WebProNews

Author: Lacy Langley

  • George Clooney Sends Canadian Women Into Frenzy

    Women (and some men) in Vancouver, Canada, went crazy over the past weekend hunting the rare silver fox. His name was George Clooney, and he was in town filming a movie with Hugh Laurie reportedly called Tomorrowland. The famously down-to-earth star was happy to oblige with photos and autographs, to the delight of his fans.

    Clooney visited Yaletown sushi bar, Minami, and sat right next to fellow patrons as the bar was too busy to give the star, under the psuedonym Mr. Sanchez, a private room. Or they wanted their restaurant fully stocked with eager females until filming wraps, maybe? CTV British Columbia reports that Patrick Rider, the manager of the restaurant, said the reservation came from a swanky downtown hotel.

    “They asked for a VIP table for a Mr. Sanchez so we made the reservation,” Rider said.

    He said the restaurant was very busy that night, and when Clooney arrived, there were not available tables. So they offered Clooney a spot at the sushi bar, where he dined for approximately an hour.

    “He had some sashimi and a vodka martini,” Rider said. “(He) was very, very pleased with everything.”

    “There was some buzz that was created, more amongst the female staff,” Rider said. “And obviously, some guests recognized him as well and he was very gracious allowing his picture to be taken.”

    On Friday, Clooney dined at another local casual restaurant, Joey Burrard, where he was surrounded by eager fans taking his picture. Sounds like a fun way to enjoy a meal…

    “I feel like George Clooney is very down to Earth and very ‘not Hollywood,’” Megan Edwards, an entertainment reporter for The Beat 94.5, told CTV British Columbia. “I think the women of Vancouver want to be the next girlfriend of George Clooney.”

    Many young ladies took to Twitter to boast about their Clooney experience.

    “Tomorrowland is expected to be filming in British Columbia through January, and the movie is slated to open December 2014.

    image via wikipedia

  • Beyonce: Always the Professional

    Beyonce, the enduring professional, was now-famously pulled off stage in Sao Paolo, Brazil during a show on Sunday night while performing her hit “Irreplaceable”, but afterward, met the shirtless zealot off stage, shook his hand and said, “Nice to meet you. Thank you. I love you, too.”

    However, this isn’t the only time Queen Bey has been in a close call with an amorous fan. There’s just something about “Irreplaceable” that puts fans in the mood, and apparently gives them nerve to do the unthinkable. In Copenhagen, Denmark, during her Mrs. Carter tour, a fan reached up and slapped her bootylicious behind.

    In Nashville, during, you guessed it, “Irreplaceable”, a fan recieved a hug from the sparkling songstress, and when his brush with greatness proved too much, he fainted.

    Also, on tour in Atlanta, Beyonce snapped good-naturedly at a fan while he was trying to film her instead of singing along with the rest of the audience.

    “Put that damn camera down! See, you can’t even sing because you’re too busy taping,” she said. “I’m right in your face, baby. You gotta seize this moment, baby!” Following the reprimand, the man obediently put down his smartphone and sang along to the famous line. Beyonce then approved, saying: “Yes, that’s much better.”

    Through it all, the woman never gets nasty. A true professional, through and through.

    Image via wikipedia

  • Biblical-Era Town Discovered May Be City in Mark

    A town that reportedly dates back to more than 2,000 years ago, has been discovered on the northwest coast of the Sea of Galilee, in the Ginosar valley in Israel. Yahoo reports that Ken Dark, of the University of Reading in the U.K, whose team discovered the town during a field survey, says the ancient town may be Dalmanutha, described in the Gospel of Mark as the place Jesus sailed to after miraculously feeding 4,000 people by multiplying a few fish and loaves of bread.

    Mark says that after feeding 4,000 people by miraculously multiplying a few fish and loaves of bread, Jesus “got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha. The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply and said, ‘Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.’Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.” (Mark 8:10-13, NIV)

    The Christian Science Monitor reports that the archaeological team also determined that a boat, dating to around 2,000 years ago, that was uncovered in 1986, was found on the shoreline of the newly discovered town. The boat was reported on two decades ago but the discovery of the town just now provides information on what lay close to it. The evidence suggests the town was quite prosperous in ancient times. Dark wrote in an article published in the most recent edition of the journal Palestine Exploration Quarterly, “Vessel glass and amphora hint at wealth.” They also discovered that “weights and stone anchors, along with the access to beaches suitable for landing boats — and, of course, the first-century boat … all imply an involvement with fishing.”

