIA boss’ mistress, sent her harassing emails telling her to “back off” David Petraeus.
An online picture album posted by the family talks about meeting David Petraeus at the family’s home.
Jill Kelley’s twin sister Natalie Khawam, David Petraeus, Scott and Jill Kelley, and Holly Petraeus watch the Gasparilla parade from the Kelley family’s front lawn in 2010
Jill Kelley works in the Joint Special Operations Command, a section of the U.S. Armed Forces that deals mostly with counter-terrorism.
The Joint Special Ops Command was directly involved in the mission that took out Osama bin Laden and the drone strike that killed radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.
Details of the affair between David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell reportedly came to light during a FBI probe of the emails that she allegedly sent to Jill Kelley.
The new revelation raises the possibility that Paula Broadwell was growing increasingly jealous of a government employee whose job it was to keep in contact with David Petraeus.
Jill Kelley, who feared for her safety, contacted the FBI.
The email account that appears to belong to David Petraeus’ alleged mistress Paula Broadwell may have been broken into by hacking group Anonymous.
The email address that allegedly belongs to Paula Broadwell, the biographer who is at the center of the cheating scandal that forced the acclaimed former CIA director’s resignation, is listed as one of the accounts that was broken into by the “hacktivist” group.
Buzzfeed reports that the email is one of those obtained when the hackers targeted commercial intelligence company STRATFOR.
Anonymous claimed responsibility for the December 24, 2011 hack and they used the email and credit card information that they obtained from the site to make more than $1 million to a variety of charities.
Buzzfeed points out that it is unclear what information- if any- was stolen by the group.
The email account that appears to belong to David Petraeus’ alleged mistress Paula Broadwell may have been broken into by hacking group Anonymous
Paula Broadwell’s email is a major point of contention in the ongoing federal investigation into David Petraeus’ extra marital affair that led to his resignation.
Her email that was hacked by the group was a derivation of her name, and it is not one that she has kept quiet since she posted the address on Twitter, inviting fans to email her for tickets to The Daily Show when she was doing a publicity visit to promote her David Petraeus biography.
Paula Broadwell is at the center of the storm surrounding David Petraeus’ downfall as she allegedly sent harassing emails to a woman that Petraeus worked with.
That woman, who has since been identified as Jill Kelley, contacted the FBI because she felt threatened and feared for her safety.
Jill Kelley is the woman who complained to the FBI about harassing emails from Paula Broadwell, the mistress of General David Petraeus.
Jill Kelley, 37, of Tampa, Florida, is a State Department military liaison officer who appears to have a longstanding friendship with Petraeus, who quit as CIA director in disgrace last week.
He lives with her husband Scott Kelley, a surgeon, and their three children.
An online picture album posted by the family talks about meeting David Petraeus at the couple’s home.
Jill Kelley works in the Joint Special Operations Command, a section of the U.S. Armed Forces that deals mostly with counter-terrorism.
The Joint Special Ops Command was directly involved in the mission that took out Osama bin Laden and the drone strike that killed radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.
Details of the affair between David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell reportedly came to light during a FBI probe of the emails that she allegedly sent to Jill Kelley.
The new revelation raises the possibility that Paula Broadwell was growing increasingly jealous of a government employee whose job it was to keep in contact with David Petraeus.
Jill Kelley is the woman who complained to the FBI about harassing emails from Paula Broadwell, the mistress of General David Petraeus
Jill Kelley, a mother of three who feared for her safety, contacted the FBI.
A government official told the New York Post that the emails contained such language as: “I know what you did”, “back off” and “stay away from my guy”.
The official added: “[Paula Broadwell] clearly thought something was going on and thought she was in a <<lovers triangle>>.”
A person who knows both Jill Kelley and David Petraeus confirmed their friendship and said she saw him often.
David Petraeus broke off the steamy affair with Paula Broadwell before it was exposed by the FBI probe, according to friends of the retired general.
David Petraeus quit his post as CIA director in disgrace on Friday while offering an apology over the affair, allegedly with his biographer, Paula Broadwell – who allegedly sent a threatening email to another woman whom she felt was getting to close to him.
His apology came as reports show that the affair blew up in David Petraeus’ face after Paula Broadwell allegedly sent e-mails threatening Jill Kelley whom she accused of getting too close to him.
David Petraeus told friends that he had begun the affair with Paula Broadwell shortly after he had left the Army to begin his work with the CIA, according to ABC News.
Those close to Paula Broadwell are casting doubt over what she has been accused of.
David Bixler, a wounded soldier who met Paula Broadwell through a charity in 2010, told ABC: “I have some serious questions about who is connecting these dots… Paula Broadwell is not the type… she isn’t.”
Ed Williams, a neighbor who lives two houses down from the Broadwell family in Charlotte, North Carolina, neighborhood, told Reuters: “Everyone is surprised and shocked.”
Earlier in the week, Ed Williams, a retired editor, saw Paula Broadwell with her two children when she was voting in last week’s U.S. presidential election.
He told Reuters that Paula Broadwell appeared chatty and cheerful. Neighbors were working on putting together a belated party to celebrate the release of her book.
