Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky has reportedly been meeting with a number of major publishers – who were all asked to sign nondisclosure agreements before seeing her.
An insider familiar with the project said: “I’m sure every major publisher was interested in hearing what she had to say.”
It is unclear who the frontrunners are, according to the New York Post.
Monica Lewinsky moved to England in 2005 where she earned her master’s degree in social psychology.
She then worked as a news correspondent for the UK’s Channel Five News.
Monica Lewinsky may be poised to write a tell-all book
Monica Lewinsky, 39, has given a number of interviews since the 1998 Bill Clinton scandal erupted but has generally kept under the radar.
Her friends have previously said she is not interested in capitalizing off the scandal, though if these rumors are true, this appears to have changed.
Monica Lewinsky has her own business designing purses, The Real Monica Inc.
Her rep said yesterday: “I cannot comment on anything at this point.”
Though it has been 14 years since it emerged that Bill Clinton had nine separate sexual encounters with his intern at the time, her presence still looms in the life of Clinton post-presidency and in that of his wife Hillary.
In what was an unfortunate and awkward schedule at the DNC in Charlotte last week, Monica Lewinsky’s former rabbi – who publicly condemned Bill Clinton during the sex scandal – gave the benediction minutes after the former President took the stage.
ABC News reported that the awkward pairing was likely overlooked by organizers because Rabbi David Wolpe is such a well-known figure in the Jewish community.
In July during a visit to Egypt as U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton was taunted by her husband’s affair by protesters as they chanted “Monica, Monica”.
Hillary Clinton was subjected to them whilst visiting the Egyptian port city of Alexandria to reopen the US Consulate.
Dustin Hoffman, rock band Led Zeppelin and talk show host David Letterman are to be honored by Washington’s Kennedy Center.
The performance hall will give all three surviving Led Zeppelin members – John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant – individual awards.
Blues musician Buddy Guy and Russian ballerina Natalia Makarova will also be recognized at the gala in December.
President Barack Obama will also host a White House reception for them.
“With their extraordinary talent, creativity and tenacity, the seven 2012 Kennedy Center honorees have contributed significantly to the cultural life of our nation and the world,” said chairman David Rubenstein.
The award is the highest honor awarded to those that have influenced American culture through the arts, with Meryl Streep, Barbra Streisand and Oprah Winfrey among past recipients.
Dustin Hoffman, Led Zeppelin and David Letterman are to be honored by Kennedy Center
Led Zeppelin will be celebrated for transforming the sound of rock and roll and influencing other artists with blues-infused hits such as Stairway to Heaven.
The band issued a joint statement saying America was the first place to embrace their music.
“We owe a large debt to the vitality and variety of the music of the American people,” they added.
David Rubenstein called two-time Oscar-winner Dustin Hoffman, 75, “one of the most versatile and iconoclastic actors” of any generation.
The star of such films such as Rain Man, The Graduate and Tootsie recently made his directing debut with Quartet, to be screened at the London Film Festival next month.
Dustin Hoffman said he may have found a new calling with the film, which stars Dame Maggie Smith as one of a group of ageing opera singers and musicians reunited at a retirement home.
He also revealed he was last in Washington for Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009, when it was very cold.
“Since I froze my [behind] off watching him be inaugurated, the least he could do is to shake my hand under the circumstances,” joked Dustin Hoffman.
Late night talk show host Letterman will be recognized as “one of the most influential personalities” on US TV.
The 65-year-old said it was a wonderful honor for his family, his co-workers and himself.
“I believe recognition at this prestigious level confirms my belief that there has been a mix-up,” he said in a statement.
“I am still grateful to be included.”
Chicago musician Buddy Guy, 76, has influenced many musicians over the past 50 years after pioneering the use of distortion and feedback with his electric guitar.
The “titan of the blues” said he did not know what he was doing at the time, but just wanted to turn up the sound so somebody could hear him when he was playing with the likes of BB King and Muddy Waters.
He said he was still pinching himself about his latest accolade.
“I’m hoping this will give the blues a lift,” he added.
Buddy Guy has already visited the White House this year, when he managed to persuade Barack
Protests against anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims made in the US are spreading across the Middle East and North Africa.
In Yemen, demonstrators briefly stormed the grounds of the US embassy in Sanaa and burnt the US flag, but were driven back by security forces.
In Egypt, 224 people were injured in protests, the health ministry said. Protests were also reported in Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia.
On Tuesday, US Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, was killed in Benghazi.
US officials say they are investigating whether the attack in Libya was planned, citing suspicions that a militant jihadist group may have co-ordinated the violence.
In Yemen, demonstrators briefly stormed the grounds of the US embassy in Sanaa and burnt the US flag
Libya’s new Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagur told the AFP news agency there had been a “big advance” in the investigation in Benghazi.
“Arrests have been made and more are under way as we speak,” he said but gave no details.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the film which gave rise to the protests as “disgusting” and “reprehensible”.
The US utterly rejected its contents and its message, she said, but the film was no excuse for violence.
Police in Sanaa shot in the air, but failed to prevent crowds from gaining access to the embassy compound and setting fire to vehicles.
Security force reinforcements used tear gas, water cannon and live fire to drive protesters back.
There were reports of injuries on both sides, although the Reuters news agency carried a statement from the embassy saying there were none.
Windows were smashed. A US flag was torn down and replaced with a black flag bearing the Muslim statement of faith, “There is no God but Allah”.
It was not immediately clear whether the embassy was occupied. There are reports that embassy staff has been moved to a safer location.
In Egypt, protests erupted for a third day outside the US embassy in Cairo, with some demonstrators demanding the expulsion of the ambassador.
Police fired tear gas at crowds throwing stones.
Islamist groups and others have called for a “million-man march” in Cairo on Friday.
The Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafist al-Nour party and non-religious groups including the “Ultra” fans of Zamalek football club have invited Muslims, Coptic Christians and all Egyptian citizens to join them.
Egypt’s President Mohammed Mursi appealed for calm, saying Egyptians “reject any kind of assault or insult” against the Prophet Muhammad.
“I condemn and oppose all who… insult our prophet. [But] it is our duty to protect our guests and visitors from abroad,” he said in a statement broadcast by state media.
“I call on everyone to take that into consideration, to not violate Egyptian law… to not assault embassies.”
US officials have described the Benghazi attack as complex and professional, and suggested the attackers may have used the film protest as a pretext for the attack.
Reuters quoted officials as saying there were suspicions that a militia known as the Ansar al-Sharia brigade was responsible, although the group has denied the claim.
The officials said there were also reports that al-Qaeda’s North Africa-based affiliate, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, may have been involved, the news agency reports.
The obscure film which has sparked anger was shot in the US and posted online earlier this year. Clips have since been shown on Arab TV stations.
It depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a womanizer and the bloodthirsty leader of a ragtag group of men who enjoy killing.
The exact origin of the movie and the internet clip, and the motivation behind its production, remains a mystery.
The most offensive comments regarding Muhammad appear to have been dubbed on later, says our correspondent.
Some of the actors involved have since condemned the film, and said they had no idea it was to be used as anti-Islam propaganda.
