EU foreign ministers are set to impose a travel ban and asset freeze on Syria First Lady Asma al-Assad, diplomats say.
The UK-born wife of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad is among 12 Syrians to be added to a number of figures, including the president, who are already subject to sanctions.
It was unclear whether the ban would stop Asma al-Assad from travelling to the UK.
Anti-government activists accuse the regime of killing thousands of protesters over the past year.
In recent weeks, the Damascus government has stepped up its efforts to crush pockets of rebellion in cities including Homs and Hama.
Every day, activists report dozens of deaths and more protests.
President Bashar al-Assad has promised political reform, but observers and his opponents have dismissed his plans as window-dressing.
EU foreign ministers are set to impose a travel ban and asset freeze on Syria First Lady Asma al-Assad
For years there was a perception that Asma al-Assad’s Western upbringing could encourage reform in Syria.
Asma al-Assad, 36, who is of Syrian descent but spent much of her life in west London, has generally played a low-key role in the regime.
However, in February Asma al-Assad wrote to Britain’s Times newspaper to explain why she thought her husband was still the right man to lead Syria.
Last week activists released some 3,000 emails they said were from private accounts belonging to Bashar al-Assad and his wife.
The messages, which have not been independently verified, suggested Asma al-Assad continued to shop online for luxury goods even after the uprising was in full swing.
The UN says at least 8,000 people have died since the uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s regime began last March.
Bashar al-Assad and his allies say terrorist and armed gangs are behind the violence, and say hundreds of security personnel have been killed fighting them.
Reality star Kim Kardashian was attacked with flour on the red carpet at her own perfume launch in West Hollywood.
Kim Kardashian, 31, was covered in flour after an unidentified Asian woman pelted her at the launch of True Reflection at The London Hotel in West Hollywood.
The reality star arrived dressed-to-the-nines, wearing a black blazer, leather trousers and a bright blue blouse, but within minutes she looked more like a dowdy housewife after a kitchen mishap.
Kim Kardashian’s whole back and shiny hair was covered in the substance, which was later determined as cooking flour, according to TMZ.
TMZ reports that after the attack, Kim Kardashian, who arrived at the hotel with her mother Kris Jenner, was ushered into a private room where she removed her doused jacket and brushed the flour off the rest of her outfit and long brunette locks.
Kim Kardashian opted to go back to the event following the fracas, and the assailant was arrested by police who were called to the scene, according to TMZ.
The fire department was also called to the scene to inspect the substance, which after several minutes they determined as cooking flour.
Kim Kardashian was covered in flour after an unidentified Asian woman pelted her at the launch of True Reflection at The London Hotel in West Hollywood
After Kim Kardashian returned to the event she laughed off the ordeal and even made a joke in light of the incident.
“That probably is the craziest, unexpected, weird thing that ever happened to me,” Kim Kardashian told E! Online.
“Like I said to my makeup artist, I wanted more powder and that’s a whole lot of translucent powder right there.”
Meanwhile her mother Kris Jenner told the website: “If anybody comes at me with something, call security.”
According to E! Online, the woman ran off after she threw the flour, but didn’t get very far when Kim Kardashian’s representation intercepted her and held onto her before security took over.
Kim Kardashian has not pressed charges over the incident and the unidentified woman has been released, according to a press release from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Moments before the assailant launched their attack, Kim Kardashian was blissfully unaware of what was to come, happily posing for pictures and doing interviews with the press.
The attack may have quite possibly have come from a protester opposing Kim Kardashian’s love affair with fur.
In November 2011, Kim Kardashian was the target of a PETA campaign.
The animal rights group posted a billboard in Los Angeles that featured a photo of the curvy star wearing a fur-trimmed jacket.
A picture of two foxes was included, along with the caption: “Kim: These babies miss their mother. Is she on your back?”
The attack comes just a few months after somebody flour bombed Kim Kardashian’s best friend Jonathan Cheban in New York City while he was walking with the reality star near her boutique Dash last December.
The unidentified person threw the flour in Jonathan Cheban’s face yelling: “This is for Kris Humphries!”
Jonathan Cheban and Kim Kardashian’s ex-husband Kris Humphries had a notoriously rocky relationship, which was played out on Kim’s reality show Kim and Kourtney Take New York.
“I think it’s pathetic that someone would go to this length to show their support for someone,” Jonathan Cheban told Us Weekly following the ordeal.
“With fans like that, who needs enemies?”
Kris Humphries representation also released a statement at the time, denying that he had any involvement.
“[He] would never condone hateful and unacceptable behavior like that to anyone, in any situation,” the statement said.
Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries notoriously split last year after just 72 days of marriage.
Kim Kardashian’s little sister Khloe immediately took to her Twitter account to express both her outrage and praise for her sister’s dignified reaction after the flour pelting.
Khloe Kardashian wrote: “I’m proud of how Kim handled the situation.”
Kim Kardashian’ sister then later added in defense: “I wish I was with my sister tonight. I bet you that woman wouldn’t have dared tried a thing…”
Sources connected to Whitney Houston, who were with the singer on the day she died, told TMZ an individual removed all traces of cocaine from the room before authorities arrived.
The Coroner’s Office said Whitney Houston used cocaine “immediately prior to her collapse.” Investigators who arrived on scene found no traces of cocaine or any other illegal substance.
One source, who is extremely close to the situation, told TMZ that the individual who removed the cocaine was also the person who supplied it to Whitney Houston.
An individual removed all traces of cocaine from Whitney Houston’s hotel room before authorities arrived, say sources
Earlier reports claimed other items were removed from the Beverly Hilton Hotel room as well, including bed sheets.
The Beverly Hills PD told TMZ its investigation is not closed. Police will not comment on whether they are looking at evidence tampering.
Whitney Houston drowned in the hotel room bathtub on February 11, having ingested cocaine recently enough to have it be a contributing factor in her death, said Los Angeles coroner yesterday.
But how exactly did Whitney Houston, who was only 48, die in her bathtub at the Beverly Hilton?
Did she overdose? Hit her head? Simply fall asleep? Did years of cocaine use cause the heart disease that was also detected during autopsy?
Los Angeles County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter, who determined cause of death to be accidental drowning combined with cocaine use and atherosclerotic heart disease, told E! News that his team actually has not been able to pinpoint exactly how Whitney Houston died as far as sequence of events – but there are some likely possibilities.
