World-famous Turkish pianist Fazil Say has appeared in court in Istanbul charged with inciting hatred and insulting the values of Muslims.
Fazil Say is being prosecuted over tweets he wrote mocking radical Muslims, in a case which has rekindled concern about religious influence in the country.
Fazil Say, who denies the charges, said recently he was “amazed” at having to appear before judges.
Rejecting an acquittal call, the court adjourned the case until 18 February.
Prosecutors brought the charges against Fazil Say in June. He faces a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison although correspondents say any sentence is likely to be suspended.
The indictment against him cites some of his tweets from April, including one where he says: “I am not sure if you have also realized it, but if there’s a louse, a non-entity, a lowlife, a thief or a fool, it’s always an Islamist.”
Fazil Say has appeared in court in Istanbul charged with inciting hatred and insulting the values of Muslims
Dozens of the pianist’s supporters gathered outside the courthouse with banners, one of which called on the ruling Islamist-based AK Party to “leave the artists alone”.
Fazil Say has played with the New York Philharmonic, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and others, and has served as a cultural ambassador for the EU.
Egemen Bagis, Turkey’s minister in charge of relations with the EU, suggested the case against him should be dismissed, saying the court should regard his tweets as being within “his right to babble”.
However, Egemen Bagis also criticized the pianist for “insulting people’s faith and values”.
Katharine Hepburn was an early pioneer of androgynous fashion, appearing on set dressed in high-waisted pants and button-down shirts.
And now a new exhibition, which opened in New York today, pays homage to Katharine Hepburn’ chic sense of style, which was decidedly unconventional in the Thirties and Forties, when feminine dresses were the order of the day.
Curators say one of the first things visitors to the Katharine Hepburn: Dressed for Stage and Screen exhibit will note, is how slender the American star was, as she had just a 20-inch waist.
The display, at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, featuring forty items of Katharine Hepburn’s clothing, will run through to January 12.
Katharine Hepburn, who died in 2003 at age 96, saved almost all the costumes from her long career that included four Oscars and such memorable films as The Philadelphia Story, The African Queen, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and On Golden Pond.
She also had an impressive personal collection and a grouping of seven khaki pants artfully arranged on a pair of mannequin legs, illustrate her personal sense of style.
The fiercely independent Katharine Hepburn famously once said: “Anytime I hear a man say he prefers a woman in a skirt, I say, <<Try one. Try a skirt>>.”
Jean Druesedow, co-curator of the exhibition and director of the Kent State University Museum, which was given 700 items from Katharine Hepburn’s estate, said: “The fact that she wore slacks and wanted to be comfortable influenced women’s ready-to-wear in the United States.
“That image said to the American woman <<Look you don’t have to be in your girdle and stockings and tight dress. You can be comfortable>>. That was probably the first aspect of becoming a fashion icon.”
Katharine Hepburn was an early pioneer of androgynous fashion
The strong-willed actress known for taking charge of her career worked closely with all her designers to decide her performing wardrobe.
“They understood what would help her characters, what she would feel comfortable wearing… how it would support the story,” Jean Druesedow said.
Margaret Furse, an English designer who created Katharine Hepburn’s wardrobes for The Lion in Winter, A Delicate Balance and Love Among the Ruins, went shopping with the star and talked extensively about what kinds of things would set the scene.
Among the highlights is a stunning satin and lace wedding gown created by Howard Greer for her role as Stella Surrege in The Lake.
The 1933 production was her first major Broadway role and also a huge flop. Writer and wit Dorothy Parker described her performance as running “the gamut of emotion from A to B”.
The experience taught Katharine Hepburn to have a bigger say in what roles she accepted, said Barbara Cohen-Stratyner, curator of exhibitions at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
When she really liked a costume she had copies made for herself, sometimes in a different color or fabric.
A silk dress and coat by Norman Hartnell from Suddenly, Last Summer and a green raw silk jumpsuit by Valentina from The Philadelphia Story were among the pieces she had copied.
Comfort was paramount to Katharine Hepburn – being able to throw her leg over a chair or sit on the floor. She always wore her uniform – khakis and a shirt – to rehearsals and pant ensembles to publicity appearances.
A companion book, Katharine Hepburn: Rebel Chic, describes how RKO executives hid Hepburn’s trousers in an effort to persuade her to abandon them.
“Her response was to threaten to walk around the lot naked. Though she only stripped down as far as her silk underwear before stepping out of her dressing room, she made her point – and she got her trousers back,” fashion writer Nancy MacDonell wrote in an essay for the book.
But comfort didn’t mean sacrificing style – and she certainly knew how to be glamorous especially when a role called for it.
In her private life, Katharine Hepburn shopped at the major cutting-edge New York couturiers and worked with the best costume shops of the period, including Muriel King and Valentina, said Barbara Cohen-Stratyner.
“She really appreciated good fabric and good construction,” she said.
“Even her trousers are couture.”
The exhibition is supplemented by film clips, movie posters, and archival photographs of Katharine Hepburn wearing the very costumes worn by the mannequins. Her false eyelashes, makeup trays and sensible shoes are also on display.
Apple has lost its appeal against a UK ruling that Samsung had not infringed its tablet design rights.
A judge at the High Court in London had originally ruled in July that the look of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab computers was not too similar to designs registered in connection with the iPad.
He said at the time that Samsung’s devices were not as “cool” because they lacked Apple’s “extreme simplicity”.
Apple still needs to run ads saying Samsung had not infringed its rights.
The US firm had previously been ordered to place a notice to that effect – with a link to the original judgement – on its website and place other adverts in the Daily Mail, Financial Times, T3 Magazine and other publications to “correct the damaging impression” that Samsung was a copycat.
The appeal judges decided not to overturn the decision on the basis that a related Apple design-rights battle in the German courts risked causing confusion in consumers’ minds.
