Hello there, Lady Gaga's butt. It's been a while. How've you been?
But seriously. We've recently felt that Lady Gaga's been eclipsed by Nicki Minaj, Rihanna and a slew of women lesser-known yet equally audacious in the style department (e.g. one Micaela Schaefer). But all Gaga needs is just a single paparazzi moment to remind us that she's the queen of the costume-as-clothing, inventor of the wardrobe malfunction-as-fashion statement, leader of the little monster pack.
Which is all to say that Gaga arrived at LAX Airport today wearing nothing but a black bra, an open leather jacket, sheer black tights and a black thong. When paparazzi snapped pictures of her, she gleefully flipped them off.
Welcome back, Gaga. It's nice to have you.

A first-time kayaker had a close encounter with a great white shark off the coast of Massachusetts over the weekend.


Sunbathers first spotted the shark following two kayakers on Saturday afternoon off Nauset Beach, the Cape Cod Times reported, and yelled to the men offshore.

One of the kayakers saw the shark and quickly paddled in, while it took the other one, Walter Szulc Jr., of Manchester, N.H., a little while longer to notice the dorsal fin just feet away from him.

“There were hundreds of people on the beach, and they were all at the edge, yelling paddle paddle, paddle!” Dave Alexander told the NBC News affiliate in Boston, WHDH.com.

Szulc said when he looked behind him, the shark "was pretty much right there."

"It was good-sized, it had a fin sticking out, so I just turned and paddled," he told WHDH.com. It was the first time Szulc had kayaked.

Since June 30, three sharks have been seen plying the waters off Cape Cod for food, the Cape Cod Times reported. The large number of seals in the area is believed to be drawing the sharks.

Orleans Harbormaster Dawson Farber said he and his team went out in a boat to confirm the sighting – he noted the shark was an estimated 12 to 14 feet long -- and they had all bathers get out of the water. The beach was also closed.

Well, that was fast. Less than two weeks after Katie Holmes surprised Tom Cruise with divorce papers to end their five-year marriage, the Hollywood stars have already settled. According to the actress’ attorney Jonathan Wolfe, “the agreement has been signed. We are thrilled for Katie and her family and are excited to watch as she embarks on the next chapter of her life … We thank Tom's counsel for their professionalism and diligence that helped bring about this speedy resolution."

Cruise's lawyer, Bert Fields, also told TMZ: "The Tom Cruise-Katie Holmes case has been settled with a signed agreement. Tom is really pleased we got there, and so am I."


The settlement comes just hours after Holmes, 33, and Cruise, 50, announced they were going to work together through their divorce, which they felt was in the best interest of their 6-year-old daughter Suri, of whom Holmes had requested sole custody. "We are committed to working together as parents to accomplish what is in our daughter Suri's best interests,” the exes said in a joint statement. “We want to keep matters affecting our family private and express our respect for each other's commitment to each of our respective beliefs and support each other's roles as parents.”

As TMZ had reported, Cruise had been pushing Holmes for "meaningful, significant contact with his daughter … She is the primary concern in his life.” Both sides spent the entire weekend hashing out the divorce settlement and custody arrangement. Holmes was spotted on Saturday arriving at her lawyer’s Manhattan office, while Cruise has remained on the set of his next movie, “Oblivion.”


Now that her divorce is settled, Holmes can focus on her many upcoming projects. In addition to showing her Holmes & Yang clothing line at Fashion Week in NYC this fall, she is also about to begin production on her next movie, "Molly" – coincidentally about a single mom – which she co-wrote and is co-producing.

Holmes filed for divorce in New York City on June 29, while Cruise was in Iceland filming. Soon after news broke, his rep released a statement saying, "Tom is deeply saddened and is concentrating on his three children," which include Isabella, 19, and Connor, 17, whom he adopted with ex-wife Nicole Kidman.

Americans dipped into the water, went to the movies and rode the subway just to be in air conditioning Saturday for relief from unrelenting heat that has killed 30 people across half the country.

The heat sent temperatures soaring over 100 degrees in several cities, including a record 105 in Washington, St. Louis (106), and Indianapolis (104), buckled highways and derailed a Washington-area train even as another round of summer storms threatened.

If people ventured outside to do anything, they did it early. But even then, the heat was stifling.

"It was baking on the 18th green," said golfer Zeb Rogerson, who teed off at 6 a.m. at an Alexandria, Va., golf course but was sweltering by the end of his round.

The heat sent temperatures soaring in more than 20 states to 105 in Louisville, Ky., 101 in Philadelphia, and 95 in New York; besides Washington, a record of 104 was set in Sioux Falls, S.D., and Baltimore set a record at 102.

At least 30 deaths were blamed on the heat, including nine in Maryland and 10 in Chicago, mostly among the elderly. Three elderly people found dead in their houses in Ohio had heart disease, but died of high temperatures in homes lacking power because of recent outages, officials said. Heat was also cited as a factor in three deaths in Wisconsin, two in Tennessee and three in Pennsylvania.

Officials said the heat caused highways to buckle in Illinois and Wisconsin. In Maryland, investigators said heat likely caused rails to kink and led a green line Metro train to partially derail in Prince George's County on Friday afternoon. No one was injured, and 55 passengers were safely evacuated.

Thousands of mid-Atlantic residents remained without power more than a week after deadly summer storms and extreme heat struck the area, including 120,000 in West Virginia and some 8,000 in the suburbs around Baltimore and Washington, D.C. In the Washington area, Pepco asked customers to conserve power, saying the heat was stressing the system.

"This is becoming a black swan of heat waves, in the sense that it's such a long heat wave, such a severe heat wave and encompassing such a large area," said Chris Vaccaro, spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

James Harden will join Oklahoma City Thunder teammates Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in representing USA Basketball at this summer's London Olympics.

