Argentina and Chile have ordered the evacuation of some 3,000 people living near the Copahue volcano in the south of their shared border.
The authorities in both countries issued a red alert – the highest possible – saying the Chilean volcano could erupt imminently.
The 2,965 m (nearly 10,000ft) volcano – which sits in the Andes cordillera – has so far only spewed gas.
Thousands of minor earth tremors have been registered in the area.
“This red alert has been issued after monitoring the activity of the volcano and seeing that it has increased seismic activity,” Chilean Interior Minister Andres Chadwick said in a news conference.
“There is a risk that it can start erupting.”
According to Chile’s Emergency Office, the evacuation will affect some 460 families living within a 25km (15 miles) radius of Copahue.
Argentina and Chile have ordered the evacuation of some 3,000 people living near the Copahue volcano
It said it could last about 48 hours, but could be delayed because of heavy rains in the region.
In Argentina, the authorities had first declared a “yellow alert,” but later revised it to the highest level.
They have now ordered the evacuation of about 600 people from the town of Caviahue to the neighboring city of Loncopue.
Last December, Chile also issued a red alert after Copahue – one of the most active volcanoes in the region – began spewing ash and gas, with smoke raising nearly 1.5km in the sky.
Nearby residents were temporarily evacuated, and planes flying over the southern Andes warned to avoid the area.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled last year due to the eruption of another volcano in southern Chile.
The Puyehue eruption caused huge economic damage not only to property in the area but also to tourism in Bariloche and other resorts.
Australia has been ranked as the world’s happiest country among developed economies for the third year running.
Australia won the top position, due to the overall strength of its economy, in the Better Life Index compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Sweden, Canada, Norway and Switzerland also made it to the top five.
The survey ranked more than 30 countries on criteria such as income levels, health, safety and housing.
“Australia performs exceptionally well in measures of well-being, as shown by the fact that it ranks among the top countries in a large number of topics in the Better Life Index,” the OECD said on its website.
More than 73% of Australia’s 23 million people aged 15 to 64 hold a paid job, which is above the OECD average.
Life expectancy at birth is also higher, at almost 82 years.
Australia has been ranked as the world’s happiest country among developed economies for the third year running
Australia’s economy has posted more than two decades of straight growth due to demand for its natural resources.
The nation also managed to sidestep the worst of the financial crisis and was the only major developed nation to avoid the global recession in 2009.
The country’s economic strength has been reflected in the Australian dollar, which is currently trading close to 30 year highs.
However, the government is starting to see challenges to growth as the mining boom tapers off, including rising unemployment.
As a result, Australia’s Labour government is now looking to move the economy away from its dependence on mining towards sectors such as construction and manufacturing.
Another challenge they face is a widening income gap. According to the OECD, the top 20% of Australia’s population earn six times more than the bottom 20%.
Blockbuster Iron Man 3 has become the fifth top-grossing film of all time, according to online movie tracker Box Office Mojo.
The sequel, which has now made $1.14 billion worldwide, overtook 2011’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon to claim fifth place in the chart.
Avatar and Titanic remain the all-time box-office champions, having both grossed more than $2bn worldwide.
Iron Man 3 has become the fifth top-grossing film of all time
Avengers Assemble and the final Harry Potter are ranked third and fourth.
Iron Man 3 is the fourth film to feature Robert Downey Jr.’s metal-clad crime-fighter.
The third was 2012’s Avengers Assemble, known in the US as The Avengers, whose current worldwide box office tally stands at $1.51 billion.
Iron Man 3 continues to perform strongly, although it has some way to go before its takings exceed the $1.34 billion that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 conjured up in 2011.
Once figures have been adjusted for inflation, however, neither title features in the US domestic all-time top 100, which is headed up by Gone With the Wind.
EU foreign ministers have said they will not renew an arms embargo on the Syrian opposition, due to expire on Saturday.
However, there was no immediate decision to send arms to Syrian rebels and all other sanctions remained in force.
Even so, Russia said it would “directly harm” the prospects of an international peace conference on Syria.
The EU declaration on Syria came after 12 hours of talks in Brussels. Foreign ministers were unable to reach the unanimous decision required to extend the current arms embargo, and so agreed to renew the other sanctions – including an assets freeze on President Bashar al-Assad and his aides, and restrictions on trade in oil and financial transactions – without it.
The EU decision will not make much difference on the ground in the immediate future.
Member states can now decide their own policy on sending arms to Syria, but agreed not to “proceed at this stage with the delivery” of equipment.
The EU’s Foreign Affairs Council is to review this position before August 1, in light of fresh developments to end the conflict including the ongoing US-Russia peace initiative.
Britain and France had been pressing for the ability to send weapons to what they call moderate opponents of President Assad, saying it would push Damascus towards a political solution to the two-year conflict.
EU foreign ministers have said they will not renew an arms embargo on the Syrian opposition, due to expire on Saturday
There has been increasing pressure on the international community to act since allegations emerged of chemical weapons being used in the conflict. Syria has denied using chemical weapons.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague welcomed the outcome of the Brussels talks, saying it was “important for Europe to send a clear signal to the Assad regime that it has to negotiate seriously, and that all options remain on the table if it refuses to do so”.
But other countries had opposed opening the way for weapons to be sent, saying it would only worsen the violence that has already cost at least 80,000 lives.
Austria had been a key opponent of arms being sent.
“The EU should hold the line. We are a peace movement and not a war movement,” Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov called the EU move “a manifestation of double standards”. Russia and the US are leading efforts to organize a peace conference on Syria next month.
The Syrian opposition has not said whether to attend the conference, and was locked in talks in Istanbul, Turkey, as an unofficial deadline to decide on its attendance passed.
A spokesman for the opposition Syrian National Coalition, Louay Safi, was quoted by news agency AFP as saying that the EU move was “a positive step”, but that the coalition was “afraid it could be too little, too late”.
George Jabboure Netto, a spokesman for the Syrian National Council (SNC), another opposition group, said the dropping of the arms embargo was a “step in the right direction”.
He said the SNC was willing to negotiate an end to the conflict, but only on the condition that there was no place for President Bashar al-Assad in the new Syria.
“We think coupling the arming of [the] Free Syrian Army with diplomatic efforts is a must for any hopes for the diplomatic efforts to succeed.”
The EU embargo, first imposed in May 2011, applies to the rebels as much as the Syrian government.
But in February this year, foreign ministers agreed to enable any EU member state to provide non-lethal military equipment “for the protection of civilians” or for the opposition forces, “which the Union accepts as legitimate representatives of the Syrian people”.
