Kim Kardashian's marriage over after 72 days

In happier times: Reality TV star Kim Kardashian and husband Kris Humphries. Picture: Getty Images. Source: Getty Images

• Kardashian has made $18m from marriage
• "Sometimes things don't work out as planned"
• Things longer than Kim's marriage: The top jokes

KIM Kardashian has filed for divorce from husband Kris Humphries - just 72 days after they got married.

And although hers is not the shortest-lived celebrity marriage, it's certainly one of the most lucrative: the couple made $US18 million from endorsements and magazine and TV deals - that's $US250,000 every day.

The reality TV star wed the basketball player in a lavish ceremony on August 20.

Kardashian, 31, said in a statement: "After careful consideration, I have decided to end my marriage, I hope everyone understands this was not an easy decision.

"I had hoped this marriage was forever, but sometimes things don't work out as planned. We remain friends and wish each other the best."

She reportedly filed for divorce citing "irreconcilable differences".

The news may have been a surprise for Humphries, who reported told gossip website TMZ that he was willing to do whatever it took to repair his marriage. "I'm committed to this marriage and everything this covenant represents.

"I love my wife and am devastated to learn she filed for divorce ... I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make it work."

Kardashian's split throws her trip to Australia in doubt. She had been due to fly into Sydney today with her sister Khloe to launch their new handbag range.

She had tweeted that she would be attending a number of races as a guest of Swisse Vitamins.

US TV host Ryan Seacrest, executive producer on Kardashian's reality TV show, first broke the news of the split, tweeting: "Yes @kimkardashian is filing for divorce this morning. I touched base with her, getting a statement in just a few mins,"

Kardashian has hired lawyer Laura Wasser, who has acted for Britney Spears, Angelina Jolie and Ryan Reynolds.

Rumours had been rife for months that the couple's marriage was under strain.

They began dating in 2010 and were engaged in May, when Humprhies presented Kardashian with a custom-designed, 20.5-carat Lorraine Schwartz diamond ring.

But since they said "I Do", the have been living separate lives, with Humprhies hunkered down in New York and Kardashian jetting around the US.

Humphries reportedly wanted to settle down in his native Minnesota but Kardashian was reluctant to give up her celebrity life in Los Angeles.

"My career is my personal life" she told Ellen DeGeneres on October 5, "[The paparazzi] kind of comes along with the territory ... you gotta get used to it."

This is Kardashian's second marriage; her first was to music producer Damon Thomas from 2000 to 2004.

She was also romantically linked to R&B singer Ray J, who appeared with her in a leaked sex tape, and she had an on-off relationship with NFL star Reggie Bush that ended in 2009.

SHORTEST-LIVED CELEBRITY MARRIAGES

1. Rudolph Valentino and Jean Acker (six hours)

2. Britney Spears and Jason Alexander (55 hours)

3. Dennis Hopper and Michelle Phillips (eight days)

4. Dennis Rodman and Carmen Electra (nine days)

5. Cher and Gregg Allman (nine days)

6. Drew Barrymore and Jeremy Thomas (19 days)

7. Pamela Anderson and Rick Salomon (70 days)

8. Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries (72 days)

9. Nic Cage and Lisa Marie Presley (121 days)

10. Ren�e Zellweger and Kenny Chesney (121 days)
�

Source: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/kim-kardashian039s-marriage-over-after-72-days/story-e6frfmqi-1226182053380?from=public_rss

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Davydenko does for Simon

Nikolay Davydenko: Knocked fifth seed Gilles Simon out of Valencia Open.

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Nikolay Davydenko produced the kind of form that saw him into the world's top ten as he dumped fifth seed Gilles Simon out of the Valencia Open in three sets.

The Russian brought an end to a sequence of five straight defeats against Simon as he emerged a 6-4 4-6 6-3 winner on Monday.

The defeat puts a dent in Simon's hopes of reaching the ATP World Tour finals with the Frenchman 12th in the points race with only the top eight players securing a place in London next month.

But it was an encouraging success for Davydenko - currently down at number 36 in the world having been as high as three - who broke a total of four times and served well throughout, his first-serve percentage finishing at 76 percent.

Another Frenchman next up

The Russian will now meet Simon's compatriot Nicolas Mahut who beat Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 to secure his passage.

There was another sizeable shock as Canadian qualifier Vasek Pospisil overcame America's John Isner after a tense three-set affair.

Pospisil, 21, took the first set only to be pegged back by Isner, but the Canadian youngster held his nerve in an epic third set tie-breaker to record a 6-3 3-6 7-6 (11-9) triumph.

A showdown against the winner of the all-Spanish affair between Spaniards David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco now awaits Pospisil.

Elsewhere, Italy's Fabio Fognini overcame a slow start to comfortably beat Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-4 6-3.

• London 2011 Outright: Gilles Simon 125/1

Source: http://www1.skysports.com/news/12040/7284401/

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Stoke v Newcastle live!

I'll be publishing the starting XIs and team news once the team sheets are in.

If you have any predictions, pre-match thoughts or premonitions then feel free to bob me an email to james.pearson@bskyb.com

Some early betting news: Stoke are evens to get a win against in-form Newcastle (11/4) who are unbeaten in 12 consecutive Premier League games. Jamie Redknapp has tipped a 2-1 win for Stoke at 8/1, who are also 4/1 to score from a Rory Delap throw in. Newcastle striker Demba Ba, 6/1 to score first and 10/1 to score a brace, will hope to continue his excellent form that has seen him register eight goals in his last nine starts. Ba will be hoping to prove Stoke boss Tony Pulis wrong for calling him a 'ticking time bomb' when he had a medical with the Potters in January.

I'm James Pearson and I'll be talking you through tonight's Premier League clash from the Britannia Stadium.

Click Here for Your Free Bet

Source: http://www.skysports.com/football/match_commentary/0,19764,11065_3422904,00.html

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Tropical storm Alex returns to kill 10

THE first major storm of the Atlantic season was entering the Gulf of Mexico today after unleashing landslides and floods that killed at least 10 people in Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador.

Overnight, Alex, which had been downgraded earlier to a tropical depression, strengthened and regained its tropical storm status.

At� noon (AEST), Alex, which packed sustained winds of 75km/h, was entering the Gulf of Mexico some 100km west southwest of Campeche, Mexico, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.

"Additional strengthening is forecast - and Alex could become a hurricane within the next 48 hours," the NHC said.

Although it was not due to directly hit the massive BP oil spill off the southern US state of Louisiana, the storm could still generate waves that would hamper clean-up and containment efforts.

Officials in Nicaragua told AFP the bodies of six people had been found in or around the northern city of Esteli, swept to their deaths by torrents from the swollen San Lucas river.

In eastern El Salvador, on Central America's Pacific coast, two people drowned when they were carried away by strong currents near San Miguel, while more than 500 people were evacuated to shelters from high-risk areas.

In western Guatemala, two farmers working on a road improvement project were buried and killed by a rain-triggered landslide, the national emergency agency Conred reported.

Forecasters said the storm was expected to dump a total of 10-20cm of rain over the Yucatan Peninsula, southern Mexico and Guatemala by�this afternoon.

Up to 38cm of rain were possible in mountainous areas and forecasters warned of "life-threatening flash floods and mudslides".

