A citizen with a gun stopped a knife wielding man as he began stabbing people Thursday evening at the downtown Salt Lake City Smith's store.

Police say the suspect purchased a knife inside the store and then turned it into a weapon. Smith's employee Dorothy Espinoza says, "He pulled it out and stood outside the Smiths in the foyer. And just started stabbing people and yelling you killed my people. You killed my people."

Espinoza says, the knife wielding man seriously injured two people. "There is blood all over. One got stabbed in the stomach and got stabbed in the head and held his hands and got stabbed all over the arms."

Then, before the suspect could find another victim - a citizen with a gun stopped the madness. "A guy pulled gun on him and told him to drop his weapon or he would shoot him. So, he dropped his weapon and the people from Smith's grabbed him."

By the time officers arrived the suspect had been subdued by employees and shoppers. Police had high praise for gun carrying man who ended the hysteria. Lt. Brian Purvis said, "This was a volatile situation that could have gotten worse. We can only assume from what we saw it could have gotten worse. He was definitely in the right place at the right time."

Dozens of other shoppers, who too could have become victims, are also thankful for the gun carrying man. And many, like Danylle Julian, are still in shock from the experience. "Scary actually. Really scary. Five minutes before I walk out to my car. It could have been me."

Police say right now they have no idea what caused the suspect to go on the dangerous rampage. (We will update as soon as we learn new information.)

Japanese public broadcaster NHK is developing a bleeding edge “Super Hi-Vision” 8K television system, which contains a jaw-dropping 16 times more picture information than today’s HDTV and 22.2 channels of surround sound. At the Olympics, NHK is teaming with the BBC and host broadcasting organization Olympic Broadcast Services to test this format—which is so precise that one could view a shot inside the Olympic Stadium that appears to be three dimensional and contains stunning detail.

VIDEO: Olympic Conversation: THR Talks to 4 Famous Olympians

“It’s exactly like looking through a glass window,” said Tim Plyming, the project executive for the BBC’s Olympics work in digital, live sites and Super Hi-Vision. “The images seem to go around corners and curves. Most people say it is more 3D than 3D. With 3D you are aware that your brain has to work. Here you just sit in front of the screen and relax.

“I think when people see it, they will say this is the next really big format,” he added.

The participants began planning this trial roughly two years ago, and in the coming weeks, they aim to not only dazzle viewers with an early look at Super Hi-Vision, but demonstrate for the first time NHK’s new 8K broadcast camera, as well as the ability to transmit 8K—a staggering amount of picture information—over IP networks.

The introduction of NHK’s new 8K camera is notable because earlier Super Hi-Vision camera models were very large and cumbersome to move. Plyming said that in contrast, the new cameras offer 8K resolution in a body that is “exactly the same size as our normal broadcast cameras.”


At the Olympics, the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as track and field, swimming, cycling and basketball will receive some Super Hi-Vision coverage from four venues, including the Olympic Stadium, Aquatics Centre, Basketball Arena and Velopark. Guests can see these images at public viewing sites in Glasgow, Bradford, and London in the UK; and two sites in Tokyo and one in Fukushima, Japan. The images will be transmitted from the BBC Television Centre in London.
Following this trial, Super Hi-Vision will still not be ready for primetime. Plyming said it might be as far as "10-20 years away." NHK has reported that it aims to begin experimental Super Hi-Vision broadcasting in Japan during 2020.

Eating too much sugar certainly isn't wise for your waistline, but did you know that overindulging in dessert can add years to your face? And even if you do strenuous cardio workouts each week, you'll be missing out on potential anti-aging body benefits if your schedule doesn't include yoga, weight training, and rest. "Good nutrition is a fundamental building block of healthy skin," explains Leslie Baumann, MD, a Miami Beach dermatologist. The natural ingredients in whole foods such as romaine lettuce and strawberries help increase cell turnover, and boost production of collagen fibers to help keep skin smooth and firm. Conversely, foods with little-to-no nutritional benefits, like sugar-packed doughnuts, can actually damage the collagen and elastin that keep skin firm and youthful. These aging effects start at about age 35 and increase rapidly after that, according to a study published in the British Journal of Dermatology. Even if your diet is wholesome, you could be making exercise mistakes that age you as well. For example, if you only do cardio at the expense of other types of exercise, like yoga and strength-training, you could be missing out on skin-protective benefits. Find out if you're making one of these 8 common aging diet and exercise mistakes, and get smart prevention strategies that can keep you slim and youthful for years to come.
The breakdown of sugars, called glycation, damages the collagen that keeps skin smooth and firm. To prevent this natural process from careening out of control, Naila Malik, MD, a derm in Southlake, TX, sticks to low-glycemic carbs like whole grains; they're naturally low in sugar, and the body processes them slowly to limit the loss of collagen. If you want to sweeten up your tea or oatmeal without making your skin look older, try all-natural stevia. It's an easily digested herbal sweetener that doesn't trigger glycation, according to board-certified dermatologist Nicholas Perricone, MD, an adjunct professor of medicine at Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine. Taking your work angst out on the Spinning bike or treadmill might make you feel better for a little while, but incorporating yoga into your fitness routine regularly may help you look younger and prevent breakouts while whittling away stress. Sounds like a winning workout to us! "Yoga moves like Child's Pose, Downward-Facing Dog, and Sun Salutations improve circulation--the boost of oxygen is what gives skin that lovely yoga glow," says Hema Sundaram, MD, a Washington, DC - area dermatologist. New research finds regular yoga practice may reduce the inflammation and stress that speed skin aging. If you need another reason to om away your stress: High levels of tension can spike hormone production that leads to breakouts or aggravates conditions like psoriasis. "Controlling stress keeps your skin calm," says Annie Chiu, MD, a derm in LA.

