Sacha Baron Cohen is to be presented with BAFTA LA’s Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award at a ceremony on November 9.
Sacha Baron Cohen, 41, who hit the international stage playing comedy characters Ali G and Borat, has since starred in Les Miserables and Martin Scorsese’s Hugo.
The actor recently pulled out of playing the late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury.
Also being honored is Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch, who will be named British artist of the year.
Sacha Baron Cohen is to be presented with BAFTA LA’s Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award at a ceremony on November 9
George Clooney is being presented with the Stanley Kubrick award for excellence in film, Zero Dark Thirty director Kathryn Bigelow will accept the John Schlesinger award for directing and Ben Kingsley is being honored with the Albert R Broccoli award for his contribution to entertainment.
Sacha Baron Cohen has previously won two BAfta TV awards for Da Ali G Show, which he starred in and co-wrote.
His 2006 film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan won a Golden Globe and received an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay.
British Sacha Bron Cohen is married to The Great Gatsby actress Isla Fisher, with whom he has two children.
The BAFTA LA awards lunch will be shown on in the US on BBC America on November 10.
All The Wrong Reasons, a film starring late Glee actor Cory Monteith, has won a top award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
First-time director Gia Milani, collected the $10,000 Discovery Award for the movie, All The Wrong Reasons, on Monday.
The drama, which is an exploration of post-traumatic stress disorder, beat 27 other films to claim the prize.
Cory Monteith, 31, who played Finn Hudson in Glee, died in July from a heroin and alcohol overdose.
All The Wrong Reasons, starring late Glee actor Cory Monteith, has won Discovery Award at the Toronto International Film Festival
In All The Wrong Reasons, Cory Monteith plays a shop manager whose wife (Karine Vanasse) is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.
The film, which had its world premiere on Sunday, also stars Emily Hampshire and Kevin Zegers (Gossip Girl).
Gia Milani told Variety that the story was inspired by a close friend who is a member of the Canadian armed forces and suffered from mental problems after returning from a tough tour overseas.
The drama, filmed during the summer of 2012 in Nova Scotia, Canada, took five years to make.
Another film featuring Cory Monteith premiered in Toronto on Monday.
Called McCanick, the movie is a US crime drama, in which Cory Monteith plays a recently released convict.
Toronto Film Festival will conclude on Sunday with the film Life of Crime, based on a novel by Elmore Leonard and starring Jennifer Aniston.
Toyota has decided to recall 780,584 vehicles in the US for a second time to address a suspension defect that may not have been fixed after a recall last year.
The rear suspension arm in affected vehicles may rust, leading to eventual failure, if nuts are not tightened properly during service.
The US safety watchdog said this could “cause a loss of vehicle control, increasing the risk of a crash”.
The models affected are the RAV4 sport utility vehicle and the Lexus HS 250h.
The RAV4 models covered by the recall were manufactured between 2006 and 2011, and the Lexus vehicles affected are the ones made between October 2005 and September 2010.
Toyota is recalling 780,584 vehicles in the US for a second time to address a suspension defect
Toyota first recalled the vehicles in August last year to carry out repairs on the affected parts.
However, in a letter sent to dealers, which was posted on the safety agency’s website, Toyota said that it had received reports “indicating that some vehicles experienced symptoms of the recalled condition after being inspected or repaired”.
“Upon investigation, it was discovered that some inspections were not adequate and portions of the repair procedure may not have been performed correctly,” it added.
As part of the new inspection it has asked its dealers to replace suspension arms if any rust is found on them.
“After the inspection or replacement, the rear suspension alignment will be set and the arms will be sealed with an epoxy,” it said.
Toyota said it would then apply labels on the arms to indicate that they are no longer adjustable.
The recall comes just as Toyota has been trying to rebuild its image after a spate of recalls due to safety concerns in the past few years.
June Shannon prepared to walk down the aisle in the season finale of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.
Mama June, 34, is shown in a trailer, released on Monday, preparing for her commitment ceremony with longtime love Sugar Bear.
Sugar Bear, whose real name is Mike Thompson, is meanwhile seen waiting for his bride, dressed sharply in a black shirt, bright orange vest, matching tie and boutonnière.
Their 8-year-old daughter Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson served as flower girl at the ceremony and was seen in the clip dropping petals along the aisle in a pretty pink and orange dress.
As Mama June looks out to the crowd who are waiting for her under an outdoor tent, she is asked off-camera if she is nervous.
“I ain’t that nervous, might be, when I open up the door, that I’m actually doing it,” she responds.
The commitment ceremony took place in May at the family’s home in Georgia.
The ceremony also included Honey Boo Boo’s three stepsisters, who wore pink dresses with blue ribbons around their waist and carried multi-colored bouquets of flowers.
Mama June and Sugar Bear met nine years ago in an online chat room following relationship break-ups.
They hit it off and two years later welcomed Honey Boo Boo.
Sugar Bear had proposed to Mama June twice before, but after rejecting his proposals she accepted when he popped the question earlier this year.
Their precocious child shot to fame on the fly-on-the-wall pageant show Toddlers & Tiaras in 2009 and scored her own spin-off series last year.
The season two finale of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo will air on Wednesday on TLC.
Lung cancer drug gefitinib could be given to women with ectopic pregnancies in a bid to help them avoid surgery.
A joint study by researchers in Edinburgh and Melbourne, Australia, found that combining gefitinib with existing treatment was more effective at curing the condition.
An ectopic pregnancy is when an embryo implants in the Fallopian tube.
It can be treated with drugs if identified early, but surgery is needed when it is more developed.
The study, published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynaecology, involved a trial of 12 women.
Lung cancer drug gefitinib could be given to women with ectopic pregnancies in a bid to help them avoid surgery
Gefitinib, usually used to treat lung cancer, blocks a protein that is known to encourage cell growth, and which was found to be present in high levels at the site of ectopic pregnancies.
Scientists from the Edinburgh University’s medical research council centre for reproductive health, and the University of Melbourne, suggested that combining gefitinib with the conventional treatment – called methotrexate – could reduce the need to remove the Fallopian tube in a significant number of cases.
