Penny Marshall, the director of the 1996 musical drama The Preacher’s Wife, deemed the recent death of Whitney Houston a “very sad” loss.
“She was a great girl, and we got along fine,” the television star turned movie director said about guiding Whitney Houston through the 1996 musical drama The Preacher’s Wife opposite Denzel Washington.
“She sang beautifully, but like a baseball player doesn’t pitch every day, you had to schedule certain things at certain times. You have to take the actors into consideration.”
Penny Marshall also took the use of Whitney Houston’s vocal talents seriously: “I went to her mom’s church in Newark [N.J.] and I went to Denzel’s church out here [in Los Angeles], and we auditioned choirs. I had never done anything with music of the current time, because most of the movies I did were period pictures. Awakenings was, certainly A League of Their Own was, and so was Riding in Cars With Boys.”
Penny Marshall deemed the recent death of Whitney Houston a "very sad" loss
With Big and Jumpin’ Jack Flash also on her resume, Penny Marshall cut her directing teeth on several episodes of the classic ABC sitcom Laverne & Shirley, now seen on The Hub. Along with Cindy Williams and their co-stars, she’ll be honored for the show with the Fan Favorite Award as the 10th-anniversary TV Land Awards are televised by that network Sunday, April 29.
Laverne & Shirley was run by Penny Marshall’s brother Garry, who would become a noted movie director himself (Pretty Woman, Beaches), and she says pretty much anyone who worked on the show had the opportunity to direct. “It’s hard to do a series,” she reflects.
“You do a show a week, and sometimes, we didn’t love the dialogue so much … so we found physical ways around it. It became about behavior.”
Lately, Penny Marshall has been directing television again, with Showtime’s United States of Tara and ABC’s According to Jim among those credits.
“All they do is watch monitors now,” Penny Marshall says.
“They don’t know everything that’s in front of an audience. We didn’t have video feeds back then. It was, <<A camera, you got it? B camera, you got it? C camera, you got it? Fine.>> And they’d tell you the truth.”
Calling the shots on more TV shows isn’t out of the question for Penny Marshall.
“I don’t do vampires, I don’t do car crashes, and I don’t do people in big metal outfits,” she reasons.
“That’s what they spend the money on now in features, and with any movie you want to do, you have to shoot them fast and they don’t pay enough. I’d rather direct television.”
In a recent interview with InStyle magazine, Jennifer Aniston says 2012 for her will be about enjoying life with her new man Justin Theroux.
“We’re trying to live between both coasts,” Jennifer Aniston says.
“I want to see friends more and travel more. I say that every year, but this year, I’m going to do it!”
Jennifer Aniston, 43, and Justin Theroux, 40, met during filming of Wanderlust, which was released in cinemas last month.
“It was one of the most idyllic film experiences I’ve ever had,” she says.
“We spent three months together out on a lake, laughing the whole time. We became a family.”
They have been inseparable ever since.
“Having experienced everything you don’t want in a partner over time, it starts to narrow down to what you actually do want. As I get older, I realize what qualities are important in love, what suits me and what I won’t settle for.”
In a recent interview with InStyle magazine, Jennifer Aniston says 2012 for her will be about enjoying life with her new man Justin Theroux
Jennifer Aniston says she has long since moved on from some of those “lessons”, and insists that tabloid headlines about her long-running feud with love rival Angelina Jolie is far from the truth.
Asked what is the biggest misconception about her, Jennifer Aniston told the magazine: “There are so many. I would say the triangle with my ex-husband – and that there’s a feud. It’s a headline that won’t go away – a story that has nothing to do with reality.”
The actress rivals any twenty-something on the red carpet and on film, but Jennifer Aniston admits the “new crop” are starting to make her aware of her post-40 age.
“You know what makes me feel old? When I see girls who are twenty-something, or the new crop of actresses and think, <<Aren’t we kind of the same age?>> You lose perspective.
“Or being offered the part of a woman with a 17-year-old child. It’s like, <<I’m not old enough to have a 17-year-old!>> Then you realize, well, yeah, you are.
But the actress adds: “I don’t feel my age. I feel young every day.
“I feel sexy in my jeans and wearing my boyfriend’s T-shirt.”
However, she doesn’t say that she has copied Justin Theroux’s “biker” look.
“He has great style – it’s very specific and it has been his style forever,” Jennifer Aniston says.
“But has it influenced mine? No. I know people say it has – <<Oh look, you’re dressing alike>>. And I think, <<No I’m not. I’ve had this jacket for three years!>>
“On the red carpet, it’s time for me to start doing something different. I play it very safe, because I just want to be comfortable. If I could wear a jersey tank that went down to the floor, I would.”
Her style staples? “Boots, a great blazer, a scarf and jeans. I like Rag & Bone, Vince and Generra jeans, which they don’t make any more. And a black leather jacket for winter.
“I love Christopher Bailey for Burberry. And Tom Ford. I have his skirts, jackets and shoes, but I don’t know how to walk in them. I’ve tried! I need to lop off a little of the heel. They require serious strength.
“I’m a bit of a clothes hoarder, admittedly. I try to weed out stuff. My girlfriends come over for cheese and wine and go shopping in my wardrobe. They especially love it when they get stuff with a tag still on.”
Jennifer Aniston’s toned figure as impressive as ever, but the actress says she wants to shift the extra weight she’s gained since giving up cigarettes.
“I don’t make resolutions, but I quit smoking recently and it put a couple of pounds on me that are hard to lose,” Jennifer Aniston says.
“Everybody says it’s normal, but I’d like to get rid of them!”
Members of Somalia’s Olympic committee and Football Federation heads are among seven people killed in a suicide blast at Mogadishu’s national theater re-opening ceremony.