With the first presidential debate still a few months away, President Obama won’t have to meet his Republican challenger face-to-face for a while — but his wife may not have to wait.

Visiting London for the Olympic Games, Michelle Obama and Mitt Romney may cross paths across the pond on Friday, as the two are scheduled to wish Team USA luck and attend the opening ceremony.

Leading the presidential delegation, Mrs. Obama will start Friday with a breakfast of champions, where she will meet members of the Olympic team. Then she will head to a “Let’s Move!” event with American and British children, including about 1,000 from American military families.

Later, as part of the first lady’s third trip to England since Mr. Obama took office, she will attend the queen’s reception for heads of state at Buckingham Palace and then the opening ceremony.

The Romney campaign announced that Mr. Romney would also be meeting with American athletes and attending the opening ceremony as part of the first leg of his trip to England, Israel and Poland.

Far from being a stranger to the Olympics, Mr. Romney ran the 2002 games in Salt Lake City. But this year, his interest is especially personal: a horse co-owned by Mr. Romney’s wife, Ann, will be competing as part of the U.S. Olympic dressage team.

Before life threw more adversity at him than one person ought to bear, Kieran Behan told his mother that he would be an Olympic gymnast someday.

He was just a boy, maybe 6 years old, when he fell in love with gymnastics, drawn to the thrill of it while watching the Summer Games, enamored by the possibility that he too could defy gravity and flip through the air as if he could fly.

But that was before a series of injuries, two so severe that doctors told him he would never walk again: a botched leg operation that caused nerve damage and a brain injury that kept him from doing even the simplest things, like sitting or eating.

Yet Behan, a 5-foot-4-inch plucky phoenix, pushed on.

“Doctors told me, stop thinking about your crazy dreams because you’ll never walk again and you must accept that it’s over for you,” Behan said. “But I just kept saying: ‘No, no, no — this is not the rest of my life. This is not how it’s going to play out.’ And look at me now, an Olympian. They said it was impossible, but I did it.”

Behan, 23, barely clinched an Olympic berth in January, qualifying second to last at the Olympic test event to become the first Irish gymnast to make it to the Games by his own talent, not by wild card. He benefited from a new Olympic rule that limits each team to five gymnasts instead of six, to make more spots available to individuals whose country does not field a full team.

Many of the powerhouse squads, including the United States’, criticized the rule change, saying it watered down the competition and forced some teams to leave a world-class gymnast at home. But the rule has an upside: it allows athletes like Behan to compete on the sport’s highest stage.

“Kieran has gone through so much,” his mother, Bernie Behan, said through tears. “He deserves this.”

Kieran Behan started gymnastics when he was 8, showing a talent for the tumbling. But soon came the first of many obstacles: when he was 10, he found a lump the size of a golf ball on his left leg.

During surgery to remove what turned out to be a benign tumor, doctors kept a tourniquet on him too tight for too long, causing nerve damage that left Behan with limited feeling in his left foot. It also caused such pain that even a slight brush against his leg would cause him to scream. He could not walk, heading to school at one point to the taunts of other youngsters who already had it out for him.

“They’d say, ‘Oh, look at the cripple,’ and that was so hard for me because, already, I was doing gymnastics and I was short, and I was doing a girls’ sport,” he said. “So a lot of times, I would sit at the kitchen window and watch all the kids running around the park and playing football, and I’d get pretty emotional. All I wanted to do was be an ordinary kid again.”

Doctors warned him that the damaged nerves might never regenerate. A psychiatrist told him to prepare him for life in a wheelchair. They were wrong.

Although it took 15 months, Behan did become an ordinary kid again. And he went back to gymnastics.

But about eight months after he returned from his leg injury, disaster hit again. In what he calls a freakish accident, he smacked the back of his head on the metal horizontal bar during a routine and tumbled to the ground in a lump.

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.

Katie Holmes 'Biggest Nightmare' in Scientology History, Say Experts
Life After Tom Cruise: Katie Holmes Heading to New York Fashion Week With Holmes & Yang Line

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.

She’s currently dating Kirk Norcross and Jodie Marsh is happy to show off the bikini body which attracted him.

The former glamour model turned body-builder is holidaying without the former TOWIE hunk in the Caribbean and she made sure all eyes were on her as she showed off her tattoo covered figure in a hot pink bikini.

Jodie’s impressive cleavage struggled to be contained by her tiny bikini, which features gold ring details around the halter neck and the bottoms.
Jodie Marsh shows boyfriend Kirk Norcross what he's missing as she takes a stroll along a Caribbean beach on holiday without him

Jodie wasn't worried about her hot pink bikini clashing with her bright red hair as she paraded her tattoo covered body on the beach

Her many tattoos including those on her arms, stomach, legs and back were visible as she walked along the golden side.  Full Article at Daily Mail - UK

For our own mental health here at VH1 Celebrity, for every Macaulay Culkin and Lindsay Lohan, we like to celebrate an Anna Chlumsky and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. So when the Internet started freaking out this week over Alexa Vega’s super hot Instagram pics, it was just what the therapist ordered. The cutie from Spy Kids is all grown up, gorgeous and still has a career that’s going strong!