They said this would help a patient’s level of fertility.
The researchers also found that the drug combination was able to shorten the time it took to successfully treat ectopic pregnancies in women who did not need surgery.
Dr. Andrew Horne, who led the study, said: “An ectopic pregnancy can be extremely stressful for the woman involved.
“If we can reduce the need for surgery, and thereby help fertility levels, then that would be an enormous benefit.
“Reducing the treatment time for women who do not need surgery would also have a significant impact in reducing the emotional stress of such a diagnosis.”
President Barack Obama has said he will put plans for a military strike against Syria on hold if the country agrees to place its chemical weapons stockpile under international control.
However, the US president said he was skeptical the Syrian government would follow through.
As the US Congress debates authorizing an attack, Russia on Monday proposed Syria relinquish its chemical weapons.
The US accuses Damascus of war crimes including use of chemical weapons, allegations denied by the regime.
Barack Obama on Monday gave a series of television interviews aimed at building support among a US Congress and public wary of new military action in the Middle East.
The president maintains a limited strike is needed to punish Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime for the use of chemical weapons and to deter it from using them again.
“I want to make sure that norm against use of chemical weapons is maintained,” Barack Obama told ABC News.
“That’s in our national security interest. If we can do that without a military strike that is overwhelmingly my preference.”
Asked by Diane Sawyer of ABC News if he would put plans for an attack on pause should Bashar al-Assad yield control of his chemical weapons, Barack Obama answered: “Absolutely, if in fact that happened.”
Barack Obama said he would continue to press the US Congress to back a resolution authorizing him to take military action against Syria, but he implied the timeline for action had shifted.
Barack Obama has said he will put plans for a military strike against Syria on hold if the country agrees to place its chemical weapons stockpile under international control
“The stakes are high, but they are long term,” he said, adding that he did not “foresee a succession of votes this week, or any time in the immediate future”.
Barack Obama added: “I don’t think that we would have gotten to this point unless we had maintained a credible possibility of a military strike, and I don’t think now is the time for us to let up on that.”
US senators had been expected to take a first vote on the issue on Wednesday, but the test vote on the legislation was postponed on Monday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who cited “international discussions” as a reason for the delay.
Many US politicians and members of the public remain concerned that military action could draw the nation into a prolonged war and spark broader hostilities in the region.
Support in Congress for a measure authorizing attacks on Syria has remained relatively low, with more than 230 of the 433 members in the House of Representatives reportedly either opposed to or likely to oppose strikes as of Friday.
In addition, opinion polls suggest Americans remain wary of a strike against Syria, with only one in five believing that a failure to respond to chemical weapons attacks would embolden other governments, according to an Associated Press poll concluded on Monday.
Barack Obama’s remarks came after Russia asked Syria to put its chemical weapons stockpiles under international control and then have them destroyed, in an attempt to avoid US military strikes.
The idea appeared to have stemmed from an inadvertent suggestion by Secretary of State John Kerry.
When asked at a news conference whether there was anything Bashar al-Assad could do to avoid a military strike, John Kerry replied that he could hand over his entire stockpile of chemical weapons within the next week.
Although US officials subsequently said John Kerry had made a “rhetorical argument” rather than a serious offer, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov later said he presented the proposal during talks with his Syrian counterpart, Walid Muallem.
Sergei Lavrov revealed that he had urged Walid Muallem to “not only agree on placing chemical weapons storage sites under international control, but also on their subsequent destruction”.
He said he had also told Walid Muallem that Syria should then fully join the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Walid Muallem told reporters through an interpreter that Syria welcomed the initiative, and he praised Russia for “attempting to prevent American aggression against our people”.
Barack Obama on Monday told NBC News he was “skeptical” of Syria’s professed interest in relinquishing its weapons, because “this is not how we’ve seen them operate over the last couple of years”.
But he suggested the matter would never have arisen in talks between Russia and Syria “unless we had maintained a credible possibility of a military strike, and I don’t think now is the time for us to let up on that”.
The estranged wife of George Zimmerman has told police he threatened her with a gun.
Shellie Zimmerman also said George Zimmerman had punched her father and smashed her iPad.
George Zimmerman blamed his spouse for the altercation and denied any wrongdoing.
He was briefly taken into custody and questioned but no charges have been laid against him.
In July, George Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder in the February 2012 killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
Shellie Zimmerman told police that George Zimmerman had punched her father and smashed her iPad
George Zimmerman shot dead Trayvon Martin, who was unarmed and walking at night toward his father’s house. He told investigators the boy had attacked him.
On Monday, police responded to a call from the Zimmermans’ central Florida home after Shellie Zimmerman told an emergency official her husband was sitting in his car with his hand on a gun.
Shellie Zimmerman also told authorities she was afraid of her 29-year-old husband after he allegedly punched her father in the nose and grabbed an iPad out of her hand and smashed it.
Hours later, she changed her story and said she had never seen a firearm, police said.
Both Shellie Zimmerman and her father declined to press charges.
Shellie Zimmerman, 26, filed for divorce on September 5, a week after she was sentenced to a year’s probation and 100 hours of community service for perjury in connection with George Zimmerman’s murder trial.
Shellie Zimmerman had admitted lying about assets the couple shared during a June 2012 bail hearing.
Rafael Nadal has won his second US Open title in New York after beating world number one Novak Djokovic in a pulsating four-set final.
Rafael Nadal, 27, held on magnificently in the third set to go on and win a gripping contest 6-2 3-6 6-4 6-1 in three hours and 21 minutes.
One incredible 54-shot rally – the longest in the tournament by 20 shots – summed up a battle that thrilled the 23,000 spectators in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Rafael Nadal has now won 13 Grand Slam singles titles and moves within one of Pete Sampras in the all-time list, with Roger Federer leading on 17.
And after missing last year’s US Open during a seven-month absence with a knee injury, Rafael Nadal is now set to regain the number one ranking.