“It means she could have passed out and drowned,” Ed Winter said.
“Also, continued use of drugs resulted in heart disease, and that could have led to a heart attack.
“At this time, I don’t know how bad her heart was. That will be in the final report. We know she drowned, she had heart disease, and the cocaine was considered a contributing cause to her death.”
They will be reexamining Whitney Houston’s heart for other indicators of deterioration in the coming days.
As for the traces of pills found in Whitney Houston’s body, chief coroner investigator Craig Harvey told reporters during a press conference that it was “clear Houston was taking Xanax, but the levels were such they were a therapeutic level…normal for someone following the rules of a prescribed medication.”
“The Benadryl may have created a combined effect, but the toxicology said all levels were therapeutic or sub-therapeutic and not contributory to her death,” Craig Harvey said.
Whitney Houston drowned in the hotel room bathtub on February 11, having ingested cocaine recently
They found a “moderate” amount of cocaine – an “acute dose, not too much before she collapsed,” he said, but noted that there was evidence of “chronic usage.”
“Drug use creates problems,” Craig Harvey explained.
“If you have one condition and you’re using cocaine, you’ll exacerbate it. It causes the heart to beat faster, the arteries to constrict, which can create a problem and set you up for a cardiac event.”
“It exacerbates heat disease,” he said.
“Probably in the long run, [all of the substances] didn’t help.”
The coroner’s office said earlier today that the final report should be available for release within two weeks.
Meanwhile, at least one medical expert doesn’t buy the notion that the marijuana, Xanax and other sedatives found in her system were not considered contributing factors in Whitney Houston’s death.
“I don’t know how you can say that a bunch of sedating drugs, even in small amounts, couldn’t contribute to somebody either passing out or becoming sedated to the point where you wouldn’t necessarily struggle to recover the way most people would,” Dr. David Baron, chief of staff at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Ortopaedic Hospital, told E! News.
“If we were falling asleep and slipped under the water, our emergency systems in our brain would wake us up,” Dr. David Baron said.
“When people are sedated, the brain doesn’t have the normal alarm systems working properly to make you struggle and fight for life. So I really don’t get why [the coroner’s office] said they were not contributing causes; I don’t know how they can know that unless they were in such minute amounts.”
Which is a possibility – the official report hasn’t been released yet.
As for the cocaine, Dr. David Baron said, if she ingested a “large amount…she could have easily had a cardiac event like a heart attack and an irregular heartbeat. There is no way after someone dies to know if they had an arrhythmia, they are always the mystery of sudden death where you weren’t there to witness it.”
“We are probably never going to know the exact sequence of events that took place,” Dr. David Baron concluded.
“But the question about whether the drug use caused her to drown or not I think is unquestionable. It either compromised her heart, made it weak, caused an arrhythmia and resulted in blood vessels constricting.”
Japan prepares its anti-missile defense systems in response to the planned launch of a North Korean long-range rocket next month, Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka has said.
Reports said the defense systems would be deployed near the island of Okinawa to shoot down the rocket should it threaten Japanese territory.
North Korea says the rocket will put a satellite into orbit.
But the US and its allies believe the launch is a pretext for a missile test.
Pyongyang said last week it was to mark the 100th birthday of its late Great Leader Kim Il-sung with the launch.
The announcement drew widespread criticism that the launch would violate UN Security Council resolutions.
The resolutions were imposed after a similar launch in April 2009. Japan is particularly concerned as the last North Korean rocket was launched over the country.
“I have ordered officials to prepare to deploy the PAC-3 and Aegis warships,” Naoki Tanaka said.
The Japanese parliament also passed a resolution condemning the launch.
South Korea, China and the US have also expressed concern over the planned North Korean launch.
“It would be a grave provocation threatening the peace and security of the Korean peninsula and north-east Asia,” the South Korean foreign ministry said in a statement.
Nuclear envoys from South Korea and Japan held talks in Seoul to work out how they would respond if the launch were to go ahead, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.
Japan prepares its anti-missile defense systems in response to the planned launch of a North Korean long-range rocket next month
Meanwhile, Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua said Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun met Pyongyang’s ambassador to express Beijing’s “worry”.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called North Korea’s announcement “highly provocative”.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said any launch could discourage aid donors.
“Such an act would undermine recent positive diplomatic progress and, in its effect on international donors, would likely worsen the humanitarian situation inside the country,” he said in a speech in Singapore.
Last month, Pyongyang agreed to suspend long-range missile tests as part of a deal for the United States to supply 240,000 tons of food aid to North Korea.
It also agreed to suspend uranium enrichment and to allow back UN weapons inspectors as part of the deal.
A US state department spokesperson said it would be “hard to imagine” giving food aid to North Korea, as previously agreed, if Pyongyang went ahead with the rocket launch.
In the launch three years ago, Pyongyang said the satellite made it into orbit and characterized it as a test of its satellite technology.
The move drew condemnation from the US and South Korea and led to the UN resolutions prohibiting the North from nuclear and ballistic missile activity.
Foreign officials said there were no indications that a satellite had reached space and that the launch was a cover for Pyongyang to test long-range missile technology.
North Korea said last week that the launch of a rocket carrying a satellite would take place between 12 and 16 April.
The ”working satellite”, the Kwangmyongsong-3, is an opportunity for ”putting the country’s technology of space use for peaceful purposes on a higher stage”, said a North Korean spokesman.
The rocket would be launched from the Solace Satellite Launching Station in Cholsan county, North Pyongyang province on the country’s west coast.
State media also reported that North Korea has already launched two experimental satellites.
Israel passed a law banning models from advertisements or fashion shows if they measure less than 18.5 on the body mass index (BMI).
The new law is part of an effort to promote health for women of all sizes, and to stop glorifying the ultra-thin.
“Beautiful is not underweight,” says Rachel Adato, one of the creators of the bill.
In recent years, much attention has been paid to how women are portrayed in the media, whether it’s an overly airbrushed magazine model with an impossibly slim waist, or a TV starlet with protruding collar bones.
In an era when pro-anorexia communities congregate on social media sites like Pinterest, it’s no wonder that lawmakers are concerned with women’s body image.
For sure, reducing the number of images that portray women as very thin is beneficial, says Claire Mysko, director of Proud2BeMe, a website created with the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) to promote healthy body image.
“There is a danger in being constantly exposed to one image of beauty,” Claire Mysko says.
