According to a number of unconfirmed rumors which have surfaced in the press recently, Portia de Rossi and her relationship with Ellen DeGeneres may be on the rocks.
Star magazine claims that the current relationship issues are over an alleged crush Ellen DeGeneres has on none other than Pamela Anderson.
Portia de Rossi’s relationship with Ellen DeGeneres may be on the rocks
According to the publication, a source claimed that Ellen DeGeneres not only has a crush on Pamela Anderson but is more or less obsessed with her.
The source said: “[Pamela Anderson] is all Ellen talks about these days. It’s become a real issue for Portia.”
The publication further claimed that Portia de Rossi needs to watch out since Pamela Anderson cut her hair short like Ellen DeGeneres’: “As the old theory goes, when two people spend way too much time together, they start to look alike.”
A Florence court has reinstated the guilty verdicts against Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher in 2007.
Amanda Knox – who is in the US – and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito had pleaded not guilty.
She was sentenced to 28 years and six months in jail, while Raffaele Sollecito received 25 years.
The latest verdict overturns the pair’s successful 2011 appeal, which freed them after four years in jail.
Meredith Kercher was stabbed to death in the flat she shared in Perugia with Knox.
The judges ordered that damages should be paid by the pair to the family of Meredith Kercher.
Meredith Kercher’s brother Lyle and sister Stephanie were present when the verdict was read out.
Raffaele Sollecito was ordered to surrender his passport. Extradition proceedings against Amanda Knox, who refused to return to Italy for the case, may now begin.
Thursday’s fresh appeal hearing in Florence was ordered by Italy’s highest court, the supreme court in Rome.
A Florence court has reinstated the guilty verdicts against Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher in 2007
It had found that the 2011 appeal – which acquitted the pair – was flawed.
The court in Florence heard from Amanda Knox’s defense team in the morning, before the two judges and eight jurors retired to deliberate on a verdict.
Summing up, Amanda Knox’s lawyer, Carlo Dalla Vedova, told the court her innocence was “rock-solid and it allows us to await the verdict with serenity”.
The Supreme Court overturned their acquittals last March after an appeal by prosecutors, who argued that important DNA evidence had been disregarded.
Meredith Kercher, from Coulsdon in south London and 21 at the time, was found with her throat cut in a flat she shared with Amanda Knox in the college city of Perugia, in the central region of Umbria.
Rudy Guede from the Ivory Coast was convicted of her murder at an earlier trial and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Prosecutors sought to prove Meredith Kercher had died in a sex game involving Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito that had gone wrong.
They have since alleged that the murder resulted from a heated argument over cleanliness in the Perugia apartment.
Arrested days after the murder and detained in prison, Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were tried and convicted in November 2009.
In 2011, an eight-member jury cleared Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito of Meredith Kercher’s murder after doubts were raised over procedures used to gather DNA evidence.
Boston Marathon bombings suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is facing the death penalty in the US.
Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement: “The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision.”
Seventeen of 30 charges against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 20, carry the possibility of capital punishment, including using a weapon of mass destruction to kill.
The bombings killed three and injured more than 260 in April 2013.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty and no trial date has been set.
Prosecutors allege that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his deceased older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, built and planted two pressure cooker bombs near the finish line of the marathon.
Boston Marathon bombings suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is facing the death penalty in the US
The brothers lived in the Massachusetts town of Cambridge, home of the prestigious Harvard University, after emigrating to the US in 2002 from the Caucasus region of southern Russia.
Officials believe they set off the bombs in retaliation against the US for its military action in Muslim countries.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed during a shootout with police days after the bombing. The younger brother was wounded and was eventually found inside a boat in a residential neighborhood.
Prosecutors allege Dzhokhar Tsarnaev wrote about his motivation for the bombing on the inside of the boat.
He allegedly wrote the US government was killing “our innocent civilians” and “I can’t stand to see such evil go unpunished”.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is also charged with killing a university police officer and carjacking.
He will be charged under the federal death penalty law; Massachusetts abolished the use of capital punishment in 1984.