Central America was slammed last month by Tropical Storm Agatha, which roared ashore into Guatemala from the Pacific, unleashing heavy rains and floods that left some 275 people dead or missing.

The NHC's long-term forecast has the storm heading over the Gulf of Mexico in the direction of the US-Mexico border, but with a possibility of waves and winds generated by the storm affecting the site of the huge oil slick unleashed by the April 20 explosion of the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig.

But a forecaster at the NHC downplayed a direct hit on the oil cleanup area.

"The storm is not an issue for the spill," said NHC spokesman Dennis Feltgen.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/tropical-storm-alex-returns-to-kill-10/story-e6frfku0-1225885199885?from=public_rss

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Totally cool: Facebook expands into the Arctic

Tom Furlong, Facebook Director of Operations, speaks at the presentation of the Social Network's new server farm in Lulea, Sweden. Picture: EPA Source: Supplied

FACEBOOK is building a new server farm on the edge of the Arctic Circle - its first outside the United States - to improve performance for European users, officials of the social networking site have confirmed.

But the chilly move will also expose them to potential eavesdropping from a Swedish intelligence agency, according to the country's Pirate Party, a group opposing government interference with the Internet.

Facebook confirmed it had reviewed potential locations across Europe and decided on the northern Swedish city of Lulea for the data centre partly because of the cold climate - crucial for keeping the servers cool - and access to renewable energy from nearby hydropower facilities.

The move reflects the growing international presence of the California-based site, which counts 800 million users worldwide.

An architect's drawing of Facebook's new server farm in Lulea, Sweden, which is on the edge of the Arctic Circle is Facebook's first outside the US. Picture: EPA

Source: Supplied

"Facebook has more users outside the US than inside," Facebook director of site operations Tom Furlong said. "It was time for us to expand in Europe."

He said European users would get better performance from having a node for data traffic closer to them.

Facebook currently stores data at sites in California, Virginia and Oregon and is building another facility in North Carolina.

The small Swedish Pirate Party, which is not represented in Parliament, warned that placing the servers in Lulea would also expose European users to eavesdropping from Sweden's National Defence Radio Establishment, also known by its Swedish initials FRA.

The agency can conduct surveillance on telephone conversations and data traffic to and from Sweden under legislation designed to fight cross-border terrorism and crime, which raised strong protests from privacy activists when it was passed in 2008.

Google's global privacy council Peter Fleischer called it "the most privacy-invasive legislation in Europe."

Jan Fredriksson, a spokesman for Facebook in Sweden, said the company was confident that restrictions on the agency's surveillance activities would protect the integrity of regular Facebook users.

"This isn't something that will affect users," Mr Frediksson said. "Only people who are strongly suspected of terrorism can become subjected to this."

Mr Furlong said Facebook had picked th because of the cold climate, which is crucial for keeping the servers cool, and the access to renewable energy from nearby hydropower facilities. Picture: EPA

Source: Supplied

Facebook is facing its own privacy concerns in Europe over how long it retains users' information and other issues.

"Facebook isn't famous for caring about its users integrity, so they didn't care about it in this case either," Pirate Party leader Anna Troberg said.

FRA spokeswoman Anni Boelenius said the agency only conducts surveillance against specific threats to Sweden, including cyber security, Swedish troops abroad and the military capabilities of foreign powers.

"The surveillance is aimed at these phenomena and not against specific services or means of communication," she said.

The Lulea data centre, which will consist of three 28,000-square metre server buildings, is scheduled for completion by 2014. The site will need 120 MW of energy, fully derived from hydropower.

Located 100 kilometers, south of the Arctic Cicle, Lulea lies near hydropower stations on a river that generates twice as much electricity as the Hoover Dam on the border of Nevada and Arizona, Facebook said.

In case of a blackout, construction designs call for each building to have 14 backup diesel generators with a total output of 40 MW.

Facebook didn't give the price of its investment, but Lulea officials have previously projected construction costs of up to 5 billion kronor ($760 million).

The Swedish government said it was ready to pitch in with 103 million kronor ($16 million).

"We knocked on doors at Facebook's head office (in Palo Alto, California) and today they're moving in to Lulea - this is huge, really huge," said Matz Engman, who heads the Lulea Business Agency, a public-private partnership working to attract businesses to the region.

With winter temperatures well below freezing and summertime highs that rarely climb above 25 degrees Celcius, Lulea has used its frigid climate as a selling point in its efforts to establish itself as a hub for server farms. Other Nordic cities have adopted similar strategies.

In 2009 Google purchased a paper mill in Hamina, southern Finland, and turned it into a data centre, using seawater from the Baltic Sea for its cooling system.

Servers inside data centers are the backbone of Internet services such as Facebook. The servers store and transmit billions of status updates, links, photos and all the outside apps used by Facebook's members.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/technology/totally-cool-facebook-expands-into-the-arctic/story-e6frfro0-1226179353414?from=public_rss

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Bill Gates unfussed by Steve Jobs' jab

MICROSOFT founder Bill Gates brushed off some harsh criticism from late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, in an interview with ABC television, saying their professional rivalry was positive.

Gates, who maintained a long rivalry with the Apple innovator, was asked about an authorised biography of Jobs by Walter Isaacson which portrayed Gates as comparatively uninspired as a creative spirit.

The Microsoft founder was told by ABC that Jobs "basically said that you were 'unimaginative, had never invented anything and shamelessly ripped off other people's ideas.' That's pretty tough stuff. What's your reaction to that?"

"Well, Steve and I worked together, you know, ... creating the Mac. We had more people on it, did the key software for it," Gates explained.

"So over the course of, you know, the 30 years we worked together, you know, he said a lot of very nice things about me and he said a lot of tough things.

Gates went on: "I mean, he faced, several times at Apple, the fact that their products were so premium priced that they literally might not stay in the marketplace. So the fact that we were succeeding with high volume products, you know, including a range of prices, because of the way we worked with multiple companies, it's tough.

"So the fact that, you know, at various times, he felt beleaguered, he felt like he was -- he was the good guy and we were the bad guys, you know, very understandable.

"I, you know, respect Steve. We got to work together. We spurred each other on, even as competitors. None of that bothers me at all," Gates told ABC.

Jobs lost his years-long battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of 56 earlier this month.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/technology/bill-gates-unfussed-by-steve-jobs039-jab/story-e6frfro0-1226181377055?from=public_rss

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Herman Cain -- His Godfather Campaign Promise

Herman Cain is making a solemn vow ... to bring Godfather's Pizza to the White House if he becomes president -- not like a few pizzas, but he will build an actual pizza kitchen!!!

Cain was full of promises this morning in D.C. -- also saying he'll learn a certain dance move if elected.

Some people will do anything to win.

Source: http://www.tmz.com/2011/10/30/herman-cain-godfathers-pizza-white-house/

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Midler in Twitter feud with Gaga

Lady Gaga during the mermaid in a wheelchair performance at the Town Hall in Sydney. Picture: Damian Shaw Source: Supplied

• Bette Midler accuses Lady Gaga of copying routine
• "I've been doing mermaid in wheelchair since 1980"
• Is this our next top Brekkie host?