“There is a serious lack of body diversity in the media. People are not seeing themselves and their bodies reflected.”
Israel’s law may be the catalyst needed to help make change. But others say it could make things worse.
Many magazine editors, modelling agents and casting directors say they want to use more diverse models, but can’t because of industry expectations – with each blaming the other group for setting the tone.
Israel passed a law banning models from advertisements or fashion shows if they measure less than 18.5 on the body mass index
“They all feel trapped into producing what nobody individually espouses,” says Amanda Mears, author of Pricing Beauty: The Making of a Fashion Model.
“Everyone felt individually powerless.”
Regulating the types of models that can be used may be a good way to “shock” the system into making changes, she says.
However, Amanda Mears, along with many other experts on eating disorders and body image, worry that the law is flawed.
“Bodies come in different shapes and sizes, and the very idea that there is a concrete qualifying number, and if someone can match it they’re considered healthy, is wrong,” Amanda Mears says.
BMI, a ratio of height to weight, is best used as a way to measure the average size of groups of people, but is not a good indicator of personal health, says Margo Maine, a clinical psychologist who has specialized in eating disorders.
“It’s arbitrary,” Margo Maine says.
“In the past I would have welcomed [the law] but I am a little leery of the judgment about the correct body type.”
Limiting the types of bodies that are permitted to model or considered attractive can backfire, says Matthew Johnson, director of education at the Media Awareness Network, a media education programme in Canada.
“What would be more effective would be encouraging a wider variety of body shapes on TV and in media in general.”
Otherwise, the message is not to celebrate bodies of all shapes and sizes, but to reject extreme thinness.
“We have reduced women to their size,” says Dr. Margo Maine, author of The Body Myth.
“By targeting women who are thin, whether they have an eating disorder or are naturally thin, we are focusing on the individual instead of challenging the culture that buys into it.”
Thin women may have an easier go of it than fat women, but they’re still subject to attacks about their size. Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, is subjected to constant speculation about her health and comments about her weight.
Angelina Jolie’s Oscar appearance last month set Twitter alight with criticisms of her thin frame. “Angelina Jolie looks like her arms are ready to snap in half at any moment. Gross,” wrote one user.
Speaking out against very thin star celebrities can feel like a satisfying blow against unrealistic body standards, says Raegan Chastain.
As an advocate for fat acceptance she has often heard people criticize women for being too thin.
Still, she warns those trying to come to terms with their own size to leave other people out of it.
“If you want to push against standards, you don’t do that by bashing people,” Raegan Chastain says.
“You can’t look at someone and tell how healthy they are. Weight and health are two separate things.”
With that in mind, NEDA has advocated that models be screened for eating disorders, but not that they be prohibited from working based on a size and weight limit.
They’ve also launched Proud2BeMe, an extension of a Dutch website designed as a safe space to discuss body issues and health concerns.
“There are people who are naturally thin and people who are naturally heavier, and we need to accept a diversity,” Claire Mysko says.
“That’s the goal: not to define one body type as attractive and another type as unattractive.”
• Spain: Madrid fashion week restricted models who have a BMI of less than 18 (2006)
• Italy: Government instituted a self-policing code of conduct for the fashion industry, including requiring medical proof that models do not have eating disorders (2006)
• UK: the Advertising Standards Authority issued guidelines about the use of digitally manipulating photos, saying they will stop ads that are misleading, including those that portray extreme thinness (2011)
Staff Sgt. Robert Bales suspected of killing civilians in Afghanistan will be charged with 17 counts of murder, according to US officials.
Robert Bales, 38, is accused of attacking the villagers in their homes in Kandahar province on 11 March. Most victims were women and children.
He was later moved to a military prison in the US after being transported from Afghanistan to Kuwait.
Robert Bales could face the death penalty if convicted.
He would also be charged with six counts of assault and attempted murder, a US official said.
The charges are to be read to the soldier at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, later on Friday, according to the Associated Press news agency.
The Taliban said on Friday that it had no faith in any trial of Robert Bales.
“This was a planned activity and we will certainly take revenge on all American forces in Afghanistan and don’t trust such trials,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters news agency by telephone.
Sgt. Robert Bales is the only known suspect in the killings – despite repeated Afghan assertions that more than one American was involved.
He is being held in solitary confinement at Fort Leavenworth.
Staff Sgt. Robert Bales suspected of killing civilians in Afghanistan will be charged with 17 counts of murder
Robert Bales’ lawyer, John Henry Browne, who has played down reports that his client was drunk on the night of the killings, said earlier this week the soldier remembers “very little” of the incident.
John Henry Brown said there were “no forensic evidence” against him and “no confession”.
He said Sgt. Robert Bales had received body and brain injuries while serving in Iraq and was unhappy about going for another tour of duty. He had already completed three tours in Iraq.
John Henry Brown also said his client – whom he described as “a decorated soldier” with an exemplary record before the shooting – had witnessed his friend’s leg blown off the day before the killings.
The case has undermined US relations with Kabul and led to calls for NATO to speed up its planned withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
Sgt. Robert Bales’ trial could take years, contrasting with Afghan demands for swift and decisive justice.
The Taliban called off peace talks in the wake of the deadly rampage.
Whitney Houston had cocaine in her system when she drowned in the bathtub at Beverly Hilton Hotel, according to the official report released by the Los Angeles Coroner today.
Whitney Houston sunk into the bathwater after suffering a massive heart attack caused in part by her prolonged drug abuse.
Following the news, Whitney Houston’s family has released a statement that says: “We are saddened to learn of the toxicology results, although we are glad to now have closure.”
The singer’s mother, Cissy Houston, is reported to be “shocked” to learn that her daughter was still using drugs at the time of her death.
According to TMZ, Cissy Houston believes Whitney began taking drugs again due to stress over her comeback, but thought her daughter was sober at the time she filmed the movie Sparkle.
The ruling is an ignominious ending to Whitney Houston’s fall from grace.
The report also ends weeks of speculation over how the 48-year-old pop icon died, with some members of her family even suggesting foul play may have led to the surprise death on February 11.
Ed Winter, spokesman for the coroner’s office, said the official cause of death was accidental drowning.
He added that heart disease and the star’s cocaine use were contributing factors to her collapse.
