Kim Kardashian and Kanye West as well as Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel sat front row as LA Lakers played against the Denver Nuggets at the Staples Center.
Showing no signs of an earlier spray tan overload, Kim Kardashian and her new beau Kanye West couldn’t get enough of each other as they giggled through the game, missing most of the action on court.
It’s hardly surprising Kanye West, 34, was engrossed in his lady as she displayed an abundance of cleavage.
It’s usually the cheerleaders that prove distracting for the men in the audience but Kim Kardashian made sure all eyes were on her as she donned a skin ensemble.
The leather-clad star looked rather dressed up in a fitted dress which zipped all the way from top to bottom.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West sat front row as LA Lakers played against the Denver Nuggets at the Staples Center
Kim Kardashian, 31, has probably seen far too many basketball games for her liking, her estranged husband Kris Humphries plays for the New Jersey Nets.
Game seven of the Western Conference Quarterfinals during the 2012 NBA playoffs was clearly not exciting enough for her.
Kim Kardashian opted to let her originally tied-back hair down, kick back in her seat and yawn while an equally bored-looking West stared glumly ahead.
They weren’t the only ones unimpressed with the main event.
Recording artist and actor Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel left their chairs with his fiancées mouth agape as if ready to yawn too.
It was only until the musician got involved in a drumming session that things really spiced up for the comfortable and casual pair.
Other stars watching at the famous California venue included actor Jeremy Renner, Modern Family star Julie Bowen and The Lucky One’s Zac Efron.
A new research shows that the size of a woman’s brain grows after their baby is born with increased growth linked to the mother’s enthusiasm and affection for their child.
Brain scans taken of pregnant women before and after giving birth showed an increase in their mid-brain after childbirth, according to the report completed at Yale University.
“We observed small but significant increases in the volume of gray matter in the brain,” said study co-author Dr. Pilyoung Kim to My Health News Daily.
According to the report published in Behavioral Neuroscience in October of 2010, for adults, gray matter’s volume typically does not change over a few month period, like those new mothers studied, making the findings so out of the ordinary.
Typically that kind of growth isn’t seen without a brain experiencing significant learning, injury, illness, or undergoing a major environmental change.
Specifically the researchers saw its growth to the hypothalamus, substantia nigra and amygdala, parietal lobe and prefrontal cortex.
Those regions are responsible for one’s emotion, reasoning and judgement, the senses, and reward behavior, according to the report.
Brain scans taken of pregnant women before and after giving birth showed an increase in their mid-brain after childbirth
With their findings, mothers who showed more enthusiasm over their birth, describing their child using words as special, beautiful, ideal, and perfect, were found more likely to show an increase in their mid-brain opposed to others.
Dr. Pilyoung Kim, who’s currently with the National Institute of Mental Health in Washington, hopes the findings can further help scientists learn what motivates some mothers more than others in caring for their children.
“We’re currently researching whether giving moms oxytocin, a hormone that triggers a reward response in the brain, could influence their response to their child,” Dr. Lane Strathearn, a developmental pediatrician at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, told My Health News Daily.
Dr. Pilyoung Kim’s findings further correlate to a previous report undertaken by Dr. Lane Strathearn in 2008 that showed that a baby’s smile lights up a mother’s reward centers in her brain, like the prefrontal cortex found in the 2010 study.
“A baby’s smile is a very powerful stimulus,” said Dr Stathearn speaking to ABC News.
“It makes sense biologically. Babies are completely and utterly dependent on their caregivers. It makes sense that nature would build in a system that would reinforce that relationship,” she said.
One question researchers on the brain’s growth say they are still working to figure out, however, is the reasoning behind the findings.
“We don’t know whether it’s the experience that changes the brain, or the brain that changes the experience,” said Dr. Pilyoung Kim.
Her team suspects a woman’s increase in hormones like estrogen, oxytocin and prolactin as possible factors as well.
Scopolamine, colloquially known as The Devil’s Breath, a drug that eliminates free will while leaving the victim completely articulate, is currently being dealt on the streets of Colombia.
The Devil’s Breath is derived from a particular type of tree common to South America.
Stories surrounding the drug are the stuff of urban legends, with some telling horror stories of how people were raped, forced to empty their bank accounts, and even coerced into giving up an organ.
VICE’s Ryan Duffy travelled to the country to find out more about the powerful drug. In two segments, he revealed the shocking culture of another Colombian drug world, interviewing those who deal the drug and those who have fallen victim to it.
Demencia Black, a drug dealer in the capital of Bogota, said the drug is frightening for the simplicity in which it can be administered.
He told VICE that Scopolamine can be blown in the face of a passer-by on the street, and within minutes, that person is under the drug’s effect as scopolamine is odorless and tasteless.
“You can guide them wherever you want,” he explained.
“It’s like they’re a child.”
Scopolamine is made from the Borrachero tree (Brugmansia candida), which is very common in Colombia
Demencia Black said that one gram of Scopolamine is similar to a gram of cocaine, but later called it “worse than anthrax”.
In high doses, scopolamine is lethal.
The drug, he said, turns people into complete zombies and blocks memories from forming. So even after the drug wears off, victims have no recollection as to what happened.
One victim told VICE that a man approached her on the street asking her for directions. Since it was close by, she helped take the man to his destination, and they drank juice together.
The victim took the man to her house and helped him gather all of her belongings, including her boyfriend’s cameras and savings.
“It is painful to have lost money, but I was actually quite lucky,” the woman said.
According to the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, the drug – also known as hyoscine – causes the same level of memory loss as diazepam.