Somali PM Abdiweli Mohamed Ali was also present when the attacker struck the newly re-opened national theatre, but he said he was unhurt.
Al-Shabab militants say they carried out the bombing.
The theatre closed in the early 1990s as Somalia descended into civil war and was only reopened last month, amid a new period of relative optimism.
Seven people have been killed in a suicide blast at Mogadishu’s national theater re-opening ceremony
The President of the Somali Olympic Committee, Aden Yabarow Wiish, and the Somali Football Federation chief, Said Mohamed Nur, were among a group of dignitaries who had gathered to mark the first anniversary of the launch of Somalia’s national television station.
According to Somali Service, three Somali television journalists were also wounded in the blast.
Eyewitnesses said the attacker was a woman.
Al-Shabab militants who had controlled large parts of the country, including Mogadishu, were pushed out of the city by troops from the African Union last year.
Since then, there has been a period of relative quiet, with sporting activity resuming, restaurants opening, and the re-opening of the National Theatre.
But al-Shabab has continued to attack the capital with bombs and mortars.
Serbia’s President Boris Tadic has announced his resignation.
Boris Tadic still has 10 months of his current term of office to serve, but the move will allow him to stand for re-election on 6 May.
Parliamentary elections are already scheduled to take place on that date, and the move is seen as a tactic to help his Democratic Party’s campaign.
Serbia’s President Boris Tadic has announced his resignation
Boris Tadic says he will formally submit his resignation to the speaker of the Serbian parliament on Thursday.
President Boris Tadic, who’s keen to build closer links with the European Union, will face a strong challenge from the nationalist candidate Tomislav Nikolic.
Richard Descoings, the head of the Paris Institute of Political Studies, one of France’s most prestigious academic institutions, has been found dead in a New York hotel room, police say.
The body of Richard Descoings, 53, was discovered naked at the Michelangelo hotel in Manhattan.
A police spokesman said investigators were awaiting a medical report to determine the likely cause of death.
He said police had so far found no evidence that a crime was committed.
Richard Descoings, director of the Paris Institute of Political Studies, has been found dead in a Michelangelo hotel room in Manhattan
Richard Descoings had been the director of the Sciences Po institute, one of France’s elite “grandes ecoles”, since 1996.
Colleagues raised the alarm on Tuesday morning when he failed to appear at an UN-sponsored conference of university heads he had travelled to New York to attend.
The spokesman, Paul Browne, told the AFP news agency that there was “no sign of trauma”.
He said the disorderly state of Richard Descoings’ room at the time of the discovery was the result of attempts by medical staff to resuscitate him.
Richard Descoings was known for carrying out a programme of far-reaching reform at Sciences Po, which educates much of the French political, media and administrative elite.
He also improved access for students from less privileged backgrounds.
In a statement, French President Nicolas Sarkozy paid tribute to Richard Descoings’ career, saying he had devoted his life to education.
An unprecedented cluster of tornadoes ripped through major towns and cities in Texas yesterday leaving thousands of homes reduced to rubble and more than a dozen people injured.
The powerful storm swept trucks across the skies and base-ball sized hail stones punched holes in the roofs of cars and homes.
Meteorologists said it was the first time two “extremely dangerous” tornadoes hit two large metropolitan areas at the same time. Arlington and Lancaster were worst hit with both areas being declared “disaster zones”, while damage was reported in at least nine cities in five counties.
“I have never seen two tornadoes hit two large metropolitan areas at the same time before,”AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Henry Margusity said, reports Newsroom America.
Weather service advisories issued yesterday said storm spotters and radar revealed separate tornadoes south of Dallas and Fort Worth.
Brandy Kemps filmed one of the tornadoes from work in north Texas, she told ABC News: “Debris was flying right in front of me in the air – shingles, dirt, tree limbs. The tornado funnel was coming right at us, then went directly behind the apartment building I was in and then made a right toward 45 North.”
One tornado tore through the Flying J Truck Plaza in Dallas, grabbing two trailer trucks and tossing them, said truck driver Michael Glennon, who caught the destruction on his video camera as debris swirled through the air.
In Sunnyvale, Heather Montoya said the dark funnel shook her entire home and left uprooted trees inside and her furniture scattered all over her property.
“It was insane. We have a lot of windows in our house. The whole house started shaking and in five seconds it was completely done,” she told ABC’s Dallas affiliate WFAA.
An unprecedented cluster of tornadoes ripped through major towns and cities in Texas yesterday
A grandmother in Diamond Creeks, Forney, where 20 to 30 homes were severely damaged, sought refuge in a bath-tub with her grandchildren as the walls of her home collapsed. The woman was forced to hold on to her 18-month-old grandson’s legs as the powerful winds almost swept him away, the toddler suffered minor injuries.
Most of Dallas was spared the full wrath of the storm. Yet in Lancaster, where around 300 homes were destroyed, television helicopters panned over exposed homes without roofs and flattened buildings. Broken sheets of plywood blanketed lawns and covered rooftops.
A pastor at one Lancaster church saw debris swirling in the wind, then herded more than 30 children, some as young as newborns, into a windowless room to ride out the storm. Nearby at the church’s school, about 60 more children hid in another windowless room near the women’s bathroom.
An entire wall of Cedar Valley Christian Academy wound up being taken out in the storm. Pastor Glenn Young said he didn’t know when the school might re-open.
“I’m a little concerned,” Glenn Young said.
“This is our livelihood.”
Residents could be seen walking down the street with firefighters and peering into homes, looking at the damage after the storm passed.
Devlin Norwood said he was at his Lancaster home when he heard the storm sirens. He said he made a quick trip to a nearby store when he saw the funnel-shaped tornado lower, kick up debris and head toward his neighborhood.