Rafael Nadal has won his second US Open title in New York after beating world number one Novak Djokovic in a pulsating four-set final
“Having this success is amazing,” he said.
“I never expected it. That’s life and I’m lucky to have what I’m having.
“I really love the competition, I really love the sport. All my career I dreamed to be involved in matches like today. I enjoy every moment.
“These things are not forever. In a few years I won’t have this chance. I try my best, I have passion and that’s all I can do.”
Monday’s final was a predictably electrifying, punishing contest as Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic met for the 37th time – taking them past the rivalry of John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl to set a new record since the Open era began in 1968.
It was their sixth Grand Slam final and third at Flushing Meadows, after Rafael Nadal won in 2010 and Novak Djokovic took revenge in 2011.
Scott Thorson was arrested last week after failing a drug test.
The one-time boyfriend of musical legend Liberace found himself back in jail in Reno, Nevada after having tested positive for methamphetamine during a random parole drug test.
Scott Thorson – who now goes by the alias Jess Marlow – has consistently battled drug addiction, but it wasn’t until a book he wrote about his life with Liberace was turned into a movie that he received much attention.
He was played by Matt Damon opposite Michael Douglas’ Liberace in the HBO film Behind the Candelabra.
Scott Thorson found himself back in jail in Reno after having tested positive for methamphetamine during a random parole drug test
Scott Thorson and Liberace were together for five years, starting in 1976 when Thorson was just 16 years old.
But their relationship ended in a messy break-up. In 1982, Liberace kicked the job-less Scott Thorson, whose drug habits started getting worse, out of his house.
Eventually Scott Thorson sued Liberace for $113 million, and the pianist settled out of court for $75,000, giving up three cars and two pet dogs as well. Liberace died in 1987 after succumbing to an AIDS-related illness.
In July, Scott Thorson, 54, was sentenced to five years of probation after pleading guilty to burglary and identify theft charges.
He will have to deal with the consequences of breaking the terms of his probation in court this week.
However, Scott Thorson’s attorney David Houston feels that the drug testing was wrong.
Scott Thorson, who is currently in remission for anal cancer and had to have nasal surgery recently, asked not to be tested so he could take needed medication.
“I have not seen this much of a concerted effort of those in the system to have someone fail in all of my years of practice,” David Houston told the Reno Gazette-Journal .
David Houston believes that the results could be a false positive due to the drugs prescribed during his nasal surgery.
Porter Ridge’s Terry Porter and Jeff Watson say they’re happy in the rolling hollows of Southern Indiana, but the money’s no good.
Terry Porter owns a junkyard on Porter Ridge Road, a winding route about 15 miles west of Bloomington, Indiana. Jeff Watson lives next door, with eight brown bears he owns and trains. Country Auto Parts rarely turns a profit, according to Terry Porter, who’s usually bare-chested before, during and after office hours. Far removed from Hollywood, Jeff Watson doesn’t find much TV or movie work for his animals.
“Jeff basically told me, <<My business is dying>>,” Terry Porter said.
“I said, <<Mine is the same way>>. ”
Jeff Watson dreamed up new hope for the duo, plus quite a few friends in rural Owen County, by pitching a reality series to the makers of cable-TV sensation Duck Dynasty.
The bear man’s entertainment resume includes acting in the 2008 independent film Grizzly Park and assisting with animal appearances on The Tonight Show and Good Morning America.
Discovery’s new series Porter Ridge, starring Terry Porter and Jeff Watson, represents a serious financial lifeline for its cast.
Otherwise, Terry Porter wouldn’t be sharing with America his tanned upper torso and hard-to-follow dialect.
“I don’t want to be famous, don’t want to be a dadgum movie star,” Terry Porter said of his initial reluctance to be part of the show.
“But you gotta do what you gotta do type of thing.”
In contrast to Duck Dynasty, the A&E’s reality hit centered on the owners of lucrative hunting supply company Duck Commander, Porter Ridge isn’t based on wealth, accomplishment or celebrity.
Porter Ridge is a self-made sideshow featuring shirtless Terry Porter, bear whisperer Jeff Watson and a band of bearded outsiders. They’re modern-day “Beverly Hillbillies” who never relocated to L.A.
Among the true-life characters who congregate at Country Auto Parts is “Dirty” Andy Minnick, who makes ends meet by selling scrap metal from old lawn mowers, rusty trampolines and other items.
Like Jeff Watson, Andy Minnick worked at the General Electric refrigerator plant in Bloomington before being laid off.
Porter Ridge is a self-made sideshow featuring shirtless Terry Porter, bear whisperer Jeff Watson, Kayla Wood and a band of bearded outsiders
Andy Minnick refers to himself as a “hilljack” and doesn’t view the term as an insult.
“We’re representing ourselves,” he said.
“We’re not representing the community, as such. I hope [viewers] realize that you don’t have to do a 9 to 5 every day to make a living. There’s other ways around it.”
Porter Ridge cast members don’t talk about their compensation for doing the show. Terry Porter said the series hasn’t significantly changed his finances, but he’s looking forward to the exposure Country Auto Parts will receive.
“I spend $8,000 a year advertising,” he said.
“If I can get free advertising – and lunch – you know what I’m saying?”
Reality shows that become hits deliver far more than complimentary catering for cast members.
Members of Duck Dynasty’s Robertson family reportedly sought $200,000 per episode after the series ranked as cable television’s No. 1 “nonfiction” program for 2012, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Of all the attention surrounding Porter Ridge, Terry Porter said he’s most flustered by an online business directory, ChamberOfCommerce.com, that lists Country Auto Parts as doing more than $2 million in sales volume per year.
“I would really like to know where that banking account is,” Terry Porter said.
“Because I wouldn’t have any clue.”
Terry Porter said Country Auto Parts did about $80,000 in sales in 2012, enough for him to pay two full-time employees and keep up with house payments.
As Jeff Watson recognized when hatching the idea for Porter Ridge, his entrepreneur friend is a “show in and of himself”.