Whitney Houston had cocaine in her system when she drowned in the bathtub at Beverly Hilton Hotel
The Chief Coroner Craig Harvey stated during a press conference that the results suggest “chronic usage” of cocaine by Whitney Houston.
He said there was “an acute dose” of cocaine in Whitney Houston’s system when she died.
Craig Harvey added that the results indicate the star ingested cocaine “not probably too much before she collapsed”.
Coroner’s officials said the results suggest Whitney Houston was a chronic cocaine user.
Traces of marijuana and the prescription anti-anxiety drug Xanax were found along with Flexiril and over-the-counter Benadryl, but they did not play a direct role in her death.
Law enforcement sources said it was likely that Whitney Houston had a heart attack that caused her to lose consciousness and drown in the bath at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
The heart attack was probably brought on by the hardening of her arteries as a result of years of cocaine abuse.
Immediately after the death, it was widely thought that drinking binges combined with prescription pills combined to make the star lose consciousness and slip under the bathwater.
But the toxicology tests did not show any significant amount of alcohol in Whitney Houston’s system.
Several bottles of prescription medication were found in her hotel room, but they were not said to be in excessive quantities. No cocaine was discovered in the room.
Beverly Hills police said in a statement there was no evidence of wrongdoing in connection with the death.
The final Coroner’s report is expected to be released in approximately two weeks.
Whitney Houston died just hours before she was scheduled to appear at producer Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy Awards bash.
Whitney Houston died in accidental drowning, but drug abuse and heart disease were also factors, Los Angeles coroner has ruled today.
Coroner’s spokesman Craig Harvey said drug tests indicated Whitney Houston was a chronic cocaine user.
The announcement ends weeks of speculation over the cause of Whitney Houston’s death.
Whitney Houston was found submerged in the bath of her Los Angeles hotel room on the eve of the Grammy Awards on February 11.
In a statement, the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office described Whitney Houston’s manner of death as an “accident”, adding that “no trauma or foul play is suspected”.
Whitney Houston’s cause of death was cited as drowning and “effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use”.
Whitney Houston died in accidental drowning, but drug abuse and heart disease were also factors
Other drugs found in her blood included marijuana, as well as Xanax (anti-anxiety) drug, Flexeril (muscle relaxant) and Benadryl (allergy medication).
But these were not factors in her death, the coroner’s statement said.
Immediately after the death, it was widely thought that drinking binges combined with prescription pills combined to make the star lose consciousness and slip under the bathwater.
But the toxicology tests did not show any significant amount of alcohol in Whitney Houston’s system.
Patricia Houston, the singer’s sister-in-law and manager, told the Associated Press news agency: “We are saddened to learn of the toxicology results, although we are glad to now have closure.”
Whitney Houston was laid to rest at a cemetery in her home state of New Jersey after a funeral that was attended by celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey and Mary J. Blige.
Whitney Houston, who was one of the world’s best selling artists from the mid-1980s to late 1990s, had a long battle with drug addiction.
Whitney Houston died from accidental drowning, but drug abuse and heart disease were also factors, a coroner has ruled today.
Coroner’s spokesman Craig Harvey said drug tests indicated Whitney Houston was a chronic cocaine user.
The announcement ends weeks of speculation over the cause of Whitney Houston’s death.
Whitney Houston cause of death was accidental drowning, but drug abuse and heart disease were also factors
The report also found that Whitney Houston had marijuana, as well as Xanax (anxiety medication), Flexeril (muscle relaxer) and Benadryl (allergy medication) in her system.
A source connected to the investigation told TMZ us it is “very possible” Whitney Houston had a heart attack that caused her to lose consciousness and drown. The heart attack may have been triggered by hardening of the arteries as a result of cocaine use.
Whitney Houston was found unresponsive and underwater in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 11, a day before the Grammy Awards, and was pronounced dead at the scene soon afterward.
Coroner officials previously confirmed that prescription pill bottles were found in her room, but the pills were “not in alarming amounts.”
However, investigators found no evidence of cocaine in the hotel room.
A final report is expected to be ready for release within two weeks.
“We are saddened to learn of the toxicology results, although we are glad to now have closure,” Patricia Houston, Whitney’s sister-in-law, said in a statement released to E! News.
Whitney Houston, who had long battled drug addiction, was laid to rest on February 19 at the Fairview Cemetery in Westfield, New Jersey, alongside her father, following a star-studded memorial the day before.
According to reliable sources in Korea, iPhone 5 will have a much bigger 4.6-inch screen and will launch this summer.
The leak, reported in the Maeil Business Newspaper in Korea, would make the new iPhone the same size as its cult Android rival the Galaxy S2.
Korean sources are often reliable indicators of the likely form – and date – for upcoming devices, as Korean plants supply screens and processors for many hi-tech companies, including Apple.
Apple has decided on the bigger 4.6-inch display for its next iPhone and started placing orders to its suppliers, the Maeil Business Newspaper said, quoting an unnamed industry source.
iPhone 5 will have a much bigger screen than iPhone 4S
Its major display suppliers LG Display and Samsung Electronics Co. declined to comment.
Sales of the iPhone, first introduced in 2007 with the touch screen template now adopted by its rivals, account for around half Apple’s total sales.
Samsung, which is also the biggest challenger to Apple in smartphones, uses 4.6-inch OLED display for its flagship Galaxy S II smartphone, introduced in April last year.
The high-definition “Retina” display – containing several times as many pixels within the same area – is used in the latest iPad released earlier this month.
The latest iPhone 4S was introduced in October 2011.
Five more bodies have been found after more than two months since the cruise ship Costa Concordia capsized off the Italian coast.
Italian authorities say the bodies were found outside the ship, in a small space between the wreck and the sea bed.
Altogether 30 bodies have now been found since the vessel ran aground off the island of Giglio on 13 January.
The Costa Concordia was carrying 4,200 passengers and crew when its hull was torn open by rocks.
Civil Protection Agency chief Franco Gabrielli did not give any details on the sex or ages of the latest victims to be found.
Two people remain missing and are presumed dead.
Five more bodies have been found on the capsized cruise ship Costa Concordia
Eight more bodies were found in late February, but forensic authorities are still working on formally identifying them.
A crew member from India and passengers from the US, Italy and Germany are reported to be among those as yet unaccounted for.
The ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, was accused by prosecutors of causing the accident by steering the Costa Concordia too close to the island’s shore.
Francesco Schettino denies charges of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship before all those aboard were evacuated.
