Police in India have recovered the skeletal remains of half-a-dozen people from a pit at missing Bollywood starlet Laila Khan's luxury Igatpuri farmhouse.

According to Mumbai's Joint Commissioner of Police, Himanshu Roy, the pit containing the human remains -- a pit they believe was initially intended for an underground water tank -- was 12 feet long, 8 feet wide and 6 feet deep. Inside it, three sets of remains were found covered with mud and stones on top of a blood-soaked mattress. Beneath the mattress, authorities recovered three additional sets of skeletal remains, another mattress, and possible murder weapons.

"We recovered one iron rod with blood stains on it and two knives with bloodstains on them," Roy said at a Thursday press conference.

Roy added that "substantial injuries, including head injuries" were observed on the victims.

A positive identification of the victims -- one male and five females -- is pending DNA testing; however, Roy said it is "reasonably likely that these skeletons belong to Laila Khan and her family."

Laila Khan, born Reshma Patel, was best known for her role opposite Rajesh Khanna in the 2008 Bollywood film, "A Deadly Love Story." At the time of her disappearance, she was in the process of shooting a film with Bollywood film director Rakesh Sawant.

Khan, 30, her mother Saleena Patel, older sister Hashmina, twin siblings Imran and Zara, and cousin Rehshma have been missing since February 2011. The family had been staying at Khan's farmhouse -- a holiday home -- since late the previous month.

The family was reported missing by Sawant and Patel's ex-husband, Nadir Shah Patel. Authorities were unable to find any trace of Khan or her family and the case soon went cold.

On June 21 of this year, authorities got their first break when they questioned Khan's stepfather, Parvez Iqbal Tak. During the interview, Tak allegedly told police several stories, including one that he and the house watchman, Shakir Hussain, had killed Khan and her five family members and buried their bodies behind her holiday home.

Tak, who claims to be Patel's third husband, allegedly said he was jealous of her second husband, Asif Sheikh.

Dwight Howard isn't the only big man on the minds of the Los Angeles Lakers' front office staff these days.

One source familiar with the trade negotiations said Thursday that calls between the Houston Rockets and Lakers discussing a three-way trade have cooled, while the Atlanta Hawks appear to be gaining steam in their pursuit of Howard.


For more news and notes on the Lakers, check out the Land O' Lakers blog from the Kamenetzky brothers. Blog

With Howard's eventual destination still anybody's guess, the Lakers are turning their attention to adding a backup big man or two.

The Lakers remain in negotiations with Jordan Hill, who averaged 4.7 points and 4.4 rebounds in seven regular-season games with L.A. after being acquired from the Houston Rockets at the trade deadline in March. Hill's agent, Bill Duffy, told ESPNLosAngeles.com on Wednesday that there was still some distance between the two sides, but he planned to circle back with Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak before Hill made his final decision. The Lakers hold partial Bird rights to Hill and can offer him a maximum of $3,632,450 per season for up to five years.

Aside from Hill, appearing on the Lakers' "short list" of names they are hoping to add to the roster for the veteran's minimum are Antawn Jamison, Elton Brand and Jermaine O'Neal, according to a source familiar with the team's thinking.

The Lakers also have the "mini" mid-level exception available to them, beginning at $3 million a season, but prefer to hold off on using that in case a Howard deal goes down involving multiple players and they are left needing to fill a glaring void.

Not only is adding a backup big man a priority because signing Hill might not work out, but because Josh McRoberts and his expiring $3.1 million contract have drawn interest from other teams in potential Howard trade scenarios.

Jamison, 36, averaged 17.2 points and 6.3 rebounds last year for Cleveland in his 14th season in the league, but shot a career-low 40.3 percent from the field.

He was acquired by the Cavaliers via trade in 2009-10, the last season Lakers coach Mike Brown was at the helm for the Cavs. The Lakers are in competition with several other teams for Jamison's services, including Brooklyn, Golden State and Charlotte, and a source close to Jamison said on Thursday the Nets appeared to be his preferred destination at the moment.

The final one-year, $18 million remaining on Brand's contract was amnestied by Philadelphia on Thursday. Brand, 32, averaged 11.0 points and 7.2 rebounds for the 76ers last season. Brand will be first made available to teams under the salary cap through the waiver process, with under-the-cap teams able to bid on him. Dallas is under the cap and has interest in Brand, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein.

Stevie Nicks has confirmed that Fleetwood Mac will get back together in 2013. During a segment on "CBS This Morning," the Fleetwood Mac frontwoman revealed that everyone was on board.