Prone to making bold statements greeted by vacant stares, Terry Porter is a malapropism artist in the tradition of baseball great Yogi Berra.
“If nobody’s there, we have quite a few people,” Terry Porter said of car races at his private dirt track.
Not everyone on Porter Ridge Road embraced the production crew that made two episodes of the show last fall and another 10 episodes this spring.
“I have a neighbor across the street, and he says if you bring a camera over there you’ll be wearing it home,” Jeff Watson said.
“He’d be a great addition to the cast, but he doesn’t want to be on camera.”
Andy Minnick rejected any suggestion that situations depicted on Porter Ridge are scripted.
“Jeff has bears in his backyard,” he said.
“Terry has a figure-eight racetrack in his backyard. This is a real junkyard.”
For brains and looks, Porter Ridge boasts Kayla Wood, the part-time office manager at Country Auto Parts. The Indiana University senior (majoring in health administration) is framed as the cast’s attractive tomboy.
Kayla Wood grew up on Porter Ridge Road, where she drove ATVs and fished.
She said IU’s Bloomington campus isn’t far away in miles, but quite a distance in lifestyles.
“When you talk about what [students] did growing up versus what I did growing up, it’s completely opposite,” Kayla Wood said.
“Especially people who aren’t from Indiana.”
Porter Ridge may not dispel negative stereotypes associated with Southern Indiana, particularly ones related to education, broken-down vehicles and questionable fashion decisions. But Discovery Channel executive producer Joe Weinstock said Porter Ridge isn’t designed to make Hoosiers look bad.
“When people see the show, I believe they’re going to come away feeling pretty darn good,” Joe Weinstock said.
“It has a lot of heart. In the end, these neighbors who all unite and live on Porter Ridge Road love each other.”
Jeff Watson said Porter Ridge can be a positive for its cast.
“I hope [the show] translates into better times for people,” Jeff Watson said.
“The economy is tough. I hope this junkyard takes off; I hope it really helps Terry out. Nobody here is going to be a star, and nobody is going to consider themselves a star from this.”
Bangladeshi government has said it will take legal action against Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus over what it says are tax irregularities.
The allegations date back to the period when Muhammad Yunus, 73, was the managing director of the micro-finance organization, the Grameen Bank.
Bangladesh’s central bank removed the economist from his position two years ago, saying he was past retirement age.
Muhammad Yunus denies the allegations.
Bangladeshi government will take legal action against Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus over tax irregularities
His supporters have said the charges – as well as his removal from the Grameen Bank – are politically motivated.
The bulk of the allegations brought against Muhammad Yunus relate to his earnings abroad, including award money and royalties from his books.
The government now says these earnings were received without the necessary permission as he was the head of an institution partially owned by the state.
Bangladesh’s cabinet secretary, Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, told reporters that the cabinet had decided to take action following a report from the country’s tax authority, the National Board of Revenue.
Muhammad Yunus has challenged the allegations against him.
In a statement, the microcredit pioneer said that he has always declared his earnings and was within the law in claiming tax exemption.
Monday’s decision is part of a long-running feud between Muhammad Yunus and the current Awami League-led government that dates back to 2007, when the winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize tried to set up a rival political party.
South African chef Albert Buitenhuis, who is facing deportation from New Zealand for being too fat, has been given a 23-month reprieve.
However, Albert Buitenhuis will not be allowed any publicly-funded healthcare, a government official said.
Albert Buitenhuis, who weighs 286 lbs, appealed two months ago after his work visa renewal application was rejected on the grounds he did not have “an acceptable standard of health”.
He has shed 67 lbs since he moved to the city of Christchurch six years ago.
Albert Buitenhuis, who is facing deportation from New Zealand for being too fat, has been given a 23-month reprieve
Associate Immigration Minister Nikki Kaye said the main reason Albert Buitenhuis’s application had been declined was due to the osteoarthritis in his knee.
However, she granted Albert Buitenhuis and his wife, Marthie, visa extensions but said he would “have to meet any health costs himself”.
Albert Buitenhuis, who wrote about his experiences in a blog called The Too Fat Chef, told local media that the government’s decision was “bitter sweet”.
“Of course, we are pleased and relieved that we are now able to stay. But at the same time we would rather rewind so that none of this took place,” he said in an interview with Fairfax media.
“We are really starting from scratch again. We have lost thousands of dollars fighting this and we don’t know where we will live because our home is gone. I am glad the fight is over but I am still afraid of what lies ahead.”
Albert Buitenhuis, who is 5ft 10in tall, said he aims to lose another 55 lbs over the next few months.
New Zealand has one of the highest obesity rates in the developed world, with nearly 30% of people overweight.
The immigration department has said it is important that “all migrants have an acceptable standard of health to minimize costs and demands on New Zealand’s health services”.
Naomi Watts’ personal trainer has revealed how the actress undertook on a gruelling workout regime in order to transform herself into Princess Diana for the upcoming movie Diana.
New York-based fitness guru Simone De La Rue toldHealth & Fitnessmagazine how she got Naomi Watts into shape using her tried and tested methods of resistance training combined with danced-based cardio.
Simone De La Rue, who also counts Sandra Bullock, Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway as her clients, is famed for her tough yet effective dance work-outs.
She explained how she works with clients like Naomi Watts for three months to achieve the best results.
Simone De La Rue got Naomi Watts into shape using her tried and tested methods of resistance training combined with danced-based cardio
Simone De La Rue, an ex-professional dancer said: “When working towards a specific goal with a client, I encourage them to train five or more times a week, for one hour a day.”
“I set a programme that constantly challenges my clients and, during the last three weeks, we really increase the intensity.”
Simone De La Rue, 38, added that for her role as Princess Diana, Naomi Watts, 44, carried out a great deal of cardio work but the dance element makes it “a fun way to get your sweat on and burn calories”.
The fitness guru, who is originally from Australia, says her core-strengthening sessions, which incorporate pilates, yoga and dance, have become a favorite with celebrities because they deliver “long and lean” results.
One of her most famous clients is Sandra Bullock, who turned to the Body By Simone (BBS) workouts after she split from husband Jesse James in 2011.