In ancient times, the drug was given to the mistresses of dead Colombian leaders – they were told to enter their master’s grave, where they were buried alive.
In modern times, the CIA used the drug as part of Cold War interrogations, with the hope of using it like a truth serum. However, because of the drug’s chemical makeup, it also induces powerful hallucinations.
The tree common around Colombia, and is called the “borrachero” tree (Brugmansia candida) – loosely translated into the “get-you-drunk” tree.
It is said that Colombian mothers warn their children not to fall asleep under the tree, though the leafy green canopies and large yellow and white flowers seem appealing.
Experts are baffled as to why Colombia is riddled with scopolamine-related crimes, but wager much of it has to do with the country’s torn drug-culture past, and on-going civil war.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her party Christian Democratic Union (CDU) are facing a tough task to avoid defeat in North Rhine-Westphalia election on Sunday.
Opinion polls in the key state of North Rhine-Westphalia suggest an emphatic re-election victory for the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).
Analysts say voters look set to reject Angela Merkel’s tough line on fiscal discipline as a cure for state debt.
Recent polls in Greece, France and Italy have rejected austerity policies.
Voting in North Rhine-Westphalia ends at 16:00 GMT, with exit polls expected soon after.
The CDU and its national coalition partner, the Free Democrats, recently lost elections in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein. The CDU scored its lowest tally in the state for 50 years.
The poll in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) will test the popularity of Chancellor Merkel’s CDU, as opposition to her strict austerity policies grows outside Germany.
NRW, Germany’s most populous state and with a large economy, has a history of influencing national politics.
The election was called in March after the state’s minority government, run by a coalition of the SPD and Greens – narrowly failed to get a budget passed.
Polls suggest that state premier and SPD candidate Hannelore Kraft will easily defeat CDU rival Norbert Roettgen, who is Angela Merkel's environment minister
Despite its troubles, polls suggest that state premier and SPD candidate Hannelore Kraft – who has headed the fragile government for the past two years – will easily defeat CDU rival Norbert Roettgen, who is Angela Merkel’s environment minister.
In her campaign, Hannelore Kraft has emphasized strengthening indebted local communities, investing in education and boosting the state’s business appeal.
Norbert Roettgen, on the other hand, has accused the SPD of financial irresponsibility, holding rallies dominated by a huge inflatable “debt mountain”, to emphasize the state’s problems.
He provoked controversy early in the campaign by refusing to commit to being a full-time opposition leader if he lost. Such a move would cost him his job in Berlin.
Angela Merkel said the election offered the region an opportunity to elect a government that would not take on “ever more debt”.
The Pirate Party, which has grown in strength recently with its calls for transparency and internet freedom, is looking to enter its fourth state parliament.
Nationally, Sunday’s election will not change the balance of power, whatever the outcome.
But opposition leaders warned it could send an important signal ahead of national elections expected in late 2013.
Arsala Rahmani, a senior Afghan peace negotiator, has been shot dead in Kabul, officials say.
Arsala Rahmani was a former Taliban minister and a key member of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, which leads efforts to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban.
He was reportedly close to President Hamid Karzai and a key figure in the reconciliation of Taliban commanders.
Last year the peace process was dealt a major blow when the peace council’s chief was killed in a suicide attack.
Arsala Rahmani was a former Taliban minister and a key member of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, which leads efforts to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban
Burhannudin Rabbani was killed by a bomb hidden in the turban of a suicide attacker posing as a Taliban peace envoy last September.
His US-educated son, Salahuddin Rabbani, was appointed to replace him last month.
Police say that Arsala Rahmani was shot dead by an unidentified gunman in a vehicle, while he was on his way to work in the west of Kabul.
Attackers driving a white Toyota Corolla fired a single bullet using a silencer. Arsala Rahmani reportedly did not have a bodyguard.
Afghanistan’s peace council was set up two years ago by President Hamid Karzai to open negotiations with insurgents.
The council was credited with reconciling hundreds of Taliban field commanders, but had failed to woo any senior figures away from the insurgency.
Arsala Rahmani was responsible for the committee that looked at freeing Taliban prisoners from Bagram and other Afghan prisons.
But how much the peace council achieved in the two years since it was set up remains unclear.
Although the Taliban denied sanctioning last year’s killing of Burhannudin Rabbani, they view the Western-backed Karzai government as illegitimate.
In March the militants suspended parallel preliminary peace negotiations with the United States, saying US efforts to involve the Afghan authorities were a key stumbling block.
Tens of thousands of people have protested in capital Madrid and in a number of Spanish cities to mark the first anniversary of the “Indignants” movement.
In central Madrid, many protesters occupying Puerta del Sol square ignored a midnight deadline to disperse.
However, by 05:00 a.m. on Sunday police had mainly evicted them.
Indignants movement was formed out of anger at the impact of Spain’s deepest economic crisis in decades. Unemployment hit a record high in April.
The centre-right government has recently announced fresh austerity measures.
The turnout in Madrid was huge and would certainly have met organizers’ expectations.
Spanish authorities had said they wanted the protesters to disperse by midnight local time but many ignored the time limit.
Tens of thousands of people have protested in capital Madrid and in a number of Spanish cities to mark the first anniversary of the "Indignants" movement
Police vans eventually moved in and appeared to have cleared protesters from the square. The atmosphere in other parts of the city centre was reported to be tense on Sunday morning but there were no reports of violence.
“Today’s goal is to recover the public spaces,” protester Sofia Ruiz earlier told Reuters.