“She gave no indication all this was going on,” Ed Williams said.
Paula Broadwell is married to Dr. Scott Broadwell and has two young sons.
She had planned to celebrate her 40th birthday in Washington this weekend, with many reporters invited. Her husband Scott emailed guests to cancel the party.
It is also claimed that Paula Broadwell used David Petraeus’ own Gmail account to send the emails, and when the FBI began to investigate an obvious national security issue instead uncovered explicit messages between the two sent from the decorated war hero’s own account – indicating an affair.
Three senior law enforcement officials with knowledge of the case told the Washington Post that when David Petraeus’ name was raised in connection with the threatening emails, the FBI thought that security had been breached.
CIA officers long had expressed concern about Paula Broadwell’s unprecedented access to the director.
She frequently visited the spy agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to meet David Petraeus in his office, accompanied him on morning runs around the CIA grounds and often attended public functions as his guest, according to two ex-intelligence officials.
Investigating the threatening messages, FBI agents uncovered evidence that he and 40-year-old Paula Broadwell were involved in an extramarital affair.
FBI investigators first interviewed David Petraeus about what they had found two weeks ago and informed him that no criminal charges would be brought and no-one is thought to have discussed the possibility of his resignation.
How Michael Jackson’s family preyed on his wealth and took it by the vanload after his death.
In the late summer of 2001, Michael Jackson’s family were after him again. It was two days before his scheduled departure for New York, where his 30th Anniversary concerts were to be staged at Madison Square Garden.
Performers would include Destiny’s Child, Ray Charles and Whitney Houston, and friends Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando had been recruited to deliver televised speeches.
Michael Jackson wanted his family in New York as well; his brothers to perform a medley of hits from their days as the Jackson 5, while his parents sat in special box seats. The Jacksons insisted that they should receive appearance fees and it was agreed that family members would get honorariums of $250,000, even those who would just be there to watch the show.
Just days before the first concert, though, Jermaine Jackson read an article that said his brother would be making as much as $10 million from the two shows and convinced his parents that Michael should pay the three of them another $500,000 apiece.
Jermaine Jackson and his father Joe drew up a contract and, with mother Katherine in tow, chased Michael around California to try to get him to sign.
Michael Jackson took refuge for several days at the house of his friend Marc Schaffel, co-producer of the event, then made a dash north to Neverland Ranch. He and his two young children, 4-year-old Prince and 3-year-old Paris, had barely set foot inside the house when Joe, Katherine and Jermaine Jackson appeared at the gate.
Michael told the security guards to tell his family he wasn’t there. Joe Jackson, though, refused to budge.
“I’m his father,” Joe Jackson told the guards.
“I need to use the bathroom. His mother needs to use the bathroom. Let us in.”
Frantic, Michael Jackson phoned Marc Schaffel. If they got through the gate, his family would hound him to sign this contract, he explained. But he couldn’t keep his mother locked outside when she was pleading just to use the bathroom.
He told Marc Schaffel he would instruct the guards to tell his family again that Michael Jackson was not on the premises, but to admit them so that they could use the facilities.
But as soon as Joe and Jermaine Jackson were through the gate, they drove to the main house and pushed their way inside.
“They literally ransacked the place,” Marc Schaffel remembered.
Michael Jackson retreated with Prince and Paris to a hiding place concealed behind a secret door at the back of his bedroom closet and phoned Marc Schaffel from there. He was in tears, literally whimpering into the phone.
“You see what they do to me? Do you understand now why I don’t want anything to do with my brothers, why I hide from them and refuse to answer their phone calls?
“I’ve supported my brothers, supported them all,” Michael Jackson cried.
“I’ve put their kids through school. But they still come after me, still wanting more. It never ends. And my father’s worse than they are.”
Michael Jackson choked up, Marc Schaffel recalled, and then sobbed: “The worst part, the part that kills me, is that I have to lie to my own mother. Do you understand, Marc?” he asked.
“Do you understand now why I am the way I am? How else could I be?”
For someone who so often professed his loneliness, Michael Jackson spent a remarkable amount of time avoiding people. He wore disguises, broke off relationships, and changed telephone numbers, but still paparazzi, delusional women, and desperate men pursued him. The saddest part, though, was that the people Michael took the greatest pains to elude were the members of his own family.
Until the time he found a way to live off his sons’ talent, his father Joe had worked the four-to-midnight shift as a crane operator amid the blast-furnace heat of the Inland Steel Mill, in Gary, Indiana. He earned barely enough to sustain the family home – a tiny aluminum-sided cube in which 11 people shared a bathroom.
Michael Jackson’s memories of early rehearsals all centred on the father/manager who bellowed at them constantly, smacking his sons or throwing them into walls if they made a mistake.
When the band signed to Motown, Michael Jackson was quickly singled out as the star. Jackie and Tito possessed only modest musical talent and Marlon had none at all. Jermaine had an adequate singing voice.
Such was Michael Jackson’s talent that just one year after signing with the label, the group delivered a debut record, I Want You Back, that shot to the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
In February 1970, the Jackson 5 released their second single, ABC. And with The Love You Save and I’ll Be There, they became the first group ever to send their first four releases to the top of the charts.
