Former first lady Laura Bush has spent years in the political spot light, but these days, she is enjoying time out of the glare. In an exclusive interview with ABC News, the former first lady says skipping the Republican National Convention this year is no big deal.

"We'll be watching from the sidelines," says Bush. Democrats attacking her husband's legacy do not concern them either, she adds.

"We know that, you know, people like to blame somebody else. That's just a fact of life in politics. You know, I think George makes an easy target," says Bush, laughing.

A recent target in this election cycle has been Ann Romney. Bush's advice to the presumptive Republican nominee's wife is to enjoy the campaign, and the opportunity to travel around the country and meet people everywhere.

"I'm sorry the first ladies are being attacked," she says. "I don't think I ever was really, or at least if I was, George didn't ever tell me about it."

The Bush's may have left politics, but they have not left public life. The couple's ongoing fight against AIDS is a legacy they continue to build upon. Literally.  The couple recently traveled to Africa -- the second trip in about eight months -- to oversee work on a clinic that tests and treats HIV positive women for cervical cancer. On the last trip, they hunkered down with paint rollers and helped refurbish the clinic. One of them, says the former first lady, was more skillful at the job.

Check out the latest Spinners and Winners to see who was the better painter, and to hear more of Bush's views on politics, and the couple's AIDS work.

No one from either Tom Cruise's team or Katie Holmes' camp was talking on the record Monday after the couple announced they had reached what has to be one of the quickest celebrity divorce negotiations in history.

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Although it seemed as if Holmes had pulled off what many were predicting last week -- the actress succeeded in strong-arming an organization that has been known in the past for getting its own way against everyone from Nicole Kidman to the IRS -- speculation that the split could force even more revelations about the secretive Church of Scientology to come to light as a result of a lengthy divorce trial have been dashed.

One burning question remained after Cruise and Holmes said they had come to an agreement about the end of their five-year marriage and custody of their 6-year-old daughter, Suri: Will Holmes, as predicted by formerly top-ranking Scientologists, state that her decision to file for divorce from Cruise had nothing to do with Scientology?

The answer? It's complicated. People will be watching to see if any statement either side makes beyond their joint and vague statement Monday about "respecting each other's beliefs" addresses Scientology and if anything in the settlement specifically restricts what Holmes can say about the organization.

Marty Rathbun, a Scientologist for 22 years and considered the second-most powerful figure in the organization until he left in late 2004, told the Village Voice on Sunday that he foresaw a speedy settlement that would secretly give Holmes everything she wanted as long as she stated publicly that Scientology had nothing to do with why she wanted out of the marriage.

So far, Holmes hasn't commented. And that's been just part of what Mike Rinder -- once the brains behind Scientology's handling of the media until he himself left the group in 2007 -- calls a dazzling strategy.

"Katie's been brilliant, absolutely brilliant," Rinder told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday after the settlement was announced. "She hasn't made one statement." 

A source close to Holmes' legal team says the 33-year-old actress is "very relieved" that a settlement has been reached. "Katie is glad that this situation has been resolved so swiftly and amicably."

French fans took Madonna’s “Express Yourself” lyrics seriously on Thursday night when they booed and expressed anger at the singer for cutting her show at famed Paris concert hall l’Olympia short after around just 45 minutes.

After Madonna left the stage, fans remained in their seats booing and yelling insults like “salope,” the French word for “slut.”

Madonna took the stage around 10:15 p.m. and finished around 11 p.m.

The concert venue was filled mostly with big Madonna fans since the tickets for the show were available only to members of her official fan club before being released for sale to the general public. The concert was broadcast live via YouTube.

The supplementary concert was added to the singer’s tour just last week and was sold out after just a few hours, with Material Girl devotees paying from 80 to more than 280 euros for the limited seats. Hundreds of fans gathered outside several hours before the show to fill the Olympia’s 2,700 seats and many slept on the streets overnight from Wednesday to Thursday. After the show, many of them gathered in the streets in front of the theater and yelled “remboursez! remboursez!” which means “give us our money back!” in French.