“It is also a way to celebrate that we have been existing for one year and that we are going to be there until the system changes or we are listened to and they take into account our claims,” she added.
Last year the Indignants established a protest camp in Puerta del Sol, but the authorities had vowed they would prevent any protesters from staying overnight in the square.
There were some 2,000 riot police on duty.
At least 45,000 people also took to the streets in Barcelona, police said, although organizers put the attendance in the hundreds of thousands.
One protester there, Jose Helmandez, said he was a genetics and molecular biology doctor but had been unable to find a job in his field.
“A lot of people are leaving the country to find work, even if they end up not doing something they are qualified to do,” he said.
“I was living in France but returned to Spain almost two years ago, and all I can find are short-term jobs.”
Some have criticized the movement for having little impact on Spanish politics over the past year.
The government of conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, elected last November, has introduced budget cuts and tax rises.
Mariano Rajoy has also announced deregulation of the labor market, angering Spanish unions.
“This is a long-distance race, no-one can change an entire political system in one day or one year, it takes time,” Noelia Moreno, a former spokeswoman for the Indignants movement in Madrid, told AFP news agency.
Similar protests took place in other cities in Spain and across the world as part of a global day of action, some of them staged by the Occupy movement:
• In London, hundreds of protesters gathered outside St Paul’s Cathedral, where a protest camp was removed in February. A number of people were arrested
• Smaller protests, numbering in the hundreds, have taken place in the Portuguese capital Lisbon and in Germany’s financial centre, Frankfurt
• Around 1,000 marchers converged in Tel Aviv to protest about the cost of living, with marches also reported in other Israeli cities
Meanwhile, in the latest attack on symbols of Italy’s austerity policies, a tax office has been firebombed in the city of Livorno. No-one was hurt.
Hundreds of fans from Istanbul football club Fenerbahce have clashed with police and occupied the pitch after Galatasaray won Turkish league championship final.
Fenerbahce’s traditional rival, Galatasaray, won the Turkish league championship following Saturday’s goalless derby.
Police used their shields to protect Galatasaray players on the pitch at Fenerbahce’s Sukru Saracoglu stadium.
Officers used pepper spray to disperse fans as players fled to changing rooms.
The violence followed a tense game during which referee Cuneyt Cakir booked several players and issued red cards to one player from each team.
After the final whistle, fans broke plastic chairs and threw them at the police and Galatasaray players. Flares were also thrown.
After the final whistle, Fenerbahce fans broke plastic chairs and threw them at the police and Galatasaray players
Violence continued outside the stadium, with Fenerbahce fans pelting a police vehicle with stones.
Rioters overturned rubbish bins and smashed shop windows, leaving nearby streets littered with debris.
Fenerbahce fans in Istanbul’s Kadikoy district also overturned two police vehicles and set them on fire.
While journalists, players and even policemen were said to have been affected by pepper spray, there were no reports of injuries.
However, elsewhere in the country a 29-year-old man wearing a Galatasaray shirt was attacked by Fenerbahce fans and stabbed in the abdomen, the state-run Anatolia agency said. The man was said to be in a stable condition.
Galatasaray ended the four-way title play-offs with 48 points, one ahead of Fenerbahce. Trabzonspor were third and Besiktas fourth.
Galatasaray, former UEFA Cup winners, are now level on 18 championships with Fenerbahce.
Their fans celebrated in Istanbul, dancing, lighting flares and waving flags.
Michael Caputo, a former masseur at the posh Peninsula Hotel in Manhattan, has claimed that John Travolta was blacklisted for three years from the hotel’s spa for inappropriate behavior.
Michael Caputo, 55, said that John Travolta always asked for a man for his massage at the hotel’s famous rooftop spa and was barred after several creepy-run ins.
The former masseur said that male staffers complained that John Travolta would grind against the massage table, remove the towel and lift his butt in the air during his therapy.
“Travolta would always request a man for his massage, but after a while no one would take him because of his inappropriate behavior,” said Michael Caputo.
“It got to the point where they couldn’t find any men to take him, and they had to ban him,” explained the masseur known as Magic Mike, who said he worked at the Peninsula from 1992-2008.
Michael Caputo, a former masseur at the posh Peninsula Hotel in Manhattan claims that John Travolta was banned for three years from the hotel's spa for inappropriate behavior
The ban lasted for three years and happened around a decade ago according to Michael Caputo, who now works from his Queens, New York home offering massages for $100 an hour.
“If he was banned, do you think he’d ever go back?” said John Travolta’s attorney, Marty Singer, dismissing the allegation as complete nonsense – noting that his client was at the hotel’s famous rooftop spa as recently as six months ago.
“He’s never been banned, I guarantee you. . . . The hotel never told John he was banned, and John never acted improperly,” according to the New York Daily News.
This new allegation comes as John Travolta faced a slight reprieve in the increasingly murky sexual assault allegations against him.
Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican candidate in this year’s US presidential election, has rejected the legitimacy of same-sex marriage telling graduates at Liberty University, a Christian college in Lynchburg, Virginia, that marriage is “a relationship between one man and one woman”.
Mitt Romney told the Liberty University commencement that marriage is an “enduring” institution that’s reserved for one man and one woman.
The crowd cheered his comments, made days after Democratic President Barack Obama embraced same-sex marriage.
Mitt Romney also said that culture – “what you believe, how you live, what you value – it matters”.
“Marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman,” he said.
Mitt Romney told the Liberty University commencement that marriage is an “enduring” institution that's reserved for one man and one woman
Mitt Romney, a Mormon by religion, was given a standing ovation.