Salvage experts say they are close to completing the operation to remove all the oil from the ship’s 17 tanks. Work began on 12 February and the team involved said they would stop on Friday night.
Although they said that some fuel remained in the bulkheads of the tanks, the oil involved was in “such small quantities as to pose no significant environment risk”.
The next stage of the salvage operation will involve cleaning up the sea bed and the area around the ship’s hull before work begins to lift the wreck. Removing the Costa Concordia is expected to take up to a year.
Following the fallout from the National Enquirer’s publication of Whitney Houston‘s open casket photo, there’s been quite a bit of speculation as to who leaked the shot.
The most obvious culprit would be the Houstons themselves. There were reports that Whitney Houston was broke by the time she died, and they admitted to selling the footage to the Newark funeral, in part to help Whitney’s daughter Bobbi Kristina.
While Whigham Funeral Home and Whitney Houston’s family adamantly deny any involvement, Bobby Brown has remained silent on the matter.
But The Improper claims that the prime suspect is Tina Brown, Bobby Brown’s sister, who gave an exclusive interview with the National Enquirer that ran in the same issue.
“The tabloid will likely never disclose its source, but it probably paid a pretty penny for the photo. Since it also has a two part interview with Bobby Brown’s sister Tina in the paper as well, she is the prime suspect,”The Improper wrote.
The Improper claims that the prime suspect of leaking Whitney Houston open casket photo to National Enquirer is Tina Brown, Bobby Brown's sister
The interview features the usual quotes about Whitney Houston’s drug use: “I did crack with Whitney!” is the headline – including an admission that Tina Brown was a mooch: “Hey, I was using and she was paying. It was free.”
If Tina Brown did leak the photo, it wouldn’t be the first time. She was also behind the leaked photos in 2006 of Whitney Houston’s bathroom that were sent to The Sun, which showed clearly that the singer had been cooking freebase cocaine – a.k.a., crack – in her bathroom, which is something that many crack users do to ensure the quality of their product, or to avoid the stigma of buying from a crack dealer.
When TMZ cameras caught up with Bobby Brown outside of a lounge in Hollywood, he didn’t answer any questions about the shot, though he did make goofy faces at the cameras once inside his vehicle. Bobby Brown was accompanied by fiancée Alicia Etheridge.
It’s unfair to assume that because Bobby Brown hasn’t talked about the photo that he’s not disturbed by it. Sources have said previously that Bobby Brown is afraid media attention will inhibit his efforts to bond with his and Whitney Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina.
That is, unless Bobby Brown is saving his thoughts for the alleged tell-all book he is rumored to be writing.
Angry Birds Space, the new version of the most downloaded game in history, has been launched on iTunes, Android, PC and Mac.
Angry Birds Space’s launch has been accompanied by a level of fanfare normally only seen around big Hollywood releases – including T-shirts, toys, TV shows on Nickelodeon, a companion book by National Geographic, and a tie-up with Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer.
Angry Birds has been downloaded 700 million times, and parent company Rovio is now estimated to be worth $8.8 billion, just two years after the game first launched.
Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, will stock limited-edition T-shirts, plush toys and snacks containing clues that unlock bonus levels of Angry Birds Space, which will be available beginning on Thursday in app stores, from where users download software applications.
The iTunes version is priced between $1 and $3 for an HD iPad version. The Android version is available free, supported by in-app adverts.
Peter Vesterbacka, marketing chief of the company behind the world’s most downloaded game said that Rovio, the makers of Angry Birds, sees itself as an entertainment brand, not just a games company.
“We want to make Angry Birds a permanent part of pop culture,” he said, comparing the brand to Nintendo’s Mario and Sanrio’s Hello Kitty. “We’re just getting started.”
Angry Birds Space, the new version of the most downloaded game in history, has been launched on iTunes, Android, PC and Mac
Angry Birds, in which the player uses a slingshot to catapult birds to destroy green pigs hidden in fortresses, has been downloaded more than 700 million times, and is the fastest-growing game on Facebook.
Rovio raised its profile hugely last year by hitching a game to the hit animated movie Rio, made by News Corp’s 20th Century Fox, even burying a clue to the game in the movie studio’s Super Bowl ad.
Rovio’s value has been estimated in recent media reports at up to $8.8 billion, little more than two years after it first released Angry Birds for the iPhone.
“It’s as good a guess as any,” said Peter Vesterbacka, comparing Rovio to Facebook games maker Zynga, which went public in December and has a market value of $9.5 billion.
Rovio has also signed up a top U.S. retailer to put its branded toys, books and T-shirts in dedicated areas of thousands of stores nationwide, timed to coincide with the launch of its new Angry Birds Space game this week.
The company also plans to open branded retail stores in China soon.
Rovio has about 300 staff, up from 50 a year ago, and has had to move out of central Helsinki to new, bigger headquarters next to mobile phone maker Nokia.
Peter Vesterbacka reiterated that Rovio was in no hurry for a public listing. Its last funding round was last year, when it raised $42 million from venture capital firms Accel, Atomico and Felicis Ventures.
He said Rovio had not needed the money and had raised the capital primarily to attract onto its board investors such as Atomico’s founder Niklas Zennstrom, a co-founder of Skype.
“This year we’ll be very busy, like we were last year, with building up the infrastructure,” said Peter Vesterbacka.
A Korean study has found that obesity in later life puts people at higher risk of brain decline.
The study included 250 people aged between 60 and 70 found those with a high body mass index (BMI) and big waists scored more poorly in cognitive tests.
The Alzheimer’s Society said the research, published in the journal Age and Ageing, added to evidence that excess body fat can affect brain function.
Lifestyle changes can help make a difference, it said.
The study looked at the relationship between fat levels and cognitive performance in adults aged 60 or over.
The study included 250 people aged between 60 and 70 found those with a high body mass index (BMI) and big waists scored more poorly in cognitive tests
The participants underwent BMI – a calculation based on a ratio of weight to height – and waist circumference measurements, a scan of fat stored in the abdomen and a mental test.
Both a high BMI and high levels of abdominal fat were linked with poor cognitive performance in adults aged between 60 and 70.
In individuals aged 70 and older, high BMI, waist circumference and abdominal body fat were not associated with low cognitive performance.
The lead author of the study, Dae Hyun Yoon, said: “Our findings have important public health implications. The prevention of obesity, particularly central obesity, might be important for the prevention of cognitive decline or dementia.”