Simone De La Rue revealed: “Sandy wanted to focus on her upper arms so we used wrist weights and slowly moved the arms in a move that mimics the <<Port De Bras>>.”
A personal session at her studio BBS studio in New York would set you back around $175, but group sessions cost a more reasonable $35.
Russia has urged Syria to put its chemical weapons stockpiles under international control and then have them destroyed, in an attempt to avoid US military strikes.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the offer was made during talks with his Syrian counterpart, Walid Muallem.
Walid Muallem said he welcomed the initiative.
The US is threatening strikes accusing the Syrian regime of war crimes, though Damascus denies the claims.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, in Europe to garner support for the military action, has once again warned that taking no action is riskier than launching strikes.
When asked at a news conference whether there was anything Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could do to avoid military action, John Kerry replied that he could hand over his entire stockpile of chemical weapons within the next week.
US officials subsequently clarified that John Kerry was making a “rhetorical argument” rather than a serious offer.
Russia has urged Syria to put its chemical weapons stockpiles under international control and then have them destroyed
However, Sergei Lavrov later said he had urged Walid Muallem during talks in Moscow to “not only agree on placing chemical weapons storage sites under international control, but also on their subsequent destruction”.
Sergei Lavrov said he had also told Walid Muallem that Syria should then fully join the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Walid Muallem told reporters through an interpreter that Syria welcomed the Russian initiative.
He praised Russia for “attempting to prevent American aggression against our people”.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said the destruction of the weapons would be a “huge step forward”, but warned that it should not be used as a “distraction tactic”.
The Russians have been the main international ally of Bashar al-Assad’s regime throughout Syria’s two-and-a-half-year civil war.
Russia has blocked three resolutions against Syria in the UN Security Council, and has dismissed evidence linking Bashar al-Assad’s forces to a chemical attack in Damascus on August 21.
The US says Syrian government forces used poison gas to kill 1,429 people in the attack.
Bashar al-Assad’s government blames the attack on rebels fighting to overthrow him, in a conflict that the UN says has claimed some 100,000 lives.
North Korea has marked the 65th anniversary of its founding with a huge military parade.
The country held its second mass parade in little more than a month, with leader Kim Jong-un presiding over a display of goose-stepping paramilitary troops, marching bands and flower-waving civilians.
North Korea has marked the 65th anniversary of its founding with a huge military parade
At the start of the ceremony, tens of thousands of guards gathered in tight formation in Pyongyang’s Kim Il-sung Square, with hundreds of thousands more civilians in the background carrying brightly colored flowers in the pattern of a giant national flag.
Kim Jong-un’s arrival on the viewing platform with senior party and military officials was greeted with the usual thunderous applause and cries of Mansei.
Leading the parade were the Worker-Peasant Red Guard – a civilian militia with an estimated strength of more than three million active members.
Duck Dynasty’s Jase and Missy Robertson attended the Ouachita Christian game on Friday night.
At Ouachita Christian, Monroe, Louisiana, where Jase and Missy Robertson’s son Reed is a senior, the Duck Dynasty stars blended in with the crowd Friday night to watch Ouachita Christian’s victory against Block.
Jase and Missy Robertson attended the Ouachita Christian game
Jase and Missy Robertson weren’t operating in complete anonymity, however. Missy Robertson sang the national anthem and Jase provided the invocation in Ouachita Christian’s home opener.
Jase Robertson mentioned that he thinks Reed will end up at LSU and forgo opportunities to continue playing football at the FCS level.
Angelina Jolie has an estimated 17 different tattoos and now she has added yet another inking to her already-vast collection.
Angelina Jolie debuted the new etching as she began work on her new movie Unbroken in Sydney, Australia, on Monday.
The lengthy piece of writing on her right arm appears to be in Arabic, and sits directly below another Arabic script tattoo Angelina Jolie has which means Determination.
Angelina Jolie is one of the most tattooed actresses in Hollywood, with an estimated 17 different designs
It is thought Angelina Jolie, who is known for getting inkings to mark important developments in her life, may have had the tattoo done following her double mastectomy operation earlier this year.
Some of her other meaningful etchings include a quote from Tennessee Williams in memory of her late mother Marcheline Bertrand, and the geographical coordinates of where each of her six children were born.
Angelina is currently in Australia with her brood to film her new movie Unbroken, while fiancé Brad Pitt stays in the UK shooting his latest project.
While it was originally reported that she would film Unbroken in Hawaii, it seems her plans changed following a whirlwind 24-hour visit with son Pax back in July.
It is the second feature film Angelina Jolie will direct, following 2011’s In The Land Of Blood And Honey, which was nominated for a Golden Globe.
Hyon Song-wol, long-term mistress of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was executed by firing squad along with 11 others, Reuters reported.
The group was “accused of filming and selling s** tapes of themselves” while some of them “allegedly possessed bibles, which is a political crime”.
The women were machined-gunned with their families forced to watch. Their families were then sent to prison camps because of North Korea’s policy of “guilt by association”.
Hyon Song-wol, a singer in North Korea’s famed Unhasu Orchestra, was killed along with 11 other members of the orchestra and the Wangjaesan Light Music Band, another popular state-run music group, according to a report in The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea’s largest daily newspaper.
The report, which cites an anonymous source in China, says the group was arrested on August 17. The clip reportedly found its way across the border to China. Their families were forced to watch the execution, which took place three days later, and were then sent to the country’s notorious prison camps, the source said.
Hyon Song-wol, long-term mistress of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was executed by firing squad along with 11 others
Hyon Song-wol was a famous performer whose fame peaked around 2005 with the popular song Excellent Horse-Like Lady. She is said to have dated Kim Jong-un in the early 2000’s, after the young leader returned from boarding school in Switzerland. But she disappeared from the public eye around 2006, near the time Kim Jong-il began grooming his son to be Supreme Leader. Kim Jong-il reportedly disapproved of the relationship and ordered Hyon Somng-wol to leave the orchestra to keep her away from his son.
