The Headlines

Emma's symbolic hairstyle

2010-11-28T02:28:00.000-08:00

Emma's symbolic hairstyle

Emma Watson cut her hair cut short to mark entering a 'new phase' in her life.

The 'Harry Potter' star - who plays Hermione Granger in the series, which completed shooting on its final film earlier this year- has recently had a drastic new short crop and admitted it was a symbolic gesture, to mark her leaving her character behind.

She told the Daily Mail newspaper: 'I'm 20 now, so I'm not a child any more. I've been on Harry Potter for ten years now, so I felt the need to mark the end of it in some way - I needed some way to say to myself, 'Right, you're entering a new phase of your life now'. I needed a change, and that's what the haircut is about.'

Emma, who played Hermione from the age of nine, added her father was initially worried about her new look, but that her pixie-like hairdo has since grown on him.

How do I use the Blogger Reading List?

2010-11-28T02:02:00.000-08:00

How do I use the Blogger Reading List?

The Headlines: Actress Lindsay Lohan sentenced to 90 days for violating probation

2010-07-11T05:47:00.000-07:00

The Headlines: Actress Lindsay Lohan sentenced to 90 days for violating probation

Actress Lindsay Lohan sentenced to 90 days for violating probation

2010-07-11T05:33:00.000-07:00

Actress Lindsay Lohan sentenced to 90 days for violating probation

Actress Lohan was ordered Tuesday to serve 90 days in jail for missing alcohol counseling sessions in violation of her probation.
The judge also ordered Lohan to spend 90 days in a drug and alcohol rehab program after her jail term is completed.

The actress must begin serving her sentence on July 20, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel said.

After Revel ruled that Lohan had violated her probation in a 2007 drunken driving conviction by missing weekly alcohol counseling sessions, Lohan began sobbing as she addressed the court. "I did do everthing that I was told to do and did the best I could," she said.

Coffee shop 'Central Perk' hits Beijing

2010-07-02T03:22:00.000-07:00

Coffee shop 'Central Perk' hits Beijing

Beijing, China -- It looks like Ross and Rachel's favorite hang out: the big orange couch, the oversized coffee mugs, the neon signage and bricks, and even the guitar on which Phoebe strummed "Smelly Cat."
Except this "Central Perk" is neither in New York City nor on the set of "Friends" in Los Angeles. It is thousands of miles away, tucked in the heart of bustling downtown Beijing on the 6th floor of a non-descript office building.

"When I watched 'Friends', I always wondered whether there was really such a coffee shop because I would definitely become a frequent customer," said Du Xin, who opened the cafe in March. "But I didn't find one. So, I decided to open a 'Central Perk' on my own."
A loyal and dedicated fan of the sitcom, Du scrutinized thousands of pictures of the show's set, watched endless reruns of the sitcom, and spent five months laboring over furniture designs with manufacturers in Beijing to create his uncanny replica.

Despite the massive popularity of "Friends" in China, the café's location was initially a liability.

Actress: Brittany Murphy's husband found dead

2010-05-24T04:44:00.000-07:00

Actress: Brittany Murphy's husband found dead

L.A- Police say the husband of deceased actress Brittany Murphy has been found dead, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Sgt. Louie Lozano of the Los Angeles Police Department tells the paper that screenwriter Simon Monjack was found dead Sunday night at his home in the Hollywood Hills.

Lozano says that the cause of death was still unknown as of late Sunday and officers were still at the scene investigating.

The report comes five months after the death of his wife. The Los Angeles County coroner's office ruled that Murphy died of pneumonia complicated by an iron deficiency, anemia and multiple drug intoxication.

Coroner's officials say Murphy had gone into sudden cardiac arrest because of "drug intake," and her Dec. 20 death was classified as an accident.

Charice: The next Celine Dion

2010-05-19T04:16:00.000-07:00

Charice: The next Celine Dion

She's only 4-foot-9, but Charice has a towering voice. When she applies her vocal pipes to a Whitney Houston ballad, she makes it look as easy as tying her shoelaces.
"She's incredible," says her producer and mentor, Grammy-winner David Foster. A veteran at nurturing new artists, he likens Charice's star power to another talent he helped discover. "It's like the first time I saw Celine Dion. It's exactly the same to me."

Even Dion is paying attention to the teen. In 2008, she invited Charice on stage at Madison Square Garden in New York for a duet of her hit song "Because You Loved Me." Charice, who has idolized Dion since she was 4, was only 16 at the time.

Last week, Charice celebrated her 18th birthday (we interviewed her a couple of weeks beforehand) by releasing her self-titled debut album in the United States.

She may have gotten her start singing power pop ballads in local contests in her native Philippines (which later translated to key performances for Oprah and Ellen), but her album has a more youthful, dance-pop feel. The lead single "Pyramid," featuring singer Iyaz, is in the No. 1 spot on Billboard's dance chart.

Nameless terrorists now CIA target

2010-05-08T22:23:00.000-07:00

Nameless terrorists now CIA target

CIA had to know a militant's name before putting him up for a robotic targeted killing. Now, if the guy acts like a guerrilla, it's enough to call in a drone strike.
It's another sign of that a once-limited, once-covert program to off senior terrorist leaders has morphed into a full-scale -- if undeclared -- war in Pakistan. And in a war, you don't need to know the name of someone on the other side before you take a shot.

Across the border, in Afghanistan, the rules for launching an airstrike have become tighter than a balled fist. Dropping a bomb from above is now a tactic of last resort; even when U.S. troops are under fire, commanders are reluctant to authorize air strikes.
In Pakistan, however, the opposite has happened. Starting in the latter days of the Bush administration, and accelerating under the Obama presidency, drone pilots have become more and more free to launch their weapons.

Justin Ridiculed for 'German' Mistake

2010-05-06T02:21:00.000-07:00

Justin Ridiculed for 'German' Mistake

The Internet is in a tizzy over an interview in which teen dream Justin Bieber appears to not be familiar with the word "German."
In the interview, a talk show host from New Zealand asks the 16-year-old a few true-or-false questions, including the query "True or false: 'Bieber' is German for basketball."
Bieber gets confused over the word "German," and the interviewer repeats it.
After this back-and-forth, Bieber says he doesn't know what the TV host means, and finally gives up on the question, proclaiming: "We don't say that in America."

It seems obvious that Bieber was simply perplexed by the interviewer's thick Kiwi accent (which the host himself points out). Or perhaps he was just annoyed at being asked an inane question.
Bieber offers his own explanation, via Twitter. "I thought this interviewer in NZ said 'Jewman' instead of 'German' people think I don't know what German is?"
Either way, the video has gone viral as blogs have ridiculed Bieber for exactly that as he did actually read the cue card that seems to say the word 'German.' One such blog, The Huffington Post, had to amend its post making fun of Bieber when it found an interview the singer did in Germany way back in August, in which he talks about his German great-grandfather and even counts to ten in the language.
Bieber mentions that interview on Twitter, saying "I count in GERMAN and translate my own name. Guess I know what German is. Guess home schooling is working out. Do your research next time b4 making a lame attempt at hating on a 16 year old."

Security slip let suspect on a plane

2010-05-04T22:03:00.000-07:00

Security slip let suspect on a plane

WASHINGTON – The no-fly list failed to keep the Times Square suspect off the plane. Faisal Shahzad had boarded a jetliner bound for the United Arab Emirates Monday night before federal authorities pulled him back.

The night's events, gradually coming to light, underscored the flaws in the nation's aviation security system, which despite its technologies, lists and information sharing, often comes down to someone making a right call.

As federal agents closed in, Faisal Shahzad was aboard Emirates Flight 202. He reserved a ticket on the way to John F. Kennedy International Airport, paid cash on arrival and walked through security without being stopped. By the time Customs and Border Protection officials spotted Shahzad's name on the passenger list and recognized him as the bombing suspect they were looking for, he was in his seat and the plane was preparing to leave the gate.

But it didn't. At the last minute, the pilot was notified, the jetliner's door was opened and Shahzad was taken into custody.

After authorities pulled Shahzad off the plane, he admitted he was behind the crude Times Square car bomb, officials said. He also claimed to have been trained at a terror camp in Pakistan's lawless tribal region of Waziristan, according to court documents. That raised increased concern that the bombing was an international terror plot.

Shahzad, a Pakistani-born U.S. citizen, was charged Tuesday with terrorism and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in Saturday evening's failed Times Square bombing. According to a federal complaint, he confessed to buying an SUV, rigging it with a homemade bomb and driving it into the busy area where he tried to detonate it.

Obama says stopping oil spill could take many days

2010-05-02T22:13:00.000-07:00

Obama says stopping oil spill could take many days

VENICE, La. – No remedy in sight, President Barack Obama on Sunday warned of a "massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster" as a badly damaged oil well in the Gulf of Mexico spewed a widening and deadly slick toward delicate wetlands and wildlife. He said it could take many days to stop.

Obama flew to southern Louisiana to inspect forces arrayed against the oil gusher as Cabinet members described the situation as grave and insisted the administration was doing everything it could. Then he took a 15-mile helicopter ride over marshlands and estuaries to a coastal area, but high winds prevented the craft from going out to the 30-mile oil slick caused by as much as 210,000 gallons of crude gushing into the Gulf each day.

The spill threatened not only the environment but also the region's abundant fishing industry, which Obama called "the heartbeat of the region's economic life." As of now, it appeared little could be done in the short term to stem the oil flow, which was also drifting toward the beaches of neighboring Mississippi and farther east along the Florida Panhandle. Obama said the slick was 9 miles off the coast of southeastern Louisiana.

Those who live and work in the region braced for the economic impact on fishing and tourism. In front of a cabin and RV park in Boothville, along Louisiana Highway 23, was a plywood sign pleading: "Obama Send Help."

M.I.A. music video "Born Free," elicits strong online response

2010-04-27T19:38:00.000-07:00

M.I.A. music video "Born Free," elicits strong online response

If singer/rapper M.I.A.'s purpose was to get people talking about her new single "Born Free," she succeeded.
The Sri Lankan-born artist debuted the graphic video on Monday. Immediately, fans took to social media to debate its scenes of military force, violence and brutality.

