Gwyneth Paltrow appeared ever-so-graceful as she arrived at the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada on Tuesday, but the frills on her blouse made the wrong kind of sartorial statement.
Turning her “fashion do” into a “fashion don’t”, the awkwardly placed, transparent ruffles did nothing to flatter her figure.
Instead, the additional fabric – that outlined her cream halter top – concealed enviable parts of her toned physique.
Gwyneth Paltrow appeared ever-so-graceful as she arrived at the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, but the frills on her blouse made the wrong kind of sartorial statement
Creating a business casual look, Gwyneth Paltrow teamed her blouse with a pair of chocolate brown slacks, flaring above her pointed-toe heels, which seemed a tad too tight.
Not one to sport multiple accessories, Gwyneth Paltrow chose to team her clothes with a pair of round, dangling earrings.
Keeping with her signature style, the food writer sleeked her blonde hair into poker straight strands, as she highlighted her natural beauty with minimal make-up.
Gwyneth Paltrow has another mild fashion faux pas on Saturday night when she went bra-less to walk the red carpet at the Gene Siskel Film Center Gala Honoring Gwyneth Paltrow in Chicago, Illinois.
According to the company’s website, the founder of lifestyle website Goop.com attended the event to deliver the keynote address, titled “Brands on the Brink of Global Expansion” to talk business, strategy, and global expansion.
The event also included a Q&A session with fitness guru Tracy Anderson, since Gwyneth Paltrow is the co-owner of the Tracy Anderson brand.
Christina Aguilera showed off her thin frame in a tight skirt and cropped top for her spirited performance of Feel This Moment with rapper Pitbull during The Voice Season 4 finale on Tuesday night in Los Angeles.
Christina Aguilera, 32, looked incredible in a skintight bandage black skirt and a sparkly silver top that revealed her hot pink bra underneath.
The singer added a boost of height to her 5ft 2in frame with sky high black peep-toe heels and accessorized with giant diamond earrings.
Christina Aguilera wore her platinum blonde hair in glamorous curls over her one shoulder and opted for a smokey eye and nude lips.
She made quite a grand entrance: Pitbull stood onstage and started his rap, until Christina Aguilera appeared on a raised platform to hysterical screams from the crowd.
The set turned into a disco scene with multi-colored lights and a lit-up stage.
Christina Aguilera appeared to hit a few flat notes and the star was seen touching her earpiece periodically.
The pair’s lively performance ended with colorful confetti and ribbons raining down onto the stage.
Christina Aguilera’s super-slim appearance was a far cry from what she looked like back in November at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles.
Sources told Us Weekly that critics motivated her to lose more than 20 lbs in weight.
Christina Aguilera showed off her thin frame during her spirited performance of Feel This Moment with rapper Pitbull on The Voice Season 4 finale
“A lot of people were on her about her weight and it depressed her,” a friend said.
“She went through a bad time because of the criticism.”
Christina Aguilera reportedly signed up for the 1,600-calorie-a-day Fresh Diet program, which offers users a variety of nutritious food options.
“She did it all on her own,” said the source.
“She goes online and picks out her food.”
Christina Aguilera was always a slender entertainer but after her 2010 divorce from Jordan Bratman she apparently gained 40 lbs by gorging on pizza and living a life of excess.
The singer was also seen enjoying the nightlife with boyfriend Matthew Rutler – her steady man since late 2010 – which no doubt put pounds on her tiny frame.
Prior to her weight loss, in an interview with Lucky magazine, Christina Aguilera said she was totally unrepentant about the way her clothes advertise her assets.
“Actually, the challenge I’ve always had is being too thin, so I love that now I have a booty, and obviously I love showing my cleavage,” she told the magazine.
“Hey, if you can work it and you can own it, that confidence is going to shine through.”
Meanwhile, country singer Danielle Bradbery, 16, was crowned the Season 4 winner of The Voice on Tuesday night.
Michelle Chamuel, 26, finished second and the Swon Brothers, Colton, 24, and Zach, 27 came third.
Danielle Bradberry’s victory marks the third triumph in four seasons for one of judge Blake Shelton’s proteges.
Huawei has unveiled Ascend P6, the world’s thinnest smartphone.
The Android-based Ascend P6 is 6.18 mm (0.24 in) thick and is also unusual in that it has a 5 megapixel front camera for “high quality” self-portraits.
The Chinese-based firm has said it expects the handset to do “miracles” for its brand.
One analyst praised its design, comparing it to a “steamrollered iPhone”, but said its lack of support for 4G networks might limit sales.
“It’s undoubtedly the most impressive phone that Huawei have launched to date in terms of the design, the materials used and its quality,” said Ben Wood, director of research at consultancy CCS Insight, who was at the London launch.
“We’ve seen mainland Chinese manufacturers rapidly improve their ability to make competitive devices over the last 18 months and this is possibly the best so far. But its 3G status means there has undoubtedly been a trade-off to get it as thin and cheap as possible.”
Huawei says it designed one of the slimmest and narrowest circuit boards in the industry to squeeze the electronics into the new handset.
The device has a 4.7 in screen making it comparable to the HTC One but is more than 3 mm (0.1 in) thinner.
It is also slightly slimmer than both the iPhone 5 and the Alcatel One Idol Ultra – which previously claimed to be the world’s thinnest – but at 120 g (0.26 lb) weighs a little more than both.
The phone features Huawei’s own tile-based user interface called Emotion and proprietary software, including an “auto-facial enhancement” tool designed to make self-portraits look better.
Huawei has unveiled Ascend P6, the world’s thinnest smartphone
Other specifications include:
An 8 megapixel rear camera
Use of the latest Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 operating system
8 gigabytes of internal storage – a relatively low amount – but support for 32GB microSD cards
A 1.5GHz quad core processor developed by Huawei
Various power saving technologies based on the firm’s experience as one of the biggest telecoms equipment makers. As a result, it says the device’s battery lasts 30% longer than it would do otherwise.
Huawei is already a well known brand in China where it grew to become the country’s biggest maker of telecoms equipment after being founded in 1987.
Its more recent shift into Android phones has also found success. According to data research firm IDC, it shipped 9.9 million smartphones in the first three months of the year making it fourth biggest vendor after Samsung, Apple and LG.
However, Huawei acknowledges it still needs to do more to make western consumers familiar with its name and has committed 2% of its revenues to try to ensure it is widely recognized as a leading smart device brand within five years.
“Seven years ago nobody would have believed Apple could be so successful, and maybe five years ago that Samsung could be so successful,” said Shao Yang, chief marketing officer for Huawei Device.
According to a recent study by at Strategy Analytics, Samsung accounts for about 95% of all profits in the Android smartphone market, thanks to “an efficient supply chain, sleek products and crisp marketing”.
That has led some analysts to question the wisdom of competing directly against the South Korean firm. But Ben Wood suggested Huawei might be able to make headway thanks to the economies of scale offered by its rapid rise in its homeland.
“This year Huawei is expected to sell 60 million units – double what it did last year – with the lion’s share of that coming from China,” he said.
“So, when competing with companies like Sony or Nokia it has an inherent advantage which will help with cost.