"It's the plan," she added. "Because that's what we do. I do my thing. And Lindsey [Buckingham] is out doing his thing now." Fleetwood Mac's last tour, 2009's “Unleashed,” featured a set of the band's greatest hits.

Nicks also opened up about the recent suicide of Fleetwood Mac guitarist Bob Welch. She said she was shocked to learn of his death last month, adding, "I can't even tell you what in the world would have pushed him to do something that crazy."

If you don’t want to wait until 2013 for your Fleetwood fix, a Fleetwood Mac tribute album, featuring artists from MGMT and Karen Elson to The Kills, will be released on August 14. "A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac" is available for pre-order now. You can stream the album on Soundcloud.

Latex pillow are becoming more popular now.
Latex - a milky sap of rubber trees. It is an aqueous dispersion of globules of natural rubber, which also contains proteins, salts, etc. Latex has a long life, today’s most popular orthopedic pads – pillows made of latex. A lot of small holes made in the latex pillow to improve ventilation.
Anatomy of our bodies is such that in the recumbent position the head for comfortable sleeping necessarily require elevated support, not to the spine is curved. And so the ancient Egyptians invented a rectangular wooden base, which put his head during sleep.
Latex cushion higher in the neck and hollow for the head. Anatomical shape of these bags is just ensures the correct position of the neck and head, so to minimize decreases muscle tension. This cushion have orthopedic properties, it helps to avoid distortion of the cervical spine and promotes healthy sleep.

What you need to know when choosing a latex pillow

• If you have broad shoulders, then you will approach a high cushion for good night’s sleep;
• If you sleep on your back, you’ll need a lower pad, than if you sleep on your side;
• If you have a soft mattress, a pad should be lower than if you slept on a hard surface;
• If the hand is always arranged under the cushion or under your head, your cushion is too low and you need a cushion for the above;
• If there is a feeling of discomfort, it might be too high pillows;
• If a sore neck this morning, and the shoulders numb, then the cushion is too low, and the mattress is too hard;

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.

Now it offer unlimited 6 GB usage for only Rs 950 rental or unlimited 11 GB for only Rs 1,200. These 2 unlimited plans also offer cashback of Rs 100 per month for 12 months.

Tata Docomo, the unified telecom brand of Tata Teleservices, has announced the tariff reduction of up to 60 per cent for Tata Photon Plus postpaid and prepaid customers across India.

Under the new plans Tata Docomo Photon Plus postpaid customers have two unlimited data plan options- 6 GB for Rs 950 rental and 11 GB for Rs 1200. Post consumtion of the data limit of 6 GB and 11 GB consumers will be able to consume data but at a reduced speed. These two unlimited plans also offer cashback of Rs 100 per month for 12 months from date of purchase.

Tata Docomo reduces data tariff

On the other hand, prepaid customers can get 2GB dat plan on recharge of Rs 700 and post the 2GB data limit them can continue consuming data but at a reduced speed.

Also, Tata Docomo entry level packs now cost Rs 250 that offers 1GB of data download as compared to Rs 650 earlier. Likewise Rs 450 pack which earlier cost Rs 750 will offer 2GB.

Similar to Airtel's Smartbyte, Tata Docomo has launched reload packs, which allows users to buy extra data if they cross their high speed data limit. There are two plans in this category for Photon Plus postpaid customers with 1GB data for Rs 200 and 2GB data for Rs 350. What this essentially means, that customers can now continue to enjoy uninterrupted high speed internet post consumption of their data limit.

Tata DoCoMo Photon plus service is a CDMA based high speed data service offering speeds up to 3.1 mbps.

If there's one thing James Bond has taught us it's that behind every great spy is a great tailor.

A new exhibition at London's Barbican Centre explores the style of the suave secret agent, displaying costumes, props, set pieces and design drawings from half a century of 007 films.

Assembled with help from the films' producer, EON Productions_ which has a new Bond movie to promote in the fall – the exhibition includes the spy's tuxedos, Bond girl ball gowns and villains' vestments, as well as a selection of props and gadgets. There are also sketches by the films' influential set designer, Ken Adam, whose cavernous lairs and sleek space stations did much to create the movies' modernist luster.

The show is both a reflection of the remarkable staying power of Ian Fleming's fictional secret agent and a tribute to the British, European and American craftspeople and designers who have created the look of the quintessentially British icon.

"The films always attracted the greatest design talent," curator Bronwyn Cosgrave said Thursday. They ranged from the German-born Adam to Academy Award-winning costume designer Lindy Hemming, a Briton who helped put together the exhibition.

"In the beginning they didn't have the money – but they had the ingenuity," Cosgrave said.