In other developments:
• Libya’s PM Mustafa Abu Shagur says there is “no justification” for the Benghazi attack and investigations are under way to find the “criminals” responsible
• Russia says it fears “chaos” in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia condemns both the film and the violence
• Iranians chanting anti-US and anti-Israel slogans stage a protest outside the Swiss embassy in the Iranian capital, Tehran, which represents US interests
• Afghan President Hamid Karzai has postponed a planned visit to Norway, fearing violence could erupt in his country
• There were small protests in Bangladesh and Iraq, in addition to Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia
• Security has been increased at US embassies and consulates around the world; US officials say a marine anti-terrorism team is being deployed to Libya and two destroyers to the Libyan coast as a precautionary measure
The US central bank has announced it will resume its policy of pumping more money into the economy via so-called quantitative easing.
The Federal Reserve said it will buy “additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40 billion per month”.
The central bank also said it could increase the size of its purchases if the economy does not improve.
The economy is a pivotal issue in this year’s US presidential election.
The US central bank has announced it will resume its policy of pumping more money into the economy via so-called quantitative easing
Interest rates in the US have been close to zero for several years now, and the Fed again kept them at below 0.25%.
“The committee is concerned that, without further policy accommodation, economic growth might not be strong enough to generate sustained improvement in labor market conditions,” said the Fed, led by chairman Ben Bernanke.
US stocks, which had been little changed, gained after the announcement. The benchmark Dow Jones average was 0.7% higher.
The US central bank has tried to support the economy by quantitative easing – buying $2.3 trillion in bonds in two rounds.
The Fed calls such measures “asset purchases”, where the central bank buys bonds to keep the long-term cost of borrowing down. The last round of asset purchases ended last year.
Mortgage-backed securities are debt backed by loans made to homeowners.
The unemployment rate in the US has been above 8% since January 2009, but the current 8.1% is down from the recent high of 10% in October 2009.
“To support continued progress toward maximum employment and price stability, the committee expects that a highly accommodative stance of monetary policy will remain appropriate for a considerable time after the economic recovery strengthens,” the Fed said.
The Fed also confirmed that its $267 billion programme to reduce long-term borrowing costs for firms and households would continue for the rest of the year.
In a move dubbed “Operation Twist”, the central bank buys longer-term bonds from retail lenders and swaps them for shorter-term bonds.
Adriana Lima has said she is “overjoyed” after giving birth to a baby girl today.
The 31-year-old Victoria’s Secret model and her husband Marko Jaric welcomed 7 lbs Sienna in New York at 1:00 p.m.
The baby is a second child for the couple, joining three-year-old Valentina.
Brazilian Adriana Lima tweeted: “Marko and I are overjoyed to welcome Sienna into our family, and Valentina is looking forward to becoming a big sister.”
Adriana Lima has said she is “overjoyed” after giving birth to a baby girl today
The model and former American basketball star Marko Jaric met in 2006 and wed in February 2009, with their first daughter born later that year.
That pregnancy saw the model develop preeclampsia and give birth prematurely, but she has had a less stressful experience second time round.
Adriana Lima has proclaimed motherhood to be the “best job in the world”.
“The best job in the world for me is being a mom,” she said.
“I never thought I could love so much. I always thought, does unconditional love exist? Now I know it does because I feel it.”
Adriana Lima – who is a devout Roman Catholic – admitted she knew she wanted to settle down with Marko Jaric and have children when they first met.
She said: “I knew he was the one and I could see myself married to him and with a big family.”
But as well as bonding with her daughter, Adriana Lima will soon be back on the catwalk if she is anything like her fellow angels Alessandra Ambrosio and Miranda Kerr.
A court in Zimbabwe has thrown out a bid by Locadia Tembo to block Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s wedding on Saturday to his fiancée, Elizabeth Macheka.
Locadia Tembo had argued that the wedding could not take place because she was Morgan Tsvangirai’s wife under customary law.
But High Court Judge Antonia Guvava ruled such marriages were not valid.
President Robert Mugabe, who is in a fractious coalition with Morgan Tsvangirai, is due to attend the wedding.
The wedding is expected to take place in an upmarket area north of the capital, Harare.
Robert Mugabe is billed to host a post-wedding banquet for other heads of state who will be there, he says.
Locadia Tembo had argued that Morgan Tsvangirai’s wedding could not take place because she was his wife under customary law
Morgan Tsvangirai, 59, and Robert Mugabe – the leaders of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Zanu-PF respectively – are expected to run against each other in presidential elections, due next year.
The case brought by Locadia Tembo, a 39-year-old commodity trader and sister of an MP from Zanu-PF, was heard in chambers in the High Court in Harare.
The judge ruled that marriages under customary law were not valid, expect for certain purposes such as the distribution of matrimonial property.
He also said the case should have been dealt with by a marriage officer at a magistrate’s court.
Locadia Tembo’s lawyer, Everson Samkange, said he would now lodge a further objection to the marriage with the magistrate’s court, which could lead to a commission of inquiry if the case goes ahead.
But Morgan Tsvangirai’s lawyer, Innocent Chagonda, said he welcomed the fact that “legal impediments” had been removed ahead of the wedding.
“There was no basis upon which [Locadia Tembo] could have interdicted the prime minister from getting married,” he said.
“An unregistered customary law marriage is not a valid marriage at all. It is valid for only certain purposes which have nothing to do with what we have been talking about.”
Locadia Tembo, a businesswoman, has been demanding $15,000 a month in maintenance expenses from the prime minister.
Morgan Tsvangirai’s 35-year-old bride is the daughter of Zanu-PF loyalist and former Chitungwiza mayor, Joseph Macheka.
In November, reports said that Locadia Tembo and Morgan Tsvangirai held a traditional wedding and Tsvangirai had paid a bride price of several hundred thousand dollars.
Shortly thereafter, Morgan Tsvangirai said their relationship had been “irretrievably damaged” after it was “hijacked” by his opponents, including state security agents.
Morgan Tsvangirai’s first wife, Susan, died in a car crash soon after he became prime minister in 2009.
Nintendo has revealed it will launch two versions of its Wii U console in Japan on December 8th.
The basic edition will cost 26,250 yen ($337) and a premium version 31,500 yen ($405).
Details of the international release will be discussed in New York later.
Nintendo’s stock has fallen 29% since March on fears casual gamers will instead opt for tablet computers while hardcore players will wait for a new PlayStation or Xbox .
Nintendo has revealed it will launch two versions of its Wii U console in Japan on December 8th
The difference between the two versions of the Wii U is that the basic model features 8GB of storage, while the premium version has 32GB and additional stands for the games machine and its touchscreen controller.
Consumers wishing to buy an additional GamePad controller will have to pay 13,000 yen ($167).
The device features a touchscreen offering players to ability to carry out in-game tasks, such as checking their inventory or setting an explosive, while the main action continues on their television. Gamers can also continue to play a title using the device when they do not have access to their main screen.
Nintendo has claimed it would help “revolutionize” gaming.
However, the gadget has been criticized for lacking multitouch – the ability to recognize different fingers on a hand.
It also faces a challenge from both Sony and Microsoft who have introduced similar facilities for their existing consoles: the PlayStation 3 can be controlled by the firm’s Vita handheld, while the Xbox 360 can be connected to existing tablet computers via software called SmartGlass.
Nintendo’s president, Satoru Iwata, highlighted the fact that the Wii U would launch alongside New Super Mario Bros U – the first time a title in the series’ release date had coincided with a new console in 16 years.
Nintendo will host a press event with more details in New York at 10:00 local time.
Lizzie Velasquez has been ridiculed, stared at in the street and called “the world’s ugliest woman” by insensitive cyber bullies.
But, after years of misery and self doubt, Lizzie Velasquez says she can finally shrug off the hurtful comments about her looks as “just words”.