“The acknowledgment must come from the horse’s mouth,” they said.
“Nothing short of that will be sure to do the job completely.”
However, they added that the move need not “clutter” Apple’s homepage as it would only have to add a link entitled “Samsung/Apple judgement” for a one-month period.
A spokeswoman for Samsung said it welcomed the latest ruling.
“We continue to believe that Apple was not the first to design a tablet with a rectangular shape and rounded corners and that the origins of Apple’s registered design features can be found in numerous examples of prior art.
“Should Apple continue to make excessive legal claims in other countries based on such generic designs, innovation in the industry could be harmed and consumer choice unduly limited.”
Apple declined to comment. It can still appeal to the UK Supreme Court, otherwise the ruling applies across the European Union.
Three judges were involved in the Court of Appeal review of the case.
Apple had reasserted its claim saying that the front face and overall shape of the tablets was the most important factor – rather than the overall design – because users would spend most of their time looking at a tablet’s screen and holding it.
One of the judges – who noted he owned an iPad himself – explained why Apple had lost the appeal in his ruling.
“Because this case (and parallel cases in other countries) has generated much publicity, it will avoid confusion to say what this case is about and not about,” wrote Sir Robin Jacob.
“It is not about whether Samsung copied Apple’s iPad. Infringement of a registered design does not involve any question of whether there was copying: the issue is simply whether the accused design is too close to the registered design according to the tests laid down in the law.”
“So this case is all about, and only about, Apple’s registered design and the Samsung products.”
Sir Robin Jacob noted that Samsung’s decision to place its logo on the front of its devices distinguished them from Apple’s registered design which said there should be “no ornamentation”.
He also highlighted the fact that the sides of the iPad’s design – which featured a “sharp edge” – were significantly different from those of the Galaxy Tabs.
In addition, Sir Robin Jacob wrote that Samsung’s designs were “altogether busier” with a more varied use of color on the devices’ rear and their inclusion of a thicker section to house a camera.
Apple has now lost a series of lawsuits against Samsung based on the design of their tablets.
These include cases in the Netherlands, Australia and US – despite sometimes winning temporary sales bans.
However, the California-based company has been more successful with other claims.
Most notably a US jury proposed Samsung should pay Apple a $1.05 billion fine for infringing several software patents, and the look and feel of the iPhone. Samsung is appealing the verdict.
Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel, who starred in the 1974 erotic French film Emmanuelle, has died aged 60.
“She died during the night during her sleep,” her agent, Marieke Verharen, told the AFP news agency.
Sylvia Kristel, who had cancer, was admitted to hospital in July after suffering a stroke.
Emmanuelle, which told the story of a sexually promiscuous housewife, spawned numerous sequels and played in a cinema on the Champs-Elysees for 11 years.
Released in 1974, the soft-focus French film was one of the first erotic movies to be shown in mainstream cinemas.
Sylvia Kristel herself attributed its success to the changing censorship laws of the era.
“In a lot of countries the light went on, and that contributed very much to the success,” she said.
Sylvia Kristel went on to star in several Emmanuelle sequels, as well as more mainstream films – many of which, like Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Mata Hari, played on her reputation as an erotic film star.
Sylvia Kristel, who starred in the 1974 erotic French film Emmanuelle, has died aged 60
Born in Utrecht, Holland, in 1952, Sylvia Kristel grew up with her younger sister Marianne in Room 21 of The Commerce Hotel, which her parents owned.
Convent-educated, she fled her strict Calvinist upbringing for Amsterdam as a teenager, where she worked as a secretary and a waitress before becoming a model.
Aged 21, Sylvia Kristel won two beauty competitions – Miss TV Holland and Miss TV Europe – and, shortly afterwards, was encouraged to pursue acting by her boyfriend, Belgian author Hugo Claus.
She had already appeared nude in the film Because of the Cats, when she stumbled into the audition for Emmanuelle, having been sent to a casting call for a soap powder commercial next door.
Speaking to The Evening Standard in 1994, she said she had no problem convincing director Just Jaeckin of her suitability for the part.
“He asked me to take my dress off,” she said.
“Luckily it was an easy dress to take off.
“It had spaghetti straps which I just slipped over my shoulders and it just fell off. I carried on talking and smoking in the nude. I was not inhibited at all. I’d done nude modeling and he thought I was very graceful.”
Set in Thailand, the film was based on the erotic novel by Emmanuelle Arsan. It told the story of a bored wife, who had followed her diplomat husband to Asia, and filled her time with romantic trysts.
On release, Emmanuelle inevitably caused controversy. It was banned in Paris, where it was supposed to have its premiere, for six months. But it also made Sylvia Kristel a star.
She spent seven years in Hollywood, appearing in such films as The Concorde: Airport ’79, and Private Lessons.
But the actress, whose parents were both alcoholics, soon found herself addicted to drink and drugs.
“I sometimes needed a shot before doing certain scenes,” she said.
“It definitely comforted me and gave me courage. But then it turned out that I almost couldn’t start a day without a drink.”
By this time she had left Hugo Claus, with whom she had a son, for British actor Ian McShane. Their relationship was volatile. In her autobiography, she described it as “awful – he was witty and charming but we were too much alike”.
Further relationships followed. She wed American millionaire Alan Turner, who ended their marriage after five months, telling Sylvia Kristel he had made a terrible mistake.
Her second husband, would-be director Philippe Blot, persuaded her to bankroll his films. They were disastrously received.
Sylvia Kristel said she left the marriage with $400 to her name.
“If I’d known then what I know now, I probably wouldn’t have gone ahead with any of the relationships I was involved in, with the exception of Hugo,” she told the Daily Mail in 1993.
She stopped appearing nude on screen in the 1980s because her son, Arthur, was being “teased at school”, but returned to the Emmanuelle series in 1994, in a direct-to-video sequel where she appeared, fully-clothed, reminiscing about the exploits of her younger alter-ego.