The fervor started over a photo she shared back in June, showing a sneak peek of her in character as Killjoy for Robert Rodriguez’s upcoming Machete Kills (which stars fellow sexpots Sofia Vergara, Amber Heard, Michelle Rodriguez and Vanessa Hudgens). Is it a little creepy that the same guy who directed Alexa as a little girl in the Spy Kids flicks is now putting her in bejeweled bra tops? Hmmm, jury’s still out. Anyway, the 23-year-old actress’ Twitter and Instagram reveals just how much fun she’s been having since divorcing Sean Covel, her husband of two years, last month. She’s been traveling the country, shooting a video for Aerosmith’s “Legendary Child,” guest-starring in Royal Pains and, naturally, reading 50 Shades of Grey. Oooh, should the natural brunette be another choice for Ana Steele? Flip through these pics of her as an adorable child star, and a curvy lady, and tell us what you think!

Vanessa Lachey is keeping her Twitter followers well informed on her changing shape as she nears the end of her pregnancy.

The 31-year-old proudly put her bump on show in all its glory in a Twitter picture posted on her account today.

She dressed in a revealing bandeau top and white skirt for the impromptu photo shoot and her husband Nick Lachey, 38, stepped in to tenderly stroking her exposed belly.
What a bump! Vanessa Minnillo posted this picture of husband Nick Lachey stroking her belly on Twitter today

What a bump! Vanessa Lachey posted this picture of husband Nick stroking her belly on Twitter today

She wrote alongside the picture: 'My Happiness... My Family! Ahhh, My Boys!'

Vanessa, who is due in early September, said last month that she was worried about her belly button turning out during pregnancy.

She was concerned about developing what looks like a 'third nipple' she is even scared to sneeze normally.

She told Bethenny Frankel: 'Everyone’s belly button is different. Some women’s belly buttons pop and some women’s don’t. I thought, "Oh I wouldn’t mind if it popped because then it would be like the turkey’s done," right? And it’s cute! But my stylist was like, ‘"You don’t want that to pop. That’s like having a third nipple".
The heat is on again! Nick (second from left) is reuniting with his 98 Degrees bandmates Jeff Timmons, Justin Jeffre and Drew Lachey pictured here in 2001

The heat is on again! Nick (second from left) is reuniting with his 98 Degrees bandmates Jeff Timmons, Justin Jeffre and Drew Lachey pictured here in 2001

'Every time I sneeze, I hold my belly button in. For some reason I think I’m going to sneeze it out.'

While her belly button does seem to have popped out, it seems she's embraced the transformation and is happy to show it off.

As well as a baby, Nick has another exciting project in the works - he confirmed yesterday that he is reunited with his 98 Degrees bandmates.

Nick, his brother Drew Lachey, Jeff Timmons and Justin Jeffre will come together for the first time in ten years for one performance at the Summer Mixtape Fe

Whether you are on a super sunny beach vacation or just lounging in the backyard with family and friends, staying on top of sunscreen applications can save your life. It’s hard to believe a tiny mole can spell doom, but sun-loving people, you better believe it! Here are some savvy sun-care apps for your iPhone that can help you keep your skin in tip-top shape this summer.
Coppertone MyUVAlert

The free Coppertone MyUVAlert app for iPhone allows you to set up a sunscreen profile for each of your family members. It’s so simple to set up this profile for each person in the app so you know every time you go to the pool or beach what SPF each family member needs to apply. The app also gives you access to the UV Index, lets you set up sunscreen application reminders and provides access to coupons for sun-care products by Coppertone, of course.
Nevus

Set an alarm so you know when to reapply sunscreen with the Nevus app for iPhone ($2.99). You can skew the time for the alarm based on conditions such as swimming or just hanging out on dry land. The Nevus iPhone app also supplies the UV Index as well as a “Sunscreen Visualizer” so you know how much sunscreen to apply to your body for maximum coverage. This savvy app is more than just a sunscreen alarm though. You can also use it to keep track of mole development all over your body so you can be prepared to visit the dermatologist for your annual skin checkup.

Find out your “time to sunburn” with the Wolfram Sun Exposure Reference App for iPhone ($0.99). You answer some basic questions and this app helps predict how long until your skin will fry in the sun. You tell the app your location, skin type, date, time, and level of SPF you plan to use, and this app computes your sunburn time. It will also recommend if you need a higher level of SPF.
Soliel Organique

Are you nervous about applying sunscreen because of all the chemicals? Why not try an organic brand of sunscreen. The free Soliel Organique app for iPhone allows you to use its visual search technology to find a location to buy the product as well as find out important safety information about the product’s ingredients. This sun-savvy app also has a UV Index and weather information.
Tan

If you really want to play it sun-safe, don’t go outside at all. You can use the free ModiFace Tan app for iPhone to give yourself the perfect summer tan! No beach needed. Tell the app how long you would have stayed in the sun and what SPF level you would have used, and it will automatically highlight your photo to your perfect summer glow.

Hundreds of firefighters, backed by water-bombing planes, battled a wind-fuelled wildfire in northeast Spain Monday that left four French nationals dead and trapped thousands of people indoors.