The money came later, as the globally successful franchise sent Bond to exotic locations around the world – and eventually, in 1979's "Moonraker," into space.

Clips from the movies are screened throughout the exhibition, which includes items that have become mini-icons, from the white bikini worn by Ursula Andress in the first Bond film, "Dr. No," to the tight blue swim trunks sported by Daniel Craig in "Casino Royale."

Cosgrave said that since "Dr. No" in 1962, "Bond has consistently led the way" in style.

She said Sean Connery's "conduit cut" suit by Saville Row tailor Anthony Sinclair from the 1960s films is "the men's equivalent of a Chanel suit," while a sharply cut tuxedo is so identified with the character i
t has become known as "the James Bond look."

The first time Bond appeared onscreen, in "Dr. No," viewers saw the silk-lined cuff of his tuxedo sleeve before they saw Connery's face.

Cosgrave said the success of the look is simple to explain.

"It's sexy," she said. "When does a man look his best? In a tuxedo."

The exhibition includes tuxes worn by Bonds from Connery (classic Saville Row) to Roger Moore (by designer-to-the-stars Doug Hayward) to Craig, who is dressed by American designer Tom Ford. Ford's lean suits – in neatly circular fashion – draw on the 1960s for inspiration.

Cosgrave said that because actors typically play 007 over several films – apart from one-off George Lazenby in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" – "each Bond had an opportunity to forge a relationship with their tailor. As a result, they're impeccably dressed."

All those designer names reveal another Bond secret – 007 is both an international brand himself and a magnet for other luxury labels.

With the 23rd Bond film, "Skyfall," set for release in October, the exhibition gift shop lets visitors purchase a piece of Bond style, from cocktail shakers and martini glasses to silk ties and gold bars made of chocolate.

Jeremy Lin has verbally agreed to sign a four-year offer sheet with the Houston Rockets on July 11, according to a source close to the talks.


The four-year deal is worth $10.2 million over the first two seasons and $9.3 million in each of the last two years. The fourth season is a team option.

The Knicks would have three days to match the offer after Lin, a restricted free agent, signs it July 11.

A report in the New York Post on Wednesday, citing a league source, said the Rockets were planning to offer Lin a backloaded deal worth roughly $30 million. According to the same source, the deal would pay Lin $5 million in the first season and $5.2 million in the second, and then would increase to as much as $10 million per year in the third and fourth seasons.

"Jeremy Lin's an excellent player," Rockets general manager Daryl Morey told the Post. "We got to know him firsthand when he was with the Rockets early this season. We think he'd make a fantastic addition to our team."

NBA NBA free agency is under way and ESPN.com has you covered with all the latest deals, trades and potential moves.

The Knicks can offer Lin, a restricted free agent, a four-year deal worth $24.5 million.

In 35 games with the Knicks this past season, Lin averaged 14.6 points and 6.2 assists per game.

While both Lin and the Knicks are hoping for a reunion, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard this past weekend that if a club offers Lin a backloaded contract that pays him an eight-figure salary in the third and fourth years, as Houston has done, the Knicks could be given pause about matching the offer.

With the new collective bargaining agreement employing a more punitive luxury tax, beginning in the 2013-14 season, the Knicks are extremely concerned about the financial ramifications of such a deal, sources said.

Passengers say their problem is not with the rules at the airport. They understand why drinks are not allowed through security, but when they buy one while they wait for their flight, they say the TSA should not ask to test it.

Passengers say traveling is a big enough stress, but now some are worried the drinks they are getting are not safe.

The TSA would not say what they are testing for or why they are doing it, but travelers say they have a right to know.

"I'm always glad that my safety is a priority, I just think testing drinks after they've already been bought might be a little extreme," infrequent flyer Jennifer Smart said.

"The water or or the juices or anything you buy here in the airport, TSA is going to come over and look and check and test it? That's just ridiculous," world traveler Thomas Burgard said.

We asked the TSA about the drink testings and they said, "TSA employees have many layers of security throughout airports. Passengers may be randomly selected for additional screening measures at the checkpoint or in the gate at any time."

Passengers we spoke to also said they think the price of drinks are too expensive. If security is going to test them, it should be before they are purchased, so they do not waste their money.

When he first took the national stage, with his electrifying keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in the summer of 2004, Barack Obama, then an Illinois state senator, briefly summarized his unusual life story, with its biracial themes and trans-continental setting. "I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story," he said, adding: "In no other country on earth is my story even possible."

That story, of course, would become even more astonishing, and profoundly American, four years later, when its teller would be elected president of the United States. But the first time Obama related his life story -- and in the greatest detail -- was with the publication of his 1995 memoir, Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance.