After leaving America, Sylvia Kristel retreated to the South of France to paint, specializing in female portraits and pictures of roses. She was diagnosed with both throat and lung cancer in the early 2000s and fought the disease over the last decade.
Her agent declined to say whether Sylvia Kristel died at home or at hospital, but said her funeral would be private.
Newsweek, the 80-year-old US current affairs magazine, is to become an online-only publication.
The last print edition will be on 31 December, reflecting the trend for newspapers and magazines to move online as traditional advertising declines.
Newsweek merged with the internet news group the Daily Beast two years ago.
The Daily Beast’s founder, Tina Brown, said its site now had more than 15 million unique visitors a month, a 70% increase on last year.
Tina Brown said in a statement: “Exiting print is an extremely difficult moment for all of us who love the romance of print and the unique weekly camaraderie of those hectic hours before the close on Friday night.
“But as we head for the 80th anniversary of Newsweek next year, we must sustain the journalism that gives the magazine its purpose – and embrace the all-digital future.
“This decision is now about the quality of the brand or the journalism – that is as powerful as ever. It is about the challenging economics of print publishing and distribution.”
Newsweek is to become an online-only publication
Newsweek rose to become the second largest US news weekly magazine, behind Time. But declining circulation and advertising saw it fall into losses.
It was sold by the Washington Post Company to Sidney Harman in August 2010, and was merged with the Daily Beast three months later.
Tina Brown, who became Lady Evans when her husband Harold Evans, the legendary journalist, was knighted, is a former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker.
She teamed up with Barry Diller to launch The Daily Beast in 2008. The website’s name comes from the fictional newspaper in Evelyn Waugh’s 1938 novel Scoop.
For almost a decade America’s Next Top Model has been a female-only contest, but male contestants will be accepted for the first time starting with the show’s next season.
Tyra Banks, the series’ creator and host, took to Twitter to convey her excitement, writing: “ANTM 20. Bring on the boys!”
Both male and female models will live in the same house, and all will battle it out to be crowned winner.
America’s Next Top Model first aired in 2003, and there have since been 19 cycles of the series.
It was confirmed yesterday that cycle 20 will debut in 2013 on the CW network, although a specific premiere date has not yet been announced.
It is only known that the show will start airing in summer instead of the fall, in a bid to boost ratings.
There is also no word on who will feature on the judging panel.
Tyra Banks shook up the series when she parted ways with Nigel Barker, Jay Manuel and J Alexander.
The three were replaced with male model Rob Evans, Johnny Wujek as photo shoot creative consultant and social media correspondent Bryanboy.
The judge panel for Cycle 19 also saw the addition of Kelly Cutrone.
America’s Next Top Model is currently in the midst of its 19th cycle, which stars college students.
It has been reported in recent weeks that Demi Moore has been worrying friends amid claims she’s “struggling to cope” with split from Ashton Kutcher.
But on Wednesday night, Demi Moore single-handedly dismissed the reports as she attended a charity gala.
Demi Moore, 49, glowed as she posed up for photographs inside the Girls Educational and Mentoring Services Benefit Gala in New York City.
The actress also cut a much healthier figure than she has at previous red carpet events.
Despite having previously sparked concern with her scarily skinny figure, Demi Moore appeared to have gained some weight, and showed off her new figure in a fitted patterned dress.
Earlier in the evening, Demi Moore had chosen not to walk the red carpet into the event, instead opting to head inside via a side entrance.
However, once inside the event, Demi Moore was happy to pose up for photographs, both alone and the charity director Rachel Lloyd.
Demi Moore was there to help bring in cash for GEMS – which was founded in 1998 while currently being the largest service provider to commercially sexually exploited and domestically trafficked girls in the United States.
Demi Moore glowed as she posed up for photographs inside the Girls Educational and Mentoring Services Benefit Gala in New York City
The event included the reading of excerpts from the memoir of Rachel Lloyd, read by stars including Jada Pinkett Smith, Natasha Lyonne, and India Arie.
It was claimed recently that Demi Moore has been finding it difficult to cope with news of estranged husband Ashton Kutcher’s relationship with Mila Kunis.
Ashton Kutcher, 34, has been stepping out regularly with Mila Kunis and often putting on public displays of affection.
After Ashton Kutcher’s indiscretions with a woman in San Diego on their sixth wedding anniversary in 2001 were exposed, Demi Moore is said to be getting increasingly embarrassed by his antics.
A source told People magazine: “Her friends aren’t convinced she’s all better.”
In August Demi Moore attended an 80s-themed birthday party for friend and actress Soleil Moon Frye in which one partygoer described her as “a little more subdued that she’s been in the past”.
The magazine also reveals that as well as Moore, his friends were surprised by Ashton Kutcher’s romance with Mila Kunis.
A friend said: “I would have never believed Ashton could get serious this fast.
“He was so happy to get out from under the stagnant relationship with Demi that he was overeager to play around and have fun. But it didn’t take long to bring him home again.”
An environment protection group says that the majority of Madagascar’s palms face extinction due to land clearing.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said 83% of the 192 tree varieties had been added to its threatened species list.
The group called the figures “terrifying”, saying the tree loss also endangered animals and put people’s livelihoods at risk.
The findings bring the global number of species at risk of dying out to 20,219.
The IUCN’s global director for biodiversity conservation, Jane Smart, said the latest study showed the situation could no longer be ignored.
“The figures on Madagascar’s palms are truly terrifying, especially as the loss of palms impacts both the unique biodiversity of the island and its people,” she said.
Madagascar is the world’s fourth biggest island after Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo.
Because of its isolation most of its mammals, half its birds, and most of its plants exist nowhere else on Earth.
Palm trees represent an integral part of the island’s biodiversity, with many of its poorest communities relying on the trees to provide housing and food.
