Facebook has decided to buy an Israeli startup specializing in facial recognition technology – Face.com.
The firm already provides software that allows Facebook’s members to identify and tag photos of their friends.
The terms of the deal are not known, but Reuters quotes estimates of $55-60 million.
Tagging is a popular feature on Facebook, but privacy advocates have raised concerns about the technology.
Face.com’s software scans photos Facebook users upload, and suggests friends they may wish to tag with just one click.
According to the social network, the acquisition does not mean there will be changes to Facebook’s current face detection and recognition systems for photos.
“People who use Facebook enjoy sharing photos and memories with their friends, and Face.com’s technology has helped to provide the best photo experience,” said Facebook’s spokesperson.
“This transaction simply brings a world-class team and a long-time technology vendor in house.”
Facebook has decided to buy an Israeli startup specializing in facial recognition technology Face.com
UK campaign group Privacy International warned of what it described as the potential pitfalls of the technology.
“Facebook are in the process of building the largest and most accurate facial recognition database in the world, and with great power comes great responsibility,” said Emma Draper, the organization’s head of communications.
“We would hope to see very strict safeguards on how this information is stored and who has access to it, particularly if – as seems increasingly likely – Facebook is going to start making money from it.”
But Facebook refuted the suggestion that it was building a facial recognition database, explaining that the technology simply allowed people on Facebook to tag images of their friends quickly and easily, without allowing users to identify anyone on the social network unless they were already friends with them.
Face.com is an 11-employee startup located in the heart of Tel Aviv’s startup community on Rothschild Boulevard, locally known as the Silicon Boulevard.
The firm could not be reached for comment, but in a statement on its website it said that “by working with Facebook directly, and joining their team, we’ll have more opportunities to build amazing products that will be employed by consumers – that’s all we’ve ever wanted to do”.
Face.com launched its first product in 2009, and also supports third-party apps such as Photo Finder, Photo Tagger, and CelebrityFindr, which allows Twitter users to search for photos of celebrities.
Facebook has recently been expressing great interest in mobile and photo-sharing – in April, it bought Instagram for $1billion, and weeks later launched a photo sharing smartphone app called Camera.
Both apps allow users to add filters and make other tweaks to photographs.
One person has been killed and 15 others were injured in a crash involving Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe’s motorcade, police say.
A car in the motorcade hit a commuter bus near the rural town of Zvimba – the third such accident in two weeks.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said Sunday’s accident happened because the bus failed to make way for the president’s vehicles quickly enough.
President Robert Mugabe typically travels with an escort of around 10 vehicles.
His motorcade typically includes the presidential limousine, motorcycles and army vehicles.
One person has been killed and 15 others were injured in a crash involving Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe's motorcade
The car involved in the crash on the Robert Mugabe highway outside the president’s home town of Zvimba is thought to have been leading the motorcade.
The national police spokesman said the bus driver had failed to heed the siren and beacon of the escort vehicle, leading to a head-on collision between the minibus and a police car.
“One passenger in the commuter bus died on the spot while 15 passengers from both vehicles were injured in the accident,” Wayne Bvudzijena told the AFP news agency.
He urged motorists to “pull off the road when they hear a siren or see a red or blue beacon”.
Police VIP protection spokesman Martin Mbokochena criticized what he called “some unruly elements in society who want to disturb”.
Two weeks ago, a motorbike in the presidential cavalcade hit and killed a homeless man during another visit to the president’s home town.
A member of the presidential guard died and seven others were hurt in a separate leg of the same trip, when a truck in the motorcade overturned after one of its tires burst.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has been disqualified by Supreme Court from holding office, two months after convicting him of contempt of court.
The Supreme Court ruled he had “ceased to be the prime minister of Pakistan”.
In April, the Supreme Court convicted Yousuf Raza Gilani of failing to pursue corruption charges against President Asif Ali Zardari.
He had argued the president has constitutional immunity from prosecution.
But Yousuf Raza Gilani was given only a token sentence and spared a jail term.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has been disqualified by Supreme Court from holding office, two months after convicting him of contempt of court
Tuesday’s court ruling disqualified Yousuf Raza Gilani from office and from parliament.
“Since no appeal was filed [against the 26 April conviction]… therefore Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani stands disqualified as a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora [parliament],” Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry told a packed courtroom.
He added: “He has also ceased to be the prime minister of Pakistan… the office of the prime minister stands vacant.”
It is not clear what next steps Yousuf Raza Gilani may take – or whether his removal means the fall of the government.
Senior leaders of the governing Pakistan People’s Party are in emergency session.
It has the necessary majority in parliament to elect a successor to Yousuf Raza Gilani.
The legal case against Yousuf Raza Gilani is part of a stand-off between Pakistan’s civilian government and the judiciary, which many believe is being backed by the military.
The pursuit of the contempt case by Supreme Court judges was seen by many as an attempt at meddling in the country’s politics.
Famous Pakistani singer Ghazala Javed has been shot dead in the north-western city of Peshawar.
Ghazala Javed and her father were killed when gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on them late on Monday, police say.
Police say the murders may be linked to a family dispute.
Ghazala Javed, who sang in her native Pashto, was from Pakistan’s Swat valley, which she fled three years ago during a military offensive against Taliban militants in the region.
Ghazala Javed and her father were killed when gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on them late on Monday
Singers and dancers were particularly targeted by insurgents when they overran the area in 2007.
Ghazala Javed at one point was also forced to stop singing because of threats.
The singer, who was in her twenties, later married a businessman but they are thought to have divorced.
Correspondents say her music fused eastern and western traditions.
Tributes from fans across Afghanistan and Pakistan have been pouring into social media sites.
According to new research, men who are heavy tea drinkers may be more likely to develop prostate cancer.
A team from Glasgow University tracked the health of more than 6,000 male volunteers over a period of 37 years.
They found men who drank over seven cups of tea per day had a 50% higher risk of developing prostate cancer than moderate and non tea drinkers.
The team said it did not know if tea was a risk factor or if drinkers lived to ages where cancer was more common.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer amongst men in Scotland and diagnosed cases increased by 7.4% between 2000 and 2010.
The Midspan Collaborative study began in Scotland in 1970 and gathered data from 6,016 male volunteers, all aged between 21 and 75.
Volunteers were asked to complete a questionnaire about their usual consumption of tea, coffee, alcohol, smoking habits and general health, and attended a screening examination.
Just under a quarter of the men included in the study were heavy tea drinkers.
Of these, 6.4% developed prostate cancer during a follow-up of up to 37 years.
Researchers found that men who drank more than seven cups of tea per day had a significantly increased risk of prostate cancer compared to those who drank no tea or less than four cups per day.