Courtney Love was spotted stumbling around the streets of Manhattan last night after leaving the party of the Salvatore Ferragamo’s launch of their Signorina Fragrance at Palazzo Chupi in New York with the aid of an assistant to prop her up.
Looking worse for wear, it was almost as if Courtney Love, 47, had stepped back in time to her hellraiser days.
Courtney Love says she’s clean these days, but certainly seemed addled by something.
Last night, Courtney Love refused to confound anyone’s expectations with the rapid transformation from red carpet winner to hedonistic casualty.
When Courtney Love arrived at the fashion soiree, she hit all the right notes.
The little leather dress was perfect for her and evoked memories of her strongest role, that of a visceral she-rocker.
Her hair also looked incredibly similar to the ultimate grunge blonde shoulder-length bob she sported in the early 90s’ when she was hugely successful in her own right, and married to the late legendary, Kurt Cobain.
Courtney Love was spotted stumbling around the streets of Manhattan last night after leaving a fashion party in New York with the aid of an assistant
But at Courtney Love’s age, and after her dramas, she should merely pay homage to her rock ‘n’ roll past, and not still be trying to live it.
Worryingly, that’s just what she appeared to be doing last night as she stumbled through the streets of Manhattan last night.
Seeming to need the aid of a friend or assistant, the mother-of-one couldn’t manage to walk alone.
Courtney Love’s right hand was also covered in troubling red marks; possibly from a burn.
She has also expressed an interest in fashion, starting up the blog What Courtney Wore Today and playing with Hole at high-profile fashion shows for design houses like Givenchy.
But the fashion crowd is fickle, and if she becomes an embarrassment it’s likely she’ll be frozen out of that crowd, too.
Rihanna has been spotted making a midnight visit to Ashton Kutcher’s house in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
Rihanna, 24, visited Ashton Kutcher, 34, – who split from wife Demi Moore in November 2011 amidst allegations he had cheated on her – at around 12:00 a.m. on Wednesday (21.03.12), and didn’t leave until four hours later.
The singer arrived with her entourage at Ashton Kutcher’s five-bedroom Los Angeles property in a black 4×4 vehicle.
The purpose of Rihanna’s visit is not known, but Ashton Kutcher is said to be moving out of the rented property soon, as it has reportedly been sold to Justin Bieber for $10 million.
Rihanna has been spotted making a midnight visit to Ashton Kutcher's house in Los Angeles on Wednesday
Ashton Kutcher moved into the $50,000-a-month house a few months ago and reportedly fell in love with the house because it was an ideal “bachelor pad”.
The eight bathroom property comes complete with a floating dining room, infinity swimming pool, hot tub, private screening room and an open sky terrace.
A source said at the time: “Ashton loved this property. It has bachelor pad written all over it. This neighborhood is stunning. It’s a trophy house with a view of all of Los Angeles. It’s totally the type of place a hot, single Hollywood guy would want.”
Whitney Houston was planning to remarry Bobby Brown, after they got back together weeks before the singer’s death, claims author Derrick Handspike.
Whitney Houston had apparently wanted to reunite with her former husband of 14 years.
Author Derrick Handspike – who wrote a book about Bobby Brown – claims the pair got back together just weeks before her death and hoped to remarry with their only child Bobbi Kristina, 19.
Derrick Handspike told The Sun newspaper: “They were planning a small wedding with just their daughter Krissi.”
Derrick Handspike claims that Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown got back together just weeks before her death and hoped to remarry with their only child Bobbi Kristina
Whitney Houston- who dated actor Eddie Murphy in the 80’s – had been in an on-and-off relationship with rapper Ray J for several years following her 2007 divorce from Bobby Brown.
Meanwhile, a rep for Bobbi Kristina Brown has quashed rumors she’s engaged to her “adopted” brother Nick Gordon.
Speculation mounted that Nick Gordon had proposed after Bobbi Kristina Brown was pictured wearing a sparkler on her left-hand ring finger.
However, Bobbi Kristina’s rep said: “Bobbi Kristina is not engaged. She is simply wearing her mother’s ring.”
Nick Gordon was taken in by Whitney Houston 10 years ago after his father was jailed, although she never made her parental status official.
The French police siege in Toulouse has ended with the death of Mohamed Merah, the man suspected of killing seven people, the French interior minister has said.
Police stormed the flat where Mohammed Merah was holed up at 10:30 a.m., after a siege that had lasted 32 hours.
Mohamed Merah, 23, fired at officers and was found dead after jumping from a window.
The self-confessed al-Qaeda militant was suspected of killing four people outside a Jewish school and three soldiers in three separate attacks.
Mohamed Merah said he was acting to “avenge Palestinian children” and protest against French military interventions overseas.
Interior Minister Claude Gueant said officers had thrown grenades and entered by the door and windows of the flat.
After surveying the scene and finding no sign of the suspect, they proceeded to the bathroom, moving slowly as they were wary of booby-traps.
When officers tried to find out if there was anyone in the bathroom, the suspect came out firing several weapons.
Claude Gueant said the suspect was “shooting very violently. The bursts of gunfire were frequent and hard”.
Mohamed Merah then jumped from a window, continuing to fire. He was found dead on the ground.
Mohamed Merah, 23, fired at officers and was found dead after jumping from a window
One police source told AFP that Mohamed Merah had been killed by police as he fled.
Two officers were reported wounded in the final assault.
Claude Gueant said: “A RAID [special police] officer who is used to this kind of thing told me that he had never seen such a violent assault.”
Earlier Claude Gueant had said it was unclear whether Mohamed Merah was still alive, because there had been no contact overnight.
He had said the object had been to take Mohamed Merah alive.
A number of explosions had been set off overnight to intimidate Mohamed Merah, officials said.
They said he was armed with a Kalashnikov high-velocity rifle, a mini-Uzi 9 mm machine pistol, several handguns and possibly grenades.
Street lights were switched off in the vicinity of the building on Wednesday evening and surrounding areas evacuated.
Mohamed Merah claimed to have received al-Qaeda training in Pakistan’s Waziristan area, and also said he had been to Afghanistan.
Claude Gueant defended intelligence services for not preventing the attacks, describing Mohamed Merah as a “lone wolf”.
“The domestic intelligence agency tracks a lot of people who are involved in Islamist radicalism. Expressing ideas… is not enough to bring someone before justice,” Claude Gueant said.