Barack Obama, fighting for re-election as president in November, announced his support for gay marriage this week.
It was seen as a politically risky move, especially in the South, where one in three swing voters strongly opposes allowing gays and lesbians to wed.
Virginia is regarded as a key battleground in November.
Addressing the graduation ceremony at Liberty University, Mitt Romney avoided talking about his own faith but stressed the importance of Christian values in American society.
He has so far struggled to gain support from evangelical Christians in his campaign for the Republican ticket.
“There is no greater force for good in the nation than Christian conscience in action,” he told the audience.
While Mitt Romney opposes gay marriage, he has said that same-sex couples should have some rights, including the ability to adopt children.
Kourtney Kardashian flaunted her very large baby bump in a bright green bikini during a recent trip to Mexico to celebrate her 33rd birthday.
The mother-of-one was bold and blooming in her acid green bandeau two-piece, which featured a braided strap.
Kourtney Kardashian pulled her long brunette locks up in a bun to reveal a glowing complexion and wore a pair of aviator shades.
The doting mother watched on as her two-year-old son Mason cooled off in front of a water sprinkler on the grass.
Kourtney Kardashian flaunted her very large baby bump in a bright green bikini during a recent trip to Mexico to celebrate her 33rd birthday
The reality star and her son were also joined by Kourtney Kardashian’s partner Scott Disick, who enjoyed a stroll with his wife and son on the beach.
After getting his tiny feet sandy, Mason washed off his own footsies under the watchful eye of his father and then helped his pregnant mother tend to hers.
Earlier in the day, Kourtney Kardashian took Mason into the surf and instructed him how to splash around in the waves.
Giggling with glee, Mason ran ahead of his mother and even at seven months pregnant she jogged behind him to catch up.
Kourtney Kardashian watched on with pride as Mason took a fake ride all by himself on a jetski that was parked in the sand.
Scott Disick even showed him how to put his little hands on the wheel of the jetski and how to make it go.
Scientific evidence increasingly points to a far deeper problem that confronts dieters: cutting out calories changes your metabolism and brain, so your body hoards fat and your mind magnifies food cravings into an obsession.
Slimmers have often feared this was somehow true, but now science confirms this cruel fact of nature. New research shows dieting raises levels of hormones that stimulate appetite – and lowers levels of hormones that suppress it.
Meanwhile, brain scans reveal that weight loss makes it harder for us to exercise self-control and resist tempting food. Worse still, the more people diet, the stronger these effects can become, leaving some almost doomed to being overweight as a result of their attempts to become slim.
And as research lays bare the dangers of yo-yoing weight, some experts argue it would be better not to diet at all.
Researchers, including Joseph Proietto, a professor of medicine at the University of Melbourne, have uncovered one of the main possible reasons. Two years ago, his team recruited 50 obese men and women, and coached them through eight weeks of an extreme 500-to-550-calories-a-day diet (a quarter of the normal intake for women).
At the end, the dieters lost an average of 30 lb. Joseph Proietto’s team then spent a year giving them counseling support to stick to healthy eating habits. But during this time, the dieters regained an average of 11 lb. They also reported feeling far hungrier and more preoccupied with food than before losing weight.
As the researchers reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, the volunteers’ hormones were working overtime, making them react as though they were starving and in need of weight-gain. Their levels of an appetite-stimulating hormone, ghrelin, were about 20% higher than at the start of the study. Meanwhile their levels of an appetite suppressing hormone, peptide YY, were unusually low.
Furthermore, levels of leptin, a hormone that suppresses hunger and raises the metabolic rate, also remained lower than expected.
Joseph Proietto describes this effect as “a co-ordinated defense mechanism with multiple components all directed toward making us put on weight”. In other words, the body had launched a backlash against dieting.
The team’s landmark study reinforces a belief among biologists that the human body has been shaped by millennia of evolution to survive long periods of starvation.
Cutting out calories changes your metabolism and brain, so your body hoards fat and your mind magnifies food cravings into an obsession
The human frame contains around ten times more fat-storing cells in relation to its body weight than most animals (polar bears, which have to endure long stretches when prey is unavailable, are similarly fat-rich).
Our calorie-hoarding frames have strong mechanisms to stop weight loss, but weak systems for preventing weight gain. If you manage to lose 10% of your weight, your body thinks there’s an emergency. So it burns less fuel by slowing your metabolism.
The body learns to function on fewer calories, resetting your metabolism. The problem is if you then stop dieting and start eating more again, those extra calories are stored as fat.
This effect kicks in after around eight weeks of dieting – and can last for years. Studies by Columbia University show this metabolic slowdown can mean that just to maintain a stable weight, people must eat around 400 fewer calories a day post-diet than before dieting.
Why would this be so? Muscle samples taken before and after weight loss show that once a person drops weight, the fibres may change to become more fuel-efficient – burning up to a quarter fewer calories during exercise than those of a person at the same weight naturally.
How long this state lasts isn’t known, though some research suggests it might be up to six years.
It’s also thought the brain changes in the way it reacts to food. This wilts our willpower, according to Michael Rosenbaum, a researcher at Columbia University Medical Centre who studies the body’s response to weight loss.
“After you’ve lost weight, there’s an increase in the emotional response to food,” he says, adding that there is also “a decrease in the activity of brain systems that might be more involved in restraint”.
In 2010, Michael Rosenbaum and his colleague, Joy Hirsch, a neuroscientist at Columbia University Medical Centre, scanned the brains of people before and after weight loss while they looked at objects such as grapes, chocolate, broccoli and mobile phones.