    The archaeologists found that some fields between the modern town of Migdal and the coast contained numerous pottery pieces dating from as early as the second or first century B.C. to up to some point after the fifth century A.D., around the time of the Byzantine Empire. The architectural remains and pottery suggest that Jews and those following a polytheistic religion lived side by side in the community and that the town survived for many centuries. The researchers found that the southern side of the newly discovered town lies only about 500 feet away from another ancient town known as Magdala.

    The archaeologists found many examples of ancient architectural remains, some of which the modern-day townspeople had made seats or garden ornaments out of, or just left lying on the ground. In one instance, the researchers found over 40 basalt ashlar blocks in one garden. Among their finds were cubes called tesserae and limestone vessel fragments, which were “associated with Jewish purity practices in the early Roman period,” indicating the presence of a Jewish community in the town, Dark told LiveScience in an email.

    The finds also included a pagan altar, made of light-gray limestone and used in religious rituals by those of a polytheistic faith, Dark said. Discoveries also included a number of ancient column fragments, including examples of column capitals carved in the Corinthian style.

    “This settlement may have contained masonry buildings, some with mosaic floors and architectural stonework.”, Dark wrote in his paper.

    “It’s likely that the newly found town’s name is among the few locations already identified by other researchers relating to the Ginosar valley shore, and one of those places is Dalmanutha.”, Dark said.

    Image courtesy wikipedia

  • SNL Cast Newcomers are Revealed

    Saturday Night Live will begin with a bang on September 28th with Tina Fey as host and Arcade Fire as musical guests. But the late night favorite just got more interesting with a whopping 6 new cast member to replace Jason Sudeikis, Bill Hader, and Fred Armisen. The 6 Newbies survived the famously torturous SNL auditions and came out on top for SNL’s biggest revamp yet, according to UPI.

    Lorne Micheals, the creator of the incredibly long-running show said, “It’s one thing to be on a stage in Chicago or L.A.; it’s another thing to be standing in [‘SNL’ studio] 8H,” he said. “It’s like standing in Yankee Stadium. They can all play baseball, but this is something different. And the weight of all that was just more palpable to me this summer, more than ever before.”

    So, just who are these newbies we can expect belly laughs from in the upcoming season?

    Beck Bennett is a face you might recognize from AT&T’s “It’s Not Complicated” commercials, in which he poses questions to a table of children.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZh105_r2Qk

    Mike O’Brien has been an “SNL” writer since 2009, but Internet comedy fans will know him as the host of his star-studded web series, “7 Minutes in Heaven.”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHaiXtr2Gpw

    Noel Wells is the only female addition to the cast. You might know her as the popular YouTube impressionist behind the web series “Hey! The Zooey Deschanel Show” and “Manic Pixie Nightmare Girl.”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqtUcQ2u5BM

    Also on board are Upright Citizens Brigade performer John Milhiser, stand-up comedian Brooks Wheelan and Good Neighbor troupe member Kyle Mooney.

    Image via wikipedia

  • James Gandolfini’s Last Movie Opens Friday

    James Gandolfini’s Last Movie Opens Friday

    The film that features James Gandolfini’s last role before his death in June, Enough Said, premiered without it’s colorful star. His co-stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Toni Collette, and Catherine Keener were on the red carpet and described the event as “bittersweet”. The BBC reports that the late star plays a more sensitive character than audiences are used to seeing in The Sopranos.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEEJaIjF_Lo

    “This is how great an actor Jim [Gandolfini] was,” said former Seinfeld actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus. “He was no Tony Soprano. This guy was thoughtful, generous, sweet, self-effacing guy – like the character he plays in the film.”

    Co-star, Toni Collette, also described the premiere as a bittersweet affair. “I think when the experience of making a film has been so buoyant and lovely and fun, you want to celebrate that experience and share it with the world,” she said. “But also the film is dedicated to Jim. He is so divine in the movie. It will be bittersweet.”

    Many of Gandolfini’s former co-stars from The Sopranos were at the premiere, including Edie Falco, Aida Turturro and Steven Schiripa plus the show’s creator David Chase.Tony Sirico, who played Paulie in the show, also remembered his friend.

    “He’s our pal and we’re coming to pay our respects,” he said. “He might be dead, technically, but he’s still there with me. I got his pictures all over my wall. And I got a lot of years working behind him. Jimmy had a lot of colors. He was a great actor. He could play a tough guy, a softie. He played a coward in a film and that had to be a tough… but he did it. He’s wonderful.”

    Gandolfini shot scenes for the film about a year before he died from a heart attack in June while on holiday in Italy. Gandolfini and Louis-Dreyfus play divorcees with children heading off to college who meet at a party and start a relationship.

    Enough Said opens in theatres this Friday, September 20th.