Christian Etelin, a lawyer who has previously acted for Mohamed Merah, said his client had violent tendencies.
“There was his religious engagement, an increasing hatred against the values of a democratic society and a desire to impose what he believes is truth,” Christian Etelin said.
He also denied earlier reports that Mohamed Merah had been jailed for explosives offensives in Afghanistan, saying his client was in jail in France for robbery with violence at the time – from December 2007 to September 2009.
The killings took place in and around Toulouse in three separate incidents earlier this month.
On 11 March, a soldier was shot and killed while waiting to see a man about selling his motorcycle.
Days later, two soldiers were shot and killed and a third was wounded while waiting at a cash machine.
Then earlier this week, three children and an adult were shot and killed outside a Jewish school.
The four Jewish victims were buried in an emotional funeral in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, President Nicolas Sarkozy attended a memorial for the three murdered soldiers at a military base in Montauban near Toulouse.
French police siege in Toulouse has ended with the death of Mohamed Merah, the man suspected of killing seven people, the AFP news agency reports, although there is no official confirmation as yet.
Police had entered the flat where Mohamed Merah was holed up after a siege that lasted more than a day.
Police sources told AFP that three officers had been wounded, one seriously, in the assault.
Mohamed Merah is dead after his Toulouse flat was under siege for more than one day
Mohamed Merah, 23, was suspected of killing seven people in Toulouse in three separate attacks.
Earlier the interior minister had said Mohamed Merah had wanted to die “with weapons in hand” and there had been no contact with him overnight.
The siege of Mohamed Merah suspected of seven killings in Toulouse, southern France, is nearing its end, police sources say.
Three loud explosions were heard from the apartment block in the city of Toulouse at about 10:30 a.m., with reports police are now inside the flat.
The siege of the building where Mohamed Merah, 23, is holed up has lasted more than a day.
Interior Minister Claude Gueant had said Mohamed Merah wanted to die “gun in hand” and there was no contact overnight.
It was not certain he was alive, Claude Gueant said.
Claude Gueant earlier told French radio: “We have one priority: to take him alive so that he can surrender to face justice. We hope he is still alive.”
However, the minister said it was “quite strange that he did not react” to the explosions that were set off overnight to intimidate Mohamed Merah.
“We heard two shots, we don’t know what they were,” Claude Gueant said.
“Despite redoubled efforts throughout the night, there has been no contact with him.”
A number of explosions, beginning late on Wednesday, had prompted deputy mayor Jean-Pierre Havrin to tell local media that “negotiations have finished and the assault has begun”.
The siege of the building where Mohamed Merah, 23, is holed up has lasted more than a day
However, sources from the French interior ministry later said this was only the start of an operation to put pressure on Mohamed Merah.
“[The blasts] were moves to intimidate the gunman, who seems to have changed his mind and does not want to surrender,” interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told Reuters.
Mohamed Merah had given conflicting messages about surrendering.
Anti-terror chief Francois Molins had said: “He’s explained that he’s not suicidal, he doesn’t have the soul of a martyr and he prefers to kill but to stay alive himself.”
Officials said Mohamed Merah was armed with a Kalashnikov high-velocity rifle, a mini-Uzi 9 mm machine pistol, several handguns and possibly grenades.
Street lights were switched off in the vicinity of the building on Wednesday evening.
The five-storey block of flats has been evacuated, and police also moved residents from nearby buildings.
Police had surrounded Mohamed Merah’s building after two officers were shot at when they tried to get into his flat early on Wednesday morning.
Elsewhere in the city, police are hunting for accomplices and have detained several members of Mohamed Merah’s family.
Francois Molins said on Wednesday that Mohamed Merah had planned to kill again.
“If he’s telling the truth, he would have left his house this morning and he would have once again killed any soldier that he came across,” he said.
Francois Molins said the suspect had expressed no regret for the killings, but had said he wanted to kill more people and “bring France to its knees”.
Mohamed Merah has said he acted to “avenge Palestinian children”.
He claimed to have received al-Qaeda training in Pakistan’s Waziristan area, and also said he had been to Afghanistan.
Claude Gueant defended intelligence services for not preventing the attacks, describing Mohamed Merah as a “lone wolf”.
“The domestic intelligence agency tracks a lot of people who are involved in Islamist radicalism. Expressing ideas… is not enough to bring someone before justice,” Claude Gueant said.
Christian Etelin, a lawyer who has previously acted for Mohamed Merah, said his client had violent tendencies.
“There was his religious engagement, an increasing hatred against the values of a democratic society and a desire to impose what he believes is truth,” Christian Etelin said.
He also denied earlier reports that Mohamed Merah had been jailed for explosives offensives in Afghanistan, saying his client was in jail in France for robbery with violence at the time – from December 2007 to September 2009.
NASA’s Messenger probe has found further tantalizing evidence for the existence of water ice at Mercury’s poles.
Though surface temperatures can soar above 400 C, some craters at Mercury’s poles are permanently in shadow, turning them into so-called cold traps.
Previous work has revealed patches near Mercury’s poles that strongly reflect radar – a characteristic of ice.
Now, the Messenger probe has shown that these “radar-bright” patches line up precisely with the shadowed craters.
Messenger is only the second spacecraft – after Mariner 10 in the 1970’s – to have visited the innermost planet. Until Messenger arrived, large swathes of Mercury’s surface had never been mapped.
The bright patches were detected by ground-based radio telescopes in the 1990s, but as co-author Dr. Nancy Chabot explained: “We’ve never had the imagery available before to see the surface where these radar-bright features are located.”
The researchers superimposed observations of radar bright patches by the Arecibo Observatory on the latest photos of Mercury’s poles taken by the MDIS imaging instrument aboard Messenger.
“MDIS images show that all the radar-bright features near Mercury’s south pole are located in areas of permanent shadow,” said Dr. Nancy Chabot, from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL).
“Near Mercury’s north pole such deposits are also seen only in shadowed regions, results consistent with the water-ice hypothesis.”
NASA’s Messenger probe has found further tantalizing evidence for the existence of water ice at Mercury's poles
However, Dr. Nancy Chabot cautions, this does not constitute proof, and for many craters, icy deposits would need to be covered by a thin layer (10-20 cm) of insulating debris in order to remain stable.