Men who drank over seven cups of tea per day had a 50 percent higher risk of developing prostate cancer than moderate and non tea drinkers
The study was led by Dr. Kashif Shafique of Glasgow University’s Institute of Health and Wellbeing.
He said: “Most previous research has shown either no relationship with prostate cancer for black tea or some preventive effect of green tea.
“We don’t know whether tea itself is a risk factor or if tea drinkers are generally healthier and live to an older age when prostate cancer is more common anyway.”
“We found that heavy tea drinkers were more likely not to be overweight, be non alcohol-drinkers and have healthy cholesterol levels.
“However, we did adjust for these differences in our analysis and still found that men who drank the most tea were at greater risk of prostate cancer.”
Chris Garner, a member of Edinburgh and Lothian Prostate Cancer Support Group, said the research would not stop him drinking tea.
He has adopted a healthier diet since being diagnosed with prostate cancer 10 years ago and drinks green tea.
Chris Garner said: “As usual you get evidence on one side and you get evidence on the other and you’re left in the middle trying to decide who’s right but I have to say, I don’t think tea is very high on the agenda if you’re looking at diet, lifestyle and so on.
“There are other things which come well above tea.”
Dr. Kate Holmes, head of research at the Prostate Cancer Charity, said: “Whilst it does appear that – of the 6,000 men who took part in this study – those who drank seven or more cups of tea each day had an increased risk of developing prostate cancer, this did not take into consideration family history or any other dietary elements other than tea, coffee and alcohol intake.
“We would therefore not wish any man to be concerned that drinking a moderate amount of tea as part of a healthy diet will put them at an increased risk of developing prostate cancer.”
The findings of the study have been published in the journal Nutrition and Cancer.
U.S. doctors have discovered that women who go through a premature menopause are more likely to suffer a potentially fatal brain haemorrhage or a cerebral aneurysm.
This occurs when part of the artery weakens and swells.
The artery can then burst and cause a stroke or death, with half of those suffering a cerebral aneurysm likely to die.
The new U.S. research is part of a growing body of evidence pointing to the staggering toll on a woman’s overall health associated with early menopause — a concern because more women are being diagnosed with the disorder.
Most scientists define a premature menopause, or premature ovarian failure (POF), as occurring when a woman’s ovaries stop working before the age of 40, though some studies include women up to the age of 45.
As well as cerebral aneurysm, they are also at greater risk of heart disease – they are 50% more likely to die and 80% more likely to suffer from heart disease than women who go through the menopause between the ages of 52 to 55.
A study last year by Imperial College London found that women who had early menopause were also twice as likely to have a poor quality of life in health terms.
U.S. doctors have discovered that women who go through a premature menopause are more likely to suffer a potentially fatal brain haemorrhage or a cerebral aneurysm
Another study, by the Mayo Clinic in the U.S., found that affected women had a greater risk of dying early, developing heart disease, neurological disorders, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, psychiatric disorders and osteoporosis.
Women were particularly likely to die early or develop heart disease if they’d not been taking HRT following their early menopause, said the researchers.
“These recent studies are telling us what we have suspected for some time, but until now no one has done the work to quantify it,” says Dr. Kevin Harrington, a consultant gynaecologist at the Bupa Cromwell Hospital in London.
The trigger for all this is dramatically falling levels of the hormone oestrogen.
“Oestrogen plays a very important role in maintaining the health of all the connective tissues in the body,” Dr. Kevin Harrington says.
“This includes blood vessels, skin, ligaments and bones.”
The deteriorating quality of the blood vessels in the brain is responsible for conditions such as strokes. Low oestrogen affects connective tissues in the eyes and mouth, too, which is why these patients are more prone to gum disease, tooth loss and cataracts.
The thyroid gland can also be affected, says Dr. Kevin Harrington.
This is possibly because auto-immune diseases are thought to be a major cause of premature menopause.
“It may be the kind of person whose body produces antibodies that attack the ovaries is also prone to producing antibodies that attack the thyroid.”
Lifestyle may be to blame. The Imperial College study found a link with smoking.
Further research last year also suggested a link between premature menopause and PFCs – chemicals found in non-stick pans and food packaging. The women with the highest levels of PFCs in their body had the lowest levels of oestrogen in their blood.
Genetics may play a part, too, with women more likely to go through early menopause if their mother did. However, doctors say more research is needed.
Furthermore, the success in treating cancer in children, adolescents and women of child-bearing age might lie behind some cases of POF – for instance, premature menopause can be a side-effect of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Clearly early diagnosis is key, yet despite improved recognition of POF, campaigners say much more could be done.
A recent British Menopause Society report noted some doctors were still unaware of the need to protect prematurely menopausal women against future illness and called for the creation of a national register of all such patients to ensure they receive correct advice and care.
Campaigners are also calling for HRT to be made free of prescription charge for women who’ve suffered a premature menopause.
Texan model Lauren Scruggs, who had her left eye and arm chopped off after she walked into a plane propeller last year, has now learned how to drive a stick shift.
Despite her life-changing injuries – she suffered a fractured skull, a broken collarbone and brain injuries during the horrific accident – Lauren Scruggs, 23, is determined to lead a normal life.
Lauren Scruggs made the announcement on Twitter on Monday.
“Randomly learned how to drive a stick shift today. It’s kind of exhilarating,” the former model posted.
Lauren Scruggs released the cover to her upcoming autobiography last month, a testament to the fact that she is moving on with her life.
Her parents confirmed in April that she was working with a journalist to help her write about the life-changing incident.
On May 15, Lauren Scruggs tweeted a picture of the cover, and affirmed her ever-present Christian faith has played a guiding role in her recovery.
She wrote: “Humbled & thankful to share the journey God has chosen 4 me. Hope it helps others learn, as I have, that He is enough.”
Lauren Scruggs released the cover to her upcoming autobiography last month, a testament to the fact that she is moving on with her life
The cover shows Lauren Scruggs wearing a yellow top with her long blonde hair covering her left eye, which was replaced with a glass substitute after her real eye had to be removed due to the accident.
In the memoir, entitled Still Lolo, Lauren Scruggs will write alongside New York Times writer Marcus Brotherton about that fateful night of December 3, 2011.
The book, slated for release this November, will also contain segments on faith and Christian belief.
Lauren Scruggs signed with Tyndale Momentum, an imprint of Tyndale House Publishers who will be producing the reflective autobiography.
Though the book’s title makes a reference to the model’s nickname, there will also be excerpts from her parents, Cheryl and Jeff Scruggs.
The book deal, whose value is still unknown, is not the only financial gain that Lauren Scruggs will be receiving out of the incident.
It is rumored that Lauren Scruggs settled with the plane’s insurance company for more than $1 million.