Lizzie Velasquez, from Austin, Texas, was born without adipose tissue – meaning she has no body fat and, despite eating up to 60 small meals a day, remains at a delicate 58 lbs.
The rare condition still baffles doctors and is thought to affect just two other people worldwide.
Lizzie Velazquez has now written a second book about her struggle to be accepted and hopes it will help others in a similar position.
In Be Beautiful, Be You, the 23-year-old college senior shares advice on being unique, how to make and keep good friends and how to deal with bullying and negativity.
Speaking to Dr. Drew Pinsky on Tuesday night about her experiences, Lizzie Velasquez said when cyber bullies first started attacking her online it was hard.
She told Dr. Drew: “I’m human… of course these things are going to hurt… (but) I’m not going to let those things define me.”
Lizzie Velasquez was born without adipose tissue, meaning she has no body fat and, despite eating up to 60 small meals a day, remains at a delicate 58 lbs
Eventually Lizzie Velasquez realized the people issuing the hurtful comments online were just cowards hiding behind a computer screen.
“At the end of the day, these are just words,” she told Dr. Drew.
“If they are so proud, then they should show their face.”
When asked how she deals with being constantly stared at in the street, Lizzie Velasquez said: “I’m starting to want to go up to these people and introduce myself or give them my card and say, <<Hi, I’m Lizzie – maybe you should stop staring and start learning>>.”
Lizzie Velasquez also revealed she does not have any desire to look like a beautiful celebrity.
She said: “I feel I’m really glad I don’t look like the celebrities out there who are beautiful, because there are a lot of stereotypes attached to that.
“People think <<she’s so pretty, she must be really dumb>>. Since I don’t look like that it’s better because people can get to know the real me.”
Lizzie Velasquez was born four weeks prematurely weighing just 2 lb 10 oz. Doctors found there was minimal amniotic fluid protecting her in the womb.
“They told us they had no idea how she could have survived,” her mother Rita Velasquez, 45, a church secretary, said.
“We had to buy dolls’ clothes from the toy store because baby clothes were too big.”
Doctors could not make a diagnosis so they prepared Lizzie Velasquez’s parents for the worst.
“They told us she would never be able to walk, talk or have a normal life,” said her mother, who has two other children with Lizzie’s father Lupe – both children are of average height and weight.
Despite the grim prognosis Lizzie Velasquez’s brain, bones and internal organs developed normally but she was always very small.
At the age of two she was still only 15 lbs – the same as the average five-month-old baby.
Born with two brown eyes, when Lizzie Velasquez was four the right began to cloud and change hue. Doctors then discovered she had gone blind in that eye.
“They still don’t know why it happened but now I have one blue and one brown eye.”
Lizzie Velasquez’s case has fascinated doctors all over the world and she is part of a genetic study run by Professor Abhimanyu Garg at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
Prof. Abhimanyu Garg and his team now believe Lizzie Velasquez may have a form of Neonatal Progeroid Syndrome (NPS), which causes accelerated ageing, fat loss from the face and body, and tissue degeneration. People with PRS often have triangular and prematurely aged faces with a pointy nose.
He said: “I am aware of a small number of people that have similar conditions to Lizzie but each case is slightly different.
“We cannot predict what will happen to Lizzie in the future, as the medical community are yet to document older people with NPS.
“However Lizzie is lucky to have healthy teeth, organs and bones so the outlook is good. We will continue to study her case and learn from her.”
Lizzie Velasquez doesn’t take medication but she relies on vitamin supplements and iron to stay healthy. It is thought she should be able to conceive naturally without passing the condition to her children.
In this week’s installment of reality TV show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, seven-year-old Alana Thompson, nicknamed Honey Boo Boo, tries her hand at making lemonade.
As a little girl of many talents, Honey Boo Boo is keen to show off her culinary skills in the kitchen and suggests whipping up the concoction to help contribute towards her pageant piggy bank.
Honey Boo Boo’s mother June Shannon explains that beauty pageants can cost thousands of dollars, from the glitzy dresses to the fake hair and teeth, and explains to her daughter that they can’t really afford such luxuries.
Famous for her bargain hunting ways, June Shannon explains to her daughter how much the family have to budget.
“We’re always trying to save money,” she says.
Honey Boo Boo makes lemonade to sell it and raise money for her bedazzled dresses and accessories
Ever the entrepreneur, Alana Thompson decides that her lemonade making will help pay for her bedazzled dresses and accessories.
“Honey Boo Boo had the idea of making a lemonade stand to save money for the pageants.
“Pageants a big investment. I raise four kids and I’m able to do pageants as I budget. Honestly, we budget and I try to save money any way I can,” said June Shannon.
Honey Boo Boo and her sisters build a stand and sell off the sugary sweet drink to bypassers.
Known for her love of sugary drinks, June Shannon was seen on Toddlers & Tiaras feeding Alana “Go Go Juice”, a mixture of Mountain Dew and Red Bull.
And this week’s episode is no different as June Shannon shares her secret sugary lemonade concoction recipe.
“The secret is a lot of sugar and a lot of lemon juice. The lemonade has got a good five pounds of sugar and like 2 gallons of lemon juice,” she said.
The network offered the family a spin-off series, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, an inside look into little Alana Thompson’s world.
Since premiering on August 8, the show has attracted millions of viewers and its August 29 installment attracted nearly 3 million viewers, eclipsing every network’s coverage of the Republican National Convention and Paul Ryan’s speech.
Each episode follows Alana Thompson and her unapologetically outrageous family.
Supermodel David Gandy is the new face of Marks and Spencer’s Collezione menswear range.
Posing in Lake Como, Italy, David Gandy looks every inch the Italian stallion in fluffy knits and sharp jackets from the Italian influenced autumn/winter collection.
Shot by renowned fashion photographer Arnaldo Anaya-Lucca, the images capture the understated and continental mood of the range in a series of filmic images.
Supermodel David Gandy is the new face of Marks and Spencer's Collezione menswear range
In one shot David Gandy is posing on a balcony and in another on the back of a speed boat.
The wrapped up look is a far cry from the snaps that made him famous when he bared all as the face of Dolce and Gabbana “Light and Blue” perfume in a tiny pair of white swimming trunks.
David Gandy is no stranger to posing for the high-street giant and he stunned in the shots for the spring/summer collection which was shot in Sicily.
He is currently dating model Sarah Ann Macklin who was revealed last week as the new face of fashion brand Missguided.co.uk.
The 5.9″ brunette was already a successful model with London agency Select when she bagged supermodel David Gandy, and the beautiful couple have been causing a stir on the social scene since confirming they were an item back in May.
Yemeni protesters angered by an anti-Islam film made in the US have stormed the grounds of the US embassy in the country’s capital Sanaa.
Police shot in the air in an attempt to hold back the crowds, but failed to prevent them gaining access to the compound and setting fire to vehicles.
A number of people were reported to have been injured.
On Tuesday, the US ambassador to Libya was killed in a fire started after the US consulate in Benghazi was stormed.
Security force reinforcements in Sanaa used tear gas, water cannon and live fire to drive back protesters.
They have now regained control of the Sanaa compound, but protests are continuing outside.
US embassy in Yemen’s capital Sanaa has been stormed by protesters angered by anti-Islam film
Earlier on Thursday, US officials said they were investigating whether the attack in Libya was planned, citing suspicions that a militant jihadist group may have co-ordinated the violence.
Three other US consul staff and several Libyans died in that attack, along with Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who is believed to have died from smoke inhalation.