Since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988, 70 people convicted have been placed on death row.
Scarlett Johansson has decided to quit as an ambassador for Oxfam amid a row over her support for SodaStream, an Israeli company that operates in the occupied West Bank.
A spokesman for Scarlett Johansson said she had a “fundamental difference of opinion” with the humanitarian group.
Scarlett Johansson will remain a brand ambassador for SodaStream, which has a factory in the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim.
Oxfam opposes trade from settlements, which are illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
About 500,000 Jews currently live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel’s 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
A statement from Scarlett Johansson’s spokesman published on Wednesday announced that the Hollywood star had “respectfully decided to end her ambassador role with Oxfam after eight years”, according to the Associated Press.
Scarlett Johansson will remain a brand ambassador for SodaStream, which has a factory in the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim
“She and Oxfam have a fundamental difference of opinion in regards to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. She is very proud of her accomplishments and fundraising efforts during her tenure with Oxfam,” it added.
On Thursday, Oxfam issued a statement saying it had accepted Scarlett Johansson’s decision to step down and was grateful for her many contributions.
“While Oxfam respects the independence of our ambassadors, Ms Johansson’s role promoting the company SodaStream is incompatible with her role as an Oxfam Global Ambassador,” it added.
“Oxfam believes that businesses, such as SodaStream, that operate in settlements further the ongoing poverty and denial of rights of the Palestinian communities that we work to support.”
Scarlett Johansson signed up to be a global brand ambassador with SodaStream International Ltd earlier this month, and is due to appear in an advertisement for the firm during Sunday’s Super Bowl.
Her statement added: “SodaStream is a company that is not only committed to the environment but to building a bridge to peace between Israel and Palestine, supporting neighbors working alongside each other, receiving equal pay, equal benefits and equal rights.”
SodaStream, which makes products that allow people to produce carbonated soft drinks at home, operates one of the hundreds of factories constructed in some 20 Israeli-run industrial zones in the West Bank.
A nomination for this year’s best song Oscar has been revoked after it emerged that its composer Bruce Broughton contacted voters.
Bruce Broughton, an ex-Academy governor, is accused of using his position to promote the title song from Alone Yet Not Alone, an independent film with a Christian message.
The Academy said his emails, though “well-intentioned”, had created “the appearance of an unfair advantage”.
In a statement, Bruce Broughton said he was “devastated” by the Academy’s decision.
“I indulged in the simplest grass roots campaign and it went against me when the song started getting attention,” he continued.
“I got taken down by competition that had months of promotion and advertising behind them. I simply asked people to find the song and consider it.”
In its own statement, the Academy said Bruce Broughton’s actions were “inconsistent with the Academy’s promotional regulations”.
Bruce Broughton is accused of using his position to promote the title song from Alone Yet Not Alone
The ousted track will not be replaced by another contender, leaving four compositions to compete for this year’s award for best original song.
Many were surprised when Alone Yet Not Alone was nominated on January 16 alongside songs by such established acts as U2, Karen O and Pharrell Williams.
Composed by Bruce Broughton and lyricist Dennis Spiegel, the song is performed by Joni Eareckson Tada, a 64-year-old quadriplegic and evangelical minister with little professional experience.
Concerns were soon raised over how a little-known composition from a relatively obscure film had beaten songs by the likes of Lana Del Rey and Taylor Swift.
The movie – a period drama about two sisters captured by American Indians in 18th Century Ohio – has also prompted criticism for its depiction of native Americans.
Bruce Broughton, who was previously Oscar-nominated for his score for 1985 western Silverado, is a member of the Academy’s music branch executive committee.
It is not unprecedented for nominations to be rescinded. In 1973, Nino Rota’s score for The Godfather was disqualified after it was deemed that he had reused music from one of his earlier scores.
The 2014 Academy Awards will be held on March 2 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych has taken sick leave amid violent protests in the country.
The presidential website said 63-year-old Viktor Yanukovych had a respiratory illness and a high fever.