"M.I.A. is a provocateur and someone who tries to rile people up in a variety of ways," said Saul Austerlitz, author of "Money for Nothing: A History of the Music Video from the Beatles to the White Stripes."

"I think one of the main routes that she takes to that end is the political, and this video has a lot of political resonances, things like Guantanamo, the Iraqi insurgency and the Taliban all sort of jumbled together and rebranded."

The almost nine-minute video for the song from her upcoming album includes nudity as well as scenes of brutality. Directed by filmmaker Romain Gavras, the video revolves around the rounding up of red-headed young men by a group of military commandos.

Fire destroys hundreds of homes in slum near Manila

2010-04-25T19:21:00.000-07:00

Fire destroys hundreds of homes in slum near Manila

A massive fire destroyed about 600 homes Sunday in a shantytown outside the Philippines capital, displacing some 2,500 families, fire officials said.
The fire started at about 4 p.m. (4 a.m. ET) in the slum near Manila and was under control four hours later, said fire officials in Quezon City, a Manila suburb. There were no reports of casualties from the blaze. Five firefighters suffered minor injuries.

The fire has wreaked an estimated $10 million in damages, officials said.

Oil rig explosion, setting stage for a big spill

2010-04-22T22:59:00.000-07:00

Oil rig explosion, setting stage for a big spill

NEW ORLEANS – A deepwater oil platform that burned for more than a day after a massive explosion sank into the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, creating the potential for a major spill as it underscored the slim chances that the 11 workers still missing survived.

The sinking of the Deepwater Horizon, which burned violently until the gulf itself extinguished the fire, could unleash more than 300,000 of gallons of crude a day into the water. The environmental hazards would be greatest if the spill were to reach the Louisiana coast, some 50 miles away.

Crews searched by air and water for the missing workers, hoping they had managed to reach a lifeboat, but one relative said family members have been told it's unlikely any of the missing survived Tuesday night's blast. The Coast Guard found two lifeboats but no one was inside. More than 100 workers escaped the explosion and fire; four were critically injured.
Carolyn Kemp of Monterey, La., said her grandson, Roy Wyatt Kemp, 27, was among the missing. She said he would have been on the drilling platform when it exploded.

"They're assuming all those men who were on the platform are dead," Kemp said. "That's the last we've heard."

Jed Kersey, of Leesville, La., said his 33-year-old son, John, had finished his shift on the rig floor and was sleeping when the explosion occurred. He said his son told him that all 11 missing workers were on the rig floor at the time of the explosion.

Lightning electrifies volcano ash

2010-04-21T04:08:00.000-07:00

Lightning electrifies volcano ash

The Eyjafjallajokull (ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl) volcano continues to produce spectacular visual effects. Photographers have captured images of lightning, seemingly erupting directly from the volcano. The bolts may look like Hollywood special effects, but they're very much the real deal. No CGI required. But as LiveScience reports, they're also still a "bit of a mystery."

Sandra Asked to Return Razzie Statue

2010-04-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

Sandra Asked to Return Razzie Statue

The co-founder of the Razzie Awards has taken to the media to ask Sandra Bullock to return the award she won last month for Worst Actress.

"We are ready to take the unprecedented step of asking a winner to return a Razzie," John Wilson, the awards co-founder, told the UK's Telegraph newspaper.

Lest you think this gesture has anything to do with her recent personal-life strife, think again: the Razzie judges haven't changed their mind about Bullock's performance in "All About Steve" - they just want the actual trophy back.

It seems they got so caught up in the moment that instead of giving Bullock the intentionally cheap (it's worth a whopping $4.79), spray-painted replica of the award that all winners receive, the Razzies organizers say they inadvertently handed Bullock the original 30-year-old award. Given its age and rarity, the original has much more value as a collector's item.

Mr. Wilson explained the confusion to the Telegraph: "As Sandra was in such a rush after winning Worst Actress she ran off with the original handmade prototype which has been present at ceremonies since the 1980s."

Bullock famously showed up to accept her Worst Actress award for her role in the box-office bomb, "All About Steve," bringing with her hundreds of "Steve" DVDs and promising to return the award if the Razzie judges changed their minds after watching the movie. The next day, Bullock won the Best Actress Oscar for "The Blind Side," making her the only person ever to win both an Oscar and a Razzie in the same year.

Ugly brawl mars MMA fight on TV

2010-04-18T22:26:00.000-07:00

Ugly brawl mars MMA fight on TV

Jake Shields defended his Strikeforce middleweight title belt on Saturday night, beating UFC veteran Dan Henderson in five rounds, but the fighting did not end when the bell rang.
As Shields was being interviewed for the CBS viewing audience, Jason "Mayhem" Miller interrupted him, asking for a rematch. Shields' teammate, Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez, took offense to Miller stealing Shields' big moment, and pushed Miller. Shields and Melendez's teammates got in on the action. Strikeforce champ Nick Diaz and his brother, UFC fighter Nate Diaz, were both seen fighting Miller as CBS announcer Gus Johnson tried to end the fight by yelling, "Gentlemen, we're on national television."
Once the brawl broke up, Shields apologized, saying that this was out of character. Shields is known as a mild-mannered man out of the cage, and as he didn't instigate the melee, he doesn't deserve much of the blame.
But that doesn't mean there isn't plenty of blame to go around. Miller shouldn't have interrupted Shields' as he celebrated defeating one of his heroes in MMA.
Miller, the host of MTV's "Bully Beatdown," looks for the spotlight. He and Shields have a longtime beef with one another, and he shouldn't have been there. But Melendez had no business pushing Miller, and the Diaz brothers definitely had no business punching and kicking Miller while he was on the ground.
MMA is a relatively new and growing sport, and it has had very few chances to be on prime-time, network television. The fighters involved in the melee should be ashamed of themselves, as they have now given every opponent of MMA more reason to hate the sport. Instead of focusing on the gentlemanly way most fighters act after a bout has ended -- shaking hands, congratulating each other and each other's fight teams -- fans new to MMA will remember only that a few fighters couldn't let it drop when the final bell rang.

Air travel 'faces days of chaos'

2010-04-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

Most major European airports have been closed as a plume of volcanic ash drifts south from Iceland across the continent, bringing travel chaos.

Air traffic suspensions are now in force in more than a dozen countries in an unprecedented move.
UK air traffic control said "current forecasts show that the situation is worsening throughout Saturday".
Thousands of travellers are stranded and airlines are losing an estimated $200m each day.
"The knock-on effect of the volcanic ash plume over northern Europe is likely to disrupt European airspace for several days," said the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (Canso), a global association of air traffic control companies.
"Traffic will have to be reorganised and rerouted and flights replanned, all on a dynamic and quite unpredictable basis," it said in a statement.
Many countries and airlines have grounded fleets amid fears that the ash - a mixture of glass, sand and rock particles, drifting from 5,000ft (1,500 metres) - could be catastrophic to aircraft.
In some of the biggest disruption in commercial aviation history, a swathe of northern European sky was empty of aircraft on Friday.
About two-thirds of the 28,000 daily flights in the affected zone were cancelled, while only half the usual number of flights between Europe and North America operated.

2 'Idol' contestants sent home; 7 stay still to compete

2010-04-14T22:14:00.000-07:00

2 'Idol' contestants sent home; 7 stay still to compete

LOS ANGELES – "American Idol" viewers were cruel to Andrew Garcia and Katie Stevens.

The 24-year-old musician from Moreno Valley, Calif., and the 17-year-old high school student from Middlebury, Conn., received the fewest viewer votes Wednesday on the Fox singing contest.

Both failed to wow the judges with Elvis Presley tunes Tuesday. Stevens received a mixed reaction to "Baby What You Want Me To Do," while Garcia was lambasted for "Hound Dog."

"I'm glad I've been through what I've been through," Garcia said after his dismissal.

Stevens and Garcia were both sent packing on the double-elimination episode because the judges saved 26-year-old personal trainer Michael Lynche of Queens, N.Y., last week. "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest revealed that Lynche, who impressed the panel Tuesday with a low-key rendition of "In the Ghetto," was not one of the bottom-three vote getters on Wednesday.

Garcia was ousted at the beginning of the show, but Stevens didn't learn her fate until after performances from two past "Idol" contestants. Brooke White, the seventh season's fifth-place songstress, crooned Presley's "If I Can Dream" with model-singer Justin Gaston. Adam Lambert, the eighth season's runner-up, performed his own "Whataya Want From Me."

"If you want to win this competition, you've got to wake up," Lambert advised.

The other finalists remaining in the competition are Crystal Bowersox, 24, of Toledo, Ohio; Lee Dewyze, 24, of Mount Prospect, Ill.; Aaron Kelly, 17, of Sonestown, Pa.; Siobhan Magnus, 20, of Marstons Mills, Mass.; Casey James, 27, of Fort Worth, Texas; and Tim Urban, 20, of Duncansville, Texas.

The top seven singers will tackle inspirational tunes next week.

A 6.9 magnitude quake strikes China

2010-04-13T19:25:00.000-07:00

A 6.9 magnitude quake strikes China

A magnitude of 6.9 earthquake struck China's Qinghai province Wednesday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The quake hit at 7:49 a.m. local time (7:49 p.m. ET). The epicenter was about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Qamdo, Tibet. Qinghai borders the autonomous regions of Tibet and Xingjiang and the provinces of Gansu and Sichuan.
USGS also recorded two strong aftershocks -- of magnitudes 5.2 and 5.3 -- within half an hour of the quake.

Residents and witnesses near the epicenter reported casualties and collapsed buildings, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency. No other details were immediately available.

Poles expressed their grief over president's death

2010-04-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

Poles expressed their grief over president's death

Poland's government moved swiftly Sunday to show that it was staying on course after the deaths of its president and dozens of political, military and religious leaders, even as tens of thousands of Poles expressed their grief over the plane crash in Russia that shocked the country.
New acting chiefs of the military were already in place and an interim director of the central bank was named Sunday, with work running as usual, said Pawel Gras, a government spokesman.

