On September 8, 2012, a suicide bomb ripped through the diplomatic quarter in Kabul, right outside the headquarters of ISAF in the Afghan capital. No members of the international coalition were harmed in the attack. Instead, six young Afghan children lost their lives.

Four of the children were members of Skateistan, the skateboarding school in Kabul that made headlines last month when a photo captured an Afghan girl skateboarding in Bamiyan.

The blast in front of the ISAF compound killed 14-year-old Khorshid, one of Skateistan's rising stars and an instructor for young girls. According to the organization, Khorshid was "a role model for up to 160 girls attending Skateistan each week." Khorshid's 8-year-old sister Parwana, who had just joined Skateistan, also died in the attack.

Fourteen-year-old Khorshid was an instructor at Skateistan. (Skateistan)

8-year-old Parwana died in a suicide blast in Kabul on Sept. 8. (Skateistan)

Seventeen-year-old Nawab, another skater who also lost his life in the attack, had won the 2012 Go Skateboarding Day boys’ competition, while 13-year-old Mohammad Eeza was one of Skateistan's original students.

According to the New York Times, the four children frequented the area near the ISAF compound every day after school and on public holidays to sell scarves and chewing gum and to beg to help support their families.

In a statement on its website, Skateistan wrote:

    It is with great pain and heavy hearts that we share our memories of children who were not just victims of senseless violence, but also beautiful human beings who will never be forgotten by their teachers, peers, co-workers, students, friends or family.

Founded by Australian Oliver Percovich, Skateistan attempts to keep Afghan children off the street and combines skateboarding with education. Rhianon Bader, media officer for the organization, told the BBC that the organization will continue its activities in Kabul despite the tragic incident.

It doesn't get any easier for Lindsay Lohan: The "Liz & Dick" actress was arrested early Wednesday morning in New York for "leaving the scene of an accident and causing physical injury," a spokesperson with the New York Police Department told NBC News.

According to the spokesperson, Lohan, 26, was driving a 2010 Porsche SUV down an alley on the west side of Manhattan, heading to the Dream Hotel, when she struck a pedestrian while traveling at a low speed.

The NYPD spokesperson said Lohan went into the hotel on West 16th Street after the accident and was arrested after she came out at 2:30 a.m. Lohan was booked, issued a desk appearance ticket and released without bail.

TMZ reports that alcohol was not involved. The 34-year-old pedestrian was injured in the knee and taken to Bellevue Hospital where he was in stable condition, Reuters reported.

Though she was released from formal probation in March of this year after being charged in 2007 with drunk driving and cocaine possession, the actress remains on informal probation until 2014 in connection with the theft of jewelry in 2011. According to Access Hollywood, the L.A. City Attorney's office has forwarded information about the incident to the relevant authorities. It's unclear if Lohan will be charged with a violation of probation.

A Southern California chef on trial for allegedly killing his wife told police he slow-cooked her body then dumped it out as kitchen waste, according to an interview that was played in court on Tuesday.


Dawn Viens disappeared in 2009 and police identified her husband David – the chef at the former Thyme Café in Torrance, Calif. – as a prime suspect.

In 2011, investigators dug up the Thyme Café, which Dawn co-owned, searching for her body. But in a taped interview played Tuesday in court, David Viens seemed to tell police why her remains may never be found.


"I took some, some things like weights that we use and I put them on the top of her body, and I just slowly cooked it and I ended up cooking her for four days," Viens said on tape.

Documents: Read David Viens' interview with deputies

Viens claimed he argued with his wife, then bound her arms and feet and duct-taped her mouth shut. He said he panicked when he found her dead the next morning.

Viens claimed he stuffed his wife's 105-pound body in a drum and disposed of the remains as if it were kitchen waste.

"I came up with the idea of cleaning the grease traps and commingling in the, the excess, the excess protein," he could be heard saying on the tape.

David Viens told police he recovered Dawn's skull and jawbone and hid them in his mother's attic. Investigators say they never recovered any body parts.