“It has to make the most of that as it has to pay a kind of tax in the west: since its name is less well known, for big operators or retailers to take its products they expect to get them at a lower price feature-for-feature, spec-for-spec than from a recognized brand.”
Sharp has launched Aquos LC-90LE757, the biggest LED TV ever, in Europe.
The Aquos LC-90LE757 features a 90 in (229 cm) screen, trumping an 84 in display from LG.
Sharp has offered the size in the US since June 2012 – the world’s biggest market for jumbo-TVs – but said it now believed there was demand in Europe for such a set.
One analyst said the European market was indeed growing, but remained “niche”.
Fifty inch-and-larger TVs represent 6% of units currently sold in the UK, according to research firm GfK. However, it adds that the sector accounts for 16% of the sector’s value due to the premium prices they command.
The trend is even more advanced in the US. According to the Consumer Electronics Association, 8% of all TVs sold in the country feature screens 60 in or larger.
“In the States people have bigger houses and bigger rooms, so large TVs represent a larger proportion of the marketplace,” said GfK’s Nigel Catlow.
“But as the TVs get thinner, more rooms are able to take a big TV set, and screen size is the biggest driver for making people want to buy a new product.”
Sharp posted a 545 billion yen ($5.7 billion) net loss in its last financial year. It has since said that it is pursuing high shares of relatively small markets as part of its turnaround strategy.
Sharp’s new display is based on LED (light-emitting diode) technology, weighs 64 kg (141 lbs), and is less than 12 cm (4.7 in) deep.
It supports 3D broadcasts, has three tuners – allowing several channels to be watched at once – and also offers a “wallpaper mode”, which can display a static picture at a low brightness level when it is not otherwise in use.
Sharp has launched Aquos LC-90LE757, the biggest LED TV ever, in Europe
The firm says owners need to sit at least 3.5 m (11.5 ft) away to enjoy its picture.
“The biggest challenge we had was to try to hide the framework that is encasing the screen’s pixels,” explained Sharp’s UK product manager, Tommaso Monetto.
“We used a technology called Fred [frame rate enhanced driving] to minimize the structure holding the pixels together so that you hardly see the lines between them, and it becomes a seamless panel when you look at it from the front.”
In the past, Sharp and other firms’ 3D TVs created a different image for each viewer’s eye by sending two signal lines from the device’s motherboard to the display. The firm’s proprietary Fred technology uses a single signal line driven at a higher speed to provide the necessary information, minimizing the amount of wiring and electrical components needed.
“The plan is definitely to go bigger,” Tommaso Monetto added.
“The long-term view is that eventually you will have entire walls that are made out of LCDs, and you can allocate different spaces for different usage. Part will be used for TV signals, part for surfing the internet and part to show pictures.”
Panasonic does sell even bigger displays, offering 103 in and 152 in screens.
However, they are based on plasma technology making them thicker and heavier than Sharp’s LED model. They are also several times the price and Panasonic pitches them at the professional market rather than at consumers.
Sharp opted to make its screen support 1080p video and not the ultra high definition 4K format which uses four times as many pixels.
The advantage of the higher definition format is that owners can sit closer to their screen, allowing a smaller set to take up more of their field of view – and thus appear more immersive – than a larger one limited to 1080p resolution.
Sharp said it took the decision because there was a current lack of 4K content.
It has also allowed it to keep its price down. Sharp’s new set costs about £12,000 ($19,000) in UK compared to the £17,000 ($27,0000 charged for LG’s 84 in Ultra HD LED model.
Even so, at that price its appeal may still be limited.
“You won’t get serious sales volume until you get below around £2,000 to £3,000,” said GfK’s Nigel Catlow.
“However, it will open up a bigger market because there have been some 70 in and 84 in sets out there that were recently selling for £20,000.”
Chrysler has finally agreed to voluntarily recall 2.7 million Jeeps that could be at risk of fuel tank fires, after initially refusing a government request to do so.
Chrysler said it had resolved its differences with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The recall affects Jeep Grand Cherokeesfrom 1993-2004 and Jeep Libertysfrom 2002-07.
Chrysler maintains that the vehicles are not defective, but said it regards safety as a “paramount concern”.
The company said dealers would inspect the vehicles and, if necessary, provides an upgrade to the rear structure to better manage low-speed crashes.
Chrysler has finally agreed to voluntarily recall 2.7 million Jeeps that could be at risk of fuel tank fires
Earlier this month, the NHTSA asked Chrysler to voluntarily recall the Grand Cherokees and Libertys, saying that if hit from the rear, the fuel tanks could leak fuel and cause fires.
It said the location of the tanks behind the axle and their height above the road was a design defect.
The agency said it had evidence of at least 37 rear-impact crashes and fires, causing 51 deaths.
At the time, Chrysler said it did not intend to recall the vehicles.
But in a statement on Tuesday, the company said: “Chrysler Group’s analysis of the data confirms that these vehicles are not defective and are among the safest in the peer group.
“Nonetheless, Chrysler Group recognizes that this matter has raised concerns for its customers and wants to take further steps, in co-ordination with NHTSA, to provide additional measures to supplement the safety of its vehicles.”
Drake has decided to break his silence on Chris Brown and Rihanna, after he was involved in a brawl with Chris in a Manhattan nightclub last year.
In an interview with the July issue of GQ magazine, Drake reveals how he would like to talk to Chris Brown about the incident face to face.
“I hear he has everything he could want now,” Drake said referring to Chris Brown’s relationships with Karreuche Tran and Rihanna.
“I don’t want my name to be synonymous with that guy’s name. I really don’t. I wish we could sit down, just like you and me are right now, and talk it out man-to-man. But that’s not going to happen.”
A fight broke out between Drake and Chris Brown at W.i.P night club in Manhattan last June when bottles of alcohol were reportedly thrown around the venue.
In an interview with the July issue of GQ magazine, Drake reveals how he would like to talk to Chris Brown about their last year brawl face to face
Tony Parker, the French basketball player who was once married to actress Eva Longoria, who was at the nightclub, claimed he was hurt during the fight, and others were left with serious injuries.
There were reports that it had kicked off after Drake sent a message to Chris Brown bragging that he had slept with Rihanna.
Drake added: “It’s embarrassing, the amount of media coverage…Two rappers fighting over the woman. He’s not even a rapper, but still, it’s the last way you want your name out there. It distracts from the music. But he’s made me the enemy, and that’s the way it’s gonna stay, I guess.”
After her breakup from Chris Brown, Rihanna was romantically linked with rapper Drake which is said to have infuriated Chris.
Earlier this year it seemed that the feud between the two was still very much alive when Drake was reportedly asked to leave a club in Hollywood because Rihanna and Chris Brown had turned up.
At the time the couple refused to acknowledge one another after both arriving at the club with their posses.
Worryingly, Drake also hinted that he fears for singer Rihanna’s safety – following Chris Brown’s assault on her at the Grammys in 2009.
He said: “If I think about it too much, I feel it wrapping around my foot, like I get a feeling it could end really badly.”
Drake added: “Like, it gets really dark.”
However, the rapper doesn’t appear to acknowledge the other controversial aspect of his life, his relationship with Amanda Bynes.
