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Harbor is the black-and-tan coonhound with the longest canine ears in the world, according to Guinness World Records.
Guinness World Records has named Harbor the possessor of the longest canine ears on the planet after his ears measurement: the left ear measures 12¼ in (31.11 cm) while the right is longer at 13½ in (34.29 cm).
Harbor, the dog with the biggest ears in the world
Harbor’s breed was developed to hunt raccoons, with the long ears said to help by sweeping scents towards the nose.
But our coonhound, Harbor has had a lifelong struggle with his colossal ears, frequently tripping over them as a puppy and rolling down the stairs.
Now though, the purebred has grown into his lengthy lugholes, which have made him a celebrity.
Harbor’s owner, Jennifer Wert from Boulder, Colorado, US said:
“Cars will literally stop in the street to take a closer look and get a picture.
“Most days I forget how oddly long his ears are,” added Harbor’s owner.
“He’s a phenomenon in the world and he creates smiles wherever we go.”
Harbor takes the Guinness World Records title from Tigger (13.5 inch ears), a bloodhound from Illinois, who passed away of old age two years ago.
Harbor, the coonhound with the longest canine ears on the planet
According to Guinness World Records 2012, Harbor’s ear-span is greater than the height of the world’s shortest man, Junrey Balawing, who is 23.5 inches (about 60 cm) tall.
Harbor’s ears are also wider than the smallest road-legal car, which is 26 inches (66 cm) wide, and you could comfortably fit the world’s shortest dog, 6 in (15 cm) long Brandy, who is also from the US, on each of Harbor’s ears twice.
The next edition of Guinness World Records will be published on September 15.
An anxious air passenger was arrested after trying to open the exit door of an Alaska Airlines jet while it was taxiing to the gate.
Crew and passengers had to subdue the 39-year-old man, who was very anxious to get off the plane arriving at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
An Alaska Airlines crew member was bitten in the arm during the scuffle and was taken to Highline Medical Center in Burien, Washington for treatment of minor injuries.
Crew and passengers had to subdue the man, who was very anxious to get off the plane arriving at Seattle Tacoma International Airport
The anxious passenger was taken to Highline Medical Center in Burien for a mental health evaluation, before being transferred to King County Jail. On Monday he was being held in custody and was expected to be booked on investigation of felony assault.
The flight 108 from Anchorage, Alaska, landed in Seattle at about 4:30 a.m. on Monday.
Seattle-Tacoma Airport spokesman Perry Cooper said no other airport operations were affected.
During the Labor Day weekend in New York the number of shot people has risen to 43, after violence started at the annual West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn.
In the 24 hours, from Saturday 6 a.m. to Sunday 6 a.m., 24 people were shot, the victims were shot during 15 separate incidents, and so far no arrests have been made.
The latest shooting, left a police officer wounded and a civilian dead just a few blocks off the route where revelers had earlier filled the streets in colorful costumes.
During the Labor Day weekend in New York the number of shot people has risen to 43, after violence started at the 2011 West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn
The police officer was hit in the arm and hospitalized but expected to recover, the civilian died at the scene and at least two others were wounded.
According to police, earlier in the day four people were shot and wounded during the parade along its route. A 15-year-old boy was grazed by a bullet nearby.
Charles Walters, 53 – who’s 11-year-old son was one of the victims on Sunday – to the New York Daily News:
“These people come with guns and shoot at anyone.
“They don’t care if there are children around.”
Shaquan Walters, his son, was the youngest of eight shot in the early hours of Sunday as he partied in his Bronx back yard.
At the same event, a 14-year-old girl was hit in the back, while a 13-year-old girl was hit in the left thigh during the 3:39 a.m. shooting.
In the Williamsbridge shooting, there were five young men wounded, aged 17, 18, 19, 21 and 24.
According to police, Oneil Dasilva, 17 could be the suspect in connection with the incident.
After Brooklyn violence at the Labor Day Parade, Mayor Michael Bloomberg called on politicians in Washington to enact stricter gun laws.
Speaking at the Christian Cultural Centre in Brooklyn yesterday Mayor Bloomberg said:
“It is just unconscionable.We cannot tolerate it.
“There are just too many guns on the streets and we have to do something about it.
“We need the federal government to step up. Both ends of Pennsylvania Ave., both sides of the aisle.”
Michael Bloomberg is a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns and has rallied Washington for tighter gun laws in the past.
Bloomberg added:
“We cannot continue to have these guns in the hands of kids who don’t understand the value of life.”
The Labor Day weekend’s shootings began at around 6 a.m. on Saturday when a 35-year-old woman was wounded in Brooklyn.
Monday at 2 a.m., a 30-year-old died from bullet wounds to the head and back in Flatbush.
From 2:12 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. on Sunday five men were shot in three separate incidents.
Over sixty fires have ignited since Sunday afternoon and one of them has reached Bastrop Texas on Monday causing major damages.
Bastrop Texas major wildfire: Flames over a road near Bastrop State Park (Reuters)
The Bastrop County Complex Fire has destroyed more than 25,000 acres of forest (two-thirds of the 6,000-acre Bastrop State Park) and has burnt almost 500 houses.
Tropical Storm Lee generating powerful winds and drought conditions (Texas has endured its worst drought since the 1950s) has made the fire to travel fast, consuming pine and cedar trees.
The Bastrop County is around 30 miles east from Austin and has around 70,000 residents. The speed of fire was very uncommon and led to evacuation of at least 5,000 persons, 400 people were taken to emergency shelters. School and school-related activities were canceled for Tuesday and the Red Cross has opened several shelters to house evacuees.
Perry, the Texas Governor, who was out of the state on Sunday, viewed the fire from the air. “This is as mean looking as I’ve ever seen, particularly because it was so close to the city.” He said.
Rick Perry said he planned to immediately request federal disaster relief for Texas fire victims. Since December, wildfires in Texas have claimed 3.5 million acres, and have destroyed more than 1,000 homes, he said.
He said it was too early to say whether he would attend Wednesday’s GOP debate in California.
Ground and air forces were mobilized to fight the large wildfire of Bastrop Texas.
Over 250 firefighters has working on the Bastrop fire, that stretches for 16 miles. Minimum 40 Texas Forest Service aircraft were involved in the firefighting Monday along with a half-dozen Texas military aircraft. Heavy air tankers, brought in from as far away as South Dakota, have been dumping tons of water on fires all day long, The Texas Forest Service said. The crews contained the main fire north of the Colorado River, but the major Bastrop Texas wildfire was still not contained.
Campfires, burning of debris, Labor Day barbecues were prohibited in all but three of the 254 counties in Texas.
The MDA Labor Day Telethon 2011 raised $61.5 million in six hours on the holiday weekend without Jerry Lewis, its host for the last 45 years.