Between tours, Joe Jackson and his sons returned home to a five-bedroom, six-bathroom mansion in the Los Angeles enclave of Encino. There was an Olympic-size swimming pool, sports facilities, luxury cars and servants’ quarters.
By the mid-Seventies, the Jackson 5 were in professional decline – in sharp contrast with Michael, the true star of the group.
His brothers had wanted to work on the Off The Wall album with him, but Michael refused, even when his mother attempted to convince him that he owed them. Released in 1979, it sold nearly seven million copies worldwide.
Then came the release of Thriller in December 1982, which turned him into, as Rolling Stone put it, “quite simply, the biggest star in the pop music universe”. Off The Wall had already made him wealthier than the rest of his family put together, now he would earn more than $200 million from sales of the Thriller album.
No longer his manager, his father was as calculating as ever. He knew that playing the boys against one another was a winning strategy. What a great idea it would be, he suggested to Jackie, Tito, Marlon, and Randy, to capitalize on the success of Thriller by including Michael Jackson in a “reunion tour”.
Michael Jackson resisted. He was tired of touring, he said, tired of all the attention, tired of travel and hotel rooms. Tired of his family, period.
The brothers first tried using guilt to sway him. Marlon was going through a divorce and couldn’t even make his mortgage payments. Maybe he should sell up and buy a smaller house, Michael suggested. The brothers then called a meeting at which they showed up with a life-size poster of Michael and told him they were going to put it onstage in his place. Michael wouldn’t relent. It was time to play their ace in the hole.
During a private meeting Katherine requested with Michael, she implored him to join his brothers on the tour. They needed the money, she told her son. Finally, when all else failed, she pulled out the big gun: “For me, Michael, please?”
It was a choice between the only two things Michael Jackson had, his mother’s love and his career. He chose his mother’s love, of course.
At the first stop in Kansas City, Jermaine told a reporter: “Even though Michael is very talented, a lot of his success has been due to timing and a little bit of luck. It could have been him, or it could just as easily have been me.”
Michael Jackson distanced himself from his brothers as the tour progressed, refusing to stay on the same hotel floor with them. He insisted his attorneys be present at the business meetings that, within the first few dates, became the only conversations he had with his siblings. The other Jacksons insisted upon collecting their payments immediately after each show.
No one in his family, though, was prepared for the shout-out Michael Jackson gave on December 9, 1984: “This is our last and final show. It’s been a long 20 years and we love you all.”
Michael Jackson looked at the shocked expressions on his brothers’ faces and couldn’t suppress his smile.
Now established as one of the most famous families on the planet, life among the Jacksons was becoming a soap opera, and a sordid one at that. Michael Jackson was determined to distance himself.
The public humiliations seemed endless. In 1983, Jackie’s affair with Los Angeles Lakers cheerleader and future television talent-show judge Paula Abdul blew up his marriage. In March 1987, Jermaine showed up for Marlon’s birthday party carrying his three-month-old son by a woman named Margaret Maldonado, while his wife looked on with an expression of bewilderment.
During their divorce, Jermaine’s wife Hazel would allege that her husband had attempted to rape her.
Untouchable The Strange Life And Tragic Death of Michael Jackson by Randall Sullivan
By 1990, Michael Jackson had moved to Neverland, his personal amusement park in Santa Barbara County, California.
He made no comment when newspapers reported that Randy’s wife Eliza was accusing her husband of beating her throughout her pregnancy. The Jackson brothers were all just like Joe, Eliza told a reporter, except for Michael.
Though they depended on his money, usually dispensed through their mother Katherine, his siblings weren’t averse to criticizing their brother in public.
Michael’s relationship with his sister La Toya was shattered in December 1993, when she responded to the Jordan Chandler scandal by holding a press conference in Tel Aviv, at which she declared her belief that the accusations against her brother were true.
“I can’t remain silent,” she squeaked into a bank of microphones.
“I will not be a silent collaborator in his crimes against small, innocent children.”
[Jordan was a 13-year-old boy whom Michael Jackson has been accused of sexually molesting. The claims, which Jackson always denied, resulted in a payment of more than $18 million to the boy’s family. He would later describe the decision to make a deal with the Chandlers, his lawyer said, as “the worst mistake of his life”.]
In 2003, when Michael Jackson’s world was collapsing all around him, amid his arrest on further child molestation charges, of which he would be acquitted two years later, Jermaine had gone to New York publishers with a “tell-all” book proposal.
The Jacksons viewed youngest brother Randy as the most conniving among them. He was a chip off the old block, far more like Joe than any of his brothers, visitors said – and that wasn’t intended as a compliment.
Joe Jackson had been hiding from creditors since 1987. He was living mostly on hand-outs from Katherine (who divvied up the $25,000 cheque Michael sent to her each month among needy family members) and was incessantly looking for opportunities to draw his most famous son into business deals.
“They all looked to Michael as an ATM machine,” observed the Los Angeles attorney and radio host Leo Terrell.