The blaze claimed its fourth life Monday when a 64-year-old Frenchman who suffered 80 percent burns after his car was engulfed in flames died at a Barcelona hospital, the Catalan regional government said.

Another 23 people were injured, including eight who remain in hospital, it added.

The wildfire broke out on Sunday near the town of La Junquera and spread rapidly across the Alt Emporda region near the French border, whipped up by winds of up to 90 kilometres (55 miles) an hour.



Smoke from the blaze, which has so far ravaged up to 13,000 hectares (32,000 acres) of land, reached Barcelona, Spain's second-biggest city located some 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of the border.

The fire remained "out of control", the interior minister of Catalonia, Felip Puig, told reporters.

It was likely caused by a cigarette butt or small explosive device that caught fire due to "recklessness or negligence", he added.

Over 1,500 people were battling the blaze, including over 500 firefighters and 150 volunteers who worked alongside police, soldiers and forest guards, a spokeswoman for Catalan firefighters said.

They were backed by 22 French and Spanish water-bombing planes. Officials were not able to deploy aircraft against the flames on Sunday due to the strong winds.

"It started yesterday at one o'clock in the afternoon, at Perthus, near La Jonquera. The wind was very strong, a strong north wind, we immediately saw clouds of smoke rising," said Miguel Arche, 54, from the town of Terrade.

"It was impressive. And then, around 6:00 pm, the fire had reached Llers, it was very strong, on a very wide front."

Firefighters managed to bring the front of the fire burning near the town of Portbou just across the border with France under control on Sunday night.

A Frenchman and his 15-year-old daughter died Sunday after they abandoned their car and threw themselves off a cliff into the sea to escape the approaching flames near the town.

In 25 years of studying marriage, Dr. Terri Orbuch, research professor at the University of Michigan and author of the new book "Finding Love Again: 6 Simple Steps to a New and Happy Relationship," has found that some of the best relationship advice comes from people who are actually divorced.

WATCH: Is this the Most Epic Marriage Proposal?

 In 1986, Orbuch embarked on a long-term study, supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which followed the relationships of 373 newlyweds. By 2012, 46% had divorced, about the same as the national average. In interviews with Orbuch, people who had divorced or ended a serious relationship over and over again brought up the same five issues that they would improve if they had the chance to do it all again.

1. Money. Over the course of her research, one the biggest surprises for Orbuch was the role money played in marital strife. “Many divorced singles say that money was the number one source of conflict in the early years of marriage,” she tells Yahoo! Shine. She also found that, “6 out of 10 said they would not share living expenses in their next relationship.” She recommends that each partner evaluate their own approach to spending and saving money and discuss with their spouse early on. She says there is no one-size-fits-all-financial plan, but couples need to determine their own rules and adhere to them.

Related: How much Wedding will $20,000 Buy?

 2. Affection. Another surprise was that men crave affection—but not necessarily sex—more than women. “It’s counterintuitive,” says Orbuch, “but men crave feeling special and being noticed by their wives.” She adds that men who report not getting enough nonsexual affection were twice as likely to ask for a divorce, but the reverse was not true for women. “Women are fortunate. We get this kind of affirmation from more people in our lives, our mothers, children, our best friends”—so women tend to need less from husbands.  She recommends carving out time for regular cuddling, kissing, hand holding, and saying “I love you.”

3. Blame. “When divorced couples found fault with their relationship using ‘we’ statements, they were significantly more likely to find love than those who used ‘I’ or ‘you’ statements.” Those who found blame in factors such as being incompatible or too young experienced less anxiety, insomnia, and depression than those who blamed their former partner or themselves for a break-up. Examine what went wrong in the relationship instead of assigning individual blame, suggests Orbuch, and think about how you can resolve conflict better next time.

4. Communication. Orbuch says a trap many couples fall into is “maintenance” rather than true communication. She suggests having a “10 minute rule” every day when you, “Talk to your partner about something other than work, the relationship, the house, or the children.” The key is revealing something about yourself and learning something about your spouse. “Forty-one percent of divorced people say they would change their communication style,” says Orbuch,“and, 91% of happily married couples say they know their partner intimately.”

5. Move on. Letting go of the past is a key to being in a happy relationship. This is true for people who are currently married as well as those seeking love. If you are irked by thoughts of your partner’s old boyfriend or girlfriend or of a fight that happened weeks ago, you might not be interacting in a healthy, positive way. “That animosity prevents you from being fully present,” says Orbuch. She also points out that people who felt neutral toward their ex were significantly more likely to find love after a divorce. If you can’t let go of your anger, her book outlines a number of exercises including writing a detailed letter to the person you are angry at—and burning it.

She has found fame thanks to her incredible curves so Coco knows exactly how to dress them to garner attention.

The blonde wife of Ice-T was in New Jersey earlier this month where she decided to enjoy a trip to the beach.

The 33-year-old sported a racy pink leopard print monokini that left little to the imagination.


Coco was happy to show off her voluptuous figure and even decided to run along the water, at risk of spilling out of the saucy swimsuit.

She also coordinated her outfit with hot pink lipstick, and topped off her beach look with a slick of eyeshadow.

The glamour model, whose real name is Nicole Austin, didn’t seem keen on getting wet with her perfectly coiffed platinum curls and full face of make-up, so stayed away from the ocean.