The annual MDA show’s goal is to raise awareness for muscular dystrophy, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), and related diseases and raise money to fund research for cures.
Jerry Lewis has been hosting MDA Telethon since 1966, the annual event being even previously named the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon.
MDA Telethon 2011 raised $61.5 million without Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis claims that his efforts, dating back to the 1950s, have raised over $2.6 billion for the muscular dystrophy cause.
In May 2011 press, the MDA announced that Jerry Lewis will retire from hosting the telethon by making a final appearance and performing his signature song You’ll Never Walk Alone.
On August 3, a MDA press release announced that Jerry Lewis has “competed his run as its national chairman” and “will not be appearing on the Telethon.”
Both Jerry Lewis and the MDA made no comment on what changed between May and August.
On July 29, Entertainment Weekly reported that Jerry Lewis slammed the reality TV industry.
“The kids who’re on American Idol, they’re all McDonalds wipe outs…The industry have destroyed itself,” Jerry Lewis said.
Ironically, the hosts of the 2011 MDA Telethon included Nigel Lythgoe from American Idol, Jann Carl from The Biggest Loser, and Alison Sweeney from The Biggest Loser.
Even more ironic, these reality personalities paid tributes and praise to Jerry Lewis at the last night show.
“If this is the way we’re going culturally, then we should go all the way and just tell grandpa we don’t need him for thanksgiving,” said comedian Larry Miller, reported CBS, regarding Lewis’ absence at the 2011 telethon.
“In my 42 years in show business, I’ve seen a great deal of injustice, this ranks right up to the top,” said comedian Tom Dreesen, reported CBS.
Researchers from Tufts University in Massachusetts, US have created the smallest motor ever devised.
The tiny motor, made from a single molecule just a billionth of a metre across, is reported in Nature Nanotechnology.
The small electric motor could have applications in both nanotechnology and in medicine, where tiny amounts of work can be put to efficient use.
The smallest motor is made from a single molecule just a billionth of a metre across
Minuscule rotors based on single molecules have been shown before, but this is the first that they can be individually driven by an electric current, creating the smallest motor.
“People have found before that they can make motors driven by light or by chemical reactions, but the issue there is that you’re driving billions of them at a time – every single motor in your beaker,” said Dr. Charles Sykes, chemist at Tufts University in Massachusetts.
“The exciting thing about the electrical one is that we can excite and watch the motion of just one, and we can see how that thing’s behaving in real time,” he told BBC News.
The butyl methyl sulphide molecule was placed on a clean copper surface, where its single sulphur atom acted as a pivot for the smallest motor.
The tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope – a tiny pyramid with a point just an atom or two across – was used to funnel electrical charge into the motor, as well as to take images of the molecule as it spun.
It spins in both directions, at a rate as high as 120 revolutions per second.
But averaged over time, there is a net rotation in one direction.
“By modifying the molecule slightly, it could be used to generate microwave radiation or to couple into what are known as nano-electromechanical systems,” Dr. Sykes said.
“The next thing to do is to get the thing to do work that we can measure – to couple it to other molecules, lining them up next to one another so they’re like miniature cog-wheels, and then watch the rotation propagation down the chain,” Dr. Sykes added.
As well as forming a part of the tiniest machines the world has ever seen, such minute mechanics could be useful in medicine – for example, in the controlled delivery of drugs to targeted locations.
For the moment, the research team is in contact with the Guinness Book of World Records to have their motor certified as the smallest motor ever.
Over 50,000 participants danced an emotional goodbye to this year’s Burning Man after setting their landmark 120ft tall Temple of Transition ablaze. They came, they saw, and they burned.
The spectacular 45,000 square feet effigy has been turn into a fireball, which brought the Nevada desert counter-culture event to a close over America’s Labor Day weekend.
Temple of Transition was burnt to the ground to celebrate the end of 2011 Burning Man project
The night came after a week of shenanigans at the anything-goes festival – which included topless bike parades, yachts on wheels strolling the desert floor, geodesic domes housing dance clubs, a 22-ton Trojan horse, and a French Quarter-themed camp.
Temple of Transition during Burning Man 2011 on Friday
There was a ticket sales record at this year Burning Man, with 53,341 attending on Friday, and organizers reported a sell-out for the first time ever in its 25-year history.
The spectacular finale of Burning Man, in the remote Black Rock desert about 120 miles northeast of Reno, came after another 40ft signature effigy was burnt on Friday night.
The Burning Man’s Temple of Transition is the tallest installation art structure ever built at the site and visitors were encouraged to meditate, chant or write notes to loved ones in the hexagonal central tower.
Burning Man 2011, fireworks erupt before The Man is burned during the Rites of Passage in the Nevada desert
According to organizers, they were now planning to turn the company that runs the event into a not-for-profit organization.
The Black Rock LLC company will be liquidated and will turn into the Burning Man Project, with a 17-member board and tens of thousands of “burners” to continue its work.
“We’ve never called it a festival; we’ve always called it a project, with equal parts play and labor,” said founder and Black Rock LLC Executive Director Larry Harvey.
Harvey added: “Festival limits it to a party or a vacation, and it hasn’t behaved that way for about ten years. Most festivals don’t forward action.”
The Burning Man project and phenomenon started 25 years ago with an eight-foot structure burning on a beach in California around the summer solstice.
The Burning Man has now morphed into a sophisticated community, with year-round projects including solar energy development and a crisis response network.
Each year for one week, self-styled “burners” that head into the desert and build a working city from the ground up – including an airport, a post office, and a security team – that tries to be devoid of money and consumerism.
“Burners” then aim to leave the desert with no trace that they were there.
Burning Man 2011, the burners left the desert with no trace that they were there
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According to police, there were no major problems from the week-long event, although one participant was said to have died on Wednesday from ‘natural causes”.
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rangers reported three felony arrests and the issued 42 citations, mostly for drug-related offences on Friday.
The Burning Man 2011 Rites of Passage arts and music festival in the Black Rock desert of Nevada
For majority of people Labor Day means a three-day weekend with picnics and barbecues, like a farewell to summer and one last hurrah before the new school year gets underway in earnest.
Labor Day, which is celebrated always on the first Monday in September, was created to honor the contributions of the nation’s working men and women and their achievements.
Labor Day 2011
The U.S. Labor Department describes the holiday: “It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity and well-being of our country.”
The first Labor Day celebration was in 1882 in New York City, organized by the Central Labor Union.
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), which represents about 12.2 million members, says that first holiday was marked by a march to demand an eight-hour workday and other labor law reforms.
At that time, about 20,000 workers made their way up Broadway carrying signs that read “Labor Creates All Wealth” and “Eight Hours for Work, Eight Hours for Rest, Eight Hours for Recreation.”
During the time other unions followed suit and by 1894, the Labor Day holiday had been adopted by 23 states.