Several fans expressed their discontentment on Twitter late into the night. One fan wrote in French “280€ for a seat + 10 minutes of a speech + 40 minutes of a show + 2 days of camping in front of the #Olympa = #Madonna #MDNA #Paris #thatsucks” and another wrote also in French “#Madonna 45min/250€ vs @springsteen 3h40/65€ ... what’s the better deal, there’s nothing left to say! #MDNAOlympia.” Another wrote: “How much does it cost to see Madonna at l’Olympia? It’s 6.3 euros per minute!”

Her loyal fans aren't the only ones angry at the pop star. A July 14 concert at the Stade de France incurred the wrath of French right-wing politician Marine Le Pen, who is pressing charges after Madonna screened a video featuring a photo of Le Pen’s face with a swastika superimposed on it.


Madonna also took a moment during the show to respond to Le Pen. “I know that I made a certain Marine Le Pen very angry with me. And it’s not my intention to make enemies,” Madonna told the crowd before adding: “It’s my intention to promote tolerance. And when we start saying that we have to get rid of this person or we have to get rid of that person, because then we’ll have a better place, it starts to sound like something else, it starts to sound like something scary. So the next time you want to point the finger at somebody and blame them for a problem in your life, take that finger and point it back at you.”

Lady Gaga, controversial celebrity-type individual and award-winning singer, is always in the spotlight for one thing or another. If the media isn’t foaming at the mouth over her latest meat costume, chances are they’re explaining to the world why countries don’t want her performing music within their borders. Now, it would seem, Gaga is the target of a lawsuit by MGA Entertainment, the company responsible for birthing the Bratz line of dolls.

According to reports, MGA paid Lady Gaga an advance of $1 million to produce a series of dolls based on her likeness. After the singer pocketed the money and agreed to the conditions, the company set forth to create said merchandise. MGA had originally planned to release the toys this summer in hopes of drumming up some interest before the holiday season rolled in. Unfortunately, Gaga and Universal Music Group had other plans.

In April, Bravado, the merchandising firm owned by said music mogul, decided they wanted to unleash the toys upon the masses in 2013, around the same time that Lady Gaga’s next album is scheduled to drop. This, of course, did not settle too well with the folks at MGA, who have invested quite a bit of money in the product.
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Carly Rae Jepsen is having an exceptionally good year. Her single “Call Me, Maybe” has been covered, parodied, mashed, lampooned, and lip-synced so many times that I honestly can’t say for sure if I’ve actually seen the original video. The song has become a huge summer hit, and it doesn’t look like the ferver surrounding the tune is going to die down anytime soon. Sadly, with sudden fame often comes unexpected turmoil. In Jepsen’s case, it’s the dreaded sex tape.

A few weeks ago, nude photos began to circulate of Carly Rae Jepsen, snapshots which allegedly featured the singer brandishing her pierced nipples. As it turns out, those photos weren’t real; the images were actually of a 21-year-old Internet model who apparently has no qualms about taking her clothes off in front of the camera on a fairly regular basis. Catastrophe averted, right? Unfortunately, things only got worse from there.

On July 23rd, an alleged sex tape featuring the “Call Me, Maybe” singer made its way online, prompting the Canadian pop star to address the leak on her Twitter page. “Crazy morning. Discovered that someone put up a sex tape claiming to be me. Ridiculous,” she explained. “Obviously not me.” Obviously.

Just when the nude photos and sex tape rumors had started to die down, another rears its ugly head. This time, however, the photos could be real. According to TMZ, the singer’s laptop was hacked not too long ago, and several personal images were taken as a result. As per usual, someone is attempting to shop the images to various websites, though no takers have been announced as of this writing. Authorities, meanwhile, are on the case, and if reports are telling the truth, they even have a suspect already in mind.

Considering the guy who hacked Scarlett Johansson’s phone is facing all sorts of trouble, I’m assuming Carly Rae Jepsen’s electronic intruder will face similar charges for his actions. However, here’s a good rule of thumb to live by: If you don’t want naked photos of yourself leaked onto the Internet, don’t take naked photos of yourself. Easy enough.

According to legend, the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles (the Roman Hercules), a son of Zeus. Yet the first Olympic Games for which we still have written records were held in 776 BCE (though it is generally believed that the Games had been going on for many years already). At this Olympic Games, a naked runner, Coroebus (a cook from Elis), won the sole event at the Olympics, the stade - a run of approximately 192 meters (210 yards). This made Coroebus the very first Olympic champion in history.