The book, which won wide critical acclaim and rose to No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list, recounted the complex tale that is by now familiar to most Americans: the young Obama's racial confusion as the son of a white mother from Kansas and a dark-skinned, absentee father from Kenya; his mother's remarriage to, and eventual split from, the boy's Indonesian stepfather, with a spell in a Muslim school in Jakarta; the boy's rearing by white grandparents in Hawaii, who sent him to a private school there; his journeys through Occidental College and Columbia University, marked by a shifting intellectual worldview and numerous romances, some of them inter-racial; his path-breaking stint as the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review; and his exploits as a community organizer and Chicago lawyer with a deepening interest in politics.

In the introduction, Obama openly admitted changing some people's names and compressing both characters and chronology, mostly for the sake of narrative flow. Over the years, the president’s biographers have made inroads piecing together which characters were based on which real-life individuals, and which events were compressed or conflated.

That process has now reached a kind of zenith, with the publication last month of Barack Obama: The Story, a deeply researched, 600-page study of the president's ancestry and early life by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Washington Post editor David Maraniss. The result reflects the hyper-scrutiny that attaches to our chief executives. It also offers a window into how much of the life story of this self-made man may have been made up.

By some counts, The Story presents more than three-dozen instances of material discrepancy where Dreams fails to align with the facts as Maraniss reports them. Case in point: Maraniss confirmed that Mr. Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, left his father, Barack Obama, Sr., a volatile bigamist, and not the other way around, as related in Dreams.

Dreams also related the tale of Obama's paternal grandfather, Hussein Onyango, who was said to have been detained and tortured in a prison outside Nairobi for six months because of his brave defiance of British colonialists. But after a half-dozen interviews and other research, Maraniss deemed the tale "unlikely."

Maraniss did not respond to several calls requesting an interview, but Fox News caught up with him outside a Washington book signing.  "I think there's a difference between a memoir and the serious, rigorous factual history of a biography," he said. "Some of what he did was the result of mythologies that were passed along from his family, and some were for the purposes of advancing themes in his book which had more to do with finding his racial identity."

Mark Todd and Andrew Nicholson will compete at their seventh Olympics after being placed on New Zealand's five-member equestrian team for the London Games on Wednesday.

Todd won gold medals in the three-day event at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul Olympics. He has twice won world championships in the three-day team event and is a four-time winner of the Badminton Horse Trials and a five-time winner at Burghley.

Nicholson won a silver medal in the three-day team event at the 1992 Barcelona Games and a bronze in the same event at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He is also a former world champion in the team event.

Steve Nash is headed to the Los Angeles Lakers after the Phoenix Suns agreed to a sign-and-trade deal that will bring them four draft picks.

Steve Nash will get a guaranteed three-year, $27 million contract from the Lakers. (Getty Images)The Lakers will give Nash a three-year, $27 million contract. They used the trade exception they received from last year's Lamar Odom deal with the Dallas Mavericks.

"He's ecstatic," said Billy Duffy, Nash's agent. "He gets to be close to his children."

The Suns will get the Lakers' 2013 and '15 first-round draft picks and their 2014 and '15 second-round selections. The Lakers also paid the Suns $3 million to facilitate the trade.


Phoenix radio station KTAR 620 first broke the news of the Suns' sign-and-trade agreement with the Lakers.

Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash talked about playing together with Lakers on Monday night, and again late Wednesday afternoon, a league source told Y! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski.

The New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors and Dallas Mavericks had all tried to sign Nash, but he turned down more money – three years and nearly $36 million from the Raptors – for an opportunity to chase a title with Bryant and the Lakers, and to be closer to his children. Nash is divorced with two daughters and a son.

"His intention, as related to the Suns, was if he left that they would get value, that he would have the ability as his career was winding down to come to a competitive situation," Duffy said. "But his most important aspect was his ability to be close to his children. He's an hour from his children. I've never seen him happier because of that fact alone."

Duffy said Nash briefly considered retiring at the end of last season.

"Everything in his mind was predicated on his children," Duffy said. "It put me in an interesting situation because I knew that dynamic. It wasn't about the most money. He turned down a lot of money and aspects of other deals for the well being of his family."

The Lakers were one of 10 teams to contact Nash on the first day of free agency, but the Knicks and Raptors appeared to be his most likely destinations. The Knicks also tried to work a sign-and-trade deal with the Suns.

"He was either going to go to New York or Toronto," Duffy said. "He was comfortable with either situation."

The Lakers stepped up their interest on Monday.