Later on came that year’s deadly Pullman strike, in which government forces shot and killed several striking railroad workers in Illinois. It gave birth to the modern labor movement and added new urgency to the formation of a holiday that honors it.
“In what most historians call an election year attempt to appease workers after the federal crackdown on the Pullman strike, shortly after the strike was broken, President Grover Cleveland signed legislation making the first Monday in September Labor Day and a federal holiday,” according to the AFL-CIO, which also notes that the gambit did not work: “Cleveland lost the election.”
In 2011, the holiday comes on the heels of a bruising union showdown in Wisconsin, in which Governor Scott Walker and Republican lawmakers moved to curb public employees’ collective bargaining rights and have them pay more for benefits. Its political ramifications were felt far beyond that state’s borders, with some seeing the outcome as a sign that public unions can now be challenged to their core.
Labor Day holiday is often used as the unofficial start of the general election campaign, and today is no exception. President Barack Obama and the field of Republicans who want to oust him have plans to address voters on this Labor Day.
The 46th annual Muscular Dystrophy Association Labor Day Telethon was broadcasted nationwide from 6 p.m. to midnight in every U.S. time zone on Sunday and the iconic show attracted outstanding talents on its first time without Jerry Lewis’ hosting.
One of the biggest stars participating to the MDA Telethon 2011 was Celine Dion, who performed in the opening hour.
“It’s always a privilege to be part of the MDA Labor Day Telethon,” said Celine Dion.
“I hope by taking part in this great cause, I can help MDA in its mission to make life better for families who are fighting muscle diseases. From supporting scientists who are searching for treatments and cures, to helping children go to MDA summer camp, MDA provides love and care in so many ways.”
Celine Dion’s motivation was shared by other artists who participated in Sunday’s prime-time Telethon, which has been broadcasted by more than 150 television stations nationwide.
Jordin Sparks At MDA Telethon 2011
In a group message so typical of their harmonious sound, Boyz II Men members Shawn Stockton, and Nathan and Wanya Morris said:
“We’re excited to be part of the MDA Labor Day Telethon this year and lend our voices to a such a good cause. We remember watching it growing up, and it’s great to be a part of something so historic that benefits so many people every day. Be sure to tune in to catch us on the Telethon this Sunday.”
Also, Tony Award-winning choreographer Twyla Tharp, when confirming that “Come Fly Away” principal dancers would perform two Telethon dance segments to the legendary original vocals of Frank Sinatra, noted that:
“Dance has the power to move people with nothing more than the flow of bodies and the expression of emotion. Progressive muscle diseases rob people of the power to move but not the experience of emotion or humanity. Hopefully, our dance performance will move us one step closer to preserving free motion for people with muscle diseases.”
[youtube V4gNaPiFW2g]
When people tuned in to watch the prime-time Telethon on Sunday, they have immediately been engaged by the “Make a Muscle, Make a Difference”® show opening using dance, music and striking visuals of everyday people flexing their biceps muscles to immediately let America know how important it is to “Be the Next to Flex”® for MDA.
Followed by the incredible magic of Penn & Teller, plus the intergalactic fun of music phenomenon Voca People, and an unforgettable performance by Celine Dion, the show’s first hour, which also introduced Telethon co-hosts Nigel Lythgoe (“American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance”), Nancy O’Dell (“Entertainment Tonight”), Alison Sweeney (NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” and author of The Mommy Diet), and Jann Carl (Emmy-winning journalist and independent producer).
The second hour of the MDA Labor Day Telethon has been full of many memorable moments, too.
Darius Rucker performed solo and also sang a duet with MDA National Goodwill Ambassador Abbey Umali of Redlands, Calif. Other performances on the Telethon stage in the second hour included the JabbaWockeeZ, winners of the MTV’s “America’s Best Dance Crew” competition; the incredibly popular Italian trio II Volo; and Ellen DeGeneres protégé Greyson Chance.
“The View’s” Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, as well as NFL running back Reggie Bush have made special appeals.
The third hour of the Telethon has been full of extraordinary entertainers, too. Lady Antebellum, Jennifer Lopez, Michael Feinstein, and renowned Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel appeared to encourage even greater public support to help advance MDA’s lifesaving mission.
Plus, “One Step Away,” the teenage Boston band making their network television debut, has rocked the house for MDA. One “Step Away” is one of three winners of the second annual iHeartRadio.com “Get Discovered!” talent competition entered by more than 7,800 artists.
[youtube pApsYAhPod8]
The fourth hour presented the exceptional musical stylings of Jimmy Webb, Richie Sambora, Jon Secada and Maureen McGovern, as well as the first of two “Come Fly Away” dance performances to the legendary original vocals of Frank Sinatra.
These powerful performances have been reinforced by appeals from R&B singer/songwriter Smokey Robinson and NFL legend Kurt Warner, as well as by a high-energy performance by the Universal Cheerleaders Association all-stars, 36 of the nation’s best cheerleaders representing 17 states.
Sensational entertainers continued to appear for MDA Telethon in the fifth hour, with Grammy-nominated platinum recording artist Jordin Sparks, Martina McBride, Steven Tyler, Randy Jackson, and a second “Come Fly Away” dance performance to the sizzling vocals of “Ol’ Blue Eyes.”
The soap stars of “General Hospital’s” rock band Port Chuck, Tony Award-winning ventriloquist Jay Johnson, and Brokedown Cadillac (upbeat country group which also won 2011 iHeartRadio.com “Get Discovered!” competition to secure its live network television performance opportunity on the Telethon), also performed from the national Telethon stage at the South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
Four-time Grammy Award-winning group, Boyz II Men, has opened the sixth and final hour of the 2011 prime-time Telethon. They have been followed by Rootdown, the Oregon-based “Get Discovered!”-winning band with a Reggae hip-hop sound. Then, Billy Ray Cyrus performed his new single “Nineteen,” and “Glee’s” Max Adler made “Make a Muscle, Make a Difference” for MDA leading up to a spectacular America tribute involving more than 100 performers. Scored with a patriotic medley, the finale was anchored by Jordin Sparks, Jon Secada, Maureen McGovern, Richie Sambora, Tommy Emanuel and 70 kids from the Clark County Children’s choir.
The 46th edition of the annual MDA Labor Day Telethon wasted no time in offering a tribute to its longtime host, Jerry Lewis, and potentially diffusing any backlash or disappointment with his absence.
A dance performance opened the MDA Labor Day Telethon 2011 and then, Jerry Lewis‘ replacements — Nigel Lythgoe, Jann Carl, Alison Sweeney and Nancy O’Dell — took the stage and immediately took turns talking about the comedian’s five-decade commitment to raising money for a cure.