James Harden was among the final players to make Team USA's 12-man roster. (Getty Images)Harden made the final cut for Team USA. Joining the Thunder's trio of stars will be LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Kevin Love and Andre Iguodala.


With a handful of players, including Derrick Rose, Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, withdrawing from consideration because of injuries, 10 of the roster slots appeared to be locked up heading into Friday's start of training camp, leaving five players – Harden, Iguodala, Anthony Davis, Rudy Gay and Eric Gordon – to compete for the final two openings. The absence of Howard, Bosh and LaMarcus Aldridge has left Team USA with a shortage of big men. Davis, the top overall pick for the New Orleans Hornets in last week's NBA draft, was a candidate, but sprained his ankle during a workout a week ago.

Team USA will play an exhibition against the Dominican Republic on July 12 in Las Vegas. The U.S. also will play exhibitions in Washington, D.C.; Manchester, England; and Barcelona, Spain; before arriving in London.

Olympics soccer star Megan Rapinoe hopes her decision to state publicly that she is homosexual will pave the way for more gay athletes to make their sexuality known.

Megan Rapinoe is dating Australia's Sarah Walsh. (Yahoo! Sports)

Rapinoe, one of the most recognizable and popular players on the United States women's team, came out this week in an interview with Out.com and revealed that she has dated Australian soccer player Sarah Walsh for more than a year.

"I feel like sports in general are still homophobic, in the sense that not a lot of people are out," Rapinoe said. "I feel like everyone is really craving people to come out. People want – they need – to see that there are people like me playing soccer for the good old U.S. of A."

Rapinoe was outstanding during the USA's run to the final of the Women's World Cup last year, providing a brilliant cross for Abby Wambach's dramatic last equalizer in the team's heart-stopping quarterfinal victory over Brazil.

She is expected to again play a major role as the side seeks to retain the Olympic crown it won with an extra-time victory, also against Brazil, in Beijing four years ago.


As might have been expected, Rapinoe's comments have attracted criticism from some. However, her decision – and her call for more gay athletes to come out – must be applauded.

Lamentably, homophobia has long been prevalent in soccer, and positive role models such as Rapinoe proudly opening up can only be a plus.

Even since joining the national team, Rapinoe has not kept her sexuality, or more recently her relationship with Walsh, a secret. She said the only reason the news did not enter the wider public domain until now, despite being known in soccer circles, was that she had never been asked.

"I think [people] were trying to be respectful and that it's my job to say 'I'm gay" she said. "Which I am. For the record: I am gay."

The elderly owner of an Ohio restaurant where President Barack Obama ate breakfast on Friday died of natural causes just hours after meeting him.

Josephine "Ann" Harris, 70, owner of Ann's Place, where Obama was served eggs, bacon, toast and grits, died at a hospital in Akron, Ohio. The president called her daughter from Air Force One to express his condolences.

A hospital spokesman said Harris had complained of fatigue and a tingling feeling. White House press secretary Jay Carney said Harris apparently had not been well and was believed to have had a heart attack.

The Summit County medical examiner's office said Harris died of natural causes. Hospital spokesman Jim Gorsky said she died five hours after Obama's visit. "The president expressed his sorrow," Carney said aboard Air Force One at the end of a two-day campaign swing through the election battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

"Very sad event. He was very honored to meet her this morning and passed on his feelings that the whole family is in his thoughts and prayers," he said.

Harris's encounter with Obama took place outside her diner, where the president ordered two eggs, over medium, with bacon and wheat toast and accepted a waitress' offer of grits.

Harris, a great-grandmother, hugged Obama and posed with him for photographs, local media said.

"I'm sure this was her highlight," Harris' sister, Frankie Adkins of Tulsa, Oklahoma, told the Akron Beacon Journal newspaper.

When Nick Miranda began clearing the clutter in the basement of his new home, he likely expected to clean cobwebs and dust, not come across a stack of savings bonds.

But when the 29-year-old pulled up the cover of an old ironing board Monday, that’s exactly what he found –- 15 $100 U.S. savings bonds purchased in 1984, the Buffalo News reports.

The Buffalo, N.Y., resident immediately set out to find the bonds' rightful owners by Googling the names listed on the envelope: Lucille Rinaldo and Michael Ortalano. After making about 50 phone calls, he learned that the pair, mother and son, had died, but he was able to return the bonds to another surviving son, Thomas Ortalano.

"He's a very, very honorable young man," Ortalano, 57, told the Buffalo News. "I won't ever forget him. Not because of the monetary value, just for the honesty of it, just for doing the right thing. Anyone else could have torn them up and thrown them out."

Miranda is just one a few recent "honest" finders who decided not to keep the goods they discovered.

When four Michigan teens stumbled upon a wallet containing $700 in June, they called the police and it was returned to its 18-year-old owner, the Great Falls Tribune reports.

"We decided if we'd lost our wallet, we would want somebody to return it," Kaylee Olson, 14, told the news outlet.

Virender Sehwag, whose differences with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni came to fore during last year's Australian tour, appeared to take a jibe at the skipper when he said the World Cup was won because India had a strong team.

"Dhoni got a very strong team. When you get a strong team, it is easier to perform well just like Australia did at one point of time. Australia won three World Cups because they had a strong team and not just because of the captain. We believe we have a very strong team and that's why we won World Cup, backed by Dhoni's captaincy," Sehwag said.

He was reacting to questions on Dhoni's strengths that enabled him lead the side to two World Cup victories -- 2007 Twenty20 and 50-over in 2011.

Dhoni and Sehwag's relationship has been a subject intense speculation in the media, particularly after the series in Australia, where there utterances in press conferences made their rift public.