Belding in Vegas :

Mary-Kate's Lawyer: She Knows Nothing :

After reports surfaced the Feds have repeatedly tried and failed to get Mary-Kate Olsen to spill what she knows about how Heath Ledger got the drug cocktail that eventually killed him, the tiny twin's attorney Michael Miller has issued the following statement:"Despite tabloid speculation, Mary-Kate Olsen had nothing whatsoever to do with the drugs found in Heath Ledger's home or his body, and she does not know where he obtained them. Regarding the government's investigation, at Ms. Olsen's request, we have provided the government with relevant information including facts in the chronology of events surrounding Mr. Ledger's death and the fact that Ms. Olsen does not know the source of the drugs Mr. Ledger consumed.

"Cops say the masseuse who found Ledger's body last January spent nine minutes making three separate calls to Olsen before calling 911, then called her again after paramedics arrived. After getting the calls, cops say MK sent her bodyguard to go check on the situation .

Brangelina Births a Humongous Photo Spread :

After the reported $14 million charity payout to parents Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, maybe their little one Knox will become known as Fort Knox. He and his twin sister, Vivienne, sure look cute and a half on the cover of People magazine. The issue hits newsstands tomorrow, but you can catch a tease of the 19-page spread here. Internationally, Hello! magazine secured the rights and has a 17-page spread coming tomorrow as well.
"It is chaos, but we are managing it and having a wonderful time," Jolie tells People and Hello!
We think People's cover may be the best celebrity-baby magazine cover ever. Let us know if you agree in the comments section. And compare how they stack up in our Best of the Celeb-Baby Mag Covers gallery.

Fast-food kids' meals heavy on calories: group :

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Kid's meals at popular fast-food restaurants deliver more than a quick lunch or dinner -- 90 percent of them have far more than a meal's worth of calories and many are loaded with fat and salt too, according to a report released on Monday.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest -- the group that took the fun out of movie popcorn and Chinese takeout by revealing the fat and calorie content of such treats -- said it is difficult to find anything remotely healthful for a child to eat at several restaurant chains.
"Nearly every single possible combination of the children's meals at KFC, Taco Bell, Sonic, Jack in the Box and Chick-fil-A is too high in calories," the group said in a statement.
CSPI examined the menus at 13 popular restaurants that promote children's meals.
"Ninety-three percent of 1,474 possible choices at the 13 chains exceed 430 calories -- an amount that is one-third of what the Institute of Medicine recommends that children aged four through eight should consume in a day," the group said.

Intel's Larrabee Graphics To Take On Nvidia, ATI ... In 2010 :

Intel (NSDQ:INTC) wants to get back into the discrete graphics game and on Monday revealed some details about how it plans to get there within the next couple of years with a family of products and development tools codenamed Larrabee.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip giant will officially present a paper on "a many-core visual computing architecture" at the SIGGRAPH 2008 conference in Los Angeles on Aug. 12 but has already placed the paper online.
Intel on Monday said the first Larrabee-based product will be released "in 2009 or 2010." That unspecified device "will target the personal computer graphics market" but Intel promised applications for Larrabee that go beyond traditional graphics processing and pledged to build the infrastructure and ecosystem necessary for an ambitious plan to blend linear and parallel computing on entirely x86-based hardware platforms.
"It's shaping up to be an interesting product. We won't know where it scales in terms of performance until we have hardware in hand, but they've taken a number of steps to make it fit into the market," said Dean McCarron, principal analyst at Mercury Research

Thousands express support for Zuma :

Thousands of supporters have shown up to cheer Jacob Zuma, South Africa's ruling party chief, as he left court on graft charges that could end his chance of becoming the country's next president.
The case was adjourned until Tuesday morning after a full day of hearings inside the courthouse on Monday where Zuma's lawyer declared that charges against him should be declared unlawful.
The African National Congress (ANC) leader is accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and faces charges of corruption, fraud, money-laundering and racketeering.
He has denied the charges but says he will step down from his position if convicted.
"In my life I have never been afraid of anything," Zuma told the crowd on Monday.
"Those who know me will know that I am not a coward. I have never been afraid of anything ... I was willing to die for this country and I am prepared to die for it."