BETTE Midler has laughed off her Twitter ''feud'' with Lady Gaga after the veteran entertainer accused the Poker Face star of copying her mermaid in a wheelchair performance during a recent concert.

Gaga took the stage at a show in Australia in July wearing a mermaid tail while sitting in a wheelchair, but the move appeared to infuriate Midler, who logged onto her social networking blog to remind fans that she came up with the gimmick first - way back in 1980.

''I'm not sure Lady Gaga knows that I've performed my mermaid in a wheelchair for millions of people - and many of them are still alive... Dear Lady Gaga if you think a mermaid in a wheelchair seems familiar - it's because it is! "

"You can see it on YouTube 24/7 - with ME performing it... Dear Lady Gaga I've been doing singing mermaid in a wheelchair since 1980 - You can keep the meat dress and the firecracker tits - mermaid's mine,'' she tweeted.

Gaga insisted she had ''no idea'' Midler was the originator of the stunt, but the Hollywood star has since dismissed their war of words as a fun and harmless feud, and she's adamant there's no hard feelings.

''We had a feud, which I loved,'' Midler told US entertainment news show Extra.

''I'm not a good tweeter. I said a couple of things. I opened a can of worms.

"I wasn't irked at all! I thought it was hilarious. I was actually very flattered, and then we sort of put it to rest.''

Source: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/midler-in-twitter-feud-with-gaga/story-e6frfn09-1226180886959?from=public_rss

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Totally cool: Facebook expands into the Arctic

Tom Furlong, Facebook Director of Operations, speaks at the presentation of the Social Network's new server farm in Lulea, Sweden. Picture: EPA Source: Supplied

FACEBOOK is building a new server farm on the edge of the Arctic Circle - its first outside the United States - to improve performance for European users, officials of the social networking site have confirmed.

But the chilly move will also expose them to potential eavesdropping from a Swedish intelligence agency, according to the country's Pirate Party, a group opposing government interference with the Internet.

Facebook confirmed it had reviewed potential locations across Europe and decided on the northern Swedish city of Lulea for the data centre partly because of the cold climate - crucial for keeping the servers cool - and access to renewable energy from nearby hydropower facilities.

The move reflects the growing international presence of the California-based site, which counts 800 million users worldwide.

An architect's drawing of Facebook's new server farm in Lulea, Sweden, which is on the edge of the Arctic Circle is Facebook's first outside the US. Picture: EPA

Source: Supplied

"Facebook has more users outside the US than inside," Facebook director of site operations Tom Furlong said. "It was time for us to expand in Europe."

He said European users would get better performance from having a node for data traffic closer to them.

Facebook currently stores data at sites in California, Virginia and Oregon and is building another facility in North Carolina.

The small Swedish Pirate Party, which is not represented in Parliament, warned that placing the servers in Lulea would also expose European users to eavesdropping from Sweden's National Defence Radio Establishment, also known by its Swedish initials FRA.

The agency can conduct surveillance on telephone conversations and data traffic to and from Sweden under legislation designed to fight cross-border terrorism and crime, which raised strong protests from privacy activists when it was passed in 2008.

Google's global privacy council Peter Fleischer called it "the most privacy-invasive legislation in Europe."

Jan Fredriksson, a spokesman for Facebook in Sweden, said the company was confident that restrictions on the agency's surveillance activities would protect the integrity of regular Facebook users.

"This isn't something that will affect users," Mr Frediksson said. "Only people who are strongly suspected of terrorism can become subjected to this."

Mr Furlong said Facebook had picked th because of the cold climate, which is crucial for keeping the servers cool, and the access to renewable energy from nearby hydropower facilities. Picture: EPA

Source: Supplied

Facebook is facing its own privacy concerns in Europe over how long it retains users' information and other issues.

"Facebook isn't famous for caring about its users integrity, so they didn't care about it in this case either," Pirate Party leader Anna Troberg said.

FRA spokeswoman Anni Boelenius said the agency only conducts surveillance against specific threats to Sweden, including cyber security, Swedish troops abroad and the military capabilities of foreign powers.

"The surveillance is aimed at these phenomena and not against specific services or means of communication," she said.

The Lulea data centre, which will consist of three 28,000-square metre server buildings, is scheduled for completion by 2014. The site will need 120 MW of energy, fully derived from hydropower.

Located 100 kilometers, south of the Arctic Cicle, Lulea lies near hydropower stations on a river that generates twice as much electricity as the Hoover Dam on the border of Nevada and Arizona, Facebook said.

In case of a blackout, construction designs call for each building to have 14 backup diesel generators with a total output of 40 MW.

Facebook didn't give the price of its investment, but Lulea officials have previously projected construction costs of up to 5 billion kronor ($760 million).

The Swedish government said it was ready to pitch in with 103 million kronor ($16 million).

"We knocked on doors at Facebook's head office (in Palo Alto, California) and today they're moving in to Lulea - this is huge, really huge," said Matz Engman, who heads the Lulea Business Agency, a public-private partnership working to attract businesses to the region.

With winter temperatures well below freezing and summertime highs that rarely climb above 25 degrees Celcius, Lulea has used its frigid climate as a selling point in its efforts to establish itself as a hub for server farms. Other Nordic cities have adopted similar strategies.

In 2009 Google purchased a paper mill in Hamina, southern Finland, and turned it into a data centre, using seawater from the Baltic Sea for its cooling system.

Servers inside data centers are the backbone of Internet services such as Facebook. The servers store and transmit billions of status updates, links, photos and all the outside apps used by Facebook's members.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/technology/totally-cool-facebook-expands-into-the-arctic/story-e6frfro0-1226179353414?from=public_rss

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Gaddafi loyalists hit by revenge attacks

MISRATA militias are carrying out revenge attacks on the displaced residents of the nearby town of Tawargha, a stronghold of Gaddafi loyalists during the Libyan conflict, a human rights group says.

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement it had received credible reports of Misrata militias shooting unarmed Tawarghans, and of arbitrary arrests and beatings of detainees, in a few cases leading to death.

"Militias from the city of Misrata are terrorising the displaced residents of ... Tawargha, accusing them of having committed atrocities with Gaddafi forces in Misrata," HRW said, adding its conclusion was based on the testimonies of dozens of people across the country.

The rights group also documented widespread looting and torching of houses in Tawargha as recently as last Wednesday, and quoted Misrata militiamen arguing that its residents should never be allowed to return after "what they did in Misrata".

The rights watchdog urged the National Transitional Council to bring the more than 100 armed groups from Misrata under a central command and hold them to account for their actions.

Tawargha served as a base for attacks on Misrata, Libya's third city which suffered a five-month siege by pro-Gaddafi forces.

Tawargha residents scattered in August after the Misrata militia punched their way out of the siege and began an advance on Tripoli, which they overran on August 23.

The authorities and inhabitants of Misrata widely accuse Tawargha's residents of having committed serious crimes alongside Gaddafi's forces, including murder and rape, HRW said.

"Revenge against the people from Tawargha, whatever the accusations against them, undermines the goal of the Libyan revolution," HRW's Middle East and North Africa director, Sarah Leah Whitson, said in statement.

"In the new Libya, Tawarghans accused of wrongdoing should be prosecuted based on the law, not subject to vigilante justice," she said.