Officer Paul Beck said 10 people were injured in the suburb. He says two of those injuries are severe but did not have further details.
Assistant Arlington fire chief Jim Self says three people suffered minor injuries there, including two residents of a nursing home who were taken to a hospital after swirling winds clipped the building. Around 50 homes were damaged in the area.
“Of course the windows were flying out, and my sister is paralyzed, so I had to get someone to help me get her in a wheelchair to get her out of the room,” said Joy Johnston, who was visiting her 79-year-old sister at the Green Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
“It was terribly loud.”
At the nearby Omni Mandalay Las Colinas hotel, tornado sirens sounded, alerting guests to get to safety.
“The hotel has not been evacuated but we do have guests under cover,” said a telephone receptionist at 421-room hotel. The storm is believed to have leveled several homes, and tens of thousands of others are without power.
National Weather Service meteorologist Amber Elliott confirmed two separate tornadoes had touched down, one in Arlington, Texas and another in Dallas. Nine separate tornado warnings have been issued by the weather service for the Dallas area so far on Tuesday, she said.
Hail ranging from pea-sized to as large as baseballs pounded Dallas and Fort Worth, the nation’s fourth-most-populous metropolitan area with 6.3 million people.
Multiple news outlets reported homes with their roofs violently torn off.
In Arlington, NBC DFW reporter Mola Lenghi told the network: “There’s lots of 18-wheelers. I’ve never seen this before.”
Giuliana Rancic’s world was shattered in September 2011, when she discovered she had breast cancer while trying to fall pregnant with IVF treatment.
And last night on the season premiere of her reality TV show Giuliana and Bill, the E! TV presenter recalled the harrowing moment she was diagnosed with the disease.
Giuliana Rancic, 37, gave an extremely emotional account what happened in the months after she learned the news and spoke of her hope for the future.
Remember what happened on September 7, 2011, Giuliana Rancic said: “It happened very quickly and the doctor said: <<You have breast cancer.>>”
At this point Giuliana Rancic broke down in tears as she remembered the gut-wrenching moment and said: “It’s not easy talking about it because it’s like the worst second of your life it’s like awful – it’s like everything you expect that conversation to be like – it’s 100 times worse – it’s a million times worse.”
Giuliana Rancic gave an extremely emotional account what happened in the months after she learned she had cancer
After saying the disease Giuliana Rancic felt a sense that she was dropping through the floor and tuned out as the Doctor explained her treatment options.
The TV presenter remembered: “When I heard radiation I just started hysterically crying again.”
That day Giuliana Rancic had to face the worst news of her life alone, as her husband and best friend Bill was on a charity mission.
Bill Rancic also shared his memories of learning the news and recalled: “Cancer is something that hit home with me because I lost my dad.”
“It’s a helpless feeling.”
After speaking to her husband and telling him the news Giuliana Rancic also described how difficult the phone call to her mother was, and described it as “heartbreaking”.
She added: “I just started falling apart, she was so sad, I felt so bad.”
Giuliana Rancic was diagnosed with breast cancer while she was trying to fall pregnant, when a routine mammogram showed that not all was right in her breast.
She was in the middle of IVF treatment and was due to get her eggs retrieved when she discovered she had the disease.
Giuliana and Bill Rancic decided to keep the news private and the TV presenter went back to work like nothing had happened.
She said: “It was hard putting a smile on my face,” adding, “but it was a great distraction but the second I would walk away, boom, miserable again.”
And it appeared that after a hectic week in New York for Fashion Week her emotional stresses became too much when an ill-fitting dress at the Emmys led to her hating her breasts.
Giuliana Rancic said: “It went from oh my gosh I think I’m showing a little too much cleavage to cover these up.”
“I hated them.”
Giuliana Rancic also spoke of being “mad” at her body for having the cancer.
Rachel Veicht, a 93-year-old grandmother from Florida, has parked her car for good after driving 576,000 miles (927,000 km) over 48 years at the wheel of one trusty vehicle.
Rachel Veitch bought her Mercury Comet Caliente for $3,289 in February 1964. It has outlasted three marriages and 18 battery changes, she says.
On March 9, Rachel Veicht had to give up driving as she has become legally blind.
Reicht Veitch plans to sell the car instead of giving it to her family amid concerns they might not look after it.
“They’re not going to get it. They couldn’t take care of it like I did,” Rachel Veitch told Fox News. Rachel Veicht has four children, nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
She said the care and attention she paid to her car was one of the main reasons it had lasted so long.
Rachel Veitch bought her Mercury Comet Caliente for $3,289 in February 1964
In 2009 Rachel Veicht told Fox News: “When I buy gas, I write down the mileage, the date and how many miles per gallon I got. I’ve never been a destructive person and I’ve just taken care of everything, except my husbands.”
The car is said to be worth about $12,000 today and has been through three sets of shock absorbers and eight exhaust mufflers as well as surviving a rear-end collision in 1980.
It is due to appear in an antique car show in the state of Wisconsin in July, though Rachel Veitch says she is not sure what will happen to it after that.
Rachel Veitch has said she would consider selling the car to Jay Leno, a classic car enthusiast and host of the US late night chat show The Tonight Show.
“I haven’t talked to Jay Leno yet, but I’m wondering if he’s interested. But I don’t think I should start talking about it now,” Rachel Veitch told Fox News when news of her decision to stop driving emerged.
The former nurse has said, however, that she is adjusting well to life without her chariot.
“I know I’m not safe enough to drive, but I have taken it in stride,” she said.
While Rachel Veitch has clocked more miles than a trip to the moon and back, her car does not hold the record for the most miles travelled.
Irv Gordon entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 1998 with 1.69 million miles on his 1966 Volvo P1800. It is reported that he has now accumulated close to three million miles on the same car.