Chef sorry for poison plant error :

Celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson has apologised after he recommended use of a poisonous plant in recipes.
In a magazine interview about watercress and other wild foods, Mr Worrall Thompson said the weed henbane was "great in salads".
Healthy & Organic Living magazine's website has now issued an urgent warning that "henbane is a very toxic plant and should never be eaten".
The chef had meant to recommend fat hen, which is a wild herb.

Mr Worrall Thompson, currently on holiday in Spain, told the BBC the mix-up was "embarrassing - but one of those genuine mistakes".
Henbane - Hyoscyamus niger - has sticky serrated leaves, yellow, funnel-shaped flowers and a stale scent.
Its name has Anglo-Saxon origins - meaning killer of hens - and it can cause hallucinations, drowsiness and disorientation in humans.
Larger quantities can cause a loss of consciousness, seizures, trembling of the limbs and, in extreme cases, death.

Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman is in "good spirits" after being injured in a serious car accident near his Mississippi home :

Staff at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel have found a four-year-old girl alone in a duty-free shop after her parents accidentally took a plane without her.
The parents boarded the flight to Paris with four of their five children.
The mother and father were sitting in different parts of the aircraft and did not realise their mistake until the captain informed them after take-off.
The girl was accompanied on the next flight to Paris. The parents will be questioned when they return to Israel.
It is understood that the ultra Orthodox family, who were emigrating to France, were late for their flight and carrying a large amount of luggage.

Morgan Freeman in 'good spirits' :

Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman is in "good spirits" after being injured in a serious car accident near his Mississippi home.
Mr Freeman's spokeswoman says he has a broken arm, broken elbow and minor shoulder damage.
She said the 71-year-old Dark Knight star is expected to undergo surgery and to make a good recovery.
The accident happened shortly before midnight on Sunday outside Charleston in the Mississippi Delta.
Mr Freeman's car ran off the side of the road and overturned several times, landing upright in a ditch.
Mr Freeman - who had been driving the car - and a female passenger were airlifted to Memphis's Regional Medical Center, about 90 miles (145km) north of where the accident occurred in Tallahatchie County.
"He is having a little bit of surgery this afternoon or tomorrow to help correct the damage," his spokeswoman Donna Lee said. "He says he'll be OK and is looking forward to a full recovery," she added.
Earlier a spokesman at the hospital said the actor was in a "serious" condition.

Film censor defends Batman rating :

The BBFC has justified giving The Dark Knight a 12A certificate after getting more than 80 complaints about the Batman film's disturbing content.
The film regulator's spokeswoman Sue Clark said the sequel was a fantasy movie with only implied violence.
But she admitted that the British Board of Film Classification had carefully considered giving it a 15 rating.
The 12A rating states that a film should not "dwell on violence" and "does not emphasise injury or blood".
The film contains a scene in which The Joker, played by the late Heath Ledger, is beaten repeatedly by Batman in a police cell.

Olympics will be safe, says China :

Days before the Olympic Games open in Beijing, the Chinese authorities have said they are confident that athletes and spectators will be safe.
This assurance comes after an attack which killed 16 policemen in the restive Muslim region of Xinjiang.
A spokesman for the Beijing Games Organising Committee said preparations had been made to meet every conceivable threat at Games' venues.
Chinese media have blamed separatist Muslim militants for the attack.
"China has focused on strengthening security and protection around Olympic venues and at the Olympics Village, so Beijing is already prepared to respond to any threat," Beijing Games spokesman Sun Weide was quoted as saying.
The International Olympic Committee said it also believed the Chinese authorities had done everything possible "to ensure the security and safety of everyone at the Games".

Primates 'face extinction crisis' :

A global review of the world's primates says 48% of species face extinction, an outlook described as "depressing" by conservationists.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species says the main threat is habitat loss, primarily through the burning and clearing of tropical forests.
More than 70% of primates in Asia are now listed as Endangered, it adds.
The findings form part of the most detailed survey of the Earth's mammals, which will be published in October.

