Wal-Mart longed to build in Elda Pineda’s alfalfa field. It was an ideal location, just off this town’s bustling main entrance and barely a mile from its ancient pyramids, which draw tourists from around the world. With its usual precision, Wal-Mart calculated it would attract 250 customers an hour if only it could put a store in Mrs. Pineda’s field.

After years of study, the town’s elected leaders had just approved a new zoning map. The leaders wanted to limit growth near the pyramids, and they considered the town’s main entrance too congested already. As a result, the 2003 zoning map prohibited commercial development on Mrs. Pineda’s field, seemingly dooming Wal-Mart’s hopes.

But 30 miles away in Mexico City, at the headquarters of Wal-Mart de Mexico, executives were not about to be thwarted by an unfavorable zoning decision. Instead, records and interviews show, they decided to undo the damage with one well-placed $52,000 bribe.

The plan was simple. The zoning map would not become law until it was published in a government newspaper. So Wal-Mart de Mexico arranged to bribe an official to change the map before it was sent to the newspaper, records and interviews show. Sure enough, when the map was published, the zoning for Mrs. Pineda’s field was redrawn to allow Wal-Mart’s store.

Wal-Mart de Mexico broke ground months later, provoking fierce opposition. Protesters decried the very idea of a Wal-Mart so close to a cultural treasure. They contended the town’s traditional public markets would be decimated, its traffic mess made worse. Months of hunger strikes and sit-ins consumed Mexico’s news media. Yet for all the scrutiny, the story of the altered map remained a secret. The store opened for Christmas 2004, affirming Wal-Mart’s emerging dominance in Mexico.

The secret held even after a former Wal-Mart de Mexico lawyer contacted Wal-Mart executives in Bentonville, Ark., and told them how Wal-Mart de Mexico routinely resorted to bribery, citing the altered map as but one example. His detailed account — he had been in charge of getting building permits throughout Mexico — raised alarms at the highest levels of Wal-Mart and prompted an internal investigation.

But as The New York Times revealed in April, Wal-Mart’s leaders shut down the investigation in 2006. They did so even though their investigators had found a wealth of evidence supporting the lawyer’s allegations. The decision meant authorities were not notified. It also meant basic questions about the nature, extent and impact of Wal-Mart de Mexico’s conduct were never asked, much less answered.

The Times has now picked up where Wal-Mart’s internal investigation was cut off, traveling to dozens of towns and cities in Mexico, gathering tens of thousands of documents related to Wal-Mart de Mexico permits, and interviewing scores of government officials and Wal-Mart employees, including 15 hours of interviews with the former lawyer, Sergio Cicero Zapata.

American Idol alumna Kelly Clarkson and her boyfriend of 1-year Brandon Blackstock (a.k.a. Reba McEntire’s stepson) are gettin’ hitched!

The 30-year-old singer made the announcement via her Twitter account yesterday saying,

    I’M ENGAGED!!!!!  I wanted y’all to know!! Happiest night of my life last night! I am so lucky and am with the greatest man ever.

Awww.  We could not be happier for the “Catch My Breath” singer, who totally stole our hearts during the very first season of Idol, back in 2002.

The singer also posted a pic of the giant rock she’s now sporting on her left ring finger, along with the caption:

    Everyone has been asking about my engagement ring, so here it is :) … It’s a yellow canary diamond with diamonds around.


During an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show last month, Clarkson revealed that while Blackstock hadn’t proposed just yet, she knew it was coming.

    … We are totally going to get married. We love each other. We are totally going to get married one day…

Well Kel, that day is finally here!  Congrats to the happy couple!

In Gujarat assembly elections the question was hardly about whether Narendra Modi would win a third term in office, it was always about the margin. And, it was about the X factor in the elections this time: Keshubhai Patel of the Gujarat Parivartan Party.

If Modi manages an emphatic victory here —

seats in the region of 130 or beyond — the intra-party challenge to his ascendance in national politics withers away. If the tally falls behind 117 seats, which the BJP won in 2007, it won’t hurt his prospects at the national level but it would certainly leave him a bit insecure. This way, it was always a Modi vs Modi battle in Gujarat in 2007.


The Congress going to the polls with a 11 per cent vote share deficit did not stand much of a chance. It could only have hoped to increase its tally of 2007 — in the sub-60 territory — by a few more seats and wait for the GPP to cause the damage to Modi, bringing down his strike rate. The large voter turnout in a situation where the electorate has no anti-incumbency axe to grind could only have made the writing on the wall clearer for it. As the post-poll surveys of the first phase of polls indicate the party’s electoral standing has not changed a bit.

The biggest challenge for Modi, at least in the Saurashtra region, was Keshubhai, the old BJP hand-turned principal Modi baitor and a former chief minister. The leader of politically influential Leuva Patels, Keshubhai threatened to bring down the seat tally of the BJP in the Saurashtra region by at least 12 seats. However, as the post-poll survey conducted by Delhi-based conducted by Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), he has failed to cause any damage to the BJP. In fact, he might have worked to the disadvantage of the Congress.

Polls for the Saurashtra region were held in the first phase. As many as 87 seats — including 48 in Saurashtra — went to polls in that phase and as the survey suggests the BJP is likely to win anywhere between 53 and 63 seats with 45 percent vote share. The Congress is likely to have a vote share of 33 per cent and win anywhere between 19 and 27 seats. Others, including the GPP, would manage 22 percent of vote share but would end up with 3-9 seats. Keshubhai’s party would manage a vote share of 12 percent.