After a relatively calm period which saw her all loved up with Taylor Kinney, it seems the old Lady Gaga is back and up to her old shocking tricks.

Gaga was seen puffing on a "wondrous" spliff during her Born This Way Ball show in Amsterdam last night.

lady gaga

Lady G told the crowd of it's "medical wonders" as she sparked up a fancy fag on stage, claiming it was the "appropriate place" to talk about her love of the drug, since it has been effectively decriminalised in the capital of Holland.

"I want you to know it has totally changed my life and I've really cut down on drinking. It has been a totally spiritual experience for me with my music," GaGa told fans at the gig, according to The Sun.

The star - who then donned a customised weed t-shirt thrown to her on stage by a fan - joked she was going to have a word with Barack Obama to get the drug legalised all over the world.

She then claimed the marijuana leaf is the "new peace sign" and added: "It's like saying everybody needs to take a breath and it's going to be okay."

Later on Gaga was seen arriving back at her hotel looking relatively normal.

She'd donned a floral tulip dress in tribute to Holland's national flower.

Earlier on in the day, her outfit was suitably ridiculous though.

President Barack Obama attended a fundraiser at Jay-Z's 40/40 Club in Manhattan that featured a champagne tower of 350 bottles worth $105,000 - more than twice the median household income of an American family.

The tower of $300-a-bottle Armand de Brignac Brut Gold, known as 'Ace of Spades' because of its label, is a permanent fixture at the club.

'It’s floor-to-ceiling gold bottles in the entire space,' a 40/40 representative told the New York Post. 'It’s beautiful—breathtaking. It’s the first thing you see when you walk in.'

The median income for an American family was $51,413 in 2011.

$105,000: The champagne tower at the Tower 40/40 Club that costs twice the average income of a US family

Some 100 people attended the $40,000-per-person event, which took place after Obama spoke to 200 donors at a $12,500-per-family reception at the Waldorf Astoria. The total campaign cash haul for the day was $6 million.

At the 40/40 Club, the singer Beyonce introduced Obama and said that she and her husband Jay-Z 'believe in his vision'.

Obama said: 'Let me just begin by saying to Jay and Bey, thank you so much for your friendship. We are so grateful. Michelle and Malia and Sasha are mad at me because they are not here.

'That doesn’t usually happen. Usually they’re like, we’re glad you’re going–we don’t need to go. But every time they get a chance to see these two they are thrilled, partly because they are just both so generous, particularly to my kids. And Malia and Sasha just love both of them.'

Classy: Obama told the guests, including Solange Knowles, seen arriving for the event (right), that he couldn't think of a better role model for his girls than Beyonce, because of her 'poise' (pictured  with Jay Z last month)


40/40 Club: Obama also compared himself to Jay-Z at the event, saying he knows'what my life is like. We both have daughters, and our wives are more popular than we are.'

Obama stated that Beyonce “couldn’t be a better role model for our daughters because she carries herself with such class and poise'.

He then compared himself to Jay-Z. 'Jay-Z now knows what my life is like. We both have daughters, and our wives are more popular than we are. So we’ve got a little bond there. It’s hard, but it’s okay.'

Like him, Beyonce and Jay-Z came from humble backgrounds, he said. 'And the good thing about so many of us here–and I know, I speak for Jay and Bey–is we remember what it’s like not having anything, and we know people who were just as talented as us that didn’t get the same break, the same chance.

    'You have to be President for ALL America': Obama responds to Romney 'writing off big chunks of the country' on Letterman before partying with Jay-Z and Beyoncé
    Revealed, Obama's 'secret tape': Mitt Romney seizes on 1998 recording of future president saying 'he likes redistribution' of wealth

'We remember some of our parents or grandparents who came here as immigrants and got a little bit of help along the way to go to that school or be able to start that first business.'

Armand de Brignac first gained widespread attention in the video for Jay-Z's song 'Show Me What You Got' in 2006. It showed Jay-Z being presented with the distinctive gold bottle in a silver briefcase.