Disbanding Libya's numerous militias or integrating them into a professional army, and reconciling with the residents of former Gaddafi strongholds such Sirte, Bani Walid and Tawargha, are among the key challenges facing the new regime.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/newscomaumostpopularworldndm/~3/AokV1cD7uFA/story-e6frfku0-1226180984363

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Simpson's childish pregnant pause

Jessica Simpson refuses to confirm rumours she is pregnant. Picture: Snappermedia Source: news.com.au

Jessica Simpson refuses to confirm rumours she is pregnant. Picture: Snappermedia Source: news.com.au

WILL blonde bombshell Jessica Simpson wait until she's being rushed into hospital, in the throes of giving birth to her first child, before she finally reveals to the world that she is pregnant?

With the singer stepping out in New York last week in a figure hugging top, clearly showing a rounded belly, really all that is left to announce is the sex of the baby.

It's a pity that the Dukes Of Hazzard star, 31, is reportedly still holding out for a lucrative magazine pregnancy announcement (the figure of $500,000 has been mentioned)

This is the girl who has survived being so publicly dumped by her previous beau Tony Romo and humiliated for looking a little too snug in her jeans on stage to finally find love with former NFL star Eric Johnson.

They have been dating for two years and became engaged last November.

Now with a baby due (most health professionals estimate from the size of her bump that she is at least 26 weeks pregnant), it looks as if she is finally embarking on her happily ever after journey. Phew!

Unfortunately Simpson is not the only celebrity to be shy about her kids.

Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher are simply not the kind of couple to buy into celebrity magazine spreads about their young family which includes, Olive, 3 and Elula, who was born in August 2010. In fact almost six months after Elula's birth, Fisher (who is currently in Australia shooting The Great Gatsby), wouldn't even utter her baby's name when she was grilled on a US talk show.

That's not surprising since the couple wouldn't even confirm their pregnancy. One moment the diminutive star had a massive baby bump and the next time when she was seen out in public, she did not.

At least they can be commended for not putting their private life up for sale.

But on the other hand it's hard to turn on and off the public's interest once you enter the world of celebrity.

Just ask Kristen Stewart who is forever trying to deflect attention on her private life with co-star Robert Pattinson.

Problem is, I think, that she does it by coming across as sulky and quite frankly the whole thing has become quite tedious. She just recently told UK magazine GQ that she too will protect her children when she has them.

"I guarantee whenever I get married or have a baby, everyone is going to want to know my kid's name, and I'm not going to say it for ages." A bit childish perhaps?

Maybe it's time for Simpson and other celebrities to simply allow us all to wish them well and be happy for them.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/body-soul/simpson039s-childish-pregnant-pause/story-e6frfou0-1226179189709?from=public_rss

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FBI helping hunt for woman missing in Nepal

THE FBI says it's helping the US State Department in the investigation of a Colorado woman who disappeared while trekking alone in Nepal.

Denver FBI spokesman Dave Joly said today the agency was also working with Nepalese authorities on the disappearance of 23-year-old Aubrey Sacco of Greeley.

Ms Sacco�has not�been heard from since April 20, when she e-mailed her parents from Nepal. She planned to finish her trip around April 30.

Her father, Paul Sacco, told the Greeley Tribune that FBI agents had made two or three visits to his home.

Paul Sacco went to Nepal in May to look for his daughter.

He said he recovered her laptop computer and journal from a hotel.

Aubrey Sacco graduated from the University of Colorado last year.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/fbi-helping-hunt-for-woman-missing-in-nepal/story-e6frfku0-1225885132162?from=public_rss

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'Red Shirt' to run for Thai government

A THAI protest leader accused of terrorism was released from prison briefly to apply to run in a by-election seen as a key test of the opposition's prospects of success in nationwide polls.

Kokaew Pikulthong, a senior "Red Shirt" involved in the mass rally in Bangkok that ended last month, will stand against incumbent Panich Vikitsreth of the ruling Democrat Party in the July 25 vote in the capital.

A Thai court last week granted permission for Kokaew, the candidate of the main opposition Puea Thai Party, to be released temporarily from Bangkok Remand Prison to register to challenge Panich, a vice foreign minister.

Mr Kokaew, who has not been convicted of any crimes relating to his role in the two-month-long street protest, was later returned to detention, but is expected to seek permission to be released again to campaign for votes.

The Red Shirts' rally, which at its peak attracted up to about 100,000 people demanding immediate elections, sparked outbreaks of violence that left 90 people dead, mostly civilians, and nearly 1900 injured.

Enraged protesters set fire to dozens of major buildings after the army crushed the demonstration by the mostly poor and working class Reds with an assault on their vast fortified encampment in central Bangkok on May 19.

The Red Shirts were campaigning for elections they hoped would oust the government, which they view as undemocratic because it came to power with the backing of the army after a court ruling threw out the previous administration.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva proposed November polls in a bid to end the crippling protests, but shelved the plan because the Reds -- many of whom seek the return of fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra -- refused to disperse.

Mr Abhisit, whose government was elected by parliamentary vote in 2008 and enjoys support among the Bangkok-based elite, must call nationwide elections by the end of next year at the latest.

Many of the Red Shirt leaders are in jail facing terrorism charges for their roles in the unrest. The government has rejected the opposition's call for a state of emergency to be lifted in the capital for the by-election.
�

Source: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/red-shirt-to-run-for-thai-government/story-e6frfku0-1225885303084?from=public_rss

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Nokia launches 'first real Windows phone'

Too little, too late? Nokia's Windows 7 phone at least comes in at a unique price point. Picture: AP Source: AP

NOKIA has launched its long-awaited first Windows 7 smartphones, hoping to claw back market share it has lost in the smartphone race to chief rivals, Apple, Samsung and Google.

But some analysts say it may be too little, too late, for the world's top mobile phone maker.

With price tags of $560 and $360, the Lumia 800 and 710 are based on Microsoft's operating system and come eight months after Nokia and the computing giant said they were hitching up.

"Lumia is reasonably good ... but it's not an iPhone killer or a Samsung killer," Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics said.

"But where Nokia does stand out is on their price - it looks like they are going to be very competitive."

Lumia 800, with Carl Zeiss optics and 16GB of internal memory, will be available in selected European countries in November, including France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Britain.

It will be sold in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan before the year-end.

Lumia 710, with a 1.4 GHz processor, navigational applications and Nokia Music - a free, mobile music-streaming app - will first be available in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan toward the end of the year.

The company's share price jumped almost 3 per cent in an otherwise depressed market on the Helsinki Stock Exchange but settled, closing almost unchanged at ($6.68).

Nokia, which claims 1.3 billion daily users, has been the world's biggest handset maker since 1998, selling 432 million devices last year - more than its three closest rivals combined.

But after reaching its announced global goal of 40 per cent market share in 2008, it has struggled against rivals making cheaper handsets in Asia, and its share has shrunk to 24 percent earlier this year.

Worse still, Nokia's sales in the more lucrative smartphone market crashed 39 per cent in the third quarter as it continued to be squeezed in the low end by Asian manufacturers like ZTE and in the high end by the iPhone, Research in Motion's Blackberry, Korea's Samsung Electronics and Taiwan-based HTC Corp.