    Image via wikipedia

  • Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth Split

    Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth Split

    Miley Cyrus has ended her relationship with australian actor Liam Hemsworth, representatives for both camps have confirmed. Cyrus and Hemsworth were together for four years but haven’t given a reason for their break-up. BBC reports that over the weekend, Cyrus stopped following Hemsworth on Twitter, which led to various reports in the media that they had split up. They first met in 2009 on the set of the film The Last Song, where the two played lovers.

    Rumors have been swirling for some time now that their relationship was in trouble. Just earlier this month, there were rumors that Hemsworth was being led astray by January Jones. Both sides denied any involvement, but after Cyrus’ raunchy performance at the VMA’s with Robin Thicke, Hemsworth was reportedly “mortified”, as any other normal human being would be.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUPVMVG3U8M

    So, that means Liam Hemswoth is available. Who should he woo next? January Jones or someone else?

    Image via wikipedia

  • Jaden Smith Tweet-Bashes School System and Lazy Folk

    In a surprising display of rage against education, school, rules and society in general, Jaden Smith blasted Twitter with a sequence of angsty tweets. The irony isn’t lost on this grammar nut, as the tweets pour out, many riddled with bad punctuation and the like. However, I gotta say, I think the kid has some good points.

    Will, 44, and wife Jada, 41, founded their own school, the New Village Leadership Academy, in Calabasas, Calif. back in 2008. Even with the Smiths donating millions of dollars into the private elementary institution, which employed a wide range of untraditional educational methods, the academy shut down last June.

    Assuredly, Jaden has the approval of his parents to express himself in whatever way he wishes. Us Weekly reports that The Smiths are very vocal on their parenting philosophy.

    “I think that, specifically in African American households, the idea coming out of slavery, there’s a concept of your children being property and that was a major part that Jada and I realized with our kids,” he told Haute Living magazine. “We respect our children the way we would respect any other person. Things like cleaning up their room. You would never tell a full-grown adult to clean their room, so we don’t tell our kids to clean their rooms.”

    Image via twitter

  • Bill Cosby: African-American Men Should Love Kids

    For the past few months, CNN Anchor Don Lemon has courted controversy with several segments pegged to his general agreement with comments by Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly, aimed at solving problems within the black community. On Saturday night’s edition of CNN Newsroom, Lemon continued that controversial trend with comic legend Bill Cosby, no stranger to controversy, who has also felt the heat of controversy on the subject.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vwqad_ohno

    Cosby has also stirred controversy by airing grievances against his community, but neither Lemon nor Cosby have backed away from their criticisms. In Saturday night’s interview, Lemon asked Cosby to reflect on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, and what kind of African American leaders are needed now.

    “I think it has to come from the universities,” Mr. Cosby began. ” I think, women, strongly because when you see 70%, in research, that says they are the leaders of the household, what we need is for people to realize I want to raise my kid. I want to go back and get my three kids. I want to take on that responsibility. I want to love my children.”

    He added that one of the sights he’d like to see more of is what he saw at the recent Essence Festival, “walking around to see, yeah, to see a black male with his child on the shoulders and holding.”

    He also encouraged young people who might not be able to go to a prestigious college to “go to community college. Okay, you backed up and didn’t do well. You quit school but now you find you need that high school credential. Go to the community college.”

    Cosby related the idea of personal responsibility to his own experience, adding that “At age 19 and a half, I knew I didn’t want to do certain things. It is not what they weren’t doing to me, it’s what I wasn’t doing. It’s a very simple thing.”

    Later in the interview, Mr. Cosby talked about what he sees as an overemphasis on medicating juvenile inmates, versus counseling. “If you drug these people, and then you release them, and there’s no prescription for them to get to take to do the same thing, and they go back to the same place,” he said, adding “Now, about this time, this is when you hear the no-groes jump up and say ‘Why don’t you talk about the good things?’”

    “Because the good things happen to be taking care of themselves pretty well,” he answered. “We are trying to help those genius’, those not genius’, people who deserve, because they are human beings on this earth, in the United States of America, we are trying to get them in a position so they will understand and want to.”

    When Lemon asked “Why is it so hard for some people to get that message, to hear that message, to receive that message, and without lashing out?”, he replied, “Well, it’s because they feel, I think they feel embarrassed,” and related a story about Sammy Davis, Jr. “We were in playing in a routine, and I told him I knew something. He said no you don’t. I said yes, I do. I said it. He said no, that’s not the way it goes. I said the same thing louder. He said, ‘Bill, saying it loud don’t make it right.’”