After losing weight, the scans showed a greater response in the areas associated with reward and a lower response in those associated with self-control.
And last year, scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York discovered that when starved of food, brain cells actually consume each other. This causes the release of fats, which in turn results in higher levels of a powerful brain chemical that stimulates appetite, the journal Cell Metabolism reports. All bad news for dieters, as going without food could make them even hungrier.
All of this helps to explain why an analysis of 31 long-term clinical studies found that diets don’t work in the long run. Within five years about two-thirds of dieters put back the weight – and more. The researchers from the University of California found that dieting works in the short term, with slimmers losing up to 10% of their weight on any number of diets in the first six months of any regimen. But after this, the weight returns, and often more is added, says their report in the journal American Psychologist.
The analysis concluded that most volunteers would have been better off not dieting. Their weight would be pretty much the same and their bodies would not have wear and tear from yo-yoing.
This backfire effect is worst among teenagers: people who start habitually dieting young tend to be significantly heavier after five years than teens who never dieted. This mix of biology and psychology translates into a sobering reality: once we become overweight, most of us will probably remain that way.
Certainly, we should all be worried about what dieting does to our health. Restricting calories may increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer, according to a study from 2010 in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.
Ultimately, of course, we should be more wary of piling on the pounds, than relying on diets to reverse the damage.
Turkish journalists held in Syria for two months are on their way home after being released following Iranian mediation.
Reporter Adem Ozkose and cameraman Hamit Coskun have arrived in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
They are said to be in good health.
Adem Ozkose and Hamit Coskun were reported to be missing at the end of March while they were working in northern Syria on a documentary on the Syrian government’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
Reporter Adem Ozkose and cameraman Hamit Coskun were held in Syria and have been released after two months following Iranian mediation
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said a Turkish plane will take the pair back to Turkey.
A former ally of Damascus, Ankara relied on Tehran – which backs Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad – to serve as an intermediary in talks to release the Turkish journalists.
Garrett McNamara, a Hawaiian surfer, has entered the Guinness Book of Records for riding the biggest wave ever thought to have been ridden.
In November 2011 Garrett McNamara caught a 78 ft wave at Nazare, off the coast of Portugal, beating the previous 2008 record by more than a foot.
Garrett McNamara, 44, began surfing at age 11 and became professional six years later.
He has described his achievement as a stroke of luck and has used his feat to urge people to follow their passions.
The giant wave was located above an underwater canyon famous for being the world’s biggest wave generator.
In November 2011 Garrett McNamara caught a 78 ft wave at Nazare, off the coast of Portugal, beating the previous 2008 record by more than a foot
Garrett McNamara has said that on the day he broke the record, he at first had not wanted to take a ride but his friends urged him to catch a few waves.
“Everything came together. Everything felt right,” he said.
Hundreds of thousands have viewed the video and photographs of Garrett McNamara’s ride. They show his figure dwarfed by a giant wall of water.
“I knew it was big, but I didn’t know how big,” he said.
He later sent the footage and pictures to surfing expert Sean Collins, who guessed the wave was 85-90ft tall. Sean Collins died in December.
Last week, Garrett McNamara was awarded $15,000 for the ride at the Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards in California.
Judges for the awards examined the footage and pictures from different angles.
They also compared Garrett McNamara’s height in a crouch and the length of his shin bone with the wave’s top and bottom before reaching a verdict, event director Bill Sharp told the Associated Press.
Commenting on the record, Garrett McNamara said: “The world would be a much better place if everyone was doing what they wanted to do.”
However, the UK Guardian newspaper quoted him as saying: “I’m not sure I want to ride that peak again.”
Johnny Depp has slammed reports that he and Vanessa Paradis have split after 14 years.
At the premiere of Dark Shadows in London Johnny Depp denied that his relationship with Vanessa Paradis is in trouble.
In fact, Jonny Depp, 48, vehemently poured scorn on the suggestion.
“The rumors are not true,” the actor reportedly told The Sun newspaper.
“They are absolutely not true.”
At the premiere of Dark Shadows in London Johnny Depp denied that his relationship with Vanessa Paradis is in trouble
RadarOnline.com reported that Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, 39 , who have been partners for over 14 years and have two children together, were having troubles.
“People around him are worried about how Johnny is doing because he and Vanessa seem so fractured right now. Their relationship is heading toward the end,” a source told the website.
Yet despite Vanessa Paradis staying away from his Dark Shadows premieres, Johnny Depp insists that everything is fine.
“No matter what I say about this, people believe the opposite. I can’t say enough about it not being over,” he told The Sun.
Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, who have a home in France and a Caribbean island, have not been spotted together in months and Vanessa also recently walked the red carpet of her premiere, of Café de Flore in Paris alone.
They are parents to Lily Rose,12, and ten-year-old Jack.
Johnny Depp has a tattoo of his daughter’s name over his heart and one for Jack on his bicep.
Prince William and Duchess of Cambridge were the star attractions at last night’s gala to mark the countdown to the London Olympic Games.
The royal couple attended the Our Greatest Team Rises Gala dinner at London’s Royal Albert Hall and both looked stylish and sophisticated as they walked down the red carpet.
Prince William looked his usual dapper self in a black tuxedo while Duchess Catherine – also known as Kate Middleton – was stunning in a floor-length teal Jenny Packham dress. Her long brunette locks were put up in an elegant knotted bun while she wore her Jimmy Choo “Vamp” sandals on her feet.