The iPhone has set the standard for smartphones among many design-conscious consumers and the Blackberry has been the favourite of the corporate set.

Google's Android software has emerged as the choice for phone makers that want to challenge the iPhone.

Samsung and HTC - snapping at Nokia's heels for third place in topend smartphones behind the iPhone and Samsung - are the biggest users of the Android platform.

Nokia is still operating Symbian software, older than Apple's software and considered clumsy by many, although it has been upgraded. Nokia also introduced the MeeGo platform in its flagship N9 model launched last month.

Mr Elop has said Windows software will become the main platform for Nokia smartphones but that it won't stop developing Symbian or MeeGo.

Mr Mawston says Nokia has been pushed into a corner as Symbian was unable to compete with other operating systems and MeeGo took too long to develop.

"It's a risk that they may be juggling too many balls at once," Mr Mawston said.

"They were pushed into a multi-platform strategy for at least the short-term, but given the competitive situation with Symbian and MeeGo they really had no choice but to develop a third (platform) and juggle all three at once."

Mr Elop described the Lumia phones as a "new dawn" for Nokia.

"Lumia is light ... Lumia is the first real Windows Phone," Mr Elop declared to the London audience.

He acknowledged that since he took over the Nokia leadership a year ago there had been "some difficult moments and some tough decisions to make," including more than 12,000 layoffs, but was upbeat about the future.

"Eight months ago, here in London we outlined a new direction for Nokia," Mr Elop said. "Since then we've gone through a significant transition and we are playing to win - no holding back, no hesitation, no second guessing."

Nokia, which according to Strategy Analytics, is the world's top seller of dual SIM card handsets, sold 18 million such devices in the third quarter.

"Dual SIM is really something Nokia should have been doing in 2007 and 2008 when the market really started rocketing quite aggressively," Mr Mawston said

"Like with smartphones really, they're two or three years behind and are gradually playing catch-up."

Source: http://www.news.com.au/technology/nokia-launches-039first-real-windows-phone039/story-e6frfro0-1226178139589?from=public_rss

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Nokia launches 'first real Windows phone'

Too little, too late? Nokia's Windows 7 phone at least comes in at a unique price point. Picture: AP Source: AP

NOKIA has launched its long-awaited first Windows 7 smartphones, hoping to claw back market share it has lost in the smartphone race to chief rivals, Apple, Samsung and Google.

But some analysts say it may be too little, too late, for the world's top mobile phone maker.

With price tags of $560 and $360, the Lumia 800 and 710 are based on Microsoft's operating system and come eight months after Nokia and the computing giant said they were hitching up.

"Lumia is reasonably good ... but it's not an iPhone killer or a Samsung killer," Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics said.

"But where Nokia does stand out is on their price - it looks like they are going to be very competitive."

Lumia 800, with Carl Zeiss optics and 16GB of internal memory, will be available in selected European countries in November, including France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Britain.

It will be sold in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan before the year-end.

Lumia 710, with a 1.4 GHz processor, navigational applications and Nokia Music - a free, mobile music-streaming app - will first be available in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan toward the end of the year.

The company's share price jumped almost 3 per cent in an otherwise depressed market on the Helsinki Stock Exchange but settled, closing almost unchanged at ($6.68).

Nokia, which claims 1.3 billion daily users, has been the world's biggest handset maker since 1998, selling 432 million devices last year - more than its three closest rivals combined.

But after reaching its announced global goal of 40 per cent market share in 2008, it has struggled against rivals making cheaper handsets in Asia, and its share has shrunk to 24 percent earlier this year.

Worse still, Nokia's sales in the more lucrative smartphone market crashed 39 per cent in the third quarter as it continued to be squeezed in the low end by Asian manufacturers like ZTE and in the high end by the iPhone, Research in Motion's Blackberry, Korea's Samsung Electronics and Taiwan-based HTC Corp.

The iPhone has set the standard for smartphones among many design-conscious consumers and the Blackberry has been the favourite of the corporate set.

Google's Android software has emerged as the choice for phone makers that want to challenge the iPhone.

Samsung and HTC - snapping at Nokia's heels for third place in topend smartphones behind the iPhone and Samsung - are the biggest users of the Android platform.

Nokia is still operating Symbian software, older than Apple's software and considered clumsy by many, although it has been upgraded. Nokia also introduced the MeeGo platform in its flagship N9 model launched last month.

Mr Elop has said Windows software will become the main platform for Nokia smartphones but that it won't stop developing Symbian or MeeGo.

Mr Mawston says Nokia has been pushed into a corner as Symbian was unable to compete with other operating systems and MeeGo took too long to develop.

"It's a risk that they may be juggling too many balls at once," Mr Mawston said.

"They were pushed into a multi-platform strategy for at least the short-term, but given the competitive situation with Symbian and MeeGo they really had no choice but to develop a third (platform) and juggle all three at once."

Mr Elop described the Lumia phones as a "new dawn" for Nokia.

"Lumia is light ... Lumia is the first real Windows Phone," Mr Elop declared to the London audience.

He acknowledged that since he took over the Nokia leadership a year ago there had been "some difficult moments and some tough decisions to make," including more than 12,000 layoffs, but was upbeat about the future.

"Eight months ago, here in London we outlined a new direction for Nokia," Mr Elop said. "Since then we've gone through a significant transition and we are playing to win - no holding back, no hesitation, no second guessing."

Nokia, which according to Strategy Analytics, is the world's top seller of dual SIM card handsets, sold 18 million such devices in the third quarter.

"Dual SIM is really something Nokia should have been doing in 2007 and 2008 when the market really started rocketing quite aggressively," Mr Mawston said

"Like with smartphones really, they're two or three years behind and are gradually playing catch-up."

Source: http://www.news.com.au/technology/nokia-launches-039first-real-windows-phone039/story-e6frfro0-1226178139589?from=public_rss

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'Red Shirt' to run for Thai government

A THAI protest leader accused of terrorism was released from prison briefly to apply to run in a by-election seen as a key test of the opposition's prospects of success in nationwide polls.

Kokaew Pikulthong, a senior "Red Shirt" involved in the mass rally in Bangkok that ended last month, will stand against incumbent Panich Vikitsreth of the ruling Democrat Party in the July 25 vote in the capital.

A Thai court last week granted permission for Kokaew, the candidate of the main opposition Puea Thai Party, to be released temporarily from Bangkok Remand Prison to register to challenge Panich, a vice foreign minister.

Mr Kokaew, who has not been convicted of any crimes relating to his role in the two-month-long street protest, was later returned to detention, but is expected to seek permission to be released again to campaign for votes.

The Red Shirts' rally, which at its peak attracted up to about 100,000 people demanding immediate elections, sparked outbreaks of violence that left 90 people dead, mostly civilians, and nearly 1900 injured.

Enraged protesters set fire to dozens of major buildings after the army crushed the demonstration by the mostly poor and working class Reds with an assault on their vast fortified encampment in central Bangkok on May 19.

The Red Shirts were campaigning for elections they hoped would oust the government, which they view as undemocratic because it came to power with the backing of the army after a court ruling threw out the previous administration.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva proposed November polls in a bid to end the crippling protests, but shelved the plan because the Reds -- many of whom seek the return of fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra -- refused to disperse.