It was a rare positive note on a day wracked by grief for the 96 dead and laced with reminders of Poland's dark history with its powerful neighbor. The Saturday crash occurred in thick fog near the Katyn forest, where Josef Stalin's secret police in 1940 systematically executed thousands of Polish military officers in the western Soviet Union.

President Lech Kaczynski and those aboard the aging Soviet-built plane had been headed there to honor the dead. A preliminary analysis showed the plane had been working fine, a Russian investigator said.

Tens of thousands of Poles softly sang the national anthem and tossed flowers at the hearse carrying the 60-year-old Kaczynski's body Sunday to the presidential palace after it was returned from Russia's Smolensk airport, the site of the crash.

The coffin bearing the president's remains were met first by his daughter Marta, whose mother, the first lady, Maria Kaczynska, also perished in the crash. She knelt before it, her forehead resting on the coffin.

Search continues for the miners missing in blast at West Va.

2010-04-09T19:21:00.000-07:00

Search continues for the miners missing in blast at West Va.

MONTCOAL, W.Va. – Grieving relatives began burying victims of the Upper Big Branch coal mine disaster Friday as crews neared a refuge chamber deep underground where they had faint hope that survivors might be awaiting rescue.

It was their fourth try to find the four miners missing since Monday's explosion killed 25 others in the nation's worst underground disaster since at least 1984. During the previous rescue attempt, searchers were forced to withdraw by dangerous gases and the risk of fire or explosion.

Gov. Joe Manchin promised families they should have answers by midnight.

"They just want to take their fathers and their husbands and their sons and their uncles, they want to take them home," he said. "They just want to bring them home."

Rescuers hoped the miners might have made it to the chamber stocked with food, water and enough oxygen for several days.

Late Friday, officials said their fourth try to check the chamber was progressing better than previous ones and crews were within 2,000 feet of where they needed to be. They expected an answer by midnight and said they hoped to start recovering bodies even if no one was in the chamber, an expandable box activated by opening a door and pulling a lever.

"We are praying for a miracle," President Barack Obama said in Washington.

Of the 25 confirmed dead, 18 bodies remained inside the mine.

"We believe that without any unforeseen problems ... (we) will be able to bring some finality to it tonight," Manchin said.

About a dozen people huddled around a television set at a pizza place near the mines to listen to Manchin speak, and many flashed smiles Manchin said he anticipated the rescue mission would end soon.

"We just keep hoping we'll have closure soon — good or bad, as long as it ends soon," said Sarah James, a 23-year-old whose husband is a surface miner.

Former Sex Pistols' manager McLaren has died at 64

2010-04-08T22:32:00.000-07:00

Former Sex Pistols' manager McLaren has died at 64

LONDON – The former manager of the Sex Pistols and one of the seminal figures of the punk rock era, Malcolm McLaren, died Thursday, his son said. He was 64.

Joe Corre his father died of an aggressive form of cancer in Switzerland, declining to give the exact location.

"He was the original punk rocker and revolutionized the world," Corre told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "He's somebody I'm incredibly proud of. He's a real beacon of a man for people to look up to."

McLaren is best known for his work with the Pistols, whose violence, swearing, and antiestablishment antics shocked Britain and revolutionized the music scene. The band's chaotic career owed much to their manager's talent for self-promotion.

"Without Malcolm McLaren there would not have been any British punk," said music journalist Jon Savage, who wrote "England's Dreaming" — which chronicles the history of the group.

But McLaren, an art school dropout, was first known for his fashion, and the infamous clothes shop he opened on London's King's Road with his girlfriend Vivienne Westwood in 1971.

Sandra Bullock say's 'There is no sex tape'

2010-04-07T04:07:00.000-07:00

Sandra say's 'There is no sex tape'

Sandra Bullock has broken her silence during her marriage crisis, denying an Internet report there's a sex tape with her and husband Jesse James.
"There is no sex tape," she says in a statement to PEOPLE on Tuesday. "There never has been one and there never will be one."

Until now, Bullock, 45, had not commented, remaining in seclusion since reports surfaced that James, 40, allegedly had cheated on her with at least four other women.

Bullock has been in touch with a close circle of friends, including comedian George Lopez, who visited her for a second time on Monday.

She spoke out in response to an online report that James possesses a graphic sex tape which he could possibly use as leverage in a divorce case.

Mine "blast" in West Virginia 12 were killed

2010-04-05T21:10:00.000-07:00

Mine "blast" in West Virginia 12 were killed

Twelve miners died Monday and more than a dozen were unaccounted for after an explosion erupted inside an underground mine in Raleigh County, West Virginia, the mine's parent company said.
Another 21 miners were injured in the blast at the Upper Big Branch Mine, according to Michael Mayhorn, emergency dispatcher for Boone County, which was called in to assist in the response.

The explosion apparently occurred during an afternoon shift change, witnesses and officials said.

At least 20 ambulances and three helicopters were dispatched from surrounding counties, and the state medical examiner was heading to the scene, Mayhorn said. At least one miner was evacuated by helicopter, according to Mayhorn.

Don Blankenship, the chief executive officer of Massey Energy Co., which oversees the mine, said in a statement that the company is "working diligently on rescue efforts."

"Our prayers go out to the families of the miners," he said. "We want to assure the families of all the miners we are taking every action possible to locate and rescue those still missing."
The explosion happened about 4:30 p.m. at Massey Energy's Performance Coal Co. mine in Whitesville, West Virginia, 30 miles south of Charleston, West Virginia.

The cause of the explosion was not immediately known, but methane gas has been blamed in several deadly mining accidents in recent years, including the 2006 explosion at the Sago mine, also in West Virginia, that killed 12 people. Five miners in Harlan County, Kentucky, were killed five months later in a methane gas explosion in Kentucky Darby Mine No. 1.

A 7.2 magnitude quake in Mexico kill's two and injured 100

2010-04-04T22:45:00.000-07:00

A 7.2 magnitude quake in Mexico kill's two and injured 100

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck northwest Mexico's Baja California on Sunday, rattling Arizona and southern California, and leaving at least two dead and 100 injured in Mexico, authorities said.
At least one person was killed in a building collapse in Mexicali, Mexico, according to the assistant director of civil protection in Tijuana. The other victim died when he ran from his residence into the street and was hit by a car, said Alfredo Escobedo, Mexico's director of civil protection.

All 100 injuries are concentrated in Mexicali, Escobedo said.

In California and Arizona, there were no immediate reports of injuries and only limited reports of damages.

The quake struck at 3:40 p.m. (6:40 p.m. ET) about 110 miles east-southeast of Tijuana, Mexico, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Pictures from Mexicali, a major metropolitan area and the capital of Mexico's Baja California state, showed sides ripped off buildings, telephone poles toppled, roads cracked and supermarket aisles strewn with food that had fallen off shelves.

The entire city has lost power, according to Alan Sandoval, Tijuana's assistant director of civil protection.

Erin Andrews getting death threats

2010-04-02T19:20:00.000-07:00

Erin Andrews getting death threats

Erin Andrews has been getting death threats in a stream of e-mails to a media outlet, an attorney for the ESPN reporter and "Dancing with the Stars" contestant said Friday.
Attorney Marshall Grossman said that the media outlet, which he did not identify, had received at least a dozen e-mails since September threatening Andrews and passed them to her representatives Thursday.

The e-mails were at first sexual, but the most recent were explicitly violent and "threatened Erin with murder," Grossman said. They also had details about location and method.

The messages discuss the case of Michael David Barrett, who was sentenced last month to 2 1/2 years in federal prison for secretly shooting nude videos of the ESPN reporter.

"He refers to Barrett in his e-mail in a way to make clear to us that situation had some influence," Grossman said, but added that the man appeared to have no ties to Barrett.

The FBI has been notified, Grossman said. He said the man's identity is known to law enforcement and is believed to live on the East Coast. An e-mail message left for an FBI spokeswoman was not immediately returned.

Andrews is not yet seeking a restraining order but has asked ABC to beef up its security on "Dancing with the Stars," Grossman said.

Private security also has been hired to protect Andrews and her family.

Andrews has no plans of quitting the show.

"She's not the type to be easily threatened," Grossman said. "She has every intention to meet her obligations."

'True Blood' Star Anna Paquin Reveal she's Bisexual

2010-04-02T02:48:00.000-07:00

'True Blood' Star Anna Paquin Reveal she's Bisexual

Hot on the heels of Ricky Martin's announcement on his personal blog that he's gay, "True Blood" star Anna Paquin used an unusual medium of her own to announce that she is bisexual.
Alongside celebrities such as Elton John, Clay Aiken, and Wanda Sykes, Paquin declared her sexual orientation in a public service announcement for Cyndi Lauper's Give a Damn Campaign, which promotes equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
Paquin follows an interesting trend of celebrities forgoing the traditional "coming out" People magazine interview -- à la Clay Aiken and Lance Bass -- and instead controlling the message themselves. Ricky Martin buried his announcement at the bottom of an otherwise banal blog post, and now Paquin is using her announcement to drive attention to a cause she supports. So much attention, in fact, that servers at wegiveadamn.org crashed shortly after the news broke of Paquin's statement.

The Give a Damn campaign is part of Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Fund (named after her popular 1986 song and album). Lauper is currently promoting the cause during her turn on the Donald Trump-judged show "Celebrity Apprentice."

Jesse checks treatment facility to fix crisis in his family and marriage

2010-03-31T22:22:00.000-07:00

Jesse checks treatment facility to fix crisis in his family and marriage

With his marriage to Sandra Bullock in crisis and his family's future on the line, Jesse James is seeking professional help, his rep tells PEOPLE exclusively.
"Jesse checked himself into a treatment facility to deal with personal issues," his rep said in a statement. "He realized that this time was crucial to help himself, help his family and help save his marriage."

While the rep did not specify the type of treatment facility, one source confirms he checked in on March 26, and that it was "100 percent his own idea" -- and not the result of an ultimatum from Bullock.