Celebrity circles: The President also appeared on Letterman last night where he said he stands up for 'ALL America' following the 47% furor over Romney's secret tapes

David Beckham and George Clooney, a prominent Obama supporter, are among those said to enjoy Armand de Brignac.

The name Armand de Brignac is taken from the hero of a 1950s romantic novel. It is  produced in the village of Chigny Les Roses in Champagne-Ardennes.

Both Obama and his opponent Mitt Romney are frantically holding fundraisers even in the final stretch of the campaign to raise to avoid being swamped by attacks ads.

And it was at a $50,000-a-head May fundraiser in Boca Raton, Florida, some months ago that Romney made his controversial comments about his job being to not worry about the 47 per cent of Americans who do not pay income tax.

Obama accused Mitt Romney of 'writing off big chunks of the country' and rebuked his rival's claims that nearly half of all Americans believe they are 'victims' entitled to sponge off the government.

On the Late Show with David Letterman, Obama added that anyone seeking the presidency ought to be for 'everyone, not just for some' and talked about the hard work of single mothers and auto workers.

The Twenty20 cricket World Cup is being hosted by Sri Lanka from September 18 to October 7. Twelve nations are participating in the tournament. Here is the schedule for matches in the qualifying group stage.

GROUP STAGE

Match 1: Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe

Group C

Tuesday, September 18

Result: Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe by 82 runs. Read story here

Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Hambantota

Match 2: Australia v Ireland

Group B

Result:: Australia beat Ireland by seven wickets. Read match report here

3:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 19

R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

Match 3: Afghanistan v India

Group A

7:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 19

R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

Match 4: South Africa v Zimbabwe

Group C

7:30 p.m. Thursday, September 20

Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Hambantota

Match 5: Bangladesh v New Zealand

Group D

3:30 p.m. Friday, September 21

Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele

Match 6: Afghanistan v England

Group A

7:30 p.m. Friday, September 21

R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

Match 7: Sri Lanka v South Africa

Group C

3:30 p.m. Saturday, September 22

Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Hambantota

Match 8: Australia v West Indies

Group B

7:30 p.m. Saturday, September 22

R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

Match 9: New Zealand v Pakistan

Group D

3:30 p.m. Sunday, September 23

Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele

Match 10: England v India

Group A

7:30 p.m. Sunday, September 23

R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

Match 11: Ireland v West Indies \

Group B

7:30 p.m. Monday, September 24

R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

Match 12: Bangladesh v Pakistan

Group D

7:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 25

Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele

The group stage winners battle it out in the Super Eights starting September 27.

See pictures of Team India in action at the T20 World Cup 2012 here

See pictures of players in action at the T20 World Cup 2012 here

(Source: Official T20 World Cup website www.iccworldtwenty20.com)

We learned everything we needed to know about Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler on Tuesday. During an appearance on ESPN 1000 , Cutler was asked whether there was one throw he wished he could take back from his disastrous performance in Thursday's 23-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers. Cutler's response revealed a capacity for compartmentalizing that should be the envy of anyone with aspirations for emotional and social detachment.

After pausing for a moment, Cutler chose a pass that receiver Brandon Marshall dropped in the end zone early in the third quarter as the Bears trailed 13-0.

"I wish I had that one back," Cutler said. "The picks? You can have those. The one I would take back was the one to Brandon off his hands. ... I put it up probably just a half-count quicker than I wanted to. Felt a little bit of pressure and put it up. 'B' will tell you it was a catchable ball. But I could have made it 10 times easier for him, just putting it up a little to the left and holding him up a little bit. He crushed the guy on his route, and that could have made it easier on him. ... That could have changed the complexion of the game."

The picks? You can have those.

Here you have a quarterback who turned in one of the worst performances in the past 10 years of NFL play, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, glossing over his four interceptions as if they were merely a function of the game flow. Instead, Cutler suggested his biggest regret was not fine-tuning a still-catchable touchdown pass that would have left the Bears facing a second-half deficit.