The ancient Olympic Games grew and continued to be played every four years for nearly 1200 years. In 393 CE, the Roman emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, abolished the Games because of their pagan influences.

Approximately 1500 years later, a young Frenchmen named Pierre de Coubertin began their revival. Coubertin is now known as le Rénovateur. Coubertin was a French aristocrat born on January 1, 1863. He was only seven years old when France was overrun by the Germans during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Some believe that Coubertin attributed the defeat of France not to its military skills but rather to the French soldiers' lack of vigor.* After examining the education of the German, British, and American children, Coubertin decided that it was exercise, more specifically sports, that made a well-rounded and vigorous person.

Coubertin's attempt to get France interested in sports was not met with enthusiasm. Still, Coubertin persisted. In 1890, he organized and founded a sports organization, Union des Sociétés Francaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA). Two years later, Coubertin first pitched his idea to revive the Olympic Games. At a meeting of the Union des Sports Athlétiques in Paris on November 25, 1892, Coubertin stated,

Let us export our oarsmen, our runners, our fencers into other lands. That is the true Free Trade of the future; and the day it is introduced into Europe the cause of Peace will have received a new and strong ally. It inspires me to touch upon another step I now propose and in it I shall ask that the help you have given me hitherto you will extend again, so that together we may attempt to realise [sic], upon a basis suitable to the conditions of our modern life, the splendid and beneficent task of reviving the Olympic Games.**
His speech did not inspire action. Though Coubertin was not the first to propose the revival of the Olympic Games, he was certainly the most well-connected and persistent of those to do so. Two years later, Coubertin organized a meeting with 79 delegates who represented nine countries. He gathered these delegates in an auditorium that was decorated by neoclassical murals and similar additional points of ambiance. At this meeting, Coubertin eloquently spoke of the revival of the Olympic Games. This time, Coubertin aroused interest.

The delegates at the conference voted unanimously for the Olympic Games. The delegates also decided to have Coubertin construct an international committee to organize the Games. This committee became the International Olympic Committee (IOC; Comité Internationale Olympique) and Demetrious Vikelas from Greece was selected to be its first president. Athens was chosen as the location for the revival of the Olympic Games and the planning was begun.

* Allen Guttmann, The Olympics: A History of the Modern Games (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992) 8.
** Pierre de Coubertin as quoted in "Olympic Games," Britannica.com (Retrieved August 10, 2000 from the World Wide Web. http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/2/0,5716,115022+1+108519,00.html).

Bibliography

Durant, John. Highlights of the Olympics: From Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Hastings House Publishers, 1973.

Guttmann, Allen. The Olympics: A History of the Modern Games. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992.

Henry, Bill. An Approved History of the Olympic Games. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1948.

Messinesi, Xenophon L. A Branch of Wild Olive. New York: Exposition Press, 1973.

"Olympic Games." Britannica.com. Retrieved August 10, 2000 from the World Wide Web. http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/2/0,5716,115022+1+108519,00.html

Pitt, Leonard and Dale Pitt. Los Angeles A to Z: An Encyclopedia of the City and Country. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997.

Google's Nexus 7 is the hottest new tablet around. The tablet has a 1.3GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor plus 1GB of RAM. With a quad core processor, the Nexus 7 is now one of the most powerful tablets and it only costs $249 (16GB version).

View slideshow: Google Nexus 7 tablet
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7-inch version) is the same price as the Google Nexus 7's 16GB model. Even though it only has 8GB of internal memory (there are versions with more), it has a microSD slot which makes all the difference; it is easy to add 32GB more storage. Let's take a closer look at both of these tablets.

Screen

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 features a WSVGA display with a resolution of 1024×600, while the Nexus 7 boasts an IPS display with a resolution of 1280×800. Samsung usually makes the best displays, but dropped the ball with this one. The display on the Nexus 7 is excellent, but lacks the color saturation of other tablets, especially from Samsung. Still, the Nexus 7 gives you a great screen for a low price.


At first glance, it appears that Samsung might have dropped the ball with this category too since it only has a 1GHZ dual-core processor. Still, everything runs smoothly and Samsung's integration of its own software with Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) is well done. Even though the Nexus 7 doesn't really feel like it is running on a quad-core processor, it is easily faster than the Galaxy Tab 2.