According to the Courthouse News Service, the plane which injured the model was insured by Aggressive Insurance Services, along with a separate plane owned by the pilot Curt Richmond, a friend of the Scruggs family from Dallas, Texas.
Curt Richmond’s policy extended to other planes he pilots, the service said. Both have a $100,000 limit for passengers riding in the planes.
The report stated that Curt Richmond’s insurance “verbally offered” to pay Lauren Scruggs $200,000 after the December 3 accident.
Lauren Scruggs almost lost her life when she walked into the plane propeller after taking a short flight to see the Dallas Christmas lights from the sky.
She suffered a fractured skull, broken collarbone, brain injuries and lost her left hand. Two weeks after the tragic accident, doctors decided that they had to remove Lauren’s eye.
Speaking on Good Morning America in early April, her father said that his daughter recalls nothing of walking into the plane’s propeller.
“She has the courage to wake up every day and do what she needs to do,” Cheryl Scruggs told GMA.
“She’s doing remarkable.”
Jeff Scruggs chipped in, saying their daughter is still the same buoyant person.
“She has the same spunk, the same personality.”
Katie Couric, GMA’s guest host at the time, asked if Lauren Scruggs has any memory of the accident.
Jeff Scruggs responded: “The last thing she remembers is getting out of the plane.”
She first proudly displayed her prosthetic eye while out and about last month after she was pictured leaving the gym with her mother.
Her mother Cheryl Scruggs has written on the devoutly Christian family’s Caring Bridge website: “How blessed we are to see God’s Presence in Lo every single day. We never take this for granted.
“We are blessed beyond measure; blessed beyond our wildest dreams. Easy to say, hard to live.
“Not all of it appears, externally, as blessing, but <<we know that all things work together for those who love God>>, and we believe this is true.”
“I don’t know how to thank each one of you, properly, for so much love during this difficult incident in my life,” Lauren Scruggs wrote in January.
“My heart is so grateful beyond what I could ever imagine.
“Thank you dearly for the sweet encouragements, the precious words in letters and messages, the beautiful grace in pretty presents.
“But mostly I am so so thankful for you and your loving hearts and sweet spirits.”
Taking a cue from New York City’s proposed ban on sugary drinks, Cambridge, Massachusetts, is looking to pass a similar crackdown to combat obesity and diabetes.
Residents of Cambridge may have to sacrifice larger portions of soft drinks in its battle of the bulge, nearly a month after New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg made national headlines with his own proposal.
Cambridge Mayor Henrietta Davis submitted the proposal at a city council meeting on Monday night.
The size limit on the drinks was not mentioned in her resolution, but it’s expected to follow Bloomberg’s limit of 16 ounces.
Cambridge Mayor Henrietta Davis told WHDH: “When people are served these gigantic portions of soda in bottomless cups, sometimes it’s just more than people are able to resist.”
Taking a cue from New York City's proposed ban on sugary drinks, Cambridge, Massachusetts, is looking to pass a similar crackdown to combat obesity and diabetes
Also like Michael Bloomberg’s resolution, the Davis’ measure has ignited a heated discussion.
Axis Sivitz, 25, of Cambridge, told The Boston Globe that he supports the ban, saying: “When faced with a health crisis, you have to do something about it.”
Sophia Talamasm, 29, told the paper she is against Henrietta Davis’ proposal.
She said: “Sometimes you need a soda.”
Cambridge is home to Harvard University, where Michael Bloomberg got his MBA degree.
New York City opened the issue for public debate after Michael Bloomberg pitched the crackdown to the city council late last month.
While Michael Bloomberg has faced uproar in New York over the ban, polls show that New Yorkers are mostly split on the issue.
The city Board of Health, which is appointed by the mayor, is expected to approve the measure after a three-month comment period.
It could take effect as early as March, unless the critics who accuse Michael Bloomberg of instituting a “nanny state” can get the courts or state lawmakers to intervene.
Last week, the legality of such a crackdown was called into question.
It’s not just businesses and industry groups that could sue. In theory, any individual affected by the ban could bring a legal challenge.
But it wouldn’t be enough to simply claim that the ban infringes on personal freedom, said Rick Hills, a New York University law professor specializing in local government law and New York City.
And Rick Hills said that opponents would have to do more than argue that the law affects one source of sugar more than others.
Courts, he said, have repeatedly ruled that the government can try to eradicate societal ills one step at a time.
Dr. Gabriele Jordan, a researcher at the Institute of Neuroscience in UK, claims she has found a woman who has the ability to view 99 million more colors than the average human being.
Vision is one of the most complicated of the senses, and how the eyes perceive color is broken down by ocular cells called cones.
Most people have three types of cones, and are known as being trichromatic.
Individuals who are color blind have only two types of cones, making them dichromatic.
According to Discover magazine, Dr. Gabriele Jordan has spent the last 20 years on a mission to find the tetrachromat – an individual with four types of cones – and an ability to view 100 million colors.
While Dr. Gabriele Jordan and her team found several tetrachromats, only one could pass her test, which included showing three colored circles with a difference that no one but a true tetrachromat could detect.
Dr. Gabriele Jordan claims she has found a woman who has the ability to view 99 million more colors than the average human being
That woman, who has only been identified as subject cDa29, is a doctor living in northern England – but others may be out there.
Dr. Gabriele Jordan told Discover magazine that the findings had her “jumping up and down”.
But with their tetrachromat comes a conundrum: How is one woman’s vision so advanced when others with the same four cones were not?
She told the magazine: “We now know tetrachromacy exists. But we don’t know what allows someone to become functionally tetrachromatic, when most four-coned women aren’t.”
And why not men? Research on color blindness dating back to 1948 found the condition appeared to run in families, but didn’t affect women.
Dutch scientist H.L. de Vries, who wrote the paper, suggested that females recognized color differently, thanks to that fourth cone.
According to new reports, corset sales are booming, part of a massive trend for body shaping underwear, but the peaks and troughs of demand tell a story about feminism and body image over the past 200 years.
Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Miley Cyrus – there’s quite a list of performers with a history of taking to the stage in a corset.
But sales figures suggest ordinary people are turning to one of the greatest symbols of the Victorian era. Corsets are making a comeback.
Rigby & Peller, the Queen’s brassiere-maker, says sales of traditional corsets in May were 45% up on 2011.
Ebay has reported a 185% rise in the number of corsets being sold over the last three months, with 1,900 listed over the period. It says most corsets are bought in the UK (40%), the US (34%) and Australia (8.6%).
Marks & Spencer says it sells one item from its new corset-inspired Waist Sculpt lingerie line every three minutes.
On one level, the rise in recent corset sales is a simple question of fashion. The boom in burlesque over the last seven or eight years and the popularity of the 1950s look on both sides of the Atlantic has made the corset desirable to some.