Earlier this year, Amanda Bynes posted a series of bizarre messages about the star claiming that she wanted to have s** with him.
More recently, though Amanda Bynes appears to have changed tack instead labeling Drake “ugly”.
Celebrity lingerie designer Lorna Drew has revealed that Kate Middleton is a fan of her products.
Lorna Drew, who has dressed the likes of Jessica Simpson, Imogen Thomas, Una Healy and Fearne Cotton during their pregnancies, sent Kate Middleton some satin maternity lingerie – and was elated to hear from Kate’s people that she was “delighted” with the garments.
Kate Middleton, 31, is a fan of the Alexa Blue Satin bra and matching briefs by the designer, who is based in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
The response from the Duchess of Cambridge was a lovely “thank you for the thoughtful gift”.
Lorna Drew, the MD of Lorna Drew Nursing Lingerie said: “I know Kate would be feeling pretty dreadful and thought that she could do with special gift, as nothing makes you feel great like beautiful lingerie, so we sent her some!”
Lorna Drew had met Kate Middleton back in 2008 before her marriage to Prince William.
She added: “Kate’s style is very elegant, she always looks feminine and chic so I knew she would love our nursing bras and knickers.
Kate Middleton is a fan of the Alexa Blue Satin bra and matching briefs by celebrity lingerie designer Lorna Drew
“I was delighted to bring a smile to Kate’s face after a difficult start to her pregnancy.”
Speaking to the Huffington Post, who revealed Kate Middleton’s lingerie secrets, Lorna Drew said: “I couldn’t believe the response we got when we sent Kate the underwear. We actually received an email back from Kate’s office saying she was <<delighted>> with it.
“It’s fantastic as the style is elegant and so perfect for Kate.
“Maternity underwear doesn’t have to be frumpy.”
Lorna Drew’s website states: “This beautiful satin nursing bra holds and supports to give amazing shape and lift while Brazilian cut briefs give a fashion edge to this design.
“The stunning color blocking in silky soft satin looks as good as it feels to wear. Smooth elastic strapping frames the bust and gold adjusters add the finishing touch to this uniquely stylish design.”
Lorna Drew, who aims her lingerie at “savvy yummy mummies”, believes that the pregnant silhouette is something to embrace, so designs all her briefs to sit discreetly under a woman’s bump.
A series of maps have been published illustrating the most deadly places in America.
The data may look spectacular laid out in colorful graphics, but they clearly identify the deadly effects of Mother Nature.
The maps were created by John Nelson, a UX & Mapping manager at IDV Solutions and were reported by the Business Insider.
Using a spreadsheet he converted the data into a pixelated map of the U.S which created the spectacular graphics.
After plotting the data John Nelson was able to create charts which show the most disaster-prone areas across America.
A spectacular blue graphic shows a history of hurricanes across the U.S. since 1851.
Another blue map shows earthquakes across American since 1968, clearly showing which regions are more susceptible to movement.
75 per cent of all tornadoes on Earth occur in the U.S. and John Nelson used the data to construct a vivid electric blue map of tornadoes.
Most dangerous places to live in America
He detailed where they had occurred since 1950 – the most recent was the terrifying tornado was devastated parts of Oklahoma and killed 22 people.
A bright orange map details wildfires across the contagious U.S. since 2001. This month the US forest service chief says hotter, drier conditions mean wildfire season lasts two months longer than it did 40 years ago.
Rain is currently helping firefighters douse Colorado’s most destructive wildfire in state history, while a new wind-whipped blaze in California is forcing evacuations and threatened homes near Yosemite National Park.
The release of the maps come as U.S. mayors pledged this week to make their communities more resilient to increasingly severe floods, droughts, extreme storms and wildfires, which they said was more efficient and cost-effective than disaster clean-up afterwards.
Four dozen elected officials, from localities as diverse as Washington D.C., Des Moines, Iowa and Santa Barbara County, California, released a one-page plan which laid out actions such as using more renewable energy and making buildings and infrastructure more energy-efficient.
The Resilient Communities for America Agreement was launched less than a week after New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a $20 billion plan to prepare his city for rising sea levels and hotter summers.
The actions by local officials took place as anticipation builds that the White House is planning a series of executive actions in July to address climate.
Federal action can help, but local officials are at the front lines of natural disasters, said Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie. Iowa’s biggest city saw severe flooding in 2008, a trio of ‘500-year’ floods in 2010, a drought in 2012 and the wettest year in 140 years of record-keeping so far in 2013.
“These extreme events are becoming more and more prevalent, and local government is really where it happens,” Frank Cownie said.
He said Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) personnel sometimes are not on the scene until days after disaster strikes, when local officials have already gone ahead with recovery efforts without waiting for federal approval.
“When they show up, it’s good; they’ve got those T-shirts on with FEMA on the back, but they’re just taking notes … We need decision-makers in the throes of an event and we need them immediately,” Frank Cownie said.
El Paso Mayor John Cook said his desert city has been bombarded by wild weather since he took office: Three years’ worth of rain arrived in one week in 2006, causing some $450 million in damage, while in 2011, El Paso’s normally warm weather snapped cold, with temperatures below those of Anchorage, Alaska, for five days, straining local gas lines.
El Paso has spent $100 million to make its buildings more efficient, installing solar panels on library roofs and improving mass transit, with buses that run on compressed natural gas, to cut down on fossil-fueled vehicle traffic.
“The state of Texas should hang their head in shame,” John Cook said.
“They don’t have realistic goal-setting to use renewable energy.”
G8 leaders have agreed new measures to clamp down on money launderers, illegal tax evaders and corporate tax avoiders.
Governments agreed to give each other automatic access to information on their residents’ tax affairs.
They will also require shell companies – often used to exploit tax loopholes and invest money anonymously – to identify their effective owners.
The summit communiqué urged countries to “fight the scourge of tax evasion”.
The measures are designed to combat illegal evasion of taxes, as well as legal tax avoidance by large corporations that make use of loopholes and tax havens.
The summit in Northern Ireland also saw the launch of free trade negotiations between the EU and US, which UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who was hosting the summit, dubbed “the biggest bilateral trade agreement in history”.
Tax, trade and transparency – dubbed “The Three Ts” – were placed at the top of the UK’s agenda for its presidency of the G8, which consists of the UK, US, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Canada and Japan.
But the summit has been overshadowed by the conflict in Syria.
The G8 leaders – including Russian President Vladimir Putin, an ally of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad – backed calls for Syrian peace talks to be held in Geneva “as soon as possible”.
David Cameron said the leaders had managed “to overcome fundamental differences”, but no timetable for the Geneva talks was given, and the statement made no mention of what role Bashar al-Assad could play in the future.
Leaders agreed that multinationals should tell all tax authorities about what taxes they pay and where.
“Countries should change rules that let companies shift their profits across borders to avoid taxes,” the communiqué said.
G8 leaders have agreed new measures to clamp down on money launderers, illegal tax evaders and corporate tax avoiders
It follows revelations about the ways in which several major firms – including Apple, Starbucks and Amazon – have minimized their tax bills.
Illegal activities, including tax evasion and money laundering, will be tackled by the automated sharing of tax information.