A cheating scandal that exploded on March 15 has sent James' nearly five-year marriage to Bullock, 45, into a tailspin with claims that he had affairs with at least four women. Bullock has moved out of the family home and is considering her options, another source says.
Before seeking treatment, James, 40, spent much of the last two weeks sticking to a routine, hanging out with his three kids and dropping them off at school and burying himself at work at West Coast Choppers in Long Beach, California.

Two Suicide bombers kill's 12 in Russia

2010-03-31T01:31:00.000-07:00

Two Suicide bombers kill's 12 in Russia

In MAKHACHKALA, Russia 2 suicide bombers including one impersonating a police officer killed at least 12 people and injured 18 others in the southern Russian province of Dagestan on Wednesday, officials said. Nine police officers were among the dead.
The blasts in the North Caucasus region came two days after a twin suicide bombing tore through the Moscow subway system, killing 39 and wounding scores. Dagestan borders Chechnya, where Russian troops have fought two full-scale wars against separatist rebels in the past 15 years.

In Wednesday's attacks, a suicide bomber detonated explosives in the town of Kizlyar near Dagestan's border with Chechnya, when police tried to stop the bomber's car, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said in televised comments.

"Traffic police followed the car and almost caught up — at that time the blast hit," Nurgaliyev said. He said the deadly cargo was headed for the center of Kizlyar. There was a school and law enforcement building nearby.

As investigators and residents gathered at the scene of the blast, a second bomber wearing a police uniform approached and set off explosives, killing the town's police chief among others, Nurgaliyev said.

The Moscow subway bombings shocked a country that had grown accustomed to such violence being confined to a restive southern corner such as Dagestan — and marked the return of terrorism to the everyday lives of Muscovites after a six-year break.

The North Caucasus provinces of Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia are prone to more frequent attacks, hosting an active separatist Islamist insurgency that government forces are struggling to contain. Police are the frequent target because they represent federal law enforcers — the separatists' ideological enemy.

The violence continues despite Kremlin efforts to stem it. President Dmitry Medvedev, who recently said the separatists had spread through the region "like a cancerous tumor," earlier this year appointed a deputy prime minister to oversee the troubled region.

Rebels from the North Caucasus, which includes Dagestan and Chechnya, were blamed for masterminding the Moscow attack, but no claims of responsibility have been made. Speculation has been rife that the attacks were retaliation for the recent killing of high-profile separatists in the North Caucasus by police. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin vowed late Tuesday to drag the organizers "out of the sewer."

Monday's subway bombings, carried out by two women, were the first terrorist attacks in Moscow since 2004. They have shaken a city that has been insulated from the violence still raging in the restive southern corner of the country.

The first blast struck the Lubyanka station in central Moscow, beneath the headquarters of the Federal Security Service or FSB, the KGB's main successor agency. The FSB is a symbol of power under Putin, a former KGB officer who headed the agency before his election as president in 2000.

About 45 minutes later, a second blast hit the Park Kultury station on the same subway line, which is near the renowned Gorky Park. In both cases, the bombs were detonated as the trains pulled into the stations and the doors were opening.

Ricky Martin says he's 'a Gay'

2010-03-29T23:29:00.000-07:00

Ricky Martin says he's 'a Gay'

Pop singer Ricky Martin declared publicly this week what he avoided discussing for years: He is gay.
"I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man," Martin wrote on his official Web site. "I am very blessed to be who I am."

A decade ago, when ABC's Barbara Walters pressed Martin to address rumors about his sexuality, he declined to confirm or deny them. "I just don't feel like it," Martin said.

Now, Martin wrote, "these years in silence and reflection made me stronger and reminded me that acceptance has to come from within and that this kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn't even know existed."

The 39-year-old Puerto Rican native started off with the Latin boy band Menudo before launching his solo career in 1991.

His song "Livin' La Vida Loca" rose to the top of the music charts in 1999 and propelled Martin to stardom.

Martin said he decided years ago to not share "my entire truth" with the world because people he loved warned him that "everything you've built will collapse."

"Allowing myself to be seduced by fear and insecurity became a self-fulfilling prophecy of sabotage," he wrote. "Today I take full responsibility for my decisions and my actions."

The decision to come out was initiated a few months ago, when he began writing his memoirs, he said. "I got very close to my truth," he wrote.

"From the moment I wrote the first phrase I was sure the book was the tool that was going to help me free myself from things I was carrying within me for a long time," he wrote. "Things that were too heavy for me to keep inside."

Martin said that disclosing his secret is important because of his two sons, born via surrogate.

"To keep living as I did up until today would be to indirectly diminish the glow that my kids where born with," he wrote.

"Enough is enough. This has to change. This was not supposed to happen five or 10 years ago, it is supposed to happen now. Today is my day, this is my time, and this is my moment."

Writing the seven paragraphs, he said, "is a solid step towards my inner peace and vital part of my evolution."

"What will happen from now on? It doesn't matter. I can only focus on what's happening to me in this moment."

"How to Train Your Dragon" wins topped box office

2010-03-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

"How to Train Your Dragon" wins topped box office
A topped box office charts, earning an estimated $43.3 million over three days.

"How to Train Your Dragon" won the weekend box office race with ease, grossing $43.3 million for the three-day frame. (A solid 11.5 percent of that cash came from 187 IMAX theaters.)
The DreamWorks Animation film, which has won rave reviews from critics and audiences alike, may well have bowed with a far bigger number had it not been sandwiched between two other high-profile 3-D releases.

The Viking-era-set action-adventure had to share 3-D screens with "Alice in Wonderland," which in its fourth weekend in theaters managed to claim $17.3 million of box office gross, a respectable 49 percent drop that leaves the Tim Burton-directed film on the precipice of $300 million total.

'Dragon' should enjoy solid grosses during the upcoming week with kids across the country out of school for spring break, but it's likely to get squeezed next weekend when the highly anticipated "Clash of the Titans" rolls into 3-D theaters with a vengeance.
"Hot Tub Time Machine" bowed to an estimated $13.6 million for its opening weekend, good enough to claim third place. The R-rated '80s nostalgia fest starring John Cusack drew in a crowd mostly over age 25, playing strong on the two coasts and in college towns, while underperforming in the South. The movie, from director Steve Pink, generated a B from Cinemascore, a response that doesn't necessarily portend a strong second weekend.

Surprisingly, "The Bounty Hunter," which debuted last weekend in third place, held in well its sophomore session, dropping only 40 percent for an additional $12.4 million. The Jennifer Aniston-Gerard Butler-starrer has now grossed $38.8 million total.

"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" suffered from 'Dragon' competition. The well-reviewed film fell 55 percent in its second weekend to $10 million and a fifth-place finish. The movie's two-week take now stands at $35.7 million.

"She's Out of My League" landed in the sixth spot in its third weekend with another $3.5 million and a total gross of $25.6 million.

"Green Zone" took in $3.3 million; total gross for this expensive Matt Damon-starrer stands at only $30.4 million after three weekends.

The Leonardo DiCaprio-Martin Scorsese thriller "Shutter Island" earned another $3.2 million for a six-week total of $120 million.

"Repo Men" landed in 9th spot with $3 million. The Jude Law-Forest Whitaker-starrer has grossed only $11.3 million after two weekends.

"Our Family Wedding" rounded out the top ten with an additional $2.2 million. The film has earned $16.7 million in three weeks.

Limited release films are not scoring well with audiences lately, despite boasting a solid pedigree of talent. For example, Atom Egoyan's R-rated drama "Chloe" starring Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, and Amanda Seyfried earned just over $1 million. Opening in 350 theaters, the film scored a weak per-screen average of $2,863.

The second weekend of "Greenberg" and "The Runaways" didn't earn much better results. Even with the star power of Ben Stiller, the Noah Baumbach film grossed only $1 million, though with a per-screen average of $5,850.

Meanwhile, the Kristen Stewart-Dakota Fanning-starrer "The Runaways" grossed $445,810 its second weekend in theaters. On 237 screens, the film's per-screen was a weak $1,881 and its total is only $1.57 million.

Despite solid turns from the new releases, the overall weekend was down compared with last year at this time, when "Monsters vs. Aliens" bowed to $59.3 million. The difference: 'MVA' had the 3-D screens all to itself. Next weekend sure will be interesting when three studios are competing to hold on to those coveted extra-dimensional theaters. Stay tuned.

46 missing after SKorean naval ship sinks near NKorea

2010-03-26T22:26:00.000-07:00

46 missing after SKorean naval ship sinks near NKorea

South Korean authorities stepped up searches for 46 sailors still missing Saturday, hours after a naval ship sank near a disputed sea border with North Korea.
Navy and coast guard vessels, as well as air force planes, were searching the waters near South Korea's Baeknyeong Island where the 1,200-ton Cheonan sank during a routine patrolling mission.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said rescuers had picked up 58 sailors but 46 still were missing.

President Lee Myung-bak ordered officials to find the cause of the sinking quickly while keeping in mind all possibilities, presidential spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye said Saturday. There was no indication North Korea was to blame, but troops kept a vigilant watch.

Lee reconvened a security meeting and instructed officials to make all efforts to rescue the missing sailors, the spokeswoman said. Kim added there were no signs of North Korean troop movement.

Some senior government officials have speculated the sinking may have been an accident, not an attack, South Korean media said.

Friday's accident happened hours after North Korea's military threatened "unpredictable strikes" against the U.S. and South Korea in anger over a report the two countries plan to prepare for possible instability in the totalitarian country.

The two Koreas remain locked in a state of war because their three-year conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953.

Since then, the two Koreas have fought three bloody skirmishes in the Yellow Sea waters. And in January, North Korea fired about 30 artillery rounds not far from Baeknyeong; the South Korean military fired 100 warning shots in response.

Unidentified military officials told South Korea's Yonhap news agency that an explosion tore a hole into the Cheonan's rear hull, shutting off the engine, wiping out the power and quickly taking the ship down. A number of crew members jumped into the water, Yonhap said.