The protests began in November after Viktor Yanukovych reversed a decision to sign a trade deal with the European Union, instead favoring a bailout deal with Russia to underpin Ukraine’s ailing economy.
Anti-government protesters demanding the president’s resignation are still occupying government buildings and manning barricades in freezing temperatures in the centre of the capital.
The past week has seen President Yanukovych accept the resignation of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and his cabinet, and offer senior jobs to the opposition – offers that were rejected.
Ukraine’s parliament has also voted to annul a recently enacted law restricting protests – which appeared to be inflaming the situation – and passed a law giving amnesty to detained protesters, under the condition that occupied buildings were vacated.
Viktor Yanukovych had a respiratory illness and a high fever
Some opposition figures expressed skepticism about Viktor Yanukovych’s reported illness, saying he might be trying to buy time after being forced into concessions in an attempt to calm unrest on the streets.
“This smacks of a diplomatic illness,” Rostislav Pavlenko, a member of boxer-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko’s Udar (Punch) party, told Reuters news agency.
“It allows Yanukovych not to sign laws, not to meet the opposition, absent himself from decisions to solve the political crisis.”
Mykhailo Chechetov, from Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, said the president had told supporters in parliament on Wednesday night that he had come to support the passage of the amnesty bill directly from hospital.
“He looked ill,” Mykhailo Chechetov added.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, is in Kiev for talks with both sides. On Wednesday she said she was “shocked” by the violence in the capital and across the country in recent weeks that has left several protesters and police officers dead.
Malta has responded to EU pressure over its controversial new passport scheme for non-EU nationals, announcing that applicants will now be required to spend at least a year in the country in order to qualify.
The new condition was announced by Malta in a joint statement with the European Commission.
Applicants will still have to invest at least 1.15 million euros ($1.57 million) in Malta to get a passport.
MEPs have condemned the Maltese scheme, saying it cheapens EU citizenship.
Earlier Malta had not set any residency requirement for rich foreigners wishing to get Maltese passports.
The new stipulation says “no certificate of naturalization will be issued unless the applicant provides proof that he/she has resided in Malta for a period of at least 12 months immediately preceding the day of issuing of the certificate of naturalization”.
Malta has changed its controversial new passport scheme for non-EU nationals
It followed talks between EU Commission officials and the Maltese government. EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding has said applicants should have “a genuine link to the country” – not just the ability to pay.
Malta, like most of the EU’s 28 countries, is in the Schengen zone, where citizens can mostly travel without passport checks. The EU single market has made it much easier for citizens to settle in another member state.
Owning an EU member state’s passport entitles the holder to EU citizenship, with all the rights guaranteed under EU law.
Malta’s scheme, called the Individual Investor Programme (IIP), was initially to be limited to 1,800 people – not including their close relatives, who could also buy passports, for a lower fee.
Malta is now considering raising that cap, so that more passports could be issued.
Prince has decided to drop a $22 million legal action against fans accused of posting bootleg footage of his concerts online.
Prince wanted $1 million each from 22 internet users but, according to TMZ which has obtained court documents, he has now decided not to pursue the case.
In a statement, Prince’s lawyer told TMZ that the illegal downloads had been removed.
Fans had reacted angrily to the news of the legal action.
Prince has decided to drop a $22 million legal action against fans accused of posting bootleg footage of his concerts online
Prince, 55, had intended to take legal action against 22 internet users who allegedly posted copies of his live performances on Facebook and on blogs.
“Because of recent pressure, the bootleggers have now taken down the illegal downloads and are no longer engaging in piracy,” his lawyer said.
“We recognize the fans craving for as much material as possible, but we’d prefer they get it from us directly than from third parties who are scalpers rather than real fans of our work,” the statement read.
Prince has often used legal battles to crack down on unauthorized distribution of his music.
Bootleg recordings are a bone of contention within Prince’s fan base, with many frustrated that the material has not been made commercially available.
France’s former first lady Valerie Trierweiler has said that hearing news of President Francois Hollande’s affair with actress Julie Gayet was like falling from a skyscraper.
