The UK’s biggest lottery winners

An 18-year-old has become one of the UK's youngest lottery winners, pocketing £1.1 million.
Stacey Bywater, from Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, said that the scale of her winnings "still hasn't sunk in" and plans to buy a house for her family and use the money to learn to drive.
But while £1.1 million is a tidy sum, it's not a huge amount compared with the wealth a lot of people have walked away with. Read on to find out who Britain's biggest lottery winners are and what they did with their money.
MSN

"Vampires Suck" really does suck

Parody specialists Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer have found their formula and are sticking with it despite what any of the rest of us might think. The duo, responsible for such stinkers as "Date Movie," "Epic Movie" and "Disaster Movie," now have turned their puny sights on the rabid pop culture phenomenon of sexy vampires.
Or rather, just the "Twilight" series, as "Vampires Suck" would be more accurately titled "Twilight Sucks." Ignoring such contemporary bloodsucker-themed hits as HBO's "True Blood" and the CW's "The Vampire Diaries," not to mention stalwarts like Dracula or the works of Anne Rice, this witless Fox spoof instead merely provides an unfunny scene-by-scene retread of the first two movies in the hugely successful franchise.
Thus, it dutifully trots out slightly renamed versions of the iconic "Twilight" characters, including the romantically torn Becca (Jenn Proske) and her dueling suitors: the taciturn vampire Edward Sullen (Matt Lanter) and hunky werewolf Jacob White (Chris Riggi). If you think Jacob peeing on a tree or Becca farting in Edward's face when he attempts to climb into bed with her are the height of comic wit, then you're clearly of the adolescent mind-set to which these films cater.
The director-screenwriters, clearly aware of their target audiences' lack of sophistication, are not even ashamed to trot out such hoary gags as when a horde of vampires hungrily devour Chinese food and Edward observes that they'll be hungry again in a half-hour.
As they've done with all their efforts, they also inject an endless amount of current pop-culture references as possible, in this case with gags devoted to "Jersey Shore," the Kardashians, Lindsay Lohan, Tiger Woods, Chris Brown and Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland." (To their credit, they also bite the hand that feeds them, in the form of a dig directed at Fox News).
There's a joke or broad sight gag every 15 seconds or so, but the ratio of hits to misses is nearly nonexistent. The sole truly funny bit, riffing on the homoerotic subtext of the werewolves' penchant for constantly exposing their chiseled torsos, features Jacob and his fellow lycanthropes bursting into an exuberant dance routine to the song "It's Raining Men."
The main performers do a reasonably good job of parodying the "Twilight" leads, with Proske particularly effective in subtly lampooning Kristen Stewart's moody mannerisms.
Reuter

'Mr. Right' gets modern makeover in "The Switch"

In your traditional Hollywood romantic comedy, the woman usually has a simple goal -- find Mr. Right, get married, and start a family. Ahhh, but how times have changed.
In Jennifer Aniston's new comedy "The Switch," which lands in movie theaters on Friday, her character Kassie has set her sights somewhat lower. The single, 40-something New Yorker decides that if she can't find Mr. Right, she can at least find Mr. Perfect Sperm Donor and have the baby she's always wanted -- quickly, efficiently and without a man in her life.
Single motherhood, and the biological drive to reproduce, are the issues that attracted Aniston to the project.
"Women are realizing it, more and more knowing, that they don't have to settle with a man just to have that child," Aniston told reporters when promoting the film.
"Times have changed and that is also what is amazing...we do have so many options these days, as opposed to our parents' days when you can't have children because you have waited too long," she said.
Those comments landed Aniston in a small war of words last week with conservative Fox TV news commentator Bill O'Reilly. On his "The O'Reilly Factor," the self-styled traditionalist said Aniston's message was the equivalent of saying kids don't need dads and added "that's destructive to our society."
In a subsequent People magazine interview, Aniston countered that "of course, the ideal scenario for parenting is obviously two parents of a mature age, then added, "but for those who've not yet found their Bill O'Reilly, I'm just glad science has provided a few other options."
Aside from their back-and-forth, and as happens in the movie, the question of alternative means of birth and raising kids can grow complicated as much as it does in traditional child rearing and families.
THE NEW NUCLEAR FAMILY
In the case of "The Switch," Kassie's neurotic best friend Wally (Jason Bateman), who has always had a crush on her, gets drunk at her "insemination party" and switches fluids with the preferred donor, before passing out. To make matters worse, Wally has no memory of his actions.
Seven years later, after she had moved home to Minnesota to raise her child, Kassie returns to New York with son Sebastian in tow, a bright but neurotic kid who alarmingly reminds Wally of himself. Soon, Wally and Sebastian are bonding and laying the foundations for some sort of family unit.
While Wally's drunken, sperm-switching powers the film's comedy, Aniston said "The Switch" also raises serious questions about the nature of families, and the star was quick to stress that single parenthood is no longer the taboo it once was.
"It's quite beautiful because there are children that don't have homes that (then) have a home and can be loved, and that's extremely important."
She said the point of the movie was to cause people to question what defines a modern-day American family, and Aniston offered her own philosophy that family is the people in your immediate sphere of influence.
"It isn't necessarily the traditional mother, father, two children and a dog named Spot," she said. "That is what I love about this movie. It is saying it is not the traditional sort of stereotype of what we have been taught as a society of what family is."
The star's personal life continues to be the subject of intense media scrutiny since her highly-publicized divorce from Brad Pitt, and predictably she was asked about her own desire to become a mother.
Aniston, now 41 and single, didn't avoid the question and gave what one might call her traditional answer: "Yeah, I have said it years before and I still say it today, yes."