Helen Collins, an 80-year-old US woman with little flying experience has staged an emergency landing in Wisconsin after her pilot husband collapsed and died.
Helen Collins remained calm as she brought the small Cessna plane in to land at Cherryland Airport, even though she said she knew her husband was dead.
The woman had taken basic lessons in taking off and landing 30 years ago, her son James Collins told the Associated Press news agency.
James Collins, also a trained pilot, helped guide his mother down via radio.
Helen Collins remained calm as she brought the small Cessna plane in to land at Cherryland Airport, even though she said she knew her husband John was dead
Helen Collins and her husband John, 81, were coming back from their holiday home in Florida when he suffered a fatal heart attack in the cockpit.
She called the police and local pilot Robert Vuksanovic went up in another small plane to try to help guide the Cessna down.
The plane had almost completely run out of fuel by the time she landed at the small airport in Sturgeon Bay and had only one functioning engine.
It skidded down the runway for about 1,000 ft (305 m) before coming to a halt.
“She was calmer than everybody on the ground. She had it totally under control,” James Collins told AP.
“The amazing thing is she landed that plane on one engine – I don’t know if there are a lot of trained pilots that could do that.
“I already knew I lost my dad; I didn’t want to lose my mom. It could have been both of them at once.”
Local resident Torry Lautenbach watched the Cessna land and estimated that Helen Collins circled the airport about 10 times.
“She did a really good job. It was amazing. It took one bad hop and then it came back down and skidded.”
Helen Collins was taken to hospital with injuries to her back and ribs but is expected to be released within the next few days.
Cissy Houston has still not come to terms with her daughter Whitney Houston’s death, as she revealed during her first interview since the tragic event.
Cissy Houston insists Whitney’s tragic passing last month in the age of 48 hasn’t made her question her religious faith but she has still not fully accepted the tragedy.
Whitney Houston’s mother said: “I have my moments … I’m not there yet. I am a true believer in God. If I could bring her back I would, but that’s not possible.”
Cissy Houston, 78, praised her “wonderful” daughter – who died of accidental drowning due to the effects of heart disease and cocaine use – and spoke of her pride in Whitney’s career achievements.
In an interview with Brenda Blackmon for My9’s The 10 0’Clock News which aired on Monday (04-02-12), Cissy Houston said: “She accomplished a whole lot in the short time that she had here.
“She was a wonderful person. She was very special to me. She was my only daughter, and a good one.”
Cissy Houston’s interview with Brenda Blackmon for My9's The 10 O'Clock News is her first public appearance since Whitney’s death
Cissy Houston believes she did her best to raise Whitney – who had struggled with drug addiction in the past – the right way and doesn’t have any regrets.
The gospel singer said: “I know I did the best I could. I don’t blame myself. I know I did the best I could for everything.”
And Cissy Houston also condemned reports that her daughter – who had a 19-year-old daughter Bobbi Kristina with ex-husband Bobby Brown – had little of her fortune left when she died.
Cissy Houston said: “Whitney did not die broke. She’s not broke. She’s not anything. None of that c**p.”
Workers put the finishing touches to the Aizhai Long-span Suspension Bridge in Jishou, Hunan, China, this week, just in time for its opening.
At 1,102 ft up and 3,858 ft across the ambitious Aizhai suspension bridge has become the highest and longest in the world.
Work started on the engineering feat in October 2007 and the bulk of the work finished at the end of last year.
It is designed to ease traffic in the Jishou area of Hunan province and officially opened to motorists today.
At 1,102 ft up and 3,858 ft across the ambitious Aizhai suspension bridge has become the highest and longest in the world
Drivers can take in the views of the Dehang Canyon as they steer their way across all 3,858 ft of the new sky-high road which links two tunnels.
The bridge, which is lit up at night with 1,888 lights, is the fourth suspension bridge to cross a valley so wide it seems to be connecting two mountain ranges.
Once on the bridge cars and lorries can motor along a two-way, four-lane motorway at about 50 mph. Pedestrians can also walk along it on a special walkway under the road.
Aizhai suspension bridge is a key part of the Jishou-Chadong Expressway, a 64-kilometre road which has 18 different tunnels which cover about half of its length.
It is hoped Aizhai bridge will help ease traffic jams which are common in the mountainous area which has narrow, steep and winding roads.
The structure is supported by a base 78 ft wide.
China has the longest bridge in the world, the Danyang Kunshan Grand Bridge which is just over 100 miles long and was built two years ago to carry the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway.
Boy George showed off a black eye caused during an altercation at a night club on Saturday evening.
The former Culture Club frontman – now a successful DJ – was injured as he left the Amadeus nightclub in Northallerton, North Yorkshire on Saturday evening.
Boy George, 50, real name George O’Dowd, was leaving the venue when there was an altercation with a female club-goer.
A spokesman for Boy George claimed: “George was leaving the club when, the club management have said, a drunken and aggressive woman lunged for his hat – and in doing so hit him in the eye.”
The spokesman claimed that as a result of her actions, the woman was asked to leave the club.
Boy George was injured as he left the Amadeus nightclub in Northallerton, North Yorkshire on Saturday evening
Boy George posted the photograph on micro-blogging site Twitter, adding: “Looking pretty after being assaulted on Saturday night! Nice!”
The star added: “Poor Christine having to make up only one eye after an incident in a club….I have one big bruised eye! Sweet.”
Boy George, though, is not pressing charges against the woman.
The singer first rose to fame as the cross-dressing frontman of Culture Club.
They were one of the most successful stars of the1980s with chart-topping singles including Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? and Karma Chameleon, which was the biggest selling UK single of 1983.
However, the band fractured as Boy George’s infamous heroin addiction worsened. In 1986, he was even arrested for heroin possession.