Valerie Trierweiler said in an interview with Paris Match she had refused to believe reports of the affair until she saw it in gossip magazine Closer, which printed photos.
Francois Hollande said on Saturday he had “put an end” to his “shared life” with Valerie Trierweiler, his unmarried partner.
Opposition politicians have accused him of callousness and egotism.
Francois Hollande, 59, has neither confirmed nor denied the report in Closer on January 10 that he was having an affair with actress Julie Gayet, 41.
Valerie Trierweiler, 48, was admitted to hospital shortly after news of the report and had been living at a presidential retreat in Versailles since her release.
Hours after Francois Hollande announced he had left Valerie Trierweiler, her presidential Twitter account was shut down, while her page on the French presidential website was no longer active on Monday.
Speaking to Paris Match, the French magazine for which she works as a journalist, Valerie Trierweiler said: “When I found out, it was like I’d fallen from a skyscraper.”
Valerie Trierweiler has said that hearing news of Francois Hollande’s affair was like falling from a skyscraper
“Clearly I had heard the rumors but you heard [rumors] about everyone. I hear them about myself too, all of the time. I paid no attention to them.”
Valerie Trierweiler, who has been divorced twice, said she was not “undergoing a period of crisis”.
“It’s not the first break-up in my life,” she said.
“This one was violent because of the media attention.”
Telling the magazine she had no regrets, Valerie Trierweiler said she planned to take up her previous life, “enriched by a new experience”.
Valerie Trierweiler moved in with Francois Hollande after his official separation from Segolene Royal, the unmarried mother of his four children, in 2007. Valerie Trierweiler has three children of her own by her last husband.
Speaking separately to another French weekly, Le Parisien Magazine, Valerie Trierweiler said she and Francois Hollande had exchanged text messages after his announcement of their break-up because of his concern for her health.
Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, a leading figure in France’s main centre-right party the UMP, has predicted that women voters will not quickly forget the dry manner in which the president announced their separation.
“I felt like I was reading a sacking letter rather than a break-up one,” the candidate for mayor of Paris said.
Julie Gayet has been keeping a very low profile, AFP news agency notes, although friends have been quoted in the media as saying she has no intention of trying to become the next first lady.
French doctors treating injured Michael Schumacher in Grenoble hospital are reducing his sedation to prepare to bring him out of a coma, his manager says.
This step will allow the “waking up process” to start, Sabine Kehm said in a statement.
But bringing Michael Schumacher out of the coma “could take a long time”, Sabine Kehm added.
Michael Schumacher, 45, suffered a severe head injury in a skiing accident in the French Alps on December 29.
The seven-time champion was put into a medically induced coma by his doctors at a clinic in Grenoble following operations to remove blood clots from his brain.
Doctors have kept Michael Schumacher asleep to help reduce the swelling.
French doctors treating injured Michael Schumacher in Grenoble hospital are reducing his sedation to prepare to bring him out of a coma
Sabine Kehm was approached by the media for comment on Michael Schumacher’s condition on Wednesday – exactly a month after his crash. She said then that his condition remained “stable”.
In her statement on Thursday, Sabine Kehm said it had been agreed to communicate details of his sedation “only once this process was consolidated”.
The statement again included an appeal by Michael Schumacher’s family for privacy for them and for his doctors, while at the same time expressing “sincere appreciation for the worldwide sympathy”.
At his bedside since the accident, the family has received hundreds of letters and gifts from around the world.
Earlier this month, investigators probing the accident said Michael Schumacher had been going at the speed of “a very good skier” at the time of his crash in the resort of Meribel.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has demanded NSA leaker Edward Snowden return the documents he has “stolen”.
At a Senate hearing, James Clapper harshly condemned Edward Snowden, saying his leaks caused “profound damage”.
James Clapper said the leaks had gone “way beyond [Edward Snowden’s] professed concerns” about domestic spying.
Edward Snowden, 30, remains in Russia on asylum but faces espionage charges in the US.