The raw materials are used to build houses, utensils and crafts, as well as to produce food, drinks and medicine.
But forests have been rapidly shrinking as land is being cleared for agriculture and logging.
Excessive palm heart harvesting has also put the trees at risk.
“The majority of Madagascar’s palms grow in the island’s eastern rain forests, which have already been reduced to less than one quarter of their original size and which continue to disappear,” the IUCN’s Dr. William Baker said.
Animals like the lemur have fallen victim to the domino effect of deforestation, which destroys essential habitat.
“The high extinction risk faced by Madagascar’s palms reflects the decline in these forests, which threatens all of the remarkable wildlife that occurs there,” Dr. William Baker said.
The worldwide number of animals and plants on the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species is now 65,518.
US researchers have claimed that taking a daily multivitamin pill may lower the risk of developing cancer in men.
Their study followed nearly 15,000 men, aged over 50, for more than a decade.
The findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, reported a small reduction in cancer cases in men taking vitamin pills.
But experts warned that other studies had found the opposite effect and that eating a diet packed with fruit and vegetables was a safer bet.
Vitamin supplements are recommended for some groups of people, such as vitamin D in the over 65s.
However, the benefits of multivitamins on general health have been mixed. Some studies suggest they cause more harm than good when taken by healthy people while others have shown no benefit in cancer.
Doctors at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School analyzed data from men who were given either a multivitamin or a sugar pill every day.
There were 17 cancers per 1,000 people taking multivitamins per year compared with 18 cancers per 1,000 people taking the dummy pills per year.
One of the researchers, Dr. Howard Sesso said: “Many studies have suggested that eating a nutritious diet may reduce a man’s risk of developing cancer.
“Now we know that taking a daily multivitamin, in addition to addressing vitamin and mineral deficiencies, may also be considered in the prevention of cancer in middle-aged and older men.”
The researchers do not know if a similar effect would be seen in women or in younger men.
Only in LA would you find an ATM machine that dispenses cupcakes and Honey Boo Boo and her family sought it out pretty much immediately after arriving on the West Coast.
Honey Boo Boo, 7, was as excited as can be to make her selection, and even stuck her head into the machine while still eating her first cake.
Everyone’s favorite reality star was joined by her mother June Shannon.
Here Comes Honey Boo Boo reality show star recently endorsed President Barack Obama as her choice to continue his run as Commander in Chief.
Honey Boo Boo, real name Alana Thompson, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel this week, where her mother revealed she is saving the profits from her young daughter’s fame in a fund for her.
June Shannon told Jimmy Kimmel: “I am the manager, the agent in all of this. I know what’s best for my kids… that’s why I chose to put money in the trust fund.
“This journey may last six months or it may last a year but I don’t want ten years down the road Alana or any of the kids to be thinking, <<oh my god, I have nothing to show for it>>. So I wanted to put it in a trust fund, split equally for all the kids.
“So most of the money is there, and the other money goes to our community outreach programmes like the UR brand that we raise for anti-bullying.”
Honey Boo Boo says she doesn’t get her own allowance just yet, but that Mama gives her money to go to the store.
“Like if I wanna go to the store, she gives me my own money. I buy some candy or somethin’, or somethin’ to eat,” she said.
On her nickname as “coupon queen”, June Shannon admitted: “Unfortunately because we’ve had a busy schedule I don’t get to coupon as much as I used to, but when I do get to coupon… oh boy.
“It’s kind of like an addictive drug for me, you save money for your family, but I could be a multimillionaire and I’d still save family for my family.”
The European Union is due to begin a two-day summit in Brussels that will focus on issues surrounding the eurozone crisis.
High on the agenda will be controversial plans for a eurozone banking union, seen as a key element in restoring confidence in the euro.
In the run-up to the summit, Germany has been urging EU states to consider pooling more economic sovereignty.
Meanwhile Greece, which is at the centre of the European debt crisis, is braced for another general strike.
It will be its 20th since the debt crisis erupted in the country two years ago.
Talks in Brussels are also expected to focus on banking supervision, stricter fiscal oversight and direct recapitalization of banks from rescue funds.
The summit will take place amid calmer European stock markets than in previous meetings and with less concern over the debt crises in Spain and Greece, analysts say.
Speaking on Wednesday, French President Francois Hollande said an end to the eurozone crisis was “very close” and he wanted a deal agreed on the first stage of a banking union.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has proposed a full fiscal union – control at European level of tax and spending.
On Wednesday, Wolfgang Schaeuble said that eurozone countries “need to tackle problems themselves”, adding that the eurozone bailout fund was there to help countries do just that.
But he reiterated his view that further steps towards political integration would strengthen the bloc.
The meeting in Brussels will be the fourth time that leaders of the EU’s 27 nations have met this year.
Borrowing costs for struggling eurozone economies have fallen sharply since the European Central Bank (ECB) announced last month that it was prepared to buy their bonds in unlimited amounts under strict conditions.
The calmer economic climate is being used to discuss buttressing economic and monetary union, and little will be agreed at this summit.
On Wednesday, Greece and its international creditors are said to have reached a deal on austerity measures needed before its next bailout installment.
Nevertheless, large demonstrations are planned across the country against the next package of spending cuts.
Taxi drivers, ferry workers, doctors, teachers and air traffic controllers are among those taking part in a general strike across the public and private sectors.
Chinese economy has slowed for a seventh quarter as problems in Europe and the US hurt demand for its goods.
The annual rate of growth was 7.4% in the third quarter, down from 7.6% in the previous three months.
However, there were signs that the world’s second-biggest economy was now stabilizing and rebounding.
That would be good news for China, which is facing a leadership change, and the rest of the world, which has benefited from its recent boom.
“Clearly, concerns over continued slowdown can now be put to rest,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist as Credit Agricole-CIB.
