It seems 19-year-old Justin Bieber isn’t the best at keeping things in order of late.
TMZ reports the singer kept a private jet waiting in Miami for eight hours on Friday while he ‘searched for his pet monkey’.
The teen singer apparently rented the jet to fly him from Miami to Burbank, and only just made it in time before the pilot left without him – monkey or no monkey, according to the website.
The site reported that the Baby singer was scheduled to depart on the private jet at 11am.
He phoned to say he was running late, then reportedly showed up at 3pm only to say that he wasn’t yet ready to leave because he still had to retrieve his monkey from West Palm Beach.
Apparently the pilot was planning to leave without Bieber because his duty time was about to run out, but at 5:10pm the teen star made it on board… but whether or not the monkey was with him was not known.
It remains unclear if this is the same monkey – ‘Mally’ – that was seized from Bieber in Germany and re-homed in a zoo in late May, or whether he somehow managed to pick up a new one.
Indian authorities scrambled to rescue thousands of people trapped after floods and landslides ravaged the Himalayan region, leaving up to 1,000 feared dead.
The exact number of those killed will not be clear until the muddy waters are cleaned up and the bodies recovered, said Vijay Bahuguna, the chief minister of Uttarakhand state, which is the worst-hit.
“Certainly, the number of the dead is much higher than 550 … and it could be around 1,000 as figures coming in suggest,” he said Saturday.
Emergency operations include the military and all forms of transportation, including trains moving people for free.
About 70,000 have been evacuated since the floods hit this month.
It sounds like the something from the script of a Hollywood action adventure.
But the ‘mystery of the moving mummy’ – which has seen an Egyptian statue mysteriously start to spin round in a display case – has spooked museum bosses.
The 10-inch tall relic, an offering to the Egyptian God Osiris, was found in a mummy’s tomb and has been at the ManchesterMuseum for 80 years.
But in recent weeks, curators have been left scratching their heads after they kept finding it facing the wrong way. They now believe there could be a ‘spiritual explanation’ for the turning statue.
It is believed that there is a curse of the pharaohs which strikes anyone who dares to take relics from a pyramid tomb.
Experts decided to monitor the room on time-lapse video and were astonished to see it clearly show the statuette spinning 180 degrees – with nobody going near it.
Now scientists are trying to explain the phenomenon, with TV physicist Brian Cox among the experts being consulted.
Scientists who explored the Egyptian tombs in the 1920s were popularly believed to be struck by a ‘curse of the Pharaohs’.
Egyptologist Campbell Price, 29, said: ‘I noticed one day that it had turned around.
‘I thought it was strange because it is in a case and I am the only one who has a key.
‘I put it back but then the next day it had moved again.
Other experts have a more rational explanation – suggesting that the vibrations caused by the footsteps of passing visitors makes the statuette tu
Police say gunmen killed 11 people, 10 of them foreigners, after barging into a hotel where the victims were staying in northern Pakistan.
The group of tourists from Russia, the Ukraine, and China were staying in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan region in order to climb Nanga Parbat, one of the world’s highest mountains.
The gunmen have yet to be identified and their motives are currently unknown.
Local police chief Barkat Ali says the climbers from Russia, China and the Ukraine were killed before dawn Sunday as they set off to climb Nanga Parbat, a popular destination for trekkers, in the Gilgit-Baltistan area of Pakistan.
The gunmen are said to have stormed into the hotel where the tourists were staying, according to Sky News.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
A senior government official told reporters that a large number of security personnel have been sent to Gilgit-Baltistan in the wake of the shooting spree.
‘Since the area is very remote with no roads or transport, their bodies will have to be retrieved by helicopter,’ the official said, according to Sky News.
There were gasps at the Dolce & Gabbana catwalk show at Milan Fashion Week today when a streaker leapt onto the catwalk and ran up and down in full view of the city’s fashion royalty.