Ahead of the summit, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), proposed to share tax information by building on an existing system set up by the US and five major European economies, but on a global scale.
“This international tax tool is going to be a real feature of ensuring that we get proper tax payment and proper tax justice in our world,” said David Cameron, who claimed that it meant “those who want to evade taxes have nowhere to hide”.
The OECD includes all of the G8 members except Russia.
Among the information to be shared will be who actually ultimately benefits from the shadowy shell companies, special purpose companies and trust arrangements often employed by tax evaders and money launderers.
Earlier in the day, Chancellor George Osborne unveiled plans for a UK register of companies and their owners.
The White House also announced a similar plan for the US.
Last week the UK also unveiled a deal with its crown dependencies and overseas territories – including the Channel Islands, Gibraltar and Anguilla – to start sharing more information on which foreign companies bank their profits there.
About a fifth of offshore tax havens, which are used by multinationals to shelter cash from the tax authorities, are British dependencies.
“Of course Britain’s got to put its own house in order,” said George Osborne, adding that the government would launch a consultation on whether the register should be published or just be available to the HMRC.
Speaking during the summit, George Osborne said more progress had been made on reforming the global tax system in the past 24 hours than the “past 24 years”.
The G8 communiqué also demanded more transparency from mining firms.
It follows revelations that many major mining companies use complex ownership structures in the Netherlands and Switzerland to avoid paying taxes on the minerals they extract in developing countries.
“Developing countries should have the information and capacity to collect the taxes owed them,” the communiqué said.
“Other countries have a duty to help them.”
The governments agreed that mining companies should disclose all the payments they make, and that “minerals should not be plundered from conflict zones”.
“We agreed that oil, gas and mining companies should report what they pay to governments, and that governments should publish what they receive, so that natural resources are a blessing and not a curse,” said David Cameron.
The G8 leaders also agreed to stamp out ransom payments to kidnappers for the release of hostages.
David Cameron said tens of millions of dollars in ransom money had been paid around the world in the last three years.
Eunice Huthart, former Hollywood stunt double, has sued News Corp, accusing the company of hacking into her phone.
The suit, the first such claim from the US, was filed by the former double for Hollywood star Angelina Jolie.
In the suit, the Liverpool resident alleges messages from family, friends and Angelina Jolie were intercepted and in some cases deleted.
News Corp did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In a civil complaint filed on June 13, Eunice Huthart seeks damages for violations of federal and California laws and “intrusion into private affairs”.
According to IMDb, Eunice Huthart worked as Angelina Jolie’s stunt double on the films Wanted, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
Eunice Huthart, who worked as Angelina Jolie’s stunt double, sues News Corp over phone hacking
In the court filing, she describes herself as a close friend of Angelina Jolie, and says the pair “often travelled and socialized together”.
Eunice Huthart said that in 2004-05, some friends and relatives complained she had not returned their phone calls, and she in turn complained to her mobile phone provider that voice messages were being lost in their system.
She said Angelina Jolie left messages concerning travel arrangements and other plans, which Eunice Huthart never received.
She added that her daughter left messages complaining about bullying in school in Liverpool, which she also never received – rendering her unable to console her daughter.
Eunice Huthart said her husband had also criticized her for not responding to his messages.
She says her name, telephone number and other private information appeared in the notes of Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who worked for the News of the World and was jailed in January 2007 for unlawfully intercepting voicemail messages received by royal aides.
Eunice Huthart “believes that they were hacking her cellular telephone as a means to obtain information about Ms Jolie”, says the court filing.
According to the suit, The Sun newspaper published several news stories based on information illicitly obtained from Eunice Huthart’s mobile phone messages.
Leaders at the G8 summit in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, are close to signing a joint statement on Syria, despite their differences.
Russia and the US are backing opposite sides in the conflict, but officials say the statement could soon be agreed.
This could include the proposed peace conference in Geneva, and more access for deliveries of humanitarian aid.
The summit, which is now in its final day, is also discussing tax evasion and efforts to boost trade.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow would sign up to the statement on Syria later on Tuesday.
But he stressed the Kremlin wanted each of the Syrian sides in the talks to select not only their own delegations but the future terms of any transitional government.
Sergei Ryabkov sidestepped the question of whether this could leave open a role for President Bashar al-Assad in the future.
Leaders at the G8 summit in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, are close to signing a joint statement on Syria, despite their differences
To try to get as much consensus as possible on Syria, UK Prime Minister David Cameron – who is hosting the summit – held a working dinner on Monday night.
The leaders were alone, with no officials present, allowing them to express their views frankly.
After the meeting, British officials appeared more optimistic that an agreement could be reached on the joint statement on Syria.
However, they said it would take more work to agree the precise language.
Earlier on Monday, the British had raised the possibility of the other G8 nations issuing an end-of-conference statement without the participation of Russia.
But it now seems that Vladimir Putin is willing to consider some kind of joint stance, according to officials.
The communiqué is likely to back the launch of Syrian peace negotiations in Geneva, and insist that humanitarian aid agencies like the Red Cross are given access to all parts of the country.
Any statement which emerges may not be all that ambitious, correspondents warn – and even then, it is far from certain that any agreement will change the appalling reality in Syria itself.
The White House announced last week that it would provide military aid to the Syrian rebels. Russia meanwhile supplies weapons to the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin met for an hour of bilateral talks on Monday, and at a sombre press conference afterwards it was clear they had had a difficult exchange.
Both presidents acknowledged their differences but said they shared a common desire to stop the bloodshed.
Night Stalker Richard Ramirez, who terrorized Southern California in the mid-1980s, also had Hepatitis C and symptoms of chronic drug use when he died of cancer, coroner’s officials said Monday.
Richard Ramirez died June 7 at age 53 at a hospital where he had been taken for treatment of liver failure.
Prison guards have told how the notorious murderer turned bright green from liver failure in the hours before he died.
Richard Ramirez died of complications from B-cell lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system, according to the Marin County coroner’s office. It listed other “significant conditions” including chronic substance abuse and hepatitis C, which is often spread by the use of intravenous drugs.
The drug abuse predated Richard Ramirez’s time in prison, said Lieutenant Keith Boyd, assistant chief deputy coroner.
“That’s chronic drug use prior to incarceration,” he said.
Night Stalker Richard Ramirez also had Hepatitis C and symptoms of chronic drug use when he died of cancer
“There’s nothing to support any kind of drug use while incarcerated.”
The drug use was the likely cause of the hepatitis C infection that probably lingered in Richard Ramirez’s system for a quarter-century before eventually destroying his liver, Keith Boyd said.
Richard Ramirez’s medical records remain confidential even after his death, said Joyce Hayhoe, a spokeswoman for the federal official who controls medical care in California prisons.
Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, could not immediately say if Richard Ramirez had any disciplinary history of using drugs or obtaining contraband in prison. His voluminous file is kept only in hard-copy and would have to be reviewed by hand, she said.
Lieutenant Sam Robinson, a prison spokesman, said he could not immediately comment.
Richard Ramirez had been on death row at San Quentin State Prison since he was convicted in 1989 of 13 murders in 1984 and 1985. Executions have been on hold for years, however, because of ongoing legal challenges.