Nearby Baeknyeong Island, four hours by boat from the South Korean port of Incheon but just 10 miles (20 kilometers) from North Korea, was turned into a triage center, with islanders helping to treat injured crew members, according to cable network YTN.

In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Friday the U.S. was closely monitoring the accident, but there was no evidence that could indicate North Korea's involvement.

"It's looking more and more like it was just an accident that happens on a ship," Carl Baker, an expert on Korean military relations at the Pacific Forum CSIS think tank in Honolulu, said by telephone.

He said Pyongyang was unlikely to attack the far more powerful South Korean military.

The Roundabout Theatre posponed its Broadway

2010-03-25T21:01:00.000-07:00

The Roundabout Theatre posponed its Broadway

The Roundabout Theatre Company has postponed its upcoming Broadway revival of Terrence McNally's "Lips Together, Teeth Apart" following the abrupt departure of Megan Mullally during rehearsals.
Roundabout artistic director Todd Haimes said Thursday the theater couldn't find a way to maintain the play's production schedule. He said the Roundabout was now "exploring options to produce a show for our subscribers as soon as possible."

McNally's comedy about two married couples sharing a Fourth of July weekend at a Fire Island beach house was to have started previews April 9 at the American Airlines Theatre and open April 29.

Island in Bay of Bengal Disappear

2010-03-24T22:11:00.000-07:00

Island in Bay of Bengal Disappear

For nearly 30 years, India and Bangladesh have argued over control of a tiny rock island in the Bay of Bengal. Now rising sea levels have resolved the dispute for them: the island's gone.
New Moore Island in the Sunderbans has been completely submerged, said oceanographer Sugata Hazra, a professor at Jadavpur University in Calcutta. Its disappearance has been confirmed by satellite imagery and sea patrols, he said.

"What these two countries could not achieve from years of talking, has been resolved by global warming," said Hazra.

Scientists at the School of Oceanographic Studies at the university have noted an alarming increase in the rate at which sea levels have risen over the past decade in the Bay of Bengal.

Until 2000, the sea levels rose about 3 millimeters (0.12 inches) a year, but over the last decade they have been rising about 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) annually, he said.

Another nearby island, Lohachara, was submerged in 1996, forcing its inhabitants to move to the mainland, while almost half the land of Ghoramara island was underwater, he said. At least 10 other islands in the area were at risk as well, Hazra said.

"We will have ever larger numbers of people displaced from the Sunderbans as more island areas come under water," he said.

Bangladesh, a low-lying delta nation of 150 million people, is one of the countries worst-affected by global warming. Officials estimate 18 percent of Bangladesh's coastal area will be underwater and 20 million people will be displaced if sea levels rise 1 meter (3.3 feet) by 2050 as projected by some climate models.

India and Bangladesh both claimed the empty New Moore Island, which is about 3.5 kilometers (2 miles) long and 3 kilometers (1.5 miles) wide. Bangladesh referred to the island as South Talpatti.

There were no permanent structures on New Moore, but India sent some paramilitary soldiers to its rocky shores in 1981 to hoist its national flag.

The demarcation of the maritime boundary — and who controls the remaining islands — remains an open issue between the two South Asian neighbors, despite the disappearance of New Moore, said an official in India's foreign ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on international disputes.

Bangladesh officials were not available for comment Wednesday.

Idol finalist Crystal Bowersox wows the judges

2010-03-24T01:11:00.000-07:00

Idol finalist Crystal Bowersox wows the judges

"American Idol" finalist Crystal Bowersox is on a roll.
The 24-year-old musician and single mother of Toledo, Ohio, earned the judges' highest praise on the Fox singing competition Tuesday for her traditional take on Janis Joplin's "Me and Bobby McGee" — all from a homey carpet rolled out on the "Idol" stage.

Simon Cowell told her he wouldn't have changed a thing, but the other judges wanted a bigger reaction.

"These people love you," pleaded DeGeneres. "Take it all in and respond."

Paige Miles was a long way from getting any love from the judges, who were equally against the smiley 24-year-old preschool teacher from Houston. Randy Jackson said her rendition of Mariah Carey's "Against All Odds" was "honestly terrible" while all DeGeneres could compliment was Miles' ability to stay standing on the stage in a pair of high heels.

"You didn't fall down," said DeGeneres, "and that's a good thing."

Also slipping even further out of favor with the judging panel was Tim Urban, the shaggy-haired 20-year-old college student from Duncanville, Texas. He punctuated his performance of Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by sliding across the stage on his knees.

DioGuardi and DeGeneres compared his acrobatic exploits to a bad "High School Musical" audition, while Jackson declared: "The dopest thing that you did was the slide, dude."

Several singers, however, stayed in the panel's good graces, including 23-year-old Lee Dewyze of Mount Prospect, Ill., with The Box Tops' "The Letter;" 16-year-old Aaron Kelly of Sonestown, Pa., with Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing;" and 27-year-old Casey James of Fort Worth, Texas, with Huey Lewis and The News' "The Power Of Love."

"You're just ready to make an album," DioGuardi informed James.

The judges again voiced their frustration with 24-year-old musician Andrew Garcia of Moreno Valley, Calif., after he turned in an awkward rendition of Marvin Gaye's "Heard It Through the Grapevine." They also weren't fans of a sexed-up theatrical version of Linda Ronstadt's "You're No Good" by 23-year-old waitress Didi Benami of Los Angeles.

"It was like a musical," said Cowell, "the bad part of a musical."

Unless the judges decide to save a singer, another finalist will be eliminated Wednesday based on viewer votes.

Michael Jackson's doctor interrupted CPR

2010-03-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

Michael Jackson's doctor interrupted CPR

Michael Jackson's doctor halted CPR on the dying pop star and delayed calling paramedics so he could collect drug vials at the scene, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press that shed new light on the singer's chaotic final moments.
The explosive allegation that Dr. Conrad Murray may have tried to hide evidence is likely to be a focus as prosecutors move ahead with their involuntary manslaughter case against him.

The account was given to investigators by Alberto Alvarez, Jackson's logistics director, who was summoned to the stricken star's side as he was dying on June 25. His statement and those from two other Jackson employees also obtained by the AP paint a grisly scene in Jackson's bedroom.

Alvarez told investigators that he rushed to Jackson's room and saw the star lying in his bed, an IV attached to his leg. Jackson's mouth was agape, eyes open and there was no sign of life. Murray worked frantically, at one point performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while Alvarez took over CPR.

Two of the star's children, Prince and Paris, came in the room and cried as they saw Murray trying to save their father. A nanny was called to usher them away and they were taken to wait outside in a vehicle.

The documents also detail an odd encounter with Murray after Jackson was declared dead at a nearby hospital. Murray insisted he needed to return to the mansion to get cream that Jackson had "so the world wouldn't find out about it," according to the statements, which provide no elaboration.

Sandra's husband 'sorry' over affair accusation

2010-03-21T21:14:00.000-07:00

Sandra's husband 'sorry' over affair accusation

In a statement, the reality TV star said: "I am truly very sorry for the grief I have caused them."
He added that "the vast majority" of the allegations reported were "untrue and unfounded".
The UK premiere of The Blind Side, due to be held next week, was scrapped after Oscar-winner Bullock pulled out citing "unforeseen personal reasons".
"There is only one person to blame for this whole situation, and that is me," James, 40, said.
"This has caused my wife and kids pain and embarrassment beyond comprehension and I am extremely saddened to have brought this on them. I hope one day they can find it in their hearts to forgive me."
He added: "Beyond that, I will not dignify these private matters with any further public comment."
Allegations of an affair surfaced earlier in this week after In Touch magazine published an interview with tattoo model Michelle McGee who claimed to have had an 11-month relationship with James while Bullock was filming The Blind Side - a role which earned her best actress at the Oscars.
A spokesman for the actress would not comment on Miss McGee's claims.
Bullock, 45, and James met in 2003 before marrying in 2005.

Actress Attacked Over Child Rescue Claims

2010-03-20T21:21:00.000-07:00

Actress Attacked Over Child Rescue Claims

The actress Lindsay Lohan may be banned from India, according to the British newspaper The Telegraph.

Lohan attempted to free herself from Hollywood cattiness by working on a BBC documentary on child labor last December.
But her trip was overshadowed by more drama when the actress tweeted about her role in a raid rescuing children from a sweatshop.
"Over 40 children saved so far ... Within one day's work ... This is what life is about ... Doing THIS is a life worth living!!!" she wrote.
The problem was that Lohan was not even in India at the time of the raid. Perhaps even worse for the troubled actress, her false claims raised her profile to Indian authorities, who realized she had entered the country illegally on a tourist visa instead of a work visa for the documentary.

"During the course of filming, she visited one of our rehabilitation facilities," Bhuwan Ribhu, an activist with the Indian organization Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save Childhood Campaign).

Anna Nicole Smith gets none of oil fortune

2010-03-19T22:27:00.000-07:00

Anna Nicole Smith gets none of oil fortune

The elderly Texas billionaire who married Anna Nicole Smith in the last year of his life never intended to leave the former stripper any portion of his vast fortune, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with a Houston jury that said J. Howard Marshall was mentally fit and under no undue pressure when he wrote a will leaving nearly all of his $1.6 billion estate to his son E. Pierce Marshall and nothing to Smith.

The ruling was the latest development in the bitter 15-year legal battle. Smith said the elder Marshall promised her more than $300 million, even though there was no written documentation.

The fight between Smith and E. Pierce Marshall started in a sleepy Houston probate court and stretched all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court while outliving its two combatants.

It may reach the high court again.

Kent Richland, a lawyer for Smith's estate vowed to appeal the latest ruling, possibly to the Supreme Court on different issues than those it first considered.

"It really is a unique decision," Richland said. "We have to take it farther."

Pierce's widow and two sons said they hoped the legal battle was close to ending.

"Our only wish would be that Pierce were here to see his vindication," the family said in a prepared statement.

The decision — if it holds up — is bad news for Smith's ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead and their 3-year-old daughter Dannielynn. The child was named Smith's heir in 2008 after she died of a drug overdose at 39 at a Florida hotel.