"The dynamic with his family made [the Lakers] more compelling," Duffy said. "It began, really, two days because of the Lakers' willingness to step up and [Suns owner] Robert Sarver's willingness to work with us collectively to bring him back value. [Nash] could have gone to Toronto outright and the Suns got nothing. Steve likes this because he knows the Suns are getting assets back."

Those watching the Big Bay Boom in San Diego's Glorietta Bay witnessed what was either an accidental fireworks display -- or a very disappointing fireworks show.

Port District authorities said a "technical difficulty" resulted in all the fireworks going off at once.

About 5 minutes before the show was supposed to start, a sudden burst of fireworks shot into the air near the bay. Throughout downtown San Diego, a large rumble could be felt just before 9 p.m. on Wednesday night.

See the original report at NBCSanDiego.com

It appeared that hundreds of fireworks were set off at the same time. The explosions lasted a few seconds.

At about 9:20 p.m., people waiting for the display were told to return home. The fireworks show was canceled, a radio announcement said.

The Port hires the company Garden State Fireworks to operate the fireworks show. Calls to the company were not immediately returned.

No injuries were reported.

Here's a collection of responses from social media users who witnessed the seemingly botched display:

Porn star James Deen might be known for his sexual abilities on-screen, but he isn't sharing his talents with his "The Canyons" co-star Lindsay Lohan off-screen -- or so he tells Animal New York.

“I can definitely, honestly say Lindsay Lohan and I are not having sex!," he told the website, adding, "[If I was] I think I would tell everybody."

The inevitable rumors about the two began as soon as they were photographed grabbing a smoke together outside a restaurant. And though Deen beds women for a living, he says things with Lohan are strictly professional.

"I don’t know anything about her except for that she’s a really nice, down-to-earth, normal twenty-five-year-old girl," he told the magazine (for the record, Lohan turned 26 on July 2). "We went to a business dinner and she was very professional. She drank coffee and water. Then she had to call for a car because she couldn’t walk ten feet from the door because of the paparazzi.”

Deen will play Lohan's boyfriend in Bret Easton Ellis' "The Canyons," and though there were reports the film would require graphic sex scenes between the two, Deen is quick to downplay the on-screen action.

"It’s all necessary to the story. This is not an adult film. We are not trying to arouse people. If someone does get aroused, well, it happens. It’s like 'American Psycho,' 'Less Than Zero.'" he told the website, making reference to Ellis' other novels which have been turned into films. "It’s not graphic sex for the sake of graphic sex. In the script you don’t see anything like, ‘You see [Lindsay's character] turn around and flash her boobs!’”

"The Canyons" is scheduled to start filming on July 9, and it will mark Deen's first foray into mainstream fare. Deen is taking the role seriously and told Animal New York he's enrolled in acting classes and will take a break from the adult industry while filming.

"I will definitely take time off to do this. My intention is that from the day we start rehearsing to the day that the movie is wrapped, I will be giving this movie my full attention," he said, adding that he's never not working. “Uh, I don’t. I’ve never really gone without working. My life is pretty much a perpetual vacation, so I never felt the need to take time off. This will be the first time in eight years.”

The particle has been the subject of a 45-year hunt to explain how matter attains its mass.

Both of the Higgs boson-hunting experiments at the LHC see a level of certainty in their data worthy of a "discovery".

More work will be needed to be certain that what they see is a Higgs, however.

The results announced at Cern (European Organization for Nuclear Research), home of the LHC in Geneva, were met with loud applause and cheering.

Prof Peter Higgs, after whom the particle is named, wiped a tear from his eye as the teams finished their presentations in the Cern auditorium.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

    We're reaching into the fabric of the Universe at a level we've never done before”

Prof Joe Incandela CMS spokesman

"I would like to add my congratulations to everyone involved in this achievement," he added later.

"It's really an incredible thing that it's happened in my lifetime."

The CMS team claimed they had seen a "bump" in their data corresponding to a particle weighing in at 125.3 gigaelectronvolts (GeV) - about 133 times heavier than the proton at the heart of every atom.

They claimed that by combining two data sets, they had attained a confidence level just at the "five-sigma" point - about a one-in-3.5 million chance that the signal they see would appear if there were no Higgs particle.

However, a full combination of the CMS data brings that number just back to 4.9 sigma - a one-in-two million chance.

Prof Joe Incandela, spokesman for the CMS, was unequivocal: "The results are preliminary but the five-sigma signal at around 125 GeV we're seeing is dramatic. This is indeed a new particle," he told the Geneva meeting.
Peter Higgs Peter Higgs joined three of the six theoreticians who first predicted the Higgs at the conference

Atlas results were even more promising, at a slightly higher mass: "We observe in our data clear signs of a new particle, at the level of five sigma, in the mass region around 126 GeV," said Dr Fabiola Gianotti, spokeswoman for the Atlas experiment at the LHC.