“The last month of the quarter brought acceleration of industrial output, retail sales and fixed asset investment in year-on-year terms, highlighting the fact that improvement of momentum of the economy was particularly strong in September.”
In Hong Kong, the main Hang Seng stock index rose 0.7% on the news, while in Shanghai, shares climbed by 1.2%.
China’s growth over the past few years has been led by the success of its export and manufacturing sector, as well as by a credit-fuelled investment boom directed by the government.
But a number of issues have recently hurt demand for China’s exports, not least the debt crisis in the eurozone and a sluggish rebound in the US.
This had increased worries that China’s economic growth would slow further in coming months, and may even dip below the 7% mark, leading to a longer economic slump both inside and outside of the country.
That is something that China was keen to avoid as it prepares for a once-in-a-decade leadership change. China’s ruling communist party is about to unveil its next generation of leaders in November.
The fears had been that a sharp slowdown in the economy may result in business cutting jobs, leading to higher unemployment.
There had also been concerns that a significant slowdown may prompt a big drop in property prices – eroding the value of assets of many people.
However, on Thursday, China also released other key economic indicators alongside its gross domestic product (GDP) data, and these indicated that things may be starting to pick up again.
China’s industrial production rose by a more-than-expected 9.2% in September from a year earlier. That was up from 8.9% growth in August.
Retail sales, meanwhile, during the same month were 14.2% higher than a year earlier, signalling that domestic consumption was growing.
“The September data indicates economic momentum has picked up strongly compared with July and August,” said Zhang Zhiwei, chief China economist at Nomura in Hong Kong.
The latest numbers added to the optimism that followed trade figures which were released over the weekend. They showed a 9.9% year-on-year growth in exports during September, a big jump from the 2.7% growth recorded in the previous month.
Zhang Zhiwei added the latest data “helps reinforce our view that growth will rebound visibly in the fourth quarter”.
China has announced various stimulus measures in recent months aimed at boosting domestic consumption and sustaining growth.
The central bank has lowered the amount of money that banks need to keep in reserve three times in the past few months in order to increase bank lending.
It has cut interest rates twice since June to reduce the burden on businesses and other borrowers.
Beijing has also approved infrastructure projects worth more than $150 billion, aimed at spurring a fresh wave of economic development.
There had been hopes that China’s policymakers may take further measures to spur growth. But with September’s positive set of economic data analysts say they may now see Beijing delay a major move.
“There is no room, or need, for any further major stimulus, especially a rate cut,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk of Credit Agricole-CIB.
Even so, other analysts reckon that any rebound is in its early stages and if anything, it needs a further boost to take hold and continue.
The worry is that should China stop helping consumers and businesses, then growth could stagnate or start to retreat again.
400g (14 oz) small carrots (try Chantenay), trimmed
1 large red onion, peeled and cut into wedges
1 bulb garlic, cloves separated but still in skins
2 tbsp olive oil
125 ml (4 fl oz) dry white wine
Lemon and tarragon roast chicken
METHOD
Preheat oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas 6. Run your hand under the skin on the chicken breast, taking care not to tear it. Remove the leaves from two sprigs of tarragon and mash with half the butter and some seasoning. Spread under the skin, then add some of the lemon slices and the remaining sprigs of tarragon. Melt the remaining butter. Halve any larger new potatoes and carrots and place in a large roasting tin. Scatter over the red onion and garlic. Season with salt and lots of black pepper and toss with the oil. Place the chicken on top and add any remaining lemon slices to the tin. Brush the melted butter all over the chicken. Pour the wine into the base of the tin and roast for 1 hour 20 minutes or until the juices run clear when the thickest part of the leg is pierced with a skewer. Lift the chicken off the veg and rest for 10 minutes before serving.
If you’re still searching for that last-minute Halloween costume, look no further. We searched through hundreds of wacky costumes to come up with our picks for the top 10.
These are some super get-ups that will be sure to shock and amaze your friends.
1. The term junk in the trunk has inspired a slew of rap songs, but this Halloween you can celebrate the slang term with a black and white zebra dress and trunk belt. (zoogstercostumes.com)
2. Who knew that you could dress up as your favorite college party game? Perfect for couples looking to be the life of the party. (rickyshalloween.com)
3. If you like to be literal, even on Halloween, go as the Killer B – literally. (rickyshalloween.com)
4. For a stylish entrance, make sure to expose your best self in a Bruno clear vinyl suit. (www.Halloween31.com)
5. You can get the Situation’s abs and tan with this Halloween costume. Make sure to walk around with your shirt up and introduce people to the situation that is your new-found muscles. (www.Halloween31.com )
6. Devise a Gru plot of your own to steal the moon in this adult Minion Dave costume. (www.Halloween31.com)
7. This Halloween you can dress as your favorite political cause. Not only can you vote to legalize marijuana, you can become the cause. (rickyshalloween.com )
8. The BP oil spill would definitely be appropriate to label as bad planning. Dress up as the bad planning that caused the spill in the first place and turn a sticky situation into a laugh for Halloween. (rickyshalloween.com )
9. Everyone has one or knows one in their neighborhood. This Halloween, you can be your favorite neighborhood nuisance and really look the part in this crazy cat-lady costume with a bathrobe and headpiece. (zoogstercostumes.com )
10. Thanksgiving may be encroaching on Halloween’s territory but either way this turkey costume is hilarious. After the big day make sure to keep it around to wear to your family’s Thanksgiving gathering next month. (zoogstercostumes.com )
Honey Boo Boo and her family are about to change their lifestyle as with fame comes money, travel and fancy meals in posh restaurants.
It all started for Honey Boo Boo, real name Alana Thompson, on Tuesday at Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Vanderpump’s Beverly Hills restaurant, Villa Blanc.
Honey Boo Boo and her mother, June Shannon, were treated to the restaurant’s spaghetti and tomato sauce dish to see how it measured up with their favorite concoction.