Birkhead and attorney Howard K. Stern were placed in charge of Smith's estate. Neither returned calls seeking comment.

Stern and two other people have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to provide thousands of prescription pills to the former model before her death.

The convoluted dispute over J. Howard Marshall's money has its roots in a Houston strip club where he met Smith. The two were wed in 1994 when he was 89 and she 26. Marshall died the next year and his will left his estate to his son.

Smith challenged the will in a Houston probate court, alleging the billionaire's son illegally coerced his father to exclude the former Playboy model from sharing the estate. She alleged that her husband promised to leave her more than $300 million above the $7 million in cash and gifts showered on her during their 14-month marriage.

While the probate case was pending in Houston, Smith filed for bankruptcy in Los Angeles, alleging in federal court filings that her husband promised her a large share of the estate.

In late 2000, the bankruptcy court awarded Smith $474.75 million, which a federal district court judge reduced to $89.5 million in 2002.

Between those two decisions, a jury in the Houston probate court ruled in March 2001 against Smith. The jury found the billionaire was mentally fit and under no duress when he wrote out a will that left everything to his son.

Since then, the two sides have been fighting over which court to obey.
Smith argued that the federal courts were in charge because the bankruptcy court was the first to rule.
Pierce Marshall countered the decision was the jurisdiction of the probate court, because that's where the first legal action was filed and the site of the only full-blown trial.
"Every piece of evidence was considered and every witness exhaustively examined," said Eric Brunstad, the Marshall family's lawyer. "That really should have been the end of it."
On Friday, the unanimous three-judge panel said the bankruptcy court didn't have the authority to decide a probate dispute and thus its $474.75 million award was only an advisory opinion.
The appeals court also said U.S. District Court Judge David Carter should have relied on the probate jury's decision against Smith and tossed the case entirely instead of merely reducing the award to $89.5 million.

A $30M suit filed against Lady Gaga in NYC

2010-03-18T19:53:00.000-07:00

A $30M suit filed against Lady Gaga in NYC

A songwriter and music producer who claims he helped launch pop star Lady Gaga says she squeezed him out of her lucrative career after he co-wrote some of her songs, came up with her stage name and helped get her record deal.
Rob Fusari filed a $30.5 million lawsuit against the Grammy Award-winning performer, saying his protege and former girlfriend ditched him as her career soared.

"All business is personal," said the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in a Manhattan state court.

Lady Gaga's spokesman, Dave Tomberlin, didn't immediately respond to an e-mail sent Thursday by The Associated Press.

Fusari had credits on such hits as Will Smith's "Wild, Wild West" and Destiny's Child's "Bootylicious" when a friend steered the piano-playing singer — then known by her real name, Stefani Germanotta — to him in March 2006, according to his lawsuit.

Though he initially dismissed her, he realized she had star potential after hearing her play in his Parsippany, N.J., studio, the suit said. He spent the next several months working with her every day and "radically reshaping her approach," persuading her to drop rock riffs for dance beats, it said.

As they co-wrote songs such as "Paparazzi" and "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich," which would appear on her debut album, "The Fame," he transformed Germanotta into Lady Gaga, a name adapted from Queen's "Radio Ga Ga," the lawsuit said.

In a 2009 interview with the AP, Lady Gaga said her "realization of Gaga was five years ago, but Gaga's always been who I am."

"I was Gaga from the time that I was 19 through my first record deal," the 23-year-old said of her over-the-top, avant-garde style, which has captured the imaginations of millions of fans. "I always dressed like that before people knew me as Lady Gaga. I was always that way ... I stuck out like a sore thumb."

According to the lawsuit, Lady Gaga and Fusari's relationship turned romantic and then became a business partnership in May 2006, when they created a joint venture called Team Love Child LLC to promote her career. Fusari's share was 20 percent, it said.

Fusari — whose account of his role in the multiplatinum-selling artist's early career has been told in interviews — says he introduced Lady Gaga to a record executive who ultimately shepherded her to Universal Music Group's Interscope Records, which released "The Fame" in 2008. The album has sold more than 3 million copies in the United States; Fusari has a producing credit.

But the lawsuit says their personal and business relationship had soured by then and he has been denied a 20 percent share of song royalties, 15 percent of merchandising revenue and other money he's owed. He acknowledges getting checks for about $611,000 but says that isn't his full share.

Lady Gaga won two Grammys in January: best dance recording, for "Poker Face," and best electronic/dance album, for "The Fame."

Tom Hanks get Anger and Conservative, Comparing 'The Pacific' in World War II to Iraq

2010-03-17T23:02:00.000-07:00

Tom Hanks get Anger and Conservative, Comparing 'The Pacific' in World War II to Iraq

Michael Moore and Sean Penn are perennial favorites. But Tom Hanks?

The star of such flag-waving films as "Saving Private Ryan" and "Apollo 13" and producer of the World War II miniseries "Band of Brothers" has come under fire recently for remarks he made while promoting his current project, "The Pacific."

In an interview with Time magazine, Hanks, who is producing the HBO miniseries, compared the World War II conflict in the Pacific with the current one in Iraq and Afghanistan. "The Pacific" began airing March 14.

"Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as 'yellow, slant-eyed dogs' that believed in different gods," Hanks told Time. "They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what's going on today?"

Richard Pearle, former secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan, told ABCNews.com that Hanks has got it wrong.

"What he is suggesting, that the coalition forces are acting out of racist motives, is preposterous," Pearle said. "We're there at the request of the Iraqi government, which is trying to put together a democracy, and we've lost Americans trying to help them do that. I'm not at all clear what Mr. Hanks has in mind.

"He's an actor. He ought to go back to 'Saving Private Ryan,'" Pearle said. "I think if personalities that have a big megaphone by virtue of their acting talent are going to make political statements, they ought to be careful."

Hanks' remarks lit up the conservative blogosphere. Pajamas Media's Victor Davis Hanson did not hold back: "Hanks' comments were sadly infantile pop philosophizing offered by, well, an ignoramus."

Brad Schaeffer, writing on Frum Forum, took Hanks to task for making the comparison to the current war on terror. "To make the claim that we are waging war on Islamofascists because, presumably, we view Muslims as 'different' not only is an insult to the nation but betrays a stunning ignorance of contemporary history."

2 US missile attack kill's 9 in Pakistan

2010-03-17T01:23:00.000-07:00

2 US missile attack kill's 9 in Pakistan

Suspected U.S. drones fired missiles at vehicles and hit a militant hide-out in a tribal region of northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least nine insurgents, two officials said.In the first attack, the drones fired four missiles at a vehicle and flattened a nearby house near Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region, killing six militants, an army and an intelligence official said.
About 50 minutes later, drones fired three more missiles at a vehicle in Madakhel town, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of Miran Shah, killing three insurgents, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Other militants were also wounded in the two strikes, they said.
The CIA has stepped up attacks in Pakistan's tribal regions since December, when a suicide bomber killed seven CIA employees in neighboring Afghanistan.
The latest attack came a day after a U.S. missile strike destroyed a militant facility in the same region, killing nine suspects.
Officials say some of the men slain in Tuesday's attack in Datta Khel were believed to be foreigners who were in the stronghold of Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a warlord whose fighters are battling U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Although Pakistan publicly opposes the attacks, saying they violate its sovereignty and fuel anti-Americanism among the population, it is believed to share intelligence with the Americans about the insurgents and their hide-outs.
Washington also refuses to publicly discuss the program, which uses unmanned drones, but Pakistani officials say privately the attacks have killed several senior al-Qaida and Taliban commanders in recent years.

ABBA and Genesis enter the Rock Hall in NYC bash

2010-03-16T00:25:00.000-07:00

ABBA and Genesis enter the Rock Hall in NYC bash

NEW YORK – The Swedish hit machine ABBA and English progressive rockers Genesis accepted inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday, despite prominent members staying away from the ceremony.
British Invasion harmony kings The Hollies, reggae superstar Jimmy Cliff and raucous rockers Iggy Pop and the Stooges also entered the hall. So did a group of songwriters responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.
After "Waterloo" started them off winning a European songwriting contest in 1974, ABBA released a string of pop hits such as "Knowing Me, Knowing You," "Fernando" and "Dancing Queen." Members Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad drew salutes for that work on Monday. Partners Bjorn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Faltskog weren't there, the absence unexplained.
"These songs have brought us all the way into the great Rock and Roll Hall of Fame," Andersson said, "and I speak for all of us ... we are deeply, deeply honored."
Lyngstad pointed out her grandson in the audience, noting that while he was a heavy metal musician he still appreciated grandma's music. Also cheering from the audience was actress Meryl Streep, who starred in the recent "Mamma Mia!" movie, which, along with the Broadway show, has helped keep ABBA's music alive since the band's 1982 breakup.
That's final, too: Lyngstad told the audience ABBA would never perform together again.
The Waldorf-Astoria hotel audience got one-fourth of ABBA in performance. Andersson took to the piano as country star Faith Hill sang "The Winner Takes It All."
Genesis had two distinct incarnations, one led by theatrical lead singer Peter Gabriel and the other when drummer Phil Collins took over the microphone. Trey Anastasio, of Phish, paid tribute to both with his own band, which performed "Watcher of the Skies" and "No Reply at All."
Gabriel was missing on Monday. Former bandmate Mike Rutherford said Gabriel wanted to send his apologies.
"He has a very legitimate and genuine excuse," Rutherford said. "He's actually starting a tour."
Anastasio recalled buying Genesis albums as a teenager. He called the band "rebellious, restless and constantly striving for something more."
The ceremony was telecast live on the Fuse music network.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is in Cleveland.

"Alice in Wonderland" remains no.1

2010-03-15T03:21:00.000-07:00

"Alice in Wonderland" remains no.1

Alice is still ruling the movie palace.