Kings of Leon reject "Glee" request

With everybody from Paul McCartney to Madonna clamoring to get their music on "Glee," at least one act is refusing to license its music to the TV show.
Kings of Leon frontman Caleb Followill told U.K. music newspaper NME that he's rejected the show's request to use his music, adding that he's never watched the series although "apparently everybody loves it."
Followill also said the band turned down "Ugly Betty."
British rock band Coldplay also turned down "Glee," then changed its mind, apologized and gave the Fox show access to the band's entire catalog.
On the subject of lending the music of Kings of Leon to Hollywood, Followill added: "We had some people call us up wanting to know if we'd allow 'Use Somebody' to appear in the trailer for their next movie, and we turned them down."
"Next day, they called back and tried to put us through to the star of the movie -- I won't name names, but he's an incredibly famous actor -- to let him try to convince us to agree to do it.
"I was like, 'Man, don't even waste your energy.'"

BBC News apologizes for weatherman gesture

A cold front passed over the BBC News channel late Tuesday as the show's weatherman flipped the bird to his news anchor.
Simon McCoy, linking to the weather, perhaps with a hint of sarcasm, told viewers the weather was coming up, and would of course be "100% accurate and provide all the detail you could possible want."
At that stage, the cameras cut to Tomasz Schafernaker and his middle-finger salute as McCoy's female co-host gasped. But it didn't stop there as the fast-acting weatherman, realizing he was on screen, swiftly pretended to rub his face in much the same way a cheeky school kid might do when caught in the act.
The camera quickly cut back to a composed McCoy, who simply stated: "Every now and then there's always one mistake, that was it."
The BBC immediately apologized. "Tomasz was not aware that he was on air, and whilst the gesture was only shown for a second, it was not acceptable," a spokesman said.
The weatherman later wrote on his website: "Prior to a live weather bulletin, I made a gesture off camera joking with my fellow presenters and without warning the camera went live to the weather studio ... I am very sorry for any offence that might have been caused by my actions."
The Polish-born weatherman began presenting on BBC Southeast Today in 2001 before joining national BBC outlets in 2006. It's not the first time he's apologized. Back in 2007 he described the Western Isles and the west Highlands in Scotland as "nowheresville" during a live weather broadcast. Earlier this year he posed for a gay magazine in a pair of shorts

Aerosmith singer Tyler joining "Idol": bandmate

Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler has signed a deal to become a judge on "American Idol," according to a news report on Wednesday quoting one of his bandmates.
Tyler, 62, would fill one of three vacancies left on the four-person panel by the departures of Simon Cowell and Ellen DeGeneres and the reported axing of songwriter Kara DioGuardi. Randy Jackson, the only remaining original judge, is expected to remain with the talent show.
For weeks speculation has centered around Tyler and singer/actress Jennifer Lopez joining "Idol," which is undergoing a major restructuring to arrest its ratings decline. National auditions are already under way ahead of the show's Season 10 premiere in January.
Fox and the show's producers have kept largely quiet on the speculation, but Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton told the Star-Ledger of New Jersey that Tyler's deal is done.
"Steven is doing 'American Idol.' The ink is dry on that," the newspaper quoted him as saying.
"Steven is someone who absolutely lives to be in front of an audience, and the people closest to him know how witty and entertaining he can be. I don't know if 'American Idol' will be rock 'n' roll enough for him, but it is an opportunity for millions of people to see another side of Steven Tyler."
Tyler would bring a harder edge to a show where contestants seem to favor soft pop ballads. The colorful showman can also be counted upon to deliver -- maybe even sing -- witty, Little Richard-style verdicts on the performances.
Aerosmith is on a North American trek that ends on September 16 in Vancouver. The veteran rockers nearly broke up last year amid a feud between Tyler and his bandmates. At the band's Toronto show on Tuesday, Tyler fell off the stage midsong after guitarist Joe Perry backed into him. He was not injured. Fans debated the next day if it was deliberate.
Last year, Tyler broke his shoulder after falling off the stage without any assistance from his bandmates. The group was forced to cancel its tour, and once again put on the back burner any plans to record its first studio album since 2001.
"American Idol" is produced by 19 Entertainment, a unit of CKX Inc, and by London-based FremantleMedia, a unit of Bertelsmann AG-controlled broadcaster RTL Group. Fox is a unit of News Corp.