Prof Rolf Heuer, director-general of Cern, commented: "As a layman I would now say I think we have it."

"We have a discovery - we have observed a new particle consistent with a Higgs boson. But which one? That remains open.

"It is a historic milestone but it is only the beginning."

Commenting on the emotions of the scientists involved in the discovery, Prof Incandela said: "It didn't really hit me emotionally until today because we have to be so focussed… but I'm super-proud."

Dr Gianotti echoed his thoughts, adding: "The last few days have been extremely intense, full of work, lots of emotions."
Continue reading the main story
Statistics of a 'discovery'
Swiss franc coin

    Particle physics has an accepted definition for a discovery: a "five-sigma" (or five standard-deviation) level of certainty
    The number of sigmas measures how unlikely it is to get a certain experimental result as a matter of chance rather than due to a real effect
    Similarly, tossing a coin and getting a number of heads in a row may just be chance, rather than a sign of a "loaded" coin
    A "three-sigma" level represents about the same likelihood as tossing eight heads in a row
    Five sigma, on the other hand, would correspond to tossing more than 20 in a row
    Independent confirmation by other experiments turns five-sigma findings into accepted discoveries


A confirmation that this is the Higgs boson would be one of the biggest scientific discoveries of the century; the hunt for the Higgs has been compared by some physicists to the Apollo programme that reached the Moon in the 1960s.

The Atlantici recently reported on the findings of new research into the claims made for the safety and efficacy of genetically engineered foods.

    The authors of the report GMO Myths and Truthsii took a science-based approach to evaluating the available research, and came to the conclusion that most of the scientific evidence regarding safety and increase yield potential do not support the claims made at all. In fact, the evidence demonstrates that the claims for genetically engineered foods are not just wildly overblown; they simply aren't true...

    The featured article summarizes the evidence presented, which shows that genetically engineered (GE) crops:

        Are laboratory-made, using technology that is totally different from natural breeding methods, and pose different risks from non-GE crops
        Can be toxic, allergenic or less nutritious than their natural counterparts
        Are not adequately regulated to ensure safety
        Do not increase yield potential
        Do not reduce pesticide use but increase it
        Create serious problems for farmers, including herbicide-tolerant "superweeds", compromised soil quality, and increased disease susceptibility in crops
        Have mixed economic effects
        Harm soil quality, disrupt ecosystems, and reduce biodiversity
        Do not offer effective solutions to climate change
        Are as energy-hungry as any other chemically-farmed crops
        Cannot solve the problem of world hunger but distract from its real causes - poverty, lack of access to food and, increasingly, lack of access to land to grow it on

    The authors of this critical report include Michael Antoniou, PhD, who heads the Gene Expression and Therapy Group at King's College at London School of Medicine in the UK. He's a 28-year veteran of genetic engineering technology who has himself invented a number of gene expression biotechnologies; as well as John Fagan, PhD, a leading authority on food sustainability, biosafety, and GMO testing.

    If you want to get an in-depth understanding of genetically engineered foods, I highly recommend reading their reportiii, which covers the ins-and-outs of genetic engineering and the disturbing findings of a large number of scientific studies.

Actor Sohail Khan's Lexus SUV mowed down a pavement dweller while she was crossing a road at Bandra (West) on Sunday night. According to initial reports, the alcohol test on the driver, Dhananjay Pimpale, was negative. Eyewitnesses confirmed that no member of the Khan family was in the vehicle when the woman, said to have been in her 70s, was crushed, police said.

Pimpale, 46, surrendered around 1.30am and the police booked him for causing death by negligence. He was later produced before a court and freed on bail.

Expressing "shock", Sohail said, "The news has been hyped up. Instead of focusing on who was in the car, people should focus on the fact that a woman has died. The accident happened by mistake."

The driver reportedly left superstar Salman Khan's residence near Bandstand for his brother Sohail's Hill Road home around 11pm. He had driven around 100 metres when he realized that he had forgotten his tiffin box at Salman's residence. He took a sudden U-turn, crushing pavement dweller Chandanbala.

'Driver saw some black plastic bag and did not know there was lady'

Actor Sohail Khan's driver Dhananjay Pimpale reportedly did not stop to help an elderly woman after running over her near Bandstand on Sunday night. He instead sped away from the spot.