Alex Robinson, an entrepreneur from Maryland, is charging $25 to drive motorists in their own cars across one of the world’s scariest bridges because they are too terrified to do it themselves.
The William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge, commonly known as the Bay Bridge, spans nearly five miles of the Chesapeake Bay to connect Maryland’s eastern and western shores. Standing 186 feet tall at its highest point, the structure, which is regularly subject to violent storms, instills fear in thousands of Baltimore and Washington residents every time they drive across it.
This gave Alex Robinson and his family the idea of doing driving across for them, charging them for the peace of mind of not having to tackle the nerve-racking stretch themselves. And this Memorial Day weekend, as the annual pilgrimage to the beach towns and sailing harbors of the Eastern Shore began, he said business has been booming.
“About 5,800 people use our service,” Alex Robinson, of Kent Island Express, told The New York Times on Friday as he fielded calls from some of those nervous customers.
The bridge, which when it first opened in 1952 was the longest continuous over-water steel structure, has been rated by Travel & Leisure Magazine as the ninth scariest bridge in the world for the panic it instills in Maryland residents.
When bad weather hits, which is often, drivers can barely see the shore when they get to the middle.
It also has tall ships that pass beneath it and flimsy-looking guardrails that reveal a vertigo-inducing drop to the choppy waters below.
“Everyone talks about the fear of crossing the bridge,” Carolyn Casey, who lives in Washington and has a second home near St. Michaels, Maryland, told The Times.
The William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge spans nearly five miles of the Chesapeake Bay to connect Maryland’s eastern and western shores
With the passenger seat taken up by two Labrador retrievers, she squeezed into the backseat between her three-year daughter and a nanny as Alex Robinson got behind the wheel.
“When I told people I’d found someone to drive me over the bridge, they laughed,” Carolyn Casey, 41, said.
“But it all came out – everyone is afraid of the bridge.”
That’s because crossing the bridge is quite an endeavor, even when the weather is fine.
First, drivers have to tackle a disconcerting comes a dogleg curve, then travel up a steep incline over the initial suspension span; then the bridge drops and the motorist drives downhill and over a second span, a cantilever with boxy sides and a roof that feels like a claustrophobic tunnel.
Alex Robinson took over the unique business last year from his mother and stepfather who ran it for five years. He told The Times it had made him something of an amateur psychologist.
He hires only upbeat drivers, and instructs them to talk about anything but the bridge for the 10-15 minutes it takes to cross.
“Their stress and anxieties feed off of your mood,” he explains to them.
Alex Robinson said most customers, nervous, talk a lot during the trip – about everything from their children to their first boyfriend.
But he also described construction workers who rode in the back seat of their trucks, hats pulled over their eyes and their ears plugged, and a woman who rode with a blanket over her head because she was so scared.
Alex Robinson of Kent Island Express charges $25 to drive nervous motorists across the Chesapeake Bay bridge
One man, Alex Robinson told The Times, asked to be put in the trunk, but the request was refused.
Another has paid $50-a-day for years to be driven across the bridge to his job in the morning and then back at the end of the day.
“Nervous about crossing over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge?” the website states.
“If so, you’re not alone. Our Bay Bridge Drive-Over Help will let you relax and enjoy the ride and the view!”
The company instructs drivers who are “nervous or need assistance for any reason” to contact them an hour before they get to the bridge.
“Once you call we’ll coordinate a meeting location an assist you from there by driving your vehicle over the bridge for you,” the website states, adding that the drive-over service is provided from 5 a.m. till 12 a.m.
However, drivers of motorcycles, rental vehicles, or commercial vehicles are left to their own devices, as the company said it cannot accommodate such vehicles.
Customer, Kathleen Busch, explained her fear of the bridge stemmed from getting trapped in the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel for hours.
The next time she tried to drive through the tunnel she told the newspaper “everything went white. I had a full-blown panic attack. I thought I was going to pass out”.
Scared the same thing would happen on the Bay Bridge, Kathleen Busch hasn’t attempted to drive it herself.
The terrifying structure isn’t the only bridge to have driver assistance programs in place, but because it links two major cities, it is the only one with enough traffic to support a shuttle service industry.
Aside from Kent Island Express, two other companies ferry drivers across the nightmare bridge.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is part of U.S. Routes 50 and 301, and serves as a vital link in both routes. As part of U.S. Route 50, it connects the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area with Ocean City, Maryland and other coastal tourist destinations.
As part of U.S. Route 301, it serves as part of an alternate route for Interstate 95 travelers between northern Delaware and the Washington, D.C. area.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge has been closed four times due to extreme weather, mainly hurricanes.
On September 18, 2003, it was closed during Hurricane Isabel, and on August 27, 2011, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley ordered it closed to all traffic when sustained winds exceeded 55 miles per hour during Hurricane Irene. On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy brought traffic to close and on March 6, 2013, during a nor’easter, high winds again forced motorists to seek other routes.
A hilarious video shows the moment that all but one of the 29 members of Frank Fearon and Patricia Andrews wedding party plunged into the water as screams and laughter echoed around Lake Lanier near Gainesville, Georgia.
Frank Fearon, 30, and his 26-year-old bride Patricia Andrews married earlier this month, the wooden dock struggled to hold their extensive group and broke – dunking them into the water below.
Patricia Andrews’ brother Chase Andrews, who himself fell into the murky water, laughed as he recounted how the group – consisting of 13 bridesmaids and 14 groomsmen – was preparing for photos when the dock gave way.
“We heard a little <<pop>> when the bolt came out and then it started falling,” said Chase Andrews.
“There were just too many of us standing there.
“The immediate reaction was, <<Is everyone OK?>>. And then it was, <<This is pretty funny>>.”
Chase Andrews said the newlyweds, who managed to clamber to dry land before the dock fell, immediately saw the funny side.
Patricia and Frank Fearon wedding party falls into Lake Lanier in Georgia
“They were shocked, but they were really laughing,” Chase Andrews said.
“Trish is such a good sport and she was just feeling so happy to be married.”
Only the bottom of her dress got wet, while her groom escaped without a splash. The bridesmaids threw their dresses in the driers, while many of the groomsmen just ignored it and hit the dance floor.
But the night didn’t end so well for one of the bridesmaids, who was nearest land when the dock collapsed. She ended up hitting concrete, fracturing her humorous and spending the night in E.R.
“Everyone got a little bit of something,” Chase Andrews added.