Within hours of Michael Jackson’s death on June 25, 2009, the battle over the estate began. The King of Pop was going to be worth a billion dollars, maybe two billion, maybe more. The women of the clan initiated what became a week-long occupation and search of the Carolwood Drive chateau in Los Angeles where he died.
The first night, La Toya Jackson and her boyfriend Jeffre Phillips demanded to be admitted to the house. Three hours later, Katherine went inside after them.
It was mid-morning in London when Michael Jackson’s children’s former nanny Grace Rwaramba received a call from Katherine.
According to Grace Rwaramba, Katherine began the conversation: “Grace, the children are crying. They are asking about you. They can’t believe that their father died. Grace, you remember Michael used to hide cash at the house? I’m here. Where can it be?”
But security guards said it was La Toya, along with her boyfriend, who loaded black rubbish bags filled with cash into duffel bags and placed them in the garage. La Toya would later insist that nearly all of Michael Jackson’s money was gone by the time she arrived at the house.
It did not become obvious that the Jacksons intended to remove whatever valuables were inside the house until the next morning, when Janet Jackson arrived at the front gate and demanded that it be opened to admit the moving van behind her.
A couple of hours later the van left with La Toya’s boyfriend Phillips at the wheel.
Katherine and her daughters made it clear they wouldn’t be leaving any time soon.
“They camped out for most of a week,” the head of the security firm recalled, coming and going “whenever they felt like it”.
Michael Jackson’s will came to light about a week after his death; its executors were to be a lawyer, an accountant and a former record company executive named by Michael Jackson. It stipulated that 40% of his estate was to be held in trust for Prince, Paris, and his third child Blanket. Another 20% would be assigned to various charities; the remaining 40% would be used to support Katherine, who would be guardian of Michael Jackson’s children. After Katherine’s death, her share would revert to the children.
In the meantime, the executors had “absolute discretion” to decide how the money from the Katherine Jackson Trust would be distributed. There was no provision for Michael Jackson’s father or siblings.
Over the next two years, the clamor among Katherine’s children to collect their mother’s share of the estate grew ever more threatening. For some time, almost nothing was left over for Katherine’s children; according to the executors, Michael Jackson had made it clear that he did not intend to provide for his siblings.
Even when Katherine’s monthly stipend was increased to $8,000, several of her children demanded that she challenge the estate’s administration.
The opening act of the craziest Jackson family drama since Michael’s death began on July 14, when Katherine, 82, was flown to a spa resort in Tucson, Arizona, without the knowledge of her grandchildren, but accompanied by a group of her children.
Within a few days, the media were reporting on a letter that had been signed by five of Michael Jackson’s siblings – Randy, Janet, Jermaine, Rebbie, and Tito – demanding that the executors of Michael’s will resign and stating that the will itself was “fake, flawed, and fraudulent”.
[The American courts have upheld the will. Yet the allegations, dismissed by the executors as wrong and defamatory, surfaced again last month when David Gest, a longtime friend of Michael, spoke out in support of the siblings’ claim.]
The adults responsible for Michael Jackson’s children, including his nephew TJ Jackson, became convinced that Michael’s brothers and sisters intended to gain a conservatorship [a legal form of control in America] over Katherine, possibly by demonstrating her incompetence to serve as the guardian of the children. The money, as everyone knew, would follow those three children.
Still more outlandish, though, were the events of Monday, July 23. Shortly after 1:00 p.m., Prince and Paris were in an SUV returning home to the Calabasas estate through the double gates when another SUV, loaded with passengers, pulled right up to its bumper.
Randy Jackson was at the wheel of the tailing vehicle, which made it to the inner gate just as the barrier was coming down.
“He just drove through and broke the arm off,” recalled Sandra Ribera, an associate of Katherine’s lawyer, who was watching from the pool house.
“All of a sudden the doors open and there’s this swarm of people pointing cameras all around.”
Sandra Ribera said the people in the driveway were Randy Jackson, Janet Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, and several of Prince, Paris, and Blanket’s cousins. It was friendly at first, with hugs all round.
But Katherine’s security team, who were guarding the house, quickly realized that the other Jacksons were there to take Michael’s children. Janet went for her niece Paris, while Randy approached Prince and Jermaine engaged the guards, all three of them still using their cell phones as video cameras. When Janet and Randy told Paris and Prince they were coming with them, both teenagers flatly refused to go.
Prince turned his back on Randy, but Jermaine pulled the boy aside and told him this was something that had been in the planning for three years and that it was important for him to join in with the rest of the family.
Prince shrugged off Jermaine and continued walking toward the house. Paris, meanwhile, made it clear to Janet that she wouldn’t be leaving.
The TMZ entertainment website would initially report, based on anonymous sources, that Janet Jackson told Paris she was a “spoiled little bitch” and that Paris answered: “This is our house, not the Jackson family house. Get the f*** out!”
When security guards blocked his way, Randy, who had been smiling up until then, began to snarl warnings about not interfering in a family matter.
One of the guards suggested perhaps he should leave the property and Randy became enraged, cursing in the man’s face, which was when Trent Jackson, a cousin and a member of the security team, grabbed him. The two grappled, then the bull-strong Trent put Randy in a headlock.