Eggs linked to salmonella outbreak in 3 states

Eggs from a farm in Iowa have been linked to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds of people in California, Colorado and Minnesota over the last three months, the U.S. government said.
Nationwide, salmonella outbreaks have increased four fold since May, which has sparked an investigation of the food borne illness in 13 states, said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). No deaths have been reported.
The number of salmonella cases reported each week, normally around 50, zoomed to 200 a week since May, the FDA said. Preliminary investigations pointed to eggs from Wright County Egg, of Galt, Iowa, as a potential source.
Some 266 cases of salmonella in California have been linked to the eggs, said Los Angeles County officials on Tuesday.
Wright County Egg announced a voluntary recall on Friday of millions of eggs that it shipped since May 19 and were distributed nationally.
"There have been confirmed Salmonella enteritidis illnesses relating to the shell eggs and traceback investigations are ongoing," said Wright County Egg in a statement.
The company is part of DeCoster Farms, a family-run agribusiness that is a large egg producer. There was no answer to several calls on Wednesday to DeCoster offices in Clarion, Iowa.
FDA said it was conducting an extensive investigation at the Iowa company, including sampling, a review of records and a search for potential sources of contamination, such as feed.
The egg producer said it was cooperating fully in the investigation and was diverting its eggs to a breaker, for pasteurization to kill any harmful bacteria.
State and local officials were investigating salmonella cases in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas, said FDA.
Salmonella can cause fever, diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain and can cause serious illness or death.
Affected by the recall are eggs packaged under brand names Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph's, Boomsma's, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemps.
They are in cartons of six, 12 or 18 eggs and come from plants identified as P-1026, P-1413 or P-1946 and followed by a number from 136 to 225. The figures are stamped on the end of the carton.
Reuters

Google CEO Eric Schmidt fears about dark side of Social Networking

Google CEO Eric Schmidt fears that too much information is shared online, and predicts that people will one day change their name and reinvent themselves in order to escape their digital past. That point of view might be extreme, but it is true that social networking has forced us to more closely examine and redefine the concepts of privacy and identity.
There are many exciting benefits to the evolution of the Web and the rise of social networking. Facebook and Twitter have enabled people to reconnect with friends and family, and provide a platform for sharing information and staying in touch. The real-time aspect of social network status updates has also transformed online search and breaking news.
The problem is that social networking also provides a very powerful tool for embarrassing yourself or ruining your reputation on a global and virtually eternal scale. Once you put it online, it is shared around the world in seconds, and can still be recalled after decades.
You're Hired
It is not uncommon now for the job application process to include sharing your social networking account information. Tech savvy employers want to be able to check out your Facebook profile and your tweet history on Twitter.
What you say and how you act online says a lot about you. Examining your online persona gives employers a raw and unfiltered glimpse at who you really are, and is a much more effective tool for screening potential employees than the psychological personality or aptitude tests relied on in years gone by.
You're Fired
There is a long and growing list of stories of people losing their job as a result of Facebook status updates or Twitter tweets. It is generally a bad idea to bad mouth your boss or your job on a social networking site, or to post pics and status updates about how much fun you're having at the beach after you called in sick.
One poor soul learned this lesson the hard way--possibly costing him a job at Cisco before he even started. Employers are watching, so letting the world know that you hate the job you have been offered is a quick way to get that offer rescinded.
What's Your (Friend's) Credit Score?
It's all about who you know. In this case, who you know could make or break whether or not you can get a loan. Some banks are using services like Rapleaf to scan your social network and identify contacts connected with you that also do business with the financial institution. Based on the financial stability and credit history of your social network connections, the bank can make an assumption about what sort of credit risk you might be.
Till Death Do Us Part
It seems fair to assume that your spouse would be a Facebook friend, and a part of your Twitterverse. Why not? Love is grand, and you want to share everything with your partner...until you don't. If the relationship goes south, you may want to unfriend your ex and be careful what you say online.
A Time Magazine article explains "Lawyers, however, love these sites, which can be evidentiary gold mines. Did your husband's new girlfriend Twitter about getting a piece of jewelry? The court might regard that as marital assets being disbursed to a third party. Did your wife tell the court she's incapable of getting a job? Then your lawyer should ask why she's pursuing job interviews through LinkedIn."
You're probably familiar with the phrase "an elephant never forgets". Well, the Internet never forgets and it has zettabytes of archived storage capacity that can be searched in seconds thanks to companies like Google. I don't recommend changing your identity to try and dodge your digital past, but I do recommend exercising a modicum of discretion and common sense regarding what you post online.