Johnny Depp and Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" easily remained the No. 1 weekend draw with $62 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. The Disney fantasy has climbed to a $208.6 million total domestically, becoming the first $200 million hit released this year.
In its second weekend in theaters, "Alice in Wonderland" pulled ahead of the $206.5 million domestic haul of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" to become the top-grossing of Depp and Burton's seven films together, which include "Edward Scissorhands," "Sweeney Todd" and "Corpse Bride."
"I believe it's literally the magical, if you would, pairing of Tim and Johnny," said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney. "When you take those two, they always seem to make something really out of the ordinary."
"Alice in Wonderland" added $76 million overseas to bring its international total to $221 million and its worldwide gross to $430 million.
A rush of new movies had so-so openings, led by Matt Damon's Iraq War thriller "Green Zone," which debuted at No. 2 with $14.5 million domestically. Released by Universal, "Green Zone" stars Damon as the leader of a U.S. Army team who stumbles onto a conspiracy over the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

'American Idol' pares down to 12 finalists

2010-03-12T00:44:00.000-08:00

'American Idol' pares down to 12 finalists

After the audience voted, the singing contest said goodbye Thursday to Alex Lambert of North Richland Hills, Texas; Todrick Hall of Arlington, Texas; Lilly Scott of Littleton, Colo. and Katelyn Epperly of West Des Moines, Iowa.
It was no surprise that the judge's favorite from previous weeks, Michael "Big Mike" Lynche, made the cut.
Lynche dazzled the judges with his performance of "This Woman's Work" and made judge Kara DioGuardi dissolve into tears.
Lambert, who had trouble overcoming his shyness on stage, looked downcast when he learned his fate.
"There's a lot of things America hasn't seen me do yet," he said, adding, "I wish could just have broken out of my shell."
Judge Ellen DeGeneres gave him a verbal pat on the back.
"You're so good. Don't ever stop believing in yourself," she told him.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the evening was the audience's rejection of Scott. Before the decision was announced, host Ryan Seacrest stood with Scott and Katie Stevens on stage and asked the judges to weigh in on the fact that one of them would be heading home.
DioGuardi, who had championed both singers, said she found it striking that it came down to these two. She said Scott was someone who understood herself as an artist and Stevens was struggling to do that, but had the advantage of being more contemporary.
"I thought I did really well. I put my heart into every performance," Scott said. "I just know there's an audience out there for me."
Judge Randy Jackson liked Hall's performance of "Somebody to Love," while Cowell said it was a mixed performance.
"This has been an awesome experience. I came here to prove that I'm not just a dancer, I can also sing. I think that I've done that," said the 24-year-old Hall.
He got some encouragement from Jackson, who said, "Fantastic, dude."
DioGuardi criticized Epperly for "going through the motions" on her version of "I Feel the Earth Move" this week. Cowell compared her performance to request night at a restaurant, but added that he did like her full, curly locks that evoked the song's composer, Carole King.
"I'm not stopping now. It's just a push actually, for me. I'll do more stuff," Epperly said.

Quake claims Haiti’s best and brightest

2010-03-10T23:49:00.000-08:00

Quake claims Haiti’s best and brightest

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - They kept the books, had the training and fixed the computers. They were the educated few of Haiti, an up-and-coming generation of nurses, technicians, office managers and college students.
Now they're gone — just when their struggling country needs them most.
The Jan. 12 earthquake struck just before 5 p.m., destroying office buildings and disproportionately killing the young professionals who were going the extra mile to make Haiti work. Many were crushed at their desks.
"It is a generation that decided not to leave the country. They chose to work for the country," said Dieusibon Pierre-Merite, a Haitian sociologist with a United Nations anti-gang program that lost several staffers in the quake. "They are the ones who died."
Compounding the loss is a quickening brain drain, as people with the ability and means to leave abandon a ravaged country where more than 1.2 million people have lost their homes.
Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told The Associated Press he has watched with dismay as educated youths board planes to the United States and elsewhere. They leave because Haiti, always a difficult place to live, became impossible after the quake.
"I was looking at their faces: They were escaping a country and they had no intention to go back," Bellerive said. "I feel love for the people that have lost family ... but I believe it's even harder for the country to see living people that could do so much to rebuild Haiti, leaving Haiti."

California Government sent Investigators to solve freeway Incident last Monday

2010-03-10T00:42:00.000-08:00

California Government sent Investigators to solve freeway Incident last Monday

The government sent investigators Tuesday to examine a Prius that sped out of control on a California freeway, and Toyota said it wanted to interview the driver as the besieged automaker dealt with a high-profile new headache that raised questions about the safety of its beloved hybrid.
A day after state troopers helped the car slow to a stop and its driver to emerge unharmed, Toyota could shed no new light on what might have gone wrong. The Prius is not part of Toyota's vast recall of gas pedals that can become stuck, but it is covered by an earlier recall of floor mats that can catch the accelerator.
The freeway incident happened at the worst possible time for Toyota — just hours after it invited reporters Monday to hear experts insist that electronic flaws could not cause cars to speed out of control under real driving conditions.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent two investigators to examine the car, a government spokeswoman said. Toyota Motor Corp. spokesman Brian Lyons said the automaker is sending three of its own technicians to investigate.
Another Toyota spokesman, John Hanson, said the company wanted to talk to the driver, James Sikes.
His car, a 2008 model, was covered by the floor mat recall, but the driver in Monday's incident said the pedal jammed and was not trapped under the mat.
Sikes told authorities he was driving on Interstate 8 outside San Diego when the accelerator became stuck. He said the car reached 94 mph before a trooper, calling out instructions from a megaphone, helped him slow down and turn off the engine.

California Government sent investigators to solve freeway Incident last Monday

2010-03-10T00:34:00.000-08:00

California Government sent investigators to solve freeway Incident last Monday

Hundreds were slaughtered after Ethnic Group attacks in Nigeria

2010-03-08T22:45:00.000-08:00

Hundreds were slaughtered after Ethnic Group attacks in Nigeria

DOGO NAHAWA, Nigeria – The killers showed no mercy: They didn't spare women and children, or even a 4-day-old baby, from their machetes. On Monday, Nigerian women wailed in the streets as a dump truck carried dozens of bodies past burned-out homes toward a mass grave.

Rubber-gloved workers pulled ever-smaller bodies from the dump truck and tossed them into the mass grave. A crowd began singing a hymn with the refrain, "Jesus said I am the way to heaven." As the grave filled, the grieving crowd sang: "Jesus, show me the way."

At least 200 people, most of them Christians, were slaughtered on Sunday, according to residents, aid groups and journalists. The local government gave a figure more than twice that amount, but offered no casualty list or other information to substantiate it.

An Associated Press reporter counted 61 corpses, 32 of them children, being buried in the mass grave in the village of Dogo Nahawa on Monday. Other victims would be buried elsewhere. At a local morgue the bodies of children, including a diaper-clad toddler, were tangled together. One appeared to have been scalped. Others had severed hands and feet.

The horrific violence comes after sectarian killings in this region in January left more than 300 dead, most of them Muslim. Some victims were shoved into sewer pits and communal wells.

Sunday's bloodshed in three mostly Christian villages appeared to be reprisal attacks, said Red Cross spokesman Robin Waubo.

Nigeria is almost evenly split between Muslims in the north and the predominantly Christian south. The recent bloodshed has been happening in central Nigeria, in towns which lie along the country's religious fault line. It is Nigeria's "middle belt," where dozens of ethnic groups vie for control of fertile lands.

"The Hurt Locker" take six awards

2010-03-08T01:18:00.000-08:00

"The Hurt Locker" take six awards

LOS ANGELES – On a night when so many changes were intended to shake up the Oscar ceremony, the winners themselves were pretty predictable, with "The Hurt Locker" taking six awards including best picture.

"Hurt Locker" director Kathryn Bigelow won the top directing honor for her intimate Iraq war drama, making her the first woman to take the prize — though as she's often said, she likes to think of herself as a filmmaker, period.

"I hope I'm the first of many," she said afterward backstage. "I long for the day when that modifier can be a moot point."

But as fellow director Barbra Streisand put it in announcing Bigelow's victory, "Well, the time has come."

Indeed, her win seemed like a given, even though Bigelow was going up against James Cameron, director of the sci-fi juggernaut "Avatar," who happens to be her ex-husband. (Bigelow was abidingly diplomatic backstage, despite reporters repeatedly trying to coax her to dish about him.) "Avatar" entered the night tied with "The Hurt Locker" for the most nominations, nine, but ended up winning just three awards in technical categories: art direction, cinematography and visual effects.

That predictability was the case in all the main categories, where the winners had been picking up statues and critics' accolades throughout this long awards season.

Sandra Bullock, 'Transformers' make Razzies worst list

2010-03-07T01:29:00.000-08:00

Sandra Bullock, 'Transformers' make Razzies worst list

Sandra Bullock warmed up for the Academy Awards with a stop at the Razzies to collect a dubious honor: a worst-actress prize for her romantic comedy flop "All About Steve."
Bullock swung by the Razzies on the eve of her expected triumph at Sunday's Oscars, where she is considered the favorite to win best actress for "The Blind Side." If she wins Sunday, Bullock will be the first person to win an Oscar and a Razzie over the same weekend.
"I think this is an extraordinary award," said Bullock, who had promised throughout awards season that if she won the Razzie, she would accept it in person. "And I didn't realize that, in Hollywood, all you had to do was say you'd show up, and then you'd get the award. If I'd known that, I would have said I was appearing at the Oscars a long time ago."
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" was picked as last year's worst picture and won two other Razzies, worst director for Michael Bay and worst screenplay for Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.
Bay and his team probably will not lose any asleep over it. Though reviled by critics, "Transformers" took in $402.1 million domestically, No. 2 on the 2009 box-office chart behind "Avatar."

Iraq election day attack kill's 24

2010-03-07T01:15:00.000-08:00

Iraq election day attack kill's 24
Explosions killed 24 people as Iraqis voted on Sunday in an election that Sunni Islamist militants have vowed to disrupt, in one of many challenges to efforts to stabilize Iraq before U.S. troops leave.