Shortly after the breakup, HyonSong-wol is said to have married an officer in the North Korean army and given birth to his son. But after Kim Jong-il’s death in late 2011, rumors spread among Pyongyang’s military elite that Kim Jong-un and Hyon Song-wol had rekindled their romance.
A young woman photographed next to Kim Jong-un at a concert in Pyongyang last summer was thought by South Korean intelligence officials to have been Hyon Song-wol. Experts speculated that the photos were circulated as a play to make Kim Jong-un seem more approachable. However, reports later said the woman was Ri Sol-ju, Kim Jong-un’s current wife.
Ri Sol-ju was also a member of the Unhasu Orchestra before she married Kim Jong-un, but it’s unclear if she knew Hyon Song-wol personally. Kim Jong-un and Ri Sol-ju have a baby daughter called Ju-ae together, as retired US basketball player Dennis Rodman confirmed.
Hyon Song-wol’s ties to Kim Jong-un raise the question whether it’s possible there is an ulterior motive for the execution. In North Korea, executions have been carried out as a way to eliminate perceived threats to the power of the Supreme Leader and his inner circle, but with such a dearth of facts in this case, it is hard to say anything for certain.
A previously unknown Vincent van Gogh painting has been identified by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
Sunset at Montmajour – which depicts trees, bushes and sky – had spent years in a Norwegian private collector’s attic after he had been told the work was not by the Dutch master.
The museum said the painting was authenticated by letters, style and the physical materials used.
It is the first full-size canvas by Vincent van Gogh discovered since 1928.
Museum director Axel Rueger called the discovery a “once-in-a-lifetime experience” at an unveiling ceremony.
Axel Rueger said the institution had previously rejected the painting’s authenticity in the 1990s partly because it was not signed.
However, thanks to new research techniques and a two-year investigation, it concluded the artwork was by the artist.
Researcher Teio Meedendorp said he and other researchers “found answers to all the key questions, which is remarkable for a painting that has been lost for more than 100 years”.
Sunset at Montmajour had spent years in a Norwegian private collector’s attic after he had been told the work was not by Vincent van Gogh
The piece can be dated to the exact day it was painted because Vincent van Gogh described it in a letter to his brother, Theo, saying he had painted it the previous day – on 4 July 1888.
He added he painted it “on a stony heath where small twisted oaks grow”.
The details in the letter had previously been attributed to another of Vincent van Gogh’s works – entitled The Rocks – despite that work missing some of the elements he describes.
But researchers have now identified the location Sunset at Montmajour depicts as being near Montmajour hill, near Arles in France, where the artist was living at the time.
Writing in The Burlington Magazine, Teio Meedendorp said almost all the pigments used in the artwork were ones he “habitually had on his palette at this time”, including a cobalt blue he began using from the summer of 1887 onwards.
The painting was also listed among Theo van Gogh’s collection as number 180 – and that number can still be seen on the back of the canvas.
After the work was sold in 1901, it apparently vanished until it re-appeared in the estate of Norwegian industrialist Christian Nicolai Mustad upon his death in 1970.
According to Mustad’s family, the French ambassador to Sweden visited the collector soon after he bought the painting and suggested it was fake or had been wrongly attributed.
Consequently, Christian Nicolai Mustad banished the piece to the attic.
After his death, the collector’s family contacted the Van Gogh museum in 1991 to verify its authenticity, but it was eventually decided it was not by the artist.
The painting will be on display at the museum from September 24.
Duck Dynasty’s patriarch Phil Robertson and his family have joined premier poster artist Michael Hunt of Louisiana and New Orleans Saints’ Coach Sean Payton for two redneck masterpieces.
Michael Hunt created the posters “Faith, Family, Football and Duck Hunting”. But the Robertsons and Sean Payton signed limited editions of one featuring a camouflage fleur-de-lis as the centerpiece and second featuring a camo football helmet.
“It’s a cool idea – faith, family, football and ducks,” said Phil Robertson.
Phil Robertson, who preceded NFL Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw as a quarterback at Louisiana Tech University in the 1960s, said he still loves the game.
“I watch football all the time,” he said.
Phil Robertson and his family have joined premier poster artist Michael Hunt of Louisiana and New Orleans Saints’ Coach Sean Payton for two redneck masterpieces
“It’s one of my five sources of TV entertainment – The Weather Channel, occasionally Fox News, <<Gunsmoke>> reruns and the NFL.”
“And <<Duck Dynasty>>,” his son Alan Robertson said.
Phil Robertson’s wife, Miss Kay, said she also enjoys football and calls herself the Saints biggest fan.
“I’m the only true fan,” Miss Kay Robertson said.
“I’ve been with them 30 years.”
She also recalled watching her young husband play at Tech.
“I loved it when he did good, but it made me mad when people bad-mouthed him if he threw an interception,” Miss Kay Robertson said.
Phil Robertson and his son Alan said Sean Payton and Saints quarterback Drew Brees plan to join the Robertsons on a duck hunt this winter.
“Payton said he’s never tried duck hunting, so we’re going to initiate him,” Phil Robertson said.
Part of the proceeds of the project will be donated to Katrina’s Angels, a national volunteer effort to make a difference for communities and people affected by federally and state-declared disasters.
In the latest episode of Duck Dynasty, Jase Robertson and his wife Missy are renovating their kitchen, so their own house is temporarily uninhabitable and have to move to his brother Willie’s home.
“I got no electricity, I got no water, I got no food,” complained Jase Robertson.
His sister-in-law Korie Robertson graciously offered her hospitality to Jase and his family – which didn’t leave Willie particularly thrilled.
“Hey, y’all remember that time I said I was excited to have Jase over?” Willie Robertson asked rhetorically.
“Yeah. Me, neither.”
After a long day at work, Willie Robertson comes home to find his kids and niece building a fort in his living room.
“That’s not a fort – that’s a teepee,” Willie Robertson groused to Missy.
“A fort is like a square structure. I used to build them. There’s a big difference in a fort and a teepee.”