The scuffle ended when Trent withdrew with Prince and Paris into the house. Those who were staying at Calabasas would say later that the saddest thing about the entire scene was the way Jermaine had used his sons.
“Jermaine is cursing as bad as you can curse in front of these kids and fighting and doing all this stuff, and he’s telling his kids to videotape it,” Ribera recalled.
“And Jermajesty [Jermaine’s son] . . . is just sobbing. His face is covered in tears. He’s taping, but he’s sobbing.”
A sheriff’s car answering an emergency call arrived at the front gate and everyone froze. The sheriff’s deputies persuaded Randy, Janet, and Jermaine and their group to leave.
“Gotta love fam,” Paris tweeted to her followers shortly after they were gone.
On July 26, Katherine was finally brought home. That series of clumsily plotted scenes left her brood more divided than ever. But it was a comfort to her to know that, in the end, they would all be together again.
Katherine’s deal with Forest Lawn Cemetery to acquire Michael’s crypt in the Sanctuary of Ascension had included the purchase of 11 other burial spots. In death, Michael Jackson would be surrounded by the family he had tried to keep at a distance for most of his life.
Moaz al-Khatib, a leading Damascus cleric who fled Syria, has been chosen at a meeting in Qatar to head a new coalition to oppose President Bashar al-Assad’s government.
Cleric Moaz al-Khatib, former Sunni Muslim imam of the Umayyad mosque in Damascus, is seen as a moderate.
Earlier, Syrian opposition groups agreed a deal to bring together their disparate factions.
The fractious opposition has been under pressure from the US and other backers in the region to clinch a deal.
Sheikh Moaz al-Khatib, 52, left Damascus for Cairo in July after several periods of detention by the Syrian authorities.
He had earlier attempted to bring the conflict to an end and in an interview with Reuters news agency in July said: “I want the Syrian people to remain as one hand.”
In a speech in Doha last month Moaz al-Khatib called for a political solution to save Syria from further destruction, arguing that negotiation would not “rescue the regime” but enable its departure with the least harm possible.
More than 36,000 people have been killed in the long-running uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s government.
Many thousands more have fled the country since the unrest began last year.
Earlier on Saturday the Israeli military said it had fired warning shots into Syria, after a mortar round from Syria hit an Israeli outpost in the occupied Golan Heights.
It was the first time the two sides have exchanged fire since the 1973 Middle East war.
Moaz al-Khatib has been chosen at a meeting in Qatar to head a new coalition to oppose Bashar al-Assad’s government
Ali Sadreddine al-Bayanouni, a Muslim Brotherhood delegate at the Qatar talks, said the new body would be called the National Coalition for Opposition Forces and the Syrian Revolution.
The group, formed after a week of talks in Doha, will have two vice-presidents – prominent dissident Riad Seif and leading secular activist Suhair al-Atassi.
The coalition’s leadership was set to become the face and voice of the Syrian opposition in the coming phase.
The Syrian National Council (SNC), which was formerly recognized as the main opposition, had been concerned it might be sidelined by the new opposition body.
One source at the meeting told Reuters that the SNC had agreed only under pressure and that it had been given a deadline of 10:00 a.m. to sign up or risk being left out.
The new body had been proposed by Riad Seif with the backing of the US, which had signaled its frustration with the SNC.
He confirmed on Sunday that a “12-point agreement to establish a coalition” had been sealed.
Proposals for the new body include an assembly of some 55-60 members, with a leadership that will seek international recognition as the voice of the Syrian people.
Delegates said the body would carry representation for ethnic Kurds, Christians, Alawites and women.
Bassem Said Ishak, of the SNC, said the Kurds required 48 hours to get the approval of their leadership.
The new body will also have a military council that will include the Free Syrian Army.
The backers of the new body hope it will boost the mainstream of the Syrian opposition and sideline any extremist elements.
Violence continued inside Syria on Sunday.
Opposition activists said government forces had attacked an area along the border with Turkey, after rebels had captured a crossing point.
The activists said helicopters and artillery units had bombarded the Ras al-Ain border area.
Clashes were also reported in Damascus, Albu Kamal near the Iraqi border, Irbin and in Deir Ezzor in the east.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said the shell from Syria that hit a military post in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights was stray fire from fighting between Syrian government forces and rebels.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu warned Israel was “ready for any development” on the border with Syria.
Israel and Syria are still technically at war, and a UN force patrols the buffer zone.
Moaz al-Khatib
Born 1960
Son of long-standing imam of Damascus’s Grand Umayyad mosque
Judy Garland’s dress worn in the Wizard of Oz has sold for $480,000 at auction in Beverly Hills.
The price for the blue and white gingham pinafore dress was in line with expectations, Julien’s Auctions said.
A similar dress worn during tests for the classic 1939 film fetched $910,000 in 2011, Reuters reports.
Auctioneer Darren Julien said the difference in price was due to the fact that fewer versions of the test dress were made.
Neither dresses fetched anywhere near the $4.6 million spent last year on Marilyn Monroe’s white “subway dress” from the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch, and the $3.7 million taken for Audrey Hepburn’s Ascot dress from My Fair Lady.