    “And so, every loud voice you hear yelling about something,” he explained, “and saying ‘Well you just — you lost us. You became a millionaire,’ the reason why I’m giving you this information is because I was living in the projects. I was not taking care of myself in terms of managing my education, and once the door opened and I saw quote, unquote, the light, I started to become very successful.”

    Image via wikipedia commons

  • Costa Concordia: The Island of Giglio After Salvage

    The Costa Concordia, the cruise ship that ran aground near the island of Giglio, is beginning the salvage process today with a technique called parbuckling. The ship will then be pulled off the seabed and rotated onto giant platforms 30 meters about 98 feet below the water level. Areas of the ship that have been dry for months will be submerged and filled with water.

    A ship this large and this heavy, around 114,000 tons, has never been parbuckled before. It is the largest maritime salvage operation ever, according to the cruise line. And expensive too, costing nearly $800 million so far. Normally, crews would blow up the ship or take it apart on site. That would be the cheaper route, but officials say that’s not an option with the Costa Concordia, because the ship is filled with noxious substances, and because there are two bodies still believed to be either trapped between the ship and its rocky resting place or somewhere deep in the ship’s hollow hull.

    Now, debate is turning to whether or not it would be more beneficial to the tiny island of Giglio in Italy to clear out all the equipment from the salvage mission, leaving the island exactly as it was before the wreck or to leave some of it. Some say that the business brought in and the potential for new endeavors are exactly what the island needs.

    CNN reports that the tiny island has been the benefactor of a steady stream of business in the time since the January 13, 2012 disaster that left 32 people dead, 2 of them still on the ship. Giglio’s permanent population of around 1,000 has been bolstered by a constant crew of at least 500 Titan Salvage and Micoperi workers from 21 nations who have, in many ways, invaded paradise. Many live offshore in a floating dormitory called the Discovery, but they all make their way to the island on a regular basis.

    On any given night of the week, the port side bars are filled with men in gray Titan Salvage jumpsuits. Some wear holsters with scissors hanging on them, the cowboy equivalent of a pistol for deep sea oil rig divers. Others sling their red inflatable Titan-Micoperi life vests over their shoulders or dangle them on the barstools.

    Franca Melis, who owns a small enoteca called La Galera in Castello on the top of the island’s hill and a dive shop down in the port, says it is hypocritical for islanders to complain that the Concordia has ruined their livelihood, especially in the port. The economic slump surely has as much to do with a drop in tourists, and anyway, even in good years people were never able to rent their properties year round like they do now to the salvage workers. She even sees a silver lining. She is lobbying other islanders to push to keep the massive platforms Titan-Micoperi installed to stabilize the ship even after the Concordia is towed away.

    “It would give us one of the best dive schools in the world,” she told CNN. “We can’t rewind the clock and pretend none of this happened, instead we have to look at ways to make it work for the island’s vitality.”

    Melis’s main opposition to keeping the platforms is the island’s headstrong mayor Sergio Ortelli, who wants Costa Crociere, the cruise company owned by Carnival, to keep its promise to return his island to exactly the way it was before anyone had ever heard of the Costa Concordia, both above and below the waterline.

    “We need our island back exactly way it was before that terrible day,” he says. He still recalls how many passengers slept in his office that fateful night, and he says he feels a personal responsibility to the islanders to hold Costa to its promise. “Everything must go,” he says. “Not just the ship.”

    Meanwhile, Francesco Schettino, the captain who guided the ship off course, faces charges of manslaughter, causing a maritime disaster and abandoning ship with passengers still on board. His trial resumes in Grosseto on September 23.

    Image Via wikipedia

  • Queen Latifah to Debut Syndicated Show on Monday

    On Monday’s anticipated debut of the syndicated “The Queen Latifah Show”, Queen Latifah intends to make waves in the competitive realm of daytime TV.

    The Star Tribune reports that Latifah feels “I’m naturally a bit edgier than typical daytime, but I kind of want to push things a little bit further, as far as I can respectfully, within the daytime space,” said Latifah. “I want more out of daytime TV. I want more choices, I want more heart, more humor.”

    She also wants more music, befitting someone who broke ground as a female rapper before expanding into other genres. Her wish list is varied and includes Coldplay and Kings of Leon, and she’s already got Alicia Keys and Plain White T’s lead singer Tom Higgenson booked for her first week.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE_FuYRrPZM

    Other inaugural guests reportedly include John Travolta, Sharon Stone, Jamie Foxx, Jake Gyllenhaal and Lisa Kudrow. Also invited are “regular people who do amazing things” that are inspirational and who deserve to share the stage with celebrities, Latifah said.

    “As much bad news as we see every day, it’s good to see people out there doing positive things that give you hope. I’m an optimist,” she said.