The black tie gala evening marked the final countdown to the London 2012 Games – which start on July 27 – as well as raising critical funds to support the competitors.
Prince William and Duchess of Cambridge were the star attractions at last night's gala to mark the countdown to the London Olympic Games
Once inside, Prince William gave a witty speech to the 3,000 guests in which he likened his physique to that of a pigeon.
He quipped: ”Naturally, I was asked to compete for TeamGB in every sport, but sadly Lord Coe said there were London pigeons with more athletic prowess than me. Anyway to adapt a famous phrase from Sir Steve Regrave, if you see me in a pair of Speedos during the Olympics, shoot me!”
Prince William then went on to say how excited he was at the prospect of the Games in his home city of London.
He said: ”These Games remind us of the power of the human spirit and human endeavour. You, our Olympians and Paralympians, will inspire people up and down this country, and far beyond its borders. For the athletes of Our Greatest Team, these Games mark the pinnacle of your sporting careers. I can only imagine it… competing at home, in front of your countrymen and women, with the eyes of the entire world upon you. A dream come true.
”For all of us mere mortals – and I include my brother, Harry, still droning on about beating Usain…it never counted as it was a false start…this is a lifetime opportunity. We will witness an exceptional moment in our Island History. The mood in London will be electric, ecstatic, amazing. I just can’t simply wait.”
Other guests at the gala included British Olympic champions, Sir Steve Redgrave, Dame Kelly Holmes and Sally Gunnell while Kimberley Walsh was there to perform the official single, Queen’s “One Vision” with tenor Alfie Boe.
It looks like Sylvester Stallone is a few centuries old as he was recently spotted in a 16th century painting at Vatican City.
Raphael’s 1511 painting depicts Pope Gregory IX, but in the background, you can see Sylvester Stallone look alike peaking over the Pope’s shoulder.
Harvard student Anthony Zonfrell saw the painting and posted a picture to Reddit where it quickly gained more than 700,000 views.
Raphael’s 1511 painting depicts Pope Gregory IX, but in the background, you can see Sylvester Stallone look alike peaking over the Pope’s shoulder
Anthony Zonfrell said: “My cousin had told us about how she had seen it when she went, so we were on the lookout. As soon as we saw the painting, we knew it was him. My whole family thought it was hilarious. It could actually be a portrait of Stallone. I posted it at night, and when I woke up it was on the front page. I was shocked at the response it got, it really blew up quite fast. All of the comments were hilarious.”
The Houston Family Chronicles, a reality show about the late Whitney Houston’s family, has just been picked up by the Lifetime Network.
The show will follow several members of Whitney Houston’s family and will debut sometime later this year.
The Washington Post reports that Whitney Houston’s sister-in-law, Pat, will be the main focus of the show.
Whitney Houston’s niece, Rayah, her brother, Gary, her mother, Cissy and her daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown will also be involved with the show.
The Houston Family Chronicles, a reality show about the late Whitney Houston’s family, has just been picked up by the Lifetime Network
Pat Houston said that a show surrounding the Houston family has been in the works for years.
She said: “I have been working with Simmons Shelley over the past few years developing a project suitable for myself and our family. The unexpected passing of Whitney certainly affects the direction of the show. However, it is my hope that others will be enlightened as they watch our family heal and move forward.”
Lifetime writes in a press release: “Lifetime has picked up <<The Houston Family Chronicles>> (working title), an all-new docu-series that will follow the lives of the late Whitney Houston’s family… Whitney Houston’s sudden passing left behind a major void felt not only by the world, but also by those who loved her most, her beloved family. <<The Houston Family Chronicles>> follows those closest to the pop music icon as they try to pick up the pieces after her untimely death.”
The Houston Family Chronicles will premier this year. Lifetime has ordered ten hour-long episodes.
Alpha Lorenzo Walker and his girlfriend Tamara Eileen Diaz have been arrested in the United States and charged with trying to extort money from the singer Stevie Wonder.
Alpha Lorenzo Walker and Tamara Eileen Diaz threatened to reveal “embarrassing information” about the star, officials in Los Angeles said.
Both deny the accusations and are in custody awaiting a preliminary hearing on 16 May.
A judge will decide if there is enough evidence for the two to stand trial.
Alpha Lorenzo Walker and Tamara Eileen Diaz threatened to reveal "embarrassing information" about Stevie Wonder
LA district attorney spokeswoman Jane Robison said that Alpha Lorenzo Walker contacted Stevie Wonder’s representatives and claimed to have embarrassing information about the musician.
Detectives organized a sting operation and the pair were arrested, she said.
Officials said Alpha Lorenzo Walker had identified himself as a relative of Stevie Wonder.
Police have not released any additional details about the investigation.
US sports car designer Carroll Shelby, who gave his name to the famous Shelby Cobra sports car, has died aged 89 at a hospital in Dallas, Texas.
Carroll Shelby, who had a long and varied career, had a heart transplant in 1990 and a kidney transplant in 1996.
The former chicken farmer first made his name as a successful racing car driver, winning dozens of races in the 1950s.
Among them was the gruelling 24-hour Le Mans race in France which he won with teammate Ray Salvadori in 1959.
But after being diagnosed with a serious heart condition he turned his attention to designing high-powered “muscle cars”.
Car designer Carroll Shelby, who gave his name to the famous Shelby Cobra sports car, has died aged 89 at a hospital in Dallas
In 1962 Carroll Shelby test-drove the AC 260 roadster, the car made with a Ford engine that would become the Shelby Cobra.