Eyewitnesses said they had seen Pimpale behind the wheel and the vehicle had dragged Chandanbala a few metres before speeding away. Passersby took her to Bhabha Hospital, where doctors refused to treat her. She was left unattended near the hospital's mortuary, and breathed her last 30 minutes later.

"The woman had come to live on the footpath near Salman's home only a week ago. She appeared to be suffering from some old age-related diseases. Her body was infested with worms, so people used to stay away from her," the security guard of a building near the accident spot said.

Pimpale told police that he was unaware that he had crushed the woman and realized it only after people started screaming at him to stop. "He sped away fearing he would get beaten up," an officer said.

Superstar Salman Khan sounded disturbed by the incident. He said, "First there was an accident on the Dabangg set, where three of my unit members were injured, and now this one. It makes me feel really sad." He said Sunday night's accident "happened by mistake. I spoke to the driver whom I consider a very responsible and careful person. He told me he saw some black plastic bag and did not know there was lady".

The police said they had recorded statements of eyewitnesses, who said Pimpale was at the wheel of the vehicle. They have seized the vehicle for examination and asked for its documents for verification. The vehicle is registered in the name of actor Arbaaz Khan and his younger brother Sohail was using it.

Deen on the July 9 cover of PeopleKnown for her high-calorie creations, Paula Deen was widely criticized earlier this year when she revealed that she has type 2 diabetes — and had been diagnosed with the disease three years earlier. Around the same time the Southern chef went public with her health crisis, she also landed an endorsement deal for a diabetes drug, so there was backlash about her motivation for speaking out in the first place. Six months later, Deen — who completely overhauled her diet — has dropped 30 pounds and is talking about how she lost the weight.

"I was surprised by the depth of hate," Deen, 65, said about the backlash to People. "This is not something I chose. I had been given lemons and I had to try to make lemonade — without sugar!"

Since January, the 5-foot-6 foodie has lost more than 30 pounds and has gone from a size 18 to a 10. "The architecture of my plate has changed," said Deen, who has daily injections to regulate her blood sugar. "I double up on greens — whether it's salad or vegetables — and my carbs are just a spoonful." Her shopping cart is now overflowing with broccoli, sweet potatoes, and fruit instead of regular potatoes (her weakness) and bread. Where she used to skip breakfast, she now has a smoothie. And a typical dessert for Deen is "a bowl of sugar-free ice cream with strawberries and blueberries on top."



Deen says incorporating exercise into her routine has been another factor in her weight loss. She walks 30 minutes a day but doesn't love it. "I heard that exercise is addictive," she said to People. "So far, it's not like cigarettes." Speaking of cigarettes, she still smokes but says quitting will be her next challenge.

Although her goal is to lose an additional 15 pounds, Deen already feels like a million bucks. "I feel a thousand times better," Deen told the magazine. "I have more energy. I sleep better. The weight loss has made my health issues better."

In his White House memoir, “Courage and Consequence,” Karl Rove recalls being the lone non-lawyer among the group of George W. Bush aides who initially interviewed John Roberts for the Supreme Court in 2005. Rove asked Roberts to go back in history to name the justice whom he most revered. Roberts’ answer, Robert Jackson, intrigued and reassured Rove. When appointed in 1941, Jackson was serving as Franklin Roosevelt’s attorney general and had been expected to be a pro-New Deal rubber-stamp on the court. But, as Rove put it, Jackson “instead demonstrated a fidelity to the Constitution that Roberts admired.”

Thursday, in a jaw-dropping turnabout worthy of Justice Jackson, Roberts provided the swing vote in a 5-to-4 decision that upheld the constitutionality of almost all of Obamacare, the president’s signature legislative achievement. While an army of armchair court watchers expected Justice Anthony Kennedy to determine the fate of the Affordable Care Act (a recent Time cover called him “The Decider”), it was Roberts who took his fidelity to the Constitution in an ideologically surprising direction. Kennedy voted with three other conservative justices to overturn the health insurance mandate at the heart of the law.

Constitutional law seminars and unlicensed political psychologists will spend years speculating about Roberts’ motivations in joining the liberal bloc in probably the most important Supreme Court decision since Bush v. Gore in 2000. While we may wait decades to know for certain, it does seem plausible that Roberts may have been partly triggered by a desire to prevent the court from being seen as overtly political. Polls showing public respect for the Supreme Court at a quarter-century low reflect the growing view that the justices pursue partisan agendas.

One of the most important passages in Roberts’ majority decision was the chief justice’s assertion: “We do not consider whether the act embodied sound policies. That judgment is entrusted to the Nation’s elected leaders. We ask only whether Congress has the power under the Constitution to enact the challenge provisions.”