There have also been clashes in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
On Wednesday, demonstrators in Cairo angry at the film – Innocence of Muslims – breached the walls of the US embassy and tore down the flag. Clashes continued in the early hours of Thursday morning.
President Mohammed Mursi has appealed for calm, saying Egyptians “reject any kind of assault or insult” against the Prophet Muhammad.
“I condemn and oppose all who… insult our prophet. [But] it is our duty to protect our guests and visitors from abroad,” he said in a statement broadcast by state media.
“I call on everyone to take that into consideration, to not violate Egyptian law… to not assault embassies.”
Security has been increased at US embassies and consulates around the world in response to the rising tensions.
US President Barack Obama has vowed to work with the Libyan authorities to bring those behind the Benghazi attack to justice.
When word got out that Kate Middleton’s mother, Carole, was following Dukan regime to slim for her daughter’s wedding, it swiftly became the hottest weight-loss plan of the year.
Dr. Pierre Dukan’s book shot to the top of the charts, becoming the best- selling diet book of all time.
Published in 50 countries and translated into 25 languages, it seemed everyone was part of the Dukan phenomenon.
But then the bubble burst. At the end of 2011, the British Dietetic Association (BDA) put Dukan at the top of its list of diets to avoid – slamming it as “ineffective and without scientific basis”. The BDA even claimed it was worse than alcorexia, when you restrict food intake to save calories for alcohol.
Woman’s Hour presenter Jenni Murray, who had been keeping a diary of her dramatic Dukan-inspired weight loss, admitted she’d regained all the 5 st she’d shed. Dieters lost faith, and Dr. Pierre Dukan’s loyal fans started to doubt the effectiveness of his high-protein, low-carb plan.
But now Dr. Pierre Dukan is back with a new venture: Dukanised holiday resorts. There is one in Morocco, another in Tunisia, a five-star one on Sardinia’s coast, and plans for one in Crete soon. The idea is you book yourself in for a week of pampering in the sun, let a chef and Dukan-trained staff monitor your food intake, then leave 5 lb to 10 lb lighter and ready to tackle the diet long-term.
Dr. Pierre Dukan’s book shot to the top of the charts, becoming the best- selling diet book of all time
On arrival on a weekend Dukan boot camp at Sardinian resort Valle dell’Erica, instead of a welcome cocktail and refreshing towel, you will be greeted with a medical check (there is another at the end of the stay). All Dukan holidaymakers are weighed, measured, have their blood pressure taken and go through a checklist of serious illnesses before sitting down with the resort’s enthusiastic Dukan liaison officers.
The Dukan diet is divided into four phases. First is the “attack” phase, which lasts two to five days, depending on how much weight you want to lose. It features unlimited meat, fish, eggs and fat-free dairy products.
Afterwards comes “cruise” – protein-only days alternated with days of unlimited vegetables and salad. When you reach your ideal weight, it’s “consolidation”, where you’re allowed treats – a little cheese, a piece of fruit, a glass of wine and two slices of wholemeal bread each day. This must be done for five days for every pound in weight you’ve lost, so a 10 lb loss means 50 days of consolidation.
Long-term dieters live in “stabilization” – basically healthy eating with a protein-only day once a week.
The boot camp isn’t cheap. Most people are new to Dukan and pay an eye-watering $2,900 for a week’s full board, supervision and programme of “slimming” spa treatments. And at the resort, non-dieters mingle with Dukan devotees (easily identifiable by their hungry look and slightly resentful demeanour).
The good thing is that you can take your partner and children on holiday with you if you want – and they can eat normally while you follow the programme.
In the room, the minibar is stripped of treats and filled with water, diet drinks and fat-free yogurt. At breakfast, Dukaneers choose from eggs, cold meats, oatbran crepes, pancakes and muffins. Lunch and dinner is a fish or meat starter, main course and rather fabulous looking dessert.
The portions are enormous (a definite Dukan bonus) and the food luxurious (for “shellfish” read oysters, clams and langoustine). If you survived as far as the cruise phase, where you’re allowed salad and vegetables, your only option was the non-dieters’ all-you-can-eat buffet.
Exercise is an important part of the Dukan deal, but it’s not brutal assault courses and 6:00 a.m. runs. A 20 to 30-minute walk each day is part of the weight-loss plan, but it’s a suggestion, not a demand.
A new research has found that a banner message on Facebook showing users’ friends who had voted drove a third of a million more voters to the poll booths.
Sixty-one million Facebook users in the US were shown the message, while 600,000 others simply saw a message imploring them to vote.
A report in Nature shows the message drove about 60,000 extra votes in the 2010 US Congressional elections.
But the message appearing on friends’ pages drove a further 282,000 votes.
The work was led by James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego, whose prior work has shown, among many other things, that the friends we choose may in part be down to genetics.
For the current work, he and his colleagues were interested in examining the oft-cited claim that online social networks influence offline decision-making – a claim that has until now been difficult to pin down.
A new research has found that a banner message on Facebook showing users' friends who had voted drove a third of a million more voters to the poll booths
“There’s been a lot of work in online social networks showing that app adoption can spread from person to person, and there’s been a lot of work in the real world showing that things like obesity and drinking and smoking can spread from person to person,” Prof. James Fowler said.
“But there hasn’t been any work that showed what happens online affects the real world.”
To look into that question, the team arranged for Facebook to post a non-partisan “social” message along the top of 61 million users’ pages, including a reminder that it was voting day, a clickable “I voted” button, a link to information about nearby polling places, and a list of up to six of the users’ friends who had already clicked the button.
About 600,000 users were shown an alternate, “informational” message, identical except for the absence of the friends data. A further 600,000 were shown no message at all.
The data on which users sought polling station data or clicked the “I voted” button could then be cross-correlated with publicly available data on who actually went to cast a vote.
The results showed to a high statistical significance that those who received the “social” message were more than 2% more likely to report having voted and 0.4% more likely to actually vote than those shown the “informational” message.
And users were 0.22% more likely to vote for each “close” friend – as measured by the degree of Facebook interaction – who received the message.
By correlating the findings with polling data and comparing with the “no-message” case, the team estimate that the message resulted in more than 340,000 extra votes being cast.
Prof. James Fowler conceded that the results represented a small fraction of the voting public, but that it was enough to sometimes make a large difference.
“I doubt it changed the outcome of the overall election, but it’s possible it had an impact on local elections,” he said.
“There are certainly circumstances in our history where a far smaller number of votes would have mattered: in 2000 in the US the presidential election was decided by just 537 votes in Florida.”
The findings are intriguing from a political point of view, but the study is also finally shedding light on the thorny problem of extracting these “peer influence” effects from the factors that drive the network’s formation in the first place.
What confounds that problem is what is called homophily – we tend to befriend people in real life or online with whom we share significant similarities.
“If we were just going to do an observational study where we just looked at the network to see whether or not people who voted tend to be connected to others who voted, we wouldn’t know if that was because they tended to become friends because they both like politics or if one friend influences another,” Prof. James Fowler said.
But the random selection of friends to show to users in the “social” message – some close friends, some only peripheral – should sidestep issues of homophily, he explained.
“The beauty of this experiment is that we can rule that out as an explanation for what we found,” he said.
And the scale of peer influence they found was notable.
“The <<friend>> vote is really critical,” he said.
“In this experiment we were able to show that if you just looked at the users and whether or not the message directly affected them you’d be missing the whole story; for every user that changed their behavior, there were four friends who changed their behavior.