The 46th edition of the annual MDA Labor Day Telethon wasted no time in offering a tribute to its longtime host, Jerry Lewis
Huge images of Jerry Lewis at various stages of his career served as a backdrop on stage as the 2011 MDA Telethon hosts talked.
Last May, Jerry Lewis, who had hosted the telethon since 1966, announced he was retiring as MDA chairman and that this year’s Labor Day weekend telethon would be his last. But the MDA subsequently — and rather tersely and unceremoniously — said Lewis would not host this year’s show.
The new MDA Telethon hosts talked alluded to how Jerry Lewis had “retired.”
Jerry Lewis’ publicist Candi Cazau declined to comment to the AP when told of the comments to start Sunday night’s program.
Muscular Dystrophy Association spokesman, Jim Brown refused to say anything elaborate on the hosts’ words, but said the telethon would include at least one more nod to Jerry Lewis.
Nancy O’Dell talked about how MDA was there for her and her family while her mother was dying of ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s disease).
“And, boy, did Jerry’s closing song, <<You’ll Never Walk Alone>>, hit home the year that my mom passed away,” she said.
Nigel Lythgoe talked about how Jerry Lewis was irreplaceable.
“What you have done for this organization and its families is something close to a miracle,” he said. “And I know that we all want to carry on your legacy. We’re going to try and, with a humble heart, and occasionally a good laugh — because you taught us, above all, that laughter can cure almost anything — I trust we will continue to be successful.”
Typhoon Talas killed at least 18 people and left more than 50 missing after hitting the western area of Japan.
Typhoon Talas came with heavy rain and winds of up to 68 mph after making landfall on Shikoku Island on Saturday.
Talas is the season’s 12th typhoon and is now moving slowly north across the Sea of Japan, according to the Japan’s Meteorological Agency Sunday statement.
Kiho, central Japan on Sunday
The tropical storm Talas had crossed the southern Japanese island of Shikoku and the central part of the main island of Honshu early on Sunday.
But because of the storm’s slow speed, forecasters warned heavy rains and strong winds would continue, increasing the likelihood of more floods and landslides.
Almost 500,000 people in western and central Japan were issued with evacuation orders and advisories, according to Kyodo News agency.
The worst hit areas were in Nara and Wakayama prefectures, with homes swept away by flood waters and landslides.
In Wakayama prefecture, three homes were buried in a landslide and one woman who was rescued later died, four people remained missing and a 14-year old girl was saved from the debris, police said.
Wakayama, an iron bridge over the Nachi River in Nachikatsuura town
According to police, 10 people were dead and 32 people were missing.
In Nara Prefecture, local NHK TV said seven people were missing after their homes were swept away down a river.
According to police, among the dead was a woman who appeared to be in her 30s whose body was found in a river in Ehime prefecture on Shikoku.
In Nara prefecture, a 73-year-old man died after a landslide caused his house to collapse.
TV footage showed a bridge swept away after intense rainfall, which swelled a normally placid river to a raging brown torrent, and people holding umbrellas were seen wading through knee-deep water in city streets.
Labor Day this year promises to be bland by comparison, with Jerry Lewis now banished from the annual rite he built from scratch and molded in his image.
As if deflated by the absence of its larger-than-life host, “The 46th Annual MDA Labor Day Telethon” will fill just six hours (Sunday from 6 p.m. to midnight in each time zone), rather than the grueling 21½-hour endurance contest that Jerry Lewis used to churn through with his viewers in tow.
Year after year, Jerry Lewis bounced between the polarities of smarmy sentimentalism and badgering lunacy as if in a weightless environment
On 2011 broadcast of MDA Labor Day Telethon, which, ironically, will no longer be actually airing on Labor Day, a quartet of lightweights are standing in for Jerry Lewis:
Nigel Lythgoe (“So You Think You Can Dance”),
Nancy O’Dell (“Entertainment Tonight”),
Alison Sweeney (“The Biggest Loser”),
Jann Carl (billed as “an Emmy-winning journalist”).
Celebrities at the MDA Labor Day Telethon 2011 will include Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez, Lady Antebellum, Richie Sambora and Jordan Sparks.
It may be entertaining. It may spur contributions. But as a media event, this year’s telethon can hardly match the display of wretched excess Jerry Lewis guaranteed, especially in his epic, unbridled prime.
“Jerry is a ferociously contradictory personality, and that’s what makes him fascinating to watch,” says satirist-actor-writer Harry Shearer, a Jerry-watcher for a half-century. He noted just two of Jerry Lewis’ clashing identities: “the inner 9-year-old, set loose” and the would-be deep thinker “who fancies himself something of an autodidact.”
“It all makes for psychodrama of a high order,” Harry Shearer marvels.
Year after year, Jerry Lewis bounced between the polarities of smarmy sentimentalism and badgering lunacy as if in a weightless environment. He put his multiple identities on raw display, each constantly jostling for the spotlight.
A surfer has been killed today in a horrifying shark attack near a crowded beach in Western Australia.
Eyewitnesses said the shark – believed to be a great white – came up beneath him, grabbed the young man (aged in his early 20s) and pulled him below the surface.
The surfer, who has yet to be named, was riding on a bodyboard – a cut-down version of a surfboard – when the shark attack occurred near Cape Naturaliste in the south west of Western Australia.
The victim was frolicking with a group of five friends off popular Bunkers Beach when the shark struck.
The young surfer was bitten in two by the shark, which had grabbed him from the waist down.
An eyewitness, Kurt Morris, who was having lunch at the Bunker Bay Cafe with his family when shark attack happened, said he had been told by the victim’s friends that he had been torn apart.
“They were saying they were just two meters away from him,” Morris said.
“From the waist down, it was all gone.”
“Surfers were sprinting out of the water to their cars, driving to nearby surfing breaks to let others know of the shark.”
“It was about 50 metres from the shore. No-one is going back in the water.”
Hamish McLeay, Bunkers Beach Café’s manager, said the water was full of people when the attack happened.
“There were at least another 20 people in the water but it seemed that no-one had seen the shark lurking about,” McLeay said.
“There’s a big seal colony around the coast and the shark might have mistaken the young man for one of the seals – it’s been known to happen.”
Police spokesman Graham Clifford said officers believed they knew who the dead man was, but it has not been revealed whether his body has been found.
“The person was body-boarding at the time with a mate and also three or four to five others were in the water at the time but unfortunately he was taken from the lower part of the body,” Clifford said.
Police confirmed that the man had been torn in half and the lower half of the man’s body had been ripped away.
“He was bodyboarding with about four or five of his mates when he was taken out of the group.
“He’s lost the lower half of his body and he’s deceased.”
Friends of the victim have told police that the young surfer had been staying in the popular wine-growing area of Margaret River. The young man is believed to have been on holiday from the east of Australia.
The shark attack occurred near a popular surfing area known as The Boneyards, near Bunker Bay.
