Magnetic Lash created by Santhilea,which uses no airbrush trickery in their adverts, promises: what you see is what you get.
Magnetic Lash isn’t actually magnetic, but it works like this.
Magnetic Lash created by Santhilea,which uses no airbrush trickery in their adverts, promises: what you see is what you get
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The product is not available for a few weeks yet, but you can join a waiting list at santhilea.com.
New reports claim that Katie Holmes’s fears that daughter Suri was set to be inducted into a hardcore Scientology organization were the driving force behind the end of her marriage to Tom Cruise.
Katie Holmes, 33, was allegedly convinced husband Tom Cruise was planning to send Suri, 6, away to Sea Organisation – an association of Scientologists established in 1968 by L. Ron Hubbard, the science fiction writer and founder of Scientology.
Sea Org, as it is known, is where the highest levels of Scientology are taught and children as young as five can be sent to live there – without their parents.
The company has been often compared to a boot camp and several ex-Scientologists (including Oscar winner Paul Haggis) have been outspoken against its military-like conditions.
Initially created at sea, maritime customs and traditions persist today even in the land-based branches of the organization.
It claims to act as goodwill representatives and administrators of Scientology with the stated purpose to “get ethics in on the planet”. And a source told website TMZ that Tom Cruise is a big fan.
The website claims that Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise had been arguing over Suri’s indoctrination into Scientology – and it seems that for Katie talk of her six-year-old joining Sea Org was the final straw.
The huge Scientology boat The Freewinds that was the location of Tom Cruise’s infamous birthday party in 2004, is entirely staffed by Sea Org members and the highest levels of Scientology are taught on the ship.
According to the official Scientology website, members of Sea Org sign “a one-billion-year pledge to symbolize their eternal commitment to the religion and it is still signed by all members today”.
When Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise first got together in 2005, a prominent Scientologist who had been with the Sea Org since 1994 Jessica Rodriguez was transferred and became Katie’s assistant/Scientology chaperone.
Feshbach, in one of Katie Holmes’ first interviews after getting together with Tom Cruise, was described by a writer for W magazine as “cold-eyed” and “a third-wheel”.
Katie Holmes felt the only way to save Suri from being shipped off to Sea Org was to file for divorce and seek sole legal custody.
Tom Cruise’s devotion to the shadowy church of Scientology is set to come under scrutiny as, according to New York legal sources, his religious beliefs will be central in the divorce battle.
“There is no way her advisers will not be putting Scientology at the very core of this divorce,” says Mike Paul, a prominent New York crisis manager who counsels celebrities on how to handle high-profile court cases.
The heart of the divorce is nothing less than the battle for the soul of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ daughter Suri.
Katie Holmes's fears that daughter Suri was set to be inducted into a hardcore Scientology organization were the driving force behind the end of her marriage to Tom Cruise
“The only possible reason for Katie to push for this is that she fears for the emotional wellbeing of her daughter,” says Mike Paul.
“Suri is at an age where she will be becoming more and more involved with the church and Katie clearly wants to make the break before her daughter is dragged into Scientology.”
In fact, Suri is understood to have been enrolled in Scientology-based school programmes by her father, which is said to “terrify” Katie Holmes.
Tom Cruise’s desire to immerse his daughter in Scientology is believed to have brought about a culture clash of religions with Katie Holmes, who was raised a devout Roman Catholic.
Indeed, such is the actress’s concern over a backlash from the sect that she is convinced rogue elements from the church have been monitoring her movements.
On Tuesday, a worried Katie Holmes called police to the New York apartment where she is living with Suri after spotting two mysterious men in a black Mercedes SUV parked outside the door.
Katie Holmes, who looks strained and gaunt, was said to be convinced they were not members of the paparazzi who sell footage of her and her daughter to American celebrity websites, but Scientology operatives. Apparently, neither had a camera.
According to celebrity website TMZ, Katie Holmes also believes she has been followed when she leaves the apartment in the fashionable East Village district.
In addition to the Mercedes, a white Cadillac has also been spotted regularly outside the apartment.
Meanwhile, others who have quit the church of Scientology say it goes out of its way to discredit and intimidate former members.
Sam Domingo, 45, a British mother of three who was married to the son of opera star Placido Domingo, says her life was made hell when she split from her husband and left Scientology three years ago.
“They are ruthless and quite happy to wreck families,” says Sam Domingo, who joined the cult at 21.
“My former husband was told to disconnect from me – cut me out of his life completely – and to contact our children only through a lawyer.
“For married couples thinking of splitting up, they make you confess all the things you have done wrong to each other. It’s incredibly intense and personal. But when I left they made public the information they had got on me and my husband.”
Meanwhile, there is increasing evidence that far from disintegrating only recently, the Cruises’ marriage has been at best semi-detached for at least three years.
While Tom cruise has remained at the family’s home in Beverly Hills when he is not filming, Katie Holmes has spent much of her time since 2009 on the opposite side of America.
Katie Holmes has been buying up other apartments in the 11-storey Manhattan apartment block where Tom Cruise has owned a flat since 1985 to enable her to build a gym and quarters for her security staff.
Katie Holmes has also enrolled Suri in a Catholic school in the city and is said to have removed all of her belongings from their Los Angeles home.
This makes something of a mockery of the increasingly hollow protestations that all was well in the marriage – not to mention those awkward hand-holding pictures of the couple taken just two weeks ago in Iceland where Tom Cruise is filming the action movie Oblivion.
The fact she has chosen to remain in New York is significant, not least because its courts tend to order children to remain with one parent in custody disputes, while those in California favor joint custody.
But Katie Holmes’ supporters say she has also felt it necessary to distance herself – and, crucially, Suri – from Scientology and members of the Cruise clan who are as devoted as he is to its strange teachings.
Increasingly, Suri is reaching the age when children from Scientology families begin their indoctrination process, which involves “auditing” – being connected to a crude lie detector called an e-meter and having to tell your deepest and darkest secrets to sect staff.
One of the principle reasons behind the split, say Katie Holmes’s circle, has been her growing skepticism towards Scientology, which was founded by Fifties sci-fi writer L. Ron Hubbard, who taught his disciples that humans are descended from space aliens called Thetans.
The couple had a lavish Scientology wedding in Rome in November 2006 at which the church’s leader David Miscavige was Tom Cruise’s best man – he was even said to have accompanied the couple on honeymoon.
Six months earlier, Katie Holmes had given birth to Suri amid rumors she had gone through a “silent birth” (Scientologists insist mothers should not scream or shout out in pain during labor in order for babies to be born in a calm environment).
And for anyone who imagines such tales are merely colorful myths, Kelly Preston, the wife of fellow celebrity Scientologist John Travolta, publicly admits she went through a silent birth with their son Benjamin in 2010.
But within a year of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ wedding, which had received the blessing of the church’s hierarchy, the marriage was in trouble, with Katie having doubts about the sect’s all-consuming influence over her life.
In 2007, Katie Holmes stood up for herself and insisted on sacking her Scientology-hired “spiritual minder” Jessica Rodriguez, who was tasked with accompanying the actress 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and sitting in on interviews she gave about her marriage.
Even so, one former Scientologist, who was employed at its head- quarters in Clearwater, Florida, said that around the same time David Miscavige persuaded Katie Holmes to attend a Scientology boot camp at the organization’s Gold Base centre in Hemet, California, which is used for those having doubts about their faith.
At the 700-acre property, disciples are expected to exist on little food or sleep and detox by drinking vinegar mixed with calcium and magnesium.
They are also required to go through intense “auditing” sessions. The process is supposed to clear the mind of “engrams”, the Scientology term for painful experiences that block spiritual growth.
But throughout the marriage, Tom Cruise’s attempts to persuade his much younger wife to submit fully to the teachings of the church have met with resistance.
In 2008, two of the most influential figures in Tom Cruise’s circle, his mother Mary Lee and sister Cass – both devout Scientologists – mysteriously moved out of Cruise’s sprawling LA compound.
Tom Cruise put them up temporarily in an apartment at a Scientology-owned building on Hollywood Boulevard, which he largely funded through donations totalling millions of dollars.