Boy George subsequently rebuilt his career as a DJ but has intermittently come to the attention of police.
The singer was sentenced to five days community service in New York for falsely reporting a burglary in 2006.
In 2009, Boy George then served four months in prison in the UK after he was convicted of false imprisonment.
A reunion album with Culture Club has also been mooted for later this year.
Millions of people from Dallas and Forth Worth are being urged to seek shelter immediately as dramatic news footage shows trucks and other massive debris being thrown across the skies in Texas.
National Weather Service said storm spotters and radar revealed separate tornadoes south of Dallas and Fort Worth.
Incredible news footage of the twister shows a massive funnel cloud and tractor trailers being launched above the area.
The weather service says the tornado south of Fort Worth caused “considerable damage” near Cleburne.
The agency said in its warning: “National Weather Service meteorologists confirmed a large and dangerous tornado near Hutchins. This is a dangerous situation … seek shelter now!! This is a tornado emergency for Dallas and Hutchins!”
Dallas tornado tosses trucks across the skies as dangerous twister targets Texas
Local television footage shows a large funnel cloud on the ground near Interstate 35 south of Dallas.
The weather service says the “large and extremely dangerous” tornado was near Lancaster about 20 miles south of Dallas and moving north.
The weather service is also reporting other developing tornadoes as a band of severe storms moves through the area.
A tornado watch is in effect for most of the counties in north Texas.
The United Nations Security Council has been accused by Turkey PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan of indirectly supporting the oppression of the Syrian people by failing to unite on Syria.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the UN Security Council was standing by with its “hands and arms tied” while the Syrian people were dying every day.
Russia says Syria has promised to pull its forces from cities by 10 April.
In Damascus, the head of Red Cross has been meeting top Syrian officials.
Jakob Kellenberger has been trying to get Syria to allow aid workers better access to those who have been wounded or displaced by the conflict.
He will also press the Syrian authorities to implement a daily two-hour ceasefire, as stipulated in the peace plan proposed by the UN and Arab League envoy, Kofi Annan.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the UN Security Council was standing by with its "hands and arms tied" while the Syrian people were dying every day
The president of the UN General Assembly, Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser, says he has asked Kofi Annan to brief the world body on his Syria peace mission.
No date has been set, but Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser said he had suggested 13 April, after the 10 April deadline for the military pullback and a mutual ceasefire has passed, our correspondent adds.
Russia’s foreign ministry says Syria’s government has informed Moscow it has started implementing Kofi Annan’s plan to end the unrest.
The ministry said in a statement that the Syrian ambassador to Moscow told Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov that Damascus had begun fulfilling its obligations under the plan, the Associated Press news agency reports.
The statement did not give any further details.
Kofi Annan’s spokesman, Ahmed Fawzi, said on Tuesday that an advance team from the UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) would arrive in Damascus “in the next 48 hours” to discuss the deployment of international monitors.
The team would be made up of five to six people, he added.
The announcement comes the day after Kofi Annan urged the UN Security Council to set a deadline of 10 April for a ceasefire plan to come into force.
Syria says it has agreed to the deadline.
But activists say government forces have continued to attack opposition strongholds.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said by not taking a decision on Syria, the UN Security Council had “indirectly supported the oppression. To stand by with your hands and arms tied while the Syrian people are dying every day is to support the oppression”.
He told members of parliament from his governing AK Party that Turkey would not turn its back on the Syrian people.
China and Russia have twice vetoed resolutions condemning President Bashar al-Assad’s regime for turning the army on civilians.
On Monday, Kofi Annan told the UN Security Council that President Assad had agreed to withdraw security forces from major population centres by 10 April, diplomats said.
Kofi Annan also asked the Security Council to plan for the deployment of UN observers to supervise the ceasefire by all parties, as set out in his peace plan.
UN officials and diplomats said the monitors would probably be drawn from other peacekeeping forces in the region and could not be established without an end to the fighting, agreement by all parties and a Security Council mandate.
The ceasefire is only one part of Kofi Annan’s peace plan, which also calls for a political process to address the “aspirations” of the Syrian people, release of detainees, delivery of humanitarian aid, free movement for journalists, and right to protest.
Former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton has told how talk show host Rush Limbaugh made fun of her looks when she was 13 years old by comparing her to a dog.
Chelsea Clinton, 32, said she identified with Georgetown University student Sandra Fluke, who was branded a “slut” and a “prostitute” by Rush Limbaugh, during a panel about women in politics last week.
“She and I actually have something in common. We’ve both have been attacked by Rush Limbaugh,” Chelsea Clinton said.
She added: “She was 30. I was 13.”
Chelsea Clinton recalls how Rush Limbaugh made fun of her looks when she was 13 years old by comparing her to a dog
Chelsea Clinton was referring to the 1993 incident in which Rush Limbaugh mocked her appearance.
“Socks is the White House cat. But did you know there is also a White House dog?” Rush Limbaugh had said, before showing an image of the young Chelsea Clinton.
“I’m grateful I don’t remember the exact phrasing,” Chelsea Clinton said during the debate.
“Thankfully I had grown up in public life and knew that having thick skin was a survival skill.”
“I do also believe if you have the right type of enemies you’re doing something correct,” Chelsea Clinton added.
Rush Limbaugh apologized after both incidents but his comments about Sandra Fluke caused widespread condemnation, prompting high-profile advertisers to pull out from his radio show.
During the panel with Chelsea Clinton, the law student said she hoped the conservative host’s comments had not put other women off speaking out in the future.
“I was worried they would think, <<I should sit down and shut up, because if I speak out, this is what happens>> … I want women to see this as an empowering moment,” Chelsea Clinton said.
Hilary Clinton also weighed in on the debate during an interview with MSNBC this week.