Judging by the way Honey Boo Boo was dangling strand after strand into her mouth with gay abandon we can assume that the answer is, very well.
Honey Boo Boo on Tuesday at Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Vanderpump’s restaurant, Villa Blanc
Before long, Honey Boo Boo will be demanding chai lattes instead of Mountain Dew and having burrata flown in from Italy to scatter on her pasta.
Then there’ll be the celebrity diet, and she’ll inevitably launch a singing career.
The joy of little Alana Thompson and her family is that they’ve not yet been affected by the fame, or Hollywood.
Germany has called on countries using the euro to take decisive steps to bring about closer fiscal integration.
Berlin wants the EU’s 27 countries to consider pooling more economic sovereignty at a summit in Brussels which begins on Thursday.
French President Francois Hollande says an end to the eurozone crisis is “very close” and wants a deal agreed on the first stage of a banking union.
But Germany argues that the proposed deadline is unrealistic.
The proposal for a single banking regulator was agreed at the EU’s June summit.
But Berlin says there will be no final decision in Brussels because of concerns about plans for the regulator to supervise an estimated 6,000 banks across the eurozone.
Germany wants to continue regulating its financial institutions and is unhappy with a plan eventually to hand the European Central Bank full supervisory control.
Instead, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has proposed a more powerful role for the EU Economic and Monetary Commissioner in regulating national budgets. Chancellor Angela Merkel is understood to back his idea.
The commissioner should have the ability to veto a budget if it breaks deficit rules, the finance minister argues.
In setting out plans for full fiscal union, Wolfgang Schaeuble has set out a fairly ambitious negotiating position.
The finance minister’s plan would require a convention to be set up next year in order to change EU treaties, but many eurozone countries believe other priorities should be addressed first, our correspondent says.
“We are all taking part in this solidarity, not only the Germans,” Francois Hollande said in a newspaper interview.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso warned on Wednesday that a lack of convergence towards a closer union was “nourishing populist debates ultimately to put an end to this project”.
“It is clear that the euro area needs to evolve to a fiscal union… and ultimately a political union,” Jose Manuel Barroso told the centre-right European People’s Party congress in Bucharest.
The Brussels summit will take place against a backdrop of calmer European stock markets than in previous meetings and less concern over the debt crises in Spain and Greece.
Although Greeks are set to hold a general strike on Thursday, the Athens government and its international creditors are said to have reached a deal on the austerity measures needed before the next bailout installment is handed over.
“I am confident we are doing everything we have to do in order to get it soon so that we can move towards recovery,” Greek PM Antonis Samaras said.
Although there is growing speculation that Spain will soon ask for eurozone help in tackling its debt crisis, Madrid has seen its borrowing costs fall and may not ask for any aid at all.
The sound of a crying baby is almost impossible to ignore, no matter how hard you try.
Now scientists may have worked out why.
They’ve shown that an infant’s wails rapidly pull at the heart-strings, in a way that other cries don’t.
In fact, within just a blink of an eye, brain regions involved in processing emotions are hard at work.
It had been thought that the brain was incapable of processing such complex facets of sound in such a short time.
With other types of cry, including calls of animals in distress failing to elicit the same response, the finding suggests that the brain is programmed to see something special in a baby’s cry.
The idea comes from Oxford University scientists who scanned the brains of 28 men and women as they listened to a variety of calls and cries.
After 100 milliseconds, roughly the time taken to blink, two regions of the brain that respond to emotion lit up.
Their response to the baby’s cry was particularly strong, the Society for Neuroscience’s annual conference in New Orleans heard.
What is more, the response was seen in both men and women – and in people who had no children of their own.
Researcher Dr. Christine Parsons said: “You might read that men should barely notice a baby and step over it and not see any of them but it’s not true.
“There is a specialized processing in men and women which makes sense from an evolutionary perspective that both genders would be responding to these cues.
“The study was in people who were not parents, have no particular experience of looking after babies and yet they are all responding at 100 ms to these particular sound, so this might be a fundamental response present in all of us regardless of parental status.”
Colleague Katie Young added that it likely takes a bit longer for someone to recognize their own baby’s call.
“When it comes to differentiating your own baby’s sound, it might be that this happens much later in time because you will be doing much more fine-grained analysis.”
Previous work from the Oxford team showed that our reactions are also speeded up by the sound of a crying baby.
Adults did better on an arcade game that requires speed, accuracy and dexterity, when they heard the sound, than they did after being recordings of adults crying or high-pitched bird song.
Morten Kringelbach, who co-led that research and supervised the latest project, said then: “Few sounds provoke a visceral reaction quite like the cry of a baby.
“For example, it is almost impossible to ignore crying babies on planes and the discomfort it arouses, despite all the other noises and distractions around.”
The findings are not just of general interest, they also have a practical purpose.
Understanding out how the healthy brain responds to babies’ cries could shed light on post-natal depression, in which mothers struggle to bond with their newborn, and lead to new treatments.
Speculation is growing that Ri Sol-ju, wife of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, is either pregnant or has angered Communist leaders as the number of days she has spent out of the public eye rises to 40.
Ri Sol-ju was announced as Kim Jong-un’s wife in July but recent newspaper reports in South Korea are rife with rumors about the reasons why the new first lady has not been spotted for nearly six weeks.
Some reports have suggested she may be pregnant, an idea fuelled by appearances on Chosun Central TV and of her visiting Changieon Street homes in early September with Kim Jong-un to deliver birthday food and gifts.
Other reports have highlighted the fact Ri Sol-ju failed to join her husband on a roller coaster ride at the opening of the Reungra People’s Resort, while her aging aunt Kim Kyung-hee took the plunge as evidence that she was pregnant.
A more bizarre theory that is also receiving publicity is that Ri Sol-ju may have received a ban from appearing in public after she failed to wear a lapel pin declaring her loyalty to the Communist regime.