Tuesday was Cutler's first public appearance since a postgame interview Thursday night, and to me it confirmed a remarkable world view that aligns independently from ordinary human nature. Cutler can toss aside a four-interception, seven-sack performance and criticize a nuanced improvement to a play on which he had already done his job. He can suggest that "your opinion does not matter to us" when it's negative or critical, as he did Tuesday, but claim "it really meant a lot" when several fans approached him over the weekend to offer encouragement.

And, perhaps most amazing of all, Cutler can insist with an apparently straight face that he did not lose his composure at any point during what sure appeared to be a wild, but not atypical performance. That assessment apparently covered his sideline confrontation with left tackle J'Marcus Webb. Indeed, Cutler repeatedly blamed the media for escalating the issue and making it "bigger than all of us expected," adding, "That's what you have to expect from the media."

Cutler also added, "Oh, I think I had my composure. I think I had my composure the whole game. Under the circumstances, we moved the ball well at times. Obviously some mistakes on my part, and other guys derailed us at times. Penalties, interceptions, stuff like that. But I had my composure. I knew what I was doing. We were calling the plays, and everything was going smoothly."

If what we saw Thursday night was composed, I would hate to see Cutler when he is upset.

The Web is having a conversation about senior sex, and it's a mixed bag of disgust, defensiveness, zealotry, and hope.

For the young, sex over 60 is comedy tinged with embarrassment. They view with alarm parents' and grandparents' forays into the erotic, and speak of it in cartoon terms.

For senior sex activists, sex over 60 is cause for slash and burn advocacy that must leave no impediment to the doggone truth that senior sex is hot, hot, hot.

For merchandisers, pitching sex toys to seniors has paid off handsomely, and there is a growing enthusiasm for senior porn (the wildly popular Japanese porn star Shigeo Tokuda is 76).

For seniors themselves, it's a tug-of-war between can-do and eee--eww. Passion remains undiminished for healthy men and women, but it can be tempered by poor body image, strength and flexibility issues, absent partners, and the way our culture has framed sex as athletic performance.

We need to consolidate the senior sex discussion in a hurry. Dr. Aubrey De Grey, a biomedical gerontologist, has famously said that the person who will live to be 150 has already been born. I hope this means that soon no one will dare to think that a 60th birthday is a cutoff date for sexual endeavor. Who wants to live their last 90 years without sex?

The idea persists that vibrant, energetic sex is only for the young -- what could be left for us older folks but fond memories and chaste hugs? Most egregious of the end-of-sex myths is the belief that erectile dysfunction routinely descends upon men in late middle age. Whether or not this myth is encouraged by companies eager to sell drugs and devices, and by stand-up comics with an excess of ED jokes, the fact is that too many 50-plus men believe it, and too many waste time and libido waiting sullenly for the day when the equipment fizzles and dies, like a fuse in a dimmer switch.

In the days when I traveled long miles with a three-man documentary film crew, we filled the time with chatter about whatever came to mind. One winter afternoon, as we drove into the sunset, the cameraman let us know he'd soon mark his fiftieth birthday. "At this age a man loses his sexual powers," he said gloomily, without a trace of irony.

I waited for manly and dismissive guffaws from the other two men, who were also in their mid-to-late forties. Instead there were grim nods and grunts of acceptance. I was stunned at the moment and later quite sad. With their brains working against them (the brain being the body's largest sex organ) all three of these seemingly vigorous guys were in for some profoundly unnecessary disappointment.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, who calls the penis "the beautiful dipstick of health," and Dr. Michael Roizen, author of The RealAge Makeover, are working to overcome age-bound impotence theories. They are among many in the medical and scientific communities who proclaim that sex is central to well-being at any age. They support studies that show a relationship between satisfying sex and longevity. "The more sex a person has, the less aging he or she will undergo," Dr. Roizen promises.

Both doctors are cautious about forming simple truths from the still-small body of sex-longevity research, but they are convinced that high quality orgasms -- and plenty of them -- help us live longer. People who engage in robust sexual activity seem less likely to succumb to age-related diseases, they say.