Stars including Barcelona striker Lionel Messi could only watch as the man, whose identity is not yet known, paraded himself up and down the runway with all his assets on show.
The designers had been showcasing creations from their Spring/Summer 2014 Men’s collection when the man invaded the spotlight and disrobed entirely but for a pair of red trainers.
He pulled a succession of bizarre, gurn-like expressions as he skipped back and forth along the catwalk attempting to avoid the venue’s security guards.
Even after he was tackled to his knees by a bouncer he lifted one arm in the air in triumph and continued to yell into the audience.
The slender, white man was eventually led out of the show by a team of security guards, but the unwanted interruption marks what Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana may hope will be the end of a bad week.
The fashion duo were earlier this week handed 20 months in prison each – prompting quips that black and white stries could be huge on the catwalks next season.
Police say a crane carrying a panoramic cabin tipped over at a festival in southwestern Germany and hit a house, injuring 13 people.
The accident happened Saturday afternoon in the town of Neuenstadt am Kocher. The cabin suspended from the crane had been set up for a festival organized by a local school.
Police in nearby Heilbronn said in a statement that the cabin collapsed into the roof of a residential building. All eight adults and five children in the cabin were injured; two of the adults suffered serious injuries and were taken to hospitals by helicopter.
No one in the house was hurt.
It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the crane to tip over.
Chinese students have been forced to sleep in a university gym to escape a searing 38C heatwave.
The sports hall at the Central China Normal University in Wuhan is one of the only air-conditioned buildings on campus and has been converted into a temporary dorm.
Hundreds of students have been sleeping on woven rush mats on the floor since the heatwave began on Thursday. Some have brought home comforts with them, including duvets, blankets and soft toys.
For entertainment in the evenings the students have been playing cards together or using their mobile phones. Boys and girls have been separated by a barrier down the middle of the hall.
Wuhan, in Hubei Province in central China, is known as one of the country’s ‘four stoves’ because of its hot, humid summers.
Although temperatures average around 27C to 30C in July, its hottest month, the city heats up to over 35C (95F) on at least 20 days a year.
Michael Jackson went for 60 days without sleep, making him the only person ever to have done so, a sleep expert has claimed.
Charles Czeisler, a Harvard Medical School sleep expert, said he has never heard of any person who has gone 60 days with Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep as he testified at the wrongful death trial of concert promoter AEG LIve.
As reported by CNN, the jury was told by Dr Czeisler that the 60 nights of propofol infusions which Dr Murray said he gave Jackson to treat insomnia has never before been undertaken.
Dr Czeisler, a sleep consultant to NASA and the CIA, told the jury that the drug does not offer REM sleep and disrupts the normal sleep cycle.
But it leaves those who take it refreshed and feeling as though they have had a proper night’s sleep.
The jury was told that rats tested by scientists died after five weeks of no REM sleep.
People who are deprived of REM sleep for long periods become depressed, paranoid and anxious. They also lose their balance and appetite, and can have slower physical and emotional reactions.
These are symptoms which Jackson was said to be suffering from in his final weeks. His show’s producers reported that he became thinner, paranoid and forgetful, and was heard talking to himself.
Gerard Depardieu has been banned from driving for six months and fined 4,000 Euros for drink driving.
The ban follows an incident in November last year when the actor, 64, fell off his scooter and was taken to a police station drunk.
Depardieu’s lawyer, Eric de Caumont, said he planned to appeal Friday’s ruling. He said his client, who was not at the hearing, was in Moscow filming.
The Frenchman has publicly feuded with France’s Socialist government over high taxes and has accepted a Russian passport offered by Vladimir Putin.
Agence France-Presse reported that when police arrived at the scene and tested Depardieu, he showed a blood alcohol level of 1.8 grams per litre, well above the French limit for driving of 0.5.
In 1998 the actor was involved in a motorcycle crash when his blood-alcohol level was five times over the legal limit. He escaped with leg and face injuries.
