9NEWS reporter Simon Bouda is riding a motorcycle through the US as part of the Black Dog Ride Across America, which aims to raise awareness for depression and suicide prevention.

New York Fire fighter William Agosto looks me in the eye.

He's a man I've only just met.

Despite being almost a stranger, he's about to open up about an issue so many find so difficult to talk about.

You see, William Agosto is a living victim of the 9/11 terror attacks. Like many New York firefighters, a survivor of debilitating depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Mr Agosto lost mates. He witnessed the horror of the aftermath.

"It was shock, numbing ... I felt numb," he recalled.

Mr Agosto's crew was among the first on the scene after the buildings came crashing down.

That Autumn day had started out like most others.

"I clearly remember thinking what a beautiful day it was," he said.

"It was a beautiful day - not a cloud in the sky.

"It was pleasant, a very pleasant day."

Mr Agosto was working in a firehouse in Queens when the radio burst to life of a plane crashing into one of the Twin Towers.

Like people the world over, his crew was glued to the TV, watching it all unfold.

"I see the tower burning," he said.

"I know who was working down in Lower Manhattan and I know who was going to respond to that.

"At no point did I ever think that anything devastating, catastrophic was going to happen."

A total recall went out, with every firefighter in the city called in.

William Agosto was sent to Ground Zero.

"We were just trying to find brothers, trying to help people," he said.

"Just digging through the rubble trying to find anybody who's alive."

For the next week Mr Agosto lived at Ground Zero.

"By the end of the seven days they ordered us to go home," he said.

Members of the Battalion Four fire crew in New York. (Simon Bouda/9NEWS)

But those days turned into months. Every day back at Ground Zero.

Mr Agosto developed a lung disorder, brought about by the dust and particles he had breathed in.

"I felt I had, had enough - I couldn't do it anymore."

He was ordered off the job and sent home.

"I was out for nine months, medical leave," he says.

And it was during those dark days that Agosto faced his own battle for life.

"Never knowing about depression and not being familiar with the symptoms and signs I had no idea I was going through that," he remembered.

"I started drinking a lot of alcohol ... I guess to numb [the] nightmares ... bombs everywhere.

"I couldn't sleep, didn't eat. I isolated all the symptoms.

"I wanted to be by myself just to get out of my head. I didn't know what was going on."

Finally a friend, who's a therapist, stepped in and recognised the symptoms.

"He took one look at me and said 'you're not well, you need to get checked out'," he said.

"Not knowing anything about depression I argued that I was good, I was fine."

But he eventually took his mate's advice and was diagnosed with depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Therapy and medication eventually brought Mr Agosto back from the depths.

"One day I woke up and I felt just 100 percent better - and I owe it all to treatment," he said.

But the father-of-three knows how close he came to losing everything.

"Without seeking help I know my marriage would not have survived - I can't imagine where I would have ended up," he said.

William Agosto and sufferers like him are the motivation for a bunch of Australians - myself included - who are embarking on a mission: a motorcycle ride across the USA to raise awareness of depression and suicide prevention, especially in first responders.

Over the next three weeks fifty or so riders are taking part in the Black Dog Ride Across America from New York City to Los Angeles.

And as we wheel out of the Big Apple we know that, in spirit, people like firefighter William Agosto, are riding with us.

Today he still rolls with Battalion 4's Engine 15. He's a survivor of 9/11 who has faced his demons and won.

To learn more about the Black Dog Ride visit www.blackdogride.com.au.

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Summary: 9NEWS reporter Simon Bouda speaks to New York firefighters caught up in 9/11 terror attacks, and their long and difficult road to recovery.


It is the darkest place in England. The Kielder Forest, occupying 250 square miles and situated just where Northumberland brushes against Scotland, has the lowest levels of light pollution in the country - making it the perfect place to watch the stars. Here, far from towns and cities, where all that artificial light smogs up the skies, Charles Barclay, a young, London-based architect, has designed a gloriously inventive yet low-key observatory. It is a place where amateur stargazers and professional astronomers can share telescopes, viewing platforms, ideas and knowledge, beneath one of the most wonderful sights the country has to offer, as the sun sets on clear days and eyes adjust to the seemingly infinite expanse of stars above.