The documents from the NSA that Edward Snowden has leaked to journalists have shed new light on electronic spying operations in the US and UK.
Among other revelations, the documents showed the NSA collected data on millions of phone calls, collected millions of text messages per day, tapped the mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, sought to collect intelligence by spying on users’ mobile apps, and more.
Some of the intelligence was shared with British spies in the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), according to the documents.
Edward Snowden, who was a contract computer technician for the NSA before he fled the US last year, has said he no longer has copies of the documents.
“Snowden claims that he’s won and that his mission is accomplished,” James Clapper told the Senate intelligence committee on Wednesday.
James Clapper has demanded NSA leaker Edward Snowden return the documents he has stolen
“If that is so, I call on him and his accomplices to facilitate the return of the remaining stolen documents that have not yet been exposed to prevent even more damage to US security.”
James Clapper did not clarify whom he meant by “accomplices”, but his spokesman told the Associated Press news agency he “was referring to anyone who is assisting Edward Snowden to further threaten our national security through the unauthorized disclosure of stolen documents related to lawful foreign intelligence collection programs”.
The former NSA contractor has said in recent interviews he believes the leaks have prompted a global reaction and a political debate within the US over spying programs.
But James Clapper said on Wednesday the leaks had damaged US national security and undermined co-operation with the country’s foreign partners.
US enemies “are going to school on US intelligence sources, methods and trade craft and the insights that they are gaining are making our job much, much harder,” he said.
As the hearing opened on Wednesday, protesters heckled James Clapper – one saying: “Should we be asking for James Clapper’s resignation for lying to Congress?”
James Clapper has been criticized for telling legislators during a hearing last year the US did not collect data on millions of Americans, though Edward Snowden’s leak has suggested the NSA had indeed been gathering data on calls of many Americans.
President Barack Obama is taking his campaign for a minimum wage rise to the streets, visiting local businesses after his State of the Union address.
Barack Obama travelled to a Maryland Costco store and a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, steel plant.
The visits promote a proposed national minimum wage increase to $10.10 per hour over the current $7.25.
The president said on Tuesday he would issue an executive order raising the minimum wage for federal employees.
“If you work hard, you should be able to pay your rent, buy your groceries, look after your kids,” Barack Obama told Costco employees on Wednesday.
Costco workers are said to earn at least $11.50 an hour, far above the current national minimum wage Barack Obama has asked a gridlocked Congress to increase.
President Barack Obama is taking his campaign for a minimum wage rise to the streets, visiting local businesses after his State of the Union address
On Thursday, Barack Obama plans to visit a General Electric facility in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and speak at a high school in Nashville, Tennessee, to promote measures outlined in his national address.
“It’s time to give America a raise,” Barack Obama told members of Congress on Tuesday night, pledging to circumvent their partisan politics through the use of executive orders.
“Wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that’s what I’m going to do,” he said, noting that inequality has deepened and upward mobility stalled.
Among his planned proposals is a new savings programme aimed at employees without retirement plans.
The pilot program – involving “starter” accounts which let employees save and withdraw funds without paying additional taxes – will reportedly be available by the end of the year.
Barack Obama was scheduled to visit a US Steel Corporation plant on Wednesday along with Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew to tout the action.
With just three years left in office, Barack Obama faces falling approval ratings and determined opposition from the Republican Party, which controls the House of Representatives and has the numbers in the Senate to block his agenda.
House Speaker John Boehner has warned that increasing the federal minimum wage would cost jobs.
Following Barack Obama’s nationwide speech, Republican Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers called on him to take action “by empowering people, not making their lives harder with unprecedented spending, higher taxes and fewer jobs”.
Justin Bieber has been charged with assaulting a limousine driver in Toronto last month.
Justin Bieber, 19, handed himself in at a Toronto police station where he was mobbed by TV crews, news photographers and screaming teenage fans.
The charge comes a week after he was arrested and charged for a separate incident in Florida for driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
A lawyer for Justin Bieber said his client was innocent.