“There were bruises over our arms and shoulders, but everyone just laughed it off.”
After the incident, they went on to have a fantastic evening of partying in the beautiful surroundings of his grandmother’s home in Lake Lanier, Chase Andrews said.
“They had friends come from across the world to join in the party,” he said.
“It’s definitely going to be a memorable one.”
Chase Andrews, a video producer for Remedy Films, put together a short film of the hilarious moment the dock gave way and shared it on YouTube.
It shows the group giggling as nearly all of the bridesmaids and groomsmen swim for the bank in their finery. His sister, Patricia Andrews, a photographer, and her groom, Frank Fearon, an engineer, are seen laughing from dry land.
“Thankfully this was after the ceremony,” the video caption explains.
“It was deemed the <<wedding wetting>>. Everyone got dried off and the reception went on to be one of the best celebrations to date.
“Only minor injuries and a lot of wet iPhone 5’s. A fractured humorous, was the only thing not humorous about this.”
Pyongyang has announced it is willing to allow South Korean managers to visit the suspended jointly-run Kaesong Industrial Complex.
In a statement carried by state media, North Korea said it was prepared to discuss with the businessmen how normal operations could be resumed.
But South Korea expressed worry about its citizens’ safety and asked that government-level talks be held.
Operations at the joint industrial complex have been suspended since the North withdrew its workers in April.
North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK), responsible for ties with South Korea, said it would guarantee the businessmen’s safety.
“We have given permission for the visit and can even discuss the shipment of products at the industrial complex,” Yonhap news agency quoted the committee as saying.
South Korea “may send with them members” of the governing body that oversees the complex, the committee added.
Pyongyang has announced it is willing to allow South Korean managers to visit the suspended jointly-run Kaesong Industrial Complex
But a spokesman for South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles relations with the North, said what was needed at this stage was talks between both governments, which Seoul has been requesting.
Some 123 South Korean companies have factories inside the Kaesong Industrial Complex, which lies just across the border inside North Korea.
The firms employ some 53,000 North Koreans and the zone is a key revenue earner for the North.
But Pyongyang withdrew its workers two months ago as North-South tensions escalated following Pyongyang’s third nuclear test in February.
South Korea has decided to suspend operations at two more nuclear reactors over the use of unauthorized parts.
The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission also delayed the start of operations at two other reactors, but said there was no public safety threat.
Two reactors were suspended in late 2012, amid a scandal over parts with fake safety certificates.
South Korea has 23 nuclear reactors which supply about a third of its electricity needs.
The suspension of two reactors raised questions about power supply over the summer, local media said.
The two reactors to be suspended pending replacement of the unauthorized parts are the Shin Kori Reactor 2 and Shin Wolsong Reactor 1, the commission said.
South Korea has suspended operations at two more nuclear reactors over the use of unauthorized parts
Shin Kori Reactor 1, which is currently undergoing maintenance, and Shin Wolsong Reactor 2, a new reactor, will also not operate until parts are replaced.
All components used in South Korean nuclear reactors require specific certification.
But last year a minister revealed that some parts used in two reactors at the Yeonggwang nuclear plant had not been properly vetted.
Knowledge Economy Minister Hong Suk-woo said these were “non-core” parts that included fuses, cooling fans and power switches – items which could be used in other industries but needed international certification for nuclear power plant usage.
Earlier this month, six nuclear power engineers and suppliers were jailed in connection with the supply of components with forged safety certificates mainly to the Yeonggwang complex.
Scientists have announced that plants that were frozen during the “Little Ice Age” centuries ago have been observed sprouting new growth.
Samples of 400-year-old plants known as bryophytes have flourished under laboratory conditions.
Researchers say this back-from-the-dead trick has implications for how ecosystems recover from the planet’s cyclic long periods of ice coverage.
The findings appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
They come from a group from the University of Alberta, who were exploring an area around the Teardrop Glacier, high in the Canadian Arctic.
The glaciers in the region have been receding at rates that have sharply accelerated since 2004, at about 3-4 m per year.
That is exposing land that has not seen light of day since the so-called Little Ice Age, a widespread climatic cooling that ran roughly from AD 1550 to AD 1850.
“We ended up walking along the edge of the glacier margin and we saw these huge populations coming out from underneath the glacier that seemed to have a greenish tint,” said Catherine La Farge, lead author of the study.
Samples of 400-year-old plants known as bryophytes have flourished under laboratory conditions
Bryophytes are different from the land plants that we know best, in that they do not have vascular tissue that helps pump fluids around different parts of the organism.
They can survive being completely desiccated in long Arctic winters, returning to growth in warmer times, but Dr. Catherine La Farge was surprised by an emergence of bryophytes that had been buried under ice for so long.
“When we looked at them in detail and brought them to the lab, I could see some of the stems actually had new growth of green lateral branches, and that said to me that these guys are regenerating in the field, and that blew my mind,” she said.
“If you think of ice sheets covering the landscape, we’ve always thought that plants have to come in from refugia around the margins of an ice system, never considering land plants as coming out from underneath a glacier.”
But the retreating ice at Sverdrup Pass, where the Teardrop Glacier is located, is uncovering an array of life, including cyanobacteria and green terrestrial algae. Many of the species spotted there are entirely new to science.
“It’s a whole world of what’s coming out from underneath the glaciers that really needs to be studied,” Dr. Catherine La Farge said.
“The glaciers are disappearing pretty fast – they’re going to expose all this terrestrial vegetation, and that’s going to have a big impact.”
After recent reports of relationship problems with boyfriend Kanye West, pregnant Kim Kardashian was pulled over by police in Beverly Hills.
Kim Kardashian, 32, was driving her Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG down Wilshire Boulevard with close friend Brittney Gastineau on Saturday when she was pulled over by the Beverly Hills Police Department.
While the reasons for Kim Kardashian being stopped are as yet unknown, the expectant star looked distressed as she was spoken to by the officer.
Kim Kardashian is currently counting down the days until the birth of her first child with Kanye West.
However, the pair have sparked rumors that there could be an issue in their relationship as they haven’t been seen together since May 13.
Kim Kardashian pulled over by police amid rumors of relationship problems with Kanye West
Their time apart is despite the fact that Kim Kardashian travelled to Paris to see her baby daddy – who then headed to Milan.
The couple’s latest narrow miss came on Friday, when the pair were both in Los Angeles but not seen together.
Kim Kardashian tweeted fans from her hometown, sharing a picture of her in the backseat of a car.