This really is a remote spot. It is the last great, uninvaded playground of the red squirrel, as well as home to otters, roe deer, six species of bat (happily evident in the hot summer skies) and any number of birds of prey, from goshawks to windhovers. Unless you are prepared to drive, though, the Kielder Observatory, built for the Forestry Commission and the Kielder Partnership, is very hard to get to. The last passenger train stopped at Kielder Forest station in 1956. If trains were running along the route today, they would be busy all summer: there is so much to see, by day as well as by night. There's the vast reservoir, opened in 1982 and almost instantly redundant, designed to quench the thirst of heavy industry along the Tyne, Wear and Tees. There are 155m trees, great stretches of moor and bog, and a cluster of enigmatic artworks, plus numerous other structures - including Japanese architect Kisa Kawakami's Mirage, which features 1,000 steel discs woven between trees - all commissioned over the years by the Kielder Partnership.

And now there's the observatory. I finally got here by the post bus that runs morning and afternoon from Hexham, half an hour from Newcastle upon Tyne by train. The observatory - which is not staffed all the time, so check before you go - is a small wonder, a kind of wooden pier stretching over land. When the doors of the turrets concealing its telescopes glide open, it looks like a child's drawing of a warship. With its decks and galley, its largely timber and steel construction, and great views out across the waters of Kielder Forest, the observatory really does feel like a ship at sea - especially as night settles in and only the ghostly shrieks of barn owls remind you that you are a long way from tidal waters.

Set on concrete stilts, the observatory has two hand-cranked, rotating telescope turrets; between them sits an open-air terrace where amateur stargazers can unfold their telescopes, and a timber retreat called the "warm room". This is where professional astronomers can operate the smaller telescope remotely, by computer. The room is equipped with a stove, and there's a compost lavatory next door. All the energy the observatory needs is generated by a 2.5kw wind turbine and by solar power. This special building touches down on the Kielder landscape as gently as a long-legged fly on the nearby reservoir.

It has not been expensive: the total cost, including equipment, was £415,000. Projects like this will never make architects well off, yet who could resist such a challenge? Charles Barclay was a natural choice. He has a good feel for buildings that are inventive and gentle, as well as being imaginative and economical; his best work includes the renovation and remodelling of an 18th-century barn in the Cotswolds, and a new timber house for a Cornish dairy farmer at Liskeard.

Barclay's observatory is a happy balance between what appears to be little more than a simple, almost cartoon-like, timber gangway with some sheds on top and some fine technology inside, with the cranks and cogs needed for the telescope turrets sitting delightfully within the simple wooden walls, floors and ceilings. It is rather like being in an early Victorian steamship, especially in the dark, when the red lamps glow (red keeps light pollution to a minimum). The timber, Douglas fir and Siberian larch, has had to be imported; the abundant supply within Kielder Forest is not suitable for building. Equally, there's a nice balance between the computer-linked telescope and its larger sibling, a 20in Pulsar Optical, a mighty star-spotting device.

So the Kielder observatory is not just a special building in a special place, but a gateway to the heavens. At night, in the darkness of the forest, the sky is anything but still: shooting stars flare, satellites flash as they spin past, planets appear to rise and fall, and the moon glides by. I trained my telescope on the Dog Star, at its height in summer (hence the phrase "the dog days of summer"). It was the clearest view of it I've ever had.

The observatory joins a growing cluster of unpretentious, low-cost British buildings by intelligent architects that offer something way beyond what money can buy, far from the world of crude modern development. These gems include the simple yet sophisticated An Turas ferry shelter on Tiree, designed by Sutherland Hussey Architects; and Tony Fretton's Faith House on the Dorset coast. Both are, as it happens, good places to watch stars from. And, because of their rarity, these buildings, along with the Kielder Observatory, are curiously exotic, and well worth working that little bit harder to get to - much like the stars themselves.

Royal Greenwich Observatory, LondonCommissioned in 1675 by Charles II, this observatory, commanding a magnificent view over the Thames and central London, was designed by Christopher Wren with Robert Hooke. It was the originator of Greenwich Mean Time, and in 1851, a line drawn through the observatory became the prime meridian (longitude 0 degrees).