He was nicknamed the Night Stalker by the media because residents were warned to lock their doors and windows as the killings peaked during the hot summer of 1985. The killer had been entering homes through unlocked windows and doors. He then killed his victims with a gun or knife, burglarized the homes and assaulted his female victims.
Richard Ramirez reportedly turned “a shocking shade of green” before his death from liver failure on Friday June 7.
Amanda Bynes was pictured at Atlantic City at the weekend letting off steam with a group of party goers.
Amanda Bynes, 27, was pictured in a jacuzzi at the Revel Hotel where a few people gathered to get a photo, as she wore her trademark blonde wig.
After the pictures were taken however, Amanda Bynes was seen left alone playing on her iPhone as the group of people moved away.
According to E! however, the actress was not please when a man named Bobby Cohen approached her for a photo earlier that day.
Having taken a snap, Amanda Bynes reportedly said: “Sir, I need you to delete that. You can’t take pictures of me.”
Hotel security were called when Amanda Bynes is said to have not left the man alone and lunged at him in the hotel lobby.
Meanwhile on Twitter, Amanda Bynes has continued her worryingly bizarre posts – still concerning rapper Drake and his levels attractiveness.
Amanda Bynes was pictured in a jacuzzi at the Revel Hotel where a few people gathered to get a photo, as she wore her trademark blonde wig
“The reason I called @drake ugly is because he is! But I apologize!” she wrote.
She then revealed that her much-discussed nose surgery was yet to be completed.
“I’m in between nose surgeries! My eyes are black and blue because my nose is broken! I can’t wait for my nose to be done! I’ll share pics!:)” she explained.
Turning her attention back to Drake, Amanda Bynes tweeted an hour later: “I don’t like leading people on. I will not date @drake ever. I only want to be his friend. I’m sorry that I insult him but it’s hard not to!”
She had her first nose job last month, claiming she went under the knife to remove skin that was growing between her nose and her eyes, before following up with a second surgery and the actress has revealed she is “in between nose surgeries”.
Amanda Bynes tweeted: “I’m in between nose surgeries! My eyes are black and blue because my nose is broken! I can’t wait for my nose to be done!”
Vladimir Putin has hit back at allegations he stole a diamond-encrusted Super Bowl ring from billionaire Robert Kraft, the owner of New England Patriots.
Robert Kraft claims the Russian president pocketed his $26,000 ring during a visit to St Petersburg back in 2005.
He has kept quiet about the incident for the past eight years, but broke his silence during a gala in New York at the weekend.
Robert Kraft says he meant to only show Vladimir Putin the ring, but the president pocketed it.
“He put it on and he goes, <<I can kill someone with this ring!>>” Robert Kraft said.
Vladimir Putin has hit back at allegations he stole a diamond-encrusted Super Bowl ring from billionaire Robert Kraft
“I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket. And three KGB guys got around him and walked out.”
The ring, which is encrusted with 124 diamonds that spell out the words “World Champions”, has turned up on display at the Kremlin Library.
But Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin, insists it was a gift.
“What Mr. Kraft is saying now is weird. I was standing 20 centimetres away from them, and I saw Mr. Kraft give this ring as a gift,” he said in a statement.
“If the gentleman is really experiencing such excruciating pain from his loss, the president is ready to send him any other ring he can buy for that kind of money.”
Dmitry Peskov has also suggested Robert Kraft should see a psychoanalyst.
“These words about how someone put pressure on him and so forth – I think this is an issue for a detailed discussion with psychoanalysts,” he said.
Robert Kraft says he tried to get the ring back in 2005, but was advised by the White House that it would be in the best interest of American-Russian relations if he dropped the matter.
His spokeswoman Stacey James says while Robert Kraft still has emotional ties to the ring, he is happy for it to remain in Moscow.
“It’s a humorous, anecdotal story that Robert retells for laughs,” she said.
“He loves that his ring is at the Kremlin and, as he stated back in 2005, he continues to have great respect for Russia and the leadership of president Putin.”
At least 200,000 people have marched through the streets of Brazil’s biggest cities, as protests over rising public transport costs and the expense of staging the 2014 World Cup have spread.
The biggest demonstration was in Rio de Janeiro, where 100,000 people joined a mainly peaceful march.
In the capital, Brasilia, people breached security at the National Congress building and scaled its roof.
In Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paulo, about 65,000 people took to the streets.
The wave of protests kicked off earlier this month when Sao Paulo residents marched against an increase in the price of a single bus fare, from 3 reals ($1.40) to 3.20.
Authorities said the rise was well below inflation, which since the last price increase in January 2011 has been 15.5%, according to official figures.
The way these initial marches were policed – with officers accused of firing rubber bullets and tear gas at peaceful protesters – further incensed Sao Paulo residents and shifted the focus from rising transport costs to wider issues.
“For many years, the government has been feeding corruption, people are demonstrating against the system,” Graciela Cacador told Reuters news agency.
Others complained about vast sums of money spent on hosting the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics instead of being invested in health and education.
“This is a communal cry saying: <<We’re not satisfied!>>,” Maria Claudia Cardoso told the Associated Press news agency.
At least 200,000 people have marched through the streets of Brazil’s biggest cities, as protests over rising public transport costs and the expense of staging the 2014 World Cup have spread
“We don’t have good schools for our kids. Our hospitals are in awful shape. Corruption is rife. These protests will make history and wake our politicians up to the fact we’re not taking it anymore,” she said.
“We need better education, hospitals and security, not billions spent on the World Cup,” said one mother who attended the Sao Paulo march with her daughter.
“We’re a rich country with a lot of potential but the money doesn’t go to those who need it most,” 26-year-old photographer Manoela Chiabai told the Associated Press.
Police took a hands-off approach at Monday’s demonstration following an earlier meeting between protest organizers and security chiefs at which they had agreed that regular police would not carry rubber bullet guns.
Protests were reported in as many as 11 cities on Monday.
In Rio 100,000 people took part in a mainly peaceful march, although a small group threw rocks at police, wounding five officers. They also set fire to a car and vandalized the state assembly building.
Police there reportedly used tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets to disperse them.
There were also clashes with police in Belo Horizonte, which was hosting the latest game in the Confederations Cup, the warm-up tournament for the World Cup.
An 18-year-old is reportedly in a stable condition in hospital after falling from an overpass in the city.
And in Brasilia, more than 200 protesters managed to get onto the roof of the National Congress building. After negotiations with police, the crowd agreed to leave. Later, youths formed a human chain around the building, the AFP news agency said.
“Peaceful demonstrations are legitimate,” President Dilma Rousseff said in a statement.
“It is natural for the young to demonstrate.”
However, Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo warned protesters that the authorities would not allow them to disrupt the Confederations Cup or next year’s World Cup.
“The government assumed the responsibility and the honor to stage these two international events, and will do so, ensuring the security and integrity of the fans and tourists,” he said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, called on both sides to remain calm.
“We urge the Brazilian authorities to exercise restraint in dealing with spreading social protests in the country, and also call on demonstrators not to resort to acts of violence in pursuit of their demands,” said a spokesman for the High Commissioner.