The party of jailed former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is asking the German government to arrange for her to be flown to Germany for treatment for a back problem.
Tymoshenko ally Arseniy Yatsenyuk asked German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle Friday to help send her to Germany. The move is seen as an initial face-saving measure acceptable to both Western governments and President Viktor Yanukovych, whose relations have been strained by Tymoshenko’s imprisonment.
Tymoshenko is serving a seven-year sentence on charges of abuse of office, which Western countries have condemned as politically motivated. The European Union has warned it will not sign a long-awaited cooperation agreement with Ukraine until it resolves what the EU calls issues of “selective justice.”
New Yorkers don’t have a reputation as being the friendliest people, but that didn’t deter photographer/artist Joy Mckinney from choosing it as the location for her project to invade people’s personal space.
In her new photo series ‘The Guardian’, Mckinney photographed herself going up to 74 total strangers and touching them in the face.
According to Mckinney her experiment was about ‘breaking down social norms’ and connecting with people in a ‘real and meaningful way’.
She admits she was initially worried about how people would react to her unusual request – especially given the common perception of New Yorkers as guarded and anti-social.
Instead Mckinney found that the majority of people she asked were willing to participate, even if they usually wanted to find out more about what she was planning to do to them.
Mckinney uses photography and video to explore contemporary social and cultural attitudes towards gender and race.
According to Mckinney the underlying message of ‘The Guardian’ series is that all people need to be more open to engaging in different experiences.
‘The more we engage and the more we share with each other the more we can become connected,’ said Mckinney. ‘That was my ultimate goal. What I wanted to do with my photographic work was to explore how we can break through those social boundaries.’
The Clerodendrum genus is a large group of plants that contains many interesting specimens which are suitable for indoor growth. The exact number of plants in the Clerodendrum genus is a matter of some confusion—some references list only 200 species, while others go up to 400 or 500. Originally, Clerodendrum were native to tropical Asia and the Eastern hemisphere, although they have since been acclimated throughout the world. Although there is wide variation in the genus, these are typically fast-growing, semi-woody shrubs of between two feet and eight feet in height. They often have large, very beautiful foliage and spectacular clumps of flowers that rise above the leaves in a showy display. In very warm, almost tropical conditions, the plants will bloom year-round, but it’s more likely in temperate growing conditions they will only bloom in the summer growing season. Some species of Clerodendrum produce suckers at the base of the mother plant that can be used for propagation.
Growing Conditions:
Light: Light requirements vary by species. Some require full sun to bloom and perform well; some prefer dappled sunlight. The most common varieties generally prefer slightly strong light. Water: Ample and regular water during the growing season. If your winters are warm enough, continue watering well throughout the winter. If the winters are cooler, reduce watering in the winter. Soil: A rich, peat-based potting soil with excellent drainage is beneficial. Fertilizer: Feed with a weak liquid fertilizer throughout the growing season. Cut fertilizer back to once a month or so in the winter.
Propagation:
Clerodendrum can be propagated by seed, stem-tip cuttings, and removing suckers on more mature plants. To take a stem-tip cutting, remove a portion of the stem several inches long, dip into rooting hormone and place into a fresh pot with potting soil. To root a sucker, it’s best to remove the stem during repotting and include some of the roots with it, then pot it up into a fresh pot.
Repotting:
Repot in the early spring for perennials. Many people grow Clerodendrum as annuals, especially indoors, where they are fast growing enough to provide a lovely display, including their magnificent flowers, but can be tricky to get through a long winter. When you repot, keep in mind that your plant might naturally want to be seven feet tall, so step up the pot size slowly to reduce its growth rate.
Varieties:
There are many, many species of Clerodendrum available to the trade, mostly sold as outdoor annuals or perennials, depending on your climate. Some of the most common ones include:
C. paniculatum. Commonly known as the pagoda flower, a flowering shrub that grows to 8 feet tall and has been planted for decades throughout the American South. Features orange-red tubular flowers.