At the time, Tom Cruise’s PR team insisted Katie Holmes had not thrown them out, but rumors were already rife that tensions with her in-laws had reached breaking point.
Likewise, reliable sources in the U.S. were privately speaking of tensions between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ Catholic mother Kathy and lawyer father Martin, from whom she is said to have sought advice over the divorce.
Increasingly, the salons of Beverly Hills and Bel Air have been full of talk of Tom Cruise’s controlling ways, which are said to have extended to authorizing acting roles for Katie Holmes – who found fame in the TV series Dawson’s Creek – as well as his insistence she should remain pale-skinned, like his second wife Nicole Kidman.
And the couple spent ever longer apart, though officially it was claimed she had begun spending time in Manhattan only for work after appearing in the Arthur Miller play All My Sons on Broadway in 2008.
Throughout, Tom Cruise – who is 50 tomorrow – has publicly done his best to paint an unlikely picture of domestic bliss. As recently as two weeks ago, he was gushing about how lucky he was to be married, speaking at a Friars Club awards ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria in New York.
Significantly, however, while Suri accompanied her father to the event on one of his infrequent trips to New York, Katie Holmes chose to be nearly 7,000 miles away on business in Beijing.
Tom Cruise had seen his career dip temporarily in the embarrassing wake of his “jumping on the couch” moment, when he excitedly hopped up and down on a TV sofa professing his love for Katie Holmes, his then girlfriend, while being interviewed by Oprah Winfrey in 2005.
But he has spent much of the last two years on location in such far-flung places as Dubai, Vancouver and Cadiz shooting the movies Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, and Knight And Day with Cameron Diaz.
Quietly, Tom Cruise’s family, particularly his sister Cass – who home-schooled Isabella, 19, and 17-year-old Connor, the children the actor adopted with Nicole Kidman – have begun, say U.S. sources, to exert a greater influence on the upbringing of Suri during the time she spends with her father.
Nicole Kidman has blamed their children’s induction into Scientology for her long-distance relationship with them following her divorce from Tom in 2001. Clearly Katie Holmes does not plan on suffering the same fate with Suri.
An indication that Katie Holmes is prepared to play hardball from the outset comes in the guise of the colorful Allan Mayefsky.
The 58-year-old Harvard graduate was one of the principle legal players in the messy divorce of model and actress Christie Brinkley and her husband Peter Cook, which has become notorious as one of the most bitter of Hollywood break-ups.
New York-based Allan Mayefsky is a shrewd operator who has a habit of airing the grievances of his clients in front of the media.
He is known for demanding an even split of proceeds in divorces and for winning $45 million for the wife of a Wall Street financier in a landmark case in 2003.
Katie Holmes’ legal team also includes Jonathan Wolfe, a partner in the relatively low-profile firm of Skoloff & Wolfe, based in unfashionable New Jersey.
Crucially, Jonathan Wolfe is an expert in what is euphemistically known in American legal circles as “business evaluation” (in plain English, that means he is a terrier when it comes to finding hidden money).
Already specialist forensic accountants, employed by one of the two legal firms she has engaged, are busy untangling the complex web of businesses and trusts that manage Tom Cruise’s estimated $280 million fortune.
They want to establish Tom Cruise’s exact wealth, which suggests Katie Holmes is not prepared to walk away with the relatively modest settlement of $16 million that has been widely quoted – $3 million for every year of their five-year marriage as stipulated in the couple’s 100-page pre-nuptial agreement.
A new law has come into force in France making it compulsory for drivers to carry a breathalyzer kit in their vehicles or risk an on-the-spot fine.
It is the latest move by the government aimed at bringing down the number of road deaths caused by alcohol.
All motorists must also have with them a high-visibility safety vest and a warning triangle.
Foreign drivers are included in the new rule, however there is a grace period until November.
Some 4,000 people are killed on French roads every year, with drink-driving being the main factor in accidents ahead even of speeding.
A new law has come into force in France making it compulsory for drivers to carry a breathalyzer kit in their vehicles or risk an on-the-spot fine
The French government hopes that with breathalyzers in every car, drivers who suspect they may be over the limit can test themselves and if necessary refrain from taking the wheel.
The former government of President Nicolas Sarkozy, which gave the go-ahead to the new law, said it hoped 500 lives might be saved every year.
Under the rules, which exclude mopeds, drivers who fail to produce a breathalyzer after 1 November will face a fine of 11 Euros.
The kits come in two types: expensive electronic ones which can be reused; and cheap chemical ones.
Tens of millions of the kits are going to have to be supplied, but right now there is a shortage, which is one reason for the four-month grace period.
The new rule is proving a bonanza for manufacturers, of which there are only two in France.
Meanwhile, drivers’ groups opposing the measure say it has been foisted on France by clever industry lobbying.
To enforce the regulations, French police say they plan to carry out random checks on those entering the country through the Channel Tunnel, as well as drivers arriving on ferries.
The drink-driving limit in France is 50 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of blood.
Viewers may soon be able to watch films on soap bubbles after researchers developed a technology to project images on a screen made of soap film.
An international team produced a display that uses ultrasonic sound waves to alter film’s properties and create either a flat or a 3D image.
The bubble mixture is more complex than the one sold in stores for children, but soap is still the main ingredient.
The team says the display is the world’s thinnest transparent screen.
“It is common knowledge that the surface of soap bubble is a micro membrane. It allows light to pass through and displays the color on its structure,” the lead researcher, Yoichi Ochiai from the University of Tokyo, wrote in his blog.
“We developed an ultra-thin and flexible BRDF [bidirectional reflectance distribution function, a four-dimensional function defining how light is reflected at an opaque surface] screen using the mixture of two colloidal liquids.”
Viewers may soon be able to watch films on soap bubbles after researchers developed a technology to project images on a screen made of soap film
Although traditional screens are opaque, the display created by Dr. Yoichi Ochiai and his colleagues Keisuke Toyoshima from the University of Tsukuba in Japan and Alexis Oyama from the Carnegie Mellon University in the US, varies in transparency and reflectance.
The team managed to control and exploit these properties by hitting the bubble’s membrane with ultrasonic sound waves, played through speakers.
Sonic waves alter the texture of a projected image, making it look smooth or rough.
Changing the wave’s frequency modifies the reflective property of the screen, meaning that the transparency of the projected image can also be changed.
“Our membrane screen can be controlled using ultrasonic vibrations. Membrane can change its transparency and surface states depending on the scales of ultrasonic waves,” wrote Dr. Yoichi Ochiai.
“The combination of the ultrasonic waves and ultra thin membranes makes more realistic, distinctive, and vivid imageries on screen.
“This system contributes to open up a new path for display engineering with sharp imageries, transparency, BRDF and flexibility.”
If several bubble screens are put together, viewers get a 3D effect and even a holographic projection.
The bubble is much harder to burst than a regular soap bubble, as the mixture contains special colloids – and objects can even pass through the film without popping it.
Previously, there have been attempts to develop untraditional displays – a computer screen out of water and a touchscreen out of ice.
Mike Lean, a Scottish nutritionist, has teamed up with an entrepreneur to produce what they claim are the first nutritionally balanced pizzas.
The pizzas are said to contain 30% of an adult’s guideline daily amount of vitamins and minerals.
They are also said to have a third of the recommended amount of calories, protein and carbohydrate.
The pizzas were created by Mike Lean, of Glasgow University, and businessman Donnie Maclean.
Prof. Mike Lean, of the university’s human nutrition department said the idea was born out of frustration.
He said: “If you go along to a supermarket or a restaurant and buy a meal, then somebody should have thought about it nutritionally.
“We’ve recently studied ready meals produced by the top five supermarkets in Scotland – common foods eaten in huge numbers – and they’re hopelessly unbalanced.
“They contain as much salt as you should have in a whole day or more. They contain as much saturated fat as you should have in a whole day or more. The nutrients we need every day are absent from these meals. Nobody has thought about it. So I got together with Donnie to try to do this.”