Mr Abhisit, whose government was elected by parliamentary vote in 2008 and enjoys support among the Bangkok-based elite, must call nationwide elections by the end of next year at the latest.

Many of the Red Shirt leaders are in jail facing terrorism charges for their roles in the unrest. The government has rejected the opposition's call for a state of emergency to be lifted in the capital for the by-election.
�

Source: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/red-shirt-to-run-for-thai-government/story-e6frfku0-1225885303084?from=public_rss

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Tropical storm Alex returns to kill 10

THE first major storm of the Atlantic season was entering the Gulf of Mexico today after unleashing landslides and floods that killed at least 10 people in Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador.

Overnight, Alex, which had been downgraded earlier to a tropical depression, strengthened and regained its tropical storm status.

At� noon (AEST), Alex, which packed sustained winds of 75km/h, was entering the Gulf of Mexico some 100km west southwest of Campeche, Mexico, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.

"Additional strengthening is forecast - and Alex could become a hurricane within the next 48 hours," the NHC said.

Although it was not due to directly hit the massive BP oil spill off the southern US state of Louisiana, the storm could still generate waves that would hamper clean-up and containment efforts.

Officials in Nicaragua told AFP the bodies of six people had been found in or around the northern city of Esteli, swept to their deaths by torrents from the swollen San Lucas river.

In eastern El Salvador, on Central America's Pacific coast, two people drowned when they were carried away by strong currents near San Miguel, while more than 500 people were evacuated to shelters from high-risk areas.

In western Guatemala, two farmers working on a road improvement project were buried and killed by a rain-triggered landslide, the national emergency agency Conred reported.

Forecasters said the storm was expected to dump a total of 10-20cm of rain over the Yucatan Peninsula, southern Mexico and Guatemala by�this afternoon.

Up to 38cm of rain were possible in mountainous areas and forecasters warned of "life-threatening flash floods and mudslides".

Central America was slammed last month by Tropical Storm Agatha, which roared ashore into Guatemala from the Pacific, unleashing heavy rains and floods that left some 275 people dead or missing.

The NHC's long-term forecast has the storm heading over the Gulf of Mexico in the direction of the US-Mexico border, but with a possibility of waves and winds generated by the storm affecting the site of the huge oil slick unleashed by the April 20 explosion of the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig.

But a forecaster at the NHC downplayed a direct hit on the oil cleanup area.

"The storm is not an issue for the spill," said NHC spokesman Dennis Feltgen.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/tropical-storm-alex-returns-to-kill-10/story-e6frfku0-1225885199885?from=public_rss

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FBI helping hunt for woman missing in Nepal

THE FBI says it's helping the US State Department in the investigation of a Colorado woman who disappeared while trekking alone in Nepal.

Denver FBI spokesman Dave Joly said today the agency was also working with Nepalese authorities on the disappearance of 23-year-old Aubrey Sacco of Greeley.

Ms Sacco�has not�been heard from since April 20, when she e-mailed her parents from Nepal. She planned to finish her trip around April 30.

Her father, Paul Sacco, told the Greeley Tribune that FBI agents had made two or three visits to his home.

Paul Sacco went to Nepal in May to look for his daughter.

He said he recovered her laptop computer and journal from a hotel.

Aubrey Sacco graduated from the University of Colorado last year.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/fbi-helping-hunt-for-woman-missing-in-nepal/story-e6frfku0-1225885132162?from=public_rss

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'Red Shirt' to run for Thai government

A THAI protest leader accused of terrorism was released from prison briefly to apply to run in a by-election seen as a key test of the opposition's prospects of success in nationwide polls.

Kokaew Pikulthong, a senior "Red Shirt" involved in the mass rally in Bangkok that ended last month, will stand against incumbent Panich Vikitsreth of the ruling Democrat Party in the July 25 vote in the capital.

A Thai court last week granted permission for Kokaew, the candidate of the main opposition Puea Thai Party, to be released temporarily from Bangkok Remand Prison to register to challenge Panich, a vice foreign minister.

Mr Kokaew, who has not been convicted of any crimes relating to his role in the two-month-long street protest, was later returned to detention, but is expected to seek permission to be released again to campaign for votes.

The Red Shirts' rally, which at its peak attracted up to about 100,000 people demanding immediate elections, sparked outbreaks of violence that left 90 people dead, mostly civilians, and nearly 1900 injured.

Enraged protesters set fire to dozens of major buildings after the army crushed the demonstration by the mostly poor and working class Reds with an assault on their vast fortified encampment in central Bangkok on May 19.

The Red Shirts were campaigning for elections they hoped would oust the government, which they view as undemocratic because it came to power with the backing of the army after a court ruling threw out the previous administration.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva proposed November polls in a bid to end the crippling protests, but shelved the plan because the Reds -- many of whom seek the return of fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra -- refused to disperse.

Mr Abhisit, whose government was elected by parliamentary vote in 2008 and enjoys support among the Bangkok-based elite, must call nationwide elections by the end of next year at the latest.

Many of the Red Shirt leaders are in jail facing terrorism charges for their roles in the unrest. The government has rejected the opposition's call for a state of emergency to be lifted in the capital for the by-election.
�

Source: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/red-shirt-to-run-for-thai-government/story-e6frfku0-1225885303084?from=public_rss

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Expert says Jess six months pregnant

Predicted to be 26 weeks' pregnant ... Jessica Simpson on October 25, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Ray Tamarra/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images

TO EVEN the least observant eye, Jessica Simpson looks like a woman carrying child.

And an expert has now predicted that the singer, TV reality star and fashion designer is around six months pregnant.

Simpson, 31, has yet to say she is pregnant as she reportedly tried to secure $500,000 for a magazine deal to make the annoucement.

Pictures: Jessica Simpson

Simpson wants breast reduction surgery

Boston-based gynaecologist, Dr Dave David, told Radar Online that Simpson is heading into her third trimester, with her and fiance Eric Johnson expecting their first child early next year.

"She looks to be 26 weeks, which is around six months," he told Radar Online.

'It is definitely a pregnancy and not weight gain. You can by the shape of her abdomen, her belly wouldn't be that rounded if it was just fat.

"She is short so the bump looks bigger because it has no where to go but out."

Sources told the New York Post that Simpson's manager father Joe is asking for $500,000 for his daughter to confirm she is pregnant with her fiance, former NFL star Eric Johnson.

A PR expert told Radar Online that Simpson does not have the "star power" to secure such a figure.

Nicole Richie sold the first photographs of her baby Harlow for a reported $1m while Christina Aguilera demanded double that for snaps of her baby Max on the cover of People magazine.

Meanwhile, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's daughter Shiloh earned her mummy and daddy in the region of $4m - although they did give the proceeds to charity.

Simpson was set to wed Johnson in November, but the couple have postponed the wedding with sources claiming the delay is due to Simpson being pregnant.

The couple, who have been together for two years, became engaged in November 2010.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/body-soul/expert-says-jess-six-months-pregnant/story-e6frfou0-1226178695929?from=public_rss

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Thai floods inch closer to city centre

A Buddhist monk wades through a flooded road outside the temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok. Picture: AP Source: AP

FLOODS that have sparked an exodus from the Thai capital have crept closer to the city centre as the government considers cutting through roads blocking the path of the water.

The city of 12 million people is on heightened alert because of threats on two fronts - a seasonal high tide this weekend that is expected to coincide with the arrival of a mass of water from the flood-stricken central plains.

The three-month crisis - triggered by unusually heavy monsoon rains - has left at least 377 people dead and damaged millions of homes and livelihoods, mostly in northern and central Thailand.

Billions of cubic metres of water lie north of the capital, moving slowly southwards as the authorities attempt to channel the muddy brown liquid through the city's canals and rivers, but most of the city centre remained dry.

Some areas in northern Bangkok have seen waist-deep flooding, leading to the shutdown of the city's second airport, Don Mueang.

The government said today it was considering a proposal by the private sector to dig temporary drainage channels through five roads blocking the flow of water in eastern Bangkok to speed up the flow into the Gulf of Thailand.

The authorities have opened sluice gates around the city to allow water through canals but experts and officials have given conflicting information about the risks of major flooding in downtown Bangkok.

While the government is largely focused on defending the capital, people in the worst-hit provinces north of the city have endured weeks of flooding.

Tens of thousands of residents have left Bangkok after the government declared a special five-day holiday, flocking to rail and bus stations in the city and jamming roads as they head to areas out of the path of the water.

So far, however, central Bangkok has seen only minor inundation in areas along the main Chao Phraya River, including near the Grand Palace, with the water receding after high tide passes.

Tourists walking through ankle-deep water near the Grand Palace appeared unfazed, despite a slew of travel warnings from foreign governments.

"It's adding to our experience," said 32-year-old British honeymooner Melanie Willoughby. "They all seem to be coping well. The only thing we found is that it's been hard to get (drinking) water."

Today's high tide was lower than expected, raising hopes that the river's flood barriers would prevent a major overflow.

"The walls can still hold it back, despite flooding on the river banks which is usual during high tide," said an official at the city's Drainage and Sewerage Department who did not want to be named.

Yesterday an emotional Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, in office for barely two months, warned that the country could not resist the "force of nature" by trying to hold back the water forever.

More than 100,000 people have sought refuge at emergency shelters and tens of thousands of troops have joined the relief efforts.

Almost 300 critically ill hospital patients have been evacuated from Bangkok to other provinces as a precaution.

The crisis is taking its toll on the lucrative Thai tourism industry, with the United States joining other countries including Britain, Singapore, Canada in advising against all but essential travel to Bangkok.

The Australian government's travel advice for Thailand recommends people reconsider the need to travel to Bangkok and flood-affected provinces (except Suvarnabhumi International Airport) due to transport disruptions and reduced access to essential services.

Most of the country's top tourist destinations have been unaffected by the disaster and Suvarnabhumi Airport, the main gateway to Thailand, is operating as normal, along with the city's subway and elevated train.

Thousands of inundated factories have been shut down, putting more than half a million people temporarily out of work.

Japan said today it would allow thousands of Thai workers employed by its companies affected by the floods to go and work there for six months.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/newscomaumostpopularworldndm/~3/zTK5zy1bpP0/story-e6frfkyi-1226179930179

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Nokia launches 'first real Windows phone'

Too little, too late? Nokia's Windows 7 phone at least comes in at a unique price point. Picture: AP Source: AP

NOKIA has launched its long-awaited first Windows 7 smartphones, hoping to claw back market share it has lost in the smartphone race to chief rivals, Apple, Samsung and Google.

But some analysts say it may be too little, too late, for the world's top mobile phone maker.

With price tags of $560 and $360, the Lumia 800 and 710 are based on Microsoft's operating system and come eight months after Nokia and the computing giant said they were hitching up.

"Lumia is reasonably good ... but it's not an iPhone killer or a Samsung killer," Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics said.

"But where Nokia does stand out is on their price - it looks like they are going to be very competitive."

Lumia 800, with Carl Zeiss optics and 16GB of internal memory, will be available in selected European countries in November, including France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Britain.

It will be sold in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan before the year-end.

Lumia 710, with a 1.4 GHz processor, navigational applications and Nokia Music - a free, mobile music-streaming app - will first be available in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan toward the end of the year.

The company's share price jumped almost 3 per cent in an otherwise depressed market on the Helsinki Stock Exchange but settled, closing almost unchanged at ($6.68).

Nokia, which claims 1.3 billion daily users, has been the world's biggest handset maker since 1998, selling 432 million devices last year - more than its three closest rivals combined.

But after reaching its announced global goal of 40 per cent market share in 2008, it has struggled against rivals making cheaper handsets in Asia, and its share has shrunk to 24 percent earlier this year.

Worse still, Nokia's sales in the more lucrative smartphone market crashed 39 per cent in the third quarter as it continued to be squeezed in the low end by Asian manufacturers like ZTE and in the high end by the iPhone, Research in Motion's Blackberry, Korea's Samsung Electronics and Taiwan-based HTC Corp.

The iPhone has set the standard for smartphones among many design-conscious consumers and the Blackberry has been the favourite of the corporate set.

Google's Android software has emerged as the choice for phone makers that want to challenge the iPhone.

Samsung and HTC - snapping at Nokia's heels for third place in topend smartphones behind the iPhone and Samsung - are the biggest users of the Android platform.

Nokia is still operating Symbian software, older than Apple's software and considered clumsy by many, although it has been upgraded. Nokia also introduced the MeeGo platform in its flagship N9 model launched last month.

Mr Elop has said Windows software will become the main platform for Nokia smartphones but that it won't stop developing Symbian or MeeGo.

Mr Mawston says Nokia has been pushed into a corner as Symbian was unable to compete with other operating systems and MeeGo took too long to develop.

"It's a risk that they may be juggling too many balls at once," Mr Mawston said.

"They were pushed into a multi-platform strategy for at least the short-term, but given the competitive situation with Symbian and MeeGo they really had no choice but to develop a third (platform) and juggle all three at once."

Mr Elop described the Lumia phones as a "new dawn" for Nokia.

"Lumia is light ... Lumia is the first real Windows Phone," Mr Elop declared to the London audience.

He acknowledged that since he took over the Nokia leadership a year ago there had been "some difficult moments and some tough decisions to make," including more than 12,000 layoffs, but was upbeat about the future.

"Eight months ago, here in London we outlined a new direction for Nokia," Mr Elop said. "Since then we've gone through a significant transition and we are playing to win - no holding back, no hesitation, no second guessing."

Nokia, which according to Strategy Analytics, is the world's top seller of dual SIM card handsets, sold 18 million such devices in the third quarter.

"Dual SIM is really something Nokia should have been doing in 2007 and 2008 when the market really started rocketing quite aggressively," Mr Mawston said

"Like with smartphones really, they're two or three years behind and are gradually playing catch-up."

Source: http://www.news.com.au/technology/nokia-launches-039first-real-windows-phone039/story-e6frfro0-1226178139589?from=public_rss

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Expert says Jess six months pregnant

Predicted to be 26 weeks' pregnant ... Jessica Simpson on October 25, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Ray Tamarra/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images

TO EVEN the least observant eye, Jessica Simpson looks like a woman carrying child.

And an expert has now predicted that the singer, TV reality star and fashion designer is around six months pregnant.

Simpson, 31, has yet to say she is pregnant as she reportedly tried to secure $500,000 for a magazine deal to make the annoucement.

Pictures: Jessica Simpson

Simpson wants breast reduction surgery

Boston-based gynaecologist, Dr Dave David, told Radar Online that Simpson is heading into her third trimester, with her and fiance Eric Johnson expecting their first child early next year.

"She looks to be 26 weeks, which is around six months," he told Radar Online.

'It is definitely a pregnancy and not weight gain. You can by the shape of her abdomen, her belly wouldn't be that rounded if it was just fat.

"She is short so the bump looks bigger because it has no where to go but out."

Sources told the New York Post that Simpson's manager father Joe is asking for $500,000 for his daughter to confirm she is pregnant with her fiance, former NFL star Eric Johnson.

A PR expert told Radar Online that Simpson does not have the "star power" to secure such a figure.

Nicole Richie sold the first photographs of her baby Harlow for a reported $1m while Christina Aguilera demanded double that for snaps of her baby Max on the cover of People magazine.

Meanwhile, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's daughter Shiloh earned her mummy and daddy in the region of $4m - although they did give the proceeds to charity.

Simpson was set to wed Johnson in November, but the couple have postponed the wedding with sources claiming the delay is due to Simpson being pregnant.

The couple, who have been together for two years, became engaged in November 2010.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/body-soul/expert-says-jess-six-months-pregnant/story-e6frfou0-1226178695929?from=public_rss

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'Red Shirt' to run for Thai government

A THAI protest leader accused of terrorism was released from prison briefly to apply to run in a by-election seen as a key test of the opposition's prospects of success in nationwide polls.

Kokaew Pikulthong, a senior "Red Shirt" involved in the mass rally in Bangkok that ended last month, will stand against incumbent Panich Vikitsreth of the ruling Democrat Party in the July 25 vote in the capital.

A Thai court last week granted permission for Kokaew, the candidate of the main opposition Puea Thai Party, to be released temporarily from Bangkok Remand Prison to register to challenge Panich, a vice foreign minister.

Mr Kokaew, who has not been convicted of any crimes relating to his role in the two-month-long street protest, was later returned to detention, but is expected to seek permission to be released again to campaign for votes.

The Red Shirts' rally, which at its peak attracted up to about 100,000 people demanding immediate elections, sparked outbreaks of violence that left 90 people dead, mostly civilians, and nearly 1900 injured.

Enraged protesters set fire to dozens of major buildings after the army crushed the demonstration by the mostly poor and working class Reds with an assault on their vast fortified encampment in central Bangkok on May 19.

The Red Shirts were campaigning for elections they hoped would oust the government, which they view as undemocratic because it came to power with the backing of the army after a court ruling threw out the previous administration.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva proposed November polls in a bid to end the crippling protests, but shelved the plan because the Reds -- many of whom seek the return of fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra -- refused to disperse.

Mr Abhisit, whose government was elected by parliamentary vote in 2008 and enjoys support among the Bangkok-based elite, must call nationwide elections by the end of next year at the latest.

Many of the Red Shirt leaders are in jail facing terrorism charges for their roles in the unrest. The government has rejected the opposition's call for a state of emergency to be lifted in the capital for the by-election.
�

Source: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/red-shirt-to-run-for-thai-government/story-e6frfku0-1225885303084?from=public_rss

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I'm proud I nuked the fridge, says Spielberg

Indiana Jones survives an atom explosion the way heroes should - in a fridge. Picture: Paramount Pictures Source: Supplied

• Blames George Lucas for everything else
• "I didn't want aliens or inter-dimensional beings"
• Says fourth Jurassic Park is in the works
• Dress like angry�Lisbeth, look cute in bars

INDIANA Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull isn't very good.

A film about cross-dimensional crystal beings bestowing their knowledge on the world before disappearing into the "space between spaces" was never going to win over the fans.

We all know that but who should we blame?

Steven Spielberg says you should aim your bullwhip at George Lucas.

Here's what he told Empire movie magazine while out spruiking his lastest flick, The Adventures of Tintin:

"I sympathise with people who didn't like the MacGuffin because I never liked the MacGuffin. George and I had big arguments about the MacGuffin.

"I didn't want these things to be either aliens or inter-dimensional beings. But I am loyal to my best friend. When he writes a story he believes in - even if I don't believe in it - I'm going to shoot the movie the way George envisaged it.

"I'll add my own touches, I'll bring my own cast in, I'll shoot the way I want to shoot it, but I will always defer to George as the storyteller of the Indy series. I will never fight him on that."

As for the scene where Indy hides from a nuclear blast inside a fridge, Spielberg says: "Blame me. Don't blame George. That was my silly idea. People stopped saying 'jump the shark'. They now say, 'nuked the fridge'. I'm proud of that. I'm glad I was able to bring that into popular culture."

He adds that he's working on a fourth Jurassic Park - "The screenplay is being written right now by Mark Protosevich. I'm hoping that will come out in the next couple of years. We have a good story. We have a better story for four than we had for three..." - but that a fifth Indiana Jones is up to Lucas.

"You have to ask George Lucas. George is in charge of breaking the stories. He's done it on all four movies. Whether I like the stories or not, George has broken all the stories. He is working on Indy V. We haven't gone to screenplay yet, but he's working on the story. I'll leave it to George to come up with a good story."

Source: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/i039m-proud-i-nuked-the-fridge-says-spielberg/story-e6frfmvr-1226178483380?from=public_rss

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Jessica Marais 'still haunted by seeing father die'

Packed to the Rafters star Jessica Marais says she is still haunted by the death of her father. Picture: Sam Ruttyn Source: PerthNow

Childhood trauma ... a young Jessica Marais. Source: The Daily Telegraph

PLAYING happy families made former Packed To The Rafters favourite Jessica Marais an international star.

But in an emotional TV confession, the 26-year-old has spoken for the first time about the childhood trauma of watching her own father drop dead, The Daily Telegraph reported.

It was Valentine's Day and university dean Tony Marais had just moved his wife and young brood from South Africa to a new life in Australia.

Six months into the adventure, the devoted dad was returning home from a family picnic, where he'd complained of "tingling sensations" in his arms. Marais, then aged 9, and her younger sister Clara watched in horror as their father collapsed and died from a heart attack.

It's a memory the Logie-winner says she "relives every day". Still pained by the experience, the star of new US drama, Magic City opens up on Seven's Sunday Night this weekend.

"He collapsed very suddenly and, yeah, my sister and I were both present," the actor said.

"It's sort of something you relive I think, everyone that has lost someone ... you relive it every day. It feels fresh but obviously time does heal a lot of wounds and I'm definitely much better at coping with it now."

The tragedy "marooned" the grieving family left behind in Perth, where Marais said her mother Karen "pulled us through a very hard time".

Now engaged to her Rafters co-star James Stewart, she admits she fears losing her loved ones the same way as her dad.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/jessica-marais-039still-haunted-by-seeing-father-die039/story-e6frfmqi-1226178977097?from=public_rss

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