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Cricket world cup 2011 Cricket World Cup 2011 fixtures, Cricket World Cup 2011 venue and Cricket World Cup 2011 teams.

2010-12-31T21:26:00.000+06:00

Welcome to Cricket world cup 2011 – a complete website on the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. This website would update you about ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 schedule, Cricket World Cup 2011 fixtures, Cricket World Cup 2011 venue and Cricket World Cup 2011 teams.
Cricket is considered as a religion in India and people are crazy about Cricket, especially in this part of the world. With ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 coming in the year 2011, the game would rise to new levels. If you are a Cricket fan searching for ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 schedule, Cricket World Cup 2011 fixtures, Cricket World Cup 2011 venue and Cricket World Cup 2011 teams, then you need not to go elsewhere as you will get information on Cricket World Cup 2011 fixtures, Cricket World Cup 2011 venue and Cricket World Cup 2011 teams and ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 schedule and every other info about ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 will be the 10th World Cup. Prior to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, 9 Cricket World Cups have been organized by ICC. Australia have emerged winner on the most occasions – 4. Closely following is West Indies, who won the inaugural and the very next World Cup. All the Indian Subcontinent teams – India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have won 1 World Cup each. Australia won in 1987, 1999, 2003 and 2007. West Indies won on 1975 (the first World Cup) and 1979. India won the World Cup in 1983, Pakistan won the World Cup in 1992 and Sri Lanka won in 1996.

ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 schedule and Cricket World Cup 2011 fixtures: ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 schedule and Cricket World Cup 2011 fixtures are given below on our website.

Manchester City refuse to let Craig Bellamy join Tottenham Hotspur as Fulham, Everton & Newcastle United hover

2010-08-13T17:08:00.000+06:00

What a game this is to kick off the new Premier League season. Roberto Mancini’s billionaires head to White Hart Lane still smarting from their late defeat at the hands of Spurs at Eastlands in May. That result condemned City to another season in the Europa League while Harry Redknapp completed his amazing transformation of Spurs from relegation contenders to Champions League qualifiers in less than two seasons.

Watch Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur live streaming online

Games between these two tend to throw up a number of goals. In fact, there have only been two goalless draws between the two sides at White Hart Lane since the end of the Second World War.

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City will need to come out of the blocks firing on all cylinders as their recent record in north London is pretty dire. They have only managed one win at White Hart Lane in the Premier League era. However, Spurs have an appalling record when it comes to the first game of the season. Last year’s home victory against Liverpool was only the second time in 13 seasons that they have started a campaign with a win.
Both sides have grand designs of becoming regular features in the top four and have quality running right through their squads. Harry has a good nucleus of English players at his disposal while Mancini has been busy splashing the cash in the summer on a number of foreign nationals.

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Who will start the season by getting one over one of their main rivals? The Panel seems to be edging for a home win.

Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City; Kick off 12.45pm 14 Aug 2010

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Manchester City refuse to let Craig Bellamy join Tottenham Hotspur as Fulham, Everton & Newcastle United hover - report

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2010-08-13T11:01:00.001+06:00

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Kelly Pickler participate to a friend songwriter Kyle Jacobs

2010-06-24T02:23:00.000+06:00

people talked about the final season, the former American Idol fifth and forty-songwriter Kyle Jacobs engaged on June 15 - her birthday gala Faye Pickler Jeddah late Wednesday.
"We have found that the most amazing day of my life," said Pickler people. "Change the world all my own. We both feel like we got a blessing my grandmother."
Jacobs proposed for Pickler during a picnic on the shore of Florida at sunset.
"I remember saying to Kyle, 'It's like a child I'm in a dream - but if this is not true, and I'm going to be very upset!" I told people.
Jacobs added - Pickler, who met two and a half years ago through friends - that the couple "held to just each other, and the most beautiful prayer" after the proposal.
"We had a little champagne and talked and laughed and cried," people said.
Pickler also credited with the Jacobs show her how a healthy relationship it should be.
"Kyle took all my fear of marriage, and they show me love is supposed to be a way," said the people.
In addition to participating, and said it recently renewed Pickler troubled relationship with my father Clyde Pickler - who was sober for a year.
"I'm happiest place you've ever", said the people, adding that she plans to have her father walk her down the aisle.
Pickler is another reality of the country's female star, which happened in recent acting - join the fourth season of American Idol champion Carrie Underwood, the original and final Nashville Star Miranda Lambert.
"We're all happy just to each other," said Pickler people.
"I'm sure we'll have some talk of marriage and we will exchange ideas, and we continue to joke about how there must be something in the water!" Former 'American Idol' contestant who now makes her rounds on the country music stage, and Wednesday will be her boyfriend, songwriter Kyle Jacobs, and reports of the people.
Jacobs proposed on June 15 - which is usually a "sad and difficult" day for Pickler because he was rejoicing the birth of her grandmother, the late. However, the question changed everything.
"It turned out to be the most amazing day of my life. My whole world has changed. We both feel like we got a blessing my grandmother," she tells people. "I remember saying to Kyle, 'It's like a child I'm in a dream - but if this is not true, and I'm going to be very upset!" Says the proposal.
23-year-old singer) met Jacobs through a friend two and a half years ago.

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Watch Soccer World Cup 2010 Opening Ceremony live streaming Free online

2010-06-04T07:41:00.002+06:00

Watch Opening Ceremony World Cup 2010 and every matches live streaming online on 11 June 2010 live from Johannesburg stadium South Africa. This world cup is a first competition in Africa territory and 19th FIFA World Cup. The contestant in this tournament has 32 teams like the 2006 winner Italy, Brazil, France, Germany, England and much more the best team in the world. You must be watch the opening ceremony because this very excellent.

Remember It’s For 2010 Soccer World Cup Opening Ceremony:

* 2010 FIFA world cup opening ceremony date : 10th June 2010
* FIFA world cup 2010 opening ceremony Time:8.00pm local time (GMT+2)
* FIFA world cup 2010 Kick off ceremony Venue:Johannesburg’s southwest Soweto, Soccer City Stadium.

LeBron James

2010-02-14T15:20:00.000+06:00

LeBron Raymone James (born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he was a three-time "Mr. Basketball" of Ohio in high school, and was highly promoted in the national media as a future NBA superstar while a sophomore at St. Vincent–St. Mary High School. At just 18, he was selected with the number one pick in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Cavaliers and signed a US$90 million shoe contract with Nike before his professional debut. Listed as a small forward, James has set numerous youngest player records since joining the league. He was named the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2003–04, NBA Most Valuable Player in 2008–09, and has been both All-NBA and an All-Star every season since 2005.

LeBron James has led the team to consecutive playoff appearances from 2006 through 2009. In 2007, the Cavaliers advanced to the Conference Finals for the first time since 1992 and to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history. James has also been a member of the USA national team, winning a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics and gold at the 2008 Olympics.
James was born on December 30, 1984 in Akron, Ohio, and attended St. Vincent–St. Mary High School in Akron, where he became a starter during his freshman year for the Fighting Irish. He averaged 21 points and 6.2 rebounds, and led the team to a 23–1 record, en route to the Division III state title. Keith Dambrot, now head coach at the University of Akron, was the head coach at St. Vincent–St. Mary. Coach Dambrot started working with James doing $1 clinics at a local recreation center.In his sophomore year, James averaged 25.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 3.8 steals.He led the team to a 26–1 record and a Division III state title for the second straight season. He was the first sophomore to be named Ohio's "Mr. Basketball" and also became the first sophomore ever selected to the USA Today All-USA First Team.
In James' junior year his stats improved again. He averaged 29.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 3.3 steals and was again named Mr. Basketball of Ohio.He also earned a spot on the All-USA First Team, and was named the 2001–2002 boys' basketball Gatorade National Player of the Year. It was at this time that his nickname "King James" became a household staple in Ohio.

LeBron James appeared in SLAM Magazine, which began his nationwide exposure. However, the St. Vincent–St. Mary basketball team did not defend its state title when increased enrollment forced the team to move up to the more challenging Division II (Ohio high school basketball has four divisions based on annual enrollment figures) and lost to Roger Bacon High School (Cincinnati). James attempted to declare for the NBA draft after the season ended, petitioning for an adjustment to the NBA's draft eligibility rules, which at the time required prospective players to have at least completed high school. The petition was unsuccessful, but it ensured him an unprecedented level of nation-wide attention as he entered his senior year. By then, James had already appeared on the covers of Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine. His popularity forced his team to move their practices from the school gym to the nearby James A. Rhodes Arena at the University of Akron. NBA stars such as Shaquille O'Neal attended the games, and a few of James' high school games were even televised nationally on ESPN2 and regionally on pay-per-view.

LeBron's mother, Gloria James, created a firestorm of controversy when a bank took her son's future earning power into consideration, resulting in an approval of a loan used to buy an $80,000 Hummer H2 for her son's 18th birthday. The event prompted an investigation by the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA). Under the OHSAA guidelines, no amateur may accept any gift valued over $100 as a reward for athletic performance.When James later accepted two throwback jerseys of Wes Unseld and Gale Sayers worth $845 from NEXT, an urban clothing store in Shaker Square, in exchange for his posing for pictures to be displayed on the store's walls, OHSAA stripped him of his eligibility.James appealed and a judge blocked the ruling, reducing the penalty to a two-game suspension and allowing him to play the remainder of the season. However, James's team was forced to forfeit one of their wins as a result.That forfeit was the team's only official loss that season.

Despite the distractions, the Irish won a third state title, with James averaging 31.6 points, 9.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 3.4 steals on the season.James was named to the All-USA First Team for an unprecedented third time, and was selected as Mr. Basketball of Ohio for the third year in a row.He earned MVP honors at the McDonald's All-American Game, the EA Sports Roundball Classic, and the Jordan Capital Classic. Although it was a foregone conclusion, by participating in more than two high school all-star events, James officially lost his NCAA eligibility. James finished his high school career with 2,657 points, 892 rebounds and 523 assists.James was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the first overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. Facing the Sacramento Kings in his first NBA game, James recorded 25 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals and shot 60% from the floor.After recording a season-high 41 points against the New Jersey Nets, James became the youngest player in league history to score at least 40 points in a game.He averaged 20.9 points, 5.9 assists, and 5.5 rebounds per game for the season,and was named 2003–04 NBA Rookie of the Year; becoming the first Cavalier and youngest NBA player to ever receive the award.He joined Oscar Robertson and Michael Jordan as the only players in NBA history to average at least 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists per game in their rookie season.The Cavaliers improved by 18 wins and concluded the regular season with a 35–47 record, but failed to make the playoffs.In the 2004–05 season, James was selected to his first NBA All-Star Game and recorded 13 points, 6 assists, and 8 rebounds, as the Eastern All-Stars defeated the Western All-Stars 125–115.During the season, James became the youngest player in league history to record a triple-double and make the All-NBA Team. He averaged 27.2 points, 7.2 assists, 7.4 rebounds, and 2.2 steals per gam However, the Cavaliers failed to reach the playoffs again and finished with a 42–40 regular season record.
2005–06 season

In the 2005–06 season, James was elected to his second straight All-Star Game appearance and led the Eastern All-Stars to a 122–120 victory, with 29 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists. He became the youngest All-Star MVP at 21 years, 51 days.He was named NBA Player of the Week for an unprecedented three consecutive weeks and concluded the season with five honors.He scored 35 or more points in nine consecutive games and joined Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant as the only players since 1970 to accomplish the feat.For the season, James averaged 31.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 6.6 assists per game,and became the youngest player in NBA history to average at least 30 points. He also became the fourth player in NBA history to average more than 30 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists in a single season.The Cavaliers made the playoffs for the first time since 1998,and improved from a record of 17–65 in 2002–03 to 50–32 in 2005–06.
Following the regular season, James was named as one of the candidates for the NBA Most Valuable Player Award. Although he finished second to Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns in MVP voting, he was awarded co-MVP honors with Nash by The Sporting News; an award given by the publication that is based on the voting of thirty NBA general managers.

LeBron James made his playoff debut against the Washington Wizards in 2006. He recorded a triple-double with 32 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds, as the Cavaliers defeated the Wizards 97–86. He joined Johnny McCarthy and Magic Johnson as the only players in NBA history to register a triple-double in their playoff debut.For the series, James averaged 35.7 points, as the Cavaliers defeated the Wizards in six games.In the process, however, James set a new record for turnovers in a 6-game series, with 34. In the second round of the playoffs, James and the Cavaliers lost in seven games to the defending Eastern Conference champion and divisional rival Detroit Pistons. James averaged 30.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 5.8 assists in the playoffs.
At the end of the season, James negotiated a three-year contract extension, with a player option for a fourth year. The contract is worth $60 million and began at the start of the 2007–08 season.Although it is for fewer years and less money than the maximum he could sign, it allows him the option of seeking a new contract worth more money as an unrestricted free agent following the 2010 season.

LeBron James was elected to his third consecutive All-Star game appearance during the 2006–07 season. He played a game high 32 minutes and finished with 28 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists.In the regular season, the Cavaliers tied the previous season's record with 50 wins and clinched the second seed of the Eastern Conference on the last day of the season. For the season, James averaged 27.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 6.0 assists, and 1.6 steals per game.He joined Oscar Robertson as the only players in NBA history to average 27 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists for three consecutive years.
In the first round of the 2007 NBA Playoffs, James led the Cavaliers to their first sweep in franchise history over the Washington Wizards in four games.It was also the first time the franchise had won consecutive road playoff games.For the series, James averaged 27.8 points, 7.5 assists, and 8.5 rebounds.In the second round of the playoffs, James led the Cavaliers to a 4–2 series victory over the New Jersey Nets.[26] He averaged 25.0 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 8.6 assists in the series,as the Cavaliers advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 15 years.

In the Eastern Conference Finals, James led the Cavaliers from an 0–2 deficit against the Detroit Pistons to win the series in six games. His performance in Game 5 was especially memorable. James recorded a franchise-record 48 points on 54.5% field goal shooting, to go with 9 rebounds and 7 assists. In addition, James scored 29 of Cleveland's last 30 points, including the team's final 25 points in a double-overtime victory. He concluded the night with the game-winning lay-up with 2 seconds left.NBA analyst Marv Albert referred to James's performance as "one of the greatest moments in postseason history," while color commentator Steve Kerr called it "Jordan-esq
In the 2007 NBA Finals, James averaged 22.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 6.8 assists, as the Cavaliers were swept by the San Antonio Spurs, losing 4 consecutive games.For the postseason, James averaged 25.1 points, 8.0 assists and 8.1 rebounds per game.He set a franchise record for double-doubles in a playoff season with eight and became the first Cavalier and the first non-guard in NBA history to have at least seven assists in eight consecutive playoff games.In the 2007–08 season, James continued his dominant play, earning his fourth consecutive All-Star Game appearanceand once again positioning himself as one of the front runners for the NBA Most Valuable Player award. He won the 2008 All-Star Game MVP with 27 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals as the Eastern Conference All-Stars defeated their Western counterparts, 134–128.
On February 19, 2008, James recorded his fifth triple-double of the 2007–08 season by putting up 26 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists against the Houston Rockets. It was the fifteenth triple-double of his career. He is the third youngest player to post 15 triple-doubles, behind Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson. He scored his sixth triple-double of the season and sixteenth of his career against the Indiana Pacers the very next game. It was the second time during the season that he had a triple-double in back-to-back games. The last player to accomplish that feat was Magic Johnson in 1988.James finished the season with seven triple-doubles, breaking his personal and team records for triple-doubles in a season and 17 career triple-doubles broke his team record as well.

On February 27, 2008, against the Boston Celtics, James became the youngest person to score 10,000 points in his career at 23 years and 59 days, achieving the feat in style with a slam-dunk over 11-time All-Star Kevin Garnett, eclipsing the old mark by more than a year. James did so in 368 games, the ninth fastest in league historyOn March 5, 2008, James scored 50 points with 8 rebounds and 10 assists on the New York Knicks, becoming only the third player since the ABA-NBA merger to record a 50-point 10-assist game.On March 21, 2008, James scored 29 points against the Toronto Raptors, taking him past Brad Daugherty's all-time Cavaliers scoring record of 10,389 points. Daugherty achieved this record over the course of 548 games, while James took only 380 games to score 10,414 points.
All told, James propelled Cleveland to a 45–37 record, good for second place in the Central Division and the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. Prior to Cleveland's first-round series versus the Washington Wizards, Wizards guard Deshawn Stevenson said James was "overrated," prompting James to say that he would not return the insult, as that would be "almost like Jay-Z [responding to a negative comment] made by Soulja Boy." In response, Soulja Boy himself made an appearance at Game 3 of the series (played in Washington) in support of the Wizards, and his music was played over the PA system. James would later say that he meant no disrespect to Soulja Boy with his comment, and that his young son is a big fan of the rapper. Jay-Z responded by producing a freestyle version of the Too Short single "Blow the Whistle", named "Playoff", in which he "disses" Stevenson and Soulja Boy on James' behalf.The Cavaliers won the series against the Wizards in 6 games (4–2). The Cavaliers were eliminated by the Boston Celtics in the next round (4–3). During the decisive seventh game, which was played in Boston, James and opponent Paul Pierce each scored 40+ points.
2008–09 season

In the 2008–09 season James continued to improve facets of his game while setting new career highs. He had 23 chase-down blocks (93 blocks in total, a career-high) and improved his free-throw shooting (78.0%, a career-high, with league-leading 594 free-throws made).He was the NBA Player of the Month four times, making him the second player in NBA history to do that after Kevin Garnett did so in his 2003–04 MVP season. In addition, he became the fourth player in NBA history to lead his team in all five major statistical categories (total points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks) in one season.
After a win on March 25 against the New Jersey Nets the Cleveland Cavaliers improved their record to 58–13 exceeding their previous franchise best of 57–25 set in the 1988–89 and 1991–92 NBA seasons. They ended the regular season with a league best of 66–16 after losing their final home game to the Philadelphia 76ers in overtime. The Cavaliers had a chance to tie the 1985–86 Boston Celtics for the all-time best NBA home record but ended at 39–2 after home losses to the Los Angeles Lakers and 76ers.
James dribbles the ball in a game in April 2009.

In the playoffs, the Cavaliers swept the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the 2009 NBA Playoffs. James averaged 32.0 points, 11.3 rebounds and 7.5 assists in the series and became just the third player in NBA history to average at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in a postseason series. At the end of the last game, in which he tallied 36 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists on 16–17 free throw shooting, there were MVP chants for him in The Palace of Auburn Hills.On May 4, he was announced as the NBA Most Valuable Player. He became the youngest player as well as the first Cavaliers player in history to win the award.He was also named to the NBA All-Defensive Team for the first time in his career.In the next series in the playoffs, James once again led his team to a sweep against the Atlanta Hawks.
On May 22, during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Orlando Magic's Hedo Türkoğlu shot a 12-foot jumper to give the Magic a 2-point lead with 1 second left. Following a Cleveland timeout, Williams inbounded the ball to James, but heavy defense by Türkoğlu denied James a chance at a tying layup. James then attempted and successfully made a three-point shot over Türkoğlu, giving the Cavs a 96–95 victory to tie the series 1–1.Following losses in both games 3 and 4, James and the rest of the Cavs scored a victory in Game 5, making it 3–2, to send the series back to Orlando. In Game 6, he scored a playoff low 25 points and the Cavaliers lost the series to Orlando. Lebron's postgame behavior incited some controversy when he left the game floor without shaking hands with his opponents. Jalen Rose, a former NBA player and current ESPN commentator, said James' actions were "immature and ingracious." James later told reporters "It's hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them, I'm a winner. It's not being a poor sport or anything like that. If somebody beats you up, you're not going to congratulate them. ... I'm a competitor. That's what I do. It doesn't make sense for me to go over and shake somebody's hand."
After his rookie season, James played on the 2004 U.S. Olympic basketball team in Athens, where the United States won the bronze medal in men's basketball. It was the first time a U.S. Olympic team with NBA players failed to win the gold medal. Limited to 14.6 minutes per game, James averaged just 5.8 points and 2.6 rebounds per game.James also competed in the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan and averaged 13.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game.
However, the team finished with an 8–1 record, and was again awarded the bronze medal James was named as one of three captains for the 2006 USA Men's World Championship team, alongside Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade.After failing to win the 2006 World Championships, the team competed at the 2007 Tournament of Americas Olympic qualifiers to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. During the gold medal game against Argentina, James recorded 31 points, the most by an American in an Olympic qualifier, as the United States captured gold medal honors.He averaged 18.1 points (on tournament-high field-goal percentage (76%) and three-point percentage (62.2%), 4.7 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 22.2 minutes per game.

James, along with the rest of Team USA reclaimed the gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, defeating Spain 118 to 107. He finished the gold medal game with 14 points along with 6 rebounds and 3 assists as the U.S. went unbeaten, winning their first Gold Medal since the 2000 Olympi.
Player profile

LeBron James has established himself as a legitimate triple-double threat and has averaged 27.5 points, 6.7 assists and 7.0 rebounds per game for his career.As of the 2008–09 season, he has recorded 28 triple-doubles in his career,with 24 in the regular season and four in the postseason.On offense, James is known for using his size, strength and quickness to get past defenders, and for absorbing contact while finishing at the basket. In the 2005–06 season, he led the league in completed traditional three point plays.He is a solid rebounder who regularly ranks among the league leaders in rebounds for the small forward position.His skills have led to many comparisons to NBA legends Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan.
James was not named to the NBA All-Defensive Team until the 2008–09 season, when he finished second in voting for Defensive Player of the Year.
Personal life

LeBron James has two children with his high school sweetheart, Savannah Brinson. The first, LeBron James Jr., was born on October 6, 2004, and the second, Bryce Maximus James, on June 14, 2007. On his twenty-fourth birthday, avant-garde guitarist Buckethead honored James with two new songs on his website called "LeBron" and "LeBron's Hammer" both later released on the 2009 album Slaughterhouse on the Prairie One of his earlier songs, "King James" from Crime Slunk Scene (2006), is also dedicated to James.

James also played football during his high school years at St.Vincent-St. Mary's. In his sophomore year he was named first-team all-state as a wide receiver, and in his junior year he led his team to the state semifinals.Sports analysts have speculated on whether he could have played in the NFL.
Endorsements

LeBron James has endorsement contracts with Nike, Sprite, Glacéau, Bubblicious, Upper Deck, McDonald's and State Farm. With Nike, James has released six signature shoe styles, and four additional shoes (20-5-5, Soldier, Soldier 2, Ambassador). He has acted in a 2007 series of commercials called "The LeBrons", as well as had his likeness voiced by Kenan Thompson in a 2009 commercial series titled "MVPuppets". In December 2007, James was ranked at #1 in the Forbes Top 20 Earners Under 25 with annual earnings of $27 million.
In June 2008, James donated $20,000 to a committee to elect Barack Obama. On October 29, 2008, James gathered almost 20,000 people at the Quicken Loans Arena for a viewing of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's 30-minute American Stories, American Solutions television advertisement. It was shown on a large screen above the stage, where Jay-Z later held a free concert.

James and Ice Cube have paired up to pitch a one-hour special to ABC based on James' life. James will also act as executive producer if the show is greenlighted.James appeared on the cover of the February 2009 edition of GQ magazine.James stars in the Lions Gate film, More Than a Game (2009).
During the 2007 NBA Playoffs, James drew criticism when he declined to sign a petition started by his teammate, Ira Newble, regarding the Chinese government's alleged involvement in the ongoing conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan, stating that he did not know enough about the issue. A year later, however, James did talk publicly about the issue, saying, "At the end of the day we're talking about human rights. And people should understand that human rights and people's lives are in jeopardy. We're not talking about contracts here. We're not talking about money. We're talking about people's lives being lost and that means a lot more to me than some money or a contract."
James has received criticism from Cleveland fans and critics for attending Cleveland Indians games against the New York Yankees dressed in a Yankees hat. James said, "As individuals I want every Indian to succeed. I love all these fans for coming out and supporting us. But team-wise I want the Yankees to win." Despite residing in Ohio for all of his childhood, James added that he grew up as a Yankees fan, a Dallas Cowboys fan and a Chicago Bulls fan. In January 2008, Nike released the Air Zoom V LeBron shoe, which featured a Yankees-type motif and was made available only in New York City.

In March 2008, James became the first black man to appear on the cover of Vogue, posing with Gisele Bündchen.He also was just the third man to appear on the cover of Vogue, after Richard Gere and George Clooney. Some sports bloggers and columnist considered the cover offensive, describing the positioning of James and Bündchen as a reference to classic imagery of the movie monster King Kong.
In August 2008, a source close to James said he would strongly consider playing in Europe for Olympiacos if given a $50-million annual salary.However, James later said he may sign a contract extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers at the conclusion of the 2008–2009 NBA season.
On July 6, 2009, James courted controversy when he ordered organizers to confiscate CBS video tape of him being dunked on by Xavier University's Jordan Crawford at the Nike LeBron James Skills Academy.

On July 23 in an interview for his upcoming book "Shooting Stars",Lebron James admitted to smoking marijuana from all the stress he was getting from the media at the time.
James, with comedian Jimmy Kimmel, co-hosted the 2007 ESPY Awards. James himself was nominated for three ESPYs: Best Male Athlete, Best NBA Player (winner), and Best Record Breaking Performance. The performance for which he was nominated was when he scored 48 points in Game 5 of the 2007 NBA Eastern Conference Finals against the Detroit Pistons, including 29 of the last 30 points and all of the team's 25 points in overtime.In other comedic pursuits, James hosted the 33rd season premiere of Saturday Night Live. The show's creator Lorne Michaels praised him for his versatility.
Tattoos

LeBron James has a number of tattoos all over his body. Across his back is an emblazoned banner, "Chosen 1," a name he received from the cover of Sports Illustrated while in high school. On his right leg vertically, "Witness." On his right arm, a lion with a crown and "Gloria" for his mother. On his upper left arm, the word "Beast" and "Hold my own." On his lower left arm, a rendition of the face of his first son, and the words, "Prince James" for his first son, and "Maximus Bryce" for his second son. On his lower right arm, "Akron", and "330" the telephone area code for Akron, Ohio, James' hometown. Additionally on his lower right forearm, the slogan, "No one can see through what I am except for the one that made me." On his chest, the words, "Gifted Child" and a large animal across his pectorals resembling a "lion-dragon."

Jennifer Lopez

2010-02-14T14:05:00.000+06:00

Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24, 1969, often nicknamed J.Lo, is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, fashion designer and television producer. She is the richest person of Latin American descent in Hollywood according to Forbes, and the most influential Hispanic entertainer in the U.S. according to People en Español's list of "100 Most Influential Hispanics".
Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Lopez subsequently ventured into acting with Selena (1997), Out of Sight (1998) and Angel Eyes (2001), for all of which she won ALMA Awards for outstanding actress. She also appeared in The Cell (2000), The Wedding Planner (2001), Maid in Manhattan (2002), Shall We Dance? (2004) and Monster-in-Law (2005). She parlayed her media fame into a fashion line and various perfumes with her celebrity endorsement.
Lopez released her debut studio album, On the 6. She followed it up with two number one albums on the Billboard 200, J.Lo (2001) and J to tha L-O!: The Remixes (2002). Her third studio album, This Is Me... Then (2002) peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 as well as her fourth studio album, Rebirth (2005). In 2007, Lopez released two albums including her first full Spanish-language album, Como Ama una Mujer and her fifth English studio album Brave. She won the 2003 American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist and the 2007 American Music Award for Favorite Latin Artist. She has sold over 48 million albums worldwide.Jennifer Lopez was born and grew up in Castle Hill, a neighborhood in the Bronx, New York, to Puerto Rican parents Guadalupe Rodríguez, a kindergarten teacher, and David Lopez, a computer specialist.She has two siblings, Lynda and Leslie. Lopez spent her entire academic career in Catholic schools, finishing at the all-girls Preston High School, in the Bronx. She financed singing and dancing lessons for herself from the age of 19. After attending Baruch College for one semester, Lopez divided her time between working in a legal office, dance classes, and dance performances in Manhattan night clubs.She had a little part in the 1987 film My Little Girl. After months of auditioning for dance roles, Lopez was selected as a dancer for various rap music videos, a 1990 episode of Yo! MTV Raps and as a backup dancer for the New Kids on the Block and their performance of their song "Games" for the American Music Awards in 1991. She gained her first regular high-profile job as a "Fly Girl" dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color in 1990. Soon after, Lopez became a backup dancer for Janet Jackson and made an appearance in her 1993 video "That's the Way Love Goes".
Film and television
Lopez's first television job as an actress was on the Fox series South Central. Lopez also made a guest appearance Second Chances and Hotel Malibu. She then appeared in the made-for-television film Nurses on the Line: The Crash of Flight 7. Lopez's first serious screen role was in Gregory Nava's 1995 drama My Family, playing the character of Young Maria in the 1920s. After starring alongside Jimmy Smits and Edward James Olmos in My Family, Lopez starred in the action film Money Train opposite Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson.In 1996, she beat out Ashley Judd and Lauren Holly for the supporting role in Francis Ford Coppola's 1996 comedy Jack starring Robin Williams.She then starred opposite Jack Nicholson in Bob Rafelson's well-received noir thriller Blood and Wine.

Lopez's first big break came in 1997, when she was chosen to play the title role in Selena, a biopic of the Tejano pop singer Selena. Despite having previously worked with Nava on Mi Familia, Lopez was subjected to an intense auditioning process before landing the lead role of Selena. She earned widespread praise for her performance, including a Golden Globe Award nomination for "Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy". Later that year Lopez appeared in two major films. She starred in the horror film Anaconda alongside Ice Cube and Jon Voight, playing the role of Terri Flores, a director who is shooting a documentary while traveling through the Amazon River.Despite being a modest box office hit, the film was critically panned.Lopez then starred as the leading actress in the neo-noir film U Turn, which is based on the book Stray Dogs, starring alongside Sean Penn and Billy Bob Thornton.

She had one of her most acclaimed roles, starring opposite George Clooney in Out of Sight, Steven Soderbergh's adaptation the Elmore Leonard novel.Cast as a deputy federal marshal who falls for a charming criminal, Lopez won raves for her tough performance and in the process she became the highest paid Latina actress in Hollywood history.That same year, she provided the voice for Azteca on the computer-animated film Antz. Lopez then starred opposite Vincent D'Onofrio, in the psychological thriller film The Cell. She portrayed Catherine Deane, a child psychologist who uses a virtual reality to enter into the minds of her patients to coax them from their comas. The film was released on August 18, 2000 and became a box office success opening at number one.The following year, Lopez took a hiatus from acting in films to work on her music career.

Lopez starred alongside Matthew McConaughey in the romantic comedy The Wedding Planner. The film debuted at number one, making her the first actress and singer in history to have a film and an album, J.Lo, at number one in the same week.Her next roles were in the supernatural romance Angel Eyes (2001), and in the psychological revenge thriller Enough (2002). Both failed to find an audience, and were met with a negative response from critics. She appeared alongside Ralph Fiennes in the romantic comedy film Maid in Manhattan (2002). Her character, Marisa Ventura, is a struggling single mother who lives in the Bronx and makes her living cleaning rooms in a super-luxurious Manhattan hotel, who gets mistaken for a socialite by a princely politician.Maid in Manhattan was a box office hit opening at number one. The New York Times compared the films storyline to her 2002 song, "Jenny from the Block", commenting, "In her new single, Jenny From the Block, Jennifer Lopez declares that despite her enormous wealth and global fame, she has not lost touch with her roots."
Some of her other critically-acclaimed films include An Unfinished Life and Shall We Dance?. Two independent films produced by Lopez were well-received at film festivals: El Cantante at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Bordertown at the Brussels film festival. Her modestly successful film includes Monster-in-Law (2005). Gigli, however, would be a critical and commercial disappointment. In August 2007, Lopez collaborated on the feature film, El Cantante, with her husband singer-actor Marc Anthony. The film is in English, with a creative use of subtitles for songs with Spanish lyrics. In addition, she will appear in the romantic comedy The Back-Up Plan.
Lopez is one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood and the highest-paid Latin actress in Hollywood history, though she's never had a film grossing over $100 million in the U.S. She was on the The Hollywood Reporter's list of the top ten actress salaries in 2002, 2003, and 2004.Lopez received $15 million for her role in Monster-in-Law.Her top-grossing film domestically is Maid in Manhattan which grossed $94,011,225, and her most successful international film, Shall We Dance?, grossed $112,238,000, at the international box office. Domestically, Shall We Dance? grossed $57,890,460 and a total of $170,128,460 worldwide.In 2007, Lopez made the Forbes magazine's list of "The 20 Richest Women In Entertainment," ranking ninth. Her wealth is estimated to be $110 million in 2007.
On January 27, 2010, it was announced that Jennifer will guest-star on a March episode of How I Met Your Mother as Anita Appleby, a no-nonsense author of self-help books that teach women how to mold men into "relationship machines" through the power of denial. After Robin informs Anita of Barney's womanizing ways, Anita sets out to "break" him.
Lopez's debut album On the 6, a reference to the 6 subway line she used to take growing up in Castle Hill was released on June 1, 1999, and reached the top ten of the Billboard 200. The album featured the Billboard Hot 100 number-one lead single, "If You Had My Love", as well as the top ten hit "Waiting for Tonight". The album also featured a Spanish language, Latin-flavored duet "No Me Ames" with Marc Anthony (who later would become her husband.) Though "No Me Ames" never had a commercial release, it reached number one on the U.S. Hot Latin Tracks. On the 6 featured guest artists such as Big Pun and Fat Joe on the track "Feelin' So Good", which had moderate success on the Billboard Hot 100. "Let's Get Loud", the final single, earned Lopez a Grammy Award nomination in the "Best Dance Recording" category in 2001 Grammy Awards. "Waiting for Tonight" was nominated for the same category the previous year."No Me Ames" received two nominations at the 2000 Latin Grammy Awards — "Best Pop Duo/Group with Vocal Performance" and "Best Music Video".

Lopez's second album, J.Lo, was released on January 23, 2001 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. This album was more urban oriented then On the 6. When Lopez film The Wedding Planner achieved number one shortly after, Lopez become the first actress-singer to have a film and an album at number one in the same week.The lead single, "Love Don't Cost a Thing", was her first number-one single in the United Kingdom and took her into the top five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. She followed it up with "Play" which gave her another top twenty hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number three in the UK. Her next two singles were "I'm Real" and "Ain't It Funny" which were quickly rising up the charts. To capitalize on this, Lopez asked The Inc. Records (then known as Murder Inc.) to remix both songs, which featured rap artists Ja Rule (on both) and Caddillac Tah (on the "Ain't It Funny" remix). Both remixes reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for several weeks. She re-released J. Lo on her thirty-second birthday with the remix of "I'm Real" as a bonus track. Also, "Si Ya Se Acabó" was released in Spain, due to the success "Que Ironia." In 2001, Lopez performed on tour on the Let's Get Loud "Live in Puerto Rico" Concert.
2002–2006: J to tha L-O!, This Is Me... Then and Rebirth

Following the success of the re-release of J. Lo, Lopez decided to devote an entire album to the remixing effort, releasing J to tha L-O!: The Remixes, on February 5, 2002. This album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming the first remix album in history to debut at the top on the chart.Featured artists on J to tha L-O!: The Remixes included P. Diddy, Fat Joe, and Nas, and the album included rare dance and hip hop remixes of past singles. It is the fourth all-time biggest-selling remix album in history, after Michael Jackson's Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix, The Beatles' Love and Madonna's You Can Dance.

Jennifer Lopez released her third studio album, This Is Me... Then, on November 26, 2002 which reached number two on the Billboard 200 and spawned four singles: "Jenny from the Block" (featuring Jadakiss and Styles P), which reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100; "All I Have" (featuring LL Cool J), which spent multiple weeks at number one; "I'm Glad"; and "Baby I Love U!". The album included a cover of Carly Simon's 1978 "You Belong to Me". The video for "I'm Glad" recreated scenes from the 1983 film Flashdance, leading to a lawsuit over copyright infringement, which was later dismissed.
After a year away from the music scene, Lopez released her fourth studio album, Rebirth, on March 1, 2005. Although debuting and peaking at number two on the Billboard 200, the album quickly fell off the charts. It spawned the hit "Get Right", which reached the top fifteen in the U.S. and became her second Platinum hit (after "If You Had My Love"). "Get Right" was also successful in the UK, becoming her second number-one single there. The second single, "Hold You Down", which featured Fat Joe, reached number sixty-four on the U.S. Hot 100; it peaked at number six in the UK and ascended to the top twenty in Australia. Another song, "Cherry Pie", was slated for a release in late 2005, but the plans to make a video were canceled. It was released to radio stations in Spain. Rebirth was certified Platinum in the U.S. by the RIAA. Lopez was then featured on LL Cool J's single "Control Myself", which was released on February 1, 2006. It reached number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the UK Singles Chart. It was Lopez's first U.S. top ten hit in three years. Rebirth has had most success in the UK, where overall most of her singles have reached the top five.
2007-2008: Como Ama Una Mujer and Brave
Lopez with husband Marc Anthony (right) and Greek singer Kostas Martakis (left), who opened her September 2008 concert in Athens.

Jennifer Lopez officially released her first full Spanish-language album, Como Ama una Mujer, in March 2007. Her husband, singer Marc Anthony, produced the album with Estefano, except for "Qué Hiciste", which Anthony co-produced with Julio Reyes. The album peaked at number ten on the Billboard 200, number one on the U.S. Top Latin Albums for four straight weeks and on the U.S. Latin Pop Albums for seven straight weeks. The album did well in Europe peaking at number three on the albums chart, mainly due to the big success in countries like Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, Greece, Germany, Austria, and Portugal. On July 24, 2007 Billboard magazine reported that Lopez and husband Marc Anthony would "co-headline" a worldwide tour called "Juntos en Concierto" starting in New Jersey on September 29.[30] Tickets went on sale August 10. The tour was a mix of her current music, older tunes and Spanish music. In a later press release, Lopez announced a detailed itinerary. The tour launched September 28, 2007 at the Mark G. Etess Arena and ended on November 7, 2007 at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. The lead single, "Qué Hiciste" (Spanish for "What Did You Do"), was officially released to radio stations in January 2007. Since then, it has peaked at 86 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot Latin Songs and the Hot Dance Club Play. It also went top ten on the European chart. The video for the song was the first Spanish-language video to peak at number one on MTV's Total Request Live daily countdown. The second single released is called "Me Haces Falta" and the third is "Por Arriesgarnos". Lopez won an American Music Award as the Favorite Latin Artist in 2007. With Como Ama Una Mujer, Jennifer Lopez is one of the few performers to debut in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 with a Spanish album.

Jennifer Lopez released her fifth English studio album (sixth studio album overall) Brave on October 9, 2007, six months after Como Ama una Mujer was released. She collaborated with producers Midi Mafia, J. R. Rotem, Lynn and Wade and Ryan Tedder, with Rotem working on some tracks with writing partner Evan "Kidd" Bogart.[31] Earlier, on August 26, 2007, ABC premiered a promo for the fourth season of Desperate Housewives, featuring a snippet of the song "Mile In These Shoes". "Do It Well" was released as the lead single and reached the top 20 in many countries. "Hold It, Don't Drop It" was released as the second single in certain European territories only. The third single was set to be the title track "Brave", and it was even posted on director Michael Haussman's official website that filming of the music video for the song had completed, however, the release of "Brave" as a single was eventually scrapped, most likely due to low album sales.
2009-present: Love?

Jennifer Lopez will release her seventh studio album Love? in April 2010.It is set to feature production from Danja, Jim Jonsin, Darkchild, Chris n Teeb (from Dropzone), and The Neptunes among others. A song titled "Fresh Out The Oven" featuring Miami rapper Pitbull surfaced online in October 2009 but her record label said that it is simply a buzz single.It has since reached number one on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Songs chart. The official lead single, "Louboutins", had its radio debut on November 23, 2009, following the song's premiere and performance at the 2009 American Music Awards. It has since peaked at 31 on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart.
Other projects

On April 10, 2007 Lopez made an appearance as a mentor on American Idol.[34] Lopez also became the executive producer of the eight-episode reality show, DanceLife, which ran on MTV and began on January 15, 2007. Lopez helped select the show's participants and made cameo appearances. She then served as executive producer of a miniseries broadcast on Univisión. Titled after her CD Como Ama Una Mujer, it ran in five episodes from October 30 to November 27, 2007, and starred Christian Borrero and Adriana Cruz.
Lopez signed a contract as star and executive producer of an unscripted reality series for TLC, a division of Discovery Communications Inc. The series was to show the launching of her new fragrance,and not focus on her family.The series never materialized.
Business

Jennifer Lopez launched a clothing line in 2003. Named JLO by Jennifer Lopez, the line included different types of clothing for young women, including jeans, T-shirts, coats, belts, purses, and lingerie, a jewelry line,[38] and an accessory line that includes hats, gloves, and scarves.Lopez participated in the Louis Vuitton Winter 2003 campaign. In 2005, she launched a new clothing line called Sweetface. In late 2007, Lopez retired JLO by Jennifer Lopez and launched a new juniors' line called JustSweet. Her fashion lines have featured at many New York Fashion Week events.

Jennifer Lopez's frequent use of animal fur in her clothing lines and personal wardrobe has brought the scorn of people concerned with animal rights.At the Los Angeles premiere of Monster-in-Law, more than one hundred protesters from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) held a demonstration to highlight their concerns.
On April 12, 2002, Lopez opened a Cuban restaurant in the South Lake district of Pasadena, California named Madre's.

Jennifer Lopez ventured in the perfume industry with her debut "Glow by J.Lo". In October 2003, Lopez introduced a perfume called "Still", having revisit "Glow" the previous year by creating a limited edition spin-off, "Miami Glow by J.Lo", in homage to her adopted hometown of Miami. Lopez also marketed a "Glow" line of body lotions and bronzing products. For the Christmas season of 2005, she launched another fragrance, "Live by Jennifer Lopez". For 2006 Valentine's Day, "Miami Glow" was replaced by yet another "Glow" spin-off, "Love at First Glow by J.Lo". Her following fragrance, "Live Luxe", was released in August 2006, with "Glow After Dark" following in January 2007. The next fragrances by Jennifer Lopez were "Deseo", "Deseo Forever" for Asian market and first fragrance for men called "Deseo for men". In February 2009 Lopez released "Sunkissed Glow". The last perfume is "My Glow", available from October 2009.Lopez is a spokesperson for Lux shampoo in Japan, appearing in the product's television commercials.

Jennifer Lopez owns the film and television production company Nuyorican Productions. It was co-founded with her manager Benny Medina, who was supposed to receive half the producing revenue from the company.Lopez split with Medina shortly after the company was founded, but they later restored their business relationship.
Lopez has been recognized by People en Español magazine as both the cover subject for the "50 Most Beautiful" issue in 2006 and the "100 Most Influential Hispanics" issue in February 2007.
Personal life

It was reported that Lopez and Anthony were taking professional business meetings at the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre in Hollywood, California, in late 2006. It was also rumored that Lopez and Anthony became Scientologists during that period with the help of Angelo Pagan, the husband of King of Queens actress and scientologist Leah Remini.Just prior to those reports, Lopez said to NBC, "I'm not a Scientologist, I was raised Catholic. But it's funny the way people come at it. To me it's so strange. These are some of the best people I've ever met in my life." She added, "My dad has been a Scientologist for 20 years. He's the best man that I know in my life and so, it's weird to me that people want to paint it in a negative way."
On November 7, 2007, the last night of her "En Concierto" tour, Lopez confirmed she was expecting her first child with husband Marc Anthony. The announcement ended months of speculation over the pregnancy.[48] Her father later confirmed on February 5, 2008, she was expecting twins.Lopez gave birth on February 22, 2008 to fraternal twins, a girl and a boy, Emme Maribel Muñiz, and Maximilian "Max" David Muñiz. The twins were introduced in the March 11, 2008 issue of People magazine for which the magazine paid $6 million.

Media attention has focused on her personal life. She has had high-profile relationships with Ojani Noa, Sean Combs, Cris Judd, Ben Affleck, and Marc Anthony. Starting 1984, when Lopez was 15 and in high school, she started dating David Cruz. They split in 1994, and she still enjoys a close relationship with him ten years after they split, Lopez said in 2004: "He's a friend and he probably knows me better than anyone else".

Jennifer Lopez's first marriage was to Cuban-born Ojani Noaon February 22, 1997. Lopez met Noa while he worked as a waiter at a Miami restaurant. They divorced in January 1998. Lopez later employed Noa as the manager of her Pasadena restaurant Madre's in April 2002, but he was fired in October 2002. After Noa sued Lopez over the termination, they drew up a confidentiality agreement.In April 2006, Lopez sued to prevent her ex-husband, Noa, from publishing a book containing personal details about their short marriage, contending it violated their confidentiality agreement.In August 2007, a court-appointed arbitrator issued a permanent injunction forbidding Ojani Noa from "criticizing, denigrating, casting in a negative light or otherwise disparaging" Jennifer Lopez. She was awarded $545,000 in compensatory damages, which included nearly $300,000 in legal fees and almost $48,000 in arbitration costs. Noa was also ordered to hand over all copies of materials related to the book to Lopez or her attorney.In November 2009, Lopez sued Noa for breach of contract and invasion of privacy, citing a previous confidentiality agreement between the two, to prevent Noa from releasing his planned film, "How I Married Jennifer Lopez: The JLo and Ojani Noa Story", and alleged "previously unseen home video footage".Noa and his agent intend to file a $100 million countersuit against Lopez.On December 1, 2009, judge James Chalfant granted a temporary injunction against Noa and his agent, Ed Meyer, barring them from distributing the footage in any forum.[60] Because the injunction is only temporary, Lopez's lawyer, Jay Lavely, said that he will return to court to make it permanent. Lavely stressed that "there wasn't anything even close" to a sex tape in Noa's possession: "It's private and personal, but it wasn't a sex tape. They are innocent and they have been misrepresented... to increase value and media attention".[60] After the hearing, Noa told E! that he plans to fight the injunction: "It's not about the money, it's about my life".

Lopez next had a two-and-a-half-year relationship with hip-hop mogul Sean Combs. On December 27, 1999, Lopez and Combs were at Club New York, a midtown Manhattan nightclub, when gunfire erupted between Combs' entourage and another group. Lopez and Combs were being driven away from the scene when they were chased and stopped by the police.A gun was found in the front seat of their vehicle. Combs was charged with felony gun possession. Stress over Combs' trial and pursuit by the press multiplied their problems, and Lopez terminated her involvement with Combs one year later. During a related civil suit in 2008, the plaintiff's lawyer said Lopez had “nothing to contribute to the case”.
Her second marriage was to her former backup dancer, Cris Judd. She met Judd while filming the music video for her single "Love Don't Cost a Thing." The two were married on September 29, 2001, at a home in the L.A. suburbs. Their marriage effectively ended in June 2002, when Lopez began publicly dating Ben Affleck.[64] They were officially divorced in January 2003.

Following her divorce, Lopez began dating actor Ben Affleck. Her relationship with actor Affleck was highly publicized, with the media dubbing the couple "Bennifer." Lopez announced her engagement to Affleck in November 2002, after Affleck gave her a six-carat pink diamond ring worth a reported $1.2 million.[65] Lopez promised interviewers that Affleck was indeed "the one", and that they would soon have a family. The marriage, planned for September 14, 2003 in Santa Barbara, California, was called off just hours before the event. They announced the end of their engagement in January 2004. Their relationship was parodied on the South Park episode "Fat Butt and Pancake Head", which aired on April 16, 2003. In 2003, Lopez and Affleck acted together in the film "Gigli" and in the 2004 film "Jersey Girl".
Lopez and Marc Anthony at the 2006 Time 100 gala event.

Less than two months after her break-up with Affleck, Lopez was seen with singer Marc Anthony, a longtime friend with whom she had worked in music videos. They had briefly dated in the late 1990s, before his first marriage and her second. Lopez and Anthony were recording a duet together in early 2004, for Lopez's then-upcoming film Shall We Dance?. In October 2003, Anthony became separated, for the second time, from his first wife, former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres, with whom he has two children. Torres filed for divorce three months later. Lopez and Anthony married in a quiet home wedding on June 5, 2004, four days after his divorce from Torres was final. Their ceremony was private and unpublicized.

Lopez's guests had been invited to an "afternoon party" at Lopez's house and had not been made aware that they were actually going to her wedding. The couple had planned not to publicize their marriage early on, allowing more privacy and time together in an otherwise intrusive environment. Days after the wedding, Anthony refused to comment on their marriage during interviews which were scheduled earlier to promote a new album "Amar Sin Mentiras" (To Love Without Lies).In February 2005, Lopez confirmed the marriage, and added that "everyone knows. It's not a secret".A few months later, Anthony's daughter, Ariana, appeared at the end of Lopez's music video "Get Right" as her little sister. Regarding his marriage and family life, Anthony maintains a private and sometimes defensive stance with the media, which has influenced Lopez to set some boundaries with interviewers. On December 29, 2008, Daily News reported that Lopez and Anthony planned to announce their divorce on Valentine's Day. This allegation was put to rest by her publicist stating that "There is no merit to the article". Lopez has admitted to be against in vitro fertilisation because of her traditional upbringing saying:

When it comes to family and relationships, I’m quite traditional. Just because of the way I was raised and I also believe in God and I have a lot of faith in that, so I just felt like you don’t mess with things like that. And I guess deep down I really felt like either this is not going to happen for me or it is. You know what I mean? And if it is, it will. And if it’s not, it’s not going to.
Human rights advocacy

On February 14, 2007, Lopez received the Artists for Amnesty International award "in recognition of her work as producer and star of Bordertown, a film exposing the ongoing murders of hundreds of women in the border city of Juárez, Mexico". Nobel Peace Prize winner José Ramos-Horta presented the award to Lopez at the Berlin International Film Festival. She also received special recognition and thanks from Norma Andrade, co-founder of Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa A.C. ("May Our Daughters Return Home, Civil Association"), an organization consisting of mothers and families of the murdered women of Juárez.

Etta James

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Etta James (born Jamesetta Hawkins on January 25, 1938) is an American blues, soul, R&B, rock & roll, gospel and jazz singer and songwriter. James is the winner of four Grammys and seventeen Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame in both 1999 and 2008.In the 1950s and 1960s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer.
She is best known for performing "At Last", which has been featured in movies, television shows, commercials, and web-streaming services. James has a contralto vocal range.Jamesetta Hawkins was born in Los Angeles, California, to an unmarried 14-year-old African-American, Dorothy Hawkins. She claimed that her mother told her that her father was a white pool player, Rudolf "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone. She received her first professional vocal training at the age of five from James Earle Hines, musical director of the Echoes of Eden choir, at the St. Paul Baptist Church in Los Angeles.

James' family moved to San Francisco in 1950, where she soon teamed up with two other girls to form a doo-wop singing group. When the girls were 14, band leader Johnny Otis had them audition; they sang an answer to Hank Ballard's "Work With Me, Annie," called "Roll With Me Henry." Otis particularly liked the song and, without her mother's permission, James and the duo went to Los Angeles in 1954 to record it.

Kidnapping of Jaycee Lee Dugard

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Jaycee Lee Dugard was kidnapped on June 10, 1991, when she was 11 years old. Dugard was abducted from a school bus stop within sight of her home in South Lake Tahoe, California, United States. She was missing for over 18 years. On August 26, 2009, Dugard, her daughters, and Phillip Craig Garrido, appeared in the office of her alleged kidnapper's parole officer in California. Their unusual behavior sparked an investigation that led to the positive identification of Jaycee Lee Dugard, living in a tent behind Garrido's home.

Phillip Craig Garrido was born in Contra Costa County, California on April 5, 1951. He grew up in Brentwood, California, where he graduated from Liberty High School in 1969. His father, Manuel Garrido, who continues to reside in Brentwood, said his son was a "good boy" as a child, but radically changed after a serious motorcycle accident as a teenager, and later drug use.

The Sacramento Bee and the Associated Press have reported that the elder Garrido has begun demanding money in exchange for speaking with reporters; both organizations have refused.At Leavenworth, Garrido met Nancy Bocanegra, who was visiting another prisoner, her uncle. On October 5, 1981, Garrido and Bocanegra were married at Leavenworth. On January 22, 1988, Garrido was released from Leavenworth to Nevada State Prison, where he served seven months of a five-years-to-life Nevada sentence. He was transferred to federal parole authorities in Antioch, California on August 26, 1988.

In Antioch, the Garridos lived in the home of his elderly mother, who suffered from dementia. As a parolee, he was monitored, later wore a GPS-enabled ankle bracelet, and was regularly visited by policeIn September 1990, Jaycee Dugard and her family moved from the Orange County city of Garden Grove to South Lake Tahoe. At the time of the abduction, Dugard was in fifth grade attending Meyers Elementary School near South Lake Tahoe.

On June 10, 1991 Dugard's stepfather, Carl Probyn, witnessed the abduction from within sight of their home. He saw two people in a gray sedan (possibly a Mercury Monarch or Mercury Zephyr) make a U-turn at the school bus stop where Dugard was waiting, and a woman forced Dugard into the car. Probyn then gave chase on a bicycle, but he was unable to overtake the vehicle. Some of Dugard's classmates were also witnesses to the abduction. Initial suspects included Probyn and Ken Slayton, Dugard's biological father. Probyn took and passed several lie-detector tests, and Slayton was also quickly cleared of the crime.

The Garridos' home on Walnut Avenue is in an unincorporated area in northeast Antioch. A neighbor of the Garridos said he recalls as a child meeting Dugard through a fence in the Garridos' yard soon after the kidnapping. He said that she had identified herself by the name "Jaycee" and that's when he asked her if she lived there or was just visiting, she answered that she lived there. At that point Philip Garrido came out and took her back indoors. The Garridos later built a privacy fence around the property, which already had several large trees in the yard.

From April to August 1993, Phillip Garrido was returned to federal prison for parole violation.

Jaycee Lee Dugard bore two daughters to Phillip Garrido, who were born in August 1994 and November 1997.During their time together as a family, Dugard presented herself to everyone as the daughter of the Garridos and that the younger girls were her little sisters. Her two daughters also told others she was their older sister.Most US media sources have declined to name the children, although names have been given in foreign media coverage of the case.

Garrido operated a print shop. In the few years before his arrest he began to talk more about religion, though he had been described by others as quiet, mild mannered, intelligent and mature. Dugard acted as the graphics artist for the print shop. Ben Daughdrill, a customer of Garrido's printing business, claimed he met and spoke by telephone with Dugard and that Dugard did excellent art work. During this time, Dugard had access to the business phone and an email account. One customer of the printing business indicated she never hinted to him about her childhood abduction or true identity.

While in Antioch, Garrido also kept an Internet blog associated with what he called "Gods Desire Church." In the blog Garrido said he had the power to control sound with his mind. Garrido asked several people, including customers, to sign testimonials confirming that they witnessed his ability to "control sound with my mind" and a device he developed "for others to witness this phenomena.
"Law enforcement officers believe that at the time they became involved in 2009, Dugard's living quarters were in a secondary backyard behind Phillip Garrido's house. The private area of the yard included sheds (one of which was soundproofed and used as a recording studio in which Garrido recorded himself singing religious-themed and romantic country songs), two tents, and what has been described as a camping-style shower and toilet.

The area was surrounded by tall trees and a 6-foot (1.8 m) high fence. An entrance to the secondary backyard was covered by a tarpaulin. Privacy in the yard was enhanced by tents and outbuildings, as well as an old car similar to the one used in the abduction. Law enforcement officers visited the residence at least twice in recent years, but did not give the backyard more than a quick inspection. When police investigated, they found the backyard to be crowded with typical childhood possessions, including books and toys, amongst the tents and sheds. Electricity was supplied by extension cords. Jaycee Dugard was seen in the house and sometimes answered the front door. While the family kept to themselves, the girls were sometimes seen playing in the backyard or as passengers in Garrido's car. Garrido claims to have home-schooled the two girls.

Both Jaycee's aunt, Tina Dugard, and former business associate Cheyvonne Molino, have made public statements that in their opinion, despite the unlawful behavior of Phillip Garrido, there is no manner in the upbringing of Jaycee's children to suggest in any way that the children are deprived, or significantly deficient in ways that cannot be addressed promptly and efficaciously through typical remedial education. Molino asserted that she had been able to see them occasionally over many years and that they dressed normally, that their behavior away from and with their father was quite social and relaxed, and that during that extended time they appeared to be thriving.

Police failed to make the connection that Jaycee Lee Dugard was kidnapped in South Lake Tahoe, the same location as Garrido's 1976 kidnapping of Katherine Callaway Hall. On April 22, 1992, less than a year after her kidnapping, a male caller reported to the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department that he saw a girl who closely resembled Dugard staring intently at a missing child flyer of herself in a gas station in Oakley, California, less than two miles from the Garridos' home. The caller, who left no name, reported seeing her leave in a large yellow van, which matches the description of an old yellow Dodge van that was recovered from the Garrido property in 2009. The license plate was not reported and the sighting was investigated only cursorily.[
In June 2002, the fire department responded to a report of a juvenile with a shoulder injury that occurred in a swimming pool at Garrido's home. This information was not relayed to the parole office, which had no record of either a juvenile or a swimming pool at Garrido's address.

In 2006 one of Garrido's neighbors called 9-1-1 to inform them there were tents in the backyard with children living there and that Garrido was "psychotic" with sexual addictions. A deputy sheriff spoke with Garrido at the front of the house for about thirty minutes and left after telling him there would be a code violation if people were living outside on the property. After Dugard was found in August 2009 the local police issued an apology.On August 24, 2009, Garrido visited the San Francisco office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and left a four-page essay containing his ideas about religion and sexuality, suggesting he had discovered a solution to problem behaviors like his own past crimes.

The essay described how he had cured his own criminal sexual behaviors and how that information could be used to assist in curing other sexual predators by "controlling human impulses that drive humans to commit dysfunctional acts." On the same day, Phillip Garrido went to a University of California, Berkeley police office seeking permission to hold a special Christian event on campus as a part of his "God's Desire" program. He spoke with U.C. Berkeley special events manager Lisa Campbell. Campbell perceived his behavior as odd and asked him to make an appointment for the next day, which he did, leaving his name in the process.

The next morning, August 25, Campbell notified campus police officer Ally Jacobs about the meeting later that morning with Garrido, and her concerns. Jacobs ran a background check and learned that Garrido was on parole for rape, and decided to sit in on the meeting. Garrido arrived with two girls, whom he introduced as his daughters. At the meeting, Jacobs felt that the girls' behavior was unusual, and phoned the parole office to relay her concerns. As no one was in, she left a report of the meeting on voicemail.

After hearing Jacobs' recorded message, two parole agents drove to Garrido's house later that day. Upon arrival, they handcuffed him and searched the house, only finding his wife Nancy and his elderly mother at home. Then the parole agents drove Garrido back to the parole office. En route, Garrido said that the two girls who had accompanied him to UC Berkeley "were the daughters of a relative, and he had permission from their parents to take them to the university." Although the parole office had barred Garrido from being around minors a month before, the agents overlooked this violation. After reviewing his file with a supervisor, they drove him home and ordered him to report back to the office again the next day to further discuss his visit to UC Berkeley and follow up on their concerns about the two girls.

Garrido arrived at the parole office on August 26 with his wife, Nancy, the two girls and Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was introduced as "Alyssa." When they arrived, his parole officer was on the phone with Jacobs to obtain a more detailed description of her interaction with Garrido and the two girls. Jacobs informed the officer that the girls were calling Garrido "Daddy," but the parole officer believed that Garrido had no children. The parole officer then decided to separate Garrido from the women and girls to obtain an identification.

Vanessa Redgrave: Reliving Daughter's Death

2010-02-13T10:12:00.000+06:00

The unbelievable tragedy of the death of Natasha Richardson is certainly most awful for her family.
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But it must be so much worse for her mother, the legendary actress Vanessa Redgrave.

For most of 2007, the great Redgrave played writer Joan Didion on Broadway in her play, "The Year of Magical Thinking." Didion, who reportedly visited Redgrave during Natasha’s final hours in the hospital yesterday, wrote the play from her searing memoir about losing her daughter Quintana just a few years earlier.

The one woman show was a monologue that showed how Didion coped first with the death of her husband, the writer John Gregory Dunne, from a sudden heart attack. At the time, Quintana was in a coma. When Quintana awakened, her beloved father was dead. Within a year, she too, would pass away, leaving a young husband and a child..

Both the book and the play became instant classics. Redgrave’s performance was highly praised, and she was nominated for a Tony Award.

Natasha Richardson’s untimely and peculiar death echoes that of Quintana, Didion’s beloved daughter. It happened in an instant. With little explanation.

And something about Richardson’s death has touched people who never even heard of her, or knew little about her. Maybe they knew she was part of the famous Redgrave acting family, or that she was Liam Neeson’s wife. And that may be why this tragedy has so affected us: somewhere in the back of our minds we knew that sexy, funny, smart, incredibly talented Natasha Richardson was uptown, being a mom and a wife, doing her own thing, that she was a cut above the rest and that she could jump back into her career any time she wanted. If she wanted. It made her accessible and cool.

Richardson never really sought the spotlight, or desired to be a movie star. She came to America to escape the Redgrave legacy, and to act. That she did, becoming a sensation on Broadway and a regular player in movies both big and small.

There’s no doubt that had she lived, there was a movie role in her future that would bring her massive acclaim and respect on the level of the Academy Award. But she was in no hurry. Like her mother, Vanessa, aunt Lynn, sister Joely, she had nothing to prove. The Redgrave simply have ‘it,’ the ability to absorb into a role and inhabit it.

And so Vanessa Redgrave did that with the Year of Magical Thinking. The play, eerily enough, begins "This happened on Dec. 30, 2003. That may seem a while ago but it won’t when it happens to you. And it will happen to you."

Those words are more haunting now than ever.

Ron Silver Remembered: Tears and Laughter

Actor and political activist Ron Silver’s funeral yesterday was private a service at Temple Rodelph Sholom on the Upper West Side.

This much I can tell you: Ron’s kids, Adam and Alexandra, gave beautiful speeches, and made their dad proud. Each of Ron’s brothers gave heartbreaking remembrances of their older sibling. Writer Joe Klein was among those who eulogized a friend with laughter and tears.

The historic synagogue’s large vaunted ceiling chapel was full, by the way, with lots of family members, members of Actors Equity (where Ron was president from 1991-2000) and many familiar faces. In the audience I spotted Lorraine Bracco, Joe Pantoliano with wife Nancy, Tony Lo Bianco, former HBO chief Michael Fuchs, "West Wing" writer Lawrence O’Donnell, and even ex spouses Ronald Perelman and Patricia Duff. They sat on opposite sides of the room, however.

Hopefully, a public memorial will be set up for the spring.

By the way, the lights of Broadway were dimmed for a minute at 8pm on Tuesday in memory of Ron. I’m sure the same will be done tonight or tomorrow for Natasha Richardson. Two terrible losses: this Broadway tradition is usually reserved for stars who die at much older ages.

Natasha Richardson: One of the Good Guys

As Natasha Richardson’s family made decisions today for their beloved wife, mother, daughter, sister, and aunt, it was important to recall the actress’s really great life.

She was considered one of the good guys, a welcome presence as a New York transplant on the Upper West Side. With actor Liam Neeson she was certainly a "power couple," and with their sons, Michael, 13, and Daniel, 12, the Neesons were a popular addition to any event.

Over the years, as Natasha easily made the transition - as British actresses do - among TV, movies, and stage, there was nothing she couldn’t do. She had a huge run on Broadway in the mid-'90s with "Anna Christie," "CLoter," (she originated the Julia Roberts movie role), "Streetcar Named Desire," and finally a huge success in "Cabaret," for which she won the 1998 Tony Award playing Sally Bowles.

She first came to movie prominence in a 1988 movie directed by Paul Schrader about Patty Hearst. "She looked the part, and was perfect for it," Schrader said. "She brought none of the baggage of being a Redgrave with her, either." That would have been so easy to do with mom Vanessa, aunt Lynn, uncle Corin, sister Joely (a star of TV’s "Nip/Tuck"), or grandfather Michael. Moreover, her own father, Tony Richardson, had been a famous director.

Schrader also directed her in "The Comfort of Strangers." He told me yesterday: "She was a great friend, a terrific actress, and I will miss her very much."

But Natasha Richardson was the rare example of graciousness and fun. Even though she was divorced from Robert Fox, she never made the tabloids. Even her marriage to Oscar nominee Neeson came with unusual lack of gossip. The couple was often seen dining together on the Upper West Side, too, at restaurants like Café Luxemboug and Compass.

Ironically, their greatest test came about six years ago when Neeson broke his pelvis in a motocycle accident — he swerved to miss a deer — near their home in upstate New York. For months, Neeson hobbled around on crutches with the faithful Natasha by his side.

Natasha Richardson will also be remembered as funny. About three years ago she had me seated next to her formidable acting legend mother at a dinner for their movie, "The White Countess." She left me alone, and I was nervous. When I asked Vanessa Redgrave if she’d liked any Oscar movies that year, she replied that she liked "Good Night and Good Luck" so much she called George Clooney.

"Oh my God," I said, "What did he say?"

Redgrave responded: "That didn’t matter. It was what I said to him."

Natasha, hearing this, broke in. "Now you know what I’ve been living with all my life," she said with a sweet but knowing laugh.

By the way: all the chaos about reporting Richardson’s status yesterday was simple. At the time of her accident, she had no publicist. She had been represented for years by Robert Garlock. He died last year, and Natasha spoke beautifully at the service. So there was no one to step up and handle the massive misinformation following her tragedy. Believe me, if Robert were still here, he would have had the situation in hand.

Who DVF Slept With to Get to the Top

So who exactly did Diane von Furstenberg sleep with to get to the top?

Last night at the Oak Room dinner for a new documentary about legendary designer Valentino, we got an earful.

Our table consisted — in the middle of a room full of celebs and tall, thin good looking fashion types I didn’t know — of Regis and Joy Philbin, magazine publishers Ingrid Sischy and Sandy Brant, and adventurer Pepe Fanjul.

Around the room we spotted Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow with mom Blythe Danner, Claire Danes with Hugh Dancy, Anne Hathaway, Charlie Rose and Amanda Burden, Gayle King, Martha Stewart, Harvey Weinstein and Georgina Chapman, hotelier Andre Balazs, Padma Lakshmi, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, Laurie Durning, famed screenwriter William Goldman, and Lake Bell, who’s about to be famous for something.

Anna Wintour sat in front of me at the very tony screening at the Museum of Modern Art, but skipped dinner. At the dinner a Vogue employee told me: "The Devil Wears Prada? It was like a documentary."

At dinner, Barry Diller, married to DVF, had kind of moved left on the banquette so he didn’t hear this story. DVF, who is really a fashion genius and legend at this point, has been working like crazy her whole life to make her brand a success.

She said to Regis, "I was on your show in St. Louis in 1970."

Regis and Joy were taken aback. Joy said: "After Regis left Joey Bishop, he took this show in St. Louis. It was a talk show and he’d come in and film several episodes at once."

DVF said: "There was no budget for guests. I had to sleep with my sales rep."

That got everyone’s attention.

"Not that way," she insisted. "We had to share a room to save money. I still remember it."

ALBA NEVER WANTED TO GET MARRIED

2010-02-13T10:02:00.000+06:00

JESSICA ALBA had a "hard time agreeing" to exchanging vows with husband CASH WARREN - because she has never believed in marriage.

That onesie gift form Ellen for Honor is just too adorable. Leave it to Ellen to have something customized. And then Jessica guessed the mystery word which was “Hot Tamale.”

She tells Cosmopolitan magazine, "I had a hard time agreeing with marriage at all because I feel like its been warped. Originally, it was two families coming together to make a stronger family. It was about survival - not love or soul mates. And now the way they market marriage - even as a kid through Disney movies - is that it’s all about Prince Charming sweeping you off your feet.
“There’s this mentality that you need the big dress and the big day - the day every girl gets to be a princess. I didn’t agree with any of that. This tradition of obeying your husband like he’s your king? It’s a load of c**p. Love and honor, yes. But you should love and honor yourself too, and all your friends.
The couple tied the knot in a low-key ceremony at the Beverly Hills Courthouse in Los Angeles in 2008, just weeks before Alba gave birth to their first child, daughter Honor Marie, now 20 months.
But the Hollywood actress was reluctant to make their union official, because she has never wanted to wed.
“I chose to get married because, essentially, you’re given a deck of cards in life. The hand you were dealt with is your family and you can’t choose them."
If you missed Jessica Alba on Ellen last Monday, February 8th, here’s the video of it. Or watch it again is tuned in to see her on the show.

Of course they talked about Honor, who is now 20 months, likes to say “NO”, plays dolls and watches football with Daddy. Speaking of Daddy, Jessica also talked about how hands on Cash is and their Valentine’s Day plans or lack there of.

"We used to go dancing at night, now we have dance parties... with kids... at the house... in our pyjamas!" Actress JESSICA ALBA admits her and her husband CASH WARREN's social lives now revolve around their one-year-old daughter, Honor.

my name is KHAN Realese Today.

2010-02-12T16:25:00.000+06:00

My Name Is Khan release today all over india.
Shah Rukh Khan starrer film My Name Is Khan, facing the Shiv Sena’s ire, got off to a smooth screening in the cinemas and multiplexes in Delhi.
Isolated cases of protest against screening of the film were, however, reported last night when persons claimed to be Shiv Sainiks tore posters of the movie and damaged window panes of Satyam cinema hall in west Delhi. All the five persons were detained by the police.

The film, which is banking on the chemistry of Shah Rukh and Kajol, has recieved a good response in theatres here.
Sena had yesterday threatened that it will not allow the screening of the film in cinemas and multiplexes in the national capital region. The party is protesting against Khan’s remarks favouring inclusion of Pakistani players in the IPL.
In another incident, an advertising hoarding of Amul, featuring Shah Rukh Khan was set on fire by some people, police said. Some posters of the movie were also damaged by a some people in Nizamuddin area of the city.

The financial loss for the film is likely to be around Rs 40-45 cr for producers, distributors and film exhibitors. The Shiv Sena and Shahrukh Khan’s tussle result for the huge financial loss. Shahrukh Khan’s favoring the inclusion of Pakistani players in the IPL has agitated the Shiv Sena activist and they banned the screening of ‘My Name Is Khan’ across Mumbai. Made on a budget of 40 cr, the film has been sold to Fox Star Studios for Rs 85 crore. Many theatres refused for advance booking and the few theatres that were opened for advance booking could not continue with the process.
Over 2000 prints of the film has been released and 300 was released alone for Mumbai theatre. The film could easily gross 100 crore in the first week but the present scenario will badly hampered the box office collection.

Director: Karan jahar
Writers: Shibani Bathija ( story & Dialogue )
Cast: Shahrukh khan, kajol & others.

Plot Summary for My Name Is Khan

Rizwan Khan, a Muslim from the Borivali section of Mumbai, suffers from Asperger's syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism that complicates socialization. The adult Rizwan marries a Hindu single mother, Mandira, in San Francisco. After 9/11, Rizwan is detained by authorities at LAX who mistake his disability for suspicious behavior. Following his arrest, he meets Radha, a therapist who helps him deal with his situation and his affliction. Rizwan then begins a journey to meet US President Obama to clear his name.

Benicio Del Toro

2010-02-12T15:13:00.002+06:00

Born PR. Raised in Santurce, PR. Moved to Mercersburg, PA at 13 and went to Mercersburg Academy,on February 19, 1967, in San German.

After two years in Los Angeles, he got his first job as a guest star on Miami Vice. Cast as lead in the play, Orphans. Casting director saw him and asked him to audition for a role in Licence To Kill.

Painting, listening to music.

Benicio gained approximately 45 lbs. in nine weeks for his portrayal of Oscar Zeta Acosta in Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. He did it by, "Eating chairs, tables, buildings and bridges. But what really pushed the balance was donuts."

Benicio's character in Basquiat didn't have a last name in the script. The last name "Dalmau" came from Raymond Dalmau, a Puerto Rican basketball player in the 70's and early 80's. Raymond Dalmau wore the shirt Benicio wears in the film when he was in the Puerto Rican National Selection.

The best advise Benicio has ever been given regarding acting came from Christopher Walken: "When you're in a scene and you don't know what you're gonna do, don't do anything."

Benicio thinned his eyebrows and shaved his hairline for his role of Fenster in The Usual Suspects.

"He's like an acting animal, this guy who comes out of the forest to make movies better. He's fearless, and he has a very distinctive imagination for character. He's one of the few actors who can make flamboyant choices that never just say, 'Look at me.' He's not showy. If he stands out, it's only because the rest of the people haven't risen as high to the bar." Sean Penn, The Pledge/The Indian Runner Director

University of California at San Diego. Changed major to acting so he could audition for a role in a school production. Decided to pursue acting full time so he left school and moved to New York City. Studied at Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York. Won a scholarship to The Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting where he studied for three-four years.

"I can see how in certain circumstances Benicio could be unhappy. He's extremely bright and has lots of ideas, the lion's share of which are really good. We'd meet every few weeks for a few hours, and a lot of it was, 'Wouldn't it be more interesting if...?' He had a huge influence on the story being much more emotional, more interesting and truer to the culture the character sprang from. For some people, spending time like that would be profoundly irritating. Not to me. I'll do that all day. He was totally there and 'on' Man, he has so much to contribute, you'd be a moron not to take advantage of it. I can't help but be infatuated by somebody who cares that much." Steven Soderbergh, Traffic Director

"He's one of the reasons why I wanted to do the movie. I think he's a brilliant actor. Working with him was amazing." Ryan Phillippe, The Way of the Gun Co-Star

"Del Toro is an exciting actor. He's obsessed with his work. He draws the camera like a magnet because he keeps coming up with things that are dark, brooding, dangerous and sexy." Terry Gilliam, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas Director

"He's killed early into the movie and he probably has, like, nine lines. But I found it the most memorable performance of 1995. The guy just goes out and thinks, 'No one's gonna understand what I'm doing except for me, but I'm a f in genius.' " Matt Damon on Benicio's performance in The Usual Suspects

"Benicio has a wonderful mind. It's a little like firecrackers going off; he's got these great ideas that just explode." Ed Harris, China Moon Co-Star

"More than any other actor I've ever met, Benicio is not in pursuit of fame or recognition. I think he's a guy who has a great disdain for popularity. He's very resistant to playing a leading man. He would rather create a character." Christopher McQuarrie, The Usual Suspects Writer, The Way of the Gun Writer/Director

Stacey Cook us skier crashes in downhill training

2010-02-12T15:12:00.002+06:00

American Stacey Cook added to the US women's ski team woes when she crashed in an Olympic downhill training run.

Cook, wearing bib number two, crashed heavily into the side netting at speed and despite getting up she was later airlifted to hospital for further checks.

"Her prognosis is good," said US Olympic team chief medical officer Jim Moeller.

"She's undergone a complete evaluation by our medical team in Whistler and has received diagnostic x-rays and a CT scan, which all came back negative.

"We expect her to have some pain and stiffness over the next 24 to 48 hours, but provided she does well with treatment, we expect that she'll make a full recovery."

Before Cook, only one other woman, Italian Lucia Recchia, made it down Franz's Downhill run as the weather continued to play havoc with the training sessions for the Olympic alpine events.

After several delays, snowfall and poor visibility forced the cancellation of the women's downhill training run for Sunday's super-combined, and that will now be held Friday at 1100 local time.
Jim Moeller says Cook was taken by helicopter to a medical facility Thursday as a precaution, and X-rays and a CT scan showed no damage.
A US Ski team statement later said Cook, who is not a gold medal favourite, was released after undergoing scans which revealed no injuries.

She slammed into the safety netting at full speed but managed to get up and stand under her own power. She then sat down and was tended to by the medical staff.

Cook was one of two racers who started training runs before the session was canceled because of thick fog. She has hasn’t been ruled out for Friday’s training run.

The 25-year-old two-time World Cup champion had harboured hopes of winning at least one, and at most three gold medals here in Whistler.

An extra day's rest, if given, could prove a huge boost to Vonn who this season has claimed a stunning nine World Cup victories, including five in the downhill.

Glenn Beck

2010-02-12T15:11:00.002+06:00

Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American radio and television host, author, conservative political commentator, and entrepreneur. He is the host of The Glenn Beck Program, a nationally-syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks.

Beck is also the host of a self-titled cable-news show on Fox News Channel. As an author, Beck has gained success with five #1 New York Times-bestselling books.He has become a well-known public figure, whose provocative views have afforded him media recognition and popularity, along with controversy and criticism.

Glenn Lee Beck was born in Everett, Washington, on February 10, 1964, to William and Mary Beck. His parents lived in Mountlake Terrace, Washington at the time of Beck's birth and sometime later moved their family to Mount Vernon, Washington where they owned and operated City Bakery in the downtown area.Beck was raised as a Roman Catholic and attended private Immaculate Conception Catholic School in Mount Vernon.

Beck says of his political views, "I consider myself a libertarian. I'm a conservative, but every day that goes by I'm fighting for individual rights."Among his core values Beck lists personal responsibility, private charity, the right to life, freedom of religion, low debt, limited government, and family as the cornerstone of society

According to Joanna Brooks, a scholar of American religion, one pre-eminent influence on Beck's political ideology has been W. Cleon Skousen (1913–2006).Skousen was an anti-communist, a supporter (though not a member) of the John Birch Society, and limited-government conservative whose works involve a wide range of subjects (including the Six-Day War, Mormon eschatology, New World Order conspiracies, and even parenting). Beck praises Skousen's "words of wisdom" as "divinely inspired", referencing Skousen's The Naked Communist and especially The 5,000 Year Leap (originally published in 1981), which Beck said in 2007 had "changed his life".

According to Skousen's nephew, financial and political commentator Mark Skousen, Leap reflects Skousen's "passion for the United States Constitution," which he "felt was inspired by God and the reason behind America’s success as a nation."The book is touted by Beck as "required reading" to understand the current American political landscape and become a "September twelfth person".Beck authored a foreword for the 2008 edition of Leap and Beck's on-air recommendations in 2009 propelled the book to number one in the government category on Amazon for several months.

A group of protesters hold signs reading we ♥ glenn beck at the Taxpayer March on Washington.
Glenn Beck, an early-evening host on the Fox News Channel, is suddenly one of the most powerful media voices for the nation's conservative populist anger. Barely two months into his job at Fox, his program is a phenomenon: it typically draws about 2.3 million viewers, more than any other cable news host except Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity, despite being on at 5 p.m., a slow shift for cable news.
Main article: 9-12 Project

Beck put together a campaign, the 9-12 Project, that is named for nine principles and twelve values which he says embody the spirit of the American people on the day after the September 11 attacks.[33] Beck has supported the tea party protests from their inception and held a broadcast from one of the April 2009 rallies in San Antonio

In September 2009, the conservative political activism group FreedomWorks organized the Taxpayer March on Washington, to rally against President Obama's policies.The event was inspired by Beck's 9/12 project.
Media career and income
Tapping into fear about the future, Mr. Beck also lingers over doomsday situations; in a series called "The War Room" in February he talked to experts about the possibility of global financial panic and widespread outbreaks of violence. He challenged viewers to "think the unthinkable" so that they would be prepared in case of emergency.

To answer his critics, Mr. Beck delivered a 17-minute commentary in late March, answering criticisms, including one from Bill Maher that he was producing "the same kind of talking" that led Timothy McVeigh to blow up the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995. "Let me be clear," Mr. Beck said. "If someone tries to harm another person in the name of the Constitution or the 'truth' behind 9/11 or anything else, they are just as dangerous and crazy as those we don't seem to recognize anymore, who kill in the name of Allah."

Born in Mount Vernon, Wash., in 1964, Mr. Beck has long been a performer. His roots are in comedy -- he spent years as a morning radio disc jockey -- and he continues to perform comedy on stages across the country.
In addition to broadcasting, Beck has written three New York Times-bestselling books, and is the publisher of Fusion Magazine. He also stars in a one-man stage show that tours the US twice a year.

In June 2009, estimators at Forbes magazine calculated Beck's earnings over the previous 12 months at $23 million, with 2009–2010 revenues on track to be higher. Although the majority of his revenue results from his radio show and books, his website's 5 million unique visitors per month also provides at least $3 million annually, while his salary at Fox News is estimated at $2 million per year. Additionally, Beck's online magazine Fusion sells an array of Beck-themed merchandise.

Radio historian Marc Fisher has posited that Beck is "first and foremost an entertainer, who happens to have stumbled into a position of political prominence."Beck began his radio career in 1977, at age 13, when he won a local radio contest on station KBRC in Mount Vernon, Washington, to be a disc jockey for an hour. It was then that Beck and his school classmates produced old-time radio with live scripts and sound effects for radio station, KGMI, in Bellingham. In his junior year of high school, he began working part-time at Seattle station KUBE 93 (FM) having to take a Greyhound Bus from Bellingham to Seattle in order to get there. After hosting a show midnight to dawn on Fridays and Saturdays, Beck would sleep in the station's conference room following his show.In January 2006, CNN's Headline News announced that Beck would host a nightly news-commentary show in their new prime-time block Headline Prime.

The show, simply called Glenn Beck, aired weeknights at 7:00 p.m., repeating at 9:00 p.m. and midnight (all times Eastern) from May 8, 2006 to October 16, 2008.
Glenn Beck has become a popular and best-selling author, releasing seven books since 2003. He has hit #1 on the New York Times New York Times Bestseller List in four separate categories: Hardcover Non-Fiction (Arguing with Idiots and An Inconvenient Book, Paperback Non-Fiction (Common Sense), Hardcover Fiction (The Christmas Sweater), and Children's Picture Books (The Christmas Sweater: A Picture Book).
The Glenn Beck show is one of the highest rated news commentary programs on cable TV.

Beck has referred to himself as an entertainer,a commentator rather than a reporter, a rodeo clown,and identified with Howard Beale "When he came out of the rain and he was like, none of this makes any sense. I am that guy."For a Barbara Walters ABC special, Beck was selected as one of America’s "Top 10 Most Fascinating People" of 2009.

Time Magazine describes Beck as "[t]he new populist superstar of Fox News" saying it is easier to see a set of attitudes rather than a specific ideology, noting his criticism of Wall Street, yet defending bonuses to AIG, as well as denouncing conspiracies against FEMA but warning against indoctrination of children by the AmeriCorps program.[99] What seems to unite Beck's disparate themes they note, is a sense of siege.[99] Time further describes Beck as "a gifted storyteller with a knack for stitching seemingly unrelated data points into possible conspiracies", proclaiming that he has "emerged as a virtuoso on the strings" of Conservative's discontent ... mining the timeless theme of the corrupt Them thwarting a virtuous Us.

Dennis Hopper's divorce battle getting uglier

2010-02-12T15:10:00.000+06:00

Civil war is raging at the house of cancer-stricken actor Dennis Hopper, who is seeking a divorce from his fifth wife so that he can spend more time with their 6-year-old daughter in what could be his dying days.

Hopper, 73, who is undergoing chemotherapy for advanced, metastasized prostate cancer, filed declarations along with his children, doctors and assistant in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday to support his divorce petition.
The filing cites several arguments between the couple over child visitation, issues at the compound where the couple and Dennis Hopper's adult children live, and other matters.
The judge also issued a restraining order against Duffy, saying she must stay 10 feet away from Hopper and his adult children, and barred her from entering Hopper's main residence.

The latest batch of court documents details a lot of screaming and shouting among the inhabitants of the counter-culture icon's five-home compound in the coastal Los Angeles suburb of Venice, with Duffy cast as the villain.
Victoria Hopper, 42, claimed in court papers filed last month that the actor smoked marijuana around their daughter, threatened her and that his illness had left him unable to make sound decisions. She also claims the divorce proceedings are an attempt to keep her from receiving an inheritance.

Hopper denied those claims in Thursday's filings. He acknowledged smoking medicinal marijuana, but not near his daughter. He denied threatening Victoria Hopper and said that while he had hoped to avoid a divorce, he recently came to the conclusion he wanted the marriage ended.
Hopper, according to Duffy, was "more often than not incapable of handling his legal and financial affairs."

Not true, countered Hopper, with supporting documents from two doctors who determined that he was fully competent. He said he filed for divorce "clearly and deliberately, without any pressure or influence exerted upon me by any other person."

Moreover, said his personal physician David Agus, "It is my belief and recommendation that the less Mr. Hopper has to do with his estranged wife at this time, the more likely he is to have his life extended."

Hopper's domestic life has never been dull. One of his marriages included an eight-day union with Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas in 1970. Phillips later told Vanity Fair that she was subjected to "excruciating" treatment.
"Whether motivated by malice, greed, dissolution strategy, or emotional instability, (Victoria Hopper's) actions subjected (Dennis Hopper) to emotional distress which has threatened his ability to survive," the actor's attorney, Douglas Bagby, wrote in a court filing.

Taylor Alison Swift

2010-02-12T15:09:00.000+06:00

This article is about the musician

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American country-pop singer-songwriter, and actress. The New York Times described Swift as "one of pop's finest songwriters, country’s foremost pragmatist and more in touch with her inner life than most adults"

In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified Platinum several times by the Recording Industry Association of America. In November 2008, Swift released her second album, Fearless. Fearless and Taylor Swift finished 2008 at number three and number six respectively, with sales of 2.1 and 1.5 million. Fearless has topped the Billboard 200 in 11 non-consecutive weeks; no album has spent more time at No. 1 since 2000. Swift was named Artist of the Year by Billboard Magazine in 2009.Fearless earned the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2010.

Taylor Alison Swift was born in the borough of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Scott Swift, a stock broker, and his wife Andrea, a homemaker. She has a younger brother, Austin. When she was in fourth grade, Swift won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem titled "Monster In My Closet".

At ten, Swift began writing songs and singing at karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs around her hometown. One summer, she devoted herself to writing a 350-page novel, which remains unpublished.Her first major show was a well-received performance at the Bloomsburg Fair.
Swift's greatest musical influence is Shania Twain.Her other influences include LeAnn Rimes, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, and Swift's grandmother. Although her grandmother was a professional opera singer,Taylor's tastes always ran more toward country and she developed a love for Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton at an early age. She also credits the Dixie Chicks and Shania Twain for demonstrating how much impact can be made by "stretching boundaries".

At age 11, Swift made her first trip to Nashville, hoping to obtain a record deal by distributing a demo tape of her singing with karaoke songs. She gave a copy to every label in town. Swift was rejected by record labels and her peers.

Taylor Alison Swift released her debut single, "Tim McGraw", in mid-2006, reaching number 6 on Billboard magazine's Hot Country Songs chart. Her self-titled debut album was later released on October 24, 2006.Swift wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on the album, which debuted at number 19 on the Billboard 200 and sold 39,000 copies during its first week.It later peaked at number one at Billboard Top Country Albums and number five on the Billboard 200.It also spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of the Top Country Albums charts and remained at the top for 24 out of 91 weeks. The only other country artists this decade to achieve the number-one sales position for 20 weeks or more are The Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood. As of November 2008, Taylor Swift has sold over three million copies and 7.5 million single downloads.On August 21, 2007, Swift performed live on the season finale of America's Got Talent.The second single from the Taylor Swift album, "Teardrops on My Guitar", was released February 24, 2007. The song originally made its peak positions in mid-2007, peaking at #2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and #33 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was re-released to the Hot 100 and Pop 100 in late 2007 with a pop remix that brought "Teardrops on My Guitar" to #13 on the Hot 100 and #11 on the Pop 100. In October 2007, Swift's songwriting peers at the Nashville Songwriters Association International honored her with their Songwriter/Artist of the Year Award, making her the youngest artist ever to win the award.

Taylor Alison Swift's latest studio album, Fearless, was released in the United States on November 11, 2008. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart. Its sales of 592,304 were the highest debut of any country artist in 2008. This is also the largest opening U.S. sales week in 2008 by a female artist in all genres of music, and the fourth biggest overall behind Lil Wayne, AC/DC and Coldplay. Its lead single "Love Story" became a hit on both the country and pop charts. During the first week of release, more than 129,000 of Swift's sales were sold digitally. This gives Swift the best online start for any country album in history. It also makes Swift the fourth biggest week for a digital album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking them in 2004.Through its eighth week of release, Fearless has sold more than 338,467 paid downloads, making it the bestselling country album in digital history. In second place is Swift's debut Taylor Swift with sales of 236,046 downloads as of April 18, 2009.
Swift performing live in 2007

In its debut week, seven songs in total on Fearless were charted on Billboard Hot 100, tying Swift with Hannah Montana for the most by a female artist in a single week. With "White Horse" charted at #13, this gave Swift her sixth top 20 debut of 2008, a calendar year record for any artist in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. Of the 13 tracks on Fearless, 11 have already spent time on the Hot 100. "Change", a song from the album, was selected as part of a soundtrack supporting Team USA's efforts in the 2008 Summer Olympics. The song was also featured as part of the soundtrack of NBC's broadcast package of the Olympics.

She also released the lead single from the album, "Love Story", on September 12, 2008. The song is accompanied by a music video that is based on Romeo and Juliet. The song has reached number 2 on iTunes Store Top Downloaded Songs and number four on the Billboard Hot 100. It is also called as Taylor Swift's signature song. Fifteen weeks after being added to pop radio, "Love Story" also became the first country crossover recording to hit number one on the Nielsen BDS CHR/Top 40 chart in the 16-year-history of list, as well as number one on the Mediabase Top 40 Chart.

The second single from Fearless, "White Horse", was released on December 8, 2008. The music video for the song premiered on CMT on February 7, 2009. Though it missed the #1 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Songs as of the week April 11, 2009, "White Horse" claimed the #1 spot atop the USA Today/Country Aircheck chart (powered by Mediabase) in that week."Forever & Always", another song from the album, was based on Swift's relationship with singer Joe Jonas.

She was the first artist in the history of Nielsen SoundScan to have two different albums in the Top 10 on the year end album chart.It also was the first album by a female artist in country music history to log eight weeks at #1 on The Billboard 200. In mid-January 2009, Swift became the first country artist to top the 2 million mark in paid downloads with three different songs.

Taylor Alison Swift is Billboard's Top Country Artist and Hot Country Songwriter of 2008; she is also country music's best-selling artist of 2008.Swift ranked seventh on Nielsen SoundScan Canada's top-10 selling artists across all genres in 2008. Fearless and Taylor Swift took the #1 and #2 slots on 2008 Year-End Canadian Country Albums Chart. Swift sang the Star-Spangled Banner at game three of the World Series in Philadelphia on October 25, 2008.

In January 2009, Swift announced her first headlining tour. She took her North American Fearless Tour 2009 to 52 cities in 38 states and provinces in the US and Canada over the span of 6 months. Opening acts include Kellie Pickler and Gloriana, a new group in country music. The tour features a theatrical presentation of graphics, sets and visual elements designed by Swift; Swift plays guitar as well as piano. Multiple costume changes and a fairy-tale castle are some of the elements of the three-act show.

On January 10, 2009, Swift made her first musical guest appearance on Saturday Night Live, making her the youngest country singer to appear as a musical guest on the show in its 33-year run.Swift's show achieved SNL’s highest adult 18-49 rating and overall viewer total since the November election (in 2008). It was tied for the #7 rating of that week among all broadcast and cable entertainment programs on all networks and outscored all its telecasts of last season in 18-49 and total viewers. On February 8, 2009, Swift performed her song "Fifteen" with Miley Cyrus at the 51st Grammy Awards.

As of the week ending February 8, 2009, Swift's single "Love Story" became the country song with most paid downloads in history and the first country song to top the Mainstream Top 40 chart. Swift then subsequently went onto replicate the feat, reaching number 1 again on the Mainstream Top 40 in September 2009 with "You Belong with Me", making it just the second country song in the chart's history to reach the top.
Swift performing during her Fearless tour in August, 2009.

Since the release of Swift's second album, Fearless, she has released one new song "Crazier" for the soundtrack of the feature film Hannah Montana: The Movie. At the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, Swift picked up Album of the Year honors as a performer and producer for Fearless.

Taylor Alison Swift is the youngest artist in history to win Album of the Year award. Swift was also awarded the Academy's Crystal Milestone Award, given for Outstanding Achievement in Country Music. The Academy lauded her for career achievements including selling more albums in 2008 than any other artist in any genre of music, the breakthrough success of her debut album (which spawned five Top 10 hits, more than any in history for a female artist's debut CD), and the worldwide crossover success of her #1 single "Love Story". The Academy also cited Swift's contribution to helping country music attract a younger audience.[68] As of late April 2009, Swift has sold more than 14 million downloads, as well as three Gold Mobile Ringtones.
Swift performing on April 25, 2009, in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center.

In June 2009, Swift performed "Thug Story" with T-Pain at the CMT Music Awards. She went on to win two awards for Female Video of the Year and Video of the Year.In addition to having three of her songs featured, Swift appears as a playable character in Band Hero.Swift announced September 6 on her MySpace blog that Fearless will be re-released on October 27 with six new songs. It also includes a DVD with her tour footage and pictures.

The tour kicked off April 23 in Evansville, Indiana. On February 6, 2009, tickets went on sale for the May 22 date at Los Angeles’ Staples Center and sold out in two minutes.Tickets for several dates and venues, including Madison Square Garden, went on sale the following week and sold out in one minute.

On April 28, 2009, Swift gave a free, private concert to students at Bishop Ireton High School, a small Catholic school in Alexandria, Virginia after the school won a national "TXT 2 WIN" contest from Verizon Wireless. The students sent over 19,000 text messages to Verizon during a roughly one month long contest. Swift played for about an hour during the school's field day, an annual day-long recess with games and activities. On October 8, 2009 Swift's official website announced that her sold-out Fearless Tour would return to North America for 37 additional dates in 2010.

On the chart week of November 14, 2009, Swift set a record for the most songs on the Billboard Hot 100 by a female artist at the same time with eight singles from the re-release of her 2008 album Fearless namely five debut new songs in the top 30: "Jump Then Fall" at #10, "Untouchable" at #19, "The Other Side of the Door" at #22, "Superstar" at #27 and "Come in With the Rain" at #30 and three already-charted songs that were released as singles — "You Belong with Me" (#14), "Forever & Always" which re-entered the chart at #34, and "Fifteen" (#46).In addition, the song "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls which features Swift, debuted at #80 in the same issue. This gives Swift six debuts in one week, the biggest number of debuts by any female artist of all time. It also lifts the number of her simultaneously-charting songs to nine, setting another record for the biggest number of charting songs by the same female artist in the same week.When "Fifteen" reached #38 on the chart week of November 21, 2009, Swift became the female artist with most Top 40 singles this decade, surpassing Beyoncé Knowles, who currently has 19 Top 40 singles. "Fifteen" became Swift's thirteenth Top 40 single from Fearless and her twentieth overall. Taylor's historical moves continued as the December 5 issue of the Hot 100 was announced; "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls progressed to #40, and John Mayer's "Half of My Heart" debuted at #25 where both of these songs featured Swift. This gives Swift her 21st and 22nd Top 40 singles.

On November 11, 2009, Swift won four CMA Awards: Album of the Year for "Fearless", Music Video of the Year for "Love Story" Female Vocalist of the Year, and Entertainer of the Year.
Taylor Alison Swift also won five 2009 American Music Awards: Artist of The Year, Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist, Favorite Country Female Artist, Favorite Country Album for "Fearless", and Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist.On December 2, 2009, she received Grammy Award nominations for: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "You Belong with Me", Best Female Country Vocal Performance, Best Country Song for "White Horse", Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals for "Breathe", and Album of the Year and Best Country Album for "Fearless".

At the end of 2009, the Associated Press named Swift "Entertainer of the Year"."Fearless" was the best-selling album of 2009 in the US with more than 3.2 millions copies sold in that year. Swift claimed both the #1 and #2 positions atop Nielsen's BDS Top 10 Most Played Songs chart (all genres), with "You Belong With Me" and "Love Story," respectively. She also topped the all format 2009 Top 10 Artist Airplay chart with over 1.29 million song detections, and the Top 10 Artist Internet Streams chart with more than 46 million song plays.
Swift won the 2010 People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Artist.In February 2010, she is set to bring her Fearless Tour to 5 cities in Australia. Opening acts will include Gloriana.
Taylor Alison Swift is currently recording songs for her third album. She has the theme planned out already. The album is due to be released in late 2010.
Swift released the track "Today Was a Fairytale" as a digital download on iTunes on January 19, 2010. The song is to be featured on the upcoming soundtrack for the film Valentine's Day in which she is making her feature-film acting debut. This song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No.2[107] and is also Swift's sixth Top 10 singles and her 23rd Top 40 singles on the Hot 100. In January of 2010, Taylor Swift set a new download record with the song "Today Was a Fairytale" with 325,000 downloads of the song written by Swift for the film Valentine's Day.[108]The song also debuted at number one on the Canadian Hot 100, making it Swift's first number one hit in Canada.

At the 52nd Grammy Awards Swift won Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song for "White Horse", and Album of the Year and Best Country Album for "Fearless".While attempting to pose with all four of her Grammy trophies backstage, Swift accidentally dropped one and shattered it. At the awards ceremony, she performed a duet with Stevie Nicks. Swift's singing was widely criticized, with LA Times blogger Ann Powers calling it "strikingly bad".

Swift will also host the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards in September 2010 from The Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Taylor Alison Swift's lyrics are highly autobiographical; she has said that "If you listen to my albums, it’s like reading my diary." For instance the song "Forever & Always" was inspired by her relationship with Joe Jonas,while the song "Hey Stephen" was written about a guy who opened some shows for her."Fifteen" was written about her freshman year of high school. It has been said that her lyrics "can be tinged with acid: the quiet loner girl getting one over on the cheerleaders, or a caustic payback for the boy who dumped her." She's also indicated that she tries to write so her fans can relate to the lyrics, saying "My goal is to never write songs that my fans can't relate to."

The intently personal nature of the songs have drawn her the most attention. Swift once said, "I thought people might find them hard to relate to, but it turned out that the more personal my songs were, the more closely people could relate to them.

In 2008Taylor Alison, Swift made her acting debut in Brad Paisley's music video "Online". In that same year Swift filmed a documentary for MTV entitled MTV's Once Upon a Prom and a documentary with Def Leppard for CMT entitled CMT Crossroads, which was premiered on November 7, 2008, drew more than 4.5 million viewers for its four initial airings.[119] Swift collaborated with the Jonas Brothers in their 3D Concert Film, Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience. The film was released on February 27, 2009 in North America. The concert film brought in $12,700,000 on its opening weekend.[120] Swift made her primetime television acting debut on CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Turn, Turn, Turn on March 5, 2009 in the U.S. and Canada. The episode was watched by 20.8 million viewers.[121] Swift made a cameo appearance in Kellie Pickler's music video "Best Days of Your Life". Swift also appeared in Hannah Montana: The Movie as "woman singing in the barn". The film was released on April 10, 2009 in North America.The television show Dateline NBC showcased an hour to Swift on May 31, 2009. The episode titled Dateline NBC: On Tour With Taylor Swift included scenes from her tour bus, concert footage, and rehearsals. She was also interviewed for the show and some of her exclusive video diaries were shown.Taylor both hosted and performed as the musical guest for the November 7, 2009 episode of Saturday Night Live.
In 2010,Taylor Alison Swift will make her feature film acting debut as Samantha Kenny in the film Valentine's Day.
On September 21, 2007, Swift launched a campaign to protect children from online predators. She has teamed up with Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen to combat internet sex crimes.The year-long campaign, launched in partnership with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, will distribute Internet safety information and materials to parents and students across the state.In early 2008, Swift donated the pink Chevy pick-up truck given to her by her record label to children’s charity, the Victory Junction Gang; in June, 2008, Swift donated all the proceeds she got from her merchandise sales at the 2008 Country Music Festival to Red Cross, the Nashville Area Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund and the National American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.[126] Swift donated $10,000, funded by CMT ONE COUNTRY, to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital by winning the "Video of the Year" and "Female Video of the Year" awards at the 2008 CMT Music Awards.In 2009, Swift won "Video of the Year and "Female Video of the Year" awards at the 2009 CMT Music Awards. She donated $5,000, funded by CMT, to American Red Cross.

Taylor Alison Swift donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008.Swift has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware of listening "responsibly". Swift supports @15, a teen-led social change platform underwritten by Best Buy to give teens opportunities to direct the company's philanthropy through the newly-created @15 Fund. Swift's song, "Fifteen", is featured in this campaign.Swift has lent her support to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal by joining the lineup at Sydney's Sound Relief concert,reportedly making the biggest contribution of any artist playing at Sound Relief to the Australian Red Cross.Swift donated her prom dress, which raised $1,200 for charity, to DonateMyDress.org. On November 20, 2009 after a live performance on BBC's Children in Need night Swift announced to Sir Terry Wogan she would donate £13,000 of her own money to the cause.

On December 13th, Swift's own birthday, she donated $250,000 to various schools around the country which she either has attended or been involved with.
Public image and other work

Taylor Alison Swift has been featured on the cover of a number of magazines. In 2008, the list includes Blender, Seventeen, Billboard,Girls' Life, Women's Health and CosmoGirl. In 2009, Swift graced the cover of Teen Vogue,Self Magazine, Rolling Stone,Allure, Glamour, and Bliss. She has been a cover girl for Blender, for which she was one of two country artists during the magazine’s fifteen year run to be a cover subject. Additionally, she was named number fifty-seven on Maxim's sexiest women of 2008.CosmoGirl voted Swift as the "2008 Girl of the Year". Swift was named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of "The RS 100: Agents of Change". She was nominated as a candidate for TIME's "2009 The Time 100 Finalists" list, which is determined by online voting. PEOPLE magazine named Swift one of 25 Most Intriguing People of 2009.

Jakks Pacific released a celebrity doll of Swift in late 2008.Taylor Swift is the face of L.E.I. Jeans (Life Energy Intelligence) since 2008.Swift and the L.e.i. Clothing Line made a deal to create a line based on Swift's style of dressing. It will appear in Wal-Mart in the coming months.However, Swift said she does not want to be called a designer. Instead, she says she will inspire the clothing company's dress line based on her own style. "I don't look at it like I'm branching out as a designer... It's not the Taylor Swift designer line."In 2009, Swift became the National Hockey League's newest celebrity spokesperson. She appears in commercials for the Nashville Predators

In 2008, Taylor Alison Swift was in a high-profile relationship with pop singer Joe Jonas. On November 11, 2008, in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Swift claimed that Jonas broke up with her in a 27-second phone call.In explanation, Jonas wrote on his MySpace blog (in a post that has since been removed): "I called to discuss feelings with the other person, and obviously these feelings were not well received. I did not end the phone call. Someone else ended it for me. Phone calls only last as long as the person on the other end is willing to talk." Furthermore, Jonas says that he has tried to call her since the breakup, in an attempt at reconciliation, but received no response.During the same interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Swift revealed that the heartbreak song "Forever & Always" on her album Fearless, recorded in late September/early October 2008, was inspired by Jonas.

Taylor Alison Swift's best friend has been Abigail Anderson, whom she has known since ninth grade. During a discussion of Shakespeare in an English class they learned what they had in common. "We were the ones in the back of the class saying negative things about Romeo and Juliet because we were so bitter toward that emotion at the time," said Anderson. "We just really connected ... and ever since then we have been inseparable." Anderson also appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to surprise Swift. Anderson was mentioned in Swift's single "Fifteen."

Taylor Alison Swift is also close friends with Kellie Pickler, with whom she co-wrote Pickler's second single "Best Days of Your Life" from her self-titled album Kellie Pickler.[163] In July 2008, Swift graduated from the Aaron Academy, a Christian school in Hendersonville, Tennessee, which offers a home-schooling program. Prior to this, she attended Hendersonville High School.

Kajol

2010-02-11T09:46:00.000+06:00

Kajol Mukherjee was born August 5th 1975 in Altamont Road Mumbai. Her mother is star actress Tanuja and her father is Shomu Mukerjee.

Her look was unconventional and Kajol took pride in differentiating herself from other Bollywood actresses who seemed to be just decorations at times.
Her first film was Bekhudiâ but she didnâ score her first hit until she made Baazigar with Shahrukh Khan who she would later be paired off in many other films with.

Two of those collaborations include Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and ˜Kuch Kuch Hota Hai which earned her two Filmfare awards for best actress. Khushi Khabhi Gham was the last film she made in 2001 sending her off for a five year break from the movie world.

Finally she returned in 2006 with Kunal Kohli Fanna which earned her another Filmfare best actress award. In the film she played a blind Kashmiri girl who falls in love with a terrorist. Fanna was another notch in her belt for her career which already had much critical acclaim.

Kajol and husband Ajay Devgan released the film U Me aur Hum in 2008 which Devgan made his directorial debut. The film performed moderately but once again earned Kajol the praise of critics who enjoyed seeing her play an Alzheimer patient.

Kajol continues to push herself to be one of Bollywoodâ€™s elite by accepting different roles and jumping out of her own skin to portray something quite unlike herself. She has a signature uni-brow that separates her from peer actresses looks wise and a list of movies that do the same career wise.

Captain Phil Harris Dead

2010-02-11T09:35:00.000+06:00

The news of Captain Phil Harris dead, was took up as quite a grieving word, from the channels outlet and people everywhere who watched the Hit TV show, was quite keen up in asking as to is Captain Phil Harris dead, an actual news or just a rumor.

The Disc. TV Channel annunciated this night that the Cap. Phil Harris, acknowledged by his fans to be one of the finest of the far famed TV reality show known to all as the Dead-liest Catch, and who was a sea captain of the crab fishing boat named up as the C. Maria, has passed away.

Their daddy has all of the time been a battler as well as carried on to be till the final stage. They as well stated up that he never backed down from anything and the work crew on the boat as well as they themselves will remember him forever.

The Capt. Phil was not only a thorough gentleman but as well as was a great person and a superb fisher man. he always treated hi subordinates with the care and respect that he treated up his very own son’s with. After the Captain Phil Harris dead news spread out, his son’s issued up an affirmation stating that, it is with quite an eminent sorrowfulness that they actually say adios to their daddy.

The Capt. Phil had actually sustained a cerebrovascular stroke within the late up time period of the previous calendar month, whilst he was within the port, as per to the reports, unloading at the St. Paul’s Island within AK.

Charlie Wilson dies at 76.Former Texas Rep

2010-02-11T09:18:00.000+06:00

It is speculated that Wilson first entered politics as a teenager by running a campaign against his next-door neighbor, city council incumbent Charles Hazard. When Wilson was 13, his dog entered Hazard's yard. Hazard retaliated by mixing crushed glass into the dog's food, causing fatal internal bleeding.

Charlie Wilson, the former congressman from Texas whose funding of Afghanistan's resistance to the Soviet Union was chronicled in the movie and book "Charlie Wilson's War," died Wednesday. He was 76.

Wilson died at Memorial Medical Center-Lufkin after he started having difficulty breathing while attending a meeting in the eastern Texas town where he lived, said hospital spokeswoman Yana Ogletree. Wilson was pronounced dead on arrival, and the preliminary cause of death was cardiopulmonary arrest, she said.
In the late 1970s, Wilson strongly supported the right-wing Somoza government in Nicaragua. His admiration for Somoza was unaffected by the dictator's unsuccessful effort to bribe him.[4] Wilson saw Somoza as an abandoned and betrayed U.S. ally, and he ran a rearguard action in the House appropriations committee attempting to save Somoza's regime, at one point threatening to wreck President Carter's Panama Canal Treaty if the U.S. did not resume supporting Somoza.

Wilson represented the 2nd District in east Texas in the U.S. House from 1973 to 1996 and was known in Washington as "Good Time Charlie" for his reputation as a hard-drinking womanizer. He once called former congresswoman Pat Schroeder "Babycakes," and tried to take a beauty queen with him on a government trip to Afghanistan.

Actor Tom Hanks portrayed Wilson in the 2007 movie about Wilson's efforts to arm Afghan mujahedeen during Afghanistan's war against the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Wilson, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, helped secure money for weapons, plunging the U.S. into a risky venture against the world's other superpower.

In an interview with The Associated Press after the book was published in 2003, he said he wasn't worried about details of his wild side being portrayed.

"I would remind you that I was not married at the time. I'm in a different place than I was in at the time and I don't apologize about that," Wilson said.

In 2007, Wilson had a heart transplant at a Houston hospital. Doctors had told Wilson, who suffered from cardiomyopathy, a disease that causes an enlarged and weakened heart, that he would likely die without a transplant.

Wilson, a Democrat, was considered a progressive but also a defense hawk. He had acknowledged some responsibility for Afghanistan becoming a safe haven for al-Qaida after the Soviets retreated and the U.S. withdrew its support.

"That caused an enormous amount of real bitterness in Afghanistan and it was probably the catalyst for Taliban movement," Wilson said in a 2001 interview.

The Soviets spent a decade battling the determined and generously financed mujahedeen before pulling the Red Army from Afghanistan in 1989.

Mike Vickers, who as a CIA agent in 1984 played a key role in the clandestine effort to arm the Afghan rebels, said Wilson played a part in the Soviet Union's collapse, which happened just two years after its withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Vickers, now assistant secretary of defense for special operations, praised Wilson as a "great American patriot who played a pivotal role in a world-changing event — the defeat of the Red Army in Afghanistan, which led to the collapse of Communism and the Soviet Empire."

After leaving Congress, Wilson lobbied for a number of years before returning to Texas.

"Charlie was perfect as a congressman, perfect as a state representative, perfect as a state senator. He was a perfect reflection of the people he represented. If there was anything wrong with Charlie, I never did know what it was," said Charles Schnabel Jr., who served for seven years as Wilson's chief of staff in Washington and worked with Wilson when he served in the Texas Senate.

Schnabel said he had just been with Wilson a few weeks ago for the dedication of the Charlie Wilson chair for Pakistan studies at the University of Texas, Austin, a $1 million endowment. He said Wilson had been doing "very good."

"He had the heart transplant in September 2007 and he recovered and he said quote, 'he was a poster boy for heart transplants.' He was doing very well. He was taking a whole lot of medicine," Schnabel said.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas called Wilson "a lifetime public servant with a fiery passion for the people of east Texas, our men and women in uniform, our veterans and our freedoms."

"I have had the great privilege to work alongside him on several issues of importance to our veterans in Texas, and I will miss his leadership and dedication," he said.

Ogletree said Wilson is survived by his wife, Barbara, and a sister.

Cyndi Lauper to Rock Duet

2010-02-11T09:05:00.000+06:00

Gaga and Lauper showed their "true colors" as well as their own shade of MAC lipstick. Besides helping women look chic, the proceeeds of the lipstick sales will go to AIDS charities.

who said she likes "offbeat things" within artistic community, said she was excited to work with Gaga on the campaign and didn't rule out the possibility of a duet.

And although she doesn't usually watch her performances twice, she said she had to watch the Grammy's performance again to see if it really happened.

Singers Lady Gaga and Cyndi Lauper are so natural together, it seems as though they have been friends for years. The two are even embarking on a charitable crusade together in the fight against AIDS.

But will the two take their camaraderie to the recording studio for a duet?

"Who knows - in the spirit of spreading AIDS awareness, yeah why not?" Gaga said.

The zany and outspoken singers visited NBC's "Today Show" Wednesday morning to share their involvment in MAC's Viva Glam Spring 2010 campaign, which raises AIDS awareness.

With a love for pushing the limits with their music and fashion sense, the singers, who Gaga says are both New Yorkers with "scratchy voices," also share a passion for female empowerment. Therefore, the MAC campaign's combination of glam and female leadership was a perfect fit.

If there's no official duet on the horizon, the two may share the same stage.

According to Gaga, the two will "sort of" be performing together Wednesday night.

"I have been such a huge fan of Cyndi's," Gaga gushed. She admitted that she got butterflies the first time she saw Lauper and had to perform in front of her.

The edgy, platinum blonde is still taking it all in and can't believe how far she's come - to be sitting beside Lauper, one of her childhood idols.

She is still blown away by her Grammy performance alongside the legendary Elton John as well.

"It's been a very long road and I feel really grateful," Gaga said.

Ellen DeGeneres' Bio

2010-02-10T12:31:00.000+06:00

Comedienne, talk show host, Emmy winner, Academy Awards show host, ardent dog lover (one dog, at least), dorky-dancing power lesbian Ellen DeGeneres knows how to work a tough crowd while playing it safe with even the riskiest material. Always donning sneakers and comfy cotton clothes, she's like everyone's favorite P.E. coach. Like most noteworthy comedians discovered in the '80s, Ellen's big break came courtesy of Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. A few years later she landed her own sitcom, Ellen ('94-'98), on which she and her character simultaneously came out of the closet.

For mating purposes, Ellen seems to prefer the lipstick variety of same-sex partner, having dated actress-slash-psycho Anne Heche for more than three years, then moving on to even cuter blond Portia de Rossi in 2004. Born in a New Orleans, Louisiana, suburb on January 6, 1958, Ms. DeGeneres also made headlines when she sobbed on camera, begging for the return of a dog of which she had illegally transfered adoption. That's when it got a little weird.
I think one thing everyone will remember looking back at 2009 is the historic appointment of our newest female judge ... on American Idol. I'm excited. I'm nervous. I can't wait to start.

Speaking of American Idol, Adam Lambert amazed me this year. I realized that when he was on my show. He was sitting next to me, talking openly about being a gay man. I don't think we're used to seeing that on TV. It wasn't a stereotype. It wasn't a joke. He was just honest. And he told me if I keep my nail polish in the refrigerator, it will go on smoother. Did you know that?

I also learned how to text this year. If you saw how big my thumbs are, you'd be impressed. (Most of the time I text Portia that I "lobe" her, but I'm getting better.)

Oprah begged me to be on the cover of her magazine, and we became best friends (Sorry, Gayle). Now it's only a matter of time before we drive cross-country together.

Also in 2009, Portia and I became aunts for the first time. There's nothing like seeing a beautiful baby being brought into the world. And he's 8 months old, so cute—wait, it's a she. Or is it a he? Either way ... it's cute. It doesn't matter. They all look the same until they're 12 anyway.

Nancy Kerrigan

2010-02-10T12:16:00.000+06:00

Nancy Ann Kerrigan (born October 13, 1969) is a two-time American Olympic figure skating medalist and 1993 U.S. champion.

The death of the father of Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan was ruled a homicide Tuesday when an autopsy showed he died of a heart rhythm problem after a fight with his son in which he suffered a neck injury so severe it damaged his windpipe.

A lawyer for the Kerrigan family criticized the autopsy report about 70-year-old Daniel Kerrigan's death, calling it "premature and inacurrate." The family said Kerrigan had a pre-existing heart condition and they do "not blame anyone" for his death.

The examiner's findings could prompt new charges against Kerrigan's brother, Mark, who has pleaded not guilty to assault and battery on a person over 60 and is undergoing a psychiatric evaluation at Bridgewater State Hospital.
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Kerrigan died Jan. 24 after what authorities said was a struggle with his son.

Police say Mark Kerrigan told them he put his hands around his father's neck and his father fell to the floor after the two argued at their Stoneham home.

Health complications
The autopsy results released Tuesday by Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said the elder Kerrigan also had underlying health conditions, including high blood pressure and clogged heart arteries.

"As a result of these conclusions of the medical examiner, the investigation into Daniel Kerrigan's death, and whether any charges in connection with his death are appropriate, remains ongoing," Leone said in a statement.

The findings imply a strangulation-type injury in a man already vulnerable to heart problems, said an expert not connected with the autopsy, Dr. Ian Paul, associate medical examiner for the state of New Mexico.

"The assault itself would have caused significant physiological stress," Paul said. "It would have put direct stress to the heart itself because the heart is working faster, and in somebody with underlying heart disease, they would be at a much greater risk of experiencing sudden cardiac death."

Leone said the medical examiner determined the cause of death was "cardiac dysrhythmia" after a physical altercation "with neck compression causing injury to the neck in the form of a cartilage fracture to the larynx area."

Cardiac dysrhythmia is loss or interruption of a normal heartbeat, which can lead to cardiac arrest and death.

Neither Nancy Kerrigan, nor her mother, Brenda Kerrigan, could immediately be reached for comment Tuesday. A spokeswoman said the family planned to issue a statement.

Denise Moore, an attorney who represented Mark Kerrigan at his arraignment, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

'Belligerent and combative'
Daniel Kerrigan was found unconscious on the floor of his home by police responding to an emergency call at 1:30 a.m. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.

Image: Daniel and Brenda Kerrigan
Susan Walsh / AP file
A 1994 photo shows Daniel and Brenda Kerrigan, the parents of Nancy Kerrigan, a silver medalist in figure skating at the 1994 Olympics, outside their home in Stoneham, Mass.
Police said Mark Kerrigan appeared intoxicated when he was found on a couch in the basement of the home. He was "belligerent and combative" but coherent when questioned, police said.

"He stated that he wanted to use the phone and his father would not let him," the arresting officer wrote in a report. "He said he struggled with his father and put his hands around his father's neck and his father fell to the floor."

The officers said they saw blood near where Daniel Kerrigan had been treated by emergency workers and signs of a struggle, including three pictures that had apparently been knocked off a wall and a broken piece of the telephone.

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Nancy Kerrigan buries dad after tragic death

Mark Kerrigan has a lengthy criminal record, with convictions dating to 1991, including drunken driving, assault and battery, domestic assaults, resisting arrest and violation of a restraining order.

In 2008, Kerrigan's parents sued him to recover $105,000 they had spent paying his mortgage at his Wilmington home, taking care of his dogs while he was in jail and paying for a lawyer who represented him on a 2006 assault conviction. A judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying there was no documentation of such an agreement.

He was released from county jail in November after serving time on an assault conviction.
Early life and skating career

Kerrigan was born in Woburn, Massachusetts to Daniel Kerrigan and Brenda M. (Schultz) Kerrigan. She began ice skating at age six at the local rink in her hometown of Stoneham, Massachusetts. Her two older brothers, Michael and Mark, played hockey, but hockey was not considered an appropriate activity for girls at that time so she took up figure skating instead.[1] She did not start private lessons until age eight, and won her first figure skating medal at age nine.[2]

The Kerrigan family was of modest means. Kerrigan's father, a welder, sometimes worked three jobs to fund her skating career, and also drove the ice resurfacer at the local rink in exchange for lessons.[3]

Kerrigan was coached by Theresa Martin until she was 16, then after a brief period with Denise Morrissey began working with Evy and Mary Scotvold.[4]. They remained her coaches through the rest of her competitive career.

Kerrigan began to reach prominence at the national level when she placed 4th at the junior level at the 1987 U. S. Figure Skating Championships. She made an early impression as a strong jumper but was comparatively weak in compulsory figures.[5]. Kerrigan made her senior debut the following season, moving up the national rankings each year: 12th in 1988, 5th in 1989, and 4th in 1990.[6] However, she continued to be held back by compulsory figures until they were eliminated from competitions after the 1990 season.
[edit] 1991–1993 competitions

Kerrigan's rise at the national level continued when she placed 3rd at the 1991 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. She qualified for the 1991 World Figure Skating Championships, where she won the bronze medal. Her achievement was considered especially astonishing in that it was part of the first-ever sweep of the ladies podium by a single country at the World Championships, as her teammates Kristi Yamaguchi and Tonya Harding won gold and silver, respectively.[7].

In the 1992 season, Kerrigan again improved on her placement at the previous year's national championships by placing 2nd. She received a bronze medal in the 1992 Winter Olympics (Yamaguchi won the gold), and the silver medal at the 1992 World Championships.

The following season, with Yamaguchi retired from eligible competition, Kerrigan became United States Champion, although with a flawed performance she admitted she would have to improve upon for the World Championships.[8] She won the short program at the World Championships in Prague, but had a disastrous free skate that resulted in her tumbling to fifth in the standings. (The World title was instead won by Oksana Baiul.) This was followed by an even worse performance at a televised pro-am event, where Kerrigan fell three times and botched the landing of another jump, and appeared dazed and depressed.[9]

Kerrigan determined to redeem herself in the following season. After the 1992 Olympics, she had received many corporate sponsorship contracts (with companies such as Seiko, Reebok, Campbell's Soup, and Evian)[10] as well as opportunities to perform professionally, which was permitted after the International Skating Union abolished the earlier strict amateur status rules that had governed eligibility for the sport. In preparation for the 1994 Olympic season, she curtailed these activities in order to focus on her training instead. She also began working with a sports psychologist to better handle her nerves in competition.[11]
[edit] January 1994 attack
Main article: Tonya Harding: The Kerrigan attack

Kerrigan gained considerable fame beyond the skating world when, on January 6, 1994, she was hit in the knee with a collapsible baton by Shane Stant at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit, an assault planned by rival Tonya Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly and friend Shawn Eckardt.

Kerrigan's sobs and cry of "Why, why?" immediately after the attack was captured on video which was replayed frequently during subsequent news coverage. Though Kerrigan was forced to withdraw from the U.S. Championships due to injury, the USFSA chose to name her to the Olympic team rather than second-place finisher Michelle Kwan.

Kerrigan recovered quickly from her knee injury and resumed her intensive training. She practiced by doing complete back-to-back double runthroughs of her programs, until she felt completely confident in her ability to do them under pressure.[12] At the same time, the fame she had acquired from the attack led to further professional opportunities; it was reported that she had already signed contracts for $9.5 million before the Olympic competition began.[13] Some wondered if Kerrigan landed better and higher-profile endorsements than Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi because Kerrigan better fit an "all-American" image where as Yamaguchi is of Japanese ancestry.[14]
[edit] 1994 Winter Olympics and post-event controversy

Seven weeks after the attack, Kerrigan skated what she considered to be the best two performances of her life[15] and won the silver medal in the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics at the Hamar Olympic Amphitheatre, finishing second to Oksana Baiul. Kerrigan had won the short program, but lost the free skate to Baiul in a close and controversial 5-4 decision. CBS Television further played up the controversy by portraying it as a Cold War east/west split, particularly singling out German judge Jan Hoffmann for supposedly biased judging.[16]

Then, while Kerrigan and bronze medalist Chen Lu waited over 20 minutes for Olympic officials to find a copy of the Ukrainian anthem, someone mistakenly told Kerrigan the delay was because Baiul was putting on make-up. Kerrigan, showing obvious frustration, was caught on-camera saying "Oh, come on. So she's going to get out here and cry again. What's the difference?".[17] CBS chose to air the undiplomatic comment, marking a distinct shift in the way Kerrigan was portrayed in the media, which had been somewhat protective of her image up to that point because of the attack against her.[18]

Kerrigan then chose not to attend the closing ceremonies at the Olympics; her agent claimed this was because Norwegian security had advised her not to do so due to death threats that had been made against her, but this was later denied.[19] Instead, Kerrigan left Norway to take part in a pre-arranged publicity parade at Walt Disney World, her $2 million sponsor. During the parade, she was caught on microphone during the parade saying "This is dumb. I hate it. This is the most corniest [sic] thing I have ever done."[20] She later said her remarks had been taken out of context: she was commenting not on being in the parade, but on having to wear her silver medal in the parade.

Building on the negative publicity, news articles described Kerrigan as "grumpy" and "bitchy", as well as shy and uncomfortable with the attention that was focused on her as a result of the attack.[21] Commenting on the media backlash, Mike Barnicle of The Boston Globe said "Now the thing is over so we've got to kill her. That's us [the media], not her."[22] Whether as a result of the bad publicity or her own inclinations, some of Kerrigan's previously-announced endorsement and television deals were dropped following the Olympics.[23]
[edit] Kerrigan's Olympic skating fashions

Nancy Kerrigan's Olympic skating outfits were designed by noted fashion designer Vera Wang. Along with Christian Lacroix's designs for Surya Bonaly in 1992, it marked a new trend for couture designs in figure skating.[24] Kerrigan's white 1992 free skating costume resembled a wedding dress with sheer illusion sleeves and a basketweave design on the bodice. For the 1994 games, Kerrigan wore another white dress trimmed with black velvet bands and sheer black sleeves for the original program, and a champagne-colored dress set with 11,500 rhinestones for the free skate. Wang donated the latter two dresses to Kerrigan, but their value was estimated at $9,600 and $13,000, respectively.[25]
[edit] Post-Olympic skating career

Kerrigan retired from active competition after the Olympics. She subsequently appeared in a few professional competitions such as Ice Wars, but instead chose to focus her professional career on performing in a variety of ice shows.[26] She has appeared in Champions on Ice, Broadway on Ice, and an ice show adaptation of the musical Footloose, among other productions.

She played a small part in the 2007 film Blades of Glory with Will Ferrell. Kerrigan also appeared in the 2006 FOX television program Skating with Celebrities.

She hosted Nancy Kerrigan's World of Skating on the Comcast Network and has also done commentary work for other skating broadcasts. She has written an instructional book on advanced figure skating techniques, Artistry on Ice (ISBN 0-7360-3697-0).

Kerrigan was inducted into the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2004. She was honored at Ice Theatre of New York's annual benefit gala in 2008.[27]
[edit] Personal life

Kerrigan graduated from Stoneham High School and attended Emmanuel College in Boston to study business.

She created The Nancy Kerrigan Foundation to raise awareness and support for the vision impaired. Kerrigan's mother, Brenda, is legally blind.

Kerrigan married her agent, Jerry Lawrence Solomon, on September 9, 1995.[28] They have three children together: Matthew Eric, born December 1996; Brian, born April 14, 2005; and Nicole Elizabeth, born May 14, 2008.[29] The family currently resides in Lynnfield, Massachusetts.

Kerrigan's father died at age 70 on January 24, 2010[30] allegedly due to a violent struggle with her brother Mark.[31] As of January 25, 2010, Mark Kerrigan has been charged with assault and battery

Kerrigan family disputes autopsy report on father

2010-02-10T12:10:00.000+06:00

The family of Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan insisted Tuesday that they do "not blame anyone" for her father's death and criticized a medical examiner's finding that Daniel Kerrigan died of a heart rhythm problem after a fight with his son.

Daniel Kerrigan's death was ruled a homicide by a state medical examiner.

The findings could prompt new charges against Nancy Kerrigan's brother, Mark, 45, who has pleaded not guilty to assault and battery on an elderly person and is undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.

Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said Tuesday that an autopsy determined the cause of death was "cardiac dysrhythmia" after a physical altercation with neck compression that damaged Kerrigan's windpipe. The findings also noted that Kerrigan, 70, had high blood pressure and clogged heart arteries.

Several hours later, Kerrigan's family issued a statement through their attorney, Tracey Miner, calling the findings both "premature and inaccurate."

"The Kerrigan family is extremely disappointed that the medical examiner would release a cause of death without having all of the relevant facts," Miner said in the statement.

"The Kerrigan family does not blame anyone for the unfortunate death of Dan Kerrigan, who had a pre-existing heart condition."

The statement did not give details on Kerrigan's heart condition, nor did it elaborate on what facts the medical examiner might not have had. Miner did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Daniel Kerrigan died Jan. 24 after what authorities said was a struggle with his son.

Police say Mark Kerrigan told them he put his hands around his father's neck and his father fell to the floor after the two argued at their Stoneham home.

Family members had initially said Daniel Kerrigan had a heart attack and his death was unrelated to the argument.

"As a result of these conclusions of the medical examiner, the investigation into Daniel Kerrigan's death, and whether any charges in connection with his death are appropriate, remains ongoing," Leone said in a statement.

The findings imply a strangulation-type injury in a man already vulnerable to heart problems, said an expert not connected with the autopsy, Dr. Ian Paul, associate medical examiner for the state of New Mexico.

"The assault itself would have caused significant physiological stress," Paul said. "It would have put direct stress to the heart itself because the heart is working faster, and in somebody with underlying heart disease, they would be at a much greater risk of experiencing sudden cardiac death."

Cardiac dysrhythmia is loss or interruption of a normal heartbeat, which can lead to cardiac arrest and death.

Denise Moore, an attorney who represented Mark Kerrigan at his arraignment, declined to comment on the autopsy report. Moore said previously that Kerrigan, an Army veteran who had served overseas, was on medication for post-traumatic stress syndrome and was seeing a psychiatrist.

Janice Bassil, Kerrigan's new attorney, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Daniel Kerrigan was found unconscious on the floor of his home by police responding to an emergency call at 1:30 a.m. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.

Police said Mark Kerrigan appeared intoxicated when he was found on a couch in the basement of the home. He was "belligerent and combative" but coherent when questioned, police said.

"He stated that he wanted to use the phone and his father would not let him," the arresting officer wrote in a report. "He said he struggled with his father and put his hands around his father's neck and his father fell to the floor."

The officers said they saw blood near where Daniel Kerrigan had been treated by emergency workers and signs of a struggle, including three pictures that had apparently been knocked off a wall and a broken piece of the telephone.

Mark Kerrigan has a lengthy criminal record, with convictions dating to 1991, including drunken driving, assault and battery, domestic assaults, resisting arrest and violation of a restraining order.

In 2008, Kerrigan's parents sued him to recover $105,000 they had spent paying his mortgage at his Wilmington home, taking care of his dogs while he was in jail and paying for a lawyer who represented him on a 2006 assault conviction. A judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying there was no documentation of such an agreement.

He was released from county jail in November after serving time on an assault conviction.

___

AP Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

Dr Conrad Murray

2010-02-10T12:04:00.001+06:00

Dr. Conrad Murray is the man the Los Angeles Police Department homicide team investigating the death of 80s pop icon Michael Jackson want to talk to about the time leading up to the dead stars cardiac arrest.

Dr. Murray, is a cardiologist licensed to practice medicine in Texas and was living with Jackson at his rented Beverly Hills mansion as his personal physician.

Police sources are reported to have said the doctor gave Jackson an injection before he died.

Jackson family members have said the dead entertainer received a daily injection of a synthetic narcotic similar to morphine – Demerol –and yesterday he received a shot at 11:30am from Dr. Murray.

The Houston cardiologist is reported to have performed CPR until paramedics arrived, and continued doing so at UCLA Medical Centre.

According to the vitals.com website, which allows patients to grade doctors, Dr. Murray completed medical school in 1989 at Meharry Medical College School Of Medicine in Nashville, Tn., and then an Internal Medicine residency at the same school in 1992.

He completed a Fellowship in cardiology in 1995 at the same school, as well as another a year later in Interventional Cardiology.

Dr Murray is affiliated with Doctors Hospital Tidwell in Houston, TX, Saint Rose Dominican Hospital in Henderson, NV, and St.Rose - Rose de Lima & Siena Campus.

His profile on the site lists him as an internal medicine specialist, specializing in Cardiology, and Cardiovascular Disease, while another site he is listed as working for Global Cardiovascular Associates in Las Vegas, NV.

Prior to his name being linked to the death of Jackson, Dr. Murray was described by patients on the vitals.com website as the “best cardiologist” and “one of the most caring doctors I have ever met”.

However, since his name has become public, the comment section has been flooded with messages of abuse from Jackson fans labeling the doctor a murder and questioning why has not talked to police yet.

Jackson family members are claiming the dosage the King of Pop received from Dr. Murray yesterday was “too much” and it’s what caused the entertainers death.

LAPD has confirmed the BMW with Texas license plates that was towed from Jackson’s rented mansion by police investigators is registered to Murray’s sister, and said to contain “medications pertinent to the investigation.”

Murray’s account of what happened could be critical in establishing what happened to Jackson, who is rumored to have suffered a Demerol overdose.

An autopsy has been performed on the dead entertainer, but the results of toxicology tests will not be known for several weeks.

Dr. Conrad Murray is reported to be preparing to meet with investigators today.