    Monday’s anticipated debut will feature a performance by preteen actress-singer Willow Smith, with dad Will Smith on Tuesday. If the schedule seems a tad Smith family heavy, it’s with good reason: Latifah and Smith go way back, and he and wife Jada Pinkett Smith are among the producers of Latifah’s new venture.

    “She’s just fantastic,” Pinkett Smith told reporters in August. “I just feel like every (day), you have the opportunity to kick it with your girlfriend, Queen Latifah.”

    While Latifah is eager to connect with viewers, the private star doesn’t think that necessarily includes putting her personal life on display, which is unusual since it’s common for daytime talk-show hosts to use their off-camera world for fodder.

    “I’m not trying to throw myself out there to get ratings. I’m really more interested in building something that’s entertaining to people,” she said. “I’ve never had to just share everything about my personal life to entertain people.”

    Whatever she might discuss on-air “will be a natural thing and depends on how I build the rapport with my audience,” Latifah added.

    The Queen Latifah show will air Monday (check local listings for station and time)

    Image via wikipedia

  • Miss America Contestants: New Location, New Audience

    The Miss America Pageant is back with a whole new lease on life. The girls are back in New Jersey this year, after a six-year stint in Las Vegas. Miss America’s popularity had slipped so far that the pageant wasn’t even on network television between 2007 and 2009, but Miss America Organization CEO Sam Haskell says the six-hour TLC reality show that preceded the pageant those years, rebuilt the young audience:

    “The only way for Miss America or any organization like this to survive is to have young people who are interested in it. And younger girls were watching reality shows and they watched the Miss America reality show.”

    Haskell says as a result, the median age of pageant viewers dropped from 58 to 37, and that got the attention of network TV once again.

    This year’s hosts are The Bachelor‘s Chris Harrison and Good Morning America‘s Lara Spencer, with former ‘N Sync singer Lance Bass, New York Knicks forward Amar’e Stoudemire, violinist Joshua Bell, comedian Mario Cantone, Shark Tank‘s Barbara Corcoran, The Chew‘s Carla Hall, and former Miss America Deidre Downs Gunn serving as judges.

    “It’s going to be a loving tribute to Atlantic City and also a hip, relevant look at Miss America from music choices through to the presentation,” Haskell told Entertainment Weekly of returning to Atlantic City — after six years in Las Vegas — for the 93rd annual event. ”We’re bringing the runway back, which we lost going to Las Vegas, as part of an elite production number. The girls will model their swimsuits and gowns on the runway.”

    When Entertainment Weekly asked Haskell about the very first tattooed contestant, he replied, “I think we’ve probably had girls with tattoos before who chose to cover them and she’s chosen not to cover them. We embrace every young woman’s individuality and however she wants to present herself. We allow them to do that. This is her choice and we embrace that.”

    The pageant airs today at 9pm Eastern time.

    Image Via Wikipedia

  • Greyhound Bus Crash Injures 34 Passengers

    A Greyhound bus overturned early Saturday morning on I75 near Liberty Township in Butler County, Ohio. Fire and rescue teams were called in to help free trapped passengers. In all, 52 people were on the bus, 34 were injured. 28 people were taken to Atrium Medical Center in Middletown. 4 were flown by medical helicopter to Miami Valley Hospital and two were flown to University of Cincinnati Hospital. 16 people have been treated and released as of 2 p.m. Saturday.Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers tell 2 NEWS none of the injuries appear to be life threatening.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWhYkJ6IOsg

    A passenger on the bus, bound from Cincinnati to Dayton and then Detroit, tells 2 NEWS he awoke to screaming and saw the bus driver slumped over the wheel. “I heard ladies screaming ‘Wake up! wake up!’, I looked up and the bus driver looked like he was slumped over. Next thing you know the bus just goes off the road. We rolled at least twice…everybody fell on each other,” Chris Link of Flint, Michigan told 2 NEWS.

    Link was among the passengers who helped others to safety.”I was on my hands and knees letting people step on my back to get up and out,” he said. Other passengers helped carry children and injured passengers, he said.

    Yahoo reports that the driver, who has been with the company for almost 15 years, had been on duty for an hour and was fully rested, according to Kim Plaskett, a spokeswoman for Dallas-based Greyhound Lines, Inc.

    The driver was among the injured, but she said she could not release the person’s name or medical condition due to medical privacy laws. Plaskett said she couldn’t discuss any details of the crash or the possible cause and the company was cooperating with investigators and will talk to the driver to try to determine what happened.

    The bus just had its regular major annual inspection 14 days ago, Plaskett said. She said drivers also do pre-trip inspections to make sure buses are fit for travel. Greyhound sent a crisis-response team to the site to help the customers and authorities as soon as the company was notified of the crash, she said.