Nutritional pizza developed by Prof. Mike Lean and Donald McLean is said to contain 30 percent of an adult's guideline daily amount of vitamins and minerals
Donnie Maclean helped Prof. Mike Lean come up with unusual ways of incorporating more nutrients into a pizza.
He said: “I researched the market and found that seaweed was an interesting new ingredient being used in artisan bread.
“So we used that as a way of reducing the salt level. The sodium content of seaweed is about 3.5% compared to 40% in salt. There’s iodine in there, vitamin B12, all sorts of things. And the flavour is excellent as well.”
Red pepper is also mixed in with the tomato base to give the pizza extra vitamin C. As well as these nutrients, each pizza contains magnesium, potassium, folates and vitamin A.
“The way the guidelines are set out, you have 20% of your nutrients and calories from your breakfast, 30% from your lunch, 30% from your dinner, and an extra 20% for snacks,” said Donnie Maclean, the founder of Eat Balanced.
“We focused on pizza being a lunch or a dinner option. Each pizza gives a complete meal, with all the nutrients in it, for 30% of your day.”
A survey by Mintel suggested seven in 10 British adults eat pizza, with forecasters predicting the market will be worth £1 billion ($1.6 billion) by 2016.
“For a good number of years I have been trying to help people find easy ways to get a balanced diet,” said Prof. Mike Lean, who is also a consultant physician at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
“The easiest way to do that is to eat nutritionally balanced meals. Three of those a day and you’ve done it, but at the moment commercially prepared meals are not nutritionally balanced.”
One major British supermarket chain has already indicated it will stock the healthy pizzas, and Donald Maclean is in talks with other supermarkets and catering suppliers.
The pizzas will only be available frozen as tests revealed the nutrients were better preserved that way, and Prof. Mike Lean and Donald Maclean said they had to work hard to keep prices down.
“Our pizzas are more expensive than most of the frozen pizzas but on a par with the chilled pizzas,” said Donald Maclean.
“So it shouldn’t be a hard pill to swallow, or a hard pizza to eat.”
The pair now has other junk food classics in their sights.
They are already testing a recipe for a nutritionally balanced curry and, after that, they’re planning to tackle fish and chips.
A new research presented at a conference of fertility experts claims that 5 million “test tube babies” have now been born around the world.
Delegates hailed it as a “remarkable milestone” for fertility treatments.
The first test tube baby, Louise Brown, was born in the UK in July 1978. Her mother Leslie Brown died last month.
However, delegates at the conference in Turkey warned couples not to use fertility treatment as an “insurance policy” if they delayed parenthood.
The first test tube baby, Louise Brown, was born in the UK in July 1978
The International Committee for Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ICMART) presented its latest data on children born to infertile parents at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology conference.
It said official figures up to 2008, plus three years of estimates, put the total number of test tube babies born at five million.
ICMART chairman Dr. David Adamson said: “This technology has been highly successful in treating infertile patients. Millions of families with children have been created, thereby reducing the burden of infertility.
“The technology has improved greatly over the years to increase pregnancy rates.”
About 1.5 million cycles of IVF, and similar techniques, are performed every year, resulting in 350,000 babies, ICMART said.
Stuart Lavery, a consultant gynaecologist and director of IVF at Hammersmith Hospital, said: “IVF is now part of the mainstream, it is no longer something couples are ashamed of.”
However, he cautioned that the great success of assisted reproduction techniques should not lull people into thinking they could wait to have children.
“The subtext is that if people delay childbirth they may view IVF as an insurance policy that they can access at any stage.
“Unfortunately the facts still suggest that IVF success rates in women as they get older are not fantastic.”
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Mexico’s old ruling party, is set to return to power as early official results indicate its candidate Enrique Pena Nieto has won the presidential election.
Enrique Pena Nieto, 45, is on some 38%, several points ahead of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has not conceded.
Thousands of police were on duty for the vote, amid fears of intimidation from drug gangs.
Mexicans were also electing a new congress and some state governors.
Celebrations at the headquarters of the PRI started after the polls closed.
Enrique Pena Nieto declared: “We all won in this election. Mexico won.”
“This is just the start of the work we have before us.”
He thanked Mexican voters for giving the PRI a second chance, saying his administration would have a “new way of governing”.
The election campaign was dominated by the economy and the war on drugs.
“There will be no pact nor truce with organized crime,” Enrique Pena Nieto said.
Enrique Pena Nieto is on some 38 percent, several points ahead of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador
He had been presented as the new face of the PRI, a break with the party’s long and at times murky past that included links with drug gangs.
The party held on to power for 71 years until it was defeated in 2000.
Enrique Pena Nieto built his reputation on the “pledges” he set out for his governorship in Mexico state, focusing on public works and improvement of infrastructure.
Outoing President Felipe Calderon has congratulated Enrique Pena Nieto and promised to work with him during the transition to his inauguration in December.
“I sincerely hope for the smooth running of the next government for the benefit of all Mexicans,” Felipe Calderon said, in a televised address.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, running for the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) is in second place with about 31% of the vote.
The official quick count, published by the electoral authorities (IFE), is based on returns from a sample of around 7,500 polling stations across Mexico.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who was the runner-up in the 2006 election, has not conceded victory.
“The last word hasn’t been spoken yet,” he said.
“We simply do not have all the facts. We are lacking the legality of the electoral process.”
In 2006, he refused to recognize Felipe Calderon’s victory and led street protests for months afterwards.
Josefina Vazquez Mota, the candidate of the governing National Action Party (PAN) had already accepted defeat.
The initial results from IFE put her on some 26%.
Almost 80 million people were eligible to cast their ballots on Sunday.
Police and army were deployed to protect voters from intimidation by drug cartels at polling booths.
Officials said the voting was largely peaceful, but reported some initial problems as a number of stations opened later than planned.
With nearly half the Mexican population living in poverty, the economy was one of the main issues in the campaign.
Unemployment remains low at roughly 4.5%, but a huge divide remains between the rich and the poor.
Another issue dominating the campaign was the war on drugs, launched nearly six years ago by President Felipe Calderon, who is constitutionally barred from seeking re-election.
The main opposition candidates have been critical of Felipe Calderon’s policies.
They point out that more than 55,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence since 2006.
Mexicans were also electing 500 deputies, 128 senators, six state governors, the head of government in the Federal District (which includes Mexico City) and local governments.
Apple has agreed to pay $60 million to Chinese firm Proview to settle a dispute involving rights to the “iPad” name, a court in China has said.
Proview had claimed that it owned the rights to the iPad name in the Chinese market after registering it in 2000.
However, Apple had insisted that it had acquired the worldwide rights for the name in 2009.
A court in Guangdong had asked the two firms to try to reach a settlement.
“The iPad dispute resolution is ended,” the Guangdong High People’s Court said in a statement.
“Apple Inc. has transferred $60 million to the account of the Guangdong High Court as requested in the mediation letter.”
Apple has agreed to pay $60 million to Chinese firm Proview to settle a dispute involving rights to the "iPad" name
Apple had bought the global rights to the “iPad” from Proview’s Taiwanese affiliate for $55,000.
However, the Chinese firm had argued that its affiliate did not have the rights to sell the iPad name rights for China, which is one of the fastest-growing markets for Apple’s products.
The dispute between the two firms resulted in Apple’s iPads being pulled off the shelves in some parts of China.
Proview had even sought a ban on the sales of the product in Shanghai as part of the dispute, a move that was rejected by the courts.
After the court announced the settlement on Monday, Proview confirmed that the firm had agreed to the settlement.
“The case is settled, both sides are satisfied with the agreement,” said Ma Dongxiao, a lawyer from Shenzhen Grandall Law Firm, which is handling Proview’s case.
China is one of the biggest markets for Apple’s products and demand for its gadgets has been increasing steadily in the country.
However, it is starting to face increasing competition from rivals such as Samsung as they look to tap into the lucrative Chinese market.
Analysts said that one of the key reasons behind Apple agreeing to settle the naming dispute is that firm may not have wanted its sales in the country to be disrupted and as a result lose some of its market share to competitors.
“When Apple is on the receiving end of a litigation, especially in China, it is a sensible move for them to settle it and move on,” said Andrew Milroy of Frost & Sullivan.