Wild thing: The reality star sported a pink leopard print monokini which showed off her figure

It's a dog's life: Coco was joined by her beloved pet pooches Spartacus and Maximus

It's a dog's life: Coco was joined by her beloved pet pooches Spartacus and Maximus

The English Bulldogs happily sprinted beside their owner as they soaked up the sunshine in Asbury Park.

Maximus, who is Spartacus’ son, trotted a little way behind his father, who remained glued to Coco’s side.

Coco is proud to be an advocate for curvy figures and posted a body confidence message on her Twitter page today.

Kristin Cavallari holds on tight to 'my massive bump' as she tucks into lasagne and cake
There aren't many times in a female celebrity's life when she can enjoy being 'massive'.
But nine months into her pregnancy Kristin Cavallari is understandably proud of her growing stomach.
The reality TV star tweeted a joyous picture of 'my massive bump' to her fans, showing her happily holding her pregnant stomach.

Blooming: Happy Kristin Cavallari posted this picture of 'my massive bump' on Twitter
Blooming: Happy Kristin Cavallari posted this picture of 'my massive bump' on Twitter
The beautiful 25-year-old looked relaxed and healthy as she posed in her kitchen for her fiance, American football star Jay Cutler. The two have made their home in Chicago, where Jay plays for the Chicago Bears.
The scene was a picture of a happy home life, with the couple's pet dog sneaking into the shot behind Kristin.


Despite her glamorous appearance in a simple shift dress the former Dancing With The Stars alumni told her fans that she 'didn't have many options but pulled something together' as she prepared for a charity event with her boyfriend.

Happy home life: Kristin tweeted that her fiancé was making her lasagne
Kristin, who found fame in The Hills, added: 'Gonna wear heels tonight for the first time in a couple months and hope I don't fall on my ass.'
She has been enjoying every moment of her first pregnancy, eating healthy food and relaxing ahead of the arrival.
Kristin has updated her fans at regular intervals, as she indulges in the occasional slice of red velvet cake or a massage from her partner.
She tweeted today: 'Jay is making me lasagna...he takes such good care of me good thing because I can barely move.'

Kristin announced she was expecting her first child with NFL quarterback fiancé Jay in January.
She had briefly split up with the 28-year-old Chicago Bears star in July last year which ended their engagement, though they were back together by November. 

“I do not believe in superstars. For me the only superstar has been Dilip Kumar [ Images ] and he will always be. I don’t consider anybody after him as a superstar,” said Bollywood actress and MP Jaya Bachchan in New Delhi [ Images ], while interacting with Indian Women’s Press Corps.

Jaya surprised all of us with her attitude, her smartness and her haughty self. She was tough, but humorous as well. It goes to her credit that she kept more than 70 women journalists engaged for more than an hour.

She came across as a cultured citizen in her thinking about current issues, quite dominating in small things of life and edgy about her surroundings. She was looking for interaction with women journalists and not a press conference. Like all celebrities, she disliked uncomfortable questions.

Bachchan was quite irritated by two television reporters who were using their mobile phones incessesantly, sitting in the front row. At one point, she said, “My mind works faster than my hands, unlike these two girls’ hands.”

At one point she seriously objected to still photographers who were shooting her pictures while squatting on the floor that angle would not do her justice.

She took on reporters who started asking questions about Amitabh Bachchan [ Images ] and Samajwadi party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav [ Images ] which she refused to answer. She said, “I am not standing in the dock. I am not a thief.”

Later she relented and answered a few of them. She said that she had to face difficult moments in her party when she disagreed, but could not comment on it because she didn’t want to look undisciplined.

When asked was it difficult to maintain her own identity in her life with Bachchan? She said, “I belong to a middle class family from Bhopal. My father was fearless. I am greatly influenced by my father who was a journalist. My parents never sat down to teach me anything; they lived exemplary life to set a lesson for me.’

While lauding Dilip Kumar she indirectly conveyed that she doesn’t consider her husband Amitabh Bachchan as a superstar or even a super actor. It was an unforgettable moment to see such honesty and courage to express her view in front of cameras.

She claimed she liked Irrfan Khan [ Images ] and Raghubir Yadav’s [ Images ] acting, and also liked to watch Arsad Warsi and Atul Kukarni’s films.

When asked about her son Abhishek Bachchan’s [ Images ] handicap of acting under father Amitabh’s shadow, she said, “If he really has it in him, then he will overcome the towering figure (Amitabh). He must struggle in order to achieve. I know when Amitji came ( in film industry) people used to say ‘are you mad? Why are you working with this guy? He will never make it.’ Same people who said this have worked with him, regularly, later.”

President Shri Pranab Mukherjee, 76, was sworn into office in a resplendent ceremony held in the Central Hall of Parliament. He replaces Pratibha Patil, India’s first woman president, and will serve a five-year term.

Millions of people across India watched as President Mukherjee was sworn in followed by a 21-gun salute accompanied by applause from lawmakers and top military brass. Mr. Mukherjee’s presidency has been warmly received with the hope and expectancy befitting a dedicated public servant who has been charged with navigating the country to greater prosperity.

His acceptance speech was peppered with the usual platitudes – specifically, commitments to end hunger, implement development programs, and create opportunities for young Indians to embrace entrepreneurship and thus improve their economic situation.