C. japonicum. A 5- to 6-foot shrub with large, felt-covered leaves and red flowers. Does best in dappled sunlight.
C. bungei. Commonly known as the pink glower bower, a shrub of about 4 feet in height that blooms in the winter and early spring.
Grower’s Tips:
The ideal situation for a Clerodendrum is probably to keep the plant outside on your patio or balcony throughout the summer, then move it inside during the winter months to coax it through cold weather. When you move inside, watch out for pests such as mealybugs, aphids, and mites. Signs of infestation include tiny webs on plants, clumps of white “powdery” residue, or visible insects on the plant. Treat infestations as soon as possible to prevent them from spreading to the rest of your collection. As always, start with the least toxic treatment option first, only progressing to more serious chemicals if your initial efforts fail.
Desperate to shed its image as one of the world’s rudest cities, Paris has embarked on a campaign to improve its reputation and better cater to the needs of tourists.
Waiters, taxi drivers and sales staff in the French capital all too often come off as impolite, unhelpful and unable to speak foreign languages, say local tourism chiefs, who are handing out a manual with guidelines on better etiquette.
A six-page booklet entitled ‘Do you speak Touriste?’ contains greetings in eight languages including German, Chinese and Portuguese and advice on the spending habits and cultural codes of different nationalities.
‘The British like to be called by their first names,’ the guide explains, while Italians should be shaken by the hand and Americans reassured on prices.
Of the Chinese, the fastest-growing category of tourists visiting the city, the guide says they are ‘fervent shoppers’ and that ‘a simple smile and hello in their language will fully satisfy them’.
France is the world’s top destination for foreign tourists, with Paris visited by 29 million people last year.
The Paris chamber of commerce and the regional tourism committee have warned, however, that growing competition from friendlier cities such as London meant Paris needed to work harder to attract visitors, especially from emerging market countries.
Some 30,000 copies of the handbook on friendly service are being distributed to taxi drivers, waiters, hotel managers and sales people in tourist areas from the banks of the Seine river up to Montmartre and in nearby Versailles and Fontainebleau.
President Serzh Sargsyan conducted today a working visit to Austria. In Vienna, the President of Armenia participated at the Summit of the European Peoples Party (EPP). At the Summit, discussed was a wide range of issues related to the EU economy, political developments, and current international problems. In particular, the agenda of the Summit includes issues pertinent to the economic growth, creation of jobs, increased competitiveness of the economy, and development of a closer economic and monetary union within the European Union. The participants of the Summit will exchange views on the implementation of structural changes at the national level and reflect on the results of the EU semi-annual activities for 2013. They will also discuss regional issues and the EU Eastern Partnership program.
The artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet is now almost completely blind after 18 operations failed to save his sight following an acid attack earlier this year.
Sergei Filin, 42, was left with severe burns to his eyes and face when a masked attacker threw a jar of sulphuric acid in his face as he was returning home late on January 17.
He flew to Germany from Moscow for treatment in March, but despite initial optimistic reports, he has now lost 95 per cent of his vision and is totally blind in his right eye.
A spokeswoman for the Bolshoi told The Times yesterday: ‘He is now blind in his right eye. The problem is that it is acid and it continues to cause damage. He has had 18 operations and I understand that some of them were very difficult.’
She said that his facial burns had almost completely healed and his hair had grown back.
The spokeswoman also said that he continues to speak regularly on company business to Galina Stepanenko, who has been standing in for him.
The Bolshoi, one of Russia’s best-known cultural symbols, filed two reprimands against Tsiskaridze for giving unauthorised interviews after the attack on Mr Filin.
When he arrived at Aachen University Clinic, Mr Filin said he was ‘full of strength and faith’ that he will eventually see well enough to return to work at the famed Moscow theatre.
But it appears his progress has now stalled and the prognosis for his sight is now bleak.
Nearly 50 years after John F Kennedy’s historic Cold War speech in Berlin, Barack Obama yesterday called for the United States and Russia to cut their nuclear arsenals as he visited the same city.