The Nexus 7 is the first tablet that comes with Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). Even though the learning curve is more difficult, Jelly Bean is far more tablet friendly than Ice Cream Sandwich. iPad users might be confused with Jelly Bean at first, but they may even prefer Jelly Bean to Apple's iOS after a few hours since it is far more customizable.

he Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics will be held at 9 pm BST on 27 July 2012 and will be called "The Isles of Wonder". Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle is the artistic director who is co-ordinating and designing the opening ceremony.

The games will be officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

London is going to host Olympics Game third time. It has already hosted the Olympic Games two occasions, in 1908 and 1948.

The Opening Ceremony is a celebration showcasing the best of the Host Nation. It also features a parade of all competing nations and the highly anticipated entrance of the Olympic Flame, which ignites the Cauldron and signals the start of the Games.

Greece will lead the parade, followed by other competing countries in alphabetical order and finally the host nation Great Britain.

The Ceremony will kick off with the sound of the largest harmonically tuned bell in Europe, produced by the Whitechapel Foundry, and the Stadium will be transformed into the British countryside for opening scene ‘Green and Pleasant’, which includes real farmyard animals.

Danny Boyle, Artistic Director of the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, said: ‘Our Isles of Wonder salutes and celebrates the exuberant creativity of the British genius in an Opening Ceremony that we hope will be as unpredictable and inventive as the British people.’


Once the Games have been declared open, the Olympic Flag is then carried into the Stadium and hoisted into the air as the respective Anthem is played. The Olympic Charter states that each flag must fly for the entire duration of the Games – placed in a prominent position in the main Stadium.

A total cast of 15,000 will take part in the London 2012 Opening and Closing Ceremonies, which will be watched by an estimated audience of four billion.

Indian musician A. R. Rahman said that he had composed a Punjabi song for the opening ceremony. It will be a part of a medley which will showcase Indian influence in the UK. Another Indian musician, Ilaiyaraja's song from Tamil-language film Ram Lakshman (1981), has also been chosen as part of the medley.

Today (July 27, 2012, Friday) Google is showing below Doodle for marking the Olympics Opening Ceremony.

Katherine Jackson returned to her Los Angeles-area home this morning after spending more than a week in Arizona, where she was out of contact with the children of her son, Michael Jackson.

Paris Michael, Michael Jackson's 14-year-old daughter, tweeted "grandma's here ! #thankyougod

In an exclusive statement to ABC News Wednesday, Katherine Jackson said she was "devastated" his children have been "taken away" from her while she was vacationing in Arizona. She was named their legal guardian in Michael Jackson's will.

"I am devastated that while I've been away, my grandchildren have been taken away from me, and I'm coming home," Katherine Jackson said.

Speaking to ABC News from the Miraval Arizona Report & Spa in Tucson, Ariz., where the 82-year-old Jackson family matriarch had been resting for at least a week, Katherine Jackson also addressed the uncertainty concerning her whereabouts.

Katherine Jackson is the guardian of her late son Michael Jackson's children -- Paris Michael, Prince Michael, and Prince Michael II -- but prior to Tuesday night, they had not heard from her in days. In her absence, there were reports of disputes among Jackson family members at Katherine Jackson's Calabasas, Calif., home.


"There are rumors going around about me that I have been kidnapped and held against my will," Katherine Jackson said. "I am here today to let everybody to know that I am fine."

"My children would never do a thing to me like that, holding me against my will," she added. "It's very stupid for people to think that."

Katherine Jackson said a court ruling Wednesday that made TJ Jackson -- the son of Michael Jackson's brother, Tito Jackson, and grandson of Katherine Jackson -- the temporary guardian of Michael Jackson's children was "based on a bunch of lies."

She said her stay in Arizona at the Miraval was a "short vacation and rest."

"There's a lot of lies that have been put out there and I am going home to straighten them out, and this kind of stuff doesn't make sense," she said.

As for not calling her grandchildren for days, Katherine Jackson said, "One reason I didn't call is I just gave up my phone and I didn't want to have any phone calls while I was here."

Below, read Katherine Jackson's full statement to ABC News.