Despite Willie Robertson’s initial bad mood, he tried to remain optimistic about spending some quality time with brother.
“I know I tend to complain a lot about Jase, but the kids seem to be enjoying each other,” Willie Robertson reasoned.
“It’s one weekend with him. How bad can it be?”
Willie Robertson discovered his brother Jase sitting in his favorite chair, watching the end of a game that Willie had recorded to watch later. To make matters worse, Willie Robertson sat down on a mysteriously damp cushion.
“So far, I’ve been living with Jase and his kids for a total of five minutes and already the house looks like crap,” Willie Robertson complained.
“The game is ruined and my butt is wet.”
Jase Robertson and his wife Missy are renovating their kitchen, so their own house is temporarily uninhabitable and have to move to his brother Willie’s home
The weekend went downhill from there.
At 4 o’clock in the morning, Willie Robertson was awoken by Jase, who was in the kitchen, noisily frying a piece of Willie’s prized waygu steak, which cost him $100.
“That was mine,” lamented Willie Robertson.
“It’s a steak,” Jase Robertson replied casually.
“I’ll get you another one.”
“It won’t be waygu.”
He looked confused: “I don’t even know what that is.”
Jase Robertson rationalized his before-dawn meal by explaining: “When you grow up with three brothers, if you don’t eat early–you don’t eat.”
Eating was definitely on Jase Robertson weekend agenda. The next day, he was cleaning a cooler filled with slimy fish in Willie’s gourmet kitchen. Willie returned from the supermarket to discover his brother with a sharp knife in one hand and a bloody fish in the other.
“What are you doing,” Willie Robertson asked his brother Jase.
“The whole house stinks.”
Willie looked past the mess of fish guts to his sink: “What is that? What’s in the sink? It looks like a beaver, but I know it’s not a beaver.”
“It’s a beaver,” confirmed Jase.
“That’s what’s stinkin”
“Are we going to eat the beaver?” Jase Robertson’s daughter Mia asked innocently.
The bloody, dead beaver sitting in the sink wasn’t the worst of it. Korie Robertson, not particularly happy to come home to find that her kitchen had been turned into a rodent butchery, almost lost her patience when her daughter, Sadie, discovered a crawfish scurrying across the floor.
“How did the crawfish get in the house,” Korie Robertson asked Jase cooly.
“Look, I got some crawfish in the tub – I’m purgin’ ‘em,” Jase explained.
It turned out that Jase Robertson was purging about 100 lbs of crawfish in Willie and Korie’s jacuzzi tub in their master bathroom.
“I’m sick of this, I’m sick of beaver, I’m sick of all of it – he is gone,” Willie Robertson vowed.
Meanwhile, Uncle Si Robertson had been busy making “gentlemen’s bets” of one dollar with everyone at the Duck Commander warehouse. Si Robertson lost in every wager imaginable, including a wooden woodpecker chase, pitching baseballs at a pyramid of red Solo cups, hitting baseballs at the local batting cage and an aborted attempt at Indian leg wrestling.
To make up for his loses, Uncle Si had a plan. His brother Phil Robertson needed to remove a fishing boat that had been stuck in a tree since Hurricane Gustav in 2008.
“This is the bet I have been waiting for,” said Si Robertson.
“It’s not Indian leg wrestling, but hey–it’s a sure thing.”
Using some self-professed “redneck” ingenuity, Si Robertson managed to get the boat out of the tree with some help from the Duck Commander crew and win $1 from Phil.
“It was the best dollar I ever spent,” declared Phil Robertson.
Back at Willie and Korie Robertson’s house, Jase redeemed himself by preparing a crawfish feast for the entire clan.
“No matter what happens, there’s nothing better than spending time with your family,” Willie Robertson reflected.
“Except being able to go home afterwards – to your OWN home.”
In an interview with PBS, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said there is “no evidence” that his government has used chemical weapons.
In the interview, to be aired on Monday, Bashar al-Assad also suggested his allies would retaliate if the West attacked.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has been lobbying hard for military action against Bashar al-Assad during talks with EU and Arab foreign ministers in Europe.
Congress is due to debate whether to authorize intervention in Syria.
Lawmakers will return from their summer recess on Monday to start discussing President Barack Obama’s resolution to launch a “limited, narrow” strike.
A Senate vote on the issue is expected as early as Wednesday, although the timetable for Barack Obama’s request is less certain in the House, where the measure faces an even rockier time.
The US accuses Bashar al-Assad’s forces of killing 1,429 people in a sarin gas attack on 21 August on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus.
Bashar al-Assad’s government blames the attack on rebels fighting to overthrow him in the country’s two-and-a-half-year civil war, which has claimed some 100,000 lives, according to UN estimates.
In his interview with PBS, the Syrian president said it was up to the US to prove that his forces were behind the Damascus attack.
In an interview with PBS, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said there is “no evidence” that his government has used chemical weapons
“There has been no evidence that I used chemical weapons against my own people,” he told the network.
Bashar al-Assad would neither confirm nor deny that his government kept chemical weapons, but said that if they existed, they were “in centralized control”.
He also reportedly “suggested that there would be, among people that are aligned with him, some kind of retaliation if a strike was made”, PBS said.
Syria’s allies include China and Russia, as well as Iran and the militant Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.
On a visit to Moscow, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the US was using the issue of chemical weapons as a “pretext” to launch a war.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there was no alternative to a peaceful solution to the crisis – and Moscow was convinced it was possible.
“We appeal to our American colleagues to concentrate on this [the Geneva conference] and not for preparing for a war scenario”.
The White House has admitted it has no “irrefutable” evidence of Bashar al-Assad’s involvement in the August attack, but said a “strong common-sense test irrespective of the intelligence” suggested his government was responsible.
“We’ve seen the video proof of the outcome of those attacks,” White House Chief of Staff Dennis McDonough said on Sunday.
“Now do we have a picture or do we have irrefutable beyond-a-reasonable-doubt evidence? This is not a court of law and intelligence does not work that way.”