BP "bottom-kill" on Gulf well to be early September: Allen

Retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, appearing on CNN, said under the latest timeline agreed with BP, the operation to kill the well by injecting mud and cement into the bottom through a relief well should be conducted the week after the U.S. Labor Day holiday, which is on Monday, September 6.
"In the last 40 hours we've agreed to a sequence of actions that I'm going to direct BP to take, starting with flushing out the current blow-out preventer, actually looking for material that might cause us a problem, and actually move to put a new blow-out preventer on and then do the bottom-kill," Allen said.
"This will ensure that we can withstand any pressure that may be generated," he said. "If all that lines up, we should be looking somewhere at the week after Labor Day."
The Macondo well has been sealed for more than a month, but technical issues have hampered the effort to permanently shut it down. About two weeks ago, BP injected drilling mud and cement into the top to plug it, intending to follow up with more mud and cement injected into the bottom through a relief well.
But Allen has said BP engineers and government scientists were concerned the cement may have trapped up to 1,000 barrels of oil in the space between the well pipe and the surrounding rock layers.
They want to make sure pumping in mud and cement through the relief well will not force that oil up, where it could leak into the sea or damage a failed blowout preventer central to various investigations of the April 20 blowout.
(Washington World Desk) Reuters

Shania Twain Earns Decade’s Top RIAA Certifications

As judges for the next season of ‘America Idol’ are still being decided, another name is being thrown into the bunch, a country name.

Shania Twain is rumored to be on the list behind Jennifer Lopez as there appears to be some difficulty in securing a deal with Lopez, reports TMZ.
Last season on Idol, Twain served as a mentor and guest judge and was reportedly a hit with fans. So, if no deal is settled on another judge, she may be first in line to fill in one of the missing spots.
George Strait, Taylor Swift and Shania Twain have earned top certifications from the RIAA for music released between 2000 and 2009. Strait ranked first for the most gold and platinum certifications with a total of 29. Swift topped the list of the most digital song certifications with a total of 25. Her "Love Story" also tied with Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" for highest-certified digital song by a female artist. It reached quadruple platinum for 4 million paid downloads. Twain's 2002 album, Up!, was the highest-certified album by a female artist at 11-times platinum, signifying 11 million units shipped. In addition, the Eagles were recognized for having the most total certifications, with 48, including cumulative album, digital song, master ringtone and music video certifications.

Lady Gaga seen apartment hunting with bartender boyfriend in swanky West Village,

Lady Gaga has sparked rumors that she could be moving in with boyfriend Luc Carl after they were seen apartment-hunting together.

Gaga recently reunited with Carl after calling him the “guy of my dreams” in a recent interview, and admitting: “I love him.”
Now the pop superstar has been spotted walking hand-in-hand with the long-haired barman as they toured some of New York’s swankiest apartment buildings together. The reunited lovebirds sent tongues wagging as they toured a $25,000-a-month four-bedroom rental in One Morton Square, a swanky West Village building where stars like Oliver Stone and Daniel Radcliffe have apartments.
“They were holding hands and constantly touching each other,” one amazed onlooker said. Another insider said: “Gaga showed up in her underwear and then got upset that people were staring.”
Gaga and Carl – a manager at a New York dive bar called St Jerome’s – have only recently been spotted hanging out together after splitting up.
Hollywood News

Lady Gaga being cheated on?

Although she recently got back together with her ex-boyfriend and was allegedly looking for an apartment with him, the relationship might be falling apart at the seams.
Gaga’s boyfriend, Luc Carl, may be cheating on the outlandish singer with the girl he claimed he broke up with in order to rekindle his relationship with Gaga, reports Hollyscoop. The two only recently got back together, but Lady Gaga is reportedly already afraid that he might be keeping her as “the other woman” in order to use her for fame.
Luc Carl currently manages a nightclub in New York. Most recently, Gaga and her boyfriend were spotted at a hotel in Texas.

Top TV Salaries: Winfrey, Seacrest, Sheen, Laurie

Hugh Laurie, Charlie Sheen, Matt Lauer, Ryan Seacrest and Oprah Winfrey are among TV's highest-paid performers in various categories, according to a newly released breakdown of star salaries from TV Guide.
Though television studios have been cracking down on paydays overall to keep costs in line amid sinking broadcast ratings, key performers still draw stunning paychecks.
Indispensable performers like the Sheens and Snookis ("Jersey Shore") of the world continue to leverage salary bumps. Here's a select sample of some of the top performers from TV Guide's survey.
Drama actors (per episode): Hugh Laurie (House) $400,000+ Christopher Meloni & Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU) $395,000 (each) David Caruso (CSI: Miami) $375,000 Marg Helgenberger (CSI) $375,000 Laurence Fishburne (CSI) $350,000 Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice) $200,000 Nathan Fillion (Castle) $100,000 Jon Hamm (Mad Men) $100,000 Alex O'Loughlin (Hawaii Five-0) $100,000
Talk show hosts (per year): Oprah Winfrey $315 million Judge Judy Sheindlin $45 million David Letterman (The Late Show) $28 million Jay Leno (The Tonight Show) $25 million Conan O'Brien (The Conan O'Brien Show) $10 million
Reality TV (per year): Ryan Seacrest (American Idol) $15 million Joel McHale (The Soup) $2 million Piers Morgan (America's Got Talent) $2 million Kate Gosselin (Kate Plus Eight) $250,000 per episode Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi (Jersey Shore) $30,000 per episode
Comedy actors (per episode): Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men) $1.25 million Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men) $550,000 Dan Castellaneta and Julie Kavner (The Simpsons) $400,000 Tina Fey (30 Rock) $350,000 Jeremy Piven (Entourage) $350,000 Steve Carell (The Office) $297,000 Ed O'Neill (Modern Family) $100,000 Betty White (Hot in Cleveland) $75,000
News (per year): Matt Lauer (Today) $16 million+ Katie Couric (CBS) $15 million Bill O'Reilly (Fox News) $10 million Keith Olbermann (MSNBC) $7 million Wolf Blitzer (CNN) $3 million
For a full list, go to here