Jantar Mantar, Jaipur, IndiaThis elaborately sculpted stone observatory, built in the 1720s, boasts 14 major devices for measuring time, predicting eclipses, tracking stars, ascertaining declination of planets and determining the beginning of the monsoon season. Enchanting, unexpected and very beautiful.

WM Keck Observatory, HawaiiThe twin domes of this station, on the peak of Mauna Kea, Big Island, Hawaii, sit atop a 13,600ft dormant volcano. Night skies here are as dark as any human could hope for, and the journey up is breathtaking.

Parkes Observatory, New South Wales, AustraliaOpened in 1961, this station, with its big telescope/communications dish, was a great help to Nasa and the first manned mission to the moon in July 1969. It is one of the most important centres for locating pulsars, which were once thought to be beacons created by extraterrestrials.

The Very Large Array, New Mexico, USThere are 27 radio telescopes here, built by the US National Science Foundation as part of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Arranged on tracks, the dishes can move huge distances. They can even cross Highway 60. The location, 7,000ft above sea level, is one of magnificent isolation.

Summary: Northumberland's glorious new timber observatory fits beautifully into its forest surroundings. Jonathan Glancey  took along his telescope


The International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation confirmed yesterday plans for selling its entire investment of 66,000 shares in the Wells‐Gardner Electronics Corporation of Chicago. The block of stock was valued at about $1,831,500 and represented 15 per cent of the outstanding stock of Wells‐Gardner.

A spokesman for I. T. & T. said proceeds would be used to invest in “areas more closely related to our domestic operations.”

Kuhn, Loeb & Co. and F. I. du Pont, A. C. Allyn, Inc., announced they planned a public distribution of the former I. T. & T. holdings through a group of securities dealers.

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Summary: IT&T to sell its 15% interest


Nike said on Wednesday it had suspended its contract with National Football League athlete Adrian Peterson over allegations of child abuse.

Peterson, 29, stands accused of reckless or negligent injury to a child, stemming from a whipping incident that allegedly left bruises and wounds on his son.

"Nike in no way condones child abuse or domestic violence of any kind and we have shared our concerns with the NFL,'' the company said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.

Separately, Mylan said in a statement that it had "ended all activities with Adrian Peterson. We remain committed to supporting those managing potentially life-threatening allergies and will continue our educational efforts to increase anaphylaxis awareness."

Read MoreNFL culture is broken, needs 'zero tolerance' policy: Texans owner

The Minnesota Vikings NFL team, of which Peterson is a part of, suspended the star running back on the NFL exempt list, suspending him from all team activities until his child-abuse case is resolved, the franchise said on Wednesday.

"This is a good decision that will allow Adrian Peterson to resolve his personal situation and the Vikings to return the focus to the football field,'' the NFL said of the decision to place Peterson on paid leave.

The Vikings will continue to pay Peterson his full $11.75 million salary for this season.

--By Reuters. CNBC.com contributed to this report.

Summary: Nike said it had suspended its contract with National Football League athlete Adrian Peterson over allegations of child abuse.


"It's not just the weaker yen," said Masayoshi Kanaya, a Nissin Foods spokesperson, citing a shortage of truck drivers as also pushing up distribution costs.

Some price drivers are long-term problems, including a fragmented agriculture industry protected by punishingly high tariffs on imports. Prices are 56% above the world average, according to Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data.

The tariffs, imposed even on staples, can be painful: 778 percent on rice, 360 percent on butter, 328 percent on sugar and 252 percent on wheat, according to a paper published by Yutaka Harada, a professor at Waseda University and senior fellow of the Tokyo Foundation.

Domestic producers depend on this protection to stay in business, Haruda notes. It's a problem compounded by the country's tiny, largely family-run farms.

Japan's average farm size is just over two hectares, according to government figures, compared with the global average of 30 hectares in 2000, the latest numbers available from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Small farms aren't as efficient, making Japanese products less competitive against imports, said Marubeni Research Institute's Enomoto.