    Troopers say the bus drove off the roadway near the 26 mile marker, struck a tree and metal fence when it flipped onto its side. The bus slid through a cornfield before coming to a stop.

    “I’m just glad to be alive,” Link said on the scene, “I just want to see my wife and kids..and hold them.”

    Image Via Wikipedia

  • Rare $4 Coin Could Sell For $1.5 Million

    Rare $4 Coin Could Sell For $1.5 Million

    A rare $4 gold coin could possibly sell for $1.5 million dollars at auction on September 23rd. Paul Song, Director of Rare Coins for Bonham’s Auction House said that the rare $4 Coiled Hair Stella gold coin from 1880 contains six grams of pure gold and was never released to the public.

    Song said the gold coin was designed to match the weight of foreign money from countries like France, Belgium and Switzerland. The idea was to make it easier for inter-country trading but the coin never received public support. Reuters reports that the rare $4 gold coin is considered one of the “white whales” of coin collecting.

    Song then added,“At the end of the day, there was just not enough public support for it, and it became a political issue so it was basically a scrap heap of history, which also is what makes it so rare today. The 1880 $4 Coiled Hair Stella is one of the so-called white whales of the coin collecting world. They are so rare, they come on the market maybe once or twice, at most, every decade…That particular coin, there’s only 10 or 12 now, and most of these are in public institutions or private collections.”

    Song told Reuters, “That’s an average lot value of almost $300,000 per coin. That may not be a Monet painting but in my world, that’s pretty amazing. It’s been a privilege to handle them, and they are gorgeous, just because they’re gold, perfectly struck and the designs are really incredible.”

    Image via Bonham’s Auction House

  • US and Russia Reach Agreement on Syria

    US and Russia Reach Agreement on Syria

    The New York times reports in a breaking story that The US and Russia have finally come to an agreement, calling for Syria’s arsenal of chemical weapons to be destroyed or removed by the middle of 2014. The agreement states that international inspectors must be on the ground in Syria by November, John Kerry said, speaking at a news conference with the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey V. Lavrov.

    In addition, Syria must submit a “comprehensive listing” of its chemical weapons stockpiles within a week. If President Bashar al-Assad of Syria fails to comply with the agreement, the issue will be referred to the United Nations Security Council.The joint announcement, which took place on the third day of intensive talks here, eased the United States’ confrontation with Syria.

    Mr. Kerry and Mr. Lavrov had a series of meetings on Friday, including a session that ended at midnight. On Saturday morning, the two sides reconvened with arms-controls experts on the hotel pool deck, sitting under a white umbrella drinking coffee as they pored over the text of the agreement.

    “If fully implemented,” Mr. Kerry said, “this framework can provide greater protection and security to the world.” American and Russian officials have also reached a consensus on the size of Syria’s stockpile, which is an essential prerequisite to any international plan to control and dismantle the weapons. An American official, who could not be identified under the diplomatic protocol established by the State Department, said that United States and Russia had agreed that Syria has 1,000 metric tons of chemical weapons, including Sarin and mustard gas.

    Mr. Kerry said that any violations would then be taken up under Chapter 7 of the United Nations Charter, which authorizes punitive action. But Mr. Lavrov made clear that Russia, which wields a veto in the Security Council, had not withdrawn its objections to the use of force.

    The agreement is titied “Framework For Elimination of Syrian Chemical Weapons,” It is four pages, including technical annexes. The agreement, which outlines procedures for “expeditious destruction of the Syrian chemical weapons program and stringent verification,” says that the United States and Russia will submit a plan in the next several days to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which oversees compliance with the chemical weapons accord.

    Under the agreement, the initial inspection of the chemical weapons sites that the Syrian government declares must be completed by November, as well as the destruction of equipment for producing chemical weapons and for filling munitions with poison gas. The document also says that there is to be “complete elimination of all chemical weapons material and equipment in the first half of 2014.”

    The issue of removing Syria’s chemical arms surfaced on Monday when Mr. Kerry, at a news conference in London, posed the question as to whether Mr. Assad could rapidly be disarmed only to then turn around and state that he did not see how it could be done.

    “He could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week. Turn it over, all of it, without delay, and allow a full and total accounting for that,” Mr. Kerry said. “But he isn’t about to do it, and it can’t be done, obviously.”

    Before the news conference, Mr. Lavrov said that he had not spoken with Syrian officials while he was negotiating in Geneva. Obama administration officials say that Russia’s role was critical as it has been a major backer of the Assad government.