China.org reported a North Korean rebel source revealing that a strict rule says the country’s adults must adorn badges featuring leaders on formal occasions
Ri Sol-ju’s modern appearance marked a major change from the traditional images of North Korean women, who are expected to dress conservatively, wearing skirts or Mao-style work clothes in shades of grey or brown.
Ri Sol-ju was announced as Kim Jong-un’s wife in July
Some commentators have suggested that Kim Jong-un may have gone too far by replacing the Kim lapel badge with more feminine flowered brooches.
She was not present at a recent high-profile event for the 67th founding anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea on October 10 where Kim Jong-un and top officials were all in attendance the JoongAng Ilbo Daily reported.
The following day, the South Korean media cited a source who said Ri Sol-ju’s failure to wear any badges of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il had sparked criticism in the party’s upper ranks and as well as the army who deemed her behavior to bet “completely unacceptable, with repercussions to ensue”.
On her last public appearance former pop star Ri Sol-ju, wife of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, wore a stylish black trouser suit during a visit to the Taedonggang tile factory in Pyongyang.
Most residents of the city, the country’s capital, only ever wear drab colored Mao-style suits and North Korean women generally dress only in conservative skirts.
Ri Sol-ju’s appearance in the unconventional outfit comes just weeks after she was pictured at an event with what looked like a luxurious Dior evening pouch.
The appearance of Ri Sol-ju, who is thought to be in her 20s, was enough of a fashion statement to incite comment over the border in South Korea, the Daily Telegraph reported.
A pair of Marie Antoinette’s slippers has been auctioned for 50,000 euros ($65,600) on the anniversary of the French queen’s execution.
The auction house Paris Druout had expected the green-and-pink silk shoes to sell for up to 10,000 euros.
Auctioneers said they had been flooded with bids from around the world.
Other artefacts on sale belonging to the 18th Century monarch included portraits and a dinner set once owned by her husband, King Louis XVI.
“Obviously, it’s rather rare to find objects that belonged to the queen, particularly dresses or more intimate things,” said art expert Cyrille Boulay.
“I have been doing the job of historical artefacts expert for 20 years now, and it’s just the second time that I have a pair of shoes on sale.
“So it’s rather exceptional and therefore of course, it has sparked an international interest.”
A pair of Marie Antoinette’s slippers has been auctioned for 50,000 euros
The successful bid was placed by telephone but the buyer’s identity has not yet been disclosed.
Louis XVI married Marie Antoinette, daughter of the emperor and empress of Austria, in 1770 and the couple amassed an opulent collection of artwork and furniture.
The queen’s extravagant spending habits caused her to be nicknamed “Madame Deficit”.
Following the French Revolution, she was convicted of treason and guillotined in the French capital on 16 October 1793.
A fragment of a patterned silk dress she owned before her arrest was also included in the 80 lots auctioned on Wednesday, a day after the anniversary of her death.
“We are humbled to have the opportunity to call ourselves the parents of this beautiful soul and I am forever grateful to God for allowing me to know this kind of boundless, immaculate love.
“Thanks to those of you who wish to send your positive energy and well wishes. May God bless you and your families abundantly.”
Megan Fox confirmed she was pregnant in June when she debuted her growing stomach while on holiday in Hawaii with her husband – following weeks of speculation.
The actress then told Cosmopolitan she’s “always been maternal” and was looking forward to growing her family with Brian Austin Green.
Fox told the women’s magazine she wants “at least two, probably three kids”.
The baby comes over two years after Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green wed in June 2010.
The actor also has a ten-year-old son, Kassius, from a previous relationship with Vanessa Marcil.
Megan Fox spoke about the joys of being a stepmother.
“A lot of things make me happy. But I feel unbelievably happy when my stepson tells me I’m beautiful,” she said.
“When I started living with Brian, his son was only two and I was 18.
“I’ve been looking after Kassius since he was three – it’s part of my world that very few people really ever understood about me,” she explained.
She added: “I love being a stepmom and the experience grounds me when nothing makes sense in my life.”
Alfonso Ribeiro and Angela Unkrich were married Saturday at the Lakeside Golf Club in Burbank, California.
And now Alfonso Ribeiro, 41, and AngelaUnkrich, 31, are sharing their wedding photos exclusively in the new issue of In Touch, currently on newstands.
Alfonso Ribeiro wore a black tuxedo, white waistcoat and white tie and there was a white rose in his lapel.
Angela Unkrich was a vision of loveliness in a strapless Rivini gown, white veil and Judith Ripka Brides jewels, and as she walked down the aisle she carried a bouquet of white roses.
“I had a permanent smile on my face the whole night,” Alfonso Ribeiro told In Touch.
The morning after the big day, Alfonso Ribeiro tweeted: “Last night I got married to the most incredible woman in the world.”
Alfonso Ribeiro and Angela Unkrich were married Saturday at the Lakeside Golf Club in Burbank
Alfonso Ribeiro’s career started on TV’s Silver Spoons but he is perhaps best known for his role as Will Smith’s spoiled but lovable cousin Carlton Banks on the ’90s hit The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
The ceremony was attended by 175 guests that included friends like singer Joey Fatone, Alfonso Ribeiro’s Silver Spoons co-star Ricky Schroder and Fresh Prince’s Tatyana Ali.
“It was just beautiful,” said Alfonso Ribeiro, who has worked as a director and now hosts the game show Catch 21.
On Twitter, Alfonso Ribeiro added: “Just want to say thank you to my wonderful wedding planner @MikieRusso for helping make our wedding day so special and beautiful…THANK U!”
This is the second marriage for Alfonso Ribeiro, who was has a 9-year-old daughter Sienna with his ex-wife Robin Stapler.
Sweden’s National Food Agency has issued a warning after as much as 20 tons of meat labeled as beef turned out to be colored pork.