The survey, conducted between 13-14 December at 120 polling booths across 29 assembly seats, had a sample size of 1,805 voters. An overwhelming 41 percent of respondents felt Modi was the best choice for chief minister while eight percent felt Keshubhai was a better bet. The same number of contestants rooted for Congress’s Shankersinh Vaghela.

After India's crushing series defeat against England on Monday, former chief selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth called for MS Dhoni's removal as Test captain, stating that he is no more effective as the leader of the team.

"Dhoni's become stale and doesn't know what to do when things go out of the way. He shouldn't be the Test captain anymore. Had I been the chairman of selectors, I would have picked Dhoni as a wicketkeeper batsman but it is time to look beyond him as a Test captain," Srikkanth said while speaking to CNN-IBN.

 "I will pick Dhoni as a keeper/batsman because his contribution has to be considered. I think he will be better off without captaincy and add more value to the Test team," he added.

Srikkanth also believed the time has come when seletors should analyse the future of Sachin Tendulkar, who failed miserably against England. "Sachin needs to take an honest call about what he wants to do. If he thinks he can play against the Australians then he should be given another series. The best way forward will be to have a conversation with Sachin and I guess the selectors will be talking to him and making him feel comfortable," he said.

 Long before Christopher Chaney made headlines by hacking into the email accounts of such stars as Scarlett Johansson and Christina Aguilera, two other women say he harassed and stalked them online.

The women, who both knew Chaney, say their lives have been irreparably damaged by his actions. One has anxiety and panic attacks; the other is depressed and paranoid. Both say Chaney was calculated, cruel and creepy: he sent nude photos they had taken of themselves to their family members.

Their accounts as cybervictims serve as a cautionary tale for those, even major celebrities, who snap personal, and sometimes revealing photos.

Chaney, 35, of Jacksonville, Fla., is set to be sentenced Monday and could face up to 60 years in prison after pleading guilty to nine felony counts, including wiretapping and unauthorized access to a computer, for hacking into email accounts of Aguilera, Johansson and Mila Kunis.

Aguilera said in a statement that although she knows that she's often in the limelight, Chaney took from her some of the private moments she shares with friends.

"That feeling of security can never be given back and there is no compensation that can restore the feeling one has from such a large invasion of privacy," Aguilera said.

Prosecutors said Chaney illegally accessed the email accounts of more than 50 people in the entertainment industry between November 2010 and October 2011. Aguilera, Kunis and Johansson agreed to have their identities made public with the hopes that the exposure about the case would provide awareness about online intrusion.

The biggest spectacle in the case was the revelation that nude photos taken by Johansson herself and meant for her then-husband Ryan Reynolds were taken by Chaney and put on the Internet. The "Avengers" actress is not expected to attend the hearing, but she has videotaped a statement that may be shown in court.

Some of Aguilera's photos appeared online after Chaney sent an email from the account of her stylist, Simone Harouche, to Aguilera asking the singer for scantily clad photographs, prosecutors said.

Chaney forwarded many of the photographs to two gossip websites and another hacker, but there wasn't evidence he profited from his scheme, authorities said.

For the two women, who were only identified in court papers by their initials, their encounters with Chaney went from friendly to frightening.

Sunday night's WWE TLC 2012 results have brought early championship match winners as well as some new top contenders for other championships. So far a variety of matches have taken place with at least one surprise during the latest pro wrestling Pay-Per-View event. There's still plenty of great action on the way, which could have WWE surprising its fans even more in the last PPV event of the year.

The WWE TLC results started with a live stream pre-show featuring the divas in action. The special battle royal was held to determine the latest #1 contender for Eve's Divas title. Surprisingly, Naomi, one of Brodus Clay's dancers, emerged as the winner. Many fans might not realize that she was the runner-up to Kaitlyn on a season of NXT, and actually has some athletic in-ring skills. Naomi earned the right to challenge Eve for the title, and it could be another surprise should she win the title.

Another championship contender was decided in a tag team tables match. The team of Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow managed to outwit the team of Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara, ultimately shoving Sin Cara out of the air and down through a table. With that move, they captured the win, making them the #1 contenders for Team Hell No's tag team titles. Rhodes Scholars will get a future title shot, most likely on Raw or at another Pay-Per-View, as Daniel Bryan and Kane are in action tonight.

Two championship matches have completed with no major surprises. Both R-Truth and Wade Barrett failed in their quests to win the titles they were competing for. Barrett lost out to Kofi Kingston's Trouble in Paradise kick in the end, while R-Truth fell victim to the Neutralizer finisher from Antonio Cesaro. After his match, Cesaro talked about how when the American fans boo him, they're booing themselves since he is their US champion.

While Naomi is the major surprise so far, there was also a special moment at the start of the TLC Pay-Per-View. Prior to the event starting up, the ring bell was sounded 26 times to pay tribute to those who lost their lives at Sandy Hook Elementary School this past Friday. WWE's headquarters are stationed in Connecticut, and the pro wrestling organization made a classy move, just like many other sports professionals and entertainers, to pay respects over this tragedy.
(Post Source:  entertainment.gather)

Prior to speaking at a vigil for victims of Friday's massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, President Obama met with the families of those killed in the mass shooting.

Among those family members were the daughter and granddaughter of Dawn Hochsprung, Sandy Hook's principal who was killed in the shooting. Hochsprung's daughter, Cristina Hassinger, captured a touching moment between Obama and her daughter.

Friends and family of Emilie Parker, a 6-year-old victim of the shooting, were also photographed with the president.