Today’s meeting with Zardari could be ‘decisive’: Nawaz Sharif :

LAHORE: The Head of Pakistan Muslim League-N, Mian Nawaz Sharif has said that his meeting with Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman, Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday is important and decisive. PML-N leader said that if President Musharraf could keep a close eye on political and economic developments in the country, he could also do the same. Briefing media after the PML-N Central Executive Committee meeting here, Nawaz Sharif said there was complete unani ... Full Story

India pledges additional aid to Afghanistan :

NEW DELHI: India has pledged $450 million in aid to Afghanistan for reconstruction in addition to existing commitments.The package was announced during a visit being made by Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, to New Delhi, where he is holding talks with Indian leaders.After meeting Karzai on Monday, Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, said "an additional $450m over and above the $750m" already pledged was decided during their talks."We will fulfill all our commitments," Singh said.He said the two sides had also agreed jointly to fight terrorism.Karzai, who is on a two-day visit, was accorded a ceremonial welcome by Pratibha Patil, the Indian president, before his meeting with Singh.

KSE, SECP meeting freezes 100 index at 9500 points :

KARACHI: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) met here on Monday to hurdle the negative trend saw by KSE for past several months.The joint meeting of SECP and KSE resolved to make imperative measures to overcome the ongoing crisis KSE has been suffering for months.The joint meeting at the end decided and announced to freeze KSE-100 index at 9500 points so that the index might be prevented from further decline.

Stocks continue to crash despite support efforts :

KARACHI: Bears continued their onslaught on the already wounded investors at the stock market and benchmark KSE-100 Index slumped 318 points to close at 9853 – below 10,000 points.KSE management's efforts to bail out small investors and the formation of the Market Support Fund was unable to boost investors' confidence as a weak macro economic indicators, fragile political and precarious law and order situation continued to haunt the market.Stock brokers said there was no buying from the market support fund whereas the supervisor of the fund, chairman NIT termed this impression as wrong.More than 130 million shares were traded today, which is 60 million shares more compared to yesterday’s trade.

NIB bank led the volume leaders which dipped by paisas 2 to close at Rs8.98.

Bomb blasts kills 5 security personnel, 4 civilians in Iraq :

BAGHDAD: Roadside bombs killed five Iraqi security personnel and at least four Iraqis Monday in Southern Baghdad and surrounding areas, Iraqi police officials said.The first roadside bomb struck a police patrol vehicle in Mahaweel, about 56 kilometers south of Baghdad, killing four policemen and three civilian bystanders, the police said. Earlier Monday, an improvised explosive device struck an army patrol in east Baghdad’s Palestine Street and killed one Iraqi soldier and one civilian, the police said. The attack also wounded five soldiers and two other civilians and badly damaged the patrol car.

Two die as 2 rescue boats capsize near Peshawar :

PESHAWAR: At least two people died as 2 rescue boats of Pakistan army evacuating flood-affected people to safer places, capsized in Haji Town area near the city. Meanwhile, 23 missing persons were rescued here on Monday.According to Geo News, the local administration opened gates of Mala Gori irrigation tunnel mistakenly and as a result, Haji town and adjacent areas of the city were flooded with water. A wave of floodwater swept the boats, which then capsized.People are undertaking relief efforts themselves and dozens of areas have been badly affected by floodwaters.

Dr.Afia shifted to US :

WASHINGTON: A Pakistani scientist Dr. Afia Siddiqui accused of shooting at U.S. officers while in Afghan custody last month has been extradited to the United States.According to US media reports, onn July 18 Siddiqui shot at two FBI special agents, a U.S. Army warrant officer, an Army captain and military interpreters who unknowingly entered a room where she was being held unsecured at an Afghan facility. The warrant officer returned fire with a pistol, shooting Siddiqui at least once.

She struggled with the officers before she lost consciousness, and was then given medical attention.US officials said that Afia Siddiqui was arrested outside the Ghazni governor's compound where they found bomb-making instructions, excerpts from the "Anarchist's Arsenal," papers with descriptions of U.S. landmarks and substances sealed in bottles and glass jars.