“It seems that vintage styling is no longer reserved to vintage queens and retrophiles, thanks to the burlesque explosion, TV programmes like Mad Men, films like My Week With Marilyn,” says Maz Spencer, of London boutique lingerie store What Katie Did.
“Women now seem aware that they need correct shapewear in order to achieve that vintage silhouette, and preferably they would rather go for a solution piece which looks desirable – as opposed to unattractive beige spandex pants.”
Then there is the impact of the “underwear as outwear” trend, says Rigby & Peller creative director Nicky Clayton.
Nicky Clayton says fashion frequently oscillates between slim and more curvaceous body shapes.
Corset sales are booming, part of a massive trend for body shaping underwear
But the rise and fall of the corset – which has been around in one form or another for hundreds of years – also tells a tale of feminism and changing body image.
In Victorian times, most well-to-do women wore one under their dress.
But in the 20th Century, the Victorian corset came to be regarded by many as physically oppressive and even associated with women’s inferior status. At one point, it nearly disappeared.
During WWI, there was a practical assault on the corset. With many women working, a constraining undergarment was unhelpful and in parts of the US, women were told to stop buying corsets as the metal was needed. At the same time, the bra started appearing on the scene.
Alison McCann, curator of the 2010 Undercover exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum, says the rejection of the corset was almost an extension of the Suffragette movement.
“Women started taking ownership of underwear, and designing what they wanted to wear,” she says.
Fashion trends also saw corsets being cast off. The popularity of Coco Chanel’s 1920s creations saw relaxed fashions and flapper dresses, making the flattened female form, or boyish look, more desirable.
There was a brief return to female curves and waist-nipping corsets in the 1950s, when Christian Dior’s “new look” became fashionable, as women sought a glamorous look after the austerity of WWII.
But the 1960s saw women get rid of girdles and garter belts en masse at a time of burgeoning female empowerment.
Of course some women, particularly those who went for a gothic or punk look, have claimed corsets as a subversive statement for years.
Man-made fibres had changed the make-up of corsets over the years, making them more comfortable. But McCann suggests it was not until Madonna made headlines with her corset-inspired stage outfit during her Blond Ambition tour in 1990 that most women started being interested in them again.
Then came the boom of the burlesque scene in the 2000s which saw the corset reincarnated as a symbol of sexual empowerment.
“Technology made corsets beautiful but functional at the same time. Now women are buying corsets to express their individuality, it’s experimental,” she says.
However other commentators argue that a time when women are, on average, larger than ever, the corset revival is down to something else entirely.
Waist sizes are getting bigger. A 2001 UK National Sizing Survey found that the average female waist size had increased by 16.5 cm since the 1950s – rising from an average 28 in waist to 34 in.
And shapewear has been sought after ever since Spanx exploded onto the scene. So are women going to increasingly extreme lengths to get a 1950s waist?
Hannah Almassi, deputy fashion news editor at Grazia, says the magazine has seen a particular type of corset, called fajas – the Spanish word for wrap – become much more popular recently.
“They’re a compression corset originally created for patients to wear after liposuction. They come from Colombia and whilst they aren’t a new invention, the way girls are using them is.
“They aren’t a traditional type of lace-up whalebone corset, it’s more of a girdle and the effect is created by the highly elastic compression fabric that sucks everything in,” she says.
Hannah Almassi says there have always been ways of manipulating body image in fashion, “whether that’s flapper girls bandaging their breasts to fit the boyish mode or the crazy shoulder pads of the ’80s”. So in some ways corsets are the next generation.
Designers such as Prada and Louis Vuitton have put corsets and the 50s silhouette on a pedestal, but more mundane clothing chains have brought the look to the masses, Nicky Clayton says.
“The traditional corsets have steel boning in them – they ‘knee in the back’ and have a proper lace up – but technical development has meant other corsets still have the waist-nipping beautiful contouring, but garments are more comfortable.
“Of course in the 50s, all the beautiful red carpet dresses – Dior and Oscar de la Renta – had powerful mesh and waist tapes inside them. Today’s ready-to-wear isn’t made like that, so people are turning to corsets and control wear to do that job,” she says.
Nicky Clayton says Rigby & Peller’s Spanx sales have doubled since May 2011.
She says women are also feeling more liberated.
“Barriers have been broken down. It was a bit of a faux pas before, women didn’t want to be seen shopping for corsets or control wear. Now they are happy to come in and ask,” she says.
World leaders meeting at a G20 summit in Mexico have urged Europe to take all necessary measures to overcome the eurozone debt crisis.
They voiced unease over what one top official described as “the single biggest risk for the world economy”.
But European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said “the challenges are not only European, they are global”.
Sunday’s victory of a pro-bailout party in the Greek election did not give stock markets the expected boost.
Antonis Samaras, the leader of the New Democracy party that narrowly won the poll, is holding urgent talks to form a coalition.
Antonis Samaras also reiterated that he would seek changes in the terms of a bailout agreement reached with the EU and IMF.
While Europe is clearly the big danger, there are also problems elsewhere in the world’s major advanced and emerging economies, starting with the two largest national economies, the US and China.
The slowdown in India is something else for the G20 to fret about at the Mexican resort of Los Cabos.
World leaders meeting at a G20 summit in Mexico have urged Europe to take all necessary measures to overcome the eurozone debt crisis
A draft of the statement to be released on Tuesday is expected to call for a coordinated global plan for job creation and growth, reports say.
And if growth weakens, the proposed document says, countries without heavy debts should “stand ready to co-ordinate and implement discretionary fiscal actions to support domestic demand”, according to Reuters.
In a separate development, China pledged $43 billion to the IMF’s crisis-fighting fund.
The move comes after a meeting of the Brics group of emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The five nations all offered to increase their contributions to the IMF in exchange for greater influence in the organization.
US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks on the sidelines of the summit, urging an immediate end to violence in Syria.
In a joint statement following their first meeting since Vladimir Putin returned to the presidency, they said they shared a belief that Syrians should determine their own future.
The two countries have been at odds over how to resolve the crisis.
On Monday, many world leaders expressed alarm in Los Cabos at what they saw as a lack of progress in dealing with the eurozone crisis.
World Bank chief Robert Zoellick said: “We are waiting for Europe to tell us what it’s going to do.”
Meanwhile, Jose Angel Gurria, the Mexican head of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), said the crisis was “the single biggest risk for the world economy”.
Pascal Lamy, the head of the World Trade Organization (WTO), warned about the danger of contagion from the eurozone crisis.
He said that global volatility and uncertainty was fuelling a trend towards protectionism, which was not only stalling free trade but starting to reverse it.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper called on eurozone leaders to make structural changes to solve the debt crisis.