Each of these are laudable goals, but in a country with nearly 1.3 billion inhabitants according to a 2011 World Bank survey, this is a gargantuan and complex undertaking that would in all likelihood take years if not decades of concerted effort to ameliorate.

However, Mr. Mukherjee has the benefit of heading a nation that has the fastest growing economy in the world. According to a Morgan Stanley report, India is poised to accelerate its growth rate to 9-9.5% over 2013-15, driven by a sterling demographic dividend, continuing structural reform and globalization.”

Mr. Mukherjee  is a veteran government official who has served as foreign minister, defense minister and finance minister, the latter twice. Each of these roles recommends him to the position to which he has been elected, but his position as defense minister provides insight into the portion of his speech in which he spoke about terrorism.

He stated that, “We are in the midst of a fourth world war; the third was the Cold War, but it was very warm in Asia, Africa and Latin America till it ended in the early 1990s. The war against terrorism is the fourth. India has been on the front line of this war long before many others recognized its vicious depth or consequences.” (Source: Hindustan Times)

This commitment to sustaining the strong relationship between India, its allies, and the U.S., with which it shares an extensive cultural, strategic, military, and economic relationship, is vital to successfully combating the ongoing fight against extremism in Asia and beyond.

Greenland ice, it seems, can vanish in a flash, with new satellite images showing that over just a few days this month nearly all of the veneer of surface ice atop the island's massive ice sheet had thawed.

That's a record for the largest area of surface melt on Greenland in more than 30 years of satellite observations, according to NASA and university scientists.

The images, snapped by three satellites, showed that about 40 percent of the ice sheet had thawed at or near the surface on July 8; just days later, on July 12, images showed a dramatic increase in melting with thawing across 97 percent of the ice sheet surface.

"This was so extraordinary that at first I questioned the result: was this real or was it due to a data error?" said Son Nghiem of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., referring to the July 12 images taken by the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Oceansat-2 satellite.

Nghiem had reason to be baffled, as this record ice-melt is well above average: About half of Greenland's surface ice tends to melt every summer, with the meltwater at higher elevations quickly refreezing in place and the coastal meltwater either pooling on top of the ice or draining into the sea. [Giant Ice: Photos of Greenland's Glaciers]

Instruments on two other satellites proved out Nghiem's findings — the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites

Data from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder on a U.S. Air Force meteorological satellite also confirmed the mind-blowing melt.

As for what caused the disappearing ice, University of Georgia, Athens climatologist Thomas Mote suggests it could be a ridge or dome of warm air hovering over Greenland that coincided with the extreme melt.

"Each successive ridge has been stronger than the previous one," Mote said in a NASA statement. The latest in a series of these heat domes, which have dominated Greenland weather since May, began to move over Greenland on July 8, before coming to a halt over the ice sheet some three days later. By July 16, the heat dome had started to dissipate.

Signs of ice melt were even found around Summit Station in central Greenland, which at 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) above sea level is near to the highest point of the ice sheet.

"Ice cores from Summit show that melting events of this type occur about once every 150 years on average," said study researcher Lora Koenig, a glaciologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "With the last one happening in 1889, this event is right on time," Koenig said in a statement.

The melting of such a huge ice sheet — spanning an area of 656,000 square miles (1.7 million square kilometers) — is important for various reasons, particularly its potential effect on sea levels. If melted completely, the Greenland ice sheet could contribute 23 feet (7 meters) to global sea-level rise, according to a 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the international body charged with assessing climate change.

When Beth Feeback bought two large paintings at $9.99 each from a Goodwill store in North Carolina, the artist intended to paint over them. It’s a good thing she didn’t.

One of the paintings turned out to be the work “Vertical Diamond” by notable 20th century artist Ilya Bolotowsky, and Sotheby’s, the world-famous auction house, has valued it at between $15,000 and $20,000.

Sotheby’s will auction the painting Sept. 21, Feeback said Monday.

Feeback, 45, described the series of events that led her to the painting. She and her husband had gone to display their own artwork April 28 at an art fair in Oak Ridge, N.C. The day was chilly and Feeback hadn’t dressed for the weather. She remembered having passed a Goodwill store on the way to the fair, so she asked her husband, Steve, to watch their things so she could go to the store to find a blanket or afghan to cover up.

She quickly found a throw and a pair of gloves. Then she spotted two large paintings done in red, white and blue.

“I thought they would be awesome canvases. They were $9.99 a piece and I just thought they would be great to just draw on them and paint over them because I didn’t like them as paintings. They were really ‘70s kind of looking, but not ‘70s in that fun, kitschy way, ‘70s in a different way that I don’t really enjoy, so I was like, ‘I’m going to paint big cat heads or whatever,’” Feeback, who specializes in pet portraits, said. “I was going to paint on them and so I bought them.”

She showed them to a friend at the art fair, and her friend spotted labels on the backs of the canvases that read: “Weatherspoon Art Gallery. University of North Carolina – Greensboro.” Her friend told her to find out more about the paintings before she painted them over.

Feeback took the canvases home and they languished in her art studio until mid-June. She nearly painted over them a few times.

“But I decided, you know, I’ll check, I’ll Google these guys. The first one I Google was Bolotowsky. And I Google it and the first thing I saw was the Wikipedia page and I was like, ‘Holy crap. I better get those up off the floor over there,’” she recalled. “And then it just went crazy. When I saw what it was I thought, ‘This painting has got to be worth something, but what do I do now? I don’t know anything about selling a valuable painting.’  We made $200 at the art show that day.”