"Mad Men" links up with smoking charity for auction

 Cast member Jon Hamm and actress Jennifer Westfeldt pose at the premiere for the fourth season of the television series ''Mad Men'' at the Mann 6 theatre in Hollywood, California July 20, 2010. The fourth season debuts on July 25.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Want a piece of the action with Don Draper?
Emmy-award winning TV show "Mad Men" is offering a walk-on role in the 1960s advertising drama in a charity auction that will partly benefit lung cancer treatment and research.
The 10-day auction, which starts on Thursday on eBay at 3.ly/madmen, is a unique twist on the smoking seen in "Mad Men", which meticulously recreates the social mores of the early 1960s.
A portion of the proceeds will go to the lung cancer program at southern California's City of Hope hospital -- one of the nation's leading cancer treatment centers.
"The smoking depicted in Mad Men was ubiquitous in the '60s world of Madison Avenue advertising and is a vivid reminder of how far we've progressed in our attitudes toward smoking since then," said Sandra Stern, chief operating officer at Lionsgate's TV arm, which makes "Mad Men."
Other items include furniture and props from the iconic Sterling Cooper ad agency, along with dresses worn by characters Betty Draper (January Jones) and Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks) in the show.
"Mad Men", starring Jon Hamm as conflicted advertising executive Don Draper, has won two best drama Emmy Awards and goes into the 2010 Emmy ceremony later this month with another 17 nominations.
But audiences for the fourth season on cable channel AMC dropped 24 percent for Sunday's third episode to 2.2 million, down from 2.9 million for the season premiere on July 25, according to TV ratings data.

"Eat Pray Love" an unappetizing combo

In "Eat Pray Love," Julia Roberts' character, Liz Gilbert, takes a holiday from her miserable life as a respected, financially secure New York writer, loved by men she cannot love back and despairing of her inner emptiness. She travels the world to seek enlightenment, a journey -- she never hesitates to tell anyone she meets -- outside her own comfort zone.
For the viewer though, it's anything but. The film never ventures, even once, into a situation that does not reek of comfy familiarity. Of course, the Elizabeth Gilbert memoir on which the movie is based also got criticized for its Western fetishization of Eastern thought and the overly self-conscious nature of this journey -- reportedly paid for with a publisher's advance for the book itself. None of that stopped her memoir from becoming a bestseller translated into 40 languages.
So with Roberts making one of her increasingly rare starring appearances and the sensual beauty of Italy, India and Indonesia as backdrops for the romanticized navel-gazing, "Eat Pray Love" should attract a substantial and ill-served female audience when it opens on Friday via Columbia.
Working from a screenplay he wrote with Jennifer Salt, director Ryan Murphy, the creator of TV series "Nip/Tuck" and "Glee," never loses track of the story's bestseller attributes: foreign landscapes photographed at sunset or sunrise, food displayed with mouth-watering intensity, peripheral characters bursting with vitality, all men unnaturally gorgeous -- or at least interesting -- and female self-discovery as the unwavering central focus.
Reeling from a divorce and an affair that didn't do the trick either, Liz tells her best friend and publisher (Viola Davis, not given nearly enough to do) that she intends to chuck everything for a year to research herself in exotic foreign climes. Everyone, including her ex (Billy Crudup) and new boy toy (James Franco), pulls long faces, but this gal makes a career out of thinking of nobody but herself.
Several months are spent in Rome to enjoy food and life (Eat), then off to India for meditation in an ashram (Pray) and finally to Bali, Indonesia, to search for "balance" but finding herself off-balance instead with a Brazilian tour guide (Love).
Each segment is thoroughly enjoyable in a touristic sort of way. And Roberts throws herself wholeheartedly into the role of the inner-truth seeker. There, of course, lies the problem. One can line a bookcase with memoirs, novels and DVDs about urban malcontents discovering food and life in Mediterranean climes. At least another bookshelf could be devoted to popular entertainments where Westerners seek spirituality in the East, dating back to Somerset Maugham's "The Razor's Edge" if not the earlier works of Hermann Hesse. Bali is a bit off the beaten path for such self-help entertainments, but after those terrorist bombings the place could use positive publicity.
In each segment, Liz is given role models. In Rome, a Scandinavian (Tuva Novotny) and local language coach (the absurdly handsome Luca Argentero) show Liz how to embrace life through cuisine. The girls even nip away to Naples for a pizza sequence! Her Roman lesson: Don't be afraid to attack life.
In an unnamed Indian ashram, Richard Jenkins plays a Texan who struggles to forgive himself for his alcoholic past. He mocks and kids Liz to cajole her to do likewise. Then a young girl (Rushita Singh), who dreads her arranged marriage, reminds Liz of her own unarranged marriage and its failure. Her Indian lesson: God dwells within me.
In Bali, two healers (Indonesian screen legend Christine Hakim and newcomer Hadi Subiyanto) provide Liz with medicine for her ailing soul. Her Bali lesson: If you're a good girl, you may get Javier Bardem. As Liz sails off into a sunset, you imagine that last lesson will be the one that sticks.
There is an undeniable attractiveness to all this, however doubtful the self-realization lessons may be. One can imagine whiling away pleasant hours watching this movie again as a late-night DVD or in-flight movie. The charms of each location and the vigor of the film's supporting players cast a romantic glow. No, travel -- and certainly self-realization -- is ever quite like this. But it should be
Hollywood Reporter,Reuters