“In other words, the network quadrupled the effect of the <<get out the vote>> message.”
The discovery of well-preserved woolly mammoth remains in eastern Siberia has raised distant hopes that the animal could be cloned.
A Russian-led team of international scientists found intact cells among remains including hair and bone marrow.
In theory, the animal – which died out between 10,000 and 4,000 years ago – could be recreated if living cells are discovered among the remains.
But one of the team members told Reuters news agency that was unlikely.
The remains were discovered in August, metres underground in the permafrost of the vast north-eastern Siberian province of Yakutia, reports said.
The discovery of well-preserved woolly mammoth remains in eastern Siberia has raised distant hopes that the animal could be cloned
“All we need for cloning is one living cell, which means it can reproduce autonomously. Then it will be no problem for us to multiply them to tens of thousands cells,” Semyon Grigoryev, a professor at North-East Federal University (NEFU), told Reuters.
Laboratory research is now said to be under way to determine whether there are living cells among the remains.
But Semyon Grigoryev admitted the chances were slim.
“We are counting on our region’s permafrost to have kept some cells alive. But it is unlikely,” said Semyon Grigoryev, explaining that the remains would need to have been kept at a stable temperature between -4C and -20C (25F and -4F) for cells to remain alive.
Scientists have attempted to clone mammoth remains several times, but without success. Not all believe it would be possible to do so.
Most mammoths are believed to have died out about 10,000 years ago, but small groups were thought to have lived on for several thousand years in Alaska and the Russian Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean.
Violent protests were sweeping across the Muslim world following the bloody attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya that led to the death of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, as U.S. officials say they are sending warships to the coast of the volatile country in an apparent terrorist hunt.
Two marines and a communications officer were also killed dead in the strike in the city of Benghazi.
Also on Wednesday, U.S. officials said one destroyer, the USS Laboon, moved to a position off the coast of Libya, and the USS McFaul is en route and should be stationed off the coast within days.
The officials say the ships, which carry Tomahawk missiles, do not have a specific mission. But they give commanders flexibility to respond to any mission ordered by the president.
The destroyers have crews totaling about 300. There have been four destroyers in the Mediterranean for some time. These moves will increase that to five.
Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss troop movements.
Palestinians burn a US flag during a protest against the movie, Innocence of Muslims, near the UN office in Gaza City
But as tensions rise outside Libya, the response to a film produced in the U.S. that depicts Prophet Mohammed is sending shockwaves through the Muslim world.
In Cairo, protests continued into early Thursday morning near Tahrir Square, the site of Egypt’s massive uprising last year.
With further street violence and demonstrations expected across the Middle East, Britain, the U.S. and their European allies stepped-up security at their embassies and consulates.
On Wednesday night, there were protests outside U.S. diplomatic buildings in countries including Tunisia, Sudan, Morocco and Egypt.
In Tunis, the Tunisian capital, police fired teargas and rubber bullets into the air to disperse a protest.
Around 200 protesters, many of whom had long beards, burned U.S. flags and chanted slogans such as “Obama, Obama, we are here for the triumph of Islam”.
It is believed that the attacks were part of a coordinated ambush by terrorists using a pro-Islam protest as cover.
The victims died during a rocket attack when an armed mob set fire to the consulate in Benghazi after joining a protest over a “blasphemous” film about the Prophet Mohammed.
It was also revealed on Wednesday that Ambassador Christopher Stevens and information technology specialist Sean Smith were killed during an attempt by U.S. forces to evacuate staff from a safe house, Libya’s Deputy Interior Minister Wanis Al-Sharif said.
U.S. consular staff was moved to the safe house after an attack on the consul building in the eastern city of Benghazi in which the ambassador was killed, minister Wanis Al-Sharif told a news conference.
A plane with U.S. security units arrived from Tripoli to evacuate other staff but militants discovered the location of the safe house, he said.
“It was supposed to be a secret place and we were surprised the armed groups knew about it. There was shooting,” he said.
Two American security personnel were killed in the shooting, Wanis Al-Sharif said. Two other people were killed and between 12 and 17 wounded.
It is believed a “small, vicious group” of attackers used the protest as a diversion, although questions remain over whether the killers drummed up support for the march or simply took advantage of it, an official told CNN.
While it is not known exactly who was responsible for the rampage, a London think tank with strong ties to Libya said Christopher Stevens, who is not believed to have been targeted, could have been the victim of a revenge attack by al Qaeda.
U.S. officials, describing their preliminary understanding of the incident, told Reuters that the attack began at roughly 10:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday, with Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith and one security officer trapped under fire in the burning consulate building.
“They became separated from each other due to the heavy dark smoke while they were trying to evacuate the burning building,” one senior official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The security officer made it outside, and returned with help to search for the missing U.S. diplomatic personnel.
The assault “came to avenge the death of Abu Yaya al-Libi, al Qaeda’s second in command killed a few months ago” in Pakistan, think tank Quilliam told CNN, noting the rocket-propelled grenade launchers used in the attack do not normally appear at peaceful protests.
British researchers say they have taken a huge step forward in treating deafness after stem cells were used to restore hearing in animals for the first time.
Hearing partially improved when nerves in the ear, which pass sounds into the brain, were rebuilt in gerbils – a UK study in the journal Nature reports.
Getting the same improvement in people would be a shift from being unable to hear traffic to hearing a conversation.
However, treating humans is still a distant prospect.
British researchers say they have taken a huge step forward in treating deafness after stem cells were used to restore hearing in animals for the first time
If you want to listen to the radio or have a chat with a friend your ear has to convert sound waves in the air into electrical signals which the brain will understand.
This happens deep inside the inner ear where vibrations move tiny hairs and this movement creates an electrical signal.
However, in about one in 10 people with profound hearing loss, nerve cells which should pick up the signal are damaged. It is like dropping the baton after the first leg of a relay race.
The aim of researchers at the University of Sheffield was to replace those baton-dropping nerve cells, called spiral ganglion neurons, with new ones.
They used stem cells from a human embryo, which are capable of becoming any other type of cell in the human body from nerve to skin, muscle to kidney.
A chemical soup was added to the stem cells that converted them into cells similar to the spiral ganglion neurons. These were then delicately injected into the inner ears of 18 deaf gerbils.
Over 10 weeks the gerbils’ hearing improved. On average 45% of their hearing range was restored by the end of the study.
Dr. Marcelo Rivolta said: “It would mean going from being so deaf that you wouldn’t be able to hear a lorry or truck in the street to the point where you would be able to hear a conversation.
“It is not a complete cure, they will not be able to hear a whisper, but they would certainly be able to maintain a conversation in a room.”
About a third of the gerbils responded really well to treatment with some regaining up to 90% of their hearing, while just under a third barely responded at all.
Gerbils were used as they are able to hear a similar range of sounds to people, unlike mice which hear higher-pitched sounds.
The researchers detected the improvement in hearing by measuring brainwaves. The gerbils were also tested for only 10 weeks. If this became a treatment in humans then the effect would need to be shown over a much longer term.
There are also questions around the safety and ethics of stem cell treatments which would need to be addressed.
Rihanna showed that even when she looks good on the outside she still struggles with her inner beauty as she ruined her smile with a gold grill.
Rihanna, 24, stepped out for dinner at her favorite restaurant sporting the mouth accessory as she rocked up to Giorgio Baldi for dinner with friends.
Her grill, which is a gold or bejeweled dental apparatus that sits over the teeth in the same way that a gum shield does, did nothing positive for her appearance.