Bolotowsky was an abstract painter who fled his native Russian and settled in Brooklyn in 1923.  He died in 1981.

On the advice of friends, she contacted Sotheby’s in New York, sending pictures of the painting and the labels on the front and back. They got back to her with the news, and asked her to send them the painting.

She and her husband shipped the Bolotowsky canvas via UPS, insuring it for $20,000, she said.

Feeback said she came close to never having even seen the paintings. The previous owners were a married couple who had bought the paintings at a textile company’s liquidation sale and they planned to put them in the basement of their home, but the canvases were simply too large.

We're certainly far from the halls of William McKinley High. "Glee" star Lea Michele, who's used to sporting knee-highs and plaid skirts on the small screen, stunned on Monday night's Fox All Stars red carpet in a plunging blush-colored dress. The 25-year-old finished off her look with a silver belt, champagne satin pumps and a casual side braid.
But Michele's red carpet coup wasn't an automatic win. Fellow Fox stars Zooey Deschanel, Hannah Simone and Cat Deeley all gave the Broadway baby a run for her money.

Miami Swim Week Bikini Almost Reveals Too Much On Bottom

Flies may not scream out in ecstasy during sex, but they do create quite a buzz with their wings. And now researchers have found these mating moans can be heard by bats hungry for a meal.

The result: Wild Natterer's bats get a double-size meal of copulating flies; the mating flies, rather than offspring, get death.

In the study, detailed this week in the journal Current Biology, Stefan Greif from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany and colleagues found bats didn't seem to notice the flies walking on a ceiling or just sitting. That suggests there's something about mating sounds that outs the flies to bat predators.

The researchers said this is one of very few studies to show that copulating animals are at a higher risk of being eaten by predators. Other examples include studies on amphipods, water striders and other aquatic insects, as well as land insects like the Australian plague locust.

In a cowshed in Marburg, Germany, the researchers video-recorded the movements of 9,000 houseflies over four years. Results showed the flies rarely fly at night, when they mainly sit or run on the ceiling; the faint, lower frequency, noise made by these movements, it seems, was drowned out by a strong background echo. [The Animal Sex Quiz]

"The faint insect echo [of non-mating flies] is fully overlapped and masked by massive echoes from the background," the researchers write.

Is it ok to use fun night lights for kids?  Why not?  If a child’s room is the haven where they are able to unwind and relax, why not jazz it up a bit with some fun touches.  It reminds me of the saying from our moms; “Remember, less is more”. That is how I view the kid’s rooms, especially with Henry.  Due to his autism, Henry is very, very particular about what goes into his room and if it will work according to his requirements.  Since it is his room, I defer to him whenever possible.  Obviously I won’t cater to his every whim, but as far as decorating, I feel pretty good about letting him decide.  Many kids with autism have trends in which an object moves from them liking it to being obsessed about it.  We have had SpongeBob and Spiderman phases where EVERYTHING had to have the character on it, which included everything from bedding to a dinner plate and cup.  That phase moved on to dinosaurs, so his bedroom currently is filled with dinosaurs on the walls, pictures and even his treasure box.  His latest thing is night lights, which is why I have reviewed more than one lately!  He has decided he wants to collect them and he cannot sleep unless they are all in his room and are all arranged on his bed in chronological order of the dates they were received. Oh how I love OCD!!

Jailbreak Collective is a really fun company that sells some really clever and unique products.  This indie company is located in Brooklyn, where I am pretty sure they find quirky inspiration several times a day!  I appreciate the fact that the folks at Jailbreak are looking out for their fellow artists by helping them get exposure for their craft.  On the Jailbreak website, you can find your very own Obama action figure or a “like” and “dislike” stamp, which I think is absolutely hilarious.  The talented people at the Jailbreak design studio imagine, dream, think out of the box and in general make people smile with their products.  That is what I am talking about folks…Smile!!  Have fun!! Don’t take life so seriously!
Colorful Bedroom Lights

So, now that Henry has a collection of colorful lights in his room, what could he possibly want?  Um…a light that looks like a big gummy bear candy.  The kids and I watch iCarly and there was an episode where Carly’s older brother Spencer makes her a gummy lamp to cheer her up.  The problem with the gummy lamp is that it was made with real gummy bear candies and they melted.  Bearing that in mind, when Henry saw me looking at the GummyGood night lights on Jailbreak’s website, he went bat crazy jumping on the bed and singing about gummy bears.  Thanks to the people at Jailbreak, they offered Henry a red GummyGood night light ($29.99) in red.  All you need to do is pop in 2 AA batteries, close up the battery cover, press your GummyGood’s tummy and enjoy the colored light show on your child’s ceiling.  The GummyGood light even has a hole in the back for hanging if you prefer.  We have enjoyed our red GummyGood light and I bet your little one would as well.

Nearly two years after spotting Gliese 581g, the celebrated "first potentially habitable" alien world, the planet's discoverers continue to fight for its existence.

The discovery of Gliese 581g made headlines around the world in September 2010, because the planet was said to orbit in the middle of its star's "habitable zone" — that just-right range of distances where liquid water, and perhaps life as we know it, could exist.

Just a few weeks later, however, another prominent research team began casting doubt on the find, saying the alien planet didn't show up in their observations. This group, led by Michel Mayor of the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland, had found the previously known four planets in the Gliese 581 system.