Distribution of white shark worldwide
According to police, the victim had been positively identified but his name would not be released until his family had been informed.
Enrique Hillman, a surf shop owner told W.A.Today that a sombre mood had spread across the south-west region following the tragedy.
Hillman also agreed with local people that the shark had probably been attracted to the area by seals that were known to inhabit the area.
“There’s a seal colony just next to the lighthouse – there’s a channel the seals use along there.”
Hillman believed it was strange that the shark had attacked in the middle of the day, pointing out that they usually occurred early in the morning or at dusk.
According to the locals, it was the first major shark attack they could recall in the area, which is a popular surfing and fishing spot.
But local people said it was known that sharks prowled the waters and there was also the added danger of powerful undersea currents.
Australian Shark Attack File said there have been 13 other fatal shark attacks around the continent since 2002.
Today’s tragedy on the Australian beach was the second this year – in February an abalone diver was killed when he was attacked by two sharks, believed to be great whites, in Coffin Bay, South Australia.
Not all attacks have been by great whites. In January 2006, Sarah Whiley, 21, was mauled by three bull sharks while swimming in waist-deep water at Amity Point off Queensland’s North Stradbroke Island.
In July 2004 a bronze whaler is believed to have been involved in an attack that killed Brad Smith, 29, in the south west of Western Australia.
A letter from Benito Mussolini’s son emerged this week claiming dictator had an affair with Marie-José, wife of heir to the Italy’s throne.
Not so many things have stayed secret about the tumultuous private life of Benito Mussolini. That is apart from the true nature of his relationship with the woman who was to be Italy’s last queen, Marie-José of Belgium.
In 1937, Mussolini‘s mistress, Claretta Petacci, claimed in her diary that the then princess and wife of the heir to the throne, Marie-José tried and failed to seduce the dictator at a beach resort near Rome.
But Marie-José may have been more successful than her rival suspected, if evidence that emerged on this week is to be believed.
Queen Marie-José and Benito Mussolini
In a letter reproduced by the weekly magazine Oggi, Benito Mussolini’s son, Romano, quotes his mother as saying that there was a “brief period of intimate romantic relations between my father and the then princess of Piedmont”.
Marie-José, born in 1906, was the daughter of the Belgian king, Albert I. While still a child, it was decided that she should marry into the Italian royal family and in 1930 she wed Umberto of Savoy, the only son of King Victor Emmanuel.
By the marriage was not a happy one, and Marie-José separated from Umberto after the Italian monarchy was abolished by referendum in 1946. Marie-José lived for most of the rest of her life in Switzerland where she died in 2001.
In contrast to the Savoy family, Marie-José had little time for fascism and during the Second World War made a failed attempt to broker a peace treaty with the United States.
But she had time for Mussolini. It was very well known that Mussolini was compulsively promiscuous: by one account, he had sex with at least one woman a day at his office in Palazzo Venezia for almost 14 years until the collapse of his regime in 1943.
According to Claretta Petacci’s diaries from the period, Benito Mussolini told her that the princess Marie-José had tried to seduce him at Castelporziano, a coastal area south of Rome where the king had made available to him a hunting estate in which the Italian dictator entertained many of his lovers.
Claretta Petacci’s quoted the fascist leader as saying:
“Marie-José came and said <<May I?>>. Then, with a small movement her dress fell and she was there virtually naked.”
But Petacci records Benito Mussolini reassuring her that he found the princess “repulsive” and that she had made “no impression on me at all”.
But the letter written by Mussolini’s youngest son in 1971 to Antonio Terzi, a former deputy editor of the newspaper Corriere della Sera, showed a different picture.
“I can confirm in all good faith that the romantic and political relations between Marie-José and my father were often talked about at home, and I can tell you with honesty that my mother (albeit with understandable reservations) was always pretty explicit: there was a brief period of intimate romantic relations between my father and the then Princess of Piedmont that was then I believe interrupted at the instance of my father.”
The Oggi report from this week said the letter was found among the journalist’s papers by his son and that Romano Mussolini’s widow had judged it authentic.
Though discredited by his support for Mussolini, King Victor Emmanuel clung on to his throne after the dictator’s fall, only abdicating in favor of Umberto in May 1946. Umberto ruled for only 34 days, earning for himself the sobriquet “the May King“.
The Netherlands has a reputation for being “flat” geographically speaking, but a journalist called for the Dutch to build their own mountain.
The highest point on Dutch soil is technically a volcano on the island of Sava in what’s called the Caribbean Netherlands. But Thijs Zonneveld, a former professional cyclist turned sports writer, wants to change that and he called for the Dutch to build their own mountain.
Thijs Zonneveld, who remembers making drawings of mountains in his geography book at school, has recently used his newspaper column to argue that the Dutch need their own mile-high peak.
“The Dutch people go to the mountains in the summertime and wintertime by the millions,” Zonneveld wrote.
“They go for biking, for hiking, for having a picnic with a view, and for skiing in wintertime.”
“So, what we need is our own mountain in Holland, so that people don’t have to leave the country to enjoy these things.”
The journalist said that, at first, he meant it as a joke.
“But after I wrote the column, I got so much response from people who had been thinking seriously about this that I started to take it seriously myself.”
This week, Thijs Zonneveld organized a brainstorming session in the city of Utrecht. Dozens of engineers, architects and urban planners gathered to talk about how exactly would go about building a mile-high mountain.
The brainstorming session kicked off with all participants doing a rousing cheer of “Die Berg Komt Er!” (“The Mountain is Coming!”)
Pol Tummers, from Dutch engineering firm DHV, started things off by reminding people that:
“God created the Earth, but the Dutch created the Netherlands.”
The Dutch, after all, have been using technology and engineering to carve land out of the sea for centuries.
“We created our own country,” Tummers said.
“We created our lakes. We planted our woods. The only thing we haven’t done yet, is a mountain.”
“When we finish this, we can lay down and relax,” Tummers added.
Pol Tummers and his partner presented a plan envisioning a snow-capped mountain sitting offshore, in Dutch waters, in the North Sea. They estimated it would take more than a trillion cubic feet of sand to build it, not to mention hundreds of billions of dollars.
Another architect at the brainstorming session presented an idea for a land-based Swiss-Alps style peak made with a man-made steel structure underneath.
“On that type of mountain, only one man can stand on the top,” says urban planner Martin Dubbeling.
“That’s absolutely not very Dutch. What we need is a different type of mountain, on which we can all stand on top.”
Martin Dubbling suggests that a flat-topped mountain, a mesa, might be more suited to the Dutch character.
“That way more Dutch could stand on it, as equals, at the same time.”
Martin Dubbeling also insists that the Dutch need a new big engineering project.
“Since we stopped reclaiming land from the sea, we Dutch are in some kind of identity crisis. And in the last decades we could export our ideas. But now, with this economic crisis, we really have to think of something different. ”
“A mountain definitely qualifies on that score.”