Although they can be easily applied and removed as a temporary fashion accessory, they normally worn by men.
They are generally worn as a status symbol of wealth in the hip hop community and have been earning people street cred ever since the early 1980s when the blinged-out teeth became a full-blown hip-hop fashion statement.
Earlier this year Chris Brown joined rappers Kanye West, Nelly, Lil Wayne, and Lil Jon in the trend by proudly flashing his golden chompers to the dancing crowds at AV Nightclub in Hollywood.
Olympic swimming champion Ryan Lochte also wore a pair of grills after winning gold, which were customized to show the American flag.
Rihanna herself first started wearing the gold mouthpiece in 2011 when she filmed her music video for You Da One.
The singer may have found it rather difficult to eat her meal with the expensive piece of metal covering her teeth but thankfully she could have taken them out with ease.
The golden smile wasn’t the only thing on show by Rihanna as she also whipped out her legs for the low key dinner date.
Rihanna looked stunning in tiny black shorts, a black and white top and peep-toe boots covered with a sheer fabric.
But her face summed up her feelings at the end of a day spent remembering those tragically lost on 9/11 in 2001.
Earlier in the day, she tweeted a pic of New York City with the caption: “We’ll never forget this day! 9/11.”
Apple has now unveiled the iPhone 5 in San Francisco.
Apple CEO Tim Cook, talking on the stage in San Francisco and beamed live to London, announced: “We’ve got some really cool stuff to show you, it’s an extraordinary time at Apple.”
The latest version of the iconic smartphone comes with a four-inch screen, an eight-megapixel camera which can take 28-megapixel panoramic shots, and is the thinnest iPhone yet, at just 7.6 mm.
All of which comes, for the first time, in a package made entirely in glass and aluminium.
Apple confirmed iPhone 5, available in black and white, has a four-inch display, – 1136×640 – which is the same width as previous models but taller.
It uses a new display which is 30 per cent thinner that previous handsets.
Phil Schiller, vice president of marketing, said: “It is designed to fit in the hand, and all of our software is being updated to take advantage of this display.”
The handset also has a new chip, the Apple A6, which is twice as fast as previous versions but 22% smaller.
iPhone 5 is expected to be the biggest selling in Apple’s history, with an estimated 8 million set to be sold according to some estimates.
The battle for domination of the mobile market has become increasingly heated recently with Apple’s competitors taking it on with a series of new products.
iPhone 5 will cost the same price as the iPhone 4S, $199 to $399 depending on size
The firm boasted the new handset has eight hours of 3G talk time, and a 225 hour standby time.
It also has an eight megapixel camera with a 3264×2448 sensor, and has improved its performance in low light, and a lens made from sapphire crystal.
The handset also now has a panorama mode to create wide shots.
“The ocean looks bluer, kids look happier,” joked Phil Schiller.
Phil Schiller also confirmed the handset has a controversial new connector.
“The iPhone from its start used the 30 pin connector, and it has served us well. A lot has changed and it is time for the connector to evolve – and out new connector is called Lightning.”
Apple also showed off a connector allowing people to use their existing chargers and accessories.
The handset will use iOS 6, and dumps Google’s maps for Apple’s own.
“We’ve built in free turn by turn directions,” said Scott Forstall of Apple as he demonstrated the new Apple Maps app.
“We use a cinematic camera angle to fly you around corners.”
Apple also showed off a 3D flyover feature allowing people to virtually fly over an area, and showed off the software “flying” over Big Ben in London.
A new app called Passbook also allows people to collect store cards, tickets and other information in a single app.
It can be used to show boarding passes on planes and for entry to concerts and sports games that support the codes.
Users can also share photo albums easily, and Apple’s speech recognition software Siri has been updated to give people sports scores, and even book restaurants.
Facebook has also been integrated into the service, allowing people to update their status via speech.
The handset will cost the same price as the iPhone 4S, $199 to $399 depending on size.
It will begin shipping on September 21st in US, Canada and several other countries, and customers can pre-order from this Friday.
Moustafa Ismail, an Egyptian-born bodybuilder, has just had his 31 inch biceps crowned the biggest in the world.
Moustafa Ismail, 24, has spent ten years pumping iron twice a day and his upper arms now have the same circumference as a grown man’s waist.
But despite his cartoon proportions he hates spinach.
Instead “Big Mo” eats as much as 3 lbs of chicken, 1lbs of steak or fish and four cups of almonds washed down with two gallons of water and three litres of protein shakes.
The bodybuilder was so dedicated to bulking up his arms he moved his whole family to America to gain access to better workout equipment.
Moustafa Ismail, an Egyptian-born bodybuilder, has just had his 31 inch biceps crowned the biggest in the world
The muscle man said: “People always say you remind me of Popeye the sailor man.
“This makes me laugh as the truth is I don’t have any spinach in my diet – I can’t stand the stuff.
“Actually I think my arms are now bigger than the cartoon character.”
Moustafa Ismail, who lives with his wife Carolina, started bodybuilding ten years ago in a bid to keep fit.
But after hitting the gym he received hundreds of compliments on his bulging biceps and decided to concentrate all of his efforts on making them even bigger.
Five years ago, when he failed to win a place in the Egyptian bodybuilding team he swapped his home country for the USA.
He now trains at least twice a day and can lift an incredible 500 lbs.
The gym fanatic admits to taking protein shakes to help with his bodybuilding but puts his bulging body down to genetics – his father was an Egyptian wrestler.
He has a daily exercise regime of 5:00 a.m. until 8:00 a.m. during which he concentrates on cardio, strength-training and body sculpting, using heavy and light isolated weights.
When Moustafa Ismail is not pumping iron he’s pumping gas at the two petrol station he owns near his home in Massachusetts.
“Working out makes my mood better. You’re just focusing.
“And I like that in this type of sport you can see your improvement in your shape,” he says.
“I know they are growing, my chest, my shoulders, my arms. I love weights.”
Moustafa Ismail’s biceps have now been confirmed as a record and he will appear in the Guinness Book of World Records 2013, which is launched in London today.
BIG MO’S DAILY ROUTINE
A minimum of three hours of training, at least twice a day
• strength training
• body sculpting
• Weightlifting using heavy and light isolated weights
Anti-wrinkle cream ANEW Clinical Pro Line Eraser Treatment from Avon, said to be so effective it has convinced women not to have cosmetic surgery, has gone on sale in the U.S. this month.
During tests, ANEW Clinical Pro Line Eraser Treatment was said to have reduced the signs of ageing in just seven days.
Avon, which is selling the cream for $40, says it contains an ingredient that boosts production of collagen and elastin, which give skin its youthful plumpness and elasticity.
As we age, production of these proteins rapidly slows, leaving us to develop lines and wrinkles.
Avon says A-F33, the cream’s “miracle” ingredient, steps in to stop this slowdown.
Anti-wrinkle cream ANEW Clinical Pro Line Eraser Treatment from Avon is said to be so effective it has convinced women not to have cosmetic surgery
In tests, 69 women aged between 35 and 59 used the ANEW Clinical Pro Line Eraser Treatment cream twice a day for 11 weeks. All claimed their wrinkles had been reduced, with some improvements noticeable in a week.
Some even decided against cosmetic surgery after using it, the firm said.
Dermatologists used a 3D imaging camera to look at the skin’s response and claimed the cream had thickened the epidermis – the outer layer of the skin.