“With further protests planned, we are however concerned that the reported excessive use of police force in recent days should not be repeated.”
NATO has handed over security for the whole of Afghanistan for the first time since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.
At a ceremony in Kabul, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that from Wednesday “our own security and military forces will lead all the security activities”.
Observers say the best soldiers in the Afghan army are up to the task but there are lingering doubts about some.
International troops will remain in Afghanistan until the end of 2014, providing military back-up when needed.
The ceremony came shortly after a suicide bomb attack in western Kabul killed three employees of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and wounded more than 20.
The attacker was believed to be targeting the convoy of prominent politician and Hazara leader Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, who escaped with light injuries.
Meanwhile, sources close to Taliban representatives have confirmed to the BBC that they are opening an office in the Qatari capital Doha, possibly as early as Tuesday. It is seen as an important stage in establishing a political face for the movement.
The Taliban has in the past refused talks with Hamid Karzai’s government, calling it a puppet of the US. But the Afghan president said on Tuesday he is sending representatives to Qatar to discuss peace talks with the movement.
Hamid Karzai has been outspoken about his upset at previous US and Qatari efforts to kick-start the peace process without properly consulting his government.
There is also concern within the presidential palace that the Taliban will use the political office in Qatar to raise funds.
NATO has handed over security for the whole of Afghanistan for the first time since the Taliban were ousted in 2001
Tuesday’s ceremony saw the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) hand over control of the last 95 districts in a transition process that began in 2011.
The last remaining districts included 13 in Kandahar province – the birthplace of the Taliban – and 12 each in Nangarhar, Khost and Paktika, all bastions of insurgent activity along the border with Pakistan.
Hamid Karzai called it an historic day and a moment of personal pride.
“This has been one of my greatest desires and pursuits, and I am glad that I, as an Afghan citizen and an Afghan president, have reached this objective today,” he said.
He reiterated a shift in military strategy, ruling out the future use of air strikes on what he called Afghan homes and villages; the issue of NATO air strikes and civilian casualties has long been a sensitive one.
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Afghan forces were taking up the role with “remarkable resolve” but said there was still 18 months of hard work ahead for ISAF troops.
“We will continue to help Afghan troops in operations if needed, but we will no longer plan, execute or lead those operations, and by the end of 2014 our combat mission will be completed,” he said.
The number of Afghan security forces has been gradually increasing from fewer than 40,000 six years ago to nearly 350,000 today.
However, as it has taken over more responsibility for security, the Afghan army has suffered a sharp rise in casualties.
By comparison, international coalition casualties have been steadily falling since 2010.
A high desertion rate among Afghan forces has also meant that thousands of new recruits are needed each month to fill its ranks.
In recent Taliban attacks on the capital Kabul, Afghan rapid reaction police tackled the insurgents without having to call in ISAF forces.
The number of ISAF forces in Afghanistan peaked in 2011 at about 140,000, which included about 101,000 US troops.
ISAF currently has about 97,000 troops in the country from 50 contributing nations, the bulk of whom – some 68,000 – are from the US.
By the end of 2014 all combat troops should have left to be replaced – if approved by the Afghan government – by a smaller force that will only train and advise.
The pressure on contributing nations to withdraw their troops has been exacerbated by a series of “green-on-blue” attacks in which members of the Afghan security forces have killed coalition troops.
At least 60 NATO personnel died in such attacks in 2012. Many more Afghan security force members have died at the hands of their colleagues, in so-called “green-on-green” attacks.
US President Barack Obama has not yet said how many troops he will leave in Afghanistan along with other NATO forces at the end of 2014.
Washington has said that the Afghan government will get the weapons it needs to fight the insurgency including a fleet of MI-17 transport helicopters, cargo planes and ground support airplanes.
David and Jackie Siegel, the owners of America’s largest family home, the gold-encrusted “Palace Of Versailles”, have announced that their mansion will finally be completed in 2015, after 11 years of construction.
Self-made billionaire David Siegel, toldCNBC that he’s excited about moving into the property located in Windermere, Florida, although, if someone offered him enough money – $100 million to be exact – he might consider selling out.
However, his 47-year-old former beauty queen wife, Jackie Siegel, seemed distraught at the thought of letting her dream mansion go and jokingly interjected: “Or I could live there and you could sell your half right?”
David and Jackie Siegel, who have eight children, along with their entourage of nannies and housekeepers starred in the 2012 award-winning documentary by Lauren Greenfield, The Queen Of Versailles.
The documentary chronicled them as they built their 90,000-square-foot, 30-bedroom abode modeled after France’s 17th century Palace of Versailles. The project has been in the pipeline since 2004.
Work stopped on the 90,000-square-foot build in 2009 after creditors went after David Siegel’s timeshare company, Westgate Resorts, but recommenced this year after business bounced back.
Now the finish date is just two years away.
Unable to contain her excitement, Jackie Siegel recently told New York Magazine: “We’re going to inlay the floors with a lot of onyx and amethyst and semiprecious stones.”
Jackie Siegel recently explained that as a result of the delay they have had to make several minor adjustments to the floor plans – especially now the children are older.
For example, instead of sandboxes and playrooms, they plan on creating ‘man caves’ and yoga studios.
David and Jackie Siegel, the owners of America’s Palace Of Versailles, have announced that their mansion will finally be completed in 2015
The mansion is the largest single-family home in America, with a custom-made stained-glass oculus, 10,000-square-foot spa and a commercial kitchen with a Benihana-style grill.
It is nine times larger than other houses in the area and has a $20 million mortgage, which is 100 times the size of the average mortgage in Central Florida, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
Explaining their master suite, Jackie Siegel, who won the Miss Florida beauty title in the Nineties, said: “We’re gonna have a round platform with a round bed, and it’s going to have buttons so you can watch TV.”
The master bathroom will include a Jacuzzi, his-and-hers showers, and a third in the center – in case they “want to take a shower together”. Gesturing at the space between the his-and-hers showers, she said: “Because this, is too far to walk.”
The ten staff quarters located inside the mansion each includes a jacuzzi and a kitchen.
Jacie Siegel, who was branded as “tacky” and “ditzy” after the documentary The Queen Of Versailles premiered at the Sundance Festival last year, explained: “People said, <<Why do they need ten kitchens? That’s ridiculous!>>. But it’s because they’re in the staff apartments.”
The mansion’s doors are made from one of world’s last batches of Brazilian mahogany. The former beauty queen casually remarked: “They had to stop exporting it because they were cutting down the rain forest, or whatever.”
As well as 30 bedrooms, the home will have 23 bathrooms with views over Lake Butler, about 20 miles outside Orlando.
Meanwhile, Jackie Siegel said that the mansion’s mezzanine will be used for “an orchestra for the people downstairs. Or speeches. Like if the president came”.
Jackie Siegel said that once her dream home is complete she would like to launch her own reality show. But David Siegel, 77, said he has no interest in getting back in front of the camera.
He is only intent on finishing work on the mansion which has been under construction for more than a decade, after the financial crisis and recession delayed progress – “but now we’re doing better than ever” David Siegel said of his company.