The following day Kanye West was pictured looking decidedly glum as he left a Malibu restaurant without his girlfriend in tow.
The claims come after reports that Kim Kardashian had to beg Kanye West to attend her upcoming baby shower because it is being filmed for an E! special.
A source told gossip website RadarOnline.com Kim Kardashian had to beg Kanye West “to stop by the baby shower” which is taking place on June 2.
The baby shower will be filmed for Keeping Up With The Kardashians, and he just doesn’t want to appear on the show at all, period.
“Kim nagged him until he agreed when she said it would look really bad if he didn’t show up. Kanye thinks it’s silly to even go to the baby shower since he will be the only man there. He will be there for less than ten minutes, tops. It was important to Kim that he go, so he agreed.”
Denis Carré, a Psy lookalike, duped hundreds of people with various appearances during the recent Cannes Film Festival and now he has struck again, attending the Monaco Grand Prix over the weekend while the real singer performed in Italy on the same day.
Among those duped by Denis Carré’s appearance at the racing event were Amanda Holden and David Hasselhoff, who both posted pictures of themselves with the lookalike on their Twitter pages.
However, Amanda Holden appeared unsure if she was actually posing with Psy in the shot, captioning the picture: “Not sure if this guy is kosher?! Rumors circulating he was a fake? What do YOU think?!”
David Hasselhoff seemed a bit more certain that he wasn’t with the real Gangnam Style musician, tweeting with a picture of himself and girlfriend Hayley Roberts with “Psy”: “Was that really PSY ? I think not!!”
Amanda Holden posed with Psy lookalike Denis Carré at the Monaco Grand Prix
Other stars to have been duped by Denis Carré included Skyfall actress Naomie Harris, who unwittingly posted a picture of herself on Twitter with who she thought was Psy.
Speaking recently about how he managed to convince so many people that he was the singer, Denis Carré credited the scam to an intricate web of tricks.
He told Channel 5 News: “The game was pretty well played – we prepared a lot with my manager and communication team on how we were going to do that.
“We had the bodyguards, we had the cars, we had event managers ready for it… just to have the illusion.”
The trick was revealed when the real Psy appeared on US talk show Live with Michael and Kelly, which is filmed in New York City, while his imposter was in Cannes.
Denis Carré is said to have scammed free drinks and bottle service while lunching at the Torch Beach Club, a hotspot which has been frequented by Justin Timberlake and Mark Ronson during their time in Cannes, and was even surrounded by three security guards, according to the New York Post.
Later, Denis Carré partied at an A-list bash hosted by socialite Goga Ashkenazi at Château Garibondy, where the guest list included Rosario Dawson and supermodel Karolina Kurkova.
British authorities have arrested a 10th person in connection with the murder of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich.
The 50-year-old man was arrested in Welling, south-east London, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.
Police also confirmed an address in south-east London was being searched.
British authorities have arrested a 10th person in connection with the murder of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich
Meanwhile shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said ministers must put “more effort” into fighting the “murderous narrative” of hate preachers.
Four of those arrested have been bailed, two released without charge and four remain in custody over the killing on Wednesday.
Two suspects, Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22 – both Britons of Nigerian descent who are understood to be converts to Islam – remain in custody in hospital in a stable condition after being shot and wounded by police at the scene after the killing.
The Metropolitan Police said the men would not be questioned until they had been discharged from hospital, and the time they had spent under arrest so far would not count towards the maximum amount of time they could legally be held without charge.
Questions are still being raised over what British authorities knew about the suspects before the killing.
Steven Soderbergh’s new HBO movie Behind the Candelabra stars Michael Douglas as Liberace, and Matt Damon as Scott Thorson, whose memoir Behind the Candelabra: My Life With Liberace is the film’s source material.
The film suggests a focus on Scott Thorson, not Liberace.
Scott Thorson was a 16-year-old trainee veterinarian when he met Liberace. One of Liberace’s pet dogs was suffering from an eye infection, and Scott Thorson was called out to attend. Scott Thorson had been installed as live-in houseboy and not only commanded the Liberace estate by day, but featured nightly in Liberace’s Vegas stage act, driving the star on stage in a rhinestone encrusted limousine, tidying the train of Liberace’s fur gown, and being introduced to the audience by name.
Scott Thorson and Liberace lived together for five years, a period which demands a new word for “decadence”. When Scott Thorson said he loved Liberace’s gold-plated Rolls Royce, for example, Liberace wrapped the car in an enormous red bow and gave it to him, and Thorson was never seen without his ghastly gold-plated Zippo lighter, another gift from Lee, on a gold chain around his neck.
Scott Thorson claims he had plastic surgery to look more like Liberace, including a nose job and a chin implant. In a 2002 interview with Larry King, Scott Thorson said that after he put on weight during a trip with Liberace to Paris, Liberace introduced him to Priscilla Presley’s plastic surgeon. Scott Thorson said that Liberace accompanied him to his first consultation, instructing the surgeon to “make him look like my son”. But, the operations weren’t satisfactory, and Scott Thorson later had the chin implant removed.
Scott Thorson claims he had plastic surgery to look more like Liberace, including a nose job and a chin implant
Apparently, Liberace and his plastic surgeon drank bottles of vodka together before general anaesthetic was administered and cosmetic procedures were carried out at Liberace’s home. Robert Goulet, Charo, Phyllis Diller and Debbie Reynolds were routine houseguests. While Scott Thorson confessed to a daily diet of “co***ne, quaaludes, Biphetamine, demerol”, Lee only drank, and snorted amyl nitrate like a demon.
In 1982, after they’d broken up, Scott Thorson’s lawyers launched a $100 million palimony lawsuit. They finally settled in 1986 for $95,000, two dogs (including the one that originally had the infected eye) and the gold Rolls Royce. It was a smaller settlement than what the London tabloid the Daily Mirror demanded in 1987 once it was revealed that Liberace’s sudden weight loss was not in fact due to what his people had told everyone was the result of a watermelon diet – a refund of the half a million pounds it had been forced to pay him 30 years earlier when he sued them for implying he was homos***al without any proof when one of their journalists said this about him: “They say that this deadly, winking, sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavored, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love has had the biggest reception and impact on London since Charlie Chaplin arrived at the same station, Waterloo, on September 12,1921.
“This appalling man – and I use the word appalling in no other than its true sense of terrifying – has hit this country in a way that is as violent as Churchill receiving the cheers on V-E Day.