But in a new study that will be published Aug. 1, 581g's discoverers examine the Swiss team's since-expanded data set and take issue with their conclusions, saying that the evidence supports the planet's existence after all.

The data and analyses "point to there being at least one other planet beyond the confirmed 4, a 5th planet, with a period in the 26-39-day regime," lead author Steve Vogt, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, told SPACE.com via email. [The Strangest Alien Planets]

"This 5th planet would have a mass of only 2-3 [times that of] Earth, and would orbit pretty much squarely in the star's habitable zone," he added.

Dressed like the Dream Team, tested like its predecessor never was.

The U.S. Olympic men's basketball team held on for an 86-80 exhibition victory over Argentina on Sunday, insisting it didn't expect an easy game and not believing there's benefit to one, anyway.

"I love it. You hate to breeze through exhibition games and then you get into London, and then you start getting competitive," U.S. forward LeBron James said. "So we have a very good team. It doesn't matter about how many points you win by, you just want to play well and get better that night, and I feel like we got better tonight."

Kevin Durant scored 27 points for the Americans, who wore the throwback uniforms of the 1992 Dream Team for their return to Barcelona. They looked like the Hall of Fame squad during a superb opening 10 minutes, but their lead was down to four with 2:50 left after Manu Ginobili's three-point play.

Durant and Chris Paul then hit big 3-pointers as the Americans won after being pushed for the second time in their four exhibition games. Kobe Bryant added 18 points and James had 15 for the U.S., which beat Brazil 80-69 in a similarly rugged game last week in Washington.

"It's tough. Argentina's a very good team, very tough-minded," Bryant said. "They continue to play hard and for us it was a big challenge to try to put the game away, we could just never do it."

Ginobili scored 23 points, Carlos Delfino had 15 and Luis Scola 14 for Argentina.

Back in Barcelona, where the Dream Team won gold 20 years earlier in historic and overwhelmingly easy fashion, the U.S. players wore that team's throwback uniforms. The white uniforms with red and blue along the side and USA in the middle also had the letters "CD" in gold on the left shoulder in honor of Chuck Daly, the Dream Team coach who died in 2009.

"Those uniforms was nice," said Carmelo Anthony, wearing the No. 15 of Magic Johnson. "In the locker room, everybody was taking pictures with the uniforms. It just brings back so many memories from back then in '92."

Otherwise, the Americans are more interested in building for London than reflecting too much on the past. Coach Mike Krzyzewski, a Dream Team assistant, made that clear Saturday at practice when he was asked about the old days.

"I'm not here to sight see ... this isn't me doing a reminisce tour in my retirement," he said.

The two games here should certainly help them get ready. The Americans play Spain on Tuesday, a rematch of their 118-107 win in the gold-medal game four years ago.

First was Argentina, which won the 2004 Olympic gold medal, beating the U.S. in the semifinals. The Americans returned the favor four years later in the same round before recapturing the gold.

They call soccer the "beautiful game," but an argument could be made that beach volleyball is the most beautiful game. Wives might object to their husbands sitting in front of the TV and watching tall bikini-clad women jumping and diving in the sand if it weren't for the fact that volleyball is a legitimate Olympic sport.

But there's a storm on the horizon (or, simply put, English weather), and it could cause volleyball players to bundle up in the equivalent of long underwear instead of bathing suits. The forecast calls for highs in the 60s early next week, with up to a 30 percent chance of rain. When you factor in night matches, that's not exactly bikini weather. Some beach volleyball players are ready to take precaution.

"We need it to keep our muscles warm," said Australian Tamsin Hinchley.

Nevertheless, beach volleyball is expected to draw crowds -- some half a million are predicted to come out for about 100 matches -- despite a relatively brief stint at the Olympics. It was introduced at the 1996 Games in Atlanta.

It's not like it's "Baywatch-with-a-ball," but if the weather doesn't cooperate, NBC may want to trot out some reruns of Sydney circa 2000 to avoid a ratings hit.

Jokes about the Colorado shooting are not only "too soon," they are the furthest thing from "humor," according to Canadian producer Deadmau5 -- formally known as Joel Zimmerman. So when Playboy model Tricia Evans tweeted about "The Dark Knight Rises" being a movie "to die for" Deadmau5 quickly blasted the centerfold.

Last Friday evening, not 24 hours after the Aurora, Colo., shooting occurred at the Century 16 theater where 12 moviegoers were killed, Evans tweeted:

Since her heated interaction with the producer, Evans has tweeted a slew of messages regarding her joke about the Colorado shooting. She also retweeted some of the more vitriolic messages she received, which included death threats.

The Playmate's responses ran the gamut from apologetic ("I understand and I appreciate that! I can take being offended but it got taken a little too far. No harm/no foul") to anger ("Where would it get me? Lynched? Like u pieces of s--- on here? Just showing what stupid animals human beings r") to philosophic ("offering forgiveness with a heart full of understanding rather than a fist full of resentment is one of the most amazing things you can do") to flippancy ("Love me, hate me, say what u want about me, but all of the boys & all of the girls r beggin' 2 If u seek Amy").

Deadmau5, who is known for his candidness on Twitter, expressed nothing but sorrow over the harrowing event that unfolded in Colorado in the early morning hours of July 20.