An army of termites munched through 10 million rupees (£137,000) in currency notes stored in a steel chest at a bank, police in northern India said yesterday.
The bank manager discovered the damage when he opened the reinforced room in an old bank building on Wednesday.
"It's a matter of investigation how termites attacked bundles of currency notes stacked in a steel chest," said Navneet Rana, a police officer.
The money was put in the chest in January. Termites had damaged bank furniture and documents in the past.
The police have registered a case of negligence against bank officials in Barabanki, a town 20 miles southwest of Lucknow, the Uttar Pradesh state capital.
In India, police register a case before opening an investigation.
Kelly McGillis shot to fame in 1980s blockbusters like Witness, Top Gun, and The Accused, serving fierce hair and the requisite attitude.
After a 10-year hiatus, she's back in Stake Land, a spare and arty horror flick with minimal dialogue ("Stake the bitch!") and Kelly cutting an imposing figure as a nun running from both vampires and a Bible-thumper out to jumpstart a gang-rape.
Meanwhile, her off-screen life has been anything but spare and minimal. Twice married to men, Kelly came out as a lesbian in '09, and last year she had a civil union ceremony in New Jersey with girlfriend Melanie Leis. Intrigued, I rang Kelly to talk sexuality, religion, and, of course, vampires.
Chris Gayle struck a brutal unbeaten 102 to power Royal Challengers Bangalore to a crushing nine-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Eden Gardens here today.
Galye's knock came off just 55 balls.
Chasing a challenging target of 172, Gayle took the likes of L Balaji and Shakib-al-Hasan to the cleaners, hitting seven sixes and 10 boundaries, as the former Knight Rider player, playing in his first match of the tournament, won the match single-handedly with 11 balls to spare.
IP Kolkata innings
Runs Balls Fours Sixes SR Fow
Jacques Kallis c C Gayle b Vettori 40 42 4 0 95.24 2-102 ( 13.2 ov. )
Brad Haddin (wk) c V Kohli b Mohammad 18 11 2 1 163.64 1-44 ( 4.5 ov. )
Gautam Gambhir (c) c T Dilshan b Aravind 48 38 6 0 126.32 3-139 ( 17.2 ov. )
Yusuf Pathan c V Kohli b Aravind 46 24 3 3 191.67 4-169 ( 19.4 ov. )
Eoin Morgan run out (A d Villiers/ S Aravind) 6 6 0 0 100.00 5-171 ( 19.6 ov. )
Manoj Tiwary not out 0 0 0 0 0.00
Saqibul Hasan
Iqbal Abdulla
Rajat Bhatia
Jaidev Unadkat
Lakshmipathy Balaji
Extras: ( 12 wd, 0 lb, 0 b, 1 nb, 0 p) Total: 171 / 5 in 20.0 overs (Run Rate: 8.55)
Bowler Overs Maidens Runs Wickets NoBall wide Eco
Zaheer Khan 4.0 0 53 0 0 9 13.25
Sreenath Aravind 3.0 0 37 2 0 1 12.33
Syed Mohammad 4.0 0 20 1 0 0 5.00
Tillakaratne Dilshan 2.0 0 15 0 0 1 7.50
Virat Kohli 1.0 0 9 0 0 0 9.00
Daniel Vettori (c) 4.0 0 28 1 0 1 7.00
Chris Gayle 2.0 0 9 0 1 0 4.50
Go to Top
IP Bangalore innings
Runs Balls Fours Sixes SR Fow
Tillakaratne Dilshan 38 31 6 0 122.58 1-123 ( 12.1 ov. )
Chris Gayle not out 102 55 10 7 185.45
Virat Kohli not out 30 23 3 1 130.43
AB de Villiers (wk)
Saurabh Tiwary
Cheteshwar Pujara
Asad Pathan
Daniel Vettori (c)
Sreenath Aravind
Zaheer Khan
Syed Mohammad
Extras: ( 5 wd, 0 lb, 0 b, 0 nb, 0 p) Total: 175 / 1 in 18.1 overs (Run Rate: 9.63)
Bowler Overs Maidens Runs Wickets NoBall Wide Eco
Yusuf Pathan 3.0 0 25 0 0 0 8.33
Balaji 4.o 0 43 1 0 4 10.75
The Oscar-winning actress and real-life newlywed is back on the big screen in "Water for Elephants." Witherspoon stars as a beautiful star of a 1930s circus. Costars include "Twilight"'s Robert Pattinson and Christoph Waltz of "Inglourious Basterds."
she says
“But the performances with the elephant were really magical for me,” she also says.
“Against my better instincts I decided to ride the elephant with no harness, with no safety equipment. It was pretty great.”
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976), better known as Reese Witherspoon, is an American actress and film producer. In 1998 she appeared in three major movies: Overnight Delivery, Pleasantville, and Twilight. The following year, Witherspoon appeared in the critically acclaimed Election, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination. 2001 marked her career's turning point with the breakout role as "Elle Woods" in the box office hit Legally Blonde, and in 2002 she starred in Sweet Home Alabama, which became her biggest commercial film success to date. 2003 saw her return as lead actress and executive producer of Legally Blonde 2. In 2005, Witherspoon received worldwide attention and praise for her portrayal of June Carter Cash in Walk the Line, which earned her an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
Witherspoon married actor and Cruel Intentions co-star Ryan Phillippe in 1999; they have two children, Ava and Deacon. The couple separated at the end of 2006 and divorced in October 2007. Witherspoon owns a production company, Type A Films, and she is actively involved in children's and women's advocacy organizations. She serves on the board of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), and was named Global Ambassador of Avon Products in 2007, serving as honorary chair of the charitable Avon Foundation.
The first season of the show aired in Priestley's native Canada in 2010. The character appears to be the opposite of the role Priestly played on "Beverly Hills, 90210," who was typically the voice of reason and morality among his friends.
Priestley has appeared on television since the show ended in 2000. He played a villain in the short-lived drama series "Tru Calling," which starred Eliza Dushku and "The Hangover" star Zach Galifianakis and ran between 2004 and 2005.
Priestley also starred in short-lived television shows "Live Monkey" in 2006 and "Side Order of Life" in 2007 and had guest spots on programs such as "Medium," "My Name is Earl" and "What I Like About You," which starred his "Beverly Hills, 90210" on-screen love interest Jennie Garth.
"Call Me Fitz" premieres on the 101 Network on DirecTV on Thursday, April 21 at 9 p.m. ET. Check out his video interview with the Associated Press below.
Kirstie Alley is more than just an actress-turned-contestant on "Dancing with the ... In addition to being one of the most-talented dancers this season.
The "Dancing With The Stars" dance floor isn't the only one Kirstie Alley is trying to heat up.
On Monday, "Dancing With The Stars" contestants danced to patriotic-themed songs. That night, Alley spun tunes at the Colony during its hip hop music-themed night. Her gig drew out fellow "Dancing With The Stars" contestants Cheryl Burke, Romeo and Kendra Wilkinson and her husband Hank Baskett, People magazine reported.
I love Kirstie Alley for her awesome attitude, spunk, and resilience. ... controversy by making this cast one of the most likable and equally talented.
LONDON – Prince Charles has entered the record books for spending the longest time as heir apparent to the British throne.
The 62-year-old prince achieved the milestone on Wednesday, by which time he had been next in line 59 years, two months and 14 days.
His mother, Queen Elizabeth, is still in good health as she celebrates her 85th birthday on Thursday, so Charles seems a good bet to extend his record significantly.
Charles overtook King Edward VII for the longest wait. Edward had waited 59 years, two months and 13 days to succeed his mother, Queen Victoria.
Rebecca Black, the teenage YouTube star who was dubbed the "worst singer in the world", has been placed under police protection after receiving two death threats. Rebecca Black's internet hit 'Friday' has been viewed over 110 million times online, attracting mainly criticism, reports the UK's Daily Mail. He adds: “The threats were related to getting the music off the Internet or they would kill her. We are taking the threats very seriously. Officers are keeping a watchful eye on her during this on-going investigation.”
Threatening a 13-year-old over a song? Really? Get a life!
Oh, and FYI, her video has just surpassed 110 million views on YouTube.
MARION Cotillard has revealed how she prepares herself for movie roles.
The Oscar-winning actress says she “drowns herself in emotions” to get into character.
“That’s what I try to do. To be 100% this person. Someone who suffers will have very strong emotions. And when you’re one person with the character, you will get these emotions, because you drown yourself in these emotions,” she told Total Film.
Marion — who is currently expecting her first child with partner Guillaume Canet — recently claimed her profession allows her to study people closely, which she feels is important as she has always questioned the purpose of her life.
“I think being an actor is kind of an anthropologist. Actors study human soul, human heart, human behaviors. We try to understand this in order to be able to be true to life,” Marion said.
Petra Nemcova and professional partner Dmitry Chaplin were eliminated only a few weeks into Dancing with the Stars' twelfth season, however Nemcova feels she still fulfilled her purpose for competing on the show.
"It started with [the recent tsunami in] Japan for me and that was really my place to rebuild schools, and that's why I was on Dancing with the Stars -- to dance to raise awareness about children who are forgotten after natural disasters. So, now, the next chapter for me [is] rebuilding schools. That's what I am going to do," Nemcova said during a Wednesday morning appearance on Good Morning America.
While the supermodel and former A Model Life star's participation on the show was a successful means of achieving her desire to help her Happy Hearts Fund charity, Nemcova admitted she also accomplished a personal goal -- learning how to dance.
"Before starting the show, I couldn't even walk. My sister was laughing at me dancing and now, hopefully she's a little bit more proud for me being able to take a few steps... I dance[d] like [an] elephant. Now I dance like a butterfly," Nemcova joked.
Nemcova also explained that while the leaderboard-topping waltz she and Chaplin danced on Dancing with the Stars' April 4 performance show was her best performance of the season, it was also the toughest dance for her emotionally.
"Yes. It has been very, very hard, but I tried to bring as much [positivity] and as much possible change... Dmitry helped me through all of it," the supermodel said.
OTHER RECENT ENTERTAINMENT NEWS HEADLINES
• 'Dancing with the Stars' eliminates Petra Nemcova and Dmitry Chaplin
• 'American Idol' to consider changing voting rules for next season
• Petra Nemcova fulfilled her purpose on 'Dancing with the Stars'
• Pia Toscano to perform on 'Dancing with the Stars' results show
• 'The Biggest Loser: Couples' votes off contestant Ken Andrews
• 'The Bachelor' bachelorette Shayne Lamas pregnant with first child
• Gary Busey's infant hospitalized for treatment of undisclosed illness
• Brad Womack and Emily Maynard's relationship reportedly over
• 'Dancing with the Stars' board topped by Hines Ward, Kym Johnson
• Kara DioGuardi reveals past molestation and date rape in memoir
• Former 'The Bachelor' star Andrew Firestone and wife have baby girl
• Jill Zarin says "liquid facelift" responsible for her surprising new look
• NBC to premiere new 'Love in the Wild' reality dating show on June 1
Jimmie Johnson has won the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway, dipping to the inside and beating Clint Bowyer by 0.002 seconds — matching the closest finish in Sprint Cup history.
The five-time reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion wins the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway by 0.002 of a second in Alabama. The five-time reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion wins the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway by 0.002 of a second in Alabama.
Maybe they should go in the NASCAR record books as co-winners.
In a finish that matched the closest in Sprint Cup history, Johnson edged Clint Bowyer by about a foot to win a Talladega two-step Sunday — a victory that wouldn't have been possible without a big push from Earnhardt.
Junior gave up a chance to end a 101-race winless streak, selflessly agreeing to shove the No. 48 car of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate instead of vice versa in what was essentially a tag-team event.
"I can't thank Junior enough," Johnson said. "He made the decision that my car was faster leading. And the way these things are finishing up, the lead car's going to get the win. ... He was more worried about the team having a good performance than anything."
The official margin was two-thousandths of a second, tied with Ricky Craven's win at Darlington in 2003 for the closest since NASCAR went to electronic timing.
It came down to an eight-car sprint. Well, actually, four pairs of cars, with only the guys at the front of the duos having a chance to win the Aaron's 499.
After laying back most of the day, the five-time series champion hugged the yellow line at the bottom of the track — flirting with a penalty — and pulled out his 54th career victory and first of the season.
"We were just the lucky guy at the end with a good run," Johnson said. "We had some big mo on our side, and off we went."
He couldn't have done it without Earnhardt, who was given the checkered flag by the winner.
"That just came to my mind," Johnson said. "He was like, 'Man, I don't want that.' But I told him, 'I have to give you something for the push and working with me.' He just said, 'That's what teammates do.'"
Even though Earnhardt hasn't won since 2008, he thought it was a no-brainer to get behind Johnson.
"If I couldn't win the race," Junior said, "I wanted Jimmie to win the race, because I had worked with him all day and he is my teammate."
There was a bit of dispute over Johnson's winning move. He clearly touched the yellow line with his left tires, but appeared to be forced low by an attempted block from his other two Hendrick teammates, Jeff Gordon and pusher Mark Martin. NASCAR officials ruled it was a legal pass.
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110417/SPORTS03/104170329/Jimmie-Johnson-edges-Clint-Bowyer-at-Talladega#ixzz1K9bLlTyJ
The 20-year-old Bayne had another disappointing finish since that improbable Daytona win in just his second Cup start. The youngster hasn't finished higher than 17th since then, dropping all the way to 40th at Talladega.
"So much is out of your hands here," said Matt Kenseth, who was taken out in the other big crash of the day. "It's a frustrating type of racing, to say the least. It would be nice to be able to see and control your own destiny a little more."
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110417/SPORTS03/104170329/Jimmie-Johnson-edges-Clint-Bowyer-at-Talladega#ixzz1K9bXJz2u
Elisabeth Sladen, a star sidekick of the Doctor Who series and a popular children's show actress, has died of cancer, the BBC said on Tuesday. She was 63.
Sladen joined the broadcaster in 1973 as Doctor Who's assistant Sarah Jane Smith, an investigative journalist-turned-intrepid time traveler whose on-screen energy and tongue-in-cheek delivery eventually gave her career an unlikely second act in her own spin-off series, The Sarah Jane Adventures.
"Sarah Jane Smith was everybody's hero when I was younger, and as brave and funny and brilliant as people only ever are in stories," Steven Moffat, the series's lead writer, said in a statement. "Many years later, when I met the real Sarah-Jane — Lis Sladen herself — she was exactly as any child ever have wanted her to be."
Doctor Who centers on a time-hopping alien known only as The Doctor, but Sladen turned his sidekick into a star, playing opposite Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker for three-and-a-half seasons.
She would return to the role numerous times over the years, and when the series was resurrected in 2005, she was brought back as well as the star of her own alien-busting television show.
"I left Sarah Jane a great many years ago, but she never left me," Sladen said in an interview when the series was launched.
Sladen was praised for playing the role with humor and warmth, but she never warmed to science fiction, telling a television audience a couple of years ago that she found the genre was too complex. In an admission sure to shock Doctor Who's die-hard fans, she said she never even bothered to learn the meaning of the TARDIS, The Doctor's iconic telephone box-shaped time machine (it stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space.)
"I only learned that after I left," she said, explaining that the drama in science fiction didn't come from the aliens or the gadgets. "It's about relationships," she said. "It's about a body of people banding together to overcome adversity."
The BBC said that Sladen was survived by her husband, actor Brian Miller, and a daughter, Sadie.
ACTRESS Elizabeth Banks is reportedly in talks to join the cast of The Hunger Games.
In the flick — an adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ popular sci-fi book series — Banks would play Effie Trinket, a pink-haired showbiz type who becomes the handler of Katniss, the heroine played by Jennifer Lawrence.
The book’s title comes from an annual event where boys and girls are chosen to fight each other to the death in a post-apocalyptic world.
Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth are already cast as love interests, while relative newcomers Amandla Stenberg and Dayo Okeniyi were cast earlier Monday as Rue and Thresh, respectively. Gary Ross is directing the Lionsgate movie.
Zsa Zsa Gabor, a 94-year-old actress who has been in and out of hospital in recent months, may have another child, her husband says.
Frederic Prinz von Anhalt told the Agence France-Press news wire that he wants his wife to become a mother again using a surrogate mother, his sperm and an egg donor and added that he recently gave fluid samples to a Beverly Hills clinic.
"I don't know how long she's going to be with me," he said. "I would like her to see the baby, I would like her to hear the baby screaming, to touch the baby's hair. If she dies before me, then I've nothing to live for."
he has been in and out of the hospital since she broke her hip on July 17 after she fell out of her bed while reaching to answer her telephone as she was watching "Jeopardy!."
She underwent a hip operation but has suffered several complications. During one of her hospital stays in August, she had a priest read her last rites. Gabor is partially paralyzed from a 2002 car accident and uses a wheelchair. She also reportedly had a stroke in 2005.
Francesca Hilton, a comedienne who has often voiced her disapproval of her mother's marriage to 67-year-old von Anhalt, said in a statement that she is "shocked but not surprised" that her stepfather "continually creates publicity for himself at the expense of the legacy of her mother," according to AFP.
Gabor was most recently hospitalized in March, after the death of her friend, actress Elizabeth Taylor. Von Anhalt said his wife was "inconsolable."
Gabor had one of her legs amputated in January after doctors found an infection and antibiotics failed to heal it.
Gabor is reported to have been born in Budapest on Feb. 6, 1917 as Sari Gabor. She married von Anhalt in 1986. Gabor was married to Hilton, the great-grandfather of socialite Paris Hilton, from 1942 to 1947.
Gabor followed her actress sister Eva to Hollywood, where she later starred in movies herself, starting in 1952 with the films "Lovely to Look At," "We're Not Married!" and "Moulin Rouge." She also played herself in a brief scene in the 1991 Leslie Nielsen cop movie "The Naked Gun 2-1/2: The Smell of Fear," in which she parodied an incident from about a year earlier in which she was convicted of slapping a police officer during a traffic dispute. She also had a cameo in the film "A Very Brady Sequel" in 1996.
Miranda Kerr, the 27-year-old Australian model, posed for a photo shoot in Los Angeles on Sunday (17th April 2011), just three months after giving birth to her son Flynn. Miranda Kerr showed off her trim figure and flawless complexion in the bikini shoot for Victoria's Secret.
The Australian model posed in the luxury swimwear in Malibu, California, despite giving birth on 6th January 2011. The model married her husband Orlando Bloom last July and the couple have been keeping fans up-to-date with the excitement of parenthood via their Twitter pages. Kerr hit the headlines a few weeks ago when she first revealed her post-baby body while attending an event in Los Angeles. The 27-year-old donned a figure hugging Herve Leger by Max Azria zip front dress. After giving birth to her baby-son, Kerr told People Magazine, "I gave birth to him naturally; without any pain medication and it was a long, arduous and difficult labour, but Orlando was with me the whole time supporting and guiding me through it. I could not have done it without him".
Miranda Kerr's husband reportedly celebrated the birth of Flynn by visiting a local bar in Agoura Hills. The actor was photographed at 'Pikey's Bar' where he allegedly partied with friends until the early hours.
Gold prices topped a record $1,500 for the first time ever on Tuesday, shattering an important psychological barrier.http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2665250906542446164
Gold futures for June delivery hit an intraday record of $1,500.50 an ounce near midday, before retreating to settle at $1,495.10 an ounce -- also a new record.
The price spike comes amid a wave of market uncertainty that has sent investors looking for an alternative to the weak U.S. dollar. And gold has been the marquee beneficiary.
On Monday, it was a dour outlook on U.S. debt that sent gold prices higher.
Standard & Poor's lowered its outlook for America's long-term debt to "negative" from "stable," based on uncertainty surrounding the nation's fiscal problems.
That's exactly the type of news that creates a flight to safe haven assets like gold.
The price of gold has tracked steadily higher in recent months, as a cavalcade of unsettling world events created uncertainty in global markets.
Since the start of the year, investors have been forced to consider the implications of a Japanese tsunami, earthquake and nuclear disaster. That's in addition to a spike in crude prices and a slew of revolts in the Middle East and North Africa.
Inflation -- which gold is often used to hedge against -- has been rising sharply in emerging economies and is becoming more of an issue in Europe.
Jennifer Egan's inventive novel about the passage of time, "A Visit from the Goon Squad," won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction Monday, honored for its "big-hearted curiosity about cultural change at warp speed."
Egan, 48, has been highly praised for her searching and unconventional narratives about modern angst and identity. Her other novels include "The Invisible Circus," "Look at Me" and "The Keep."
Critics were especially taken with "A Visit From the Goon Squad," set in the digital upending of the music industry. Earlier this year, she won the National Book Critics Circle prize for the book, which experiments with format, notably a long section structured like a PowerPoint presentation.
"The book is so much about how change is unexpected and always kind of shocking," she said by phone. Egan said she was inspired by Marcel Proust's sprawling novel "Remembrance of Things Past," which explored the passage of time.
"His book of time is all about how the work of time is unpredictable and in some sense unfathomable," she said. "So there's no question that winning a prize like this feel unpredictable and unfathomable."
The play "Clybourne Park" by Bruce Norris, which examines race relations and the effects of modern gentrification, won the drama prize. The work imagines what might have happened to the family that moved out of the house in the fictitious Chicago neighborhood of Clybourne Park, which is where Lorraine Hansberry's Younger clan is headed by the end of her 1959 play "A Raisin in the Sun."
"I'm deeply honored and totally flabbergasted to receive this recognition," said Norris, who was staying on an island off the coast of Maine when he learned of the win. He thanked the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago for 10 years of support.
The Pulitzer for history was awarded to "The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery" by Eric Foner, a Columbia University professor who has won multiple honors for a career focused on the Lincoln era and Reconstruction. Foner, 68, called the latest prize a capstone for his career.
"The Pulitzer has a kind of broader importance and stature suggesting that your book is appreciated by a wider audience, a non-scholarly audience," Foner said in a telephone interview from London, where he is teaching this semester.
He said it can be intimidating approaching a book on Lincoln, who has been written about so much before. But he said many Lincoln books either try to put the Civil War president on a pedestal or tear him down, and he was trying to get a balanced view on a specific topic seen through the lens of that period in history.
Ron Chernow, a New York-based historian who has written about Alexander Hamilton and John D. Rockefeller in the past, won the Pulitzer for biography for "Washington: A Life," about the nation's first president. It's his first Pulitzer Prize.
"I am really quite flabbergasted and quite thrilled," Chernow said. The historian worked for six years on the project, reading some 35,000 to 40,000 pages of material on Washington and 125 books about people and events from Washington's time. Contest judges called it "a sweeping, authoritative portrait of an iconic leader."
Kay Ryan's "The Best of It: New and Selected Poems" won the poetry prize, a book called by the Pulitzer board "a treasure trove of an iconoclastic and joyful mind." Ryan was U.S. Poet Laureate from 2008-2010.
"It comes with a really big car, doesn't it? Don't you get a Humvee? The poet's car," she joked by phone while pacing in her kitchen in San Francisco. The book spans 45 years of her compressed, witty, often humorous poetry.
"Since my nature was not very compatible with the tastes of my time, I had to find ways to express what must be expressed in poetry, which is the activity of the mind and the heart," she said. "I suppose it sounds like a cliche, but poetry came and got me. I came to it very reluctantly, but it insisted."
The general nonfiction prize was given to "The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer" by Siddhartha Mukherjee, an oncologist and assistant professor of medicine at Columbia. It is his first book and he found out he'd won the Pulitzer while sitting alone in a bookstore in New York.
"It's the most incredible experience of my lifetime," he said. "One of the reasons I wrote the book was to demystify cancer. One of the things that patients often feel is that the mystery itself becomes a kind of stigma. And I tried to get away from that without simplifying it."
The music prize went to Zhou Long for "Madame White Snake," which was hailed as "a deeply expressive opera that draws on a Chinese folk tale to blend the musical traditions of the East and the West." It made its debut in February 2010 in a performance by the Boston Opera. Zhou was chosen to write the music by Cerise Lim Jacobs, who wrote the opera's libretto.
The Pulitzers in journalism, letters, drama and music are given out annually by Columbia University on the recommendation of a 19-person board and each award carries a $10,000 prize.
Finalists in the fiction category included The Privileges" by Jonathan Dee and "The Surrendered" by Chang-Rae Lee. Jonathan Franzen, whose novel "Freedom" was the most talked about literary novel of 2010, did not make the list.
Finalists for the drama prize included the Broadway-bound play "Detroit" by Lisa D'Amour and the sprawling A Free Man of Color" by John Guare, which was produced at Lincoln Center.
Bail bondsman Duane Chapman, known as "Dog the Bounty Hunter" to reality TV fans, says he put up the $11,000 bond that got actor Nicolas Cage out of jail Saturday after his arrest in the French Quarter.
Spokeswoman Heather Detert released a statement Tuesday in which Chapman describes himself as a Cage fan but says he was acting on behalf of Cage solely as a client and not for publicity for his cable TV show.
The statement said Chapman won't grant interviews.
New Orleans police said Cage was arrested after he grabbed his wife's arm and pounded on cars in a drunken argument about whether a nearby house was the one they were renting. He was booked on charges of domestic abuse, disturbing the peace and public drunkenness.
Though there might not be much that can take the sting out of losing the Super Bowl to the Green Bay Packers, Steelers greatTroy Polamalu can take satisfaction in knowing that the rest of the country loves him.
Still there are some that question if Polamalu is worthy of having the top jersey in the game.
For those that question have never watched him play.
We often get obsessed with quarterbacks and running backs. We love the skill position and guys who put points on the board as their primary job, but there is something to be said for a safety that plays the position at as high a level as anyone.
Polamalu is a gamer in every sense of the word and watching him play is truly a treat. So don’t think for a second that he isn’t deserving of such an honor. While I believe that this is the last year that he will get the honor, it’s one that he is more than entitled to.
Or at least obsessed Steelers fans do.
It was reported that last year Polamalu’s No. 43 jersey was the number one selling jersey in the country. It’s not surprising considering his jersey was in the top ten three of the last four years and he’s a member of a team that has one of the biggest, and most loyal fan bases in all of the NFL.
Galia Slayen, who brought her creation to the "Today" studio in New York Monday, said she first created the giant Barbie-like figure -- with a 39-inch bust, 18-inch waist and 33-inch hips -- from wood, chicken wire and papier-mache for the first National Eating Disorders Awareness week in 2007 while she was a high school student in Portland.
A life size Barbie doll is being used to help build awareness to anorexia and other eating disorders. An Oregon woman told NBC's "Today" show the 6-foot-tall model she created of a Barbie doll was designed to raise awareness of eating disorders when she was in high school.
"I was at a friend's house and her mom's an artist so there were all these art supplies around," Slayen said. "She helped with the actual proportions."
She said she suffered from anorexia when she was a cheerleader in high school.
"I'm not blaming Barbie [for my illness] -- she's one small factor, an environmental factor," Slayen said. "I'm blond and blue-eyed and I figured that was what I was supposed to look like. She was my idol. It impacted the way I looked at myself."
A representative for Mattel said in an e-mail the doll "was never modeled on the proportions of a real person."
"As a pop-cultural icon, Barbie is often used as art to express one's own personal opinions and views," the toy company representative wrote. "Girls see female body images everywhere today and it's critical that parents and caregivers provide perspective on what they are seeing."
the outgoing Fox News personality who was bothered with a blade of wheat grass recently in an attempt to maintain a vegan diet, is being accused by conservative bloggers of a long-running practice of taking some of their material and using it without crediting them.
"This is the most ridiculous charge I've ever heard," Beck said Monday, quickly adding that if he has inadvertently taken something without credit that he is sorry. "If I have not attributed someone, I apologize for that. I can't imagine how it has happened other than thousands of hours of broadcast," Beck said, and then went back to joking about how he "stole" from his best friend when he paid him for a catchphrase.
Douglas Stewart, of Yahoo's Associated Content, sent some insights to Beck surmising how the State Department probably knew about the Egyptian uprising before it went down, he told TheDC. Beck read the information on air but never credited Stewart or Associated Content, Steward said. In fact Stewart later found some of the content as part of a "study guide" about Egypt on GlennBeck.com.
The Beck camp apparently finds all of this amusing. A blog post on GlennBeck.com has a headline that reads "Glenn Beck is a thief! Or something…" along with a video (seen below) from Monday's radio show where Beck and his sidekick laugh at the claims.
Happy 35th birthday to the onetime 'Teenage Witch.' The actress is currently starring in "Melissa & Joey," a sitcom airing on ABC Family. The network recently picked up ten more episodes of the show, which costars Joey Lawrence.
who was just 14 when "Clarissa Explains It All" premiered in 1991, turns 35 today (April 18). Yes, Clarissa Darling first stared straight into the camera to talk about boys and pimples over twenty years ago. Are you feeling old right now? We're feeling old right now.
It's hard to believe that the girl with the kooky dream sequences and valley-girl slang that shaped our childhoods is now old enough to have been married for nearly 8 years and to be the mother of two boys, Mason and Brady, but she is. The woman kept a potty-training diary as part of a Pull-Ups diaper promotion. Time flies when you're watching reruns, huh?
We figured we'd celebrate being ancient by taking a little walk down memory lane with Melissa Joan. In this first clip, 14-year-old Clarissa makes her scrunchie work hard as she describes her family and her burr-on-the-butt dorkpie brother, Ferguson.
With about six weeks to go until the summer driving season begins, the price of a gallon of gasoline is just 18 cents away from the record price of $4.11, which was set in the summer of 2008.
The prices at the pump hit a national average of $3.83 a gallon on Monday, according to AAA. That’s close to the point where consumers say they will have to start cut back to pay their fuel expenses. This could adversely affect restaurants, malls, and entertainment venues that count on people driving to get there. Some analysts say it’s one reason the stock market has been struggling recently, including on Monday, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 140.24 points to close at 12,201.59.
“I am sure the rising cost of energy is bothering the market,” says Fred Dickson, chief investment strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co. in Lake Oswego, Ore. “I do think the uptick in gasoline prices will have an impact on consumer spending in the next few quarters.”
Perhaps, because gas prices have been rising for months, most Americans are not surprised. In a survey last month, the Gallup Organization found the average American expected the price of gasoline to peak this summer at $4.36 a gallon. Some 20 percent of respondents thought the price could go as high as $5 a gallon.
Nearly every spring, the price starts to climb as refiners shift over to their summer blends, which are more expensive to produce. On top of that, this spring has seen disruptions in the oil market because of the turmoil in Libya.
Nicolas Cage made a big scene in the Big Easy when he was arrested Saturday morning.
"He was running around and screaming in the street," a bartender at Harry's Corner in New Orleans, tells PEOPLE.
The Academy Award-winning actor, 47, who is filming a movie in the area, was charged with domestic abuse and disturbing the peace after arguing with his wife, Alice Kim, according to the New Orleans Police Department.
The couple were fighting over which house they were renting in the French Quarter, and Peter Bennett, a local street performer who lives near the property, tells PEOPLE he came home to two cop cars on each end of his block.
Cage is actually renting a house three doors down, according to Bennett. When cops arrived, the bartender says the actor started to get into the back passenger-side door of the police car.
"But the cop got out, walked around, and Cage ran a block south toward the river, where he tried to get into a cab," he says. "There was a woman outside with a baby in her arms shouting, 'Please don't hurt us.' "
"Apparently he had mistaken the house of my neighbors for the other house up the block that he is actually renting," he says. "His wife was trying to persuade him from disturbing the elderly couple who do in fact live in that house."
Cage, who was arrested after a police officer ordered him out of the cab, seemed to be intoxicated, according to an inmate, who says he was in the holding area of the jail with the actor.
"He was drunk," the inmate tells PEOPLE, adding that Cage spent the evening chatting with sheriff's deputies. "He wasn't in a cell. He was behind the counter with all the other officers."
No one answered the door of the Cage property on Saturday evening, and a rep for the actor had no comment.
The actor was eventually bailed out of jail by Dog the Bounty Hunter, and Cage is due in court on May 31
Sources say the busty blonde — who’s married to Vice President Joe Biden, and is the Second Lady of the United States — thinks the reality star is the epitome of what’s wrong with America.
“Jill HATES reality TV — especially Kim Kardashian,” a source said. “She thinks Kim and her family epitomizes everything that’s wrong with America.
“She’d take reality shows off the air if she could!”
Reports last year claimed Biden was at war with First Lady Michelle Obama.
“Michelle is furious at Jill for what she sees as her increasing behind-the-scenes lack of respect toward her,” an insider told American tabloid the National Enquirer.
“To Michelle, it’s insulting that Jill and Joe are always so casual around America’s first family.
“Michelle believes Jill doesn’t respect her. What’s got her seething is that Jill doesn’t seem to treat Michelle with the reverence the first lady expects.
Wendy Williams - Talk show host Wendy Williams recently admitted it was "easy" for her to juggle more than one man earlier in her life. Ahead of her new dating show, "Love Triangle" Wendy revealed her own "easy" triangle with two men who knew nothing of one another.
Wendy's new show "Love Triangle" will feature contestants who're dating two men at the same time and of course Wendy helps them make a decision.
Wendy says of the program, it's “an adult show” that will feature 35-year-old who’s been seeing two people, sleeping with both but neither one knows about each other” not an 18- or 21-year-old being in a love triangle.”
Wendy Williams was voted of the current season of "Dancing with the Stars" and has been married to her husband for 12 years with a 10-year old son. Does it make you wonder if Wendy's husband was one of her two lovers...?
State income tax returns must be received or postmarked by midnight Monday, April 18th. State revenue officials are encouraging people who have not yet filed to submit their tax return electronically before Monday’s deadline.
The Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR) offers free, secure electronic tax filing from its website at revenue.wi.gov. WI e -file is available 24/7 and the program offers Wisconsin fill-in tax forms that perform the math to help prevent errors when you prepare your tax return. You will get an acknowledgement that your tax return has been received, plus your refund can be deposited directly into a savings or checking account.
If you will not meet the April 18th tax filing deadline, you must request an extension from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by April 18th to avoid penalties. Once you file the extension request, you will have until October 15, 2011, to file your tax return and pay your taxes without penalty. However, 1% interest will accrue each month on the amount due until you file.
Taxpayers who filed an extension with the IRS automatically receive a state extension. When you file your state income tax return, attach a copy of the IRS extension to your Wisconsin tax return to show that you filed the extension request. Be sure to keep a copy of the IRS’ Federal Extension Form 4868 for your records.
DOR expects approximately 3 million tax returns this season and about 75% of them will be e-filed. Currently, the average refund is $677.
Check Your Refund
You can check the status of your state income tax refund online, whether you filed electronically or in paper form. We provide the same information online and by telephone that our customer service representatives use to check the status of your refund. Visit www.revenue.wi.gov and click on “Check Your Refund” or call toll-free 866-947-7363 (WIS-RFND).
Kolkata pacer L Balaji claimed three and then skipper Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwary put on an unbeaten 54 runs to help Kolkata beat Rajasthan by 8 wickets in their IPL match at the at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday. Score | Photos
On the second ball of the first over Shaun Tait got the man Rajasthan wanted. Kolkata opener Jacques Kallis wanted to pull Tait acros the boundary but a top edge off his bat took a long loop in the air and Ross Taylor pouched it on return. He fell for a nought and Kolkata lost him on 0/1.
Post that captain Gautam Gambhir and opener Manvinder Bisla batted at a steady pace and they didn't really need to hurry as the 82 runs target was well within reach. But on the last ball of the 7th over Bisla fell to opposition skipper Shane Warne's turn when batting on 9. Kolkata lost their second wicket on 31.
Finally, Kolkata captain Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwary got on with a partnership even as King Khan's team inched closer to a victory.
In the 14th over, Tiwary hit a massive six off Shaun Tait and the followed it up with two fours. Then a four by skipper Gambhir on the fifth ball of the over proved to be the victory boundary for the hosts.
Rajasthan innings
Kolkata paceman Lakshmipathy Balaji finished with impressive figures of 3-0-15-3 as Rajasthan were all out for 81.
Rajasthan would have liked Shane Watson to have carried on, but he fell on the fourth ball of the fourth over off Lakshmipathy Balaji. Balaji pitched the ball of the middle stump and it moved quickly to uproot his off stump. He fell 11 and Rajasthan lost their in-form opener on 24/1, after being put to bat by oppostion skipper Gautam Gambhir.
The visitors had to face another setback in the fifth over when left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla removed Amit Paunikar on 15 with keeper Manvinder Bisla performing the final honours by zipping off the bails on time. And Rajasthan were 28/2.
Then a couple of run outs (Faiz Fazal and Abhishek Raut) saw Rajasthan plummet to 43/4. And just when Ross Taylor and Ashok Menaria were looking to forge a stand, Yusuf Pathan struck in the11th over to remove Taylor on 7 with Bisla perfoming the stumping act with precision. And Rajasthan was down to 68/5.
Later, Balaji came around to clean bowled Ajinkya Rahane on the first ball of the 13th over and then completed the over with another wicket, this time it was Ashok Menaria, who was seen walking back when the Rajasthan score was 79/7.
In the next over Kolkata's left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan removed Amit Singh on a duck and then clean bowled Shaun Tait on the next ball. Shakib missed the hat-trick but his bowling pushed Rajasthan down to 80/9 in 15 overs.
And the last man Siddharth Trivedi was cleaned bowled by Lee on a duck and Rajasthan were all out for 81 on the second ball of the 16th over.
Teams:
Rajasthan Royals: Shane Watson, Amit Paunikar(w), Ajinkya Rahane, Ross Taylor, Ashok Menaria, Abhishek Raut, Shane Warne(c), Faiz Fazal, Shaun Tait, Siddharth Trivedi, Amit Singh
Kolkata Knight Riders: Jacques Kallis, Manvinder Bisla(w), Gautam Gambhir(c), Yusuf Pathan, Eoin Morgan, Manoj Tiwary, Rajat Bhatia, Shakib Al Hasan, Iqbal Abdulla, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Brett Lee
Audrina Patridge - Reality TV star and model Audrina Patridge and her new polo player boyfriend Nic Roldan are in the getting to know each other phase.
Roldan texted Radar Online stating,
“We are just talking at the moment. Been going on for a couple of weeks :) She is really great. (sic)”
“It’s blossoming. They’re getting to know each other and they’re having a lot of fun together,” a source said.
Meanwhile Audrina is gearing up for her new reality TV show "Audrina" she says,
“My family, there really aren’t any secrets. We’re pretty open about everything. It’s really what you see is what you get…it’s something where on camera they’re the same as they are off camera.”
Will Audrina Patridge sing that same tune after her scenes hit the editing table?
Sources say Aniston was furious when Cox enjoyed a beach holiday with her former fling Josh Hopkins — Courteney’s costar on the hit TV show Cougar Town.
“Jen honestly cannot figure out why Courteney would have set her up with Josh if there was even the slightest chance she was interested in him herself,” a source said.
“When the pictures came out, Jen was totally stunned. Courteney had told her nothing about the trip, so Jen felt personally betrayed. She also can’t understand why Courteney and Josh didn’t escape to a more out-of-the-way spot. Tons of stars go to St. Barts, which means tons of paparazzi go there, too.
“Everyone knows this, including Courteney.”
Aniston — who divorced Brad Pitt in 2005 — recently admitted she’s “not a big fan of dating” and insists she doesn’t need a man in her life.
“You also have to have your own personal love,” she said.
“What inspires you, what excites you when you wake up in the morning?
“Where would you be without friends?
“The people to pick you up when you need lifting? We come from homes far from perfect, so you end up almost parent and sibling to your friends — your own chosen family. There’s nothing like a really loyal, dependable, good friend. Nothing.”
The 2010 world record for the tallest Lego tower has officially been beaten by a Brazilian tower reaching 102 feet and 3 inches.
Last year's record-breaking tower was built in Chile, but only reached a little over 101 feet.
Approximately 6,000 children and adults built the tower--made up of 500,000 individual Lego pieces--in a Sao Paulo parking lot. With the help of a crane, the pieces are being supported by wire framing to prevent the tower from toppling over in the wind.
Roberio Esteves, director of Lego's Brazil branch, told Yahoo News: "This is a very interactive event where families take part, schools take part. We promote teamwork in order to reach our main objective, which is to establish Brazil as the country that holds the record of the Lego tower.
Previous Lego tower records have been set around the world, including in Toronto, Hong Kong, Moscow, South Korea and Chile.