The Cobra, which also used a British sports car chassis, was the fastest production model ever made when it was displayed at the New York Auto Show in 1962.
Ford later asked Carroll Shelby to develop a high-performance Mustang.
His collaboration with Ford ended in 1970, and he went on to work with Chrysler and General Motors until teaming up with Ford again in 2001.
In 2007, an 800-horsepower 1966 Cobra – once Carroll Shelby’s personal car – sold for $5.5 million at auction, a record for a US car.
“It’s a special car,” he told the crowd before the sale.
“It would do just over three seconds to 60 (mph), 40 years ago.”
When the 1970s energy crisis hit the market for petrol-guzzling high-performance cars, Carroll Shelby went to Africa where he operated a safari company for some years.
Doctors did not immediately release a cause of death, although Carroll Shelby was recently admitted to hospital with pneumonia, according to his Facebook page.
Carroll Shelby is survived by his wife, Cleo, three children, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
The latest cover of Time magazine has caused outrage after Jamie Lynne Grumet, a 26-year-old mother from Los Angeles, has been pictured breastfeeding her 4-year-old son.
Under the headline Are you mom enough?, the young woman is pictured having her left breast suckled by a boy who appears way beyond usual breastfeeding age.
Jamie Lynne Grumet has said she will not stop breastfeeding her almost-four-year-old until he turns five.
She said on the Today show: “I’m hoping our fourth year is probably going to be our final.”
Jamie Lynne Grumet, a mother of two, who also breastfeeds her adopted five-year-old son named Samuel, appeared on the breakfast program with her son Aram.
As the youngster fidgeted in her lap, Jamie Lynne Grumet acknowledged that her attachment parenting methods have been deemed offensive by others.
“I understand some of the breastfeeding advocates are actually upset about this,” she said.
She attributed such outrage to the actual cover image. It is what she believes is a one-sided portrayal of attachment parenting.
“This isn’t how we breastfeed at home,” she said in regards to the photograph, which captures the child standing on a small chair in order to take hold of her breast in his mouth.
“It’s more of a cradling, nurturing situation [at home]. I understand what they’re [the advocates] saying,” she said.
The latest cover of Time magazine has caused outrage after Jamie Lynne Grumet has been pictured breastfeeding her 4-year-old son
Jamie Lynne Grumet, who said Aram is in fact “self-weaning right now”, admitted that she “did understand” that the cover shoot was intended to spark controversy.
“We knew exactly what we were going to get into,” she said.
“I felt like our family was one of the better ones to handle this because of my mom’s own personal breastfeeding.”
Jamie Lynne Grumet was breastfed by her own mother until the age of six.
“It did create a media craze and [it was meant] to get the dialogue… talking,” she said.
But she stressed that she does not believe attachment parenting methods should necessarily be adopted by all mothers.
“It’s not right for everybody… you have to do what is right for your baby.”
Dr. William Sears, the U.S. pediatrician who coined the attachment parenting technique, also appeared on the program.
He maintained that extended breastfeeding, a term that is commonly used to describe the act of breastfeeding past the age of two, is extremely natural.
“If you were on an island and had no doctors, no experts… this is what you would do naturally,” he said.
“I’ve never yet seen an attachment parented baby who’s become a school bully.”
Jamie Lynne Grumet said that while she bares close bonds with her two children, her relationship with her husband is just as important.
“I don’t feel like it takes away from my own personal life, my relationship with my husband is very, very important to me,” she said.
In the magazine’s larger feature story about attachment parenting, the mother said that she is able to recall memories of being latched onto her own mother’s breast.
She said: “It’s really warm. It’s like embracing your mother, like a hug. You feel comforted, nurtured and really, really loved. I had so much self-confidence as a child, and I know it’s from that.”
She has aimed to provide the same type of support to Samuel, who was adopted from Ethiopia in November of 2010.
Samuel was breastfed by his new mother instantly. He is latched to her breast “maybe once a month”.
Jamie Lynne Grumet said: “Being able to give him that [comfort] with the trauma that he faced was really, really important to me. I didn’t realize how much it would help my attachment to him.
“When his English improved, because the connection was there, he didn’t do it as much.”
The mother has written on her blog, which has now been taken down, about how much Aram enjoys being breastfed.
In one post, a photograph of Aram in the Playboy Mansion has been uploaded.
The picture was captioned with the text: “I’ve breastfed Aram at the Playboy mansion. I actually felt it was the most appropriate place on earth to do it.”
There is no explanation to explain why she believes this.
President Hugo Chavez is back to Venezuela coming from Cuba, where he has successfully completed a court of radiotherapy for cancer.
Hugo Chavez hugged ministers on the runway in Caracas and broke into song in front of TV cameras.
“In the last few days we successfully completed the radiation cycle, as planned by the medical team,” he said.
Hugo Chavez, in power since 1999, has insisted he will run for president again in an election due in October.
“I come with great optimism that this treatment will have the effects we hope for, always asking God to help us and give us the miracle of life to keep serving,” he said after 11 days in Cuba.
President Hugo Chavez is back to Venezuela coming from Cuba, where he has successfully completed a court of radiotherapy for cancer
Officials have said that Hugo Chavez’s low profile in recent weeks has been due to the effects of radiotherapy.
However, there had been speculation his condition might be more serious than has been revealed.
Hugo Chavez, 57, said he would continue “rigorously” following medical instructions over the coming days.
“But as the hours and days pass, I’m sure that with God’s favor, medical science and this soldier’s body, I will get back to where I must be, in the front line of the battle, alongside the Venezuelan people, promoting the socialist revolution,” he said.