Scores of mortar rounds, rockets and roadside bombs exploded near polling stations in Baghdad, and some elsewhere, in a coordinated campaign to wreck the voting for Iraq's second full-term parliament since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Iraq's political course will be decisive for President Barack Obama's plans to halve U.S. troop levels over the next five months and withdraw entirely by end-2011. It will also be watched by oil companies planning to invest billions in Iraq.
In the deadliest attacks, 12 people died when a bomb blew up a Baghdad apartment block and four were killed in a similar explosion at another residential building. A Katyusha rocket killed four people elsewhere in the capital of seven million.
At least 65 people were wounded around the country.
The Baghdad security spokesman, Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, said most of the rockets and mortar bombs had been fired from mainly Sunni districts in and around the city.
"We are in a state of combat. We are operating in a battlefield and our warriors are expecting the worst," he said.
Despite the hail of attacks, Moussawi said a car ban aimed at foiling vehicle bombs had been lifted after less than four hours of voting. Curbs on buses and trucks stayed in force.
The Islamic State of Iraq, an al Qaeda affiliate, had warned Iraqis not to vote and vowed to attack those who defy them.
The 96,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq stayed in the background, underscoring the waning American role in Iraq.

Bomb-Sniffing Rats Save Lives

2010-03-06T23:27:00.001-08:00

Bomb-Sniffing Rats Save Lives

Everyone knows that rats have a nose for garbage, but their sense of smell now serves another higher purpose -- sniffing out landmines to save lives. Bomb-sniffing dogs are a common sight in airports and other public spaces, but an organization called APOPO says that rats can do similar work, sometimes even better than a dog.

"We have 50 rats working in minefields in Mozambique at the moment," Mic Billet, the president of APOCO, said in an interview from his office in Antwerp, Belgium.
APOPO is funded primarily by the Belgian government, with a facility in Tanzania where they train some very talented rats. The rats look somewhat like the rodents found in American pet stores or labs, but they're much larger. Called African Giant Pouched rats, they grow about 2.5 feet in length including the tail, weigh over 3 pounds, and can live 8 years.

According to trainers, a rat's sense of smell works just as well as a dog's to detect mines, and the creatures' small size gives them some big advantage on the minefield. Not only are they easier to feed and transport, "their light weight makes it highly unlikely they would set off a mine by scratching or pointing," APOPO writes on its website.
It takes between six months to a year to train a rat's sense of smell, and Billet says they're easy to work with.

Gifts, parties and celebs: L.A. readies for Oscars

2010-03-06T01:17:00.000-08:00

Gifts, parties and celebs: L.A. readies for Oscars
LOS ANGELES – Hollywood is in full-on Oscar mode.

The red carpet has been laid out in front of the Kodak Theatre, topped with a plastic sheet in case of rain. Traffic is snarled. Tourists are flocking to Hollywood & Highland to see a bit of the Academy Awards preparations and snap photos of themselves with giant Oscar statues.

The theater itself buzzes with activity, as rehearsals continue from morning until night, with the occasional celebrity quietly stepping in to practice presenting the coveted golden guy.

It's Oscar week, and Tinseltown is all aflutter. Here's the latest:
GETTING CREATIVE: Dana Delany, Kathy Najimy, Ty Burrell and Rachael Leigh Cook were among the celebrities who recorded public service announcements for the Creative Coalition Friday at Haven 360, an Oscar-week suite comprising gifting, parties and support for the arts.

Creative Coalition co-president Tim Daly is directing the public service announcements, which show stars singing the ABC's, as part of the organization's lobbying efforts to increase funding for arts education in public schools.

The videos will be presented at the Creative Coalition's Arts Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C. next month, along with a companion book, "Art & Soul," that features portraits of actors and their handwritten messages about what art means to them, Daly said.

"This is about keeping the arts in education," he said. "Kids learn their letters by singing. The arts make learning interesting and fun."

Haven 360 guests were also treated to hand massages from Olay, gifted with Elle jewelry and invited to peruse Backstage Creation's "celebrity retreat," where they could pick up a free $5,000 trip to Moorea, Botox and Juvederm treatments worth $900 from celebrity surgeon Dr. Frank Ryan, and luxury luggage from Dooney & Bourke.

John Patrick Bedell had a history of mental illness

2010-03-06T01:10:00.000-08:00

John Patrick Bedell had a history of mental illness

The man who opened fire in front of the Pentagon had a history of mental illness and had become so erratic that his parents reached out to local authorities weeks ago with a warning that he was unstable and might have a gun, authorities said Friday.
It's still unclear why John Patrick Bedell opened fire Thursday at the Pentagon entrance, wounding two police officers before he was fatally shot. The two officers were hospitalized briefly with minor injuries.

Bedell was diagnosed as bipolar, or manic depressive, and had been in and out of treatment programs for years. His psychiatrist, J. Michael Nelson, said Bedell tried to self-medicate with marijuana, inadvertently making his symptoms more pronounced.

"Without the stabilizing medication, the symptoms of his disinhibition, agitation and fearfullness complicated the lack of treatment," Nelson said.

His parents reported him missing Jan. 4, a day after a Texas Highway Patrol officer stopped him for speeding in Texarkana. Bedell told the highway patrolman he was heading to the East Coast, and began acting strangely — sitting on his knees by the side of the highway and turning off his cell phone when it would ring.

Bedell said it was his mother calling, prompting the patrolman to answer the phone and talk briefly with her. Family friend Reb Monaco said Kaye Bedell asked the officer to take him to a mental health facility, but that the son refused.

U.S. Helping Somalia in Its Plan to Retake Its Capital

2010-03-06T00:51:00.000-08:00

U.S. Helping Somalia in Its Plan to Retake Its Capital
Forces of the transitional government in Somalia control only a part of the capital, Mogadishu.

The Somali government is preparing a major offensive to take back this capital block by crumbling block, and it takes just a listen to the low growl of a small surveillance plane circling in the night sky overhead to know who is surreptitiously backing that effort.

“It’s the Americans,” said Gen. Mohamed Gelle Kahiye, the new chief of Somalia’s military, who said he recently shared plans about coming military operations with American advisers. “They’re helping us.”
That American assistance could be crucial to the effort by Somalia’s government to finally reassert its control over the capital and bring a semblance of order to a country that has been steeped in anarchy for two decades. For the Americans, it is part of a counterterrorism strategy to deny a haven to Al Qaeda, which has found sanctuary for years in Somalia’s chaos and has helped turn this country into a magnet for jihadists from around the world.

The United States is increasingly concerned about the link between Somalia and Yemen, a growing extremist hot spot, with fighters going back and forth across the Red Sea in what one Somali watcher described as an “Al Qaeda exchange program.”
But it seems there has been a genuine shift in Somali policy, too, and the Americans have absorbed a Somali truth that eluded them for nearly 20 years: If Somalia is going to be stabilized, it is going to take Somalis.
“This is not an American offensive,” said Johnnie Carson, the assistant secretary of state for Africa. “The U.S. military is not on the ground in Somalia. Full stop.”

Who Stays and Who's Out this Week on Idol

2010-03-05T02:39:00.000-08:00

Who Stays and Who's Out this Week on Idol
"American Idol" whittles the contestants down to 16 tonight as two men and two women are sent packing.

So we lost four more.

John Park, Jermaine Sellers, Michelle Delamor and Haeley Vaughn have crooned their last notes on "American Idol."

John and Michelle were surprises for me. Do you think the voters got it right this time around?

Find out this Week in "American Idol Elimination Night."

Shooting of 2 officers closes Pentagon subway station

2010-03-05T02:20:00.000-08:00

Shooting of 2 officers closes Pentagon subway station

An investigation into the shooting of two police officers outside the Pentagon subway station will close the transit hub Friday, affecting the commute of thousands of Washington-area residents, transit officials said.
A man calmly and cooly approached the officers Thursday, before pulling a gun out of his pocket and grazing them, authorities said. The two Pentagon Force Protection Agency officers returned fire with their semi-automatic weapons, critically wounding him, said Pentagon Police Chief Richard S. Keevill.

Subway trains will bypass the Pentagon station Friday as the FBI investigates, transit officials said.

The suspect had "no real emotion in his face" as he approached the officers, Keevill said.
"As the officers started to ask him for his pass to get into the Pentagon, he drew a weapon from his pocket and started shooting immediately at the officers" from a few feet away, the police chief said.

He would not identify the suspect, but praised the officers for acting "quickly and decisively to neutralize him as a threat" without hurting anyone else.
The transit station at the Pentagon, one of the busiest sites in the Washington area, serves two lines of the Washington-area subway, as well as myriad bus routes. All those passengers will be affected by the closing of the station and the temporary relocation of bus stops to a nearby subway station.

Turkish anger at US Armenian 'genocide' vote

2010-03-04T23:48:00.000-08:00

Turkish anger at US Armenian 'genocide' vote
Turkey has reacted angrily to a US congressional panel's resolution describing as genocide killings of Armenians in World War I.

PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country had been accused of a crime it did not commit, adding the resolution would harm Turkish-US relations.
Ankara has recalled its ambassador to Washington for consultations and says it is considering other responses.
Correspondents say it is still an extremely sensitive issue in Turkey.
The government of Turkey, a key American ally and fellow Nato member, had lobbied hard for the American Congress not to vote on the issue.
The White House had also warned that the vote would harm reconciliation talks between Turkey and Armenia.

Iraq's Election

2010-03-04T23:32:00.000-08:00

Iraq's Election
U.S. Influence Appears to Be Less of an Issue in Iraq's Elections

Iraqis by the thousands began lining up in the early hours this morning as special groups headed to the polls ahead of the nationwide election this weekend.
More than 800,000 security personnel, hospital workers, Iraqis living abroad and even prisoners are expected to cast their votes before all polls close at 5 p.m. Sunday. By comparison, only about 300,000 special-class Iraqis cast their ballots in the 2005 national election.
Officials expected a record-breaking turnout. Voter registration has soared this year to 18.9 million, from 14 million in 2005.
Although this is the third national election in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, this year's vote is significant for two reasons: It's the first time Iraq has had a national election as a fully sovereign nation, and it's the first time candidates' names, not just their parties, will appear on ballots.