But Jose Manuel Barroso mounted a strong defense of the EU’s handling of the crisis so far.
“Frankly, we are not coming here to receive lessons in terms of democracy or in terms of how to handle the economy,” he told reporters.
He added that he expected G20 leaders to “speak very clearly in favor of the approach the EU is following”.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for rules to allow protectionism for countries facing a financial crisis.
“It is time to stop pretending and come to an honest agreement on the acceptable level of protectionist measures that governments can take to protect jobs in times of global crisis,” he said.
“This is particularly important for Russia as our country will join the WTO this year and we intend to take an active part in the discussions on the future rules for global trade.”
US President Barack Obama had earlier talked about the importance of avoiding protectionism, which is the process of making imports more expensive to protect domestic jobs.
Microsoft has unveiled Surface, its own-brand family of tablets, which will be powered by its upcoming Windows 8 system and contains a choice of an Intel or ARM-based processor.
It allows Microsoft to challenge Apple’s bestselling iPad with a device that can run standard applications such as its own Office programs and Photoshop.
But it puts Microsoft in competition with other manufacturers planning to release tablets designed for Windows 8.
The company’s chief executive, Steve Ballmer, said he had wanted to give the software “its own companion hardware”.
The devices have 10.6 inch (26.9 cm) displays, built-in kickstands and are housed in magnesium cases – which the company described as the first of their kind.
Microsoft has unveiled Surface, its own-brand family of tablets, which will be powered by its upcoming Windows 8 system and contains a choice of an Intel or ARM-based processor
The ARM-based tablets are 9.3 mm (0.4 inches) thick – slightly less than the iPad – and run the Windows RT version of the new system. The Verge reported that the chipset will be built by Nvidia.
The versions using Intel’s x86 technology run Windows 8 Pro and are 13.5 mm (0.5 inches) thick.
The specifications mean the Surface tablets have bigger screens than the iPad but are heavier.
A variety of accompanying covers can be attached using built-in magnets. They double as keyboards with trackpads. One version is flat while the other offers keys that can be depressed.
The devices are also designed to work with a pen accessory using what the firm dubbed “digital ink”. When the stylus is held close to the screen of the tablet it ignores touch-input from the users’ hands and “samples” the ink at 600 dpi (dots per inch).
The ARM-based version will be available with either 32 GB (gigabytes) or 64 GB of storage. Microsoft said they would be priced at a similar rate to other tablets using the same type of processor built by other firms.
It added that the Intel-based versions would be offered with either 64 GB or 128 GB of storage and would have price tags comparable to ultrabook laptops.
The firm’s designs have already proved popular with smartphone makers, but Microsoft’s support for its technology in Windows 8 offers it the potential to expand into a market dominated until now by Intel and AMD.
“This represents a significant milestone in Microsoft’s journey to expand the support of the Windows operating system and embrace the ARM architecture,” said Lance Howarth, the firm’s vice president of marketing.
“With the Surface for Windows RT announcement we are delighted to see yet another example of this partnership in action which follows on from various Windows RT devices demonstrated at Taiwan’s Computex show recently.”
A torchbearer has proposed to his eight-month pregnant girlfriend during day 31 of the Olympic torch relay from Middlesbrough to Hull.
David State, 25, from Redcar, who works with the Scout movement and raises money for charity, knelt as he asked Christine Langham, 27, to marry him.
She accepted and David State then had to carry on his stint in Loftus, Teesside.
He described the moment as “absolutely amazing” and Christine Langham joked: “I nearly had my baby there and then.”
David State said it had all been pre-arranged with relay organizers LOCOG, who gave him 300m to run before stopping to propose.
“Then I had to keep running with the torch for 300 m after that, so the words <<I’ve got to go>> came out of my mouth as soon as I’d proposed,” he said.
He added he was told afterwards that Christine Langham was “surprised” and in “floods of tears”.
David State, 25, from Redcar, who works with the Scout movement and raises money for charity, knelt as he asked Christine Langham, 27, to marry him
She said: “I saw him running up the hill and I was pretty proud at that. I was trying not to cry. And then he gave his torch to somebody and then he got down on one knee and I nearly passed out!”
Some of the biggest cheers of the day were reserved for Margaret “Jean” Bishop, who at 90 is one of the oldest torchbearers of the relay.
She is known as the “Bee Lady of Hull” as she collects money for charity dressed as a bee in the city’s shopping centre.
She carried the torch amid huge support in the early evening sunshine in her home city.
The relay started with the Olympic flame being carried across Middlesbrough’s landmark Transporter Bridge.
Crowds gathered to watch as James Coupland, 17, came down from the top of the 225 ft (69 m) high bridge, which is celebrating its 100th birthday.
James Coupland helps out with sport at several local primary schools.
Earlier in the day’s 109-mile journey, the flame was carried on a steam engine on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
After arriving in Whitby, the flame was taken on board locomotive Sir Nigel Gresley, which holds the world record for being the fastest steam engine since World War II, achieving a speed of 112mph in 1959.
Kelly Williams carried the flame as they travelled to Pickering.
The 25-year-old from Scarborough is a PE teacher who has raised more than £20,000 ($32,000) to help underprivileged children in Zambia.
The relay travelled through Middlesbrough, Redcar, Marske-by-the-Sea, Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Brotton, Carlin How, Loftus, Hinderwell, Lythe, Sandsend, Pickering, Filey, Bridlington, Beverley and Hull.
Other torchbearers among the 133 people who will carried the flame on Monday included Great Britain rower Tom Ransley, 26, who took up the flame in Pickering. Ransley was part of the crew that won silver at the 2010 World Championships.
During the morning the relay passed through the Victorian coastal resorts of Redcar and Scarborough, the largest holiday resort on the Yorkshire coast.
The evening celebration is taking place in West Park, Hull, where rock indie trio Little Comets and dance act Twist and Pulse are performing.
Amy Hopkin, from Hull, was the last torchbearer of the day, carrying the flame into the evening celebration at West Park, where a cauldron was lit during the festivities.
The 31-year-old, who has Down’s Syndrome, travels the world as part of a British gymnastic display team.
On Sunday, the day’s events started with England cricketer Paul Collingwood carrying the torch through Durham and ended with a party in Middlesbrough.
A total of 8,000 people will carry the flame during its 8,000 mile, 70-day journey to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London on 27 July.
The trial of Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic has been suspended until further notice, the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia announces.
Ratko Mladic’s trial was due to resume on 25 June after it was halted in May.
Monday’s suspension is a result of an error in the disclosure of documents to the defense, the court in The Hague said in a statement.
Ratko Mladic, 70, denies 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity dating back to the 1992-1995 Bosnian War.
The trial of Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic has been suspended until further notice
The trial was first halted in May when it first emerged that the prosecution had not disclosed evidence to the defense.