Justin Bieber handed himself in at a Toronto police station where he was mobbed by TV crews, news photographers and screaming teenage fans
Toronto police say that Justin Bieber was one of six people picked up by a limousine outside a nightclub in the early hours of December 30.
“While driving the group to a hotel, an altercation occurred between one of the passengers and the driver of the limousine,” a police statement said.
“In the course of the altercation, a man struck the limousine driver on the back of the head several times.
“The driver stopped the limousine, exited the vehicle and called police. The man who struck him left the scene before police arrived.”
After surrendering to police on Wednesday, Justin Bieber was charged with one count of assault and is scheduled to appear in court in Toronto on March 10.
Howard Weitzman, Justin Bieber’s lawyer in California, said the entertainer was innocent and that he expected the case to be treated as a summary offence, which is the equivalent of a misdemeanor in the US.
An online petition requesting Justin Bieber’s expulsion from the US attained 100,000 signatures.
The petition was filed on a White House website by a member of the public.
The US president has no power to order an individual’s deportation, and it is unclear whether the White House will respond to the petition.
Justin Bieber, 19, has had several run-ins with police over the past year.
In the early hours of last Thursday, the singer was arrested in Miami Beach after a police officer pulled him over on suspicion of racing a hired yellow Lamborghini on a public street.
The online petition requesting Justin Bieber’s expulsion from the US attained 100,000 signatures
Suspecting he was intoxicated, the officer arrested him. Justin Bieber was also charged with resisting arrest and driving on an expired license.
He was later released on bail of $2,500.
Earlier in January, police in California searched Justin Bieber’s home after he allegedly threw eggs at his neighbor’s house, causing thousands of dollars in damage.
Justin Bieber’s manager tweeted on Wednesday evening asking people “to be kind and hope for the best in people. Not assume the worst. Thanks”.
Hugh Grant is reportedly the father of three love children after Swedish TV producer Anna Elisabet Eberstein secretly gave birth to a baby boy in September 2013.
According to a copy of a birth certificate obtained by Us Weekly, the child was born at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in London on September 3.
Though the baby’s first name is not listed, his surname is “Grant,” and the actor’s full name, Hugh John Mungo Grant, is listed as the father on the document.
Swedish TV producer Anna Elisabet Eberstein secretly gave birth to a baby boy in September 2013
Coincidentally, Anna Elisabet Eberstein was pregnant at the same time as Tinglan Hong, who gave birth to her second child from Hugh Grant, a son named Felix, in December 2013.
There’s no word yet on the status of Hugh Grant’s current relationship with either Anna Elisabet Eberstein or Tinglan Hong.
Tinglan Hong first welcomed daughter Tabitha Xaoi Xi Hong Grant in September 2011, and though the affair was described as “fleeting”, the couple reunited and Hong gave birth to Felix a little more than a year later.
Hugh Grant, 53, famously dated model and actress Elizabeth Hurley for 13 years before moving on to writer Jemima Khan in 2004. The couple broke up three years later.
Taylor Swift tried to play matchmaker for Selena Gomez this time by arranging a date with Austin Mahone, who opened up for Taylor on tour Us Weekly reported.
Sources close to Austin Mahone, said: “They’re seeing each other.”
Selena Gomez and Austin Mahone were previously spotted together over the summer enjoying a jaunt to Disneyland
Selena Gomez, 21, and Austin Mahone, 17, are apparently trying to keep the ostensible romance hush-hush. To that end, after a January 24 concert in Los Angeles, they “sneaked out separately, then got in the same car,” says an eyewitness.
The two were previously spotted together over the summer enjoying a jaunt to Disneyland.
As for Justin Bieber, he’s seemingly moved on with a Kim Kardashian-alike named Chantel Jeffries, who is upset by all the negative publicity swirling around her.
The teenager who allegedly had been assaulted by Kanye West earlier this month after he tossed racially charged insults at Kim Kardashian has pocketed a hefty settlement from the rapper, TMZ reported.