Another test on skin cells suggested they expressed more collagen and elastin after being treated with the cream.
Cheryl Karcher, a New York dermatologist and Avon consultant, told Plastic Surgery Practice that the product would be an ideal alternative to Botox or similar injectables.
“It is something to add to our armamentarium of injectables, lasers and acids and all that we could do in the office,” she said, likening the Avon product to those on the professional market.
“It is more of more of an adjunct to what dermatologists and aesthetic doctors offer,” she added.
A-F33, which stands for Amino Fill 33, is a modified protein discovered by scientists in Princeton, and licensed to Avon.
Anthony Gonzalez from Avon’s research and development department said the ingredient had the power to change the way women look after their skin.
“A-F33 is potentially as game changing in the fight against wrinkles as alpha hydroxyl acids (AHAs) and Retinol were in the 1990s,” he said.
Fans include British actress Anna Friel, 36, who said she noticed “an immediate difference to my skin which appeared smoother with a fabulous glow to it”.
The cream launched earlier this month, and is on sale on the Avon website or from the company’s famous Avon ladies.
This Friday sees the launch of the product in the UK, and thanks to buzz from the U.S., 60,000 are said to have already signed up for it on waiting lists.
British archaeologists searching for the grave of Richard III have said “strong circumstantial evidence” points to a skeleton being the lost king.
The English king died at the battle of Bosworth in 1485.
A dig under a council car park in Leicester has found remains with spinal abnormalities and a “cleaved-in skull” that suggest it could be Richard III.
The University of Leicester will now test the bones for DNA against descendants of Richard’s family.
Professor Lin Foxhall, head of the university’s School of Archaeology, said: “Archaeology almost never finds named individuals – this is absolutely extraordinary.
“Although we are far from certain yet, it is already astonishing.”
A dig under a council car park in Leicester has found remains with spinal abnormalities and a cleaved-in skull that suggest it could be Richard III
A university spokesperson said the evidence included signs of a peri-mortem (near-death) trauma to the skull and a barbed iron arrow head in the area of the spine.
Richard III is recorded by some sources as having been pulled from his horse and killed with a blow to the head.
The skeleton also showed severe scoliosis – a curvature of the spine.
Although not as pronounced as Shakespeare’s portrayal of the king as a hunchback, the condition would have given the adult male the appearance of having one shoulder higher than the other.
Philippe Langley, from the Richard III Society, said: “It is such a tumult of emotions, I am shell-shocked.
“I just feel happy and sad and excited all at the same time. It is very odd.”
As the defeated foe, Richard III was given a low-key burial in the Franciscan friary of Greyfriars.
This was demolished in the 1530s, but documents describing the burial site have survived.
The excavation, which began on 25 August, has uncovered the remains of the cloisters and chapter house, as well as the church.
Work focused on the choir area, in the centre of the church, where it was indicated Richard was interred.
The bones were lifted by archaeologists wearing forensic body suits in an effort to limit contamination by modern materials.
DNA will be extracted from the bones and tested against descendants of Richard’s family.
Dr. Turi King, who is leading the DNA analysis, said: “It is extremely exciting and slightly nerve-wracking.
“We have extracted teeth from the skull, so we have that and a femur, and we are optimistic we will get a good sample from those.”
The tests are expected to take about 12 weeks to complete.
If their identity is confirmed, Leicester Cathedral said it would work with the Royal Household, and with the Richard III Society, to ensure the remains were treated with dignity and respect and reburied with the appropriate rites and ceremonies of the church.
Work to record the finds are continuing and discussions about when to fill in the trenches are ongoing, officials said.
Kim Kardashian is openly admitting changing her style since she started dating Kanye West earlier this year, but she or her new stylist isn’t likely to win much praise for this unflattering outfit as she arrived at Los Angeles’s LAX airport.
Kim Kardashian, 31, wore a monochrome optical illusion dress, which failed to accentuate her figure’s attributes.
The shapeless dress swamped Kim Kardashian’s diminutive height and famous curves as she walked through the airport.
The reality star teamed the outfit with a pair of $1,695 black fold-over Givenchy boots, which she also owns in cream.
No doubt fans of Kim Kardashian will wonder if this outfit is suggestion by her rapper boyfriend, who was seen going through her wardrobe in a recent episode of the show.
Kim Kardashian wore a monochrome optical illusion dress, which failed to accentuate her figure's attributes
Kim Kardashian claims she is now dressing more “sophisticated” after hiring a new stylist introduced to her by Kanye West.
She said last week: “So I introduced my stylist into the mix so we can kind of collaborate on a more sophisticated look on something that I felt kind of reflects my own personality and the changes that I’ve had in my life.”
Kim Kardashian admitted she didn’t throw out her old clothes, but simply put them in a guest room.
She explained: “In regards to all the clothes, I definitely kept all the stash to the side for a couple of months to make sure that I liked the new stylist that he introduced me to. I put all my stuff in a guest room of mine for two months and once I didn’t really feel the need to take anything – I liked evolving, I liked growing up a little bit.”
As she prepared to board a flight to New York on Tuesday, Kim Kardashian also took to her Twitter account to announce that she is embarking on a three-month-long trip.
She wrote: “Packing for 3 months is so hard! But I did it and I’m off!!! I’m gonna miss you LA.”
While Kim Kardashian was keen to give her fans a teaser as to what they can expect, she wasn’t about to spill the beans on her travel plans.
When asked by a fan where she was heading, the star kept coy and responded: “Can’t say yet but it will be revealed during our season finale. But were soooo excited!!!”
However, Kim Kardashian earlier had used the micro-blogging site to say she is making a brief return to New York and was wrapped up warm when she arrived at the airport this evening.
Kim Kardashian was seen sporting a mod style in a monochrome wool dress with a pair of knee-high slouchy black boots.
The curvy brunette may have been jet-setting in recent days but her mother has enjoyed spending some time in New York where the youngest members of the brood, Kendall and Kylie, have been walking in fashion shows.
AEG Live, Michael Jackson’s former concert promoter, is withdrawing a $17.5 million insurance claim over the singer’s cancelled comeback gigs.
AEG had filed the claim against insurer Lloyd’s of London for its concert-related losses in 2009.
However, the insurance company sought to nullify the policy, saying AEG made false claims about Michael Jackson’s health.
A lawyer for AEG said the company dropped the claim because it had been reimbursed by the singer’s estate.
The move comes a week after the publication of leaked internal emails from the concert promoters which saw them voice concerns over the 50-year-old’s stability and health.
AEG Live, Michael Jackson's former concert promoter, is withdrawing a $17.5 million insurance claim over the singer's cancelled comeback gigs
In one email, sent the day the singer appeared in London to announce his This Is It shows, AEG chief executive Randy Phillips described the singer as “locked in his room drunk and despondent”.
The company’s lawyer Marvin Putnam said the decision to withdraw the insurance claim had “nothing to do with the recent leak”.
Lawyers said they suspected the emails were leaked from material shared between the two sides in a separate legal case between AEG and Jackson’s mother, Katherine.
Katherine Jackson has accused the promoters of pressuring the singer to carry on with the sold-out comeback shows despite indications he was too weak.
“We are standing by AEG’s lawyers comments that the withdrawal of the claim was not related to the leaked emails,” Paul Schriffer, a lawyer for Lloyd’s of London said.
“In exchange for AEG withdrawing its insurance claim, underwriters agreed to dismiss AEG from the case and to waive any costs recoverable from AEG.”
Michael Jackson died on 25 June, 2009 from an overdose of the anaesthetic propofol.