Yes, you did read the headline correctly. After featherweight champ Jose Aldo forced the planet’s premier mixed martial arts promotion to scramble for a new UFC 153 main event, middleweight king Anderson Silva (Pictured) has agreed to serve as a last-minute substitute to fight Stephan Bonnar in a light heavyweight affair.

Our partners at USAToday reported the October 13th shootout Wednesday evening.

Silva previously professed his 2012 campaign was a wrap after beating Chael Sonnen in July. However, “The Spider” offered up his services to salvage UFC 151 when Jon Jones declined a last-second scrap with Sonnen to save the September 1st event, but it was too late.

The baddest middleweight in bare feet was willing to compete in a 205-pound bout because he wasn’t in a position to make middleweight at the time. It seems like that will once again be the case.

Of Silva’s 15 Octagon forays, two have been at light heavyweight. He easily knocked out James Irvin (2008) and Forrest Griffin (2009), respectively, in those outings.

After running the reverse trifecta, Bonnar has bounced back to rattle off three consecutive victories. The former “The Ultimate Fighter 1” finalist was last seen taking a decision win over Kyle Kingsbury at UFC 139.

HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil hosts the fiesta.

Here is the show’s revised lineup:

    Preliminary Card:

    (Facebook 6:45PM ET/3:45PM PT)

    Cristiano Marcello vs. Reza Madadi

    Luiz Cane vs. Chris Camozzi

    Sergio Moraes vs. Renee Forte

    (FX 8PM/5PM)

    Joey Gambino vs. Diego Brandao

    Francisco Trinaldo vs. Gleison Tibau

    Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Geronimo dos Santos

    Rony “Jason” Bezerra vs. Sam Sicilia

    Main Card:

    (Pay-Per-View 10PM ET/7PM PT)

    Demian Maia vs. Rick Story

    Phil Davis vs. Wagner Prado

    Jon Fitch vs. Erick Silva

    Dave Herman vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

    Glover Teixeira vs. Fabio Maldonado

    Stephan Bonnar vs. Anderson Silva

Most of us will never accumulate millions in our bank accounts. But in a real-life "Richie Rich" story, the daughter of late actor Dennis Hopper has done just that – and she’s only 9 years old. Galen Grier Hopper has inherited a trust fund of $2.25 million cash and $600,000 worth of property from the "Easy Rider" actor's estate, according to TMZ, which cites legal documents. The millions are a fraction of Hopper's fortune that included properties in California, New Mexico, and North Carolina, plus an extensive art collection featuring works by artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel, and Frank Gehry. The legal docs reportedly stipulate that Galen's mother and Hopper's estranged wife Victoria Duffy have absolutely no access to the money.

Hopper was still legally married to Duffy when he died from prostate cancer at 74 in May 2010. At the time, the couple were embroiled in a divorce that was bitter even by Hollywood standards. The couple reportedly met in the early '90s when she was a waitress at a restaurant he frequented, and married in 1996. But they fought often, and stopped having sex several years before he filed for divorce in January 2010, according to The Daily Beast. (He was already living in the Beverly Hills Hotel at the time.) Later, he filed for several restraining orders against Duffy, who is in her mid-40s. When a judge ordered Duffy out of Hopper's Venice, California, home, she filed a court document arguing that she needed to stay because she expected to be completely cut out of Hopper's will. She reportedly complained that the divorce settlement didn't provide enough money to take care of the couple's only child, Galen. Looks like she doesn't have to worry about that now!


Though Galen made out well when it comes to her father's will, she was often the victim found in the middle of the heated battle between her parents. She didn't attend her father's funeral, for example, because Duffy was uninvited. Hopper's ex reportedly received a letter from the actor's attorney hours before the Taos, New Mexico, service that stated Duffy was not welcome. It acknowledged that Duffy had stated Galen would not be allowed to attend without her, but requested that Galen be allowed to attend anyway. She was not.