David Siegel actually filed suit against the filmmaker, Lauren Greenfield, before The Queen of Versailles even premiered, claiming its depiction of his company’s downfall was inaccurate and damaging to his business.
“I don’t know how it happened,” he said.
“Suddenly the focus wasn’t the house. It became the family, and then it became the business.”
He added: “The only thing that’s true about [the documentary] is that my wife is a big-busted shopaholic. Jackie, they could have called her an ax murderer, and she’d have been happy they spelled her name right.”
David and Jackie Siegel currently live in a 26,000-square-foot home in the exclusive Isleworth gated community, best known as the scene of Tiger Woods’ 2009 car crash just before his divorce.
While their yet-to-be-completed home is large, the original Versailles, outside Paris and completed by the Sun King, Louis XIV, in 1710, is much, much larger.
The 219,000-square-foot landmark boasts 2,300 rooms and 67 staircases. Building it also caused financial problems, nearly bankrupting France.
Jackie Siegel is married to timeshare mogul David Siegel, but recently admitted that she went on a few dates with Donald Trump.
“We just went out a couple times,” the Queen of Versailles star told HuffPost Live.
“Like, he invited us to Mar-a-Lago and go to his parties and things like that. He’s a really great person. So much charisma.”
The 47-year-old mother-of-eight from Windermere, Florida, is the star of The Queen Of Versailles, an award-winning documentary chronicling Jackie Siegel and her billionaire husband as they build their 90,000-square-foot mansion modeled after France’s 17th century Palace of Versailles.
“I’m so glad we’re still friends,” Jackie Siegel said of Donald Trump, adding: “He in fact wrote me and my husband a note because we were in the New York Post last week and he said <<Congratulations on the construction of your home>>.”
Award-winning documentary The Queen Of Versailles chronicles Jackie Siegel and her billionaire husband David Siegel
Other than extreme wealth, Jackie Siegel and donald Trump appear to have a lot in common. The Siegels became the poster children for the excesses of the subprime real estate market – and collapse of the American dream – after director Lauren Greenfield followed them and their eight children, 19 staff members and four dogs in their efforts to complete construction on the mega-mansion.
Donald Trump made a fortune by building an American empire from New York to Las Vegas with glittering hotels and casinos, yet companies that bear his name have filed for bankruptcy four times.
The Siegels’ plans were derailed by the 2008 stock market crash. David Siegel’s timeshare business took a hit, and he was forced to sell a building in Las Vegas. The couple was also forced to halt construction on Versailles and the film, which recently aired on Bravo, showed Jackie Siegel filling up her shopping cart with Walmart instead of Gucci. Viewers saw trash and dog feces pile up in the mansion, and a pet lizard died from neglect.
After the documentary’s release Jackie Siegel filed a lawsuit against the director over the film, claiming that it hurt the reputation of his company – yet his wife continues to promote it.
By the end of the movie, construction on the dream home has ground to a halt, but Jackie Siegel claims construction has resumed. For now the Siegels are residing in their 26,000 square-foot home, but she tells New York magazine that Versailles will contain a theater inspired by the Paris Opera House, a bowling alley, roller-skating rink, and 30-car garage.
At one point, Jackie Siegel says the house was listed for $75 million unfinished and $100 million finished. She later claimed that it was not for sale, but has stated that if someone made a $100 million offer the family would “entertain” it.
David and Jackie Siegel’s partially finished dream home known as Versailles will include a theater inspired by the Paris Opera House, a bowling alley, roller-skating rink, and 30-car garage.
The 47-year-old mother-of-eight from Windermere, Florida, was the star of The Queen Of Versailles, an award-winning documentary chronicling Jackie Siegel and her billionaire husband, David Siegel, as they build their 90,000-square-foot mansion modeled after France’s 17th century Palace of Versailles.
Jackie Siegel, who resumed construction on the sprawling house after creditors went after her husband’s company, Westgate Resorts, and work on Versailles was halted, told New York Magazine: “We’re going to inlay the floors with a lot of onyx and amethyst and semiprecious stones.”
The mansion is the largest single-family home in America, with a custom-made stained-glass oculus, 10,000-square-foot spa and a commercial kitchen with a Benihana-style grill.
Explaining their master suite, Jackie Siegel, who won the Miss Florida beauty title in the Nineties, said: “We’re gonna have a round platform with a round bed, and it’s going to have buttons so you can watch TV.”
The master bathroom will include a Jacuzzi, his-and-hers showers, and a third in the center – in case they “want to take a shower together”. Gesturing at the space between the his-and-hers showers, Jackie Siegel said: “Because this, is too far to walk.”
David and Jackie Siegel’s partially finished dream home known as Versailles will include a theater inspired by the Paris Opera House
The ten staff quarters located inside the mansion each include a jacuzzi and a kitchen.
Jackie Siegel, who was branded as “tacky” and “ditzy” after the documentary premiered at the Sundance Festival last year, explained: “People said, <<Why do they need ten kitchens? That’s ridiculous!>>. But it’s because they’re in the staff apartments.”
The mansion’s doors are made from one of world’s last batches of Brazilian mahogany. The former beauty queen casually remarked: “They had to stop exporting it because they were cutting down the rain forest, or whatever.”
As well as 30 bedrooms, the home will have 23 bathrooms with views over Lake Butler, about 20 miles outside Orlando.
Meanwhile, she said that the mansion’s mezzanine will be used for “an orchestra for the people downstairs. Or speeches. Like if the president came”.
Jacqueline Siegel said that once her dream home is complete she would like to launch her own reality show. But David Siegel, 77, said he has no interest in getting back in front of the camera.
David Siegel is only intent on finishing work on the mansion which has been under construction for more than five years, after the financial crisis and recession delayed progress – “but now we’re doing better than ever” he said of his company.
He actually filed suit against the filmmaker, Lauren Greenfield, before the documentary even premiered, claiming its depiction of his company’s downfall was inaccurate and damaging to his business.
David Siegel, the founder of Westgate Resorts, a real estate and timeshare business which employs thousands of people across the U.S. – many of whom lost their jobs during the recession – said he was happy for Lauren Greenfield to film the house, but “then the economy changed”, he said.
“I don’t know how it happened, suddenly the focus wasn’t the house. It became the family, and then it became the business.”
David Siegel added: “The only thing that’s true about [the documentary] is that my wife is a big-busted shopaholic. Jackie, they could have called her an ax murderer, and she’d have been happy they spelled her name right.”
The Queen of Versailles, filmed by Lauren Greenfield, premiered on Bravo in April.
Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin have acknowledged at the G8 meeting in Northern Ireland that they have a different stance on Syria, but agreed to push for a summit in Geneva.
After face-to-face talks, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin said they shared a common desire to end the violence.
Both also said they were optimistic on Iran, after its presidential election.
Earlier, the G8 nations discussed the global economy, with the leaders agreeing world prospects remained weak.
The G8 leaders are now heading to a working dinner, where Syria is likely to be top of the agenda.
Other nations joining the UK, US and Russia for the 39th Summit of the Group of Eight (G8) in Lough Erne, County Fermanagh, are Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.
Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama met for about two hours on the sidelines of the summit.