"The Expendables" eyes brawny box office debut

Julia Roberts doesn't have a prayer against Sylvester Stallone at the weekend box office in North America.
Sylvester's all-star mercenary thriller "The Expendables" will outmuscle Roberts' "Eat Pray Love" as well as fellow newcomer "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," giving the venerable action hero one of the biggest openings of his career.
The ensemble actioner -- also featuring Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke and Dolph Lundgren -- is expected to fetch upward of $30 million through Sunday.
"The interest level with our core audience of male moviegoers is extremely high," said David Spitz, president of distribution at Lionsgate, which is handling the U.S. release. "So we have a real shot at having a very solid weekend."
The film, which Stallone also directed and co-wrote, was produced by Avi Lerner's Nu Image/Millennium for more than $85 million. Lionsgate paid almost $20 million for distribution rights in the U.S. and the U.K., where it opens next Thursday. Maple Releasing will handle the picture in Canada this weekend.
"The Expendables" revolves around a group of mercenaries hired to overthrow a South American dictator. Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger make cameos, while Mexican actress Giselle Itie is the lone female co-star.
Stallone was last in theaters in January 2008 with "Rambo," which opened to $18.2 million. His best opening, unadjusted for inflation, was the $33.4 million start for "Spy Kids 3D: Game Over" in 2003.
"Eat Pray Love," Columbia's adaptation of writer Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir about a woman's post-divorce global journey toward self-discovery, is "definitely going to enthrall the ladies," said Rory Bruer, the studio's president of worldwide distribution.
Prerelease tracking suggests a bow between such previous female-targeted films as "Julie & Julia" ($20 million last August) and "Mamma Mia!" ($27.8 million in July 2008).
Production costs on "Love" are estimated at about $60 million. Co-starring Billy Crudup, Viola Davis and James Franco, the film was directed by "Glee" creator Ryan Murphy.
The comic-book adaptation "Scott Pilgrim," which also cost about $60 million, should travel well into the teen millions through Sunday.
Michael Cera stars as the title character, who must defeat his new girlfriend's seven former lovers in a battle for her affections. Mary Elizabeth Winstead ("Make It Happen") plays the girlfriend. Edgar Wright ("Hot Fuzz") directed the Universal release.
"It's genre-bending and just so unique that it really plays to that Comic-Con crowd," Universal distribution president Nikki Rocco said. "But because it's so unique, it is really hard to get a handle on exactly what it's going to do."
Limited openers set for Friday include Sony Pictures Classics' Australian crime drama "Animal Kingdom," which comes out in two theaters in New York and two in L.A.
Reuters

India to target Google, Skype messaging next

India may shut down Google (GOOG.O) and Skype Internet-based messaging services over security concerns, the Financial Times reported on Friday, as the government threatened a similar crackdown on BlackBerry services.
The Financial Times quoted from the minutes of a July 12 meeting between telecommunication ministry security officials and operator associations to look at possible solutions to "intercept and monitor" encrypted communications.
"There was consensus that there [is] more than one type of service for which solutions are to be explored. Some of them are BlackBerry, Skype, Google etc," according to the department's minutes. "It was decided first to undertake the issue of BlackBerry and then the other services."
On Thursday, the Indian government became the latest of several nations that have threatened to cut off Research In Motion's (RIM.TO) (RIMM.O) encrypted BlackBerry email and instant messaging services if the Canadian company does not address national security concerns. [nSGE67B09R]
India has set an Aug 31. deadline for RIM. It wants access in a readable format to encrypted BlackBerry communication, on grounds it could be used by militants. Pakistani-based militants used mobile and satellite phones in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.
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For a TAKE-A-LOOK on BlackBerry, click [nSGE67B0KN
For a Q+A on BlackBerry's security, click [nN12132220]
Graphic on the BlackBerry encryption system:
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India's demands follow a deal with Saudi Arabia, where a source said Research In Motion agreed to give authorities codes for BlackBerry Messenger users. The United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Algeria also seek access.
Officials say RIM had proposed tracking emails without sharing encryption details, but that was not enough.
The Financial Times report said representatives from two of the telecom operator associations present confirmed the details of the meeting earlier this month.
"At the last security meeting, the agencies were talking about BlackBerry. They were also coming out heavily on Skype and Google," said Rajesh Chharia, president of the Internet Service Providers Association of India.
A shutdown would affect one million users in India out of the smartphone's 41 million users. India is one of RIM's fastest growing markets.
RIM, unlike rivals Nokia (NOK1V.HE) and Apple APPL.O, operates its own network through secure servers located in Canada and other countries, such as Britain.
RIM's shares ended more than 2 percent lower at C$56.44 in the Toronto market.
In a matter of a few weeks, the BlackBerry device -- long the darling of the world's CEOs and politicians, including U.S. President Barack Obama -- has become a target for its sealed email and messaging services with governments around the world