“That would help minimize the disruption to the Apple juggernaut.”
The dispute between the two firms over the rights to “iPad” name was not limited to China.
Proview had also lodged a case against Apple in the US.
It had accused Apple of deceiving it into selling the rights to the name by setting up a company, IP Application Development Ltd (IPADL) in the UK.
It claimed that Apple said the trademark was “an abbreviation for the company name”.
However, that case was dismissed by the court earlier this year.
Analysts said that with the two firms agreeing to a settlement in China, it was unlikely that Proview would take any further action against Apple.
Scientists at CERN in Switzerland will announce that the elusive Higgs boson “God Particle” has been found at a press conference next week, according to new reports.
Five leading theoretical physicists have been invited to the event on Wednesday – sparking speculation that the particle has been discovered.
Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider are expected to say they are 99.99% certain it has been found – which is known as “four sigma” level.
Physicists first predicted that the Higgs Boson subatomic particle exists 48 years ago.
Peter Higgs, the Edinburgh University emeritus professor of physics that the particle is named after, is among those who have been called to the press conference in Switzerland.
Scientists at CERN in Switzerland will announce that the elusive Higgs boson “God Particle” has been found at a press conference next week
The management at CERN wants the two teams of scientists to reach the “five sigma” level of certainty with their results – so they are 99.99995% sure – such is the significance of the results.
The Higgs boson is regarded as the key to understanding the universe. Physicists say its job is to give the particles that make up atoms their mass.
Without this mass, these particles would zip though the cosmos at the speed of light, unable to bind together to form the atoms that make up everything in the universe, from planets to people.
The collider, housed in an 18-mile tunnel buried deep underground near the French-Swiss border, smashes beams of protons – sub-atomic particles – together at close to the speed of light, recreating the conditions that existed a fraction of a second after the Big Bang.
If the physicists’ theory is correct, a few Higgs bosons should be created in every trillion collisions, before rapidly decaying.
This decay would leave behind a “footprint” that would show up as a bump in their graphs.
However, despite 1,600 trillion collisions being created in the tunnel – there have been fewer than 300 potential Higgs particles.
Now it is thought that two separate teams of scientists, who run independent experiments in secret from each other, have both uncovered evidence of the particle.
However, the two groups, CMS and ATLAS, are expected to stop short of confirming its existence.
Marcus Agius, Barclays Bank chairman, has confirmed his resignation, as the bank promises a “root and branch review” following the inter-bank lending rate-fixing scandal.
In his statement, Marcus Agius said: “The buck stops with me.”
Last week Barclays was fined £290 million ($450 million) for attempting to manipulate the Libor inter-bank lending rate.
Barclays’ chief executive Bob Diamond will appear before MPs on the Treasury Committee on Wednesday.
Marcus Agius is due to answer their questions on Thursday.
Barclays said Marcus Agius would remain in his post until “an orderly succession is assured”.
Marcus Agius said last week’s events were evidence of “unacceptable standards of behavior within the bank”.
He said the findings had “dealt a devastating blow” to Barclays’ reputation.
Marcus Agius, Barclays Bank chairman, has confirmed his resignation, as the bank promises a "root and branch review" following the inter-bank lending rate-fixing scandal
As a result Barclays’ board has launched an audit of its business practices, which will be conducted by an independent body and report to the new deputy chairman, Sir Michael Rake.
The bank promised:
• a “root and branch review” of its “flawed” past practices
• a public report of the audit’s findings
• a new mandatory code of conduct for all staff
Barclays will establish a “zero tolerance policy” to anything that damages its reputation, the bank said in the statement.
Sir Michael Rake, BT chairman and senior independent director at Barclays, has been appointed deputy chairman at the bank. He is seen as a likely successor to Marcus Agius.
Sir John Sunderland, a non-executive director of Barclays, will begin the search for a new chairman from Monday.
Barclays was fined after the Financial Services Authority (FSA) found its traders had lied about the interest rate other banks were charging it for loans. Investigations are also under way at RBS, HSBC, Citigroup and UBS.
Giving a lower reading than the true rate would give the impression that Barclays was considered a better lending risk than it actually was.
Reporting a higher reading than the real rate could have inflated trading profits artificially, misleading investors and regulators.
Libor (London Inter Bank Offered Rate) is the rate at which banks in London lend money to each other.
Chief executive Bob Diamond said Marcus Agius’s decision “deserves all of our respect” and paid tribute to his six years as chairman: “He has been a thoughtful and supportive colleague to me in all of my roles – especially since I became chief executive last year.”
Bob Diamond also welcomed plans for an independent audit: “I am committed to ensuring that the recommendations from this review are implemented in full.”
He promised to “continue to build a culture that all of those with a stake in Barclays can be proud of”.
Spain wins Euro 2012 final after beating Italy with 4-0 and claiming a successive European crown to add to their 2010 World Cup triumph.
Vicente del Bosque’s side staged a compelling claim to be the greatest international side of all time as the Euro 2012 final was transformed into an exhibition with Italy – who performed creditably for long periods – passed brutally into submission.
David Silva’s header was reward for Spain’s early supremacy and new Barcelona recruit Jordi Alba doubled the lead just before half-time with a blistering run and finish.
The scoreline was emphatic at the conclusion but Italy performed with great resolve. Once they were reduced to 10 men after losing third substitute Thiago Motta to injury, however, they were ruthlessly exposed by masters of the passing art.
Fernando Torres emerged as a late substitute to make a powerful impact; steering home Spain’s third then setting up Chelsea team-mate Juan Mata to inflict the final wound on a bedraggled Italy.
Spain’s virtuoso performance was a decisive answer to a growing band of critics who had forced coach Vicente Del Bosque and his players to defend themselves against allegations that they had been “boring” throughout Euro 2012 at the pre-match media conference.
Spain wins Euro 2012 final after beating Italy with 4-0 and claiming a successive European crown to add to their 2010 World Cup triumph
And even Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, in a spectacularly ill-timed contribution, wrote that Spain “have betrayed their philosophy and turned it into something more negative”.
Every quality that has led to them dominating world football since they won Euro 2008 and the World Cup in South Africa two years later was brought to bear.
It was a heartbreaking night for Italy and coach Cesare Prandelli but there was no shame in being beaten by a team of such quality. They can reflect with satisfaction on their work before this chastening evening.
Spain, perhaps stung by the words of criticism aimed in their direction, started with a pace and tempo of passing that the Italians found impossible to live with.
The warning signs were posted for Italy when a long spell of possession ended with Xavi shooting just over – but it was not long before they were ahead.
Cesc Fabregas was employed in the so-called “False Nine” role as Del Bosque played without a conventional striker. The former Arsenal star proved the tactic is a positive force rather than a negative one.
He collected the masterly Andres Iniesta’s pass and outflanked Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini before delivering perfectly for Silva to head beyond keeper Gianluigi Buffon.
It was Chiellini’s final contribution as he swiftly succumbed to the thigh injury that has been troubling him in the later stages of the tournament and was replaced by Federico Balzaretti.
Italy’s response to Silva’s goal and the early Spanish onslaught was commendable as Antonio Cassano twice had shots saved by keeper Iker Casillas but a goal of brilliance in creation and execution made their task mountainous.
Alba demonstrated exactly why Barcelona were so keen to bring the graduate of their famous La Masia youth academy back to the Nou Camp from Valencia when he finished a blurring run on to Xavi’s perfect pass with a composed finish past Buffon.
Prandelli acted during the interval, sending on Antonio Di Natale for Cassano. Twice he almost got the goal that could have halted Spain, heading just over before bringing a fine save out of Casillas.
Italy’s third and final change came when Motta replaced Riccardo Montolivo but Italy’s luck was summed up when he suffered a hamstring injury within minutes and the Azzurri were reduced to 10 men.
Spain were now winning with something to spare and Del Bosque took the opportunity to remove the outstanding Fabregas and introduce Chelsea striker Torres for the closing stages.
It was an opportunity he took, adding the final flourishes by steering home Spain’s third and unselfishly setting up Mata’s finish to round off a spectacular performance.