Speaking at the Brandenberg Gate from behind a wall of bullet-proof glass, the US president used the occasion to suggest a one-third reduction of American and Russian nuclear stockpiles.
He also issued a warning to the eurozone over the wisdom of austerity policies, saying the need to balance budgets should not distract from the ultimate economic goal of improving people’s lives.
His comment seemed particularly aimed at his German hosts and its pressure on southern eurozone neighbours such as Greece and Spain to slash government spending.
Mr Obama was confident Europe would pull through but said leaders would have to moderate their cost-cutting if youth unemployment went too high, to ‘ensure that we don’t just lose a generation’.
Mr Obama gave a more cautious speech than his usual soaring rhetoric – perhaps aware of comparisons with President Kennedy’s historic denunciation of communism with the phrase: ‘Ich bin ein Berliner!’
If an unmarried couple have sex they are considered husband and wife – and would have to ‘divorce’ if they split, an Indian court has ruled.
When two people of legal age, 18 for a woman and 21 for a man, ‘indulge in sexual gratification’ this should be seen as a ‘an act of total commitment’ and marriage by law, a judge at Madras High Court said.
The court said that the registering of a marriage as well as a wedding ceremony were only formalities to gain society’s approval.
It also said that once two people have sex this ‘becomes a total commitment with adherence to all consequences that may follow’, including needing a decree of divorce should they want to sleep with someone else.
A Milan court on Wednesday convicted the designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana of tax evasion. They were found guilty of failing to declare 200 million euros ($268 million) through a Luxembourg company to authorities and given a one year and eight months suspended jail sentence. They were ordered to pay a penalty of 500,000 euros (about $670,000) to tax authorities. The court, however, acquitted them of misrepresenting income of 416 million euros (around $560 million) each, even though the statute of limitations had expired on the charge. The designers have denied the charges.
A Bollywood superstar and his wife are under investigation by health officials in India following reports that the couple know the sex of a baby they are having through a surrogate mother.
A complaint to India’s health authorities has alleged that Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri know they are expecting a boy.
Sex determination tests are banned in India to stop the practice of aborting female fetuses due to a preference for sons.
India’s Health Ministry has now launched an investigation. The Press Trust of India reported that Khan was not at home when authorities tried to question him about the reports that the surrogate mother had the test.
Khan – who has a 16-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter – has so far not commentated.
Speaking to CNN, Dr Jignesh Thakkar of the Indian Radiological & Imaging Association, said that the health ministry investigated the case at its request.
‘We wanted to know how this apparently had been leaked out because it’s confidential information that only a doctor and not even a patient knows,’ he said
‘Action should be taken against doctors and patients who are not following this law.’
India’s 2011 census showed that the country had 914 girls for every 1,000 boys under age 6, a gender ratio mainly attributed to sex-selective abortions despite the ban on prenatal gender tests.
As well as being banned in India, sex determination tests are also banned throughout Asia because of a traditional preference for sons.
Doctors found to have provided information to parents about the sex of an unborn child could face three years in jail. They could also have their medical license suspended for five years.
Police are investigating after a teacher allegedly shot a pupil in the face with a starting pistol.
The child was taken to hospital following the incident in St Clement on the Channel Island of Jersey.
A male teacher has been suspended while officers quiz staff and witnesses at Le Rocquier School, a mixed secondary school for youngsters aged 11 to 16.
Back bench politician Deputy Trevor Pitman said anxious parents deserved to know exactly what had happened.
He said: ‘For a teacher to fire a starting pistol in a child’s face, something must have gone seriously wrong.
The victim’s name and age have not been revealed but it is understood he was in his mid-teens.
States of Jersey police said officers were working with the alleged victim, the pupil’s family, other children and teachers to find out what happened.
It seems 19-year-old Justin Bieber isn’t the best at keeping things in order of late.