Charlie Sheen's wife feared for life during assault

Brooke Mueller, the wife of actor Charlie Sheen, feared for her life as the Hollywood star pinned her to their bed and put a knife to her throat during a Christmas Day argument last year, according to a newly released police report.
Last week, Sheen pleaded guilty to assaulting Mueller during the argument in Aspen, Colorado, and he was ordered to serve 30 days in drug and alcohol rehabilitation in California. The police report details the extent to which Mueller was hurt and tells how Sheen, star of hit sitcom "Two and a Half Men," reacted when being questioned by police.
The document, which was posted on websites including MSNBC.com, recounts how an early morning argument about a song Sheen sang to his daughter started the events that seemed to quickly spin out of control.
Mueller told police Sheen straddled her torso on their bed, placed a medium-sized pocket knife to her throat and his hand around her neck. She showed police red marks that one officer said "appeared consistent with a strangulation attempt."
"Mueller told me that she was afraid she was going to die at that moment, adding that she was unable to get up while Estevez' (Sheen's real name) other hand was around her throat and his weight on her torso," Aspen police officer Rick Magnuson wrote in the report.
The actor's wife further claimed that Sheen had caused her to suffer a head injury two months earlier when he threw her to the ground "like a rag doll" in an unreported incident that took place in California.
For his part, Sheen characterized the Christmas Day argument as "predominantly verbal" and said he and Mueller had "slapped at each others hands or wrists," according to the report. He denied having placed a knife near Mueller's throat or strangling her.
The actor did admit to what he called a "huge fight" in California two months earlier and said during that argument he had grabbed Mueller by the wrist, causing her to fall and hit the back of her head on a piece of furniture.
Sheen and Mueller both said she sought medical attention after the California argument. She told Aspen police that doctors characterized it as a "closed head injury."
Following the Christmas Day fight, Sheen was charged with felony menacing, misdemeanor third degree assault and misdemeanor criminal mischief.
On August 2 in Aspen, after months of talks with prosecutors, Sheen pleaded guilty to third degree assault, and the charges of felony menacing and criminal mischief were dropped
Along with 30 days in rehab, he was sentenced to three months probation in which he cannot consume drugs or an excessive amount of alcohol. He also was ordered to take 36 hours of anger management classes.
The actor's legal troubles have had little effect on his popularity. Audiences for "Two and a Half Men" have remained high and this year Sheen negotiated a deal with CBS that took his pay to a reported $1.8 million per episode.
(Reuters) 

Lindsay Lohan mom blames "hardball" judge for jail

Dina Lohan told U.S. morning talk show NBC's "Today" she didn't think her 24 year-old daughter deserved jail time -- "not for this particular offense," she said.
"She's been through a lot. The judge played hardball. Lindsay was in with alleged murderers and she's become friends with a lot of them. Lindsay rolled with the punches and she's doing wonderfully," she told Matt Lauer in an interview involving several terse exchanges.
Lohan is currently in a 90-day drug and alcohol rehabilitation program at the University of California Los Angeles after having served 13 days behind bars for violating her probation in a pair of drunken driving cases in 2007.
The California judge who sent Lohan to jail removed herself last week from the actress's drunken driving probation proceedings, following complaints she had improper conversations about the case.
Dina Lohan said her daughter was now a changed person, had "grown up considerably" and would be moving to New York when she left rehab, which she expected to come sooner than the allotted time.
"She will be coming back to New York," she said. "Los Angeles is a little...It's a different game you play there, the court system is a little different."
She disagreed that she and her estranged ex-husband Michael Lohan -- who admitted to CBS' "The Early Show" on Friday he had "made my mistakes" -- had not done enough to turn the young actress' life around.
"I had to let her go and let her live and fall and fail and survive. Without failure, there's no success," she said. "I was there in close proximity, but you can't make your child not go out and go to a club and not get behind the wheel of a car. I certainly don't condone any of that behavior."
The troubled actress rose to fame in Disney movies like "Freaky Friday" and enjoyed hits such as "Mean Girls" but began to see her career fall apart as Hollywood's nightlife caught up with her.
In 2007, she was arrested for drunken driving and cocaine possession and served 84 minutes in jail along with being put on probation.
In July, Lohan was sentenced to 90 days in jail and another 90 days in rehab for missing alcohol education classes imposed as part of her probation on the 2007 charges. Her prison sentence was cut to 13 days due to overcrowding.
 Lindsay Lohan's mother blamed her daughter's jail term on a judge that "played hardball" and defended the troubled star on Friday, but said she would retreat from Hollywood after finishing a stint in rehab to move back to New York.
(Reuters) 