Randy Blythe, singer with metal band Lamb of God has been arrested in Prague over the death of a fan at a gig in the Czech Republic two years ago.
It is understood that Randy Blythe, 44, was detained at Prague airport on Wednesday, forcing the band to cancel a live appearance the following night.
The 19-year-old fan died 14 days after allegedly being pushed from the stage by Randy Blythe at a gig in 2010.
It has been reported that the singer has now been released from custody.
Writing on the band’s Twitter account, Randy Blythe’s bandmate, guitarist Mark Morton said: “Finally HOME! 4/5 of us anyway… Thanx for all the support yall!”
Randy Blythe has been arrested in Prague over the death of a fan at a gig in the Czech Republic two years ago
Lamb of God’s record label are understood to be releasing a statement on Monday.
Randy Blythe’s arrest stems back to the death of a fan who attempted to climb on stage during a concert at Prague’s club Abaton on 24 May 2010.
According to reports, the fan had repeatedly tried to climb onto the stage before allegedly being pushed by Randy Blythe and hitting the concrete floor.
He died 14 days later of his injuries, said Czech TV station TV Nova.
A post-mortem examination reportedly found that he had not been drunk or under the influence of drugs.
Lamb of God formed in Virginia in 1990 and, in 2007, received a Grammy nomination for their album Sacrament.
Mexico has opened the polls in a presidential election dominated by the economy and war on drugs.
Ex-governor Enrique Pena Nieto – seen as the frontrunner – is attempting to win the presidency back for the PRI party that ruled for decades.
His main opponents are left-wing politician Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and Josefina Vazquez Mota from the ruling conservative PAN party.
Voters are also choosing a new congress and some state governors.
Nearly 80 million voters are eligible to cast their ballots.
Enrique Pena Nieto, the 45-year-old former governor of Mexico state, is seeking to bring back the presidency to the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party), which held on to power for 71 years until defeat in 2000.
“My priority will be to battle the poverty in our country at its roots,” he said during his final campaign rally.
But in recent weeks the gap between Enrique Pena Nieto and Andreas Manuel Lopez Obrador, a 58-year-old former Mexico City mayor, has been narrowing, opinion polls say.
Mexico has opened the polls in a presidential election dominated by the economy and war on drugs
Andreas Manuel Lopez Obrador, of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) has seen his campaign boosted by a student-led movement against the PRI.
The PRD candidate came close to winning the poll six years ago. He accused the governing party of fraud and vote-buying and led a month of street protests against the official result.
But he said things have changed: “In 2006 we lacked organization, now we are organized. 2012 is not 2006.”
The candidate of the ruling National Action Party (PAN) is 51-year-old Josefina Vazquez Mota, a businesswoman who has promised to tackle corruption.
With nearly one third of the Mexican population living in poverty, the economy has been one of the main issues in the campaign.
Unemployment remains low at roughly 4.5%, but a huge divide remains between the rich and the poor.
Another issue dominating the campaign is the war on drugs launched nearly six years ago by President Felipe Calderon, who is constitutionally barred from seeking re-election.
The main opposition candidates have been critical of Felipe Calderon’s policies.
They point out that more than 55,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence since 2006.
Mexicans are also electing 500 deputies, 128 senators, six state governors, the head of government in the Federal District and local governments.
Turkish army has scrambled six F-16 fighter jets near its border with Syria after Syrian helicopters came close to the border.
Six jets were sent to the area in response to three such incidents on Saturday, the statement said, adding that there was no violation of Turkish airspace.
Last month, Syrian forces shot down a Turkish jet in the border area.
The incident further strained already tense relations between former allies.
Turkey’s government has been outspoken in its condemnation of Syria’s response to the 16-month anti-government uprising, which has seen more than 30,000 Syrian refugees enter Turkey.
On Friday, Turkey said it had begun deploying rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns along the border in response to the downing of its F-4 Phantom jet on 22 June.
The move came after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Turkey had changed its rules of military engagement and would now treat any Syrian military approaching the border as a threat.
Turkish army has scrambled six F-16 fighter jets near its border with Syria after Syrian helicopters came close to the border
Syria said the Turkish F-4 was shot down by air defence fire inside its airspace. Turkey insists it was downed by a missile after briefly entering and the leaving Syrian airspace.
The plane crashed in the Mediterranean, off the coast of the southern province of Hatay. Its pilots are still missing.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke of Turkey’s “rage” at the incident and described Syria as a “clear and present threat”.
NATO condemned the attack and voiced strong support for Turkey, after Ankara invoked Article 4 of NATO’s founding treaty, which entitles any member state to ask for consultations if it believes its security is threatened.
Four of the six jets were scrambled on Saturday from the airbase of Incirlik in response to two occasions of Syrian helicopters flying close to Hatay province, Sunday’s army statement said.
Later, two more F-16s took off from a base near Batman, in southeastern Turkey, after Syrian helicopters were spotted close to the province of Mardin, it added.
The military said the helicopters flew as close as 6.5 km (4 miles) to the border, according to the AP news agency.
The border incident comes after the UN and Arab League envoy on Syria, Kofi Annan, warned of the danger of the Syria conflict spilling over into the wider region if the bloodshed is not stopped.
He was addressing an international meeting of major international and regional powers in Geneva on Saturday, aimed at reviving the six-point peace plan for Syria brokered by Kofi Annan.
The countries present at the Geneva talks reached an agreement calling for a ceasefire and a transitional government in Syria.
Western demands to exclude President Bashar al-Assad and his allies from the interim administration reportedly foundered on opposition from Russia.
Moscow sees Syria as its closest ally in the region, and rejects any attempt to impose a solution on Syria from the outside.
The Paris-based opposition Syrian National Council rejected the Geneva deal as too ambiguous, according to the AP news agency.
Violence has worsened in Syria recently despite the cease-fire mediated by Kofi Annan as part of his six-point plan earlier this year.
On Friday, government forces recaptured the Damascus suburb of Douma – an opposition stronghold – after 10 days of artillery bombardment. Activists described conditions in the town as “catastrophic”.
Activists estimate that as many as 15,800 have died since the uprising began early last year. Casualties figures are difficult to verify, as Syria does not allow foreign journalists to operate on its territory.
The conflict is seen as becoming increasingly militarized, with both rebels and government forces thought to be receiving arms supplies from abroad.
Cissy Houston is in Los Angeles to pay tribute to her late daughter, Whitney Houston, at today’s BET Awards.
Cissy Houston, 78, has reportedly switched hotels after she was booked at the Beverly Hilton Hotel- where her daughter died in February.
TMZ.com reports Cissy Houston plans to visit the room where the singer passed away – but plans to do so on her own time.
Cissy Houston is in town from her native New Jersey, reportedly to perform a tribute to her late daughter alongside other female singers at the July 1 ceremony.
Cissy Houston is in Los Angeles to pay tribute to her late daughter, Whitney Houston, at today's BET Awards
A source familiar with BET’s plans said earlier this month she will be joined by “a few top divas”, although the source could not give their names.
Cissy Houston’s performance undoubtedly comes at a time when the death of her daughter is still very fresh.
Whitney Houston died on February 11, at the age of 48.
She was found unresponsive in the bathtub of room 434 at the Beverly Hilton.
Authorities called her death an accidental drowning, complicated by heart disease and cocaine use.
TMZ reports Cissy Houston’s reservation has been moved to the Regent Beverly Wilshire to accommodate her wish not to sleep at the Hilton.
Meanwhile, it was revealed last month the matriarch has signed a deal with HarperCollins to tell the “unabridged and unbelievable story” of her Grammy Award-winning daughter.
The still untitled book is scheduled to come out next February.
The BET Awards will air live from The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
Kanye West, Beyonce and Jay-Z are the top nominees.
Alec Baldwin and Hilaria Thomas tied the knot in an opulent ceremony at one of New York’s most magnificent cathedrals.
Alec Baldwin, 54, and yoga instructor Hilaria Thomas, 28, said “I do”, Saturday afternoon.