Correspondents say that both leaders looked tense as they addressed journalists afterwards, with the Russian president regularly looking at the floor.
Vladimir Putin said: “Our positions do not fully coincide, but we are united by the common intention to end the violence, to stop the number of victims increasing in Syria, to resolve the problems by peaceful means, including the Geneva talks.”
Barack Obama said the two leaders had instructed their teams to press ahead with trying to organize the peace conference in Switzerland.
Neither the rebels nor the Syrian government have yet fully committed to the proposed Geneva talks, which would seek to end more than two years of unrest that has left an estimated 93,000 people dead.
Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin did say that they had agreed to meet in Moscow in September.
Earlier UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who is hosting the summit, had said he hoped to find “common ground” on Syria.
The US said last week it was prepared to arm opposition forces, saying it had evidence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces had used chemical weapons on a “small scale”.
David Cameron, who backed the recent lifting of EU arms sanctions against the rebels, said on Monday that no decision had yet been made on whether the UK would do the same.
In an interview in Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Monday, President Bashar al-Assad denied that his military had used chemical weapons, and warned that arming the rebels would result in “the direct export of terrorism to Europe”.
“Terrorists will return to fight, equipped with extremist ideology,” he said.
US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland
On Monday, Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said of the possibility of a no-fly zone over Syria: “I think we fundamentally would not allow this scenario.”
The formal talks on Monday covered the global economy.
In their statement after the session, the leaders said prospects remained weak but added that action in the US, Japan and eurozone had helped ease the situation.
“Downside risks in the euro area have abated over the past year, but it remains in recession.
“The US recovery is continuing and the deficit is declining rapidly in the context of a continuing need for further progress towards balanced medium-term fiscal sustainability.”
Ahead of the first session, the US and EU members of the G8 announced that negotiations were to begin on a wide-ranging free-trade deal.
David Cameron, Barack Obama and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso held a press conference on the proposed EU-US deal.
The British prime minister said a successful agreement would have a greater impact than all other world trade deals put together.
“This is a once-in-a-generation prize and we are determined to seize it,” said David Cameron.
He said the deal “could add as much as £100 billion [$157 billion; 117 billion euros] to the EU economy, £80 billion to the US economy and as much as £85 billion to the rest of the world”.
Barack Obama said the deal was a priority for the US and he hoped that it would create an economic alliance as strong as the diplomatic and security alliances the two sides enjoyed.
NFL star Reggie Bush celebrated his first Father’s Day and shared a picture of his month-old baby daughter Briseis.
Kim Kardashian’s former boyfriend posted an adorable Father’s Day image of him holding his tiny daughter via Instagram on Sunday.
The delighted father wrote: “Enjoying my first Father’s Day with my family! #blessed.”
Reggie Bush celebrated his first Father’s Day and shared a picture of his month-old baby daughter Briseis
Baby Briseis was born on May 6 weighing in at a healthy eight pounds and nine ounces and clearly she is thriving with her mop of dark hair.
“I look at Briseis and I can’t believe that she is mine. There’s still that element of I can’t believe this came from me,” he told Us Weekly after her birth.
Reggie Bush, 28, famously dated Kim Kardashian on and off for several years before finally calling time on their relationship on March 2010.
The Detroit Lions running back has been dating 25-year-old dancer Lilit – who looks strikingly like Kim Kardashian – for around 19 months now.
Both Lilit and Kim Kardashian are of Armenian heritage and share beautiful long dark hair and curvaceous figures.
Reggie Bush confirmed Lilit was pregnant in October 2012, just two months before Kim Kardashian, 32, announced that she was pregnant with her superstar boyfriend rapper Kanye West.
Edward Snowden, the former intelligence contractor who leaked documents on US surveillance programmes, has defended himself in an online chat, the Guardian reports.
Edward Snowden, 29, said US officials had destroyed any possibility of a fair trial by labelling him a traitor.
The former CIA contractor also denied suggestions he was a Chinese agent and repeated his claim that intelligence analysts could wiretap any phone call or email.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has denied such allegations.
James Clapper has said the kind of data that can be accessed, and who can access it, is severely limited.
But in the online chat, Edward Snowden said such restrictions were easily circumvented.
Edward Snowden took to live web chat to defend leaking NSA secrets
He acknowledged that the US internet surveillance programme did have a filter that was meant to exclude American citizens.
But he added: “The filter is constantly out of date, is set at what is euphemistically referred to as the <<widest allowable aperture>>, and can be stripped out at any time.”
Edward Snowden said he had decided to speak out after observing “a continuing litany of lies” from senior officials to Congress.
“The US government, just as they did with other whistleblowers, immediately and predictably destroyed any possibility of a fair trial at home, openly declaring me guilty of treason,” Edward Snowden wrote.
Two influential members of the US Congress last week accused him of betraying his country.
Of claims that he was working for Chinese intelligence, Edward Snowden said: “This is a predictable smear that I anticipated before going public.”
Edward Snowden added that he had no intention of going back to the US or turning himself in.
“The US government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me,” he said.
New details have emerged about the air crash on 27 March 1968 that killed the first man in space – Yuri Gagarin.
Fellow cosmonaut Alexey Leonov claims an “unauthorized” plane flew too close to Yuri Gagarin’s fighter jet, sending it into a spin.
Yuri Gagarin and his flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin died when their MiG-15 went down near the town of Novoselovo, about 90 km (56 miles) from Moscow.
Secrecy surrounding the crash has led to vigorous speculation down the years.
A government investigation of the accident (which Alexey Leonov was part of) concluded that the MiG tried to avoid a “foreign object” – such as geese, or a hot air balloon.
On the conclusions of this original investigation, Alexey Leonov said: “That conclusion is believable to a civilian – not to a professional.”
Yuri Gagarin became the first person to journey into space on 12 April 1961, when his Vostok spacecraft completed a single orbit of Earth
In an interview with Russia Today, the cosmonaut – who, in 1965, became the first person to walk in space – claimed he had been permitted to share a declassified report showing that a Sukhoi fighter jet flew too close to Yuri Gagarin’s MiG, disrupting its flight.
“We knew that a Su-15 was scheduled to be tested that day, but it was supposed to be flying at the altitude of 10,000 metres or higher, not 450-500 metres. It was a violation of the flight procedure,” he told the television channel.
Alexey Leonov says Yuri Gagarin’s plane went into a spiral at 750 km/h following the close pass by the jet.
However, Alexey Leonov declined to name the Sukhoi pilot.
“My guess would be that one of the reasons for covering up the truth was to hide the fact that there was such a lapse so close to Moscow,” he explained.
The cosmonaut had already hinted in his 2004 book Two Sides of the Moon that a Sukhoi jet may have been flying below its minimum allowed altitude. Alexey Leonov had been flying a helicopter in the same area on the day of the accident and heard “two loud booms in the distance”.
Many other theories have been advanced in the ensuing years, including one that a cabin air vent was accidentally left open in Yuri Gagarin’s aircraft by the previous pilot. This, the theory claims, would have led to oxygen deprivation for the crew.
Yuri Gagarin became the first person to journey into space on 12 April 1961, when his Vostok spacecraft completed a single orbit of Earth.