    Image Via Wikipedia Commons

  • World’s Shortest Woman Visits NYC to Promote Book

    Jyoti Amge, the Guiness World Record holder as the world’s shortest woman, visited the 86th floor observatory of the Empire State Building, which is the highest place in New York City. She traveled from India to promote the Guiness Book of World Records 2014 Edition. The 19-year-old stands at 24.7 inches tall. She was also able to visit Times Square and The Statue of Liberty.

    “The Guinness Book of World Records has given me the opportunity to travel the world and I’ve become very popular and very famous,” said Amge in Hindi through translator Denish Govindani.

    Amge entered the Guinness World Records book several years ago, as the world’s shortest teen. As spokeswoman for the new book, she’s in town to remind us that the 2014 edition is filled with amazing photos, stories and interactive apps, including one that will allow you to see how you’d look with the world’s longest tongue.

    Amge told the Huffington Post, “I don’t regret being my size. I am happy the way I am,” Amge says. “It’s allowed me to do amazing things.”

    In her travels for Guinness, she’s met 8-foot-3-inch Sultan Kosen, the world’s tallest man, and 21-inch-tall Chandra Bahadur Dangi, the world’s smallest man. She said, “It was amazing to see a person smaller than me. I was excited to see him, the way other people are excited to see me.”

    Image Via Wikipedia Commons

  • Kate Middleton Stuns on First Night Out Without Baby

    Kate Middleton Stuns on First Night Out Without Baby

    The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, both 31, looked better than ever on their first night out together since Prince George was born attending The Tusk Conservation Awards at The Royal Society in London on Thursday, Sept. 12. An eyewitness tells Us Weekly that William and his wife “looked very relaxed together”. Kate stunned in a pale gold sequined Jenny Packham dress, reportedly worth about $240.

    The couple greeted a group of wildlife conservationists and in the lobby and chatted with Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba. When he asked about their less than two-month-old son, Prince George, the Duke replied, “We’ve left him at home for the first time,”. When asked who their son looked like most, Middleton replied, “Like most babies, he’s got a mix of both of us.”

    William and Katherine sat next to Ondimba and his glamorous wife, Sylvia. The meal included a tomato consomme with celeriac custard and spiced avocado puree for the starter, and Elwy Valley Lamb for the main course. Speaking to the crowd later, William joked about being a new dad. “As you might have gathered, Catherine and I have recently become proud parents — of a baby who has a voice to match any lion’s roar!” he said. “This is actually our first evening out without him, so please excuse us if you see us nervously casting cheeky glances at our mobile phone to check all is well back home.”

    “Kate was still smiling and waved to a few members of the public waiting on the pavement as their car pulled away.” a witness told Us. A lovely end to a glamorous first evening out.

    Image via wikipedia commons

  • Handspring Guiness Record Broken by Cheerleader

    Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio and Walsh Jesuit High School had reason to celebrate when cheerleader Marie Klein completed an astounding 42 consecutive handsprings to break the prior record during the school’s football game against Akron, Ohio’s St Vincent-St. Mary School.

    Though the video appears to show 40 handsprings, at least according to the count cheered out by the crowd on site, the school itself announced 42.

    “It was crazy,” Klein told WalshJesuit.org, the school’s official website. “I loved the way the crowd reacted. My mom was crying. It didn’t feel real at times as I did it. I almost passed out, but I kept going. I am real excited to have the record. Now I want to break my own record.”

    She later added, “It is so awesome I could do this with my family supporting me,” Klein told WalshJesuit.org. “My mom, Steph, my dad, Steve, and my brother, Stevie, all were here to watch.”

    CBS reported that the junior cheer star’s feat earned a mention on ESPN’s SportsCenter and got plenty of applause from everyone from the diminutive teen’s family to St. Vincent-St. Mary onlookers. Perhaps Klein has a slight advantage because she stands just 4-foot-11?

    image via thinkstock

  • January Jones: Not Out to Steal Liam…But Should Be

    Rumors of racy text messages between Miley’s “mortified” squeeze, Liam Hemsworth and January Jones are being vehemently denied by their respective representatives, though the world would totally understand Hemsworth’s desire to seek companionship elsewhere. UPI reports that Hemsworth’s rep said, “The story of Liam Hemsworth and January Jones is entirely fabricated by US Weekly. There is no truth whatsoever to this tabloid fiction”.

    While Miley is on a daily mission to “sext” the world, her relationship with Hemsworth appears to be crumbling. Rumors started when Liam, 23, and January Jones, 35, were spotted leaving an Oscar party together, right around the time Miley ditched her engagement ring.

