Rupert Murdoch Made Charlotte Church An Offer She Couldn’t Refuse – Charlotte Church waived a £100,000 fee to sing at Rupert Murdoch’s wedding in return for favourable coverage in his newspapers, she claimed yesterday. However, the singer says she was betrayed by the media tycoon, whose publications she claims have attacked her throughout her career. [dailymail]
Facebook Plans IPO In April-June 2012 – Facebook Inc is looking to go public between April and June 2012 with a valuation of over $100 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The social media giant is considering raising as much as $10 billion in its IPO, the report said. [ecotimes]
Anne Hathaway Is Engaged – Anne Hathaway is engaged to Adam Shulman. The actress’ representative has confirmed to People magazine that Anne and her boyfriend of three years, actor and jewellery designer Adam, are planning to get married. The 29-year-old was spotted wearing a ring in Brooklyn Park on Sunday. [smh]
UN Offers Condolences To Storm-Hit Durban – The United Nations’ chief climate change official on Monday assured delegates at the COP 17 conference in Durban that the centre in which they were gathered was safe. UNFCCC executive secretary Christiana Figueres offered condolences to the city, which was struck by a violent storm on Sunday night that killed six people. [news24]
New Image Tool Can Spot Altered Images – A new photograph-analyzing tool quantifies changes made by digital airbrushers in the fashion and lifestyle industry, where image alteration has become the psychologically destructive norm. “Publishers have legitimate reasons to alter photographs to create fantasy and sell products, but they’ve gone a little too far,” said image forensics specialist Hany Farid of Dartmouth University. [wired]
Pippa Middleton Signs R5 Million Book Deal – The younger sister of the Duchess of Cambridge has been the subject of a fierce bidding war by some of Britain’s largest publishers for her first book. It is understood that publisher Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin books, last week signed her up to a publishing deal worth £400,000. [telegraph]
Turns Out That Miracle HIV Gel Doesn’t Work – Tenofovir gel – the South African-developed microbicide accepted around the world as the “best Aids prevention news in years” – has been found to have no effect in halting HIV transmission. The results of a second study shocked scientists when they proved that the gel, developed by researchers at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, could not, after all, save millions of lives. [timeslive]
Apple To Launch Voice-Activated TV Dreamt Up Bu Steve Jobs – Dubbed the iTv (although it is highly unlikely the company will be allowed to use this name), Apple hopes its latest product will be as ground-breaking and transformative as the iPhone was to mobile phones. According to the Guardian, Japanese firm Sharp will begin commercial production of the hi-tech flatscreen TVs in February before a release in the latter half of 2012. [metro]
Angelina Jolie’s First Film [Video] – Angelina Jolie can’t go anywhere without paparazzi hounding her children, but just this once, how about we take a look at the superstar actress when she herself was a little kid. Jolie stole the show in a brief appearance in dad Jon Voight’s 1982 film, “Lookin’ To Get Out,” playing — of all things! — Voight’s daughter, named Tosh. [huffpo]
Germany’s Biggest Baby Gets Controversial Name – A 13-pound baby named Jihad was born in Berlin early on Friday to a 528-pound unidentified mother at Berlin’s Charité hospital. Baby Jihad, who joins 13 siblings, is reportedly the largest baby born naturally in Germany. [abcnews]
Kuwait Government Resigns – The emir of Kuwait has accepted the resignation of the Cabinet and the prime minister and asked them to stay as a caretaker government until a new government is formed, state-run news agency KUNA said Monday. The decision comes less than two weeks after anti-corruption protesters forced their way inside Parliament in Kuwait City, pushing for the prime minister’s ouster. [cnn]
Scarlett Johansson Gives Facebook And Twitter A Miss – It has been a busy year for Johansson, 27, who just finished work on “We Bought a Zoo,” co-starring Matt Damon. But when it comes to life off the big screen, the star is hesitant to share too much on social media. “I don’t have a Facebook or a Twitter account,” she said. “I can’t think of anything I’d rather do less than have to continuously share details of my everyday life.” [nydailynews]
Money Found In Britain May Belong To MF Global – About $200 million in customer money that vanished from MF Global is believed to have surfaced at JPMorgan Chase in Britain, according to people briefed on the matter. The discovery could be the most significant breakthrough in a monthlong hunt for the missing funds. [nytimes]
Tobey Maguire Settles Illegal Gambling Fine – Tobey Maguire knows when to throw down his cards and settle up. Earlier this year, the actor was one of 22 people sued for winning money in allegedly illegal poker games from a Beverly Hills hedge fund manager who was convicted of running a Ponzi Scheme. On Wednesday, the parties filed court papers in bankruptcy court revealing that Maguire has agreed to fork over $80,000 to be dropped from ongoing litigation meant to recoup money for those who got duped by the fraud. [hollywoodreporter]
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