The Wizard of Oz dress was made by the famous MGM costume designer Adrian Greenberg, who was commonly known simply as Adrian.
The buyer has not been identified.
Judy Garland’s dress worn in the Wizard of Oz has sold for $480,000 at auction in Beverly Hills
However, Judy Garland’s dress was not the only highlight of the two-day Hollywood Icons auction.
A green floral dress worn by Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music fetched $38,400; a racing jacket belonging to Steve McQueen sold for $50,000 and a purple wool skirt worn by Marilyn Monroe during the making of the 1954 film River of No Return went for the same amount.
Meanwhile, $1,375 was paid each for a slice of wedding cake from both Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding and the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
A child-trafficking ring that sold 300 babies over three years has been broken up in Cairo, Egyptian police say.
Two nurses and a doctor at a Cairo hospital are among five people arrested and police say they are still searching for the hospital manager.
The babies were reportedly sold to childless couples after Caesarean sections were performed on women carrying unwanted children.
Babies were said to have been sold for up to 3,500 Egyptian pounds ($570).
According to Egyptian media reports, women who had come forward too late for an abortion were offered a Caesarean section and their babies were then sold on, apparently at a profit.
Abortions are lawful in Egypt if the mother’s health is at risk.
Only a limited form of adoption is allowed, to the extent that children cannot take the name of their adoptive families.
Trade in such a black market in babies would have enabled couples to avoid Egypt’s legal restrictions.
Although the details of the case provided by police are sketchy, it appears they have disrupted an extensive child-trafficking ring.
Clashes broke out in Warsaw between riot police and right-wing nationalists during a Polish Independence Day march.
Some of an estimated 20,000 marchers threw fireworks and bricks at police who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.
A police spokesman said two officers were injured and several protesters were detained.
Thousands of police had been deployed to prevent the march turning violent.
Last year, at least 200 people were arrested after clashes broke out when anti-fascist groups tried to blockade the nationalists’ march.
Diverse groups including Polish patriots, nationalists and groups of football hooligans took part in Sunday’s march. Many of the young men wore scarves or balaclavas over their faces.
Nationalist marches have been growing in size on the national holiday, with leftists turning out to oppose them.
Last year’s march dwarfed its predecessors, with numbers swollen by football supporters outraged by a government clampdown on violent fans.
However, two other marches marking the day in 1918 when Poland regained its sovereignty after years of foreign rule passed without incident.
To prevent clashes this year the marches took different routes.
Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski also organized his own Independence Day march with military veterans in an attempt to reclaim the day from what he called “extremists and hooligans”.
Ahead of the march he appealed for a less polarized society.
“Today public life is poisoned by excessive rows,” Bronislaw Komorowski said.
“We should be critical, but criticism should not mean mutual destruction.”
The 11 November celebration marks the day when Poland regained its independence, 123 years after it was divided between Russia, Prussia and the Austrian Empire.
List of Veterans Day free meals and other Veterans Day freebies.
There are plenty of Veterans Day free meals to be had this year as well as some other additional discounts on items other than food. You’ll be able to stop into any of the restaurants below on or around Veterans Day this year to get your free meal.
Tip: Pay close attention to the date listed and what you need to bring so you qualify for the free meal. They don’t all take place on Veterans Day (Sunday, November 11, 2012 but observed on Monday, November 12, 2012) and some require different forms of identification.
Tip: Some of these Veterans Day free meals are nationwide but some are only at participating locations. Please call the restaurant before you leave home to make sure they are taking part. This list is 6 pages long! Look through them all so you don’t miss out on a favorite.
There are plenty of other military freebies that are available all year round. You can also get free meals on your birthday at many restaurants around the country.
Check here the full list of restaurants offering free meals on Veterans Day
List of Veterans Day free meals and other Veterans Day freebies
New York Times editor Hugo Lindgren has denied that an anonymous letter sent to paper’s magazine advice column The Ethicist over the summer is from Dr. Scott Broadwell, the spurned husband of Paula Broadwell, David Petraeus’ alleged mistress.
The possibility was raised after observers dug out the July 13 edition of Chuck Klosterman’s The Ethicist and pointed to extraordinary parallels between the letter and the now scandalous love tryst that led David Petraeus to hand in his resignation as details of the affair came to light.
But yesterday, the editor of the New York Times magazine denied that the column and the Petraeus scandal are related.
Hugo Lindgren tweeted: “This @theethicist column… is NOT about the Petraeus affair, based on our fact checking. Strange, I know.”
Dr. Scott Broadwell is the spurned husband of Paula Broadwell, David Petraeus’ alleged mistress
Writing about a deepening relationship he knew his wife was having with a “government executive” whose job “is seen worldwide as a demonstration of American leadership” the anonymous man offers up what could be considered in hindsight as striking information.
The letter writer explains that “exposing the affair will create a major distraction that would adversely impact the success of an important effort”, and asks The Ethicist whether it is OK for him to “suffer in silence for the next year or two for a project”.