The idea of building a mountain has drawn the support of some of the Dutch sports federations.
Meanwhile, “The Mountain is NOT Coming”, an anti-mountain page, appeared on Facebook.
“I am anti-mountain!”
“First of all, it will be an eyesore, and second, that money could be better spent on education and health care,” wrote one visitor to the Facebook page.
But the organizer, Thijs Zonneveld said:
“We’re not going to change the whole country. We just want to give people more options. The whole of Holland, with the exception of a small part of the country in the south, is flat already. We won’t change anything about that.”
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former IMF chief has arrived in Paris from New York.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his wife Anne Sinclair landed at Charles de Gaulle airport at 07:05, Paris time, on board an Air France flight.
DSK has been in New York since his arrest in May on sex assault charges, which were dropped at the end of August.
DSK, 62, once seen as a possible French presidential contender, denied the allegations.
DSK, who resigned from IFM position in the days after his arrest, had his passport returned last month.
Hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo, who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of trying to rape her in his hotel room, is pressing her claims in a civil lawsuit.
DSK and his wife, Anne Sinclair, arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport. (Reuters)
DSK and his wife, Anne Sinclair, smiled and waved as they arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport, but made no comment to waiting journalists and passed rapidly through the terminal to a waiting car.
Couple had boarded the same scheduled Saturday night Air France flight for Paris that he was about to take when he was arrested on 14 May.
The charges against DSK were dropped on August 23 at the request of prosecutors who had concerns about Nafissatou Diallo’s credibility.
Having DNA evidence indicating a sexual encounter did occur between the two in a suite at the Sofitel Hotel in May, DSK’s lawyers maintain it was consensual and prosecutors were unable to determine whether force had been used.
According to BBC, friends of Dominique Strauss-Kahn said he does, at some point, intend to explain to the French people what happened.
DSK had been considered the Socialist Party’s front-runner to take on French President Nicolas Sarkozy in presidential elections next year.
At this moment, although DSK is legally innocent, he has been hugely damaged in the eyes of the French voters and, in the same time, it is not clear if the other candidates for the Socialist nomination for next year’s presidential election even want his endorsement.
DSK also faces another sexual assault allegation in France, after journalist Tristane Banon accused him of trying to rape her during an interview in 2003.
Tristane Banon made the allegation after DSK was arrested in the Diallo case, saying that she feared no-one would have believed her beforehand.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s reputation has been further damaged by stories about his womanising and vast wealth.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn allegations:
• 2006: Publication of Sexus Politicus, book by Christophe Deloire and Christophe Dubois, with chapter on DSK and his tendency of “seduction to the point of obsession”
• 2008: Dominique Strauss-Kahn admits an affair with IMF colleague, calling it an “error of judgement”
• 2011: Dominique Strauss-Kahn arrested on 14 May in New York, accused of sexually assaulting Sofitel hotel maid, Nafissatou Diallo,
• 16 May: Writer Tristane Banon comes forward to say Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to assault her in an interview nearly a decade before
• 1 July: Dominique Strauss-Kahn freed from New York house arrest
• 23 August: A New York judge dismissed the Diallo case
Tropical Storm Lee is hitting Louisiana as it hurls rain at the US Gulf coast, bringing back memories of the Katrina flood disaster.
US National Hurricane Center traced storm centre on Saturday afternoon to 45 miles (75km) south-west of Morgan City, with maximum winds of 60mph (95km/h).
Louisiana declared state of emergency and an emergency has also been declared in coastal parts of Mississippi.
Tropical Storm Lee is hitting Louisiana
Flood defences repaired after the 2005 disaster are expected to be put to the test in New Orleans.
According to National Hurricane Center forecasters, Tropical Storm Lee had been stationary for a few hours then began a slow and erratic path to the north and north-east, and is expected to make landfall later on Sunday.
Lee comes few days after Hurricane Irene killed 44 people from North Carolina to Maine and left millions of people without electricity.
For the moment is too soon to tell if another hurricane, Katia, which is out in the Atlantic, could threaten the US.
The Atlantic hurricane season usually brings about a dozen named storms, but Katia is already the 11th with half the season still ahead.
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu has warned of possible major flooding, with up to 10in (25cm) of rain forecast for the city.
The Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the flood control structures in New Orleans, says it is not planning to close any of the structures yet.
Businesses in the New Orleans’ famous French Quarter fear the storm may dampen the Southern Decadence festival, an annual gay lifestyle fixture.
“People are probably scared to death to come here after Katrina,” Ann Sonnier, shift manager of Jester’s bar, told the Associated Press news agency, adding that receipts had been disappointing so far.
Nearly half of US Gulf oil production was shut on Friday as companies – including Exxon Mobil, Shell and Chevron – evacuated workers and shut offshore platforms.
BP, the largest oil producer in the Gulf of Mexico, told the BBC it had evacuated all personnel and shut down production.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal warned residents to “make sure they have a game plan for themselves and their families should this storm strengthen”.
However, the developing weather system could bring some much-needed rain to Texas, which is in the grip of a severe drought.
Following Monday night’s announcement of the Dancing With The Stars celebrity cast and the subsequent partner pairing announcement on Wednesday, the internet has exploded over the inclusion of Chaz Bono for the show’s 13th season.
The issue at hand is the fact that Chaz Bono used to be Chastity Bono, famous daughter of Sonny and Cher. Over the last few years, Chaz Bono has taken the steps to transition from a woman to a man – culminating in gender reassignment surgery last May.
Chaz Bono is the first transgendered contestant that has ever been on the show. He has been paired with professional dancer Lacey Schwimmer.
Cher has criticized the "stupid bigots" who have attacked the casting of her transgender son on US show Dancing With The Stars
Chaz’s upcoming appearance on the beloved reality show has drawn both harsh criticism as well as inspired defenses. Chaz’s mother, pop icon Cher, took to Twitter to express her thoughts on those attacking Chaz across the internet.
Cher has criticized the “stupid bigots” who have attacked the casting of her transgender son on US show Dancing With The Stars.
“Chaz is being viciously attacked on blogs and messageboards about being on DWTS!” Cher said via her Twitter page.
Cher also urged fans to pledge their support for Bono on other social media sites.
“I support him no matter what he chooses to do. It took courage to do DWTS!”
She added that “mothers don’t stop getting angry with stupid bigots” who hurt their children, but said she was sure the “vast majority of people will love Chaz” on the show.
Chaz Bono replied to the comments on his Twitter page saying:
“Thanks for all your support mom. The haters are just motivating me to work harder and stay on DWTS as long as I possibly can.”
Chaz Bono, 42, has been the target of online jokes and hate messages since Monday’s announcement that he would be taking part in the new series of Dancing with the Stars, which begins on 19 September.