“He reeks with emetic language that can only make grown men long for a quiet corner, an aspidistra, a handkerchief, and the old heave-ho. Without doubt, he is the biggest sentimental vomit of all time. Slobbering over his mother, winking at his brother, and counting the cash at every second, this superb piece of calculating candy-floss has an answer for every situation.
“There must be something wrong with us that our teenagers longing for s** and our middle-aged matrons fed up with s** alike should fall for such a sugary mountain of jingling claptrap wrapped up in such a preposterous clown.”
Around that time, Scott Thorson allegedly made statements like this to the world’s press: “I know three young men now that are dead because of AIDS because of him.”
But other reports are that when Liberace was on his deathbed, Scott Thorson was there, at Liberace’s request. After Liberace died, Scott Thorson stated that the conflicts between he and Lee had been exaggerated, and that it was his lawyers who were out for the money and he personally was primarily concerned about who was going to take care of the dogs.
Then, allegedly, Scott Thorson had an affair with Michael Jackson.
All that would be enough adventure for most people and it covers the action in Behind the Candelabra it’s just the beginning of Scott Thorson’s story.
The Wonderland murders, otherwise known as the Lauren Canyon killings, occurred on the night of 1 July 1981, while Scott Thorson was still living with Liberace. A few days later, John Holmes broke into the home of Eddie Nash, owner of West Hollywood clubs such as the Kit Kat and the Starwood. John Holmes was casing the joint for the Wonderland gang, who lived at 8763 Wonderland Avenue and traded drugs. The gang broke in the next day, tying up Eddie Nash and his bodyguard and stealing a bunch of stuff.
Later, Scott Thorson was over at Eddie Nash’s house picking up some deals when right in front of his eyes, Nash’s heavies dragged John Holmes in and knocked him around with knuckle dusters until he coughed up the address of the Wonderland gang, who were all soon shot dead. Scott Thorson agreed to testify against Eddie Nash, on the proviso he go straight into witness protection.
After several years in Alaska, Scott Thorson was transferred to Jacksonville, Florida and exited from the witness protection program due to his ongoing use of dr**s. According to his memoirs, he was watching a Pat Boone documentary on TV one night when d**g dealers broke into his motel room and shot him five times. Scott Thorson insists he had no prior dealings with his assailants and that the attack was not ordered by Eddie Nash who, incidentally, now owns the gold Rolls Royce after Thorson exchanged it for co***ne.
In 2008 Scott Thorson was sentenced to four years in prison on d**g and burglary offences and now lives with his wife in New England.
Australian Rules Football (AFL) is a physical contact sport that is described as a cross between rugby which is from the UK and Gaelic football which originated in Ireland.
AFL’s rules were codified in 1858 – predating soccer, football, rugby and Gaelic football.
Australian Rules Football is a physical contact sport that is described as a cross between rugby and football
Today it is the most popular sport in Australia – beating even cricket – and is a multi-billion dollar business.
It is played on an oval field and each team consists of 18 players who each attempt to kick the oval shaped ball through a configuration of 4 posts at the corresponding end of the field.
Each game lasts for 4 quarters of 20 minutes of playing time.
No player can be sin-binned during a game of Australian Rules Football – this can lead to terrible fights during a game.
Australian Rules footballer Adam Goodes has been praised for his uncompromising reaction after a 13-year-old girl shouted out a racist remark to him during a game on Friday night.
Sydney Swans forward Adam Goodes – who is an Aboriginal Australian – was called an “ape” by the girl as he ran past her and responded by turning around and pointing out the girl to security who escorted her from the Melbourne stadium.
Adam Goodes, 33, is the star player for the Sydney Swans but said that the racial abuse he received at the hands of the girl rendered his sides win “meaningless” – such was his disappointment.
“To come to the boundary line and hear a 13 year old girl call me an <<ape>>, and it’s not the first time on a footy field that I’ve been referred to as a <<monkey>> or an <<ape>>, it was shattering,” he told the ABC.
Adam Goodes and the Sydney Swans were playing Collingwood, at their home of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The 13-year-old girl was a Collingwood fan.
Police in Melbourne said that a 13-year-old girl had been interviewed over the incident, but had been released after two hours pending further inquiries.
In the aftermath of the racial abuse that was directed his way, Adam Goodes told the Melbourne Herald Sun: “Racism had a face…and it was a 13-year-old girl. – but it’s not her fault.”
“That’s what hurt me so bad…when I turned around, I just saw this young face and…it was just sad.
“That’s why I had to leave the arena, it just broke my heart.”
Adam Goodes ran past racist girl and responded by turning around and pointing out her to security who escorted her from the Melbourne stadium
Early on Saturday morning, Adam Goodes took to his Twitter feed to announce that the girl had been in touch with him, apologizing for her actions.
Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Adam Goodes explained just how damaging it was for him as an Aboriginal Australian to hear her words.
“I’ve had fantastic support over the past 24 hours,” he said.
“I just hope that people give the 13 year old girl the same sort of support because she needs it, her family needs it, and the people around them need it,” said Adam Goodes to the ABC.
“It’s not a witch-hunt, I don’t want people to go after this young girl.
“We’ve just got to help educate society better so it doesn’t happen again.”
Adam Goodes added that the police in Melbourne had asked him if he wanted to press charges, but that he did not want to – preferring the girl instead undergoes an education program instead.
“It’s not her fault, she’s 13, she’s still so innocent, I don’t put any blame on her,” he said.
“Unfortunately it’s what she hears, in the environment she’s grown up in that has made her think that it’s OK to call people names.
“I guarantee she has no idea right now how it makes people feel to call them an ape.”
Australian PM Julia Gillard described Adam Goodes as “someone we can all look up to”.
“His words and actions today displayed the highest levels of respect and fairness – qualities he carries on and off the field,” the prime minister said.
“Adam is a credit to his club, his code and the entire community.”
The girl who is not being identified told Channel 10 news she was sorry.
“I didn’t mean it in a racist way and I’m sorry to the club and the AFL,” she said.
Rob Kardashian has been slowly and surely clawing his way back to a healthy weight after gaining over 40 pounds following the breakdown of his relationship with Rita Ora.
However, Rob Kardashian, 26, still looked chubby at a Neiman Marcus event in Las Vegas to promote his sock line, Arthur George, and admitted that he’s still got a long way to go.
“I still have to lose like 40 to 50 pounds believe it or not,” Rob Kardashian told Us Weekly at the event.
Before adding: “Six months I should be there.”