Ratko Mladic is the last of the key figures wanted for war crimes during the Bosnian War.
On the run for 16 years before his arrest, Ratko Mladic has refused to enter a plea.
Some of the relatives of victims and survivors of the war have expressed concern that if the trial takes too long, Ratko Mladic, who has suffered from heart problems, will die before a verdict is reached.
Whitney Houston hid her drug habit from her friends and family in the weeks before her tragic death, claims her pal and entertainment consultant Raffles van Exel.
Whitney Houston – who had a history of substance abuse – was found dead in the bath tub of her hotel room in February after suffering a huge heart attack partly brought on by her cocaine abuse but those close to her thought she had been clean for two years.
Raffles van Exel said: “Whitney was good at hiding her drug habit. I honestly thought she was clean in the two years before she died. Yes, she would have the occasional drink. And I knew she was taking painkillers and the anxiety drug Xanax. But I never suspected she was using hard drugs.
“It really shocked me when I found that out. And actually it made me quite mad because I thought, <<Whitney, you had us all fooled>>. Everyone thought Whitney was in a good place and we never imagined anything like this was going to happen.”
Whitney Houston hid her drug habit from her friends and family in the weeks before her tragic death, claims Raffles van Exel
However, Raffles van Exel said Whitney Houston – who had been using cocaine at the time of death – had a premonition she was going to die.
He told the Sunday Mirror newspaper: “But looking back, Whitney seemed to have a premonition about her death. She started carrying a Bible around everywhere she went and would read from it all the time.
“Also, she kept talking about <<leaving>> America. I thought she meant she was going to Switzerland, where she had talked about living, but now I realize she meant she was leaving this world.”
Facebook will pay $10 million to charity to settle a lawsuit over the way it used “social” ads.
Known as a “sponsored story”, the ads popped up on a user’s friends’ pages after the user clicked to “like” a firm’s advert.
The lawsuit was brought by five members of Facebook who said the ads violated Facebook members’ rights to control the use of their activity on the site.
Facebook has declined to comment on the lawsuit and settlement.
The deal with users who sued was reached in May, but court documents were made public this weekend.
Facebook will pay $10 million to charity to settle a lawsuit over the way it used "social" ads
The Facebook users filed their lawsuit in December 2011 in a federal court in San Jose, California, claiming that the social network had violated the state law by making their “likes” known to others without allowing them to opt out or paying them.
According to Reuters news agency, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is quoted in the lawsuit as saying that such friend endorsement is the “Holy Grail” of advertising.
But the judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.
“California has long recognized a right to protect one’s name and likeness against appropriation by others for their advantage,” Judge Lucy Koh wrote, reported Reuters.
Facebook said the settlement funds would go to charity.
It is just another court case involving the social networking giant, which listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange in May.
One of the most recent cases involves Mark Zuckerberg and the banks leading the firm’s flotation being sued by shareholders who allege that the site’s revised growth figures were not disclosed to all investors.
In a different case, Yahoo has filed an intellectual property lawsuit against Facebook, claiming the social network has infringed 10 of its patents, including systems and methods for advertising on the web.
Egypt’s ruling military council has vowed to hand over power to an elected president by the end of June.
The promise comes as votes are counted after Sunday’s presidential run-off election, with both candidates claiming they are ahead in early results.
However, the council had earlier issued a declaration granting itself sweeping powers over legislation and the introduction of a new constitution.
Opposition groups condemned the declaration as a “coup”.
Lt Muhammad al-Assar from the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) told a news conference that a ceremony would be held in late June to hand over power to the new president, state media report.
However, the constitutional declaration issued by the SCAF late on Sunday effectively gives it legislative powers, control over the budget and over who writes the permanent constitution following mass street protests that toppled Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.
It also strips the president of any authority over the army.
The SCAF have even guaranteed themselves jobs for life.
There have been no big protests so far – the military must be hoping that Egyptians are simply too tired of politics to protest, and are willing to go for stability whatever the cost, our correspondent says.
But the army’s declaration was widely condemned in opposition circles.
Prominent political figure Mohamed El Baradei has described the document as a “grave setback for democracy and revolution”.
Former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi, who came third in the first round of voting and was the favored candidate of many in the protest movement, said the declaration was a “seizure of the future of Egypt”.
“We will not accept domination by any party,” Hamdeen Sabahi said.
Parliament speaker Saad al-Katatni, of the Muslim Brotherhood, said the declaration was “null and void”.
The Brotherhood had earlier urged Egyptians to “protect their revolution” after the SCAF dissolved parliament – dominated by the Brotherhood – on Saturday.
Two days earlier, the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that last year’s legislative polls were unconstitutional because party members were allowed to contest seats in the lower house reserved for independents.
On Monday morning, soldiers prevented MPs from entering parliament.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Mursi ran in Sunday’s poll against Ahmed Shafiq, who served as prime minister under former President Hosni Mubarak.
The Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Mursi ran in Sunday's poll against Ahmed Shafiq, who served as prime minister under former President Hosni Mubarak
The Brotherhood said Mohammed Mursi was holding a 52%-48% lead over Ahmed Shafiq with almost all the vote counted after Sunday’s second-round run-off election.
Speaking at his party headquarters, Mohammed Mursi pledged to be a president for all Egyptians, adding that he would not “seek revenge or settle scores”.
Hundreds of Mohammed Mursi’s supporters gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to celebrate his declaration of victory.
But Ahmed Shafiq’s campaign said it rejected “completely” Mohammed Mursi’s victory claim, and that figures it had obtained showed Shafiq in the lead.
Official results from the Higher Presidential Election Commission (HPEC) will be announced on Thursday, state TV reported.
Correspondents say that there was less enthusiasm in the run-off election than there was for previous rounds of voting, and some called for a boycott or spoiled ballots.
Ahmed Shafiq came second to Mohammed Mursi in last month’s first round, in which turnout among the 52 million eligible voters was only 46%.
Ahmed Shafiq
• Aged 70
• Veteran fighter pilot and former air force commander
• Appointed Egypt’s first aviation minister, earning reputation for competence and efficiency
• Promoted to PM during February 2011 protests
• Associated with former regime, though denies being backed by ruling military council
• Campaigned on a promise to restore security
Mohammed Mursi
• Aged 60
• US-educated engineering professor
• Head of Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP)
• Served as independent MP 2000-05
• Quietly spoken, viewed by some as lacking charisma
• Has promised “stability, security, justice and prosperity” under an Islamic banner
Scotland Yard is investigating a complaint of alleged assault against tennis player David Nalbandian, who was disqualified from the Aegon Championships final after line judge Andrew McDougall was injured.