An investigator at the agency, Pontus Elvingson, said tests were still being done to identify the dye.
The Swedish firm Heat AB imported the meat from a supplier in Hungary called Filetto. One of the suspect batches originated in Argentina.
Checks show that the dyed meat was first sold in Sweden a year ago.
It is not yet clear if Filetto also exported doctored pork to other countries. The Swedish agency has alerted EU authorities.
Pontus Elvingson said the fake beef had been sold to several Swedish retail outlets, including restaurants. So far about 3.5 tons has been removed from sale.
“There is no indication that Heat AB sent any of the meat abroad,” he said.
Heat AB was not registered as a food company, he added.
In Sweden, he said, “it’s difficult to tell how much [doctored meat] there is and we don’t know if it has all been sold”.
“The pigmentation of beef is different – this meat is red, but seems not so well dyed in parts, so maybe it was injected with needles,” he said.
If needles were used to inject the dye then bacteria could have been transferred from the meat’s surface to the interior, increasing the risk of food poisoning, he added.
The agency was tipped off by Swedish wholesaler Svensk Cater, following a complaint from a customer.
Heat AB’s Managing Director Ake Hultberg told Reuters news agency that the meat he had tried was good.
“When we received the product, I looked at it, I opened a box and took a sample which I myself fried and looked at it.”
“And there was no problem with it but when it later came to Svensk Cater, there were fillets that were not beef but pork,” he said, insisting that parts of the delivery were real beef.
Jakub Halik, a Czech father of one who survived for more than six months without a real heart, has died at the age of 37.
Jakub Halik had his heart replaced with two mechanical pumps in pioneering surgery last April after an aggressive cancerous tumor was found.
Doctors say his death was caused by liver failure, and not the artificial heart itself.
Jakub Halik, a former firefighter, was waiting on the transplant list for a suitable donor when he died.
Despite not having a pulse and always having to carry a battery pack to power his mechanical heart, Jakub Halik was able to walk around and even use the hospital gym.
He was not able to accept a donor heart earlier because the cancer meant he would not be able to take the drugs he would need for a successful organ transplant.
The radical surgery had only ever been tried on one other patient, a man in Texas, who survived for just a week.
Jakub Halik had his heart replaced with two mechanical pumps in pioneering surgery last April after an aggressive cancerous tumor was found
Jakub Halik’s operation was carried out by Jan Pirk, director of cardiology at the Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine in Prague.
His team used two plastic pumps, each designed to perform the separate tasks of the left and right sides of the heart.
Speaking at a press conference in August more than four months after the surgery, Jakub Halik said he felt “very good physically”, and said he had made the right choice to proceed with the operation.
“It was hard for me but I didn’t have any other chance at all,” he told reporters.
“It was acknowledged that with the tumor I can survive for about one year and I decided to fight and do it this way.”
He said the experience of living without a heart had not been difficult.
“I don’t even realize it, because the functions of the body are the same, only my heart is not beating and I have no pulse anymore,” Jakub Halik said.
“Otherwise I am functioning like a healthy man at present.”
Doctors said it is unclear how Jakub Halik’s liver failed. They are awaiting the outcome of a post-mortem examination.
The CDC has published a list of clinics that received shipments of Methylprednisolone Acetate, which was recalled on 26 September.
Find here the full list of healthcare facilities that received three recalled lots of Methylprednisolone Acetate (PF) from New England Compounding Center on September 26, 2012.
Investigators in the US have raided the premises of Massachusetts pharmaceutical company New England Compounding Center (NECC) linked to fungal meningitis outbreak.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raised concerns about sterility and cleanliness at the NECC.
So far 16 people have died from a rare fungal form of meningitis, apparently after using contaminated drugs.
More than 200 people in 15 US states have been affected.
Steroids and heart drugs produced by the Boston-based NECC are under investigation and the FDA has warned doctors not to prescribe any of the company’s products.
Meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms include severe headache, nausea and fever as well as slurred speech and difficulty walking.
Fungal meningitis is not contagious, according to US health officials.
Criminal investigators from the FDA searched the NECC premises on Tuesday as part of a broad state and federal investigation into the deadly outbreak.
Paul Cirel, a lawyer for the pharmaceutical company, told Associated Press that it was “difficult to understand the purpose” of the FDA search. He said the company has made clear it would provide, and has provided, anything requested by investigators.
They have been several calls by US congressmen for a full-scale criminal investigation into the NECC’s practices.
The outbreak has raised questions about the practice of drug compounding, where pharmacies prepare specialized doses of medication. Compounding is not regulated by the FDA, which generally oversees drug makers.
NECC has suspended operations and recalled the steroid injection initially linked with the outbreak, methylprednisolone.
The FDA says it is looking into reports of a patient with possible meningitis who received an injection of triamcinolone, a different steroid, from NECC.
Two transplant patients also developed a fungal infection after receiving an unnamed heart drug made by the firm.
The FDA has not confirmed that these three infections were caused by NECC products, and has said that it is very possible that the heart patients were infected by another source.
On Monday, the drug regulator expanded its recommendation for doctors to warn anyone who received any injection made by the company, including drugs used in eye surgery.
Last week, health officials said 12,000 of the roughly 14,000 people in 23 states who received the steroid shots had been contacted.
The CDC has published a list of clinics that received shipments of the drug, which was recalled on 26 September.
Drug compounding:
• Drug compounding is used to make unique drugs for individual patients when there are no existing licensed treatments
• It is common practice around the world to make medicines for rarer conditions and children, for example
• Individual pharmacists or specialist drug companies combine, mix, or alter ingredients to create medications to meet these specific needs
• In the US, compounded drugs are not approved by the regulator the FDA, which means their safety and efficacy are unverified
• Poor practices on the part of drug compounders can result in contamination or in products that don’t possess the strength, quality and purity required