Diseases intensify risks in Pakistan flood crisis

The floods, triggered by torrential monsoon downpours, have engulfed Pakistan's Indus river basin, killing more than 1,600 people, forcing two million from their homes and disrupting the lives of 14 million people, or 8 percent of the population.
At a hospital in Mingora, the main town in Swat valley, an official who asked not to be named told Reuters one case of cholera was confirmed. A German humanitarian organization said there were also six suspected cases there.
An epidemic could create another disaster for Pakistan.
A health crisis would tax aid agencies which are facing vast logistical challenges because of the damage and illness caused by the widespread flooding.
The United Nations is worried about water-borne diseases. There have been 36,000 suspected cases of potentially fatal acute watery diarrhea reported so far. It says the floods have affected about one-third of Pakistan.
"This is a growing concern. Therefore we are responding with all kinds of preventative as well as curative medication ... for outbreaks," Maurizio Giuliano, the U.N. humanitarian operation spokesman, told Reuters.
Floods have roared down from the northwest to Punjab province to southern Sindh.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to visit Pakistan over the weekend to discuss the crisis.
Pakistan's overwhelmed government has been on the defensive after criticism of its response to one of the worst catastrophes in the country's history.
The military, which has ruled U.S. ally Pakistan for more than half of its history, has swung into action.
President Asif Ali Zardari has started visiting flood victims after being attacked for leaving for meetings with European leaders as the disaster unfolded, and not cutting his trip short. Zardari said he lobbied for international aid for flood victims on his trip.
Despite the criticism of the government's handling of the floods, political analysts rule out a military grab for power, or the government's downfall over the disaster. But social unrest is possible, the analysts said.
In Punjab, Pakistan's bread basket, people scuffled over
relief supplies.
"There may be severe shortages too and riots could well break out," said independent economist Meekal Ahmed. He predicted the fiscal deficit would come under strain and amount to about 8 percent of GDP -- twice this year's target.
EXODUS
Villages have been wiped away, leaving some with just a patch of land to stand on. Pakistanis are still at the mercy of the weather and fresh downpours could bring further destruction and displacement.
Residents of the city of Jacobabad in Sindh were taking no chances. "Out of a population of 300,000, about 225,000 people have left for nearby cities and towns in the past few days," city administrator Kazim Jatoi told Reuters.
Panic followed warnings that a major surge was heading there from a breach in an embankment along the Indus River.
The International Monetary Fund has warned of major economic harm and the finance ministry said the country would miss this year's 4.5 percent gross domestic product growth target though it was not clear by how much.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on a visit to Latvia that the floods were likely to have destroyed crops worth around $1 billion. "All of us will have to pitch in to help," he told a news conference.
Floods have damaged about 700,000 hectares of crops, mainly rice, maize, cotton, and sugarcane, jeopardizing the country's main exports, the United Nations' food agency said.
The losses at household level could also have a negative impact on planting of the 2010/11 season due to start in October/November because of the loss of seeds and other agricultural basics, the Food and Agriculture Organization said.
Prices for food still available in markets are soaring.

"Where will I get money from? Rob a bank? Carry out an armed robbery?" grumbled flood survivor Mehr Din, 55.
Reuters

Elias Abuelazam Won't Fight Extradition to Michigan to Face Murder Charge

he Israeli-Arab man police believe is the serial slasher behind five murders and 13 other vicious stabbings in three states appeared in a Georgia court today and said he would not fight extradition to Michigan, calmly telling the judge it's "more logical" to confront the charges now rather than later.

Suspect was apprehended at the Atlanta airport as he tried to board a plane.

The suspect, Elias Abuelazam, has been charged with one count of attempted murder in Michigan.
Abuelazam, described as a "gentle giant" by a former co-worker, appeared in a Georgia court in shackles and was a full head taller than the officers who escorted him into the court room for the extradition hearing. The judge repeatedly explained what extradition was before Abuelazam decided to waive his right to fight it.
When first confronted with his options, Abuelazam asked the judge, "Is it possible to ask to think about it?"
The judge informed the suspect that he could put off going to Michigan to fight the criminal case for as long as three months.
"I will fight the case in Michigan," Abuelazam finally decided. "Why should I wait 90 days, right? That's the most common sense. It sounds more logical to me to go now than to wait three months."
At the conclusion of the short hearing, as the suspect was escorted out of the court, the Georgia judge wished him "good luck," to which Abuelazam responded, "Thank you."
Abuelazam, 33, was apprehended Wednesday night at Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport as he waited for his flight to leave the country, officials said. He was tracked to the airport after investigators followed a new lead that originated in Michigan.
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