Last November his personal physician, Conrad Murray, was convicted of his involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to four years in jail.
Apple is in the final stages of purchasing a fingerprint security firm – meaning future iPhones are likely to have an extra layer of built-in security.
There are even suggestions that iPhone 5- due to be unveiled on Wednesday – will already have a fingerprint scanner built in, stopping anyone from reading your messages and data without your fingerprint authorization.
If AuthenTec agrees to the $365 million purchase by Apple on October 4, it will be one of the largest sums paid in a takeover by the tech giant.
Other than the purchase of a “flash memory” supplier last year, this is believed to be Apple’s biggest acquisition since the pre-iPod days of 1997, showing how serious Apple is about the technology.
Apple is also unveiling a new service called PassBook, which allows users to store shop coupons, loyalty cards and other items such as airport boarding passes, with the release of iOS6 – the sixth-generation of its iPhone software – this autumn.
Airlines in the U.S., such as United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Virgin Australia will all allow Apple users to store their documents on their phone, meaning a quick swipe will get you to the boarding gates.
Apple is in the final stages of purchasing a fingerprint security firm meaning future iPhones are likely to have an extra layer of built-in security
AuthentTec creates mobile phone security and, according to the merger documents, has already been developing 2D fingerprint sensors for Apple.
The technology could see a fingerprint scanner built behind the screen, requiring your thumbprint to unlock the phone, or it could be a sensor on the back of the device, across which you roll your thumb to allow access.
Technology writer Matt Brian, for the site My Next Web, said: “Will we see fingerprint technology in the new iPhone, or iPad? It seems almost certain.
“Details are scarce but [Apple’s] desire to use the technology and see it developed quickly leads us to speculate that we could see it in just a matter of weeks.”
If Apple comes with NFC, which allows contactless authorization or payments, it could make the iPhone a wallet-replacements, allowing secure payments for small orders.
The technology is similar to that seen on some bank cards.
However, not everyone agreed that the iPhone 5 will come with either finger-print scanners or NFC technology built-in.
Blogger Sonny Dickson, inspecting images of the insides of the iPhone 5, said the internals do not match the rumors.
Previous looks at the internals revealed a mysterious square that seemed an appropriate candidate for an NFC chip.
But Sonny Dickson said the square may simply hold the front-facing FaceTime camera, proximity sensor and a speaker.
He said: “The latest leaked pictures appear to show that there is indeed no NFC chip or fingerprint scanner included in what appears to be the complete front assembly.
“Apple may well be keeping these features under lock and key until their announcement on September 12th.”
He added that an NFC chip and a fingerprint scanner would make “perfect sense”, but added: “Looking at Apple and their incremental iPhone updates it may be too big an update in too short an amount of time.”
Either way, if NFC does not come to the iPhone this time round, it cannot be far away.
AuthenTec executive Art Stewart said recently: “The real sweet spot for today’s smart sensor is the NFC-enabled smartphone, where the smart sensor not only strengthens security but greatly increases the speed and convenience of mobile payment transactions.
“It accomplishes this by reducing multiple steps into one simple user action.”
If the technology does not appear on the iPhone 5, it is likely to appear on the mooted iPad 4 next spring, or in Apple’s annual refresh of the iPhone next autumn.
A form of virgin birth has been found in wild vertebrates for the first time.
US researchers caught pregnant females from two snake species and genetically analyzed the litters.
That proved the North American pit vipers reproduced without a male, a phenomenon called facultative parthenogenesis that has previously been found only in captive species.
Scientists say the findings could change our understanding of animal reproduction and vertebrate evolution.
It was thought to be extremely rare for a normally sexual species to reproduce asexually.
First identified in domestic chickens, such “virgin births” have been reported in recent years in a few snake, shark, lizard and bird species.
Crucially though, all such virgin births have occurred in captivity, to females kept away from males.
Virgin births in vertebrates in general have been viewed as “evolutionary novelties”, said Warren Booth, from the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma, US.
Professor Warren Booth is lead author of a paper published in the Royal Society’s Biological Letters that challenges this label.
He and his collaborators investigated virgin births in wild populations of two geographically separated and long-studied species of snake.
They captured pregnant copperhead and cottonmouth female pit-vipers from the field, where males were present.
The snakes gave birth, allowing the scientists to study the physical and genetic characteristics of the litters.
Of the 22 copperheads, the scientists found one female that must have had a virgin birth.
Another single virgin birth occurred within the 37 cottonmouth litters.
A form of virgin birth has been found in wild vertebrates for the first time
“I think the frequency is what really shocked us,” said Prof. Warren Booth.
“That’s between 2.5 and 5% of litters produced in these populations may be resulting from parthenogenesis.”
“That’s quite remarkable for something that has been considered an evolutionary novelty,” he said.
A virgin birth, or parthenogenesis, is when an egg grows and develops without being fertilized by sperm.
It results in offspring that only have their mother’s genetic material; no fatherly contribution is required.
This is not uncommon in invertebrates such as aphids, bees and ants.
It also happens in a few all-female species of lizard; geckos and whiptails for example. But here it occurs across a generation; all female reproduce asexually via a process called obligate parthenogenesis.
But asexual reproduction by a normally sexual vertebrate species is still rare, having been reported in under 0.1% of species.
It was only in the mid-1990s that virgin births began to be documented in captive snakes, followed by a captive giant lizard in 2006 and a captive shark in 2007.
To date this now includes around 10 species of snakes including a couple of boas, and a python, four species of shark, and several monitor lizards, including the endangered Komodo dragon.
Recently the zebra finch and Chinese painted quail were added to the list. All were kept in isolation in unnatural conditions and away from any males.
So to find asexual reproduction in two species of snake in the wild on their first attempt was “astounding”, according to Prof.Warren Booth and his collaborators.
Virgin births should no longer be viewed as “some rare curiosity outside the mainstream of evolution,” he said.
It remains unclear whether the female snakes actively select to reproduce this way, or whether the virgin births are triggered by some other factor, such as a virus or bacterial infection.
“Any answer is pure speculation at this point,” says Prof. Warren Booth.
In captivity, two sharks, and three snakes, have been shown to have had multiple virgin births, producing more than one litter via facultative parthenogenesis.
As yet, it also remains unclear whether the offspring of these wild virgin births can themselves go on to have normal, or virgin births of their own.
In captive snakes studied so far, offspring have so far not been proved viable, that is capable of surviving and reproducing.
However, earlier this year Prof. Warren Booth and colleagues reported that a checkered gartersnake that has had consecutive virgin births, appears to have produced viable male offspring.
Parthenogenicly born copperheads and cottonmouths are also currently being raised and “in the next two to three years we will know if they are indeed viable,” said Prof. Warren Booth.
“If they cannot survive and reproduce, then this is a reproductive dead-end.”
“However, if they are healthy and can reproduce, that opens an entirely new avenue for research,” he said.
Being able to switch from sexual to asexual reproduction could be advantageous; in the absence of males a female could still give birth and start a new, albeit inbred, population.
Her genes could still be passed on via her fertile male offspring.
Scientists believe that facultative parthenogenesis is more common in some lineages such as reptiles and sharks.
However it is unlikely that similar virgin births will be found among placental mammals, which include all the mammals aside from the platypus and echidnas.
That is because mammals require a process called genomic imprinting to reproduce, where a set of genes from one parent dominates over the other. The interaction between the two sets of parental genes is required for embryos to develop normally.
