Coke Gets A New Color. Basically, Pop Purists Should Not Read This Story.

In its multi-pronged effort to curb obesity and save the environment, Coca-Cola introduced its new soda product last month: Coca-Cola Life, an all-natural blend sweetened with sugar and stevia that boasts less than half the calories of a classic Coke (one 600-ml bottle contains 108 calories, versus 250), and comes in a recyclable bottle made with 30-percent plant-based materials. Perhaps what will catch your eye before noticing what's inside the bottles and cans is the new color emblazoned on the outside: Coke's gone green.
Conceived by Seattle-based design firm Platform, the new green labeling is meant to conjure up the usual: eco-friendly, recyclable, healthy, verdant, and so on. While the color choice itself may not be such a shock, any kind of alteration to a Coke design is a striking one. The company has been using its classic curved script since 1887, and its signature red color for its classic cola formula since the 1920s. Considering the beverage is currently only available in Argentina (with plans to launch in other countries these next few months), Coke purists will have time to adapt.

+ ENLARGE

New edition: The Coca-Cola family lineup, with its newly debuted Life.

 

Boxer Oscar De La Hoya returns to rehab

 

Boxer Oscar De La Hoya (pictured in August) has battled with drug and alcohol abuse.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Oscar De La Hoya announces he's in rehab
• "I have voluntarily admitted myself into a treatment facility," he says
• The boxer has previously admitted problems with drug and alcohol abuse

(CNN) -- Boxing great Oscar De La Hoya says he's back in rehab.

It's not the first stint in rehab for De La Hoya, 40, who has previously spoken about problems with drug and alcohol abuse.

The world-champion boxer announced he had entered treatment just days before Canelo Alvarez, who De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions represents, is set to square off against Floyd Mayweather.

"Canelo Alvarez and I have big fights coming up this weekend. His is in the ring and mine in treatment," De La Hoya said in a written statement Tuesday.

"I will not be at the fight to cheer Canelo to victory since I have voluntarily admitted myself into a treatment facility."

He said he had explained the situation to Alvarez.

"He understood that my health and longterm recovery from my disease must come first," De La Hoya said. "Thank you for your understanding. I ask for your support and privacy during this difficult time for me and my family."

Fukushima: a disaster with a long half-life

Workers clear away radioactive soil and debris [Reuters]

The Japanese are masters of self-restraint, stoic despite great suffering. You are reminded of this when you consider the disaster at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant: 18,600 dead or missing, 160,000 displaced because their homes were destroyed or contaminated, and an unresolved radioactive catastrophe that rivals Chernobyl.
But unlike Chernobyl, which was contained fairly quickly, Dai-ichi is a slow, simmering, leaking menace.
Almost three years have passed since the power station was damaged, and it is clear that while its location on the coast and surrounded by rivers aided the initial battle against its three meltdowns, it is now hindering its full shutdown. The reactors are leaking radiation, and the area is still too dangerous to approach. In short, it cannot be contained.
Proposals to seal off the area, drain the water table, treat the radioactive waste and fix dangerously broken reactor number 4 come and go. Nothing much actually happens. Now there are new leaks, from sub-standard tanks that were neither adequately installed or inspected, according to Japan’s nuclear watchdog, the NRA.
Tepco, operators of Dai-ichi, never inspired much confidence. Now, the Japanese you speak to say, in a quiet voice, that they “don’t believe any statements they make”. 
A year ago, the government stepped in and took a majority stake in the company. Since then there’s been a change in ruling parties. Both governments promised to do more. They have not.
The stoic Japanese have got used to living with this drip-feed of bad news. There is no outrage. It barely makes the front page. Instead, the local media has been marveling at “us lot” – the foreign media – and how excited we have got about this latest nuclear mishap. Didn’t we know the issue had never gone away?
Japanese have shown immense compassion towards their own citizens. Charity fundraising continues for the bereaved, orphaned and disposed. The homeless are guests in other people’s homes across the country – still.
But they have given up hoping for miracles. I’m told by some here that there is the money to compensate and accommodate people better, to rebuild and restore. But somehow government will and energy is lacking. And the Japanese economy is in a terrible state.
It feels like the Japanese people are tired of living in the middle of a crisis.
I asked a family living in a supposedly “safe” area outside the restricted zones - which still mysteriously has unsafe hotspots of radiation - what they would like to do. They told me: “We are terribly concerned, especially for the children… but where would we shift to?”.
I asked a volleyball team picnicing on the beach just down the coast from the power station whether they thought about the contamination in the water. They replied: “Well it’s everywhere. Our gardens are just as bad, so we might as well come here.”
The Japanese PM has headed off on a Middle East business trip. He’s talking anti-piracy patrols with the Americans in Djibouti... but mostly he’s supposed to be promoting “Japanese nuclear technology”... and “Japanese nuclear safety technology”.
Not the best week to embark on a nuclear sales pitch.
At the same time, Japan’s foreign minister, Fumio Kishida, has flown to Ukraine on “a fact-finding mission to Chernobyl with the aim of sharing experience in overcoming the consequences of nuclear disasters”.
It’s the first trip by a Japanese FM to Chernobyl since the Fukushima Dai-ichi disaster. Perhaps the ‘government will’ is being reinvigorated.

Mark Zuckerberg's '5 billion' dream - it won't be easy

 

Zuckerberg's plan to connect the world

Mark Zuckerberg's dream to give nearly 5 billion people Internet access is well intentioned, but it's not going to happen anytime soon.

Fundamental changes will first have to be made in the poorest parts of the world to deliver on Internet.org, as his project is named.

"I'm a believer in the power of connectivity even at the bottom of the pyramid, but I don't know if the ambition of connecting 5 billion people is realistic when you consider the fundamental challenges facing it," said David Rice, professor at New York University and Africa adviser to the Milken Institute.
There are four main issues: The shortage of electricity throughout the developing world, a lack of broadband infrastructure, extreme poverty and widespread illiteracy.
Related story: Mark Zuckerberg's big idea: The 'next 5 billion' people
Here's the good news: Most of the world's population has access to one basic form of communication: cell phones and text messaging. That's made possible with an abundance of cell towers throughout Africa.
But phones that connect to the Internet require a lot of electricity. And 60% of Africans have limited access to it, according to Rice.
Just to charge their phones, some people drive hundreds of miles into the nearest city or tap their car batteries for some extra juice. The problem has created a booming market for solar-powered charging stations. But the businesses that run them typically charge exorbitant fees.
If these phones were suddenly connecting to Facebook, (FB) that's going to drain the battery a lot faster than placing calls and sending texts.
Interactive: Where people are connected to the Internet
The second issue is the lack of broadband infrastructure. Sending calls over cell towers is one thing, but tapping into all the data on the Internet usually depends on fiber cable.
It would be prohibitively expensive to wire remote villages. That means cell towers in remote areas would have to carry the load. But they could easily be overwhelmed with traffic if people were suddenly using their phones to connect to the Internet.
One of the pillars of Zuckerberg's "rough plan" is to make mobile applications more data-efficient so they suck less precious bandwidth.
The connectivity problem is one that local governments and Western Internet companies have sought solutions for over the past several years.
In unconnected places, people sometimes get temporary Internet access from roving satellite-connected Wi-Fi hotspots on the back of donkeys or buses. Villagers will wait for the Wi-Fi hotspot to come to town, and they'll gather around to quickly check e-mail or browse the Web.
Other companies are also trying to crack this problem.
Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) is sending balloons with radio antennas into the stratosphere as part of a project called "Loon."
Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) is bringing its inexpensive lightRadio technology to small villages without cell towers.
And phone manufacturers are racing to develop smartphones that cost less than $15 -- a goal that even top-tier smartphone makers such as Nokia (NOK), Samsung and BlackBerry (BBRY) are working on.
There are others issues too. To get the benefits from Internet access, developing countries must tackle the widespread illiteracy that persists. If people can't read and write, then email, Facebook and other text-based communications apps will be worthless.
Impoverished people also tend to buy very rudimentary phones that are capable of texting and calling -- but not much else. Phones that are able to connect to the Internet could easily price many people out of the market.
And some worry that the path to full access will only exacerbate that problem.
"It's easy to be cynical about this Internet.org stuff," said Keith Proctor, fellow at Tufts University's Feinstein International Center. "If they can't address the issues of cost, power and illiteracy, there's a danger they'll just end up entrenching those inequalities."
Despite the challenges, Zuckerberg's vision is admirable. "They're going to use it to decide what kind of government they want, get access to health care for the first time ever," he told CNN. "Connectivity is a human right."

U.S. Open: Serena Williams 'pumped up' by defeat to Victoria Azarenka

U.S. Open champion Serena Williams signs her autograph for fans at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

• Serena Williams will begin defense of her U.S. Open title on Monday
• World No. 1 is seeking to become the grand slam's oldest women's champion
• American says she is determined to bounce back from recent Cincinnati defeat
• Her main rival will be last year's beaten finalist Victoria Azarenka

(CNN) -- Serena Williams has lost only four matches this year -- and the world No. 1 is hoping her most recent setback can help her become the oldest winner of a U.S. Open women's singles title.

The American is favored for a fifth triumph at Flushing Meadows, but this month's defeat by second-ranked Victoria Azarenka has given the Belorussian hope of avenging last year's final heartbreak.

Azarenka served for the title just under 12 months ago in New York, but Williams fought back to claim her 15th grand slam title.

She has since added another, at the French Open in June, but suffered a shock reverse against Sabine Lisicki in the last 16 at Wimbledon.

Williams added two more WTA Tour titles at Bastad and Toronto, but was upset by Azarenka in a third-set tie-breaker in the Cincinnati final.

Read: Why women 'owe' Billie Jean King

'Golden Bear' on tennis love

'Little Giant' aims for Grand Slam glory

"Every time I lose, I get so pumped afterwards," said Williams at a pre-tournament press conference Saturday.

"I just feel like now I'm ready, now I'm prepared. I almost needed that to take my game to a new level."

Williams will be 32 on September 26, and if she can retain her title in the final 18 days before that then she will surpass Margaret Court's 1973 effort of being the tournament's oldest woman winner.

"I have been able to keep up with the times," Williams said. "I'm actually serving harder than I ever have in my career. The racquets are stronger and I'm more fit.

"I feel so good, so healthy, so vivacious every time I step on the court."

Read: Shoulder blow for Sharapova

With world No. 3 Maria Sharapova missing the tournament due to injury, and Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli having retired earlier this month, Azarenka is Williams' biggest threat along with Polish third seed Agnieszka Radwanska.

Williams will face former French Open winner Francesca Schiavone in her opening match Monday, while older sister Venus plays Belgium's Wimbledon semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens.

King still fights for tennis equality

Secret to beating tennis' big four

Azarenka will begin the two-week event against Germany's grand slam debutant Dinah Pfizenmaier.

"You can always take the best out of what happened last week, so I will definitely take that into consideration," the 24-year-old told reporters Saturday.

"But the new week, U.S. Open, Serena, number one player in the world, defending champion, we all start kind of from zero here."

Read: Murray, Djokovic in same half of draw

In the men's draw, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will both be in action on Monday.

Second-ranked Nadal will face American Ryan Harrison as he bids to win the hard-court event for the second time. The Spaniard was champion in 2011, then runner-up the following year, but missed the 2012 event due to injury.

Federer, the champion five years in a row from 2004, will play Slovenia's Grega Zemlja as the seventh seed following a difficult year in which the 17-time grand slam winner has struggled with both injuries and an experiment with a new racquet.

Meanwhile, world No. 9 Petra Kvitova's U.S. Open preparations stumbled Saturday as the Czech lost 6-2 6-2 to Romania's Simona Halep in the final of the WTA event in New Haven.

Halep, a quarterfinalist in Cincinnati, followed up Friday's win over former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki to claim her fourth title this year.

France's Gael Monfils may miss New York after suffering an abdominal injury in the final of the ATP's Winston-Salem tournament.

The former world No. 7, now ranked 49th after a series of physical setbacks, retired at 6-3 2-1 down against Austria's Jurgen Melzer.

Hits and misses of the Steve Ballmer era at Microsoft

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's longtime CEO, is not one to hide his emotions. The burly chief executive, who announced Friday that he is stepping down within 12 months, is known for his exuberant persona at tech events. Here's a look at some of his many mugs.

Here Ballmer responds during an interview at a 2000 tech conference in Florida. If only we knew what the question was.

"Don't ask me again about Windows Vista."

Oh, this is a caption contest waiting to happen. Here Ballmer speaks at the Web. 2.0 Summit in 2011 in San Francisco.

Here Ballmer (pick one: 1. grimaces 2. grins 3. remembers he left the stove on) while talking about Windows 7 during a 2009 appearance in Munich, Germany.

"I'll shout louder so you guys in the back can hear me."

If this Microsoft thing hadn't worked out, Ballmer might have made a fearsome football coach.

"Well, Apple has had some success, sure. And Facebook is big. Don't get me started on Google. ... What was the question again?"

Please don't make Steve Ballmer angry. Just don't.

Ballmer speaks, or perhaps yells excitedly, during the 2013 opening of a Microsoft store in Troy, Michigan.

• Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced Friday that he will step down in the next 12 months
• Under Ballmer's reign, Microsoft has had a mixed record of success with its products
• The Xbox console has been a consistent seller, while the now-defunct Zune music player was a dud

(CNN) -- Poor Steve Ballmer. The burly Microsoft CEO, who announced Friday that he will retire next year, has been the victim of some unfortunate timing.

When he took over leadership of Microsoft in 2000 Ballmer had to follow iconic co-founder Bill Gates, who had built the software titan into the most valuable company in the world. Then Ballmer was blindsided by the swift rise of Steve Jobs and Apple, whose iPod, iPhone and iPad led a mobile revolution and made Microsoft appear slow and out of touch.

On a more positive note, Ballmer has been credited more recently for re-imagining the company's core product with the bold Windows 8 operating system and leading a 2013 revival of Microsoft's once-flagging stock.

Under his reign, Microsoft has a mixed record of success with its consumer products. Here's a look at some of the company's more notable hits and misses of the Ballmer era.

Hits

Windows XP -- This version of Microsoft's desktop operating system was released in 2001 and used on more than 80% of PCs at its peak. The software also showed surprising staying power: Many IT managers, frustrated by the buggy Microsoft Vista, downgraded to the older but more reliable XP. Today, 12 years after its launch, XP still runs almost 39% of the world's desktop computers.

Microsoft says a new upgrade will turn the Xbox 360 into a hub for all television viewing.

Xbox -- Launched in 2001, the venerable video gaming console and its successor, the Xbox 360, have sold more than 100 million units. Some blockbuster games, such as the "Halo" and "Gears of War" series, are available only for the Xbox. Its Kinect system was hailed as a step forward in motion-control gaming, while Xbox Live, Microsoft's online multiplayer gaming network, now has more than 46 million members worldwide. Microsoft will release its next-generation console, the Xbox One, in November.

Bing -- Ballmer in 2009 introduced Microsoft's Bing search engine, which drew praise for its attractive visuals and predictive-text features that produced search suggestions before users were done typing queries. It won't challenge Google's dominance any time soon, but Bing has emerged as a credible rival. It has gradually increased in popularity and now commands almost 18% of the U.S. search engine market.

Windows Phone 7 (and 7.5) -- With this launch in late 2010 and early 2011, Microsoft completely rebuilt its mobile operating system from the ground up by adding a more intuitive interface, better social-networking tools and a high-def screen with colorful "live tiles." It was a radical move for a company that for years had been playing it safe.

Misses

Internet Explorer 6 -- This version of Microsoft's widely used desktop browser was roundly criticized for its security flaws and lack of support for modern Web standards.

Zune -- In 2006, Microsoft finally launched its answer to Apple's hot-selling iPod. But the clunky Zune line of portable media players never caught on, and by late 2009 their market share had dropped to 2%. It didn't help that at midnight on December 31, 2008, all of Zune's 30GB models froze up for a day -- a problem with the way the device's internal clock recognized (or didn't recognize) leap years. Microsoft put the Zune out of its misery in 2011.

Vista -- Released in 2007, this successor to Windows XP was an immediate dud. Critics complained about its cost, sluggish speed, restrictive licensing terms and how Vista aimed to discourage the copying of protected digital media. One survey of corporate users found only 8% said they were "very satisfied" with the operating system. Stung by the reaction, Microsoft rushed out Windows 7 less than three years later.

The Microsoft Surface, running Windows 8.

Surface tablets -- Again, Microsoft found itself chasing Apple, this time with a belated attempt to dethrone the market-leading iPad. Launched in October 2012 -- more than two years after the original iPad -- the Surface tablet was Microsoft's first attempt to integrate its new Windows 8 operating system with its own hardware.

Despite some good reviews, the Surface hasn't clicked with consumers. Microsoft earned only $853 million from the Surface between its launch last fall and the close of the company's fiscal year -- a small fraction of iPad sales revenue during that time. Said AllThingsD, "That's a particularly sad showing for the tablet, given the blustering smack-talk with which Microsoft launched the device."

Baby Giveaway Defended By TV Chat Show Host

The show's host says the babies would have been "eaten by cats or dogs" if they were not rescued from rubbish dumps.

A game show host in Pakistan has defended his decision to give away abandoned babies to childless couples live on TV.

Aamir Liaquat Hussain, who has handed out two baby girls so far, denied the giveaways were a publicity stunt.
He claimed the babies would have been "eaten by cats or dogs" had they not been discovered by the show.

Fatima is one of the babies given away on the show

"It's not like parents (appear during) the show and (we) deliver the baby like a prize," he said.
"We're trying to create an environment ... for those people who are needy and want to adopt babies.
"It's not commercialisation, it's not showbiz. It's real Islam. Where are the actors? Where are actresses? I have not seen any actors or actresses here."

Mr Hussain (R) is one of Pakistan's most popular TV hosts

Mr Hussain is one of Pakistan's most popular talk show hosts and usually gives away prizes such as motorbikes, mobile phones and land deeds.
The baby giveaways came at the beginning of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, when television stations battle fiercely for ratings.
Said Zulfiqar Hussain, a policeman from Karachi who was one of the prize winners, said: "I cannot express in words our happiness. There was a great void in our life and that is filled by having this baby."

Baby Fatima was given to her new parents on the show

The abandoned babies were rescued by the Chhipa Welfare Association, a Pakistani aid organisation.
It said a third baby would be handed over in the coming days.
While the Chhipa teams scour garbage dumps and other sites for discarded newborns, Mr Hussain also appealed for babies directly.

The host usually gives prizes like motorbikes, mobile phones and land deeds

"If any family cannot afford to bring up their newborn baby due to poverty or illness then instead of killing them, they should hand over the baby to Dr Aamir," a notice on his website reads.
The children would be given to deserving couples on air, the notice said.
Many Pakistanis expressed disgust that abandoned babies were being given away in what they see as an attempt to boost ratings.
But Mr Hussain insists the two couples were pre-screened for their suitability as parents.
He said he is right to find good homes for abandoned babies in a country without official laws of adoption.

Walmart Canada’s new wheels turn heads

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Walmart Canada’s 60-foot supercube allows us to ship almost 30% more product than a standard 53-foot trailer and features sustainable improvements.

When your workplace spans 3,500 miles from coast to coast, the best way to turn heads is to show up with a tricked-out set of wheels. In our case, the wheels can carry up to 5,100 cubic feet of cargo.
Walmart Canada has made greening the supply chain a significant priority and investment over the past few years through a number of different initiatives. One area where we saw great opportunity was with our fleet; we wanted to find a way to deliver more products to our stores using fewer trucks, thereby reducing our impact on the environment. We found the answer in a pilot program using longer, drop-deck trailers we call supercubes. This first-of-its-kind trailer is 60 feet long and has an interior space of 5,100 cubic feet, providing enough room to ship almost 30 percent more volume than a standard 53-foot trailer.
Using these larger trailers takes cars off the road, cutting carbon emissions and saving energy. But their appeal also goes beyond sustainability, which is a happy accident. They’re all-around better trailers with more up-to-date features and—quite simply—they’re just cool-looking vehicles, inside and out. Features include fuel-saving resistance tires and side skirts that decrease aerodynamic drag under the vehicle and consequently, overall fuel consumption. In addition, these vehicles include flush-mounted, timer-set LED lights at the trailer entrance that shut off automatically when not in use. We first introduced the supercube during our Fall 2012 Transportation Sustainability Conference, and we received such great feedback on this innovative and efficient transportation solution that we are excited to roll it out more broadly.
The supercube is just one of many initiatives we’ve introduced over the past several years to create a more sustainable supply chain. And here are a few other examples:

• We require all carrier partners and logistics providers to include sustainability goals in their contracts. We also ask that they include how they plan to achieve them, and we measure these efforts through the carrier scorecard.
• We’ve been working with a third-party consultant to develop a measurement framework and process for analyzing carbon emissions in the transportation network so we can establish a baseline from which to work.
• We have improved fill rates on our trailers (cube utilization) and championed the Long Combination Vehicle (LCV) Program to reduce fuel needs and the company’s CO₂ emissions.

Initiatives such as these are among the reasons that The Canadian Association of Importers and Exporters recently awarded Walmart Canada a CATIE award for Greening the Supply Chain. The honor is given to a Canadian company that has initiated, implemented, and proven a corporate commitment to greening its supply chain, as well as reducing its carbon footprint.
These steps toward a greener supply chain have shown significant results: we’ve been able to reduce the carbon emissions per case in our transportation network by 5 percent from 2009-2011 (the most recent data available) in spite of 17 percent case volume increase over the same period.

Feds Bust 7-Eleven Owners Over ‘Modern-Day Plantation System’

• 
  Reuters

Federal authorities seized 14 7-Eleven locations in New York and Virginia Monday, charging nine owners and managers with identity theft and concealing and harboring illegal immigrants.
According to a government release, federal agents are currently investigating approximately 30 other 7-Eleven franchise locations across the country. The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the locations of the other franchises under investigation.
Married defendants Farrukh and Bushra Baig own or control 12 of the 14 seized franchises that are located across Long Island, New York and Virginia. Of the other defendants, two were brothers of Farrukh Baig, and three others helped manage the stores.
The final two defendants were brothers who owned and managed two Suffolk County, NY 7-Eleven franchises. They were indicted separately, and a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to comment on whether the defendants were suspected to be working together in one larger plot.
Homeland Security Investigations’ Special Agent-in-Charge James T. Hayes, Jr. wrote in a press release that the defendants “knowingly and repeatedly employed an illegal workforce and abused and exploited that workforce for more than 13 years.”
U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch compared the defendants’ actions to a “modern-day plantation system,” as they are accused of forcing illegal immigrants to live in group housing and pay rent in cash. The defendants are also charged with cheating the workers out of the wages they had earned.
Since 2000, the defendants allegedly used stolen identities to submit information for the illegal workers to 7-Eleven’s automated payroll service. The feds say more than 20 identities were stolen in the process, with victims ranging in age from 8 to 87. The identities of three deceased individuals were also said to have been used.
A spokesperson from the corporate 7-Eleven office says the company is “aware of today’s activity against certain franchise owners and has been cooperating with federal authorities during their investigation.”
Owners of Long Island 7-Eleven locations who were not involved in the federal raid also declined to comment for this report.

Justin Bieber: Cannabis Found On Tour Bus

A US customs sniffer dog finds a small amount of cannabis and drugs paraphernalia on one of the star's tour buses.

 

The singer was not on the bus that was pulled over

Police have found cannabis on one of Justin Bieber's tour buses as it crossed from Canada to the US.

The singer was not on board the bus when a sniffer dog detected a small amount of the drug.
"Drug paraphernalia" was also found, US customs officer Kenneth Hammond told the Detroit Free Press.
The vehicle was pulled over for checks on Sunday while attempting to cross the Ambassador Bridge from Windor in Canada to Detroit in Michigan.
The drugs were seized and the driver given a citation before the bus and its passengers were allowed to carry on.
Bieber played a concert at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena later that night.
It is not the first time illegal substances have been found on a bus connected with Bieber's tour.
In April, Swedish police said they found drugs and a stun gun when he was performing in Stockholm.
The 19-year-old has attracted a barrage of unwelcome headlines this year, including lashing out at a photographer, urinating in a restaurant bucket, arriving late on stage and having his monkey detained by German authorities.
Over the weekend the Canadian star was also pictured spitting from a hotel balcony - reportedly onto fans below.

Shakira: Lawsuit By Ex-Boyfriend Dismissed

A judge refuses to entertain Antonio de la Rua's claim that he was instrumental in Shakira's rise to global stardom.

 

Shakira and Antonio de la Rua in 2006 when they were together

A lawsuit by Shakira's ex-boyfriend seeking tens of millions of dollars from the singer has been dismissed by a judge in California.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Abraham Khan's ruling sided with lawyers for the pop star who argued that the case should be filed in her native Colombia or the Bahamas where she currently claims residency.
Antonio de la Rua sued his ex-girlfriend in April stating he was instrumental in her transformation into a global star. He wants more than $100m.

 

 

Shakira called for the 'harassment' to end His lawsuit claimed that he acted as her manager but had not been paid since 2010. The pair dated for more than a decade and broke up in 2011.
Mr De la Rua had previously sought access to Shakira's Swiss bank accounts but a judge rejected that effort in June. He also sued the Hips Don't Lie singer in New York, but the case was dropped.
In a statement, Shakira said: "I am very grateful that the courts are not allowing these groundless lawsuits to proceed.
"I have moved on in my life and could not be happier now. I hope this harassment will now come to an end."
The latest ruling does not address the merits of the case.
Rachel Fleishman, a lawyer for Mr de la Rua, argued during a hearing that the case should be heard in Los Angeles because its judges were experienced in the complexity of entertainment contracts and Shakira frequently travels to the city to serve as a judge on the competition show The Voice.
She also argued that many of the witnesses in the case live and work in Los Angele

Edinburgh Festival Playwright Urges Boldness

Leading playwright Mark Ravenhill says stars should be leading the way and making this year's festival inventive and creative.

Video: Has Edinburgh Festival Fringe become too expensive for new acts?

By Lucy Cotter, Entertainment Correspondent

One of Britain's leading playwrights is opening the Edinburgh Festival, calling for performers to be more daring in the current climate.

Mark Ravenhill is the first person to make an opening speech at what has become the world's biggest arts festival. He believes artists here should be leading the way.
"What's exciting about the Fringe is it's all about new work and new ideas and people being inventive and creative and that's what we desperately need at the moment.

 

 

Mark Ravenhill is calling for creative inspiration at the festival "We've had this massive financial meltdown and nobody quite knows the way forward and I think a fresh way is what this country desperately needs."
The Edinburgh Fringe grows year on year and now makes around £140m for the Scottish economy, hosting around 24,000 artists in nearly 3,000 shows.
However Pippa Bailey, a theatre producer and director who has been coming to the festival for many years believes it is now so big that the fringe is actually exploiting performers rather than supporting them.

 

 

Pippa Bailey wants the show to be about performers, not corporate business She has described it as elitist and a "monstrous machine suffocating artists and shows". Ms Bailey also believes it says a lot about the world we live in.
She said: "I think as a system it reflects a society that isn't very fair and it's quite interesting to look at it as a microcosm of society so it is fundamentally a lot of people, the performers who are paying to play and the people who get wealthy are the city if Edinburgh and some of the venue bosses."
Debates about the role of the arts and its value have been raging for months with Culture Secretary Maria Miller recently saying they must focus on economic not artistic value, something Jenny Eclair, who has a show at the fringe this year disagrees with.
The first female winner of the Perrier Award believes this view conflicts with what the festival stands for.
She said: "Edinburgh is a magnificent beast, it's almost mythical, it rears up out of the cobbles every August and you just have to salute it and where is Maria Miller? Has she ever been here?
"The woman depresses me to within an inch of my soul, I don't know why she doing this job."
 

Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes): Inside Carly Rae Jepsen's instant classic 'Call Me Maybe' video

If you were anywhere near a screen that had the potential to play music videos over the summer, chances are you cast your gaze at Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” more than once. The clip, which helped catapult Jepsen from Canadian Idol also-ran to chart-topping international superstar and Grammy nominee, starred Jepsen, the hunky model who stood in as the object of her affection, and one of the great classic twists in the history of music videos. Below, video director Ben Knechtel spins the story of the making of the video for the official song of summer 2012. For more stories behind this year’s top TV, movie, and music moments, 

As told by: Ben Knechtel

Me and Carly go back a few years now. I work at 604 Records, which is Carly’s Canadian record label. I’ve known her since 2008, and this has been the same team all along. It’s cool to see everyone still together and working on such a large scale now. I’ve actually directed her last four videos. I did the first video with her on a shoestring budget, and that got me in the door with her management and label and with her, and ever since then we established a great working relationship. She trusts me.

I heard the song for the first time [in August 2011], which is pretty crazy. The song wasn’t out yet, and they asked me if I wanted to write a treatment. So I got to listen to it really early, and I remember saying to my wife, “This song is going to be huge.” But I was thinking it’d be big in Canada. You can’t really gauge or anticipate it being such a giant song worldwide. But I remember saying to my wife that it was going to be a huge song, and it’s been incredible to see her go on this journey to pop superstar.

COLLECT ALL 4 HOBBIT COVERS:  

I wrote the treatment [for "Call Me Maybe"]. When I was in college, I made this little video for a school project where I was washing a car like Jessica Simpson in The Dukes of Hazzard. I was in these Daisy Duke shorts, and I had borrowed a bikini top from a girl in one of my classes. It was just a ridiculous over-the-top parody of the classic car wash scene. It’s super embarrassing, but I think you can still find it online somewhere. I always thought that was funny, and people got a kick out of it back then, and I always wanted to find an outlet to do that sort of thing again. “Call Me Maybe” ended up being that outlet.

The dude’s name is Holden Nowell, I think everybody just calls him “Hot Dude.” He’s a model and actor, and a rapper as well. We put up a casting call, and I think we saw 10 guys. Carly was at the casting call with me, and one by one, a guy would come in, and we’d meet him, and he would take his shirt off. And then Holden came out and took his shirt off and Carly was just like, “Uh, yeah. That one.” He’s just naturally ripped. It’s crazy.

It was a relatively small video shoot. We shot it in 12 hours in Langley, British Columbia, which is about 40 minutes outside of Vancouver. It was the day before Halloween, because I remember we had to take down some Halloween decorations because we wanted it to be a summer video. It definitely was not summer — it was freezing cold. I think it was raining four days beforehand, and it stopped raining one day and that’s when we shot the video. Then it rained for the rest of the week. That’s Vancouver for you. I was wearing a winter jacket, some of the crew were in parkas, and poor Holden couldn’t wear a shirt.

I’ll probably never experience anything like this. I remember calling my mom when it hit a million views, and I called home and got really excited about one million views. And now it’s over 300 million and everything is just kind of gravy now. But I was impressed when it hit a million views!

Tobacco control campaign begins in Nigeria as Govt releases tobacco survey

Tobacco control campaign begins in Nigeria as Govt releases tobacco survey

More than 600,000 who die annually from tobacco related diseases are nonsmokers exposed to second-hand smoke.  The world’s leading preventable cause of death claiming the lives of 6 million people each year, tobacco is a slow, but more often than not, sure killer. Numbers do not lie. They aren’t pretty, but they represent the hard facts about the effects of tobacco worldwide. Most of tobacco’s damage to health does not become evident until years or even decades after the onset of use. Continue...

There are currently no national restrictions on the advertising and promotion of tobacco use in Nigeria. A campaign has recently been launched to raise awareness on the various health risks of smoking and second hand smoke, as well as the toll of tobacco use on the Nigerian population. Tobacco Control Nigeria is a behavioural change and public health campaign project using Social Media to advance tobacco control and support the passage of a comprehensive Tobacco Control (TC) law compliant with the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). 

According to the project campaign manager, Olamide Egbayelo “we  hope to nurture and give voice to a community of persons focused on ensuring that tobacco companies carry out their advertising and marketing responsibly. We want to ensure that Nigerian children are properly protected from pressures to take up smoking, that public places are protected from the tyranny of secondhand smoke, that persons who wish to quit smoking find the support they require.” The project will be launched in August.

However, in 2012, Nigeria conducted the Global Adults Tobacco Survey (GATS) and is the first country in the African region to do so. GATS aims to assist countries address selected demand-related articles of the World Health Organization on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). It also further supports the WHO MPOWER policy package

The report reveals that exposure to secondhand smoke is highest among those who visited restaurants.  29.3% of adults (6.4 million adults) were exposed to tobacco smoke when visiting restaurants. Nigeria has the opportunity to focus on prevention, stop initiation, and further decrease prevalence rates. A copy of the full GATS report can be downloaded here

                                                        

If you would like more information about this campaign, please visit

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TobaccoCtrl

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TobaccoCtrl

Google Plus: https://gplus.to/TobaccoCtrl  

2go: Tobaccoctrl

8-month old baby stabbed 90 times with scissors by his mother

8-month old baby stabbed 90 times with scissors by his mother

Eight months old Xiao Bao was stabbed 90 times in the face with scissors by his mother for biting her while she was breastfeeding him. The incident that has left many people shocked happened in Xuzhou, in the eastern China Jiangsu province. After the attack, the mother disappeared leaving the infant in a pool of his blood in the yard of their home. Xiao was found by his uncle who rushed him to the hospital. The baby needed more than 100 stitches. The mother, who has since been arrested, is not known to be suffering any kind of mental illness.

Photos from the Future Awards nominees reception hosted by the US Consulate

Photos from the Future Awards nominees reception hosted by the US Consulate

The 2013 Future Awards nominees party held on Thursday July 11th at the U.S Consul General's residence. More photos when you continue...