“As a woman and as someone who can vaguely remember being a young woman, and as a mother of a young woman of that age and generation, I thought the response was very encouraging,” Hillary Clinton said.
“The response from the public, the response from women cutting across all kinds of categories, the response from advertisers, so I’ll let that speak for itself.”
SolarKindle Lighted Cover is a solar case which lets readers “top up” their gadget simply by leaving it in the sun.
The SolarKindle Lighted Cover has a built-in solar panel and battery – and the battery is guaranteed to provide three months of reading time in “normal” sunlight, without dipping into the gadget’s own power.
Kindle solar case goes on sale this week, priced at $80.
Once the gadget’s topped up, the SolarKindle diverts power to a backup battery.
Eight hours will fully charge the backup , which offers roughly three weeks’ use. The battery also powers an LED light, which can run for 50 hours.
Given that Kindle is built for wireless use, with books and gadgets delivered to the gizmo via wi-fi or cellular networks, it is likely many SolarKindle-equipped e-readers may never be plugged in at all.
The SolarKindle Lighted Cover has a built-in solar panel and battery
The leather-clad pouch with charger panel and battery comes at quite a premium, though – it’s $80, only $30 short of the price of Kindle itself.
The gadget also offers a built-in LED light, powered by the reserve battery.
“Expose the solar panel to sunlight and your Kindle will be constantly charging,” says SolarFocus.
If your Kindle is running down and there’s no sign of the sun, you can switch the gadget to “top up” from the reserve battery. A blinking LED light tells you how much battery is left in the reserve as you charge.
“After fully charging the Kindle, the solar panel automatically switches to charge the reserve battery. When charging, the LED indicator light blinks green. A one hour charge in direct sunlight can provide almost three days worth of reading time on your Kindle.”
“For optimum performance, use the solar panel to continuously charge your Kindle – don’t wait for the battery to run out of power before recharging.”
One L. Goh, the man who allegedly shot seven people dead and injured three more at Oikos University in Oakland, California, was targeting a female school official, police say.
One L. Goh began shooting randomly when he discovered the administrator was not there, Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said on Tuesday morning.
The shooting took place on Monday at Oikos University.
Suspect One L. Goh, a 43-year-old former student at the college, surrendered at a supermarket in nearby Alameda city.
One L. Goh allegedly shot seven people dead and injured three more at Oikos University in Oakland
He arrived at the university with the “the intent of locating an administrator. He then went through the entire building systematically and randomly shooting people,” Howard Jordan told ABC News’ Good Morning America.
“We’ve learned that the suspect was upset with the administration at the school. He was also upset that students in the past, when he attended the school, mistreated him, disrespected him, and things of that nature.
“He was having, we believe, some behavioural problems at the school and was asked to leave several months ago.”
Howard Jordan described the suspect as a “chaotic, calculated and determined gentleman”, adding that it was the gunman’s intention to kill people.
Five people died at the scene, and two people died later at the hospital. Two people remain in hospital in a stable condition and one person has been released.
According to the police chief, the victims ranged in age from 21 to 40.
Robert Redford will produce a documentary about Watergate, more than 30 years after appearing in a film about the US political scandal.
Robert Redford, 75, played journalist Bob Woodward in the 1976 movie All the President’s Men, whose uncovering of the scandal lead to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
The actor told the New York Times it was the “right time to take a look at this moment in history”.
The documentary will premiere in 2013.
As well as producing All The President’s Men Revisited, Robert Redford will also act as narrator.
Robert Redford will produce a documentary about Watergate
The controversy that surrounded the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, prompted President Richard Nixon to resign in 1974.
Washington Post reporters Woodward and Carl Bernstein – portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in the film – played a key role in uncovering the scandal, which was traced back to members of a Nixon-support group.
The 1976 film was nominated for four Oscars, winning four including one for screenwriter William Goldman.
The new documentary has been commissioned by the Discovery Channel and will explore the effect the scandal has had on US politics and the media in the four decades since.
“To be able to pull the fabricated and the real together, for the first time, is kind of a juicy opportunity for us,” Eileen O’Neill, the president of Discovery, said.
Last week, Robert Redford said he believed documentaries have replaced newspapers as the media’s main source of investigative journalism.
Robert Redford also said he thought papers were in “steep decline” and documentaries have become “a better form of truth”.
Girls Around Me, the controversial mobile app which allowed users to find nearby women and access their full name, photos, and send them messages, has been taken off the market due to safety concerns.
The application worked by taking GPS data from Foursquare and searched for women in the immediate area who have also checked in on the location-based mobile service.
The mobile app, made by Russian company iFree Innovations, was previously available on iTunes.
The app’s less-than-careful data sharing had caused considerable concern last week, with many lambasting the app for making stalking easy and taking advantage of those who don’t understand privacy policies of social media.
Girls Around Me mobile app has been taken off the market due to safety concerns
Girls Around Me required the users permission to link the app to their personal Facebook account.
Once downloaded, the app asked for the user’s Facebook log in, pictures, basic information including gender and age, as well as photos and email addresses.
It also asked permission to run even when the app itself was closed, thus allowing Girls Around Me to collect location data at all times. The app’s website advertised that Girls Around Me “puts you in control!”.
It continued: “Reveal the hottest nightspots, who’s in them, and how to reach them…” It also says that users can easily find “love” or “a one-night stand”.
Though the initial app download was free, users had to pay $0.99 for every “energy pack”, to search for nearby women at an accelerated rate.
iFree Innovations made the decision to pull the app. The company told the Wall Street Journal: “[W]e believe it is unethical to pick a scapegoat to talk about the privacy concerns.
“We see this wave of negative as a serious misunderstanding of the apps’ [sic] goals, purpose, abilities and restrictions.”
The app was downloaded more than 70,000 times before it was taken down, according to the creators.
Stanford lecturer Elizabeth Stark told the New York Times’ Bits blog that the application required far too much information.
“This would be a very different application if it didn’t link back to Facebook, which is a treasure trove of information,” she said.
“With that link, this app could easily be a <<let’s stalk women>> app.”
Popular Apple blog Cult of Mac described the app a “wake-up call about privacy”.
US researchers have found that the obesity problem may be much worse than previously thought.
Experts said using the Body Mass Index (BMI) to determine obesity was underestimating the issue.
The US study, published in the journal PLoS One, said up to 39% of people who were not currently classified as obese actually were.
The authors said “we may be much further behind than we thought” in tackling obesity.
BMI is a simple calculation which combines a person’s height and weight to give a score which can be used to diagnose obesity. Somebody with a BMI of 30 or more is classed as obese.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control, at least one in three Americans are obese.
Other ways of diagnosing obesity include looking at how much of the body is made up of fat. A fat percentage of 25% or more for men or 30% or more for women is the threshold for obesity.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control, at least one in three Americans are obese
One of the researchers Dr. Eric Braverman said: “The Body Mass Index is an insensitive measure of obesity, prone to under-diagnosis, while direct fat measurements are superior because they show distribution of body fat.”
The team at the New York University School of Medicine and the Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, looked at records from 1,393 people who had both their BMI and body fat scores measured.
Their data showed that most of the time the two measures came to the same conclusion. However, they said 539 people in the study – or 39% – were not labeled obese according to BMI, but their fat percentage suggested they were.
They said the disparity was greatest in women and became worse when looking at older groups of women.
“Greater loss of muscle mass in women with age exacerbates the misclassification of BMI,” they said.
They propose changing the thresholds for obesity: “A more appropriate cut-point for obesity with BMI is 24 for females and 28 for males.”
A BMI of 24 is currently classed as a “normal” weight.
“By our cut-offs, 64.1% or about 99.8 million American women are obese,” they said.
It is not the first time BMI has been questioned. A study by the University of Leicester said BMIs needed to be adjusted according to ethnicity.
IBM is developing a computer which will digest twice as much information every day as the entire internet, sifting through radio waves from space in an effort to unravel the origin of the universe.
The huge computer will be attached to a 1,900 square mile array of telescope antenna, and will be built to “suck in” in radio telescope data which will “see” 13 billion years into the past, back to the dawn of the universe and the Big Bang.
IBM machine will be millions of times more powerful than the fastest PCs today – and will deal with 100 times more information than the output of the Large Hadron Collider.
Ton Engbersen of IBM resarch said: “If you take the current global daily Internet traffic and multiply it by two, you are in the range of the data set that the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope will be collecting every day.”
Upon completion in 2024, the telescope will be used to explore evolving galaxies, dark matter and even the very origins of the universe dating back more than 13 billion years.
The IBM computer will be attached to a 1,900 square mile array of telescope antenna, and will be built to “suck in” in radio telescope data which will “see” 13 billion years into the past
IBM is to investigate using 3D “stacks” of computer chips to achieve the enormous computing power required by the Square Kilometre Array.
This extremely powerful survey telescope will have millions of antennas to collect radio signals, forming a collection area equivalent to one square kilometre but spanning a huge surface area – approximately the width of the continental United States.
The SKA will be 50 times more sensitive than any former radio device and more than 10,000 times faster than today’s instruments.
The SKA is expected to produce a few Exabytes of data per day for a single beam per one square kilometer. After processing this data the expectation is that per year between 300 and 1500 Petabytes of data need to be stored.
In comparison, the approximately 15 Petabytes produced by the large hadron collider at CERN per year of operation is approximately 10 to 100 times less than the envisioned capacity of SKA.
The directors of the SKA project are to meet in Amsterdam on 3 April to discuss the location of the huge telescope, scattered across 1,900 square miles of Earth’s surface.
It will start building in 2016.
“It will have a deep impact on the way we perceive our place in the universe and how we understand its history and its future,” said Michiel van Haarlem, interim director general of the SKA project.
“We know we are going to discover things.”
The SKA will consist of thousands of dishes across 1,900 miles, with a total surface area of one square kilometre, that will provide so much data that one astronomer has declared it will completely change our view of the universe.
The scientific community also believe that the SKA represents our best ever chance of finding out if there’s life beyond our solar system.
To do this will require ground-breaking technology. The SKA’s 15m-dishes, which will detect electromagnetic radiation emitted by objects in space, will be the most sensitive ever built – able to detect an airport radar on a planet 50 light years away.
These dishes will be complemented by low and medium frequency aperture arrays, which provide a large field of view and are capable of observing more than one part of the sky at once.
It will be carried on enough optical fibre cable of such quantity that it could be wrapped twice around the world.
As yet, a location for it hasn’t been decided, but Southern Africa and Australia are both n the reckoning.
They all offer areas with ideal conditions for telescopes, which must be well clear of electronic interference, such as that generated by mobile phones.
It’s hoped that construction will begin in 2016, with the dishes coming online eight years later.
A prototype of SKA called KAT-7, which consists of seven 16-metre dishes, is undergoing testing in South Africa’s Karoo desert.
Mirlande Wilson, a McDonald’s employee from Maryland who claimed to hold one of the winning lottery slips, had yet to produce a ticket and has disappeared, leaving Mega Millions officials skeptical.
The mystery surrounding the Mega Millions winners deepened as lottery executives said until the lucky three came forward with tickets, any claims to have scooped the top prize were nothing but speculation and rumor.
Three ticket-holders in Maryland, Kansas and Illinois will split the record $656 million payout. No winner has yet come forward to lottery officials in the states to claim their multi-million dollar share.
Stephen Martino, Maryland lottery director, told ABC: “We don’t know any more than the public or media does and it’s all speculation and we’re not going to get involved in that.”
Another official added: “It’s probably not this person.”
Mirlande Wilson had yet to produce a ticket and has disappeared, leaving Mega Millions officials skeptical
Winners in Maryland and Illinois have six months to claim the money – Kansas’s newest multimillionaire has up to a year.
Both Maryland and Kansas will allow winners to remain anonymous but the lucky ticket-holder in Illinois will be identified.
Mirlande Wilson, 37, had enraged her co-workers with claims of her scoop after she revealed to the New York Post that she was not planning on sharing the millions – despite the fact they had pooled their money for tickets.
Workers at the McDonald’s restaurant bought a number of tickets together for the biggest lottery in world history but Mirlande Wilson claimed she separately bought one of the three winning tickets.
“We had a group plan, but I went and played by myself. [The winning ticket] wasn’t on the group plan,” Mirlande Wilson told The New York Post.
A number of items once belonging to Whitney Houston commanded slightly more than $82,000 at the Hollywood Legends auction this weekend, with most items drawing much higher bids than they were originally estimated to bring in.
The highest-selling Whitney Houston item, a beaded bustier that had been sold during a 2007 court-ordered debt auction, drew $18,750. In the catalog for the auction, the estimated value is listed as $4,000 to $6,000.
Also commanding a handsome price, a grey velvet gown that Whitney Houston wore to her mentor Clive Davis’ pre-Grammys party in 1996. The gown, which was also sold during Whitney Houston’s 2007 debt auction, pulled in $11,520, and had been listed in the catalog in the $1,000-$2,000 range.
The highest-selling Whitney Houston item, a beaded bustier that had been sold during a 2007 court-ordered debt auction, drew $18,750
The items were sold off as part of the Hollywood Legends auction held in Beverly Hills by Julien’s Auctions. Other items up for bid included a bowler hat, cane and suit owned by film icon Charlie Chaplin and a Christian Dior gown worn by Grace Kelly.
A vest and two pairs of earrings worn by Whitney Houston in her breakthrough film The Bodyguard were also auctioned off, raking in a combined $8,700.
Whitney Houston was pronounced dead on February 11 after being found submerged in the bathtub in her room at the Beverly Hilton hotel by a member of her personal staff. An autopsy later determined that she died of accidental drowning, and that cocaine and heart disease contributed to her death.
Rihanna has revealed that she would love to portray Whitney Houston if there is ever to be a biopic and a role to be played.
Recent reports abounded that record label executive Clive Davis was heading up efforts to make a biographical film to honor Whitney Houston, but he has since denied the rumors.
Rihanna was reportedly being considered for the role, but she recently revealed that she would “love” to portray the legend.
“That would be something that I would have to give my entire life to do because I would want to really pull it off,” Rihanna told The Press Association.
“That’s a huge, huge role and whoever does it has to do a good job.”
Rihanna says she would love to portray Whitney Houston if there is ever to be a biopic and a role to be played
Rihanna was on the short list of contenders for the role, along with Jennifer Hudson, Vivica Fox and Sparkle star Jordin Sparks. Brandy was also mentioned in some reports.
Though Rihanna may lack acting experience compared to the other candidates, she’s not completely new to the industry. She is set to debut her acting abilities in her first film, Battleship, alongside Alexander Skarsgard, Brooklyn Decker and Liam Neeson. The sci-fi thriller will be released in the U.S. in May.
But for Rihanna, portraying Whitney Houston is not so much about acting experience, but about the chance to represent her musical inspiration on the big screen.
“My first song that I remember falling in love with was a Whitney Houston song – I Will Always Love You,” Rihanna said.
“It was really inspiring and it made me develop a passion for music, so really she’s partly responsible for me being here in this industry.”
A small plane with two persons on board crashed into a Florida shopping mall and burst into flames last night, injuring at least five people and sending shoppers running from the building.
Several people at the Northgate Shopping Center in Deland, Florida called emergency services at 7:20 p.m. to report that an aircraft had plunged into the complex, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
Witnesses described seeing the plane sputtering just before it plummeted and hit the building. The pilot and one passenger were airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center.
They were both in critical condition, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported. At least five people had been injured, two with burns.
A witness reported that the twin-engine plane appeared to have crashed into the roof of a Publix chain supermarket.
A witness reported that the twin-engine plane appeared to have crashed into the roof of a Publix chain supermarket
Marleny Arevalo, a manager at a nearby fast food restaurant, said she didn’t hear or see the crash but customers entering the Taco Bell were rattled by the incident.
She ran with another employee to the shopping center and saw flames that appeared to be shooting from the rear of the Publix branch.
“There was a lot of smoke. When I first saw it, there was fire in the air and then it was just a lot of black smoke,” Marleny Arevalo added.
Fire crews on the scene blocked off surrounding roads. Roth Peeler, who lives about 300 feet from the store, told the Orlando Sentinel he watched the plane go down.
Roth Peeler said: “A small, yellow plane spiraled right down and through the roof and just exploded. Not a piece of the plane came out. It’s all in the store.
“I went around the front and saw people running out of the store and trying to get into their cars and out of the parking lot.”
Deland is about 20 miles west of Daytona Beach and the shopping center is close to Deland Municipal Airport.
A dark column of smoke could be seen wafting from the rooftop of the shopping center.
Around 20 fire engines were at the shopping complex, using extended ladders to pour water on to the flames.
Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said that the FAA did not provide air traffic services for the flight and had no immediate information.
Publix has 748 store locations in Florida and dozens more in four other Southern states. It is the largest employee-owned supermarket chain in the U.S.