In short, if you want a national referendum on the health-care law, then the proper arena is the 2012 campaign—and not the inner sanctums of the Supreme Court.

The majority opinion in the health care case points up the inadequacy of the political clichés used in the heat of an election year to describe the Supreme Court. Phrases like “strict constructionist” and “not making law from the bench” do not clarify complex Supreme Court opinions like Thursday’s ruling. Romney’s campaign website declares, “As president, Mitt will nominate judges in the mold of Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia, Thomas and Alito.” There’s only one problem with this formulation: Roberts went in one direction and Scalia, Thomas and Alito went in the opposite on the constitutionality of the health care bill.

Nora Ephron gave us so many wonderful comedic moments, from scenes in blockbuster films, to perfect turns of phrase, to advice that only she could give.

Meg Ryan's fake orgasm in "When Harry Met Sally" wasn't just funny, it was iconic. And it's just one of the many extraordinarily human, touching and hilarious bits of perfection that make up Ephron's legacy.

Here are just a few of the comedy gems this incomparable writer, director and producer was responsible for. Click through our picks, and then tell us yours.

A spokeswoman says "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek is "up and about" in a Los Angeles hospital as he recovers from a mild heart attack.

Sony Pictures Television spokeswoman Paula Askanas said Monday that Trebek is "in good spirits" while doctors complete their tests. She says he has been moved to a regular room.

The 71-year-old Trebek was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Saturday. He's expected to fully recover and be back at work when "Jeopardy!" resumes production for a new season in July.

Trebek was hospitalized for a heart attack in 2007. He has been hosting the popular quiz show for 28 years.

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On Monday, it will be three years to the day that the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, died at the age of 50.

Ola Ray, the female lead in his iconic 1983 "Thriller" video, still can't forget the experience of working with him.

Ray -- now 51 and living in Sacramento, Calif., with her teenage daughter -- landed the gig after Flashdance actress Jennifer Beals turned it down. She almost didn't get it after video director John Landis learned she had posed in a 1980 Playboy centerfold. But Jackson didn't seem to mind her racy past. "He seemed taken by the fact that I was a Playboy model," Ray told the Sunday Mirror.

The 13-minute horror short -- which the Guinness Book of World Records calls the most successful music video of all time, selling more than 9 million copies -- depicts the two on a date. It takes a very dark turn when the singer transforms into a werewolf.

From day one, Ray said she and Jackson had chemistry.

Ola Ray on ABC News."When we did the dancing, when he had to walk around me and flirt with me … That was when I was like 'Oh my God, like Ola, I could not believe I was the girl, I was the one chosen,'" she told ABC News in a 2010 interview.

Jackson was playful off-camera as well.

"He kept saying, 'I can't wait until I do the werewolf scenes so I can chase you,'" she told author Mark Bego for his book On The Road With Michael.


Though the two flirted and shared some private time in his trailer on the set, she said they were never intimate because Jackson had eyes for someone else.

Ola Ray in "Playboy.""We had a working relationship, it was nothing other than that," she told ABC News. "He was into Brooke Shields."

She and Jackson remained friends after making the video. Jackson even flew her to Germany to accept an award for "Thriller" — which she later got to keep.

Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu will make a good wife, feels her "Jodi Breakers" co-star R. Madhavan. "Whoever she will marry, she will keep him very happy," Madhavan told reporters here. The 33-year-old actress dated model-turned-actor John Abraham for eight years before calling it quits last year.

Ever since, Bipasha has been linked to actors like Rana Daggubati, Shahid Kapoor and her "Singularity" co-star Josh Hartnett. Madhavan is impressed with the lady. "I feel Bipasha is a wonderful person. I don't think I have ever worked with such a wonderful co-star till date," he said.


 Romantic comedy "Jodi Breakers", directed by Ashwini Chaudhary, is a story of two individuals who break others' relationships but end up falling in love with each other. While everyone is talking about this unusual pairing, Madhavan seems confident about their chemistry. "I believe Bipasha and I share a very good chemistry on screen."The movie will release Feb 24. It also features Omi Vaidya, Milind Soman and Dipannita Sharma.

Bipasha Basu is one of the HOTTEST bollywood female celebrities and John Abraham is the HOTTEST Bollywood Male Celebrity. She both creates most romantic scenes on the screen. You may have enjoyed several pictures of Sexy Bipasha Basu and HOT John Abraham together as i also previously upload HOT Bipasha with her boyfriend. So, again, Enjoy these Really Sexy and HOT Photos of Bipasha Basu in bedroom with John Abraham having romance. Enjoy !