The 18-year-old is believed to have walked away with more than $250,000 in a civil settlement over the January 13 incident, in which he purportedly insulted Kim Kardashian and used the n-word as she walked into a paparazzi-surrounded office building in Beverly Hills.
Kanye West has reportedly settled with the 18-year-old who incurred his wrath by hurling racial epithets at Kim Kardashian
Kanye West, who was nearby, came to help her, and he reportedly followed the teen into a chiropractor’s office, where a tussle ensued.
According to TMZ, the purported settlement makes it far less likely that Kanye West will be prosecuted for battery.
Before the incident, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West were heading into a meeting to discuss furniture for their new Bel Air estate, and judging by their rumored interior design plans, the $250,000-plus payout won’t put much of a dent in their finances.
Jimmy Fallon officially handed-off the traditional Late Night giant plastic pickle to Seth Meyers on Tuesday’s show.
The pickle was given to Jimmy Fallon by previous Late Night host Conan O’Brien in 2009.
Conan O’Brien received the pickle from David Letterman’s staff in 1993. Before that, the giant plastic pickle was a staple decoration in the Letterman offices.
A few days before Jimmy Fallon’s first Late Night on March 2, 2009, the charming comedian shared the pickle’s tale and a sweet letter from his predecessor in an online video.
“Whenever you’re done – which won’t be for a long time – make sure you pass it on to the next sap,” Conan O’Brien penned and Jimmy Fallon read aloud.
“Knock ’em dead.”
Jimmy Fallon officially handed-off the traditional Late Night giant plastic pickle to Seth Meyers
Jimmy Fallon opined at the time: “It just kind of put everything in perspective, even though I’m holding a giant pickle …What a great tradition this is and what a great honor that I’m following in the footsteps of these great comedians.”
Seth Meyers takes over Late Night on February 24, when his first guest will be former SNL colleague Amy Poehler.
Jimmy Fallon’s first Tonight Show is a week earlier, with guests Will Smith and U2.
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon – soon to be Late Night With Seth Meyers – airs on NBC at 12:35 a.m. ET.
Madonna has decided to introduce two members of Russian protest punk rock act Pussy Riot at a concert promoting human rights at the Barclays Center in New York City.
Madonna said she was “honored” to introduce “my fellow freedom fighters” Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova at the Amnesty event.
“I have admired their courage and have long supported their commitment and the sacrifices they have made,” the singer added.
Madonna will introduce two members of Pussy Riot at a concert promoting human rights at the Barclays Center
Maria (Masha) Alyokhina and Nadezhda (Nadya) Tolokonnikova were released in December after spending 16 months in prison.
They and Yekaterina Samutsevich were arrested in August 2012 for singing a protest song in a Moscow cathedral.
Amnesty International announced last week that “Masha” and “Nadya” would make an appearance at the concert on February 5.
It will form part of their first trip to New York since being granted amnesty by Russian President Vladimir Putin – a gesture the pair dismissed as a publicity stunt.
Lauryn Hill, Bob Geldof, Yoko Ono and Imagine Dragons are also on the bill of the Bringing Human Rights Home event at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
A snow storm spawned traffic chaos in the Deep South leaving thousands of people stranded overnight on motorways, in schools and churches.
Airports and roads were closed as five states declared emergencies.
Military vehicles were deployed to aid stuck motorists and to reach those in need of food and water.
Barely 3in of snow caused havoc in a warm-weather region where many cities do not even have snow ploughs or fleets of salt trucks.
Hundreds of road accidents were reported, a number of them involving trucks jackknifing on highways.
Despite ample weather warnings, school officials waited until the middle of Tuesday when snow was already falling to send students home on routes where traffic was grinding to a halt.
Nearly 8,000 students across Georgia and Alabama spent the night in school gyms or on buses, reports ABC News.
Many commuters abandoned cars along jammed motorways to seek shelter in churches and fire stations.
A snow storm spawned traffic chaos in the Deep South leaving thousands of people stranded overnight on motorways, in schools and churches
Gridlock on the streets of Atlanta, Georgia, was so bad that a police officer had to deliver a baby on a snowy motorway.