Indeed, he seems pained to make it clear he believes the mission “must succeed” and wants to know if he should confront his wife in some way and ”finally force closure” or if he should “suffer in silence for the next year or two”.
Paula Broadwell, the woman at the center of the CIA Director David Petraeus cheating scandal, warned another woman to “back off” and “stay away” from the retired general in threatening emails uncovered by the FBI.
David Petraeus quit his post as director of the CIA on Friday while offering an apology over the affair, allegedly with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.
His apology came as reports show that the affair blew up in David Petraeus’ face after Paula Broadwell allegedly sent the e-mails to another woman whom she accused of getting too close to him.
The recipient of those emails, fearing for her safety, contacted the FBI – which found that Paula Broadwell had sent them.
A government official told the New York Post that the emails contained such language as: “I know what you did”, “back off” and “stay away from my guy”.
The official added: “[Paula Broadwell] clearly thought something was going on’ and thought she was in a <<lovers triangle>>.”
Little is known about the recipient of those emails, including her identity, but the paper reported that she was not David Petraeus’ wife, Holly.
Paula Broadwell, the woman at the center of David Petraeus cheating scandal, warned another woman to stay away from the retired general
Paula Broadwell, who is married to Dr. Scott Broadwell and has two young sons, has not responded to multiple emails and phone messages.
She had planned to celebrate her 40th birthday in Washington this weekend, with many reporters invited. Her husband, Scott Broadwell emailed guests to cancel the party.
It is also claimed that Paula Broadwell used David Petraeus’ own Gmail account to send the emails, and when the FBI began to investigate an obvious national security issue instead uncovered explicit messages between the two sent from the decorated war hero’s own account – indicating an affair.
Three senior law enforcement officials with knowledge of the case told the Washington Post that when David Petraeus’ name was raised in connection with the threatening emails, the FBI thought that security had been breached.
CIA officers long had expressed concern about Paula Broadwell’s unprecedented access to the director.
Paula Broadwell frequently visited the spy agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to meet David Petraeus in his office, accompanied him on morning runs around the CIA grounds and often attended public functions as his guest, according to two ex-intelligence officials.
Beginning their investigation into how the Director of the CIA’s personal email had been hacked, the FBI agents instead uncovered evidence that he and 40-year-old Paul Broadwell were involved in an extramarital affair.
FBI investigators first interviewed David Petraeus about what they had found two weeks ago and informed him that no criminal charges would be brought and no-one is thought to have discussed the possibility of his resignation.
But, according to the Washington Post, after an investigation Justice Department officials were unclear what to do next, because no crime had occurred nor breach of security.
They contacted James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence and told him they had compromising material about David Petraeus.
James Clapper in turn spoke to David Petraeus and advised him to resign.
Mohammed al-Dahabi, Jordan’s former intelligence chief, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for corruption.
Mohammed al-Dahabi, who was head of the intelligence service from 2005 to 2008, was accused of embezzling public funds, money laundering and abuse of office.
The court in Amman ordered him to repay nearly $30 million to the state.
Jordan’s leaders have come under pressure in recent months from street protesters demanding that corruption be tackled.
The lengthy sentence for such a high-profile figure is meant to show Jordanians that the authorities are serious about tackling the issue, observers say.
“You deserve the harshest punishment for being a traitor to the people who trusted you with a government position and state funds,” judge Nashaat Akhras told Mohammed al-Dahabi.
Mohammed al-Dahabi, Jordan’s former intelligence chief, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for corruption
The former spy chief was arrested in February after the Central Bank of Jordan became suspicious of the large transactions going through his account, the AP reports.
Mohammed al-Dahabi is the brother of former Prime Minister Nader al-Dahabi.
King Abdullah dissolved parliament last month in order to pave the way for early elections in response to growing calls for political reform and the end to corruption.
The king has said he is serious about reform, but one of his key opponents, the Muslim Brotherhood, is calling for the monarch’s powers to be curtailed.
Mick Jagger’s handwritten love letters to his former lover Marsha Hunt will go on the auction in London next month.
Marsha Hunt is an American-born singer who was the inspiration for Rolling Stones’ 1971 classic Brown Sugar and bore Mick Jagger’s first child, Karis.
Sotheby’s said Saturday that Marsha Hunt has tasked the auction house with selling 10 letters written from the set of Tony Richardson’s film Ned Kelly starring Mick Jagger, which was shooting in Australia.
Marsha Hunt, 66, said she decided to put the private correspondence under the hammer because she is “broke” and unable to pay her bills or make repairs to her home, according to ABC News.
“Someone, I hope, will buy those letters, as our generation is dying,” she said.
“And with us will go the reality of who we were and what life was.”
The singer, who lives in France, went on to say that the letters chronicling their “delicate love affair” that was kept secret until 1972 touch on subjects such as the first moon landing and John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
“When a serious historian finally examines how and why Britain’s boy bands affected international culture and politics, this well-preserved collection of Mick Jagger’s hand written letters will be a revelation,” Marsha Hunt said in a statement distributed by the auction house.