Some fans have said they will no longer watch the show – which is one of the most popular programmes in the US – while he is a contestant, while some conservative groups have called for a boycott.
Dan Gainor, of the Culture and Media Institute, called Chaz Bono’s casting “a ridiculous, agenda-driven move” by the show’s producers.
“This is the latest example of the networks trying to push a sexual agenda on American families,” he said.
However, Dancing With The Stars’ executive producer Conrad Green said viewers should watch the new series before passing judgment.
He added the show had no agenda other than entertainment and was seeking to represent a range of people.
“I hope that a lot of the people who appear to be upset at the moment will give him a chance and maybe realise it’s not quite as bad as they think,” he said, in an interview with AP.
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation praised the casting of both Bono and gay TV stylist Carson Kressley on the show, calling it “a primetime first.”
“Chaz Bono joining the cast of a series like Dancing with the Stars is a tremendous step forward for the public to recognise that transgender people are another wonderful part of the fabric of American culture,” Herndon Graddick, senior director of programmes, said.
Four persons have been arrested in different areas of the UK by police investigating the hacker groups Anonymous and LulzSec.
The four suspects – from Doncaster, Warminster, Northampton and London – are being questioned by Scotland Yard’s e-Crime unit.
The arrests are part of a wider operation involving UK law enforcement and the FBI.
At the same time other 14 suspected members of Anonymous appeared in a US court.
Authorities from worldwide have been rounding up suspects following a wave of attacks by both groups on major corporations and government institutions.
Amazon, PayPal, the CIA, US Senate and the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency have all suffered either intrusions or denial of service attacks, designed to take their websites offline.
In the latest arrests, British police detained Christopher Weatherhead, 20, from Northampton and Ashley Rhodes, 26, from Kennington, near London.
Both suspects are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on September 7.
Police also arrested a 24-year-old man from Doncaster, and a 20-year-old from Wiltshire for conspiring to commit offences under the Computer Misuse Act 1990.
In US, a mass court appearance saw 14 suspected Anonymous members appear before a judge in San Jose, California.
All of them denied being involved in a denial of service attack on PayPal’s website in December 2010.
Anonymous had publicly declared its intent to target both PayPal and Amazon for, what the group perceived as, “their complicity in isolating whistle blowing website Wikileaks”.
Following the leaking of confidential US State Department memos, PayPal stopped processing donations to Wikileaks, while Amazon kicked the site off its web hosting service.
Anonymous is known as a hacktivist group, pursuing its agenda through online attacks.
The former France President Jacques Chirac says he is not in a fit state to attend his corruption trial, according to French media.
Jacques Chirac has asked the Paris court for his lawyers be allowed to represent him, AFP news agency has reported.
Jacques Chirac, 78, is accused of embezzling public funds in the 1990s, when he was mayor of Paris, but he denies the charges.
His trial is due to start on September 5, having been adjourned in March after a co-defendant argued that some of the charges were unconstitutional.
Jacques Chirac is the first former head of state to stand trial in France since World War II
In a letter to the Paris court on Friday, Jacques Chirac wrote that he wanted his trial to go ahead “even if he no longer has the full ability to participate in hearings”.
A statement from former president Chirac’s lawyers said:
“In the letter… he requested that his lawyers be able to represent him and carry his voice during these hearings.”
A copy of Jacques Chirac’s medical records was enclosed in the letter, it added.
The medical report attached to Jacques Chirac’s letter to the court suggests his mind is in a “vulnerable mental state which does not permit him to answer questions about his past”.
This supports suggestions from friends of the ex-president that in recent months he has been suffering from memory lapses.
While the letter is an informal request, it is within the judge’s powers to accept it, or request a second medical opinion.
The letter could result in the trial being delayed, and possibly postponed indefinitely if it is deemed that Jacques Chirac is no longer able to talk with any reliability about things that happened more than 20 years ago.
French media described Jacques Chirac as tired during a holiday in St. Tropez last month, although he reportedly signed autographs and posed for pictures with tourists.
Jacques Chirac, who was mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995, is the first former head of state to stand trial in France since World War II.
The ex-president is accused on two counts of paying members of his Rally for the Republic (RPR) party for municipal jobs that did not exist.
The first count accuses Jacques Chirac of embezzlement and breach of trust relating to 21 so-called “ghost jobs”.
The second count came about from a separate investigation in the Paris suburb of Nanterre and involves an illegal conflict of interest relating to seven ghost jobs.
There were persistent rumors of wrongdoing for years, but Jacques Chirac had immunity from prosecution while he was president from 1995 to 2007.
After 11 years of legal wrangling, Chirac and nine other defendants finally went in court in March.
However, on the second day of the trial a lawyer representing Jacques Chirac’s former chief of staff at city hall, Remy Chardon, challenged the two cases being brought together.
He argued that the statute of limitations had expired in the first case.
The judge decided to refer the question to the Court of Cassation, which ruled that the constitutional challenge was not valid.
The fire sale of HP TouchPads for $99 stimulated a purchasing madness. Experts point out tablets in the $200 to $300 range might be in shops for the approaching Christmas season.
Tech giant Hewlett-Packard Co. could not market its TouchPad tablets right up until it decreased the cost to $99, cutting a lot of money from the initial price. They then flew off the racks.
The incredibly popular promotion, in the wake of HP stating it was giving up the tablet business, might have many people convinced that $99 is definitely the tipping point, when tablets will change from being the desired gadget of the several to an item which practically every person possesses like a mobile phone or notebook.
HP TouchPad Review
For the time being, experts point out, $99 isn’t a reasonable price for a tablet pc that isn’t some sort of plaything.
“The TouchPad was an anomaly in the market. They are exiting the market and they’re losing a lot of money by selling the tablets that cheap.” said Rhoda Alexander, director of monitor research at IHS iSuppli.
The HP TouchPad is made up of lot more than $300 component pieces, as outlined by a tear-down evaluation by iSuppli, excluding or labor costs. That’s like the $326 value of components in the runaway top seller amongst tablets, Apple Inc.’s iPad 2. The co-founder of teardown expert iFixit Kevin Wiens stated:
“From a manufacturing standpoint, there is no way you can make a quality tablet for $100 right now . It’s basically impossible. The cheaper tablets out there are very, very poorly made.”
An iPad – that have 85% from global tablet income this past year, based on ABI Research – today begins at $499, and professionals claim it’ll most likely stay at or close to this cost for the near future.
The HP Touchpad, pre-fire sale, was initially priced at $399 for the basic model.
However because tablets carry on to extend their appeal beyond tech fanatics to regular customers, there’s increasing motivation to provide a great gadget at a cheaper cost.
The cost at this point stands as the top consideration for 65% of individuals buying a tablet, based on a newly released study from Forrester Research. However buyers might possibly not have a realistic view of just how much the products cost in shops.