John Kerry also dismissed Bashar al-Assad’s comments, saying that “the evidence speaks for itself”.
“Assad’s deplorable use of chemical weapons crosses an international, global red line,” he said in Paris after meeting Arab League foreign ministers.
John Kerry will meet UK Foreign Secretary William Hague in London on Monday morning, before returning to the US in the afternoon.
Nissan has launched Nismo, a smartwatch that monitors the performance of the vehicle as well as the driver.
Just like a traditional smartwatch, the Nissan Nismo measures the user’s heart rate, temperature and other biometrics.
But it also allows users to keep an eye on their car’s performance – including average speeds and fuel consumption.
Experts say that the watch could be an important step towards greater connectivity in cars.
“Connectivity is the new battleground for car manufacturers,” said Chas Hallett, editor-in-chief of What Car?
“In-car internet is coming and now with consumer electronics focusing on watch-based connections, Nissan is getting ahead of the game and joining the two together very cleverly.”
The Nismo watch can be connected to the car’s on-board computer system to allow users to monitor vehicle telematics and performance data. Users can also receive tailored messages from Nissan via the gadget.
Nissan has launched Nismo, a smartwatch that monitors the performance of the vehicle as well as the driver
It was unveiled ahead of the Frankfurt Motor Show, which runs until September 22.
“Wearable technology is fast becoming the next big thing and we want to take advantage of this innovative technology,” said Gareth Dunsmore, marketing communications general manager at Nissan, Europe.
A glut of smartwatches has hit the market recently, including Samsung’s Galaxy Gear and Sony’s Smartwatch 2.
Car-connected watches could be even more useful than those offered by consumer electronic firms, thinks Chas Hallett.
“Imagine if you could heat up your car on a cold day before you got into it or shut the roof of your convertible when it started raining and it was parked outside,” he said.
The Nissan Leaf electric car already allows users to interact with it via their mobile phone and such functionality should be available in the firm’s next-generation watches.
The current gadget is one of the first products to come out of its Nismo laboratory, which captures live biometric and telematics data from Nissan racing cars and their drivers.
The lab plans to use electrocardiograms (ECG) and electroencephalograms (EEG) in the future to capture a range of heart and brainwave data.
The eventual aim would be to create wearable technology for drivers that can spot fatigue, monitor drivers’ levels of concentration and emotions and record hydration levels.
The Nismo, which comes in three colors and has a battery life of around a week, can be controlled by two buttons on the screen.
Scientists say have discovered Tamu Massif, the single largest volcano in the world, a dead colossus deep beneath the Pacific waves.
A team writing in the journal Nature Geoscience says the 119,000 sq mi Tamu Massif is comparable in size to Mars’ vast Olympus Mons volcano – the largest in the Solar System.
The structure topples the previous largest on Earth, Mauna Loa in Hawaii.
The massif lies some 1.3 miles below the sea.
It is located on an underwater plateau known as the Shatsky Rise, about 1,000 miles east of Japan.
It was formed about 145 million years ago when massive lava flows erupted from the centre of the volcano to form a broad, shield-like feature.
The researchers doubted the submerged volcano’s peak ever rose above sea level during its lifetime and say it is unlikely to erupt again.
Tamu Massif, the single largest volcano in the world, is a dead colossus deep beneath the Pacific waves
“The bottom line is that we think that Tamu Massif was built in a short (geologically speaking) time of one to several million years and it has been extinct since,” co-author William Sager, from the University of Houston, US, told the AFP news agency.
“One interesting angle is that there were lots of oceanic plateaus (that) erupted during the Cretaceous Period (145-65 million years ago) but we don’t see them since. Scientists would like to know why.”
Prof. William Sager began studying the structure two decades ago, but it had been unclear whether the massif was one single volcano or many – a kind that exists in dozens of locations around the planet.
While Olympus Mons on Mars has relatively shallow roots, the Tamu Massif extends some 18 miles into the Earth’s crust.
And other volcanic behemoths could be lurking among the dozen or so large oceanic plateaux around the world, he thought.
“We don’t have the data to see inside them and know their structure, but it would not surprise me to find out that there are more like Tamu out there,” said Dr. William Sager.
“Indeed, the biggest oceanic plateau is Ontong Java plateau, near the equator in the Pacific, east of the Solomon Islands. It is much bigger than Tamu – it’s the size of France.”
The name Tamu comes from Texas A&M University, where Prof. William Sager previously taught before moving to the University of Houston.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has a baby daughter called Ju-ae, Dennis Rodman says.
Dennis Rodman, who was in North Korea last week on a “basketball diplomacy tour”, made the comments in an interview with The Guardian newspaper.
He said that he spent time with Kim Jong-un’s family by the sea, and described him as “a good dad”.
Kim Jong-un leads one of the most secretive countries in the world, with relatively little known about his personal life.
“The Marshal Kim and I had a relaxing time by the sea with his family,” Dennis Rodman said.
Kim Jong-un and his wife Ri Sol-ju have a baby daughter called Ju-ae
“I held their baby Ju-ae and spoke with [Kim Jong-un’s wife] as well. He’s a good dad and has a beautiful family,” he said.
Last year, photos of Ri Sol-ju, Kim Jong-un’s wife, prompted speculation that she was pregnant, although there was no official confirmation.
North Korea only confirmed Ri Sol-ju was Kim Jong-un’s wife in July 2012, a month after she was first seen in public with him.
Dennis Rodman, who has visited North Korea twice this year, remains the most high-profile American to meet Kim Jong-un since the leader took over after his father died in 2011.
Speaking to reporters in Beijing on Saturday, after his return from North Korea, Dennis Rodman angrily rejected calls to lobby for the release of American citizen Kenneth Bae detained in North Korea.
“That’s not my job to ask about Kenneth Bae,” he said.
Kenneth Bae (known in North Korea as Pae Jun-ho) was arrested in November 2012 and sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor in May.
Last month, North Korea revoked an invitation for Robert King, the US special envoy for North Korean rights, to visit Pyongyang to discuss the case.