Marsha Hunt is an American-born singer who was the inspiration for Rolling Stones’ 1971 classic Brown Sugar and bore Mick Jagger’s first child, Karis
When asked by reporters if Mick Jagger agreed to having his letters sold off, Marsha Hunt said she didn’t think so, but added that the correspondence did not belong to him.
“This is Mick in his own words…This is part of English history, it is part of rock history, part of cultural history and it corrects all the misinformation,” she said, according to Rolling Stone.
Sotheby’s books specialist Gabriel Heaton said the letters sent in the summer of 1969 show a “poetic and self-aware” 25-year-old Mick Jagger, who wrote about the works of Emily Dickinson and meeting the author Christopher Isherwood.
In his letters, the rock star also touches upon the unraveling of his relationship with singer Marianne Faithful, whom he was also dating at the time, and the death of Rolling Stones’ guitarist Brian Jones.
“They provide a rare glimpse of Jagger that is very different from his public persona: passionate but self-contained, lyrical but with a strong sense of irony,” Gabriel Heaton said.
Sotheby’s said the collection, which includes song lyrics and a Rolling Stones playlist, is expected to fetch between $111,300 and $159,000 and will go under the hammer on December 12.
Saturday Night Live began their weekly show with the defeated Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney drowning his sorrows – with milk.
Jason Sudeikis reprised his role as Mitt Romney during the cold open, sneaking dairy products on the back of his expansive balcony.
“Darn it all to heck,” he began.
Numerous members of his family – including Kate McKinnon as his wife Ann and Taran Killam as his sons Tag, Matt, and Josh – came outside to try and comfort him, to no avail. Taran Killam as Tag said that his father’s loss made him want to “punch America in the face”.
SNL took it aim on the Republican presidential candidate, after he lost the Electoral College vote tally 332 to 206 in Tuesday’s election. In the skit, Mitt Romney’s family was throwing a dignified post-election soiree, but Jason Sudeikis had retired to the balcony to chug Vitamin D milk.
Mitt Romney himself was pictured with a gallon of chocolate milk following the disappointing loss.
Jason Sudeikis’ son, Taran Killam as Tag Romney, came out to ask what more he wanted to accomplish.
“I have so much I want to do,” Jason Sudeikis said.
“I want to find out how mayonnaise is made.”
After “cracking open” another carton of milk, Taran Killam as Matt comes out, begging his father to come into the house.
“Paul Ryan is doing feats of strength in the living room,” he said.
Saturday Night Live began their weekly show with the defeated Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney drowning his sorrows with milk
Jason Sudeikis responded with vitriol.
“I would’ve liked to see him carry Wisconsin.”
A concerned Taran Killam then asked: “Have you been drinking? You smell like a dairy.”
Jason Sudeikis offers his son a drink, but Taran Killam sounds horrified.
“I’m only 38!” he said.
A third son, Josh, tries to entice his father into the party.
“Donald Trump is doing a very amusing thing where he’s racist,” Taran Killam said.
But it’s not until Kate McKinnon comes out again that Jason Sudeikis really gets fired up. He kisses her on the lips, causing Kate McKinnon to say in shock: “My, oh my, what has gotten into you?”
Jason Sudeikis responds: “Oh, I don’t know, about 10 gallons of milk.”
On Weekend Update, Seth Meyers celebrated “four…more…years…of gridlock”, showing pictures of Republicans Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner.
Noting how the president won many unemployed and student voters, Seth Meyers noted: “Basically, Obama became president the same way Budweiser became the king of beer.”
Seth Meyers also commented on the David Petraeus scandal, noting the name of biographer Paula Broadwell’s biography on him, entitled All In.
“When they first started working on the book, it was called <<Just The Tip>>.”
Seth Meyers was joined by Jay Pharoah, playing the newly re-elected President Obama. Asked if he was surprised by the result, Jay Pharoah responded: “A little. Come on Republicans, what happened? This was yours to win!
“Five-dollar gas, eight percent unemployment, I even gave you a first-debate head start! and on top of that, I’m Black.”
But Jay Pharoah said that as a second-term president, he wasn’t going to concede to those who were against him.
“Look out!” he said.
“From here on out, we do it my way! Republicans don’t want to talk of immigration? Fine. Meanwhile, a gay Hispanic woman is born every 15 seconds.”
Speaking of what has traditionally been a bipartisan dead end between him and Boehner, he said: “Fine, you wanna be unreasonable, fine let’s be unreasonable. The military? Gone! If you want to go to war with Iran, you have to send in Ted Nugent.”
The “president” seemed to be energized, and kept bouncing his shoulders. When Meyers commented, Jay Pharoah responded: “Seth, I’m in a good place.
“I want to thank Mitt Romney. Governor, I admire your tenacity, even though watching you run for president was like watching someone in roller skates trying to climb stairs.”
Though he said he was glad for four more years in office, Jay Pharoah’s closing remarks were over how awful his job is.
“Mainly, this is a terrible job and I hate it,” he said.
Also appearing on Weekend Update were a gay couple from Maine, which just passed a gay marriage law, and a drunk uncle to talk about the election recount.
Anne Hathaway, who plays Fantine in the upcoming movie version of Les Miserables, hosted for a third time, and Rhiannon was the musical guest.