Read More What recession? Japan Inc is on a roll

Very little domestically produced food is priced comparably with other countries, such as the U.S., Australia and China, which are major exporters to Japan, he noted, adding only eggs, poultry and rice are around the same price points.

"Japan needs to move away from the small farm model to larger, more business-oriented, organized farms focused on profitability," he said.

More efficient farms may be coming, if only through attrition.

The average age of Japan's 2.05 million farmers is 66.1 years, and most don't have heirs, said Hikaru Oishi, an official at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). The government is encouraging aging farmers to pass the reins to a younger generation who can combine operations under a broader tent.

To be sure, Japan's grocery shoppers may see both more imports and plumper pocketbooks if the trans-Pacific free-trade talks result in a deal. Talks between Japan and the U.S. are deadlocked over access to Japan's agricultural market.

Shibata reckons a deal will be reached in two to three years and will trigger a flood of cheaper basics, from pork and beef to soybeans.

Summary: Yen weakness is driving up the cost of Japan's food imports, but analysts say pinched pocketbooks won't slow consumers' taste for meals from overseas.


SHANGHAI, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Baoshan Iron & Steel , China's biggest listed steel company, reported a modest increase in first-half profit on Monday, citing easing demand in its domestic market.

China's steel sector is grappling with chronic overcapacity, tougher environmental measures and an economic slowdown that is hitting demand for industrial metals.

"The steel sector has entered its usual winter mode as demand for downstream products sees slowing growth, competition intensifies and environmental requirements become more stringent," Baosteel said.

Net profit in the six months to June 30 rose 0.65 percent year on year to 3.17 billion yuan ($495.1 million), the company said in a filing on the Shanghai stock exchange.

Chinese crude steel output fell 4.6 percent to 65.84 million tonnes in July from a year ago, government data showed this month, as steel mills in the world's top producer faced tumbling prices and faltering demand.

With steel prices at 20-year lows, members of the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) -- consisting of about 100 large and medium-sized mills -- suffered aggregate losses of 21.68 billion yuan from their core steel business in the first half of the year.

Steel prices have plummeted 25 percent since the start of the year, dampening iron ore prices <.IO62-CNI=SI> by 21 percent over the period.

Producers are likely to suffer further losses in the second half of 2015, squeezed by credit restrictions and pressures to repay existing debts while demand is expected to remain subdued.

China's Hangzhou Iron and Steel said last week that it suffered a net loss of 296.2 million yuan in the first half, compared with an 8.9 million yuan profit in the same period last year. ($1 = 6.4029 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Meg Shen, Lee Chyen Yee and Ruby Lian; Editing by David Goodman)

Summary: SHANGHAI, Aug 24- Baoshan Iron& Steel, China's biggest listed steel company, reported a modest increase in first-half profit on Monday, citing easing demand in its domestic market. China's steel sector is grappling with chronic overcapacity, tougher environmental measures and an economic slowdown that is hitting demand for industrial metals.


The deal, approved by Avolon's board, is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2016.

It has been a fraught battle but one with generous rewards for Avolon's investors, which include private equity groups Cinven, CVC and Oak Hill. Avolon listed last December at $20 a share.

More from the Financial Times:

Sale timetable squeezes Avolon bidders Chinese investors compete to buy Avolon Macquarie in talks to buy 100 aircraft

Bohai was forced to sweeten its initial offer of $26 a share for a 20 per cent stake in July to $32 the following month after an informal rival offer emerged, understood to be from AVIC Capital, a subsidiary of Aviation Industry of China.

The two companies said the agreed price of $31, trimmed by $1, "reflects significant volatility across global equity markets". Bohai had agreed to raise its break fee by $100 million to $350 million, "to provide greater certainty of value and reflecting its commitment to the transaction".

Read MoreChina to invest $80B in 193 aviation projects this year

Denis Nayden, Avolon chairman, said Bohai would bring profile and China relationships to the group. The China market, he said, offers "one of the most compelling growth opportunities in global aviation over the next two decades".

Bohai, which is listed in Shenzhen, is a subsidiary of HNA, which is privately owned and focuses on aircraft, shipping and tourism.