Argentine David Nalbandian, 30, was leading Marin Cilic 7-6 (7-3) 3-4 at Queen’s final when he kicked a panel in front of Andrew McDougall’s seat.
Andrew McDougall’s leg was cut and umpire Fergus Murphy awarded the match to Marin Cilic despite boos from the crowd.
David Nalbandian apologised for the incident.
A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: “We are aware of an incident at the Aegon Championships on June 17.
“A complaint has been made and the Metropolitan Police Service is now investigating. The allegation is of assault.”
David Nalbandian was leading Marin Cilic at Queen's final when he kicked a panel in front of Andrew McDougall's seat
The incident happened after David Nalbandian missed a lunging forehand in the second set.
He kicked an advertising hoarding, which flew off its hinges and struck Andrew McDougall in the shin, causing a large gash.
Andrew McDougall received immediate treatment from St John’s Ambulance and saw the tournament medical team.
David Nalbandian told the 6,000-capacity crowd: “I am very sorry, sometimes you get frustrated on court.”
He was deemed guilty of unsportsmanlike conduct and his £36,500 ($58,500) prize money was withdrawn and he could be hit with a further fine.
Last night Katy Perry sported a nude bodysuit as she took to the stage at the MuchMusic Video Awards (MMVA’s) in Toronto, Canada, to perform her new track Wide Awake.
However, despite the outfit being concealed somewhat by a huge pair of butterfly wings she was wearing for the rendition, it was when Katy Perry made her way off the stage after collecting her award for International Artist that she ran into trouble with the outfit.
But luckily Katy Perry thought quickly and decided to use her MuchMusic award – a long black rectangular box – to maintain her modesty by concealing her rear as she exited the stage after picking up the prize from Pretty Little Liars actress Lucy Hale.
The bodysuit was just one of three outfits Katy Perry sported at last night’s star-studded awards.
The nude bodysuit was just one of three outfits Katy Perry sported at last night's MMVA’s in Toronto
She had earlier arrived on the red carpet dressed as a Marvel-esque superhero in a black and gold gown with cartoon princess hair, accompanied by a mini-army of children dressed in tiny replicas of previous outfits worn by the star.
Katy Perry later toned things down with a prim pair of black culottes and a cream and black lace high necked fitted top, before changing into her bodysuit for the performance of Wide Awake.
The singer debuted the tune at the Billboard Awards in May with an elaborate performance in Las Vegas which saw her lowered onto the stage on a swing wearing a wedding dress.
She was then thrown across the stage as a long haired groom tried to catch her.
The lyrics clearly relate to the breakdown of her 14 month marriage in December last year.
Katy Perry sings: “I’m wide awake. I was in the dark, I was falling hard with an open heart. How did I read the stars so wrong? I was dreaming for so long. I wish I knew then what I know now. I wouldn’t dive in, I wouldn’t bow down.”
She even hints in the song that the marriage was over for a while.
“Not losing any sleep, I picked up every piece and landed on my feet. Need nothing to complete myself. I am born again, outta the lion’s den. I don’t have to pretend. The story’s over now, the end.”
Since 1972, the public attention on Watergate scandal has been centered on all the president’s men, but the story is not without its fair share of female characters.
Four women each played a significant role in unraveling the scandal that would ultimately cost Richard Nixon the presidency.
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein would pen the series of articles that would expose the White House’s involvement in a cover-up of The Watergate Hotel burglary 40 years ago, with their help.
One of them was Judy Hoback, was working as a bookkeeper for the committee to re-elect President Nixon in 1972 when she was contacted by Carl Bernstein.
Judy Hoback told the BBC: “[Woodward and Bernstein] were pushy young men. I was really scared and they played on that.”
Now known as Judy Miller, she was the only employee from the CRP who willingly spoke with the Washington Post.
One of the women involved in Watergate scandal was Judy Hoback, who was working as a bookkeeper for the committee to re-elect President Nixon in 1972 when she was contacted by Carl Bernstein
In a recent discussion with Carl Bernstein at the Watergate Hotel, Bob Woodward said Judy Hoback did more for them than Deep Throat himself, spurned CIA man Mark Felt, according to Politico.
Bob Woodward said: “There were stages when [Mark Felt] really helped us, but the real turning point in the coverage of Watergate was when Carl found the bookkeeper.
“[Hoback] had the details of the money and who controlled it and who got the money. You look at All the President’s Men, I really think the book-keeper is the key source.”
Debbie Sloan, the wife of CRP treasurer Hugh Sloan who was pregnant at the time, also did her part to aid in the Post investigation, when she allowed Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein into their home.
It was the couple’s honesty that helped confirm key details for the reporters, including details about key Republican officials involved in illegal shenanigans.
Debbie Sloan told the BBC: “We never thought six months ahead. We just thought <<this is what we have to do today>> because we have to live with ourselves and teach our children our values.”
She added: “Neither one of us ever considered lying about it. Ever.”
Marilyn Berger, a fellow Washington Post reporter, became part of the story when she alerted Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein that Ken Clawson, a member of the Nixon administration’s communications team, wrote the Canuck Letter, a forged letter to the editor of the Manchester Union Leader that alleged presidential contender Edmund Muskie was prejudiced against those of French Canadian descent.
The letter led Edmund Muskie, who was seen as the top threat to Richard Nixon’s re-election, to withdraw from the race.
The exposure of Ken Clawson as the Canuck Letter’s writer revealed a disturbing “dirty tricks” campaign by the Nixon camp.
The larger-than-life personality of Martha Mitchell, the Nixon campaign worker and wife of Attorney General John Mitchell made her the most flamboyant of the female Watergate figures.
In All the President’s Men, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein referred to Martha Mitchell as a “bizarre aspect of the Watergate affair” and “something of a truth-teller in Washington”.
In a 1974 interview with British journalist David Frost, Martha Mitchell said: “I was brainwashed. I was told this is what goes on in campaigns.”
Google announces it removed about 640 videos from YouTube that allegedly promoted terrorism over the second half of 2011 after complaints from the UK’s Association of Police Officers.
The news was contained in its latest Transparency Report which discloses requests by international authorities to remove or hand over material.
Google said it terminated five accounts linked to the suspect videos.
However, the firm said it had rejected many other state’s requests for action.
Canada’s Passport Office was among the organizations rebuffed. It had asked for a video of a Canadian citizen urinating on his passport and then flushing it down the toilet be removed.
Google also refused to delete six YouTube videos that satirized Pakistan’s army and senior politicians. The order had come from the government of Pakistan’s Ministry of Information Technology.
Google announces it removed about 640 videos from YouTube that allegedly promoted terrorism over the second half of 2011
But Google did act in hundreds of cases, including:
• requests to block more than 100 YouTube videos in Thailand that allegedly insulted its monarchy – a crime in the country
• the removal of a YouTube video that contained hate speech that had been posted in Turkey
• the termination of four YouTube accounts responsible for videos that allegedly contained threatening and harassing content after complaints by different US law enforcement agencies.