    And more recently, sources close to the couple say Hemsworth is “just weeks from calling [their engagement] off permanently.” They said he found Cyrus’s raunchy performance at the MTV Video Awards “mortifying” and “he is over her.” The troubled pair were last seen in public together at the Los Angeles premiere of Hemsworth’s latest thriller “Paranoia.”

    Image via wikipedia

  • Yom Kippur: Israel Locks Up for Safety

    The Jewish holy dayYom Kippur begins at Sunset on Friday and ends at nightfall on Saturday. Israel began closing it’s gates to the surrounding Palestinian territories to prepare for the 48-hour solemn observance.A military spokesman told AFP that crossings were closed from midnight Thursday and would reopen at midnight on Saturday.

    Yom Kippur, also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people. It’s central themes are atonement and repentance. Jewish people traditionally observe this holy day with an approximate 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services. It follows closely the observance of Rosh Hoshanah.

    Israel closes it’s border due to the increased risk of attack during the ancient religious holiday, when large numbers of Jews congregate. During that time all work, traffic, and TV and radio broadcasts will cease and public transport will stop running. Israel’s airspace will be closed, according to public radio. Seaports and land borders with Jordan and Egypt will also shut down.

    In the northern port city of Haifa, senior police officers met with Israeli Chief Rabbi David Lau and Greek-Catholic Melkite Archbishop Elias Shakur to coordinate efforts aimed at preventing trouble, including re-routing or postponing Christian parades, news website Ynet reported. Samri said that restrictions would be imposed on Muslims attending Friday prayers at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa compound, for reasons unconnected with Yom Kippur following repeated clashes there with stone-throwing Palestinians over the past week.

    Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said officers in mixed Arab-Jewish cities would seek to prevent friction between Christians celebrating the feast of the Holy Cross on Saturday and their fasting Jewish neighbours.

    “There’s intelligence information of the intention by Arabs to disturb the peace at today’s prayers on Temple Mount,” she told AFP using the name by which Israel refers to the compound housing the Al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques. It is the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. Jews venerate the same location as the site of biblical Jewish temples and it is a regular tension fire for clashes.

    Samri said that entry to men would be limited to those aged 45 and over who hold a Jerusalem residence permit, but women would be subject to no restrictions.

    Image via wikipedia commons

  • Twitter Reacts to Koran Burning Pastor

    While the controversial “pastor” was being booked, the Twitterverse took to the web to express their disdain or support for Terry Jones and his antics masked with religion. Some supporters agree with him and his allegedly biblical duty to destroy all that he deems evil. While many disagree with his vigilante tactics, they make the point that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and freedom of speech.

    Others were not so kind.

    And this one is just hilarious! Who doesn’t love a spectacular newspaper typo?

    Image via twitter

  • Pastor Arrested in an Attempt to Burn Korans on 9/11

    Anti-Islam pastor Terry Jones was arrested just in time on a felony charge in Florida on Wednesday, police said, after announcing plans to burn nearly 3,000 copies of the Koran on a barbecue grill. NPR reports that Jones was already towing the grill and the kerosene-soaked holy books in the back of his pickup truck to a park in Mulberry, Florida, according to follower Stephanie Sapp, whose husband, Marvin Wayne Sapp Jr., was also arrested. Jones and Sapp Jr. were each charged with unlawful conveyance of fuel, a felony, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement. Jones was also charged with a misdemeanor of openly carrying a firearm.

    Sapp said Jones’s group, Stand Up America Now, had earlier announced plans on Facebook to torch the Korans, the most sacred religious text in the Muslim religion on the anniversary of the September 11th attacks on the U.S. she and her husband, Jones, and four others drove to Mulberry in three vehicles. They made a stop near the park at a fast food restaurant. When the group got back on the road, several unmarked cars pulled them over, she said. Jones and her husband were taken into custody.

    Sapp said police “informed them that it is illegal to have a grill with kerosene in it in any way behind a vehicle traveling down the highway.”She said Jones’s group brought 2,998 Korans, one for each of the victims of the September 11 attacks. She said that in burning the holy books, they sought to raise awareness of “the dangers of Islam.”

    “We had the Korans inside the grill and we had prepared them by soaking with kerosene, just like you would if you had charcoal on a grill and poured lighter fluid on it,” Sapp said.

    Judd said in the statement that his detectives had repeatedly warned Jones that while he was welcome in Mulberry, he would be arrested if he broke the law. Jones heads a small evangelical Christian church in Gainsville, and first drew attention to himself in 2010. He threatened to burn a Koran on September 11 that year, but media attention to Jones’s plans sparked a fury and violent protests from Muslims in the Middle East. Jones was talked out of those plans but has since made similar threats.

    Image via wikipedia