The bride – who will now be known as Hilaria Baldwin – wore a silk magnolia trumpet Amsale gown with cap sleeves and a keyhole back neckline accented with crystal buttons.
The bridesmaids wore “eclectic miss-matched dresses, some in black, gray and turquoise, others in bold turquoise-and-purple tie-dyish prints”, according to E! online.
Amsale also dressed Hilaria Thomas’ mother and Alec Baldwin’s daughter Ireland.
Alec Baldwin had a tuxedo by Tom Ford, People magazine has reported.
Alec Baldwin and Hilaria Thomas tied the knot in an opulent ceremony at one of New York's most magnificent cathedrals
The Reverend George Deas is said to have performed the ceremony, reportedly conducted in English with readings in Spanish.
Guests at the nuptials in Manhattan’s Nolita district included Alec Baldwin’s 30 Rock co-star Tina Fey, his brothers Stephen and Billy Baldwin, Woody Allen and wife Soon-Yi, actress Mariska Hargitay, Robert Kennedy Jr. and Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels.
After the ceremony, guests were filtered to the campus of Hilaria’s alma mater, New York University, for a reception at the private school’s nearby Kimmel Center.
Earlier Hilaria tweeted: “Today is going to be a good day.”
According to E! Online the couple chose a white color scheme for the ceremony, highlighted in the selection of flowers that decorated the historic cathedral.
Florist De Juan Stroud placed “white hydrangeas, white roses and calla lilies around the church”.
The entertainment website also reports that white ribbons were tied to the pews and a tent was set up near the back entrance of the church.
Alec Baldwin, who is 26 years Hilaria’s senior, asked for her hand in April in Long Island, New York.
The two dated for almost a year before he proposed and they first appeared in public together at several bashes in New York in May 2011.
Alec Baldwinwas previously married to Ireland’s mother, Kim Basinger, but the pair divorced in acrimony in 2002 after nine years of marriage.
Spanish-born Hilaria Thomas has not been married before.
She grew up between Boston and Spain, studying dance and history at NYU before becoming a yoga instructor.
In recent months Alec Baldwin has been sporting a noticeably trimmer physique, perhaps in a bid to appear more youthful alongside his younger partner.
The actor is apparently planning a very laid back summer with his new bride.
Taking to Twitter again before the ceremony, he revealed the couple could be off to Kingston, Idaho for their honeymoon.
Accompanied by a scenic picture of the Coeur D’ Alene River, Alec Baldwin wrote: “I can’t wait to stand on these rocks at Albert’s Landing and leave this world behind…. for the Summer.”
Police in Lille, France, are hunting a gunman who shot dead two people and injured five at Theatro nightclub after being turned away.
He opened fired indiscriminately outside the Theatro club in the city centre at about 03:00 a.m..
A senior police official said a heavy-calibre gun, possibly a Kalashnikov rifle, had been used.
France recently tightened its laws on illegal firearms amid a worrying rise in the use of guns by criminals.
French media say the attacker had an accomplice waiting in a car and seemed to have taken the gun from the boot because he returned to the club shortly after being turned away.
Condemning the attack, French Interior Minister Manuel Valls promised police would do all in their power to apprehend the killer and bring him to justice.
Police in Lille, France, are hunting a gunman who shot dead two people and injured five at Theatro nightclub after being turned away
Police have named the suspected gunman as Faycal Mokhtari, 32, from the northern French town of Tourcoing.
A photo of the suspect, who has been investigated for robberies in the past, has been circulated.
“The bouncer who knew the man turned him back,” said Herve Malherbe, deputy police chief for the northern region.
Those killed were a female cloakroom attendant, 26, and a male customer, 25, local newspaper La Voix du Nord reports.
Five people, including a bouncer, were injured by bullets or bullet fragments, and four of them underwent surgery in hospital. None is in a life-threatening condition.
A further six people were treated for shock.
An AFP correspondent saw numerous bullet casings scattered across the street where the shooting took place.
One of the Theatro’s customers, named only as Jeremy, told the news agency that he had been on the dance floor when he heard a shot.
“At first I thought it was a firework,” he added.
“I went to the entrance to see what was happening and saw a person lying in a pool of blood.”
Another customer said he had mistaken the sound of the shooting for bottles being broken.
“It’s disgusting, this isn’t the Bronx,” he said.
The killer and his accomplice fled in their car, said to be a Golf or a Citroen C5.
France’s gun laws were tightened in March, with longer jail terms and bigger fines for illegal possession of fire-arms.
Dozens of shootings involving Kalashnikov rifles have been reported in recent years in France, and particularly the southern city of Marseille. Typically they have been gangland settlings of scores.
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have announced they are divorcing after five years of marriage.
Tom Cruise, 49, said he was “deeply saddened” that his younger wife, Katie Holmes, 33, had filed for a separation.
He revealed Katie Holmes had initiated the split, bringing a dramatic end to one of Hollywood’s most high-profile romances.
In a surprise move, Katie Holmes is understood to have filed for sole custody of the couple’s daughter Suri, six.
“This is a personal and private matter for Katie and her family,” Katie Holmes’s lawyer Jonathan Wolfe said in a statement to People magazine.
“Katie’s primary concern remains, as it always has been, her daughter’s best interest.”
A spokesperson for Tom Cruise, who is currently in Iceland filming his new sci-fi movie Oblivion, said: “Kate has filed for divorce and Tom is deeply saddened and is concentrating on his three children.”
The actress filed documents in New York this week citing “irreconcilable differences”.
Katie Holmes has asked for legal custody, primary residential custody and a “suitable amount” of child support from her husband, TMZ reports.
She is also asking for a division of property in the divorce documents, although there is a significant pre-nuptial agreement that is based on California law.
The couple is worth around $275 million – much of that owing to Tom Cruise’s box office success.
The terms of the pre-nup are understood to be clear – for each year the couple stay married, Katie Holmes collects $3million – to a maximum of $33 million after 11 years – as well as their palatial home in California.
If their marriage had lasted more than 11 years, Katie Holmes would have received half of Tom Cruise’s reportedly $250 million fortune.
After filing for divorce less than six years later, according to the agreement, Katie Holmes should only be entitled to $15 million as well as the couple’s $35 million Beverly Hills Mansion.
But with an estate worth upwards of $275 million, Katie Holmes is expected to seek much more and there is already intense speculation as to how much she will collect when the papers are signed.
Tom Cruise is believed to have “not seen” the divorce coming.
But sources insist that Katie Holmes did tell him that she was filing for divorce – but she didn’t give him a chance to control the spread of the news, as he did with Nicole Kidman.
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have announced they are divorcing after five years of marriage
The fact that she issued a solo statement speaks of some heat around the final extinguishing of the marriage.
The pair has not been seen together in public for almost three months – they were last pictured on April 5 while in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Katie Holmes failed to turn up to at any of the worldwide premieres of her husband’s latest film Rock of Ages, despite Tom Cruise’s constant protestations of love for his wife.
The final arguments seem to have been over where Tom Cruise was going to spend his 50th birthday on Tuesday. He told her that he was planning to be on the set of his latest film Oblivion, in Iceland, and that seems to have been the last straw.
Katie Holmes had frequently been pictured looking drawn and exhausted during her marriage. One Hollywood source said she had been “utterly miserable with Tom for months, if not years”.
Indeed, the row over his birthday followed another bust-up over what Katie Holmes felt were embarrassingly bad taste pictures of him on the cover of W magazine last month.
He was dressed – or rather undressed – as the rock star Stacee Jaxx, the character he plays in Rock of Ages. Two half-dressed blondes were wrapped around him, one licking his face.
Katie Holmes, a nice girl from Ohio who is nevertheless very aware of why Tom Cruise feels the need to play the macho card in public, was apparently “speechless” with disgust and felt the pictures laid both of them open to ridicule.
The marriage has been in such poor shape that for the past year they have led almost entirely separate lives.
Katie Holmes has chosen to stay with Suri in Tom Cruise’s New York apartment while he has travelled the world working.
Suri has been her constant and only companion. They are often out together until late, and Katie Holmes – who gave up all the threads of her old life to become Mrs. Tom Cruise – seems to have no other friends at all.
A shopping and sundries budget reputed to run at $125,000-a- month could only keep her amused for so long.
One Hollywood source said today: “It was an open secret that she was utterly miserable with Tom, and had been for months if not years. They really couldn’t drag out the pretence any longer.”
Another source added: “Katie spent her time avoiding him, and they rowed terribly.”
When Tom Cruise was filming Rock of Ages in Miami, Katie Holmes came along with Suri and they made a family holiday of it. But since then they have spent no more than a handful of nights under the same roof.
Katie Holmes, who used to have a poster of Tom Cruise on her bedroom wall, found that being married to an intense, workaholic, and deeply religious megastar was no picnic.
In pictures of her going about her daily business she looked completely worn out. Her brown hair was prematurely grey, she never wore make up. One shapeless cardigan was succeeded by another baggy jumper.
Those close to her said that she felt he wasn’t putting any effort into her or the marriage.
Her once promising film career – she had been the love interest in Batman Begins – had been stifled. Roles evaporated. She ended up trying to find work as a fashion designer, endorsing the line Holmes and Yang.
The bigger picture is that this is the end of the third of Tom Cruise’s marriages and a spectacular failure of his strategy to re-launch himself as a “regular guy”.
And if the union was supposed to cease gossip about Tom Cruise and his personal life, in particular rumors of his homosexuality – always denied – it failed utterly.
The couple’s 2006 Italian wedding was choreographed like a massive movie premiere, with more bodyguards than guests and the ultimate goal seemingly the fantastically romantic images which were released to the media of the A list star and his pretty bride.
This came in the wake of the president of Paramount Sumner Redstone complaining that women found the actor “creepy”.
When the romance began – Katie Holmes had met Tom Cruise to discuss the possibility of appearing in Mission Impossible III – she was immediately sent on an intensive and lengthy study course about Scientology, the religion founded by sci-fi author L. Ron Hubbard in 1954, which holds that humans are descended from an exiled race of aliens called Thetans.
She was “audited” by Scientology counselors, and unlike Penelope Cruz and Nicole Kidman before her, has totally embraced the movement.
Tom Cruise proposed on June 17, 2005 on the top of the Eiffel Tower following a famously embarrassing declaration of his love on Oprah Winfrey’s show, where he jumped up on the couch yelling: “I’m in love, I’m in love, I can’t be cool, I can’t be laid back.”
Despite earlier reports that there would be a Roman Catholic ceremony of some sort – Katie Holmes was born a Catholic – it was a Scientology wedding. What’s more it was conducted by David Miscavige, Tom Cruise’s best friend who is the head of the movement.
From the outset Katie Holmes struggled to ever settle in their Los Angeles mansion. Cass Mapother is a key figure here, Tom Cruise’s sister – and she and her three sons share the house with Tom and his two adopted children Connor, 17, and Isabella, 19. But Katie Holmes never felt that the massive mansion, stuffed with bodyguards, was her home. Everyone who came through the doors was a Scientologist.
His devotion to the religion meant that he was widely regarded as “weird”. Andrew Morton unauthorized biography repeated claims that Suri was thought by some to have been conceived using the frozen sperm of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. This suggestion infuriated Tom Cruise, friends describing it as “sick, offensive and very upsetting”.
Before they met, Katie Holmes was a natural beauty, and her physical decline in the five and a half years that followed is almost shockingly obvious.
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Bob Diamond, the boss of Barclays Bank, has insisted he will not resign after staff rigged the key lending rate between banks.
Bob Diamond was speaking at a meeting of analysts at US bank, Morgan Stanley.
And in a letter agreeing to give evidence to MPs, Bob Diamond condemned the inappropriate behavior of a “small number” of employees who had tried to make profits for their own benefit.
On Thursday, PM David Cameron said the bank’s management faced “serious questions” after it was fined £290m ($450 million).
Some MPs – including Tories Steve Baker and Nick De Bois – have suggested Bob Diamond should resign and former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown said his position was now “untenable”.
Meanwhile, Barclays and other banks face the threat of criminal investigation in the UK over the scandal.
Royal Bank of Scotland has said that it expects to reach a settlement in a few months. One report said the bank faced a fine of £150 million ($240 million) for market manipulation but RBS said it did not recognize that figure.
Bob Diamond, the boss of Barclays Bank, has insisted he will not resign after staff rigged the key lending rate between banks
In his open letter to Andrew Tyrie MP, the chairman of the Commons Treasury Committee, Bob Diamond pointed out that authorities found no evidence that knowledge of the manipulation, for which it has been fined $450 million, went any higher than “immediate desk supervisors”.
But he admitted that the bank’s control systems should have been much stronger.
He added: “When the trader conduct was first discovered by more senior management, steps were immediately taken to stop it, and it was reported to the authorities.”
Bob Diamond’s comments come after Prime Minister David Cameron said: “The whole management team [at Barclays] have got some serious questions to answer. Let them answer those questions first.
“Who was responsible? Who was going to take responsibility? How are they being held accountable?”
Labour leader Ed Miliband said those Barclays staff found to have committed the wrongdoing “should face the full force of the law”.
Bob Diamond also said that Barclays was now “completing a review of employee conduct for all those involved”, and that “all appropriate options will be pursued for those who have a case to answer, ranging from the clawback or withholding of remuneration to being asked to leave the bank”.
Barclays was fined $450 million on Wednesday by the UK and US authorities after an investigation into claims that several banks manipulated the Libor rate at which they lend to each other.
Investigators say that Barclays’ traders lied to make the bank look more secure during the financial crisis and, sometimes – working with traders at other banks – to make a profit.
Barclays had acknowledged that its actions between 2005 and 2009 had fallen “well short of standards”.
The scandal has hit Barclays shares, which ended Thursday trading down 15.5%.
Other banks shares also fell, with RBS losing 11.5%, Lloyds down 3.9%, and HSBC giving up 2.6%.
Meanwhile, Chancellor George Osborne confirmed that HSBC, RBS, Citigroup and UBS were also under investigation.
The Serious Fraud Office subsequently said it was in talks with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) about the case. This could result in UK criminal proceedings being brought.
The US Department of Justice had already confirmed that criminal investigations into “other financial institutions and individuals” were ongoing.
Barclays’ misconduct relates to the daily setting of the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) and the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor).
These are two of the most important interest rates in the global financial markets and directly influence the value of trillions of dollars of financial deals between banks and other institutions.
They can also affect lending rates to the public, for instance with some mortgage deals.
The British Bankers’ Association asked the government on Thursday to consider taking over the regulation of how Libor is set.
The fine imposed on Barclays is part of an international investigation into the setting of interbank rates between 2005 and 2009.
Between 2005 and 2008, the Barclays staff who submitted estimates of their own interbank lending rates were frequently lobbied by its derivatives traders to put in figures which would benefit their trading positions, in order to produce a profit for the bank.
And between 2007 and 2009, during the height of the banking crisis, the staff put in artificially low figures, to avoid the suspicion that Barclays was under financial stress and thus having to borrow at noticeably higher rates than its competitors.
The FSA said Barclays traders were quite open about their routine attempts to manipulate rates.
“Requests to Barclays’ submitters were made verbally and a large amount of email and instant message evidence consisting of derivatives traders’ requests also exists,” the FSA said.
Anne Sinclair, the long-suffering wife of former IFM chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has finally left him, it was confirmed last night.
After months of loyal support in the face of seedy vice allegations, Anne Sinclair kicked DSK out of their Paris home.
The split happened a month ago but Anne Sinclair, a 64-year-old art heiress and internet journalist, initially managed to keep it quiet.
But as the now unemployed Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 63, prepared for further court appearances, he confirmed the separation.
“They are no longer living as man and wife,” said a source close to DSK, who at one stage was being tipped to become Socialist president of France.
Anne Sinclair, the long-suffering wife of former IFM chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has finally left him
Instead his career was ruined when, in May 2011, a New York chamber maid accused him of attempted rape.
DSK was later cleared in a criminal court, but admitted that a sex act had taken place, and the maid is now pursuing a civil case against him.