In February, vice-president Elias Jaua said surgeons had successfully removed a lesion in Hugo Chavez’s pelvic region.
Hugo Chavez had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from the same area last year.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan intelligence agents have questioned a crossword compiler on suspicion of inciting the murder of Hugo Chavez’s brother, Adan.
Neptali Segovia was accused of hiding a coded assassination message in the Ultimas Noticias newspaper.
Answers to some of the clues in his crosswords included the words “kill”, “gunfire” and “Adan”, it is alleged.
Neptali Segovia denied the accusations, saying he had volunteered to be questioned to clarify the issue.
The accusation against him was made earlier this week by TV pundit Miguel Angel Perez Pirela, who presents a programme on state channel VTV.
He said a team of psychologists and mathematicians had concluded that the Spanish-language crossword contained a coded assassination plot against Adan Chavez.
“These sorts of messages were used a lot during World War II,” he said, comparing it to secret codes used by the French Resistance.
A new report by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that 40 million foreign-born people were living in the country in 2010 – the highest percentage of the total population since 1920.
Just a decade earlier, only 31 million people, or 11% of the population, residing in the country were born elsewhere.
While foreign-born residents resided in every state, more than half lived in just the “gateway” states: California, New York, Texas and Florida.
The report was based on the 2010 American Community Survey, a poll of 3 million American households.
More than half (53%) of all foreign-born residents were from Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the report.
By comparison, just 28% of the foreign-born population was born in Asia, 12% in Europe, 4% in Africa, 2% in Northern America and less than 1% in Oceania.
While foreign-born residents resided in every state, more than half lived in just the “gateway” states, California, New York, Texas and Florida
Forty-four percent of all foreign-born residents were naturalized citizens.
While foreign-born residents resided in every state, more than half lived in just four states: California (25%), New York (11%), Texas (10%) and Florida (9%).
At least one in four (27%) residents in California was foreign-born.
New York, Texas and California are traditional “gateway” states for immigrants.
West Virginia had the smallest percentage, with just 1% born outside the U.S.
The new report by the census bureau revealed new information about the size of foreign-born households, their median incomes, and whether or not they lived above or below the poverty line.
According to the report, foreign-born people were more likely to be employed than native-born Americans: 68% versus 64%.
However, those people born outside the country were less likely to have health insurance and more likely to live below the poverty line.
Just 66% of the foreign-born population had health insurance, compared with 87% of the native population.
The median household income of foreign born households was $46,224 while native households made $50,541.
YouTube user “rob19791”claims he has found proof that NASA is covering up evidence of aliens because the agency’s spacecraft that monitors the Sun went offline after he spotted a “UFO” on its video feed.
On May 5, “rob19791” posted a YouTube video of a mysterious-looking “object” hovering near the sun. The footage was taken from video that the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory beamed back to Earth and streamed online.
But the claims are likely to fall on deaf ears at NASA after two other similar sightings of “alien spaceships” have been debunked with simple explanations.
The video zooms in on a pyramid-shaped object hovering above the sun’s surface.
On May 5, “rob19791” posted a YouTube video of a mysterious-looking “object” hovering near the sun
One day later, NASA shut down the spacecraft’s video feed as it went into “emergency Sun reacquisition mode”.
“This is a cover up to prevent us from seeing these things again. NASA must have seen this video and started making plans to change the way you and I are allowed to view it,” he said in a second video.
“I think this is proof that NASA is covering this up.
“NASA is clearly trying to stop us looking at the sun,” he added.
This is the third time in recent months that believers have pointed out “proof” of UFOs based on supposedly unexplained phenomena on NASA’s space-monitoring equipment.
In December, a man says he found a “cloaked” space ship orbiting Mercury.
March brought the “Death Star”, a planet-size object seen “refueling” at the Sun – similar to rob19791’s triangular discovery.
In March, NASA scientists debunked the Death Star theory by explaining that cameras had simply captured a solar filament – a tunnel of matter extending out from the sun and cooling to form a dark “spot”.
It appears this might be the explanation for the second “UFO”, as well.
While the answer is shorter on conspiracy, it is no less puzzling to scientists.
They still aren’t sure what the filaments are or what caused them to form.
Jessica Simpson has reportedly sold pictures of her newborn Maxwell Drew to People magazine for $800,000.
Jessica Simpson, whose celebrity fashion line is reported to have raked in one billion dollars in sales, gave birth to her first child, daughter Maxwell Drew, on May 1.
People magazine has done a deal with Jessica Simpson to run exclusive photos, sources told Women’s Wear Daily.
It is significantly less that some other stars received for baby pictures – Jennifer Lopez is understood to have received $6 million from People for snaps of her twins.
Jessica Simpson has reportedly sold pictures of her newborn Maxwell Drew to People magazine for $800,000
The same publication reportedly gave Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt around $11 million for the exclusive on their twins Vivienne and Knox.
Of course, not all A-list celebrities demand high fees – Beyoncé and Jay-Z declined all offers and instead posted the first pictures of Blue Ivy Carter on their Tumblr page.
It seems Jessica Simpson may be set to cash in on another front too – there are also unconfirmed reports that she is signing a her $4 million deal with Weight Watchers.
Jessica Simpson is certainly enjoying motherhood, telling her Twitter followers this week: “I am so in love with baby Maxwell. I want to cry every time I look at her.”
She added: “Motherhood is by far the best thing I’ve ever experienced.”
Jessica Simpson is currently engaged to Maxwell’s father, sportsman Eric Johnson.