Rob Kardashian told the same magazine he weighed 235 pounds in March and was throwing himself into daily work-outs but revealed he has now recruited Lamar Odom’s trainer to help him shed.
He told the magazine: “I’m kind of doing my own thing with Lamar [Odom]’s trainer. He’s on salary since he was 19 years old, so he works for us. I’ve been spending time with him.”
Rob Kardashian also revealed his cutting out alcohol to keep down those empty calories.
Rob Kardashian weighed 235 pounds in March and was throwing himself into daily work-outs but revealed he has now recruited Lamar Odom’s trainer to help him shed
In a Kourtney & Kim Take Miami episode aired in February, Rob Kardashian blamed his weight gain on his break up with Rita Ora.
He said: “It’s crazy how this whole year, my whole relationship was only negative, all I did was gain f***ing 40 pounds and lose so much money.”
Rob Kardashian’s chubby face didn’t put off his girlie fans at the event on Saturday.
The reality star who jokily calls himself “fat boy Rob”, was joined at the Neiman Marcus footwear function by his mother Kris Jenner.
Kris Jenner, 57, proudly posed behind her only son and excitedly held up a handful of his colorful socks at the store’s display.
The Arthur George designer was famously accused of being a “jobless loser” by his sister Kim Kardashian on a 2011 episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
Rob Kardashian, who topped the scales at 240 pounds, has been trying to ditch the weight he gained after his breakup with British singer Rita Ora.
“I’m trying to lose 40 [by the fourth of July],” he told People Magazine in March.
“It’s a little journey.”
Rob Kardashian reportedly exercises in the morning with his trainer and then usually joins his friends on hikes, including his former dance partner Cheryl Burke.
Kourtney Karashian celebrated her partner Scott Disick’s 30th birthday in Las Vegas on Sunday.
Kourtney Kardashian, 34, looked proud as she walked the red carpet in a peacock inspired outfit which featured a teal lace top and black and green feathered skirt.
She wore her hair in a topknot with a fringe along with blue eye-liner to match her outfit.
Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick, who have a son Mason, 4, and daughter Penelope, who turns one in July, were celebrated at Hyde at the Bellagio hotel.
Scott Disick was dressed to impress in black tie attire.
Kourtney Karashian celebrated her partner Scott Disick’s 30th birthday in Las Vegas
While most of the Kardashian clan skipped the festivities, Kris Jenner showed her support by attending the party.
Kris Jenner, 57, wore a sequinned little black dress along with a Chanel Lego handbag.
Rob Kardashian was at the party too, but raced along the red carpet without stopping to pose for photographers.
It was a surprisingly shy move for the 26-year-old, who had been hamming it up for the cameras just 24 hours earlier while promoting his new sock line in Las Vegas.
Inside the club Scott Disick took inspiration from Kanye West by rapping at the deejay booth and later attempted to serenade his girlfriend, according toUs Weekly.
“It was tough to understand what he was saying as he was rapping to music, but it looked like he was just enjoying the moment,” the onlooker told the publication.
The couple smiled and giggled throughout the night and even put on a show of PDA.
“She was sitting on his lap at one point during the evening and the two genuinely appeared to be in love and appreciative of one another,” the insider added.
While Khloe Kardashian and pregnant Kim were absent, they did send birthday messages to Scott via Twitter.
Khloe Kardashian, 28, posted a picture of her with Scott Disick, adding: “Happy birthday to letthelordbewithyou we have come a long way my friend! I love you!”
Kim Kardashian tweeted a vintage snap of herself with Scott Disick, Kourtney and Khloe, adding: “OMG I almost died when I saw this! 2006 throwback! This one’s for you Scott!”
While Scott Disick has at times avoided Las Vegas because he struggles to control his drinking, it seems he enjoyed his time in Sin City.
After the party, Scott Disick tweeted: “Thank you @hydebellagio @sbenightlife for a great #vegasbirthday!”
Romania broke the world record for the biggest national flag making a triumphal entry in the famous Guinness Book.
A Romanian village unfurled what is the largest flag ever made, Guinness World Records said.
World’s largest flag came into display on Monday, 27 May 2013, following an initiative of the Romanian TV broadcaster Antena 3. Works on the huge flag were conducted in partnership with the Flags Factory.
It took about 200 people several hours Monday to roll out the flag, which measured about 349 meters (1,145 feet) by 227 meters (744.5 feet), about three times the size of a football field, according to Jack Brockbank, an adjudicator for Guinness World Records who measured the flag before pronouncing it the biggest flag in the world.
“It gives me great pleasure to recognize a new Guinness World Record title,” he said after measuring the flag.
“Congratulations Romania!”
Romania broke the world record for the largest national flag making a triumphal entry in the famous Guinness World Records
He said Romania’s blue, yellow and red flag covers an area of about 79,290 square meters (853,478 square feet), downing Lebanon which had held the previous record.
The five-ton flag was displayed in Clinceni, 35 kilometers (22 miles) southeast of capital Bucharest. Workers struggled to keep it firmly planted on the ground because of windy conditions and had to use small sandbags.
Adrian Dragomir, manager of the Flags Factory which created the flag, says it took weeks to sew and 70 kilometers (44 miles) of thread was needed.
A military brass band played as Romanian PM Victor Ponta and other ministers arrived in the village to view the flag.
The ceremony was marked by spectacular aerial demonstrations performed by the “AeroClub Romania” paratroopers and “Hawks of Romania” aviators. Furthermore, a military orchestra was scheduled for a musical performance of the national anthem.
Paratroopers from Aeroclub Romania joined the campaign and made an aerial jump that was set to end with a remarkable landing across the flag.
Also a team of pilots dubbed as the “Hawks of Romania” unveiled their training skills on board of Extra 300 planes.
President Barack Obama has paid tribute to America’s fallen soldiers in a moving Memorial Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery – as he urged the nation not to forget the thousands of troops still protecting the country.
“Let us never forgot to always remember the sacrifice they make in our name,” Barack Obama said in his Memorial Day address at the final resting place for many of America’s war heroes.
“Today most Americans are not directly touched by war, as a consequence not all Americans may always fully grasp the depths of sacrifice – the profound costs that are made in our name,” the president said.
“Our troops, our military families understand this and they mention to me whether the country fully appreciates what is happening. Let us never forget that our nation is still at war.”
President Barack Obama suggested fewer people are today touched by war due to the all-volunteer military force and advanced technology that allows the U.S. to accomplish some missions with far fewer personnel.
But he reminded the nation not to forget the 60,000 troops who are still fighting in Afghanistan.