Avolon, one of the world's fastest-growing aircraft leasing businesses, last month reported a better than expected second quarter, recording net income of $55.6 million for the three months to the end of June 30, up 133 per cent compared with the same time last year. Revenue rose 38 per cent to $183.9 million.

Summary: A unit of China's HNA Group has bought Dublin-based aircraft leasing company Avolon in a deal near $2.5 billion, the Financial Times reports.


FORTUNE – With mortgage rates at their lowest levels of the year, many homeowners hoping to save on monthly home loan payments have been scurrying to refinance.

Last week, rates on long-term U.S. Treasury bonds plummeted as investors spooked by debt problems in Europe and a shaky U.S. stock market sought safety in government bonds. This helped send mortgage rates, which follow Treasuries, to new lows, with 30-year-fixed rate mortgages averaging 4.32%, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac, which tracks a weekly survey of rates.

While this hasn’t spurred many more applications for new home loans, refinancing applications surged more than 30% during the past week to their highest levels of the year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The boomlet might signal a somewhat positive sign in an otherwise dispirited housing market. But many homeowners’ finances, while improving, are still not good enough to lock in record low mortgages rates.

Here are three hurdles constraining a boom in refinances:

Most homeowners would benefit if they’re able to refinance their mortgages, but the cost savings may not amount to much at the end of a deal.

More than half of all home loans, about 67%, currently carry interest rates above 5%. However, as Gluskin Sheff chief economist David Rosenberg has pointed out, nearly half of all mortgage holders have less than 20% equity (the difference between the balance you owe on your mortgage and the value of your property) on their home.

For such homeowners, who would typically be required to buy mortgage insurance, refinancing becomes more expensive and may not be worth the costs or trouble.

During the housing boom, brokers pressured property appraisers to give overly generous appraisals, leading to fraudulent mortgages. In what seems like a reactionary move, lenders have now been pressuring appraisers to lowball their estimates, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week.

Because lenders typically won’t loan more than the appraised value of a home, this adds another hurdle for homeowners looking to refinance at a time when home prices have continued to fall in a troubled housing market.

This is especially bad news for the many homeowners with mortgages worth more than their properties are valued. Lenders may not be willing to grant more favorable terms if borrowers’ loan-to-value ratio does not fall within their lending guidelines.

Homeowners who spent too much in the years leading up to the collapse of the housing market have worked to improve their finances. In May, the average US credit score – a predictor of the likelihood lenders will be repaid – rose to 696 – the highest in at least four years, according to Equifax EFX , which provides consumer credit data.

What’s more, the ratio to consumer-debt payments to incomes is the lowest since 1994. And during the past two years, delinquencies have dropped 30%, according to the Federal Reserve.

Needless to say, this is good news. Improved credit quality allows households to borrow more and increases homeowners’ chances of refinancing their mortgages under better terms. But even while the household deleveraging process is moving along, there is still a ways to go.

And a critical component in the refinance process is proof of income. With millions still jobless as the unemployment rate continues to hover around 9%, chances of re-negotiating mortgages at these households are much tougher.

Summary: Planning to take advantage of the 4.3% mortgage rates? Good luck.


WORCESTER — When the Worcester Art Museum mounted its excellent ongoing “Knights!” exhibition, drawn from what had been the collection of the Higgins Armory Museum, it did something unusual. WAM has put on a series of smaller contemporary shows as a kind of cautionary pendant to all the spectacular weaponry and body armor from the past. The sight of so many gleaming blades and burnished breastplates can’t help but glamorize battle. A show like “Veiled Aleppo,” the latest of these accompanying exhibitions, reminds viewers of the very different reality of modern warfare. It runs through June 5.

The show consists of eight color photographs taken by Franco Pagetti of the photojournalism agency VII. They’re large, 54 by 40 inches, if nowhere near as large as the blasted apartment buildings and piles of rubble that they show. Each photograph offers a view down an abandoned city street. The destruction revealed mocks the dailiness remembered. Although no people are visible, signs of human habitation recur throughout: a satellite dish, graffiti, a burnt-out bus, large colored cