| ATLANTA (AP) — A lawyer for reality television star Porsha Williams says his client has filed a counterclaim for divorce against her former NFL player husband Kordell Stewart. Lawyer Randy Kessler said Friday that Williams responded with the counterclaim after former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kordell Stewart filed for divorce in Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta last week. Stewart's filing says his marriage to Williams is "irretrievably broken." The pair appears on Bravo's "The Real Housewives of Atlanta." Kessler said earlier this week that Williams learned of the divorce from the media. Stewart's filing says the two married on May 21, 2011, and have no children together. Stewart asks the court to find there are no marital assets to divide. He asks that neither side be ordered to pay alimony. |
Reality TV star files counterclaim for divorce
Son of pro wrestler Ric Flair found dead
| CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Authorities say the son of professional wrestler Ric Flair has been found dead in a North Carolina hotel room. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police says officers were called to a hotel on the city's south side around 10:30 a.m. Friday. When they arrived, they found the body of 25-year-old Reid Fliehr, who also was a wrestler. A statement from police says there are no signs of foul play, and that the cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner's office. Flair's agent released a statement Friday describing Reid as "an incredible son, brother, friend, and professional wrestler." Ric Flair's real name is Richard Morgan Fliehr. The peroxide-blond wrestled for some 40 years and also was known as The Nature Boy. The 64-year-old won many pro wrestling titles including in the WWE. |
Lawyers appeal against Pistorius bail restrictions
| PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Lawyers for Oscar Pistorius appealed against some of his bail restrictions Thursday, saying the Olympic athlete might eventually need to return to track competition to earn money. Pistorius' lawyers say the double-amputee runner, who is charged with murder in the shooting death of his girlfriend on Feb. 14, is being treated as a flight risk by his bail restrictions even though a magistrate ruled last month that he was not when he released Pistorius on 1 million rand ($108,000) bail. Lawyer Barry Roux said Pistorius' current bail restrictions amount to "house arrest." Prosecutors say they oppose any relaxing of Pistorius' bail restrictions. Roux said that Pistorius has no desire to return to track now, but "this might and this will change." He said Pistorius should be allowed to travel for international meets under "controlled" circumstances, where he would require advanced permission from police and would have to give details of his travel schedule before he left South Africa. Pistorius was not present in court Thursday. Roux said that Pistorius would not try and evade trial if he is allowed to travel internationally, and the multiple Paralympic champion would eventually need to run again "to earn an income." "He is not going to run away and hide. He is going nowhere," Roux told the judge in the brown-walled courtroom in the high court, where television cameras and photographers were allowed in to record the proceedings. Roux also argued against the ruling that Pistorius is not allowed to return to his home in a gated community in the eastern suburbs of Pretoria, where he shot Reeva Steenkamp dead in the early hours of Valentine's Day. The bail ruling prevented him from returning to his home or speaking to residents, but his lawyers say he must be allowed to consult with residents in order to prepare his defense against the murder charge against him. Pistorius says he killed Steenkamp accidentally when he fired shots through a door in his bathroom in the pre-dawn hours, fearing there was an intruder in his house. Prosecutors say he shot the model and reality TV star intentionally after they argued, and they have charged him with premeditated murder. Pistorius was not required to attend his appeal hearing and none of his family members was present at North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. The judge said he would rule on Pistorius' appeal later Thursday. Pistorius' defense team was also appealing against an alcohol ban. Pistorius' next court appearance is June 4, when the prosecution would aim to serve indictments, chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel told the court. Nel said there is a possibility that Pistorius' trial will begin by the end of the year. Pistorius' bail appeal was being heard by Judge Bert Bam at the high court a day after the athlete's older brother, Carl Pistorius, went on trial for culpable homicide for the death of a woman motorcyclist in a 2008 road accident. Carl Pistorius pleaded not guilty Wednesday to the main charge of culpable homicide and not guilty to two alternative charges relating to driving recklessly and inconsiderately. |
Johnny Depp to do live 'Lone Ranger' online Q&A
| Johnny Depp is coming to Las Vegas to talk to fans about "The Lone Ranger." Disney announced Thursday that Depp and co-star Armie Hammer will discuss the anticipated adventure film on April 17 after showing 20 minutes of exclusive footage to about 400 local fans at a neighborhood theater. Director Gore Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer will also participate in the question-and-answer session, which is set to stream live online on Yahoo! Movies and Livestream. Film fans outside of Las Vegas can submit questions for "The Lone Ranger" team through Twitter and watch the film's trailer online. The extended footage, though, is just for those in Las Vegas. The promotion coincides with the annual CinemaCon convention, where Disney is expected to offer a similar presentation for theater owners. "The Lone Ranger" releases July 3. |
Judge approves American-US Airways merger
| American Airlines won bankruptcy court approval Wednesday to combine with US Airways and form the world's biggest airline. "The merger is an excellent result. I don't think anybody disputes that," Judge Sean H. Lane said before issuing his decision. But the judge declined to sign off on a proposed $20 million severance package for Tom Horton, currently the CEO of American's parent AMR Corp. The approval is an important milestone for American, which filed for Chapter 11 in November 2011 after having long resisted using the bankruptcy process to cut labor and other costs. The merger still needs approval from Department of Justice antitrust regulators and US Airways shareholders. It is expected to close by the fall. The combined airline will have 6,700 daily flights and annual revenue of roughly $40 billion. The new American Airlines will fly slightly more passengers than United, the current No. 1. It will be run by Doug Parker, the CEO of US Airways Group Inc., who began pursuing a merger shortly after American entered bankruptcy protection. The U.S. trustee, a federal bankruptcy watchdog, had objected to the severance package for Horton. While he didn't question the amount, Lane agreed that the timing of it seemed to violate prohibitions in the bankruptcy law. "Approving it today is just not appropriate," Lane said. The judge plans to issue a written decision at a later date detailing his reasoning. Horton has spent nearly his entire career at American, becoming CEO when the company filed for bankruptcy. Horton will cede the CEO position to Parker when the deal closes, and has agreed to leave the company's board within a year of the closing date. In 2011, Horton was paid a salary of $618,135. He also got stock awards and options that were valued that year at nearly $2.7 million, but the company argued those could be nearly worthless after the bankruptcy reorganization. Figures for 2012 aren't yet available. The proposed severance package includes $19.9 million in cash and stock as well as a lifetime of free first-class tickets on American for Horton and his wife. Horton could still receive the payout. American's lawyers offered a possible solution during the hearing: American and US Airways would amend their merger agreement to say that Horton's severance would be subject to ratification of the board of directors of the new airline, after the merger closes. Jack Butler, a lawyer with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, said he expects Horton to eventually get his payout. Butler's firm represents American's creditors, who support the merger. "Tom has never made this case about himself, and I don't expect him to start now," Butler said. In most bankruptcy cases, creditors lose part of the money they are owed. Thanks in part to the merger, creditors in this case will get back what they are owed. Onetime shareholders of AMR Corp. are slated to get a 3.5 percent of the new airline. Separately, Lane approved a motion to extend American's exclusive period for filing a reorganization plan until May 29, the last such extension allowed under law. There is then a 60-day waiting period for creditors to object to the plan before Lane can sign off on American's emergence from bankruptcy protection. |
What Obamacare Means for Small Business
| When asked in a recent Kaiser survey what Americans thought about the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), a majority—some 57 percent—said they didn't know enough about the law to know how it'll affect them when the law's big changes kick in. In a word, we're confused. And now another survey, out this week, says that small business owners are also among those who are befuddled: eHealthinsurance.com, an online health insurance firm based in Mountain View, California, talked to 259 owners of small businesses and found that 56 percent said they don't understand the employee mandate that requires employers to offer insurance or pay a penalty into a coverage fund. Oddly, that ended up being a bit of good news, since that figure is down from the 69 percent of small biz owners in an August 2012 survey who said they didn't follow what the mandate means, according to Sande Drew, a spokesman for the site. The small business owners who participated all have fewer than 50 employees and currently provide health insurance to their workers. Neither is true, according to Anthony Lopez, a licensed health insurance agent and small business expert at eHealthinsurance.com, who says there's a big need for consumer education about the Affordable Care Act (ACA). "We hear every day from small employers who are worried and upset about the burdens and expenses they believe the health reform law will place on their businesses," says Lopez. "But while larger businesses will face mandates and penalties as a result of the law, most of the businesses that you think of when you hear the words 'small business' won't be required to do anything at all. In fact, some small businesses today may benefit from health reform in surprising ways." Here's what you need to know if you have a business with fewer than 50 employees: · Most small businesses today won't be required to provide health insurance to workers in 2014. Beginning January 1, 2014, small businesses with 50 or more full-time workers (or with part-time employees who work a total number of hours equivalent to 50 full-time workers) will be required to provide health insurance to their employees. Businesses in this category that fail to provide coverage will face possible tax penalties. However, the vast majority of small businesses in the U.S. have fewer than 50 full-time workers, says Lopez, and will be exempt from the requirement to provide coverage. They will be free to provide health insurance to workers or not. Either way, they will face no tax penalties. · Small businesses that do provide coverage may qualify for special tax breaks. Some small businesses that aren't required to provide coverage, but do so anyway, may be eligible for special tax credits. Small businesses with no more than 25 employees and with average annual wages of less than $50,000 may receive a credit for up to 35 percent of what they contribute towards employee premiums. (This small business health insurance tax credit has been available since shortly after the health reform law was signed 2010.) Beginning in 2014, the tax credit increases to a maximum of 50 percent of the amount small businesses contribute towards employees' monthly premiums. Have Cancer but No Insurance? No Problem—You Can Pay With Your Life The eHealthInsurance survey found that 67 percent of small business owners said they had no plan to drop coverage in 2014. And three-quarters of those surveyed said that they provide health insurance because they feel morally obliged to do so, or because it helps them recruit the best workers. But that could change. Currently, in most states, the only way for some people with pre-existing medical conditions to get health insurance is through an employer-sponsored plan. But beginning in 2014, people with pre-existing conditions will be able to purchase individual health insurance plans. Consumers can start comparison-shopping for a plan on October 1, 2013, and begin coverage on January 1, 2014. Individuals earning less than 400 percent of the federal poverty level may qualify for federal subsidies to help them afford it. Why Panic and Greed Are Driving Up Your Health Insurance Costs Not all small businesses or their advocacy groups agree on the ACA's benefits to small firms and their employees. Rhett Buttle, vice president of external affairs for the Small Business Majority, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C., says "Obamacare will help many of them better afford insurance or even provide their employees with coverage for the first time through provisions like state exchanges, which have the ability to rein in costs by reducing administrative fees and giving them the sort of negotiating power that was previously only enjoyed by large companies." If you have fewer than 50 employees you don't have to provide them with coverage and you won't be penalized if you don't. But some small business owners are concerned by the new reporting requirements the ACA requires. "Keeping up with implementation of regulations will be costly, time-consuming, and difficult. Employers like me must track and monitor employee hours and report and verify health insurance coverage," says Hugh Joyce, who testified last month before the House Ways and Means Committee on behalf of the National Federation of Independent Business, which opposes many provisions of the ACA that impact small businesses. Joyce told the committee, "The penalty structure and compliance requirements act as a disincentive for many to provide coverage at all." Op-Ed: The Affordable Care Act Saved My Life "I think that some businesses owners are not sure how [the Affordable Care Act] will affect their costs and are concerned about what increases the new system could bring," says Chris Yura, 32, CEO of SustainU, a Morgantown, West Virginia, clothing company that makes all its clothes in the U.S. using recycled materials. "I would like to have a more standardized way of comparing, evaluating, and purchasing our health insurance plan to gain a better understanding into the coverage and the cost associated," says Yura. "I believe this new system can lend greater insight into the plans and ultimately better coverage at more affordable prices." Find more information on small businesses and the Affordable Care Act check out the information at Healthcare.gov. Are a you a small business owner? Are you afraid of the coming changes under Obamacare, or do you think you will you benefit from them? |
Plant Canoodling Is Weird Without Gravity
| A real-time look at plant sex in an environment simulating microgravity reveals that agriculture in space might face challenges. The study also illuminates how gravity works on intercellular transport, a crucial process for mating plants and communicating human brain cells alike. There's no word yet, however, on how human sex in space would work out — though that may have to change if a private plan to send a married couple on a journey around Mars pans out. Sex in space Though not as titillating as humans getting busy, plant sex is a great way to examine how cells transport materials inside their walls. When a pollen grain lands on a stigma, the female part of a flowering plant, it grows a pollen tube that acts as a tunnel for sperm cells to travel down to reach the egg. The pollen tube is the fastest-growing cell in the plant kingdom. Fast growth is key for studying the way cells move in real-time. Using any other plant cell, you'd have to wait weeks to see a response to gravity, said study researcher Anja Geitmann, a biologist at the University of Montreal. In pollen tubes, a response takes mere seconds. Pollen tubes are also good models in which to examine how intercellular transport works, because they don't sense gravity. Any response pollen tubes have is due only to the physical effects of the gravitational force, not the cell sensing gravity and changing its behavior accordingly. Some plant cells do sense gravity; tiny structures called statoliths in root cells ensure that plant roots grow down, for example. But growth of pollen tubes follows the chemical signal from a female plant, so they don't need gravitational information. In that way, they work like any cell with a nucleus, including animal cells. Beyond 1 g No pollen tubes were blasted into space in the making of this study. Instead, Geitmann and her co-researchers availed themselves of the tools of the European Space Agency (ESA). They used a spinning centrifuge 26 feet (8 meters) in diameter to expose growing pollen tubes to forces of gravity up to 20 times normal Earth gravity (known as 1 g). They also put pollen tubes in the ESA's Random Positioning Machine, which turns specimens in all directions at a particular speed, essentially canceling out the effects of gravity from each side. This creates conditions that simulate the microgravity of space. "It's not true zero gravity," Geitmann told LiveScience. "There is continuously 1 g on the sample, but it simply changes direction." The researchers used microscopy to watch their samples in real-time. The results revealed that while the pollen tube may not sense which way is up, gravity affects it nonetheless. The diameters of the tubes grown in simulated microgravity were 8 percent smaller than a tube grown in 1 g. At five times Earth's gravity, the tubes were 8 percent wider, and at 20 times Earth's gravity, they were 38 percent wider. The surface expansion rate of the tubes also dropped 39 percent in the simulated microgravity. Because forming a pollen tube is essentially a tiny cellular construction project, cells transport little bubbles, or vesicles, of material to build out the cell walls in the direction the tube is growing. The researchers found that the distribution of two of these materials, cellulose and callose, was disrupted in hyper- and microgravity. "The intercellular trafficking, which occurs in very precisely defined paths in these cells, was affected," Geitmann said. She and her colleagues reported their findings today (March 13) in the journal PLOS ONE. Animal reproduction isn't similar enough to plant reproduction to draw any conclusions about the result of human sex in space from this study, Geitmann said. Concerns about human reproduction in space include the effects of radiation exposure on a developing fetus as well as unknowns about microgravity, according to a 1996 paper in the journal Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica. But don't shrug off microgravity plant sex just yet. Intercellular transport is important in a variety of human cells, particularly lengthy neurons, Geitmann said. Researchers studying fish brains reported in the journal Advanced Space Research in 2002 that synaptic formation was influenced by microgravity. Anecdotal reports and small studies of astronauts also suggest that cognitive performance declines in space, but individuals varied widely, according to a 2012 report by NASA. Causes for that decline could range from sleep deprivation and stress to radiation, NASA found, but no one has looked at whether intercellular transport in neurons might play a role, Geitmann said. "Many neuronal diseases, such as Huntington's or Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, are related to trafficking," she said. Humans also need to understand plant sex in space should our species ever need to feed itself on long-duration missions or colonies on other planets. "If we ever want to do agriculture in space, so to say — it's a long-term vision! — then we have to take this into account," Geitmann wrote in an email. "In order to actually do long-term plant cultivation, we have to look for species that can actually reproduce under zero gravity conditions." Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
Grieving husband pushes bill for unproven remedies
| After the best-selling Irish novelist Josephine Hart died from ovarian cancer in 2011, her husband was so devastated he often went to her grave to have breakfast. And even now, Lord Maurice Saatchi describes his wife's cancer treatment as "medieval." A member of Parliament, he's proposing a bill that would allow doctors to use experimental therapies even if there is no proof they work. Hart and Saatchi were an oft-photographed celebrity couple in Britain more than a decade ago. She produced plays in London's West End and hosted poetry readings featuring actors including Ralph Fiennes and Roger Moore. Her 1991 novel "Damage" was turned into a film starring Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche. Saatchi, an advertising executive who sits in the House of Lords, acknowledges his bill was driven by grief at his wife's death. After a diagnosis in 2009 that her cancer was too advanced for surgery, Hart got chemotherapy and radiation, which Saatchi calls "degrading and ineffective." Though ovarian cancer is one of the hardest to catch and treat early, Saatchi says Britain's current law is a serious barrier to new treatments. Theoretically doctors can be prosecuted if they try something that deviates from standard practice. His bill is aimed at encouraging new therapies by allowing doctors to try them, including those lacking evidence of effectiveness. The decision would have to be made by several medical experts in different fields and doctors would need to tell their supervisors in advance as well as inform the patient of any opposing medical opinions. While bills initiated by individual politicians rarely make it into law, Saatchi's proposal has raised a broader issue about British health care: Survival rates for most cancers are worse than in other European countries including France, Germany and the United States. A report released this month said Britain ranked 16th out of 19 Western countries for ovarian cancer death rates. Access to drugs is so poor the government started a 200 million pound (US$302 million) emergency fund in 2010 to try to get patients quicker treatment; the U.K. spends about half what France spends on cancer drugs. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer in the U.S. is 89 percent. In the U.K., it is 81 percent. After the cancer drug Avastin was approved for use in the U.S., it took nearly another year for it to become available in Britain. For Tykerb, the delay was more than two years. Avastin is used to treat numerous cancers including those of the kidney, colon, and lung while Tykerb is used to treat breast cancer in combination with other drugs. In a debate on Saatchi's bill in the House of Lords in January, Lord Frederick Howe, a government health minister, lamented the contrast between Britain's role as a world leader in health research and its lagging approval of new treatments for patients. "It still takes an estimated average of 17 years for only 14 percent of new scientific discoveries to enter day-to-day clinical practice," he said. "This is not acceptable." Several other members voiced support for Saatchi, citing other problems that have slowed medical advances, including bureaucracy and slashed budgets. Some experts suggest that if Saatchi's bill doesn't make it into law in its current form, its key planks might be rolled into a government-sponsored bill, making it much likelier to succeed. Saatchi has even been advised by the U.K.'s top medical officer."We're very sympathetic to the points that Lord Saatchi has raised," said Daniel Poulter, a minister in the Department of Health, during a televised discussion with Saatchi. "We'd certainly like to engage further." Legal experts said current British law should be sufficient to protect doctors who try experimental procedures as long as there is some reason to think they might work and the patient agrees. But a High Court judge ruled in 1957 that doctors could be found negligent if they used treatments that strayed from common practice, setting a precedent often cited in medical negligence lawsuits. In that case, the judge ruled that doctors must act in accordance with what the majority of doctors do, even if there are opposing medical views. According to National Health Service records, the number of medical negligence suits has jumped by about 30 percent since 2010. Though it is rare for doctors to be penalized for using new treatments, experts said many doctors are wary. "Doctors are very fearful that if they do anything innovative, the lawyers will get them," said Charles Foster, who teaches medical law and ethics at Oxford University. "There's a culture of following guidelines where they think they will only be safe if they treat patients conservatively," he explained. Foster said Saatchi's bill could be important in addressing doctors' misconceptions of what the law allows. "It could change the zeitgeist of the medical profession and make them more willing to try new things," he said. Still, some aren't convinced Saatchi's bill would help speed new treatments. Dr. Karol Sikora, director of CancerPartners U.K., a network of treatment centers and dean of the medical school at the University of Buckingham, thinks the proposal is superfluous. "If the doctor wants to do it and the patient consents, people can do wacky things," Sikora said, citing the alternative medicine industry, where there is little evidence treatments work. He also said the bill could encourage false hope among terminal patients. Saatchi doesn't know whether his bill would have helped his wife. Ultimately, he said, it's about giving patients and doctors new opportunities in the future. "This bill is not going to cure cancer, but it will encourage the man or woman who will," he said. |
Sarah Palin writing book about Christmas
| Sarah Palin has a new book coming, this time about Christmas. The former Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor has a deal with HarperCollins for "A Happy Holiday IS a Merry Christmas," scheduled for November. HarperCollins announced Monday that the book will criticize the "over-commercialism" and "homogenization" of Christmas and call for a renewed emphasis on the religious importance. "Amidst the fragility of this politically correct era, it is imperative that we stand up for our beliefs before the element of faith in a glorious and traditional holiday like Christmas is marginalized and ignored," Palin said in a statement released through her publisher. "This will be a fun, festive, thought provoking book, which will encourage all to see what is possible when we unite in defense of our faith and ignore the politically correct Scrooges who would rather take Christ out of Christmas." Financial terms were not disclosed. Palin was again represented by Washington attorney Robert Barnett, who negotiated deals for Palin's "Going Rogue" and "America by Heart." Both books were released by HarperCollins. According to the publisher, the book will advocate "reserving Jesus Christ in Christmas — whether in public displays, school concerts (or) pageants. Palin also "will share personal memories and traditions from her own Christmases and illustrate the reasons why the celebration of Jesus Christ's nativity is the centerpiece of her faith." |
Next, Google Glass Will Read the News to You
| Google stole the stage at SXSW on Tuesday when it spent an entire session getting developers excited about Glass, its very 21st-century venture into wearable computing. Honestly, the presentation sounds like it was pretty exciting. Google's top Glass evangelist Timothy Jordan led the panel and showed off apps made by everyone from Evernote to The New York Times. Since we've really only seen Glass in action while watching Google-made ads for the futuristic headset, it was a pretty cool opportunity to see what the much-hyped device can do. If you were at SXSW, anyways. If you were not at SXSW, don't worry. We've got you covered. As conference attendees do, several people broke the rules and recorded guerrilla video of the Google Glass panel. They're a little grainy, but you can see what's going on. Jordan flips through a few native Glass features and then moves on to apps, starting with The New York Times. News is not the first use case scenario that comes to mind when thinking about Google Glass, though. How in the world are you supposed to walk around the world with a torrent of words from some random Times article about the "Harlem Shake" streaming in front of your eyes? You're not. After you see the Times headline in the so-called "timeline card" interface and make a simple flip-of-the-head, Google Glass will read the article text aloud for you. This isn't necessarily a massive breakthrough in technology — text-to-voice applications have been around for a while — but it does make you think twice about the possibilities of Google Glass. As TechCrunch points out, though, it does set up a little rule for developers to keep text at a minimum and rely of the voiceover technology. It's also a nice little swipe at Apple, since Siri can read you your text messages but, despite some begging for the functionality, cannot read you the morning news. Suddenly, it's not just a little smartphone extension but a TV, radio, newspaper and web browser all rolled into one. You'll never need to stop consuming content again. The demos that followed the Times's reiterated this idea. With Path, your friends photos will jump in front of your eyes as soon as you see them. A hand gesture later, you can react to the photo. With Evernote, you can tell Glass to take a photo and upload it to the Skitch collaboration suite instantly. It does email, too. Not only will Glass read your email to you, it will also transcribe and send your responses. Again, these are all tasks that you can either do or almost do with existing smartphones but the fact that the screen is in the corner of your eye and you could be driving down the Interstate while doing them is pretty innovative. Also, pretty horrifying when you consider the growing texting-and-driving epidemic. |
Let them eat cake later: Americans hosting "fitness parties"
| From spinning birthday celebrations to pole dancing bachelorette bashes, U.S. gyms are offering fitness parties as new way to mark life's milestones - with a few friends and a good sweat. Gyms and fitness studios are often eager to host the festivities, which light up darkened rooms after hours and expose potential new members to their services. "We've created bachelorette parties, birthday parties, college reunions and divorce parties," said Donna Cyrus, senior vice president of programming at Crunch, a national chain. Pole dancing parties are among the most-requested fitness parties, and the merrymakers are overwhelmingly young women in their 20s and 30s. "The class is a reason for friends to get together and shed inhibitions for an hour," Cyrus explained, "as well as a great marketing tool and clever use of idle space for the gym." Fitness and yoga instructor Magen Banwart has led workout get-togethers from South Carolina to the Hamptons in New York. She said it's a way to distinguish herself from other teachers in a very competitive market. "For the right price you can get anyone to go anywhere and teach anything," said New York-based Banwart, who has led classes in yoga, core, barre and walk workouts during gatherings and retreats. SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT Having a fitness class instead of drinks is a growing trend for women in work-related situations, Banwart said. And at business conferences, historically driven by parties, dinners and cocktail hours, more time and money is being spent on healthy events. "They're not only offering a class or two. Organizers are taking the time to create a whole mind/body commitment," she said. "You're seeing a strong trend for conferences to include stress management and people are identifying yoga and movement with stress management." Community is the key for Jason Capili, who recently celebrated his 36th birthday at a Soul Cycle indoor cycling studio in New York City. "I had people block out a bunch of bikes," said Capili, who works in human resources risk management. "We brought in cupcakes and sparkling wine and at the end, during the stretches, I made a wish." Capili enjoys attending fitness celebrations for friends and friends of friends. "I think it's a really supportive environment," he said. "When you have people really supportive and committed there's a sense of cooperative energy that you can't replicate with a one-on-one trainer." Crunch fitness instructor Courtney Alexander said her private pole dancing parties are much like her group fitness pole dancing classes, except with more giggling. While the pole dancing class is very athletic, private parties offer a bit more leeway. "I teach for the full hour, much as I would in class," said Alexander. "But if it's a private party I'm open to requests. Rather than going upside down we might do more forward dips or spins or a sexier flow." Alexander said the classes are as intense as need, and mood, dictate. After the class it's not unusual for revelers to continue the party elsewhere. "Usually right after the class they'll change in the locker room, get dressed up and go out for drinks," she said. "This is the party before the party gets started." |
The cast of characters in the Bolshoi attack
| The story of the acid attack on the Bolshoi ballet chief has plot twists and colorful characters worthy of the grand Moscow theater. Here is a look at the cast, which includes the Bolshoi soloist who confessed to organizing the attack, his ambitious dancer girlfriend and the ex-con accused of throwing the jarful of acid at the ballet chief on a dark winter night.
— Sergei Filin. The artistic director, a boyish 42-year-old former Bolshoi dancer, suffers severe burns to his eyes and face in the Jan. 17 attack, which the theater management links to Filin's power to decide which dancers are awarded the prized roles. The attack exposes a culture of fierce competition and intrigue at the famed theater, where Filin's rivals include a veteran principal dancer and his protégés. — Pavel Dmitrichenko. The 29-year-old soloist admits to organizing the attack, but tells a Moscow court Thursday he never intended for it to cause such harm to Filin. In his most famous roles the dancer plays villainous or violent men, and his new real-life role adds a creepiness factor to the photographs of him leaping across the stage with a dagger or sword in hand. Dmitrichenko says he was angry at Filin for what he describes as corruption and favoritism at the theater, while reports have played up his relationship with a young ballerina who feels she has been unfairly passed over for starring roles. — Anzhelina Vorontsova. The talented young ballerina is brought to Moscow in 2008 to finish her studies courtesy of Filin, who expects she will then join him at the other Moscow ballet company where he is then artistic director. Instead, she goes to the Bolshoi. The newspaper Izvestia, citing interviews with unidentified fellow dancers, reports that Vorontsova, who is Dmitrichenko's girlfriend, asks the ballet chief in December to cast her as the lead in "Swan Lake," but Filin turns her down, making disparaging comments about her weight and choice of teachers. Ballet critics concur on the extra pounds and note that Filin then gives the ballerina a major role in the showcase ballet "The Nutcracker." — Nikolai Tsiskaridze. The veteran principal dancer takes Vorontsova under his tutelage when she joins the Bolshoi and, according to the dancers cited by Izvestia, understands that Filin's criticism of the ballerina is directed at him as her teacher. Tsiskaridze has long been highly critical of theater management and has been seen as maneuvering to take over the theater himself. — Yuri Zarutsky. The thuggish ex-con with tattoos on his hands is accused of carrying out the attack. Dmitrichenko says Zarutsky offered to rough up Filin for him and he agreed, but that he did not tell him to use acid. Police say Dmitrichenko paid Zarutsky 50,000 rubles (about $1,600). — Andrei Lipatov. He is accused of driving Zarutsky to and from the scene of the crime, but Lipatov insists he had no knowledge of the planned attack. He appears with Zarutsky and Dmitrichenko in a court on Thursday, where a judge orders all three held until April 18 while investigators finish their work. |
FW: Frogs with salmonella could still be in homes
| They live underwater, eat bloodworms, and are promoted on pet websites. But African dwarf frogs can carry salmonella. An outbreak tied to the frogs sickened nearly 400 people, mostly children, from 2008 to 2011. Since these miniature amphibians can live up to 18 years, some linked to the outbreak may remain in U.S. home aquariums. That's according to government researchers in a Monday report from the journal Pediatrics. Five outbreak-linked cases also occurred last year. No one died. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises washing hands after touching the frogs' aquarium water and says young children should not clean aquariums. The California breeder linked to the outbreak briefly suspended distribution and cooperated with authorities. |
Heart stent with new polymer matches Abbott top seller in study
| A drug-coated heart stent from Japan's Terumo Corp with a dissolving polymer proved just as effective as Abbott Laboratories' top-selling Xience stent at preventing a second procedure to clear the artery, a large study found. Stents are small wire-mesh structures inserted into narrowed coronary arteries to restore proper blood flow. Many models are coated with a polymer that slowly releases a drug designed to prevent another blockage and repeat procedure. New drug-coated stents with dissolving polymers are being developed in response to data showing the older so-called durable polymers may trigger an inflammatory reaction that raises a patient's stroke risk. In the study of more than 3,200 patients, Terumo's Nobori stent met its primary goal of non-inferiority to the Xience stent one year after implantation, with 4.2 percent of patients in both groups requiring a repeat procedure. Patients also had low similar rates of stent thrombosis, or device-related blood clot formation, with both the Nobori and Xience stents. The study, sponsored by Terumo and conducted by researchers at Kyoto University, was presented Sunday at the American College of Cardiology scientific meeting in San Francisco. Abbott's Xience stent is the market leader in Japan with a 50 percent share and the top-selling U.S. drug-coated stent with a 40 percent share. The company is developing a new stent, called Absorb, that completely dissolves away in the body. It will present data on that device at the ACC meeting on Monday. Abbott's U.S. stent rivals are Boston Scientific Corp and Medtronic Inc. |
Preservation of Venezuelan leader's body not easy
| No one lives forever — nor do they last forever. At least not without a lot of tuneups. As much as it may seem like the bodies of famous world leaders such as Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Mao Zedong have been preserved for all eternity, their enduring physical presence is simply an illusion aided by science. Only the Venezuelan officials who have promised to preserve Hugo Chavez and display his body "for eternity" inside a glass tomb know exactly how they're going to do it. But if they were to follow procedures that are used in the United States, the technique might be rather simple: repeat embalming. "The first thing to remember about embalming as we do it in the U.S. is that it is designed to delay the natural deterioration of the body; it's not forever," said Vernie Fountain, a licensed embalmer and owner and founder of the Fountain National Academy of Professional Embalming Skills in Springfield, Missouri. So what does that mean exactly? You might want to put down your sandwich before you read on. In the U.S., most embalmers use a machine that injects fluid laced with chemicals, principally formaldehyde, into an artery of the body, while the majority of the blood is emptied from a vein. Often a chemical known as a humectant is added, which "helps to fill out the body, some of the hollow spaces, and adds a degree of moisture," Fountain said. While he stressed that he has no personal knowledge about the condition of Chavez's body at the time of his death or when it was or will be embalmed, Fountain said one possible method of preserving his corpse is to follow the embalming process with a periodic injection of humectant or something similar to keep moisture in the tissues. Makeup also helps to cover areas that have gone brown with dehydration. Just to be safe, Venezuelan officials could take an extra precautionary step and make a face mask, using Chavez's real face to form a mold that could be placed over the flesh in the future "and keep it looking more like he did when he died," Fountain said. The process of embalming a body for a few days or many years is essentially the same, note Fountain and Camilo Jaramillo, a Colombian embalmer and alumnus of the American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service. "The difference when one wants to preserve a body for a long time is that the doctors apply more-concentrated amounts of the chemicals," Jaramillo said. "It is a much slower process and must be done very carefully. ... Indefinite preservation really doesn't exist. ... It requires periodic maintenance. ... But no embalming stops decomposition; it only slows it," he said. The time it takes a body to deteriorate varies on the health and weight of the deceased and other environmental factors, including whether the body was refrigerated immediately after death. Regardless, the key is to embalm as soon as possible after death. Ideally, a body would be embalmed "the very day or next morning, rather than three or five or six days down the road," Fountain said. "But it's not impossible. I have embalmed bodies that have been refrigerated for six months." Confronted with such a never-ending and unsavory task, why do countries such as Russia, China, Vietnam, and now Venezuela, go to such lengths to preserve their leaders' remains? "The decision to embalm Chavez is an attempt to include him in a pantheon of communist deities," said Nina Tumarkin, a professor of history at Wellesley College and the author of "Lenin Lives! The Lenin Cult in Soviet Russia." "It's a throwback to Soviet, communist times, and it might seem obsolete, but it might be the only pantheon where he belongs. Better to belong to the wrong club than none at all." Other socialist or communist leaders embalmed after dying include Russian dictator Josef Stalin, though his body was later removed, and North Korea's father-and-son leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. But it was the famous display of Soviet founder Lenin in Moscow's Red Square in 1924 that inspired the custom among left-leaning leaders. And then there was Evita, the actress who married then-President Juan Domingo Peron and went on to claim a following of millions for her role in securing labor benefits for the working class, founding hospitals and helping women get the vote. When she died young from uterine cancer in 1952, the military leaders who overthrew her husband in 1955 were so worried about a death cult that they took desperate measures to hide the body. For two decades, the corpse was secretly moved around Argentina and then buried in an unmarked grave in Italy. Meanwhile several wax and fiberglass decoy corpses were sent out around the world. The real corpse remained in Rome until it was delivered to Peron's home in 1971 while he was in exile in Spain. Now it rests in her family's crypt in the opulent Recoleta cemetery, a major tourist spot. Lenin's embalming process, still seen to this day as one of the finest examples of its kind, was presented to the world as a feat for Soviet science in its quest to preserve a body in such perfection. But the idea was probably forced upon government officials, who may have feared another bloody revolution after they saw the massive crowds that showed up to say goodbye to Lenin. More than 3 million people braved the biting winter cold just to catch a glimpse of the body. Permanently staving off decomposition is no easy job. When Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong died in 1976, the Chinese medical specialists tasked with preserving his corpse for permanent display were at a loss. In the middle of a rift with the Soviet Union, they couldn't ask the Russians for the formula used on Lenin, according to a memoir by Mao's doctor. Vietnam, which had embalmed Ho Chi Minh, rebuffed them, too, the doctor wrote. In the end, the Chinese doctors used a formula found in a Western journal in a medical library in Beijing. They added extra doses of formaldehyde to boost the preservative effect. "The results were shocking. Mao's face was round as a ball, and his neck was now the width of his head," Li Zhisui wrote in The Private Life of Chairman Mao, published outside China 18 years after Mao's death. The team managed to restore Mao to a more normal appearance with hours of careful massage and makeup, he said, but, just in case, a wax copy of the body was readied as a stand-in. |
Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot
Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot
A riveting historical narrative of the shocking events surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the follow-up to mega-bestselling author Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Lincoln. More than a million readers have thrilled to Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Lincoln, the page-turning work of nonfiction about the shocking assassination that changed the course of American history. Now the anchor of The O’Reilly Factor; recounts in gripping detail the brutal murder of John Fitzgerald Kennedy–and how a sequence of gunshots on a Dallas afternoon not only killed a beloved president but also sent the nation into the cataclysmic division of the Vietnam War and its culture-changing aftermath. In January 1961, as the Cold War escalates, John F. Kennedy str |
'Giant Slayer' scares up ho-hum $28 million debut
| LOS ANGELES (AP) — It wasn't exactly a mighty victory, but "Jack the Giant Slayer" won the weekend at the box office. The Warner Bros. 3-D action extravaganza, based on the Jack and the Beanstalk legend, made just $28 million to debut at No. 1, according to Sunday studio estimates. It had a reported budget of about $200 million. "Jack" comes from Bryan Singer, director of "The Usual Suspects" and the first two "X-Men" movies. It stars Nicholas Hoult, Ewan McGregor, Ian McShane and Stanley Tucci. Among other new releases, the college romp "21 & Over" from Relativity Media made only $9 million this weekend to open in third place. And the horror sequel "The Last Exorcism Part II" from CBS Films debuted in fourth place with just over $8 million. This is the sixth weekend in a row that movie ticket sales are down, said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. One bit of good news for "Jack" is that it had a 56-percent uptick from Friday to Saturday, suggesting strong word-of-mouth and more family audiences for the PG-13 adventure. Dergarabedian pointed out that many of the action pictures aimed at men this year — including "Snitch," ''The Last Stand," ''Bullet to the Head" and "Parker" — have been disappointments at the box office. "Other films have done OK but we need to do better than OK to keep up with last year's pace," he said. "Where is the audience? I don't want to overstate this, but where are the guys?" Among the few bright spots, the Jason Bateman-Melissa McCarthy comedy "Identity Thief" has become the first film to cross the $100 million mark this year. Now in its fourth week in theaters, the Universal movie has made $107.4 million. "This is a tough marketplace right now. Everything is underperforming," Dergarabedian said. "There hasn't been a huge breakout hit yet. For every 'Identity Thief' there have probably been 10 other films that have underperformed." Meanwhile, winners at last weekend's Academy Awards, including "Argo," ''Silver Linings Playbook" and "Life of Pi," are still sticking around in the top 20 after several months in theaters, further underscoring the weakness of recent new releases. But Dergarabedian was optimistic that things will turn around with the opening next week of "Oz the Great and Powerful," a much-anticipated prequel to "The Wizard of Oz" starring James Franco and directed by Sam Raimi. It's expected to open in the $75-100 million range. "We need the cavalry to arrive and we need them soon," he said. "Maybe James Franco is the cavalry." Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday: 1. "Jack the Giant Slayer," $28 million. 2. "Identity Thief," $9.7 million. 3. "21 & Over," $9 million. 4. "The Last Exorcism Part II," $8 million. 5. "Snitch," $7.7 million. 6. "Escape From Planet Earth," $6.7 million. 7. "Safe Haven," $6.3 million. 8. "Silver Linings Playbook," $5.9 million. 9. "A Good Day to Die Hard," $4.5 million. 10. "Dark Skies," $3.6 million. ___ Online: http://www.hollywood.com ___ Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC. |