In his speech, Barack Obama said that Arlington National Cemetery “has always been home to men and women who are willing to give their all … to preserve and protect the land that we love”.
He praised the character and selflessness that “beats in the hearts” of America’s troops.
Before his address, President Barack Obama honored the nation’s fallen military service members by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns in a somber ceremony at the cemetery.
He rode by motorcade from the White House to the hallowed burial grounds in suburban Virginia on a sun-splashed, but cool spring holiday as cannon fire was heard in the distance.
Barack Obama has paid tribute to America’s fallen soldiers in a moving Memorial Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery
Surrounded by officials and families of service members, Barack Obama carried out the Memorial Day tradition before reflecting silently on the lives lost to battle as he held his hand held to his chest.
The president was joined by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, cemetery Executive Director Kathryn Condon and Maj. Gen. Michael Linnington, commander of the Army’s military district of Washington.
As Barack Obama attended the event at Arlington, families marked Memorial Day at cemeteries, memorials and monuments across the country.
The presentation came after First Lady Michelle Obama hosted a breakfast at the White House with “Gold Star” families of service members who have been killed.
The events come at a time when combat in Afghanistan approaches 12 years and the ranks of World War II veterans dwindles.
In one of several ceremonies honoring Americans killed in Afghanistan, the city of South Sioux City, Nebraska, planned to unveil a statue honoring Navy Petty Officer 1st Class John Douangdara, a dog handler for the SEALs killed in a 2011 helicopter crash.
His service dog was also killed in the crash and is memorialized beside him in the statue.
At the American Airpower Museum on Long Island, N.Y., a program was planned to honor Women Air Service Pilots, or WASPs, who tested and ferried completed aircraft from factories to bases during World War II.
Thirty-eight died during the war, including Alice Lovejoy of Scarsdale, New York, who was killed on September 13, 1944, in a midair collision over Texas.
“It’s very important that we recognize not only their contribution to American history, but women’s history,” said Julia Lauria-Blum, curator of the WASP exhibit at the museum.
“These women really blazed a path; they were pioneers for women’s aviation. And most important, they gave their lives serving their country and must be honored like anyone else on Memorial Day.”
Another wreath-laying ceremony was planned at Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island in New York City.
The park is a tribute to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous speech calling for all people to enjoy freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.
In Atlanta, a dedication of the History Center’s redone Veterans Park was scheduled for early evening. Soil from major battlefields will be scattered by veterans around the park’s flagpole.
In suburban Boston, veterans gathered in a park to mark Memorial Day this year rather than hold a parade because of failing health and dwindling numbers.
The city of Beverly called off its parade because so few veterans would be able to march. The parade has been a fixture in the town since the Civil War.
The holiday weekend also marked the traditional start of the U.S. vacation season. AAA, one of the nation’s largest leisure travel agencies, expected 31.2 million Americans to hit the road over the weekend, virtually the same number as last year.
Gas prices were about the same as last year, up 1 cent to a national average of $3.65 a gallon Friday.
Left-wing FARC rebels and the Colombian government have agreed on land reform, after more than six months of peace talks.
“This agreement will be the start of a radical transformation of rural Colombia,” read a joint statement.
The deal calls for the economic and social development of rural areas and providing land to poor farmers.
Land reform is one of the most contentious issues in the talks on ending five decades of conflict.
“Today we have a real opportunity to attain peace through dialogue,” said the Colombian government’s chief negotiator, Humberto de la Calle.
“To support this process is to believe in Colombia,” he told journalists at the talks in the Cuban capital, Havana.
The FARC, Colombia’s largest guerrilla group, has been in talks with the government on the Caribbean island since last November.
FARC chief negotiator Ivan Marquez said several issues remained unresolved and would be dealt with in later discussions.
“We have advanced in the construction of an accord that will necessarily be checked over before the completion of the final agreement.”
The talks in Cuba are the fourth attempt to reach a negotiated settlement of the conflict, the longest-running in Latin America.
Sunday’s agreement calls for fair access to land, and rural development – two key causes of the armed conflict.
Left-wing FARC rebels and the Colombian government have agreed on land reform, after more than six months of peace talks
It also calls for the creation of a land bank, as a way to reallocate land, including areas seized illegally during the fighting.
Analysts and aid groups say much of it was taken by far-right paramilitary groups on behalf of cattle ranchers and drug traffickers.
The Colombian government, however, blames at least a third of the seizures on the FARC – a claim the rebels deny.
The agreement marks a significant step forward in the peace process.
Peace talks will resume on June 11 on the second major issue – the rebels’ participation in politics.
After Sunday’s agreement was announced, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said on Twitter: “We celebrate, really, this fundamental step in Havana… to end half a century of conflict.
“We will continue the (peace) process with care and responsibility.”
Juan Manuel Santos previously said he wanted the talks to end this year.
But both parties have stressed that nothing is finalized until a complete peace accord is reached.
The FARC originally set out to overthrow the government and install a Marxist regime, but in recent years the rebels have become increasingly involved in the drug trade to finance their campaign.
According to the UN, Colombia is the top producer of coca leaf, the raw material for making cocaine.
Much of the illicit d**g goes to the US, and the Andean country has been for more than a decade a major recipient of US counter-narcotics aid through the so-called Plan Colombia.
On Monday, US Vice President Joe Biden is expected to meet Juan Manuel Santos as part of an official visit to Bogota that is centred on drugs, security and trade.
“It is an encouraging development that these negotiations will lead to the end of the conflict in Colombia,” said US Ambassador to Colombia, Michael McKinley, ahead of Joe Biden’s visit.
It is difficult to find reliable statistics on how many people died from the violence in Colombia.
The government estimates that 600,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in the 1960s, with some three million more internally displaced by the fighting.
The FARC is thought to have some 8,000 fighters, down from about 16,000 in 2001.
Six points on Colombia’s government and FARC peace agenda:
Twilight is up for seven prizes at Teen Choice Awards 2013.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 is nominated in the sci-fi/fantasy and romance categories.
Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner from the films are also nominated in various acting categories.
Taylor Swift is up for female artist, country artist and smile while One Direction’s Harry Styles is up against actors Channing Tatum, Taylor Lautner and Justin Bieber for male hottie.
Justin Bieber is nominated for best male artist along with Justin Timberlake and Bruno Mars.
Twilight is up for seven prizes at Teen Choice Awards 2013
Anne Hathaway is up for awards for her roles in The Dark Knight Rises and Les Miserables.