Maria Zuber, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who is a co-investigator on the Messenger mission, said: “The most interesting interpretation of [the radar observations] is that they were due to water ice.
“Sulphur had been proposed, there had also been some suggestion it was roughness – though there was no reason craters at the poles should be rougher than those at low latitudes.”
“The new data from Messenger… is strengthening the evidence that there is some sort of volatile there, and water-ice seems quite likely.”
Maria Zuber said information from several instruments on Messenger was currently being analyzed in order to answer the ice conundrum: “I think this is a question that we can come to a definitive answer on, as opposed to <<we think it may be this>>,” the MIT researcher explained.
On Wednesday, scientists from the Messenger mission published findings that Mercury had been geologically active for a long period in its history.
Data from the probe shows that impact craters on the planet’s surface were distorted by some geological process after they formed.
The findings, reported in Science magazine, challenge long-held views about the closest world to the Sun.
Scientists also presented a new model of Mercury’s internal structure, which suggests the planet’s huge inner core is encased in a shell of iron sulphide – a situation not seen on any other planet.
Messenger was launched in 2004, and entered orbit around its target in March last year. NASA recently announced that its mission would be extended until 2013.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have discovered a biological clue to male baldness, raising the prospect of a treatment to stop or even reverse thinning hair.
In studies of bald men and laboratory mice, US scientists pinpointed a protein that triggers hair loss.
Drugs that target the pathway are already in development, they report in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
The research could lead to a cream to treat baldness.
Most men start to go bald in middle age, with about 80% of men having some hair loss by the age of 70.
The male sex hormone testosterone plays a key role, as do genetic factors. They cause the hair follicles to shrink, eventually becoming so small that they are invisible, leading to the appearance of baldness.
Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have analyzed which genes are switched on when men start to go bald.
Researchers found levels of a key protein called prostaglandin D synthase are elevated in the cells of hair follicles located in bald patches on the scalp, but not in hairy areas
Researchers found levels of a key protein called prostaglandin D synthase are elevated in the cells of hair follicles located in bald patches on the scalp, but not in hairy areas.
Mice bred to have high levels of the protein went completely bald, while transplanted human hairs stopped growing when given the protein.
Prof. George Cotsarelis, of the department of dermatology, who led the research, said: “Essentially we showed that prostaglandin protein was elevated in the bald scalp of men and that it inhibited hair growth. So we identified a target for treating male-pattern baldness.
“The next step would be to screen for compounds that affect this receptor and to also find out whether blocking that receptor would reverse balding or just prevent balding – a question that would take a while to figure out.”
The inhibition of hair growth is triggered when the protein binds to a receptor on the cells of hair follicles, said Prof. George Cotsarelis.
Several known drugs that target this pathway have already been identified, he added, including some that are in clinical trials.
The researchers say there is potential for developing a treatment that can be applied to the scalp to prevent baldness and possibly help hair regrow.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s children are very unruly, say family insiders, who are also worried about the kids’ health and hygiene.
Sugar binges, screaming tantrums, violent fights, and more; insiders say it’s an absolute zoo with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie‘s family.
According to a new report in OK! magazine, the couples’ friends say the kids – Maddox, 10, Pax, 8, Zahara, 7, Shiloh, 5, and Knox and Vivienne, 3 – are on the verge of a meltdown.
“There’s not much any of us can do but sit and watch,” a family friend says.
“The kids are all goofed up on sugar, and after Shiloh has five cookies in a row and Maddox downs his third orange Fanta, it’s crazy hour. That’s what we call it: Crazy Hour. Toys fly. Kids melt down into tantrums. There’s fighting, it’s just a zoo.”
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s children are very unruly, say family insiders, who are also worried about the kids’ health and hygiene
Angelina Jolie has called junk food the “family weakness” in the past, but that doesn’t stop her from letting the kids eat whatever they want.
“The kids eat fast food every day, doughnuts for breakfast,” the friend reveals.
“Shiloh’s a sugar addict, screaming when she’s cut off.”
Despite all the sugar, the pal says Angelina Jolie doesn’t enforce teeth brushing.
“Angelina does not insist the kids brush every day or wash hands before meals,” the insider says.
“They bathe whenever they want, which is not often. Brad’s friends say that his kids smell like Johnny Depp.”
The kids’ safety is also a concern to friends.
“The twins are in that stage where they put everything in their mouths,” the insider reveals.
“Brad and Angie don’t always catch them and the worry is that one day they’ll get something really toxic. On top of that, it’s downright gross.”
But most troubling is the violence.
“Angelina lets the boys play with guns, rifles, though they are unloaded and some are just toys,” the friend says.
“Others are real and pricey antiques – they’re the ones the boys use to pretend-kill the staff.”
Angelina Jolie isn’t disturbed by the faux-violence.
“Apparently, Angie actually thinks it’s funny when her kids pretend to shoot people,” the friend says.
“She laughs out loud. A lot of people think she and Brad need to put a stop to it, but that’s not likely to happen.”
The reason Kim Kardashian dumped Kris Humphries after just 72 days of marriage has nothing to do with fame, Andrey Hick, an old friend of Kris’ who is currently in jail, has told Star magazine.
It turns out Kim Kardashian dumped Kris Humphries over money. The reality star, who claims to have built a multi-million dollar empire, reportedly decided Kris Humphries wasn’t rich enough for her.
“Kris told her he wouldn’t be pulling in $20 million a year and that deflated things for her,” Andrey Hick reveals.
“Kim was not going to let it fail once it reached critical mass. Once the engagement happened, she was going to have that wedding and make money from it.”
Kim Kardashian dumped Kris Humphries because he wasn't rich enough for her, claimed Andrey Hick
Andrey Hick says that Kim Kardashian was spending tons of money out of their joint bank account and using it as her own personal piggy bank.
“Whatever was earned by Kim and Kris separately was going to be theirs but any money earned together such as from the wedding would go into the account,” Andrey Hick says.
“We have Kim presenting herself as extraordinarily wealthy but she was borrowing $10,000 here and $10,000 there.”
Andrey Hick goes on to say that Kim Kardashian was worth the same amount as Kris Humphries at the time of their wedding and Kim isn’t as wealthy as she makes herself out to be.
“Her net worth is only $8 million,” Andrey Hick says.
“And $3 million of that is in furniture and clothing. This is a woman who wants at whatever cost, to support her lifestyle.”