Overall, Google said it had received 461 court orders covering a total of 6,989 items between July and December 2011. It said it had complied with 68% of the orders.
It added that it had received a further 546 informal requests covering 4,925 items, of which it had agreed to 43% of the cases.
Google’s senior policy analyst, Dorothy Chou, said the company was concerned by the amount of requests that had been linked to political speech.
“It’s alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect – Western democracies not typically associated with censorship,” she said.
“For example, in the second half of last year, Spanish regulators asked us to remove 270 search results that linked to blogs and articles in newspapers referencing individuals and public figures, including mayors and public prosecutors.
“In Poland, we received a request from the Agency for Enterprise Development to remove links to a site that criticized it.
Russell Brand introduced the Dalai Lama during a youth event in Manchester yesterday and admitted he was finding the experience somewhat surreal.
Acting as master of ceremonies for his holiness’s Century of Dialogue – Stand Up and Be The Change talk, Russell Brand, 37, was praised by the spiritual leader for his “openness”.
Introducing the free event at Manchester Arena, which was attended by several thousand under-25s, Russell Brand introduced the Dalai Lama, 76, in a frank and honest speech.
The comedian said: “Going from junkie to Shagger of the Year…three times… to now introducing the Dalai Lama. It has been an interesting journey.
“He is intense and sort of mellow, which is what you expect of someone who meditates five times a day.”
Russell Brand introduced the Dalai Lama during a youth event in Manchester yesterday and admitted he was finding the experience somewhat surreal
Russell Brand jokingly asked the Dalai Lama if had picked up any spiritual tips.
The Dalai Lama replied: “I think your openness transfers wonderfully.”
At one point the Dalai Lama playfully pulled his beard, with Russell Brand saying: “Not really a lot I can do in a situation like this. I just have to go with it.”
The two men went on to discuss their contrasting sleeping pattern, with Russell Brand more of a night owl and the Dalai Lama as an early riser.
The Tibetan leader said: “Day is for work, night is for sleep but you can do what makes you happy.”
Russell Brand replied: “Thank you for sanctioning my lifestyle.”
But the comedian found himself lost for words when the Dalai Lama admitted that while his sleep patterns weren’t affected by different time zones he travelled in, his bowel movements were.
Russell Brand quipped: “That was more information then I imagined was possible to receive.”
The Dalai Lama is currently on a 10-day tour of Britain and is appealing to the young to foster a culture of non-violence and global peace in 2012.
His Holiness is promoting his new online film Stand Up And Be The Change – shot by Rankin – which features the Gorillaz, Tilda Swinton, Stella McCartney, Willem Dafoe, Beth Ditto, Jarvis Cocker, Alison Mosshart, Michael Stipe and Grimes.
In a frank interview with Oprah Winfrey aired yesterday, Kim Kardashian opened up about her short-lived marriage to Kris Humphries.
Kim Kardashian, 31, stressed that she still has a “place in my heart” for Kris Humphries, yet after moving in together it dawned on her that married life was “not for me”.
Speaking to Oprah Winfrey on Oprah’s Next Chapter, Kim Kardashian said: “I was in love, I wanted the life that I always pictured my fairytale life to be.
“I would’ve had an extravagant wedding anyway, to end that relationship was a risk in itself to lose ratings and I had to take the risk to be honest to myself.”
Kim Kardashian, who never mentioned Kris Humphries by name during the chat, claimed they had never spent enough time alone before their 72-day matrimony for her to recognize his negative traits.
In a frank interview with Oprah Winfrey aired yesterday, Kim Kardashian opened up about her short-lived marriage to Kris Humphries
The reality star continued: “I think when people first meet, everything is great in the beginning, but I didn’t spend more than a whole week with my ex before we married.
“When we moved in together, I saw how our relationship was… I don’t want to get into the small things, but once we moved in, I knew he was not the one.”
As Oprah Winfrey quizzed her about the pre-wedding nerves, Kim Kardashian said: “I didn’t have an inkling, but everyone around me did. The night before, mum said, <<Do you want out?>> She said, <<You’re not yourself>>.
“But I said no, I got angry, I was thinking, <<How dare you!>>”
Kim Kardashian stressed that Kris Humphries did not do anything specifically wrong and denied that he hit her or lashed out
“He’s a good person,” she said.
“I will always have a place in my heart for him. It just wasn’t for me.”
While Kim Kardashian admitted she was “bored” in the romance, she didn’t attribute it as the reason for leaving.
She said: “You know in your heart. Mum was supportive, so I took that time off afterwards… I would rather have been beaten up in the media than live a life that wasn’t happy.
“I was in such a deep depression I thought I was going to back away from everything. I stayed at home for almost four months and I’m a better person now, as heartbreaking as it was to go through.”
She added: “For anyone I hurt, I’m truly sorry, I don’t wish pain on anyone, but the person I am because of that crazy experience, I wouldn’t change it for the world.
“I loved him, obviously it hurt him, and it hurt me too. It was embarassing, I don’t want to call it a mistake, it was a lesson.”
Kim Kardashian also claimed that her sex tape “introduced her to the world in a negative way”, so she was forced to “work ten times harder to get people to see the real me”.
The reality TV star wed Kris Humphries in a fairytale ceremony last August, but eventually their union broke down within less than three months.
Kim Kardashian is now dating rapper Kanye West, 35, and said one of the things that attracts her to him is the fact he is older than her.
She said: “I always dated five years younger. My whole thing was completely different, and now I just love that I’m with someone that’s a couple years older than me.”
Yemeni army commander General Salem Ali Qatan leading the fight against militants in the south of the country has been killed in a suicide attack, officials say.
General Salem Ali Qatan was killed near his home in the port city of Aden, a medical official told AFP news agency.
Yemen is battling militants linked to al-Qaeda who have taken control of parts of the south of the country.
It has recently recaptured several strongholds in the restive southern province of Abyan.
General Salem Ali Qatan was killed near his home in the port city of Aden
Gen. Salem Ali Qatan, Yemen’s southern army commander, was killed while on his way to work by a man wearing an explosives belt, witnesses said.
One report said the attacker handed Gen. Salem Ali Qatan a paper, shook his hand and then detonated his explosives.
At least four other people were wounded in the attack, AFP reported.
An al-Qaeda-linked insurgency and separatist unrest have blighted the south of Yemen for years.
Last year, empowered by uprisings against former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Islamists consolidated their control over Abyan.
However, the Yemeni army recently launched an offensive that recaptured the towns of Shuqra, Zinjibar and Jaar.