Other films that were most nominated include Iron Man 3 and Breaking Dawn.
The Teen Choice Awards is an annual awards show that airs in the US.
It honours film, TV, music, fashion and sports stars with votes from teenage viewers aged between 13 to 19.
Winners receive a full-size surfboard as their award.
The two-hour ceremony will air live in August on the Fox network in the U.S.
Teen Choice Award 2013 categories include:
Choice female artist
Selena Gomez; Demi Lovato; Pink; Rihanna and Taylor Swift
Choice male artist
Justin Bieber; Bruno Mars; Phillip Phillips; Pitbull and Justin Timberlake
Choice TV show: comedy
The Big Bang Theory; Glee; Modern Family; New Girl and Suburgatory
Choice male hottie
Justin Bieber; Liam Hemsworth; Taylor Lautner; Harry Styles and Channing Tatum
Roman Polanski’s new film, Venus in Fur, with the director beautiful wife’s Emmanuelle Seigner in female leading role, is adapted from the stage-play by David Ives.
The movie is set continuously in one location: a theatre auditorium in Paris, where a harassed director has just spent a long and disagreeable afternoon auditioning actresses for a new version of Venus In Furs, the Leopold von Sacher-Masoch novel about s***al submission.
The last film screened in competition at Cannes 2013 is a slight, spry comedy of s** and power; a doodle in the festival’s margins, perhaps, but it has certainly been sketched with a flourish.
Roman Polanski has adapted the David Ives play Venus in Fur, which is itself based on a novella by the Austrian author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch.
Emmanuelle Seigner plays Vanda in Roman Polanski’s latest film Venus In Fur
The playwright, Thomas (Mathieu Amalric), has decided to direct his own script, and as the film begins, he is lamenting the lack of suitable actresses for the Vanda role.
“I need a s**y young woman with classical training and a scrap of brain in her skull,” he fumes.
At that moment, an actress blows in through the door, although she is not the erudite gamine of Thomas’s casting-call fantasies. She is in her mid-40s; a blur of blonde hair and blue eyeshadow; and she seems to have only the vaguest idea as to what the text is about. Her name, oddly enough, is Vanda, and she is played by Emmanuelle Seigner.
The shrugging, gum-chewing Vanda seems to be even worse than the others, but after she begs, Thomas is finally persuaded to give her a try – and of course he is astonished by what Vanda comes up with. Soon their relationship begins to change and Roman Polanski shows how Thomas experiences precisely that forbidden frisson celebrated in the novel.
It is a Pygmalion story, in its way, a story of transformation. The director might consider it his prerogative to shape and develop his leading lady in rehearsal. But that is not how Vanda sees it. For all its avowed danger and transgression there is something a little bit dated and even genteel in this theatregoers’ adventure in s**.
Disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has appeared in public for the first time with his new girlfriend Myriam L’Aouffir on the red carpet at Cannes Film Festival 2013.
It was confirmation that the pair are together, following DSK’s split last year from his long-suffering wife of 20 years, Anne Sinclair.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Myriam L’Aouffir were rumored last September to have started dating but this appearance appeared to be the first public confirmation. They attended the screening of a French film, Full Sun, starring veteran actor Alain Delon.
At 43 years-old, Myriam L’Aouffir is 20 years younger than her infamous economist boyfriend.
Like DSK, Myriam L’Aouffir comes from a Moroccan background, and is also believed to be estranged from her husband, with whom she has two children. She works in marketing.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn last December agreed a financial settlement with hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo whose 2011 allegation of s***al assault forced him to resign from the International Monetary Fund.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn has appeared in public for the first time with his new girlfriend Myriam L’Aouffir on the red carpet at Cannes Film Festival 2013
DSK – once tipped as a Socialist French president – was accused of trying to rape chambermaid Nafissatou Diallo at a Sofitel Hotel in New York.
After being held in the NYC’s notorious Rikers Island prison, criminal charges were dropped.
DSK then returned to France last year only to face accusations of s***ally abusing a young French writer.
French judges agreed there was a case against DSK, but had to drop it because the alleged attack happened more than a decade ago.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn was then charged with conspiring with pimps in Lille, northern France, to procure girls for s** parties around the world.
A film starring Jacqueline Bisset – who plays his former wife Anne Sinclair – and Gerard Depardieu as DSK which recreates the drama around the 2011 incident is expected to be released later this year.
DSK’s New York arrest ultimately destroyed his ambitions for the French presidency.
A gifted orator, fluent in English and German, DSK had been seen as a likely challenger to president Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2012 election, won by Francois Hollande.
Miley Cyrus recently celebrated her number one status on Maxim magazine’s hot 100 list and it seems that she is intent upon maintaining the coveted spot as she has made it a habit to post self portraits to Instagram and Twitter on an almost daily basis.
On Sunday Miley Cyrus, 20, was at it again, showing off her toned figure in an Instagram snap of herself bathed in golden light as she lounged in a black cocktail dress.
The caption for the indulgent snap demonstrated her self-promotional savvy: “CAN’T STOP. CARRY ON.”
The text was a reference to her upcoming single We Can’t Stop, which Miley Cyrus has been aggressively promoting online in an attempt to get the phrase “can’t stop” to become a trend on both Twitter and Instagram.
The song, produced by Mike WiLL Made-It, will première on Ryan Seacrest’s syndicated radio show on June 3.
Miley Cyrus posts self portraits to Instagram and Twitter on daily basis
Last Sunday Miley Cyrus told Billboard that she was “so excited” about the soon-to-be released album.
Miley Cyrus explained that she believes she has grown as a singer and a songwriter, saying: “I feel like I can really be myself.
“I really have more of a connection of who I am, and I feel like I can maybe express that more in my music now.”
Of the recording process Miley Cyrus added: “Me and Mike-WiLL [Made-It] teamed up, and it really just turned out to be perfect and exactly what I wanted, and exactly what I wanted my first sound to be, and my first look to be.
“I think it’s an important message for me to tell my fans – they haven’t stopped waiting, so it’s great.”
Meanwhile, rumors of a split from her fiancé Liam Hemsworth continue to plague Miley Cyrus – perpetuated by the fact that they seem to be spending so much time apart.
InTouch magazine reported that Miley Cyrus enlisted the help of a “spiritual” marriage counselor to help the pair work out their differences.
An insider told the magazine: “She’s hoping to save her relationship by enlisting a therapist. She knows that Liam has one foot out the door and that she’ll lose him if she doesn’t act fast.”