These people taking part in the survey anticipated to spend around $257 for a tablet, maybe due to the fact that’s about the cost a few e-readers cost.
But reality may well satisfy anticipations for tablet rates just before the year is finished.
Tony Berkman, chief executive of ITG Investment Research, mentioned the need is so very strong that brandnames apart from Apple may reveal a small selection of tablets within the $200 to $300 range for the approaching holidays. One electronic products firm, Lenovo, explained recently that it’ll release a $199 tablet at the end of September.
“Within a year, we’ll start seeing quite a few decent tablets in that price range for sale,” Berkman forecasted.
Amazon, that is rumored to be rolling out a tablet of its own this autumn, is the greatest competitor for providing a great item inexpensively, experts claim.
“Amazon could sell a tablet at cost, or even at a loss, because they think they can make money through selling digital content,” Berkman said. “Or other companies can sell at a loss because they want to grab a piece of the market.”
Amazon has refused to reply to the gossips.
“The cheaper tablets probably would not have all the bells and whistles of the current top models”, Berkman stated.
However iSuppli estimates that by 2015, tablets generally will certainly drop to an ordinary cost below $300.
“I wouldn’t totally rule out someone offering a good tablet for $100 in a few years,” Alexander said. “The market is changing fast.”
HP TouchPad On Sale
Michelle Lapid, 22, of Hawthorne wasn’t ready to delay. Once the $99 TouchPad was released and rapidly turned out to be a hard-to-find product, the current California State Northridge graduate student went on what she called a “crazy bargain-hunting fever” hunt for one, going through three tanks of gasoline in four days.
This ultimately paid back. A close friend who works at a local Best Buy informed her that a delivery of TouchPads could be arriving at a store. “I had to get in line at 4 a.m.,” she said, “but it was worth it. I’m so happy.”
Other people may still have a chance. HP reported earlier this week that it would definitely launch an additional batch of TouchPads, yet the company wouldn’t say just how many would be arriving.
And HP wouldn’t suggest if the new TouchPads could be offered at the magic $99 value.
Only one week after weathering rumors of an infidelity with Marc Anthony, Jada Pinkett Smith has suffered another blow.
TNT confirmed on Friday that medical drama HawthoRNe, in which Jada Pinkett Smith starred alongside Marc Anthony, has been cancelled.
HawthoRNe, Jada Pinkett Smith's show cancelled after three seasons
HawthoRNe ran for three seasons, premiereing on U.S. channel TNT back in 2009.
In the last season, Jada Pinkett Smith’s character, Christina Hawthorne, shared steamy scenes with Marc Anthony’s Detective, Nick Renata.
There were reports claiming that Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith’s wife, had shared an off-screen fling with Jennifer Lopez’s now estranged husband, Marc Anthony.
There were reports claiming that Jada Pinkett Smith had shared an off-screen fling with Marc Anthony
All parties, including Will Smith, have strenuously denied the claims.
Writing on social networking site Twitter, Jada Pinkett Smith thanked her fans on Friday for their loyal support.
Jada wrote: “Hey everyone…if you don’t know Hawthorne will not be returning for another season.
“I want to say thank you to all the fans for being Hawthorne soldiers. All our facebook fans…twitter soldiers and viewers…you held us down. Of course you know there is more to come…believe it!”
Jada Pinkett Smith thanked her fans on Twitter
In a yesterday statement, TNT confirmed:
“TNT has decided not to order a fourth season of HawthoRNe.
“TNT truly appreciates the tremendous dedication of everyone involved in HawthoRNe.
“The series gave TNT the opportunity to work with many outstanding people, including Jada Pinkett Smith and the rest of the show’s talented cast, crew, producers and writers.
“We wish everyone involved with HawthoRNe nothing but the best.”
Gerard Depardieu, who made headlines recently for urinating in the cabin of a airplane, has bounced back with another performance.
Gerard Depardieu and fellow Asterix and Obelix star, Edouard Baer, who was by French actor’s side when he caused a scandal by urinating in front of passengers on a flight from Paris to Dublin, have teamed up for a comic remake.
In a video posted Friday on the Dailymotion website, the pair, appearing as ancient Gaul comic heroes Asterix (Edouard Baer) and Obelix (Gerard Depardieu), are seen reading newspapers as the plane readies for takeoff.
Gerard Depardieu and fellow Asterix and Obelix star, Edouard Baer, who was by French actor's side when he caused a scandal by urinating in front of passengers on a flight from Paris to Dublin, have teamed up for a comic remake
Suddenly Gerard Depardieu, resplendent in the long red plaits and enormous striped pants of his oafish character, blurts out:
“I need a wild boar.”
“I can’t wait, I must have one now,” Gerard Depardieu insists as the flight attendant and Edouard Baer, who is wearing a walrus moustache and winged helmet, try to soothe him.
“These famous Gauls think they can get away with anything,” a young man sitting behind Depardieu remarks indignantly, as Obelix leaps out of his seat and disappears off-screen to satiate his craving.
In the real life version, Gerard Depardieu was reported by a fellow passenger to have urinated on the floor of the plane after being refused permission by a flight attendant to use the toilets during takeoff.
Baer said later Gerard Depardieu urinated into a bottle, not directly onto the floor. There had been some spillage, he admitted, pinning it on 62-year-old French actor’s “dodgy prostate”.
A plane of Chile Air Force, having 21 people aboard, including a popular local television host, crashed in the Juan Fernandez Islands off the country’s Pacific coast, authorities said.
Leopoldo Gonzalez, Juan Fernandez’s mayor said the plane tried without success to land at the islands’ airport, which is 515 miles from Chile’s coast.
A Chilean air force plane with 21 people aboard, including a popular local television host, crashed in the Juan Fernandez Islands off the country's Pacific coast
“The accident must be accepted as a fact,” Gonzalez said in an interview with Television Nacional de Chile.
Rescuers were searching for the wreckage of the plane but so far they have only found some equipment, the mayor said.
Andres Allamand, defence minister said searchers faced “particularly adverse” conditions, adding that the plane’s status was still listed as missing.
Felipe Camiroaga, one of Chile’s most popular television presenters, was on the flight, Mayor Gonzalez said.
Felipe Camiroaga, 44, worked for the state TV channel’s Good Morning Everyone programme, and was travelling to the islands for a story on the reconstruction following the 27 February magnitude-8.8 earthquake and tsunami that wiped out its main town.
Felipe Camiroaga, one of Chile's most popular television presenters, was on the flight
Also on board was businessman Felipe Cubillos, who had been working on post-earthquake reconstruction efforts.
The Chilean air force plane took off from the capital, Santiago, at 2:00 p.m. local time and lost contact with air control almost four hours later, according to a statement from aviation authorities.