Anne Sinclair, who has been with Dominique Strauss-Kahn for 20 years, initially offered him unquestioning support but this began to waver as allegations mounted up.
Anne Sinclair, who used to present programmes on French TV, this year relaunched her media career as an editor on the Huffington Post website’s French edition.
Referring to DSK, a source told Reuters earlier this month: “He’s in a bad way. It’s very sad. He’s mostly just at home on his own while Anne is out and about with her new job. He’s shunned by everybody.”
Each day, 1.6 billion cans and bottles of Coca-Cola are gulped down, making it the globe’s most recognized brand.
But ever since it was first concocted as a brain tonic in 1886 (designed to treat “sick headaches, neuralgia, hysteria and melancholy”), the makers of Coca-Cola have been secretive about what goes into their drink.
American pharmacist and Coke founder Asa Chandler was so concerned that the recipe could fall into the wrong hands he reportedly never wrote it down.
That secrecy lives on today. Coca-Cola insists only two people alive know the formula, that they never travel on the same plane in case it crashes and that the list of ingredients is locked in a bank vault.
But while the recipe for Coke is surrounded by the kind of mystique that marketing men dream of, the company found its formula under less welcome scrutiny this week.
For it has emerged that Coca-Cola in the U.S. has reduced levels of one of its ingredients following fears that it could cause cancer.
The chemical – 4-methylimidazole (4-MI) – helps to give the drink its color, but is listed by Californian health officials as a potential carcinogen.
While European regulators do not believe it poses any health risks, the company has also pledged to reduce its levels in Coke sold worldwide, although it hasn’t given a timescale.
Pepsi, meanwhile, has reduced the chemical in its American formula, but refused to change it anywhere else – meaning if the Californian health officials are right, the Pepsi sold worldwide is potentially more carcinogenic than the stuff swigged in America.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi this week insisted that all of their beverages are completely safe, with Coca-Cola claiming it made the change in the U.S. only in response to a “scientifically unfounded” food law in California.
In a statement on Wednesday, Coca-Cola UK said: “Coca-Cola has an uncompromising commitment to product safety and quality. All of the ingredients in our products are safe.”
But the changes to the recipes have raised the inevitable question: just how safe are the ingredients that go into every can of cola? And what does that brown stuff really do to our insides?
And just because you drink sugar-free, diet cola, don’t think you’re off the hook. For there is a growing body of research which suggests that low-calorie and sugar-free drinks are bad for us, too.
Studies have shown that people who have at least one low-calorie fizzy drink a day are at greater risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes.
And some experts also believe that sugar-free drinks confuse the brain, leaving it unable to distinguish between sweeteners, such as aspartame and saccharine, and regular sugar.
In that case, a person may be tricked into overeating, as the brain can no longer calculate the body’s calorific intake.
So while diet colas may make you feel virtuous, they could be doing you more harm than good.
Coca-Cola in the US has reduced level of 4-MI following fears that it could cause cancer
Coloring linked to cancer
Cola’s color comes in part from 4-methylimidazole (4-MI), a chemical that forms in the production of caramel food coloring.
Coca-Cola, Pepsi and other manufacturers insist it is safe at the low doses found in drinks.
But in California they disagree. After studies showed that long-term exposure to the chemical causes lung cancer in rats, health officials ruled that products with more than 29 mcg must carry a health warning.
And when research by the Centre for Science in the Public Interest, a campaign group, found cans contained nearly 140 mcg, all cola companies across the U.S. were forced to cut levels.
Food campaigners say daily consumption of 4-MI at 30 mcg would cause cancer in one in 100,000 people over their lifetimes.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says that someone would need to drink more than 1,000 cans of cola every day to reach the levels that caused cancer in lab rats.
Caffeine
A can of cola contains 40 mg of caffeine – half the caffeine in a mug of tea and a third of the amount in a mug of filter coffee.
Caffeine is a stimulant that works on the central nervous system. It can trigger a dramatic, short-lived increase in blood pressure and increases the heart rate.
But there is little evidence that it causes long-term high blood pressure, or that it is bad for healthy hearts. Many regular coffee or cola drinkers simply develop a tolerance to the stimulant.
Caffeine can also stop the body from absorbing iron from food – so people with a big cola habit may be at greater risk of iron deficiency.
Sugar
Doctors are in no doubt – the biggest danger from cola doesn’t come from the hidden additives, flavorings or colorings, but from sugar.
Too much sugar leads to obesity, the major cause of cancer in the western world.
It also increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, causes heart disease and increases the risk of stroke.
The over-consumption of sugar has been linked to depression, poor memory formation and learning disorders in animal experiments. And it rots teeth.
Each regular can of cola contains eight teaspoons of sugar. When you drink that much sugar so quickly, the body experiences an intense sugar rush.
The cane and beet sugar used in Coca-Cola is used up quickly by the body, which soon experiences a rapid drop in energy, leading to cravings for more sugar.
Phosphoric acid
Phosphoric acid is a clear, odorless chemical that gives cola its tangy flavor and helps cut through the sickly sweetness of all that sugar.
It is also an effective rust remover – the reason that a glass of Coke can restore the lustre to coins and old metal.
But it can also disrupt our bodies.
Research at the U.S. National Institutes of Health in Maryland found that drinking two or more colas a day doubled the risk of kidney stones – and the phosphoric acid in it was blamed.
Another U.S. study found that women who regularly drink cola – three or more times a day – had a 4% lower bone mineral density in their hips than women who didn’t drink cola.
Again, phosphoric acid is thought to be the cause. No one is entirely sure why it leads to weaker bones, although some researchers argue it prevents calcium from food being used to renew bones.
Gender-bending chemical
The “gender bending” chemical BPA, or bisphenol A, has been linked to heart disease, cancer and birth defects.
It is found in baby bottles, plastic forks, CD cases and in the lining of aluminium fizzy drinks cans, including those of Coca-Cola.
Because it mimics the female sex hormone oestrogen, and thus disrupts the natural balance of the body, some believe it could be dangerous – particularly to foetuses.
Some animal studies have indicated it is safe. Others have linked BPA to breast cancer, liver damage, obesity, diabetes and fertility problems.
Despite the uncertainty, it has been banned in baby bottles across the European Union and in Canada in case it leaches from plastic into formula milk or juice drinks.
Citric acid
Citric acid gives lemons, oranges and grapefruit their kick and cola its bite, helping to make the drink nearly as corrosive as battery acid when it comes to teeth.
Prolonged exposure to cola and other fizzy drinks strips tooth enamel causing pain, ugly smiles and – in extreme cases – turning teeth to stumps.
A study in the journal General Dentistry found that cola is ten times as corrosive as fruit juices in the first three minutes of drinking.
The researchers took slices of freshly extracted teeth and immersed them in 20 soft drinks. Teeth dunked for 48 hours in cola and lemonade lost more than five per cent of their weight.
A study in the British Dental Journal found that just one can of fizzy drink a day increased the risk of tooth erosion. While four cans increased the erosion risk by 252%.
Tom Cruise has told friends that his skin has never looked better thanks to the expensive spa treatment based on nightingale poo, according to Now Magazine.
The treatment involves mixing poo from a nightingale with rice bran and water which is then applied as a face mask.
And a source told Now magazine: “Tom doesn’t go in for Botox or surgery but he does pay close attention to all the new natural treatments.
“He recently started experimenting with the nightingale poo facial after it was recommended by a Hollywood pal and the results have been fantastic.”
Tom Cruise has told friends that his skin has never looked better thanks to the expensive spa treatment based on nightingale poo
Tom Cruise, 49, who is married to 33-year-old actress Katie Holmes with whom he has a daughter, Suri, 6, doesn’t believe in plastic surgery and said this is a better alternative.
The source added: “Tom doesn’t see splashing out on the facials as him being vain or weird. In fact, he points out there are much wackier fads out there.”
Other celebrities believed to be fans of the poo treatment include David and Victoria Beckham, who used to be good friends with Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.
New York beautician Shizuka Bernstein said: “The nightingale poo acts as an exfoliant that brings out the dirt and adds shine.”