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal said on Wednesday morning that the National Guard had sent military Humvees on to the city’s motorways to move stranded school buses and provide food and water to people.
A school bus flipped over as it was driving students home amid dismal weather near Asheville, North Carolina.
Motorists were instructed to stay off roadways in Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, where states of emergency were declared.
“Residents should not overreact but should make plans now to ensure they are prepared for prolonged freezing conditions and icy roadways,” Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant told US media.
At least five people were killed due to weather-related accidents in Alabama on Tuesday.
New Orleans’ main airport, which was closed on Tuesday, has reopened with a reduced service.
Some 1,700 flights across the US were grounded on Wednesday.
State legislature activities in South Carolina were also cancelled due to weather.
The latest cold snap stretched across much of the US on Wednesday, sending temperatures as low as -30F.
According US researchers, exposure to a once widely used pesticide, DDT, may increase the chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
A study, published in JAMA Neurology, showed patients with Alzheimer’s had four times as much DDT lingering in the body as healthy people.
Some countries still use the pesticide to control malaria.
DDT was a massively successful pesticide, initially used to control malaria at the end of World War Two and then to protect crops in commercial agriculture.
However, there were questions about its impact on human health and wider environmental concerns, particularly for predators.
Exposure to DDT may increase the chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease
It was banned in the US in 1972 and in many other countries. But the World Health Organization (WHO) still recommends using DDT to keep malaria in check.
DDT also lingers in the human body where it is broken down into DDE.
The team at Rutgers University and Emory University tested levels of DDE in the blood of 86 people with Alzheimer’s disease and compared the results with 79 healthy people of a similar age and background.
The results showed those with Alzheimer’s had 3.8 times the level of DDE.
However, the picture is not clear-cut. Some healthy people had high levels of DDE while some with Alzheimer’s had low levels. Alzheimer’s also predates the use of DDT.
The researchers believe the chemical is increasing the chance of Alzheimer’s and may be involved in the development of amyloid plaques in the brain, a hallmark of the disease, which contribute to the death of brain cells.
Twenty journalists, including four foreigners, are facing charges in Egypt, prosecutors have said.
The Egyptian journalists are accused of belonging to a “terrorist organization” and the four foreigners are accused of assisting it, or spreading false news.
The defendants include two Britons, a Dutch national and an Australian – believed to be al-Jazeera correspondent Peter Greste.
Earlier, international news networks called for the release of five al-Jazeera journalists.
The 16 Egyptian defendants face several allegations including belonging to a terrorist group, harming national unity and social peace, and using terrorism as a means to their goals.
The four foreigners are accused of collaborating with the Egyptians and providing them with information, equipment, and money as well as broadcasting false information and rumors to convince the international community that Egypt was undergoing a civil war.
Eight of the defendants are in detention, while 12 are on the run with arrest warrants issued against them, according to the prosecutor’s statement.
No names are mentioned. But it said the four foreigners were correspondents for the Qatari al-Jazeera news network.
Peter Greste’s appeal against his detention without charge was denied on Wednesday by a Cairo court
“We only know of five people in jail,” said al-Jazeera’s head of newsgathering Heather Allen.
“We don’t know about the full charge. Things are not clear at the moment. We are still waiting for clarity.”
Peter Greste’s appeal against his detention without charge was denied on Wednesday by a Cairo court.
The staff members and journalists of al-Jazeera were arrested in late December following interior ministry accusations of illegally broadcasting from a hotel suite.
Al-Jazeera has said the men were merely reporting the situation in Egypt.
Of the three arrested a month ago, Peter Greste is accused of collaborating with “terrorists” by talking to members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been banned by the military-backed government.
Al-Jazeera Cairo bureau chief Mohammed Fahmy, who is Egyptian-Canadian, and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed are accused of the more serious offence of membership of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The al-Jazeera network says it was “surprised” when its reporters were arrested by Egyptian authorities.
Two more of its staff – journalist Abdullah al-Shami and cameraman Mohammad Badr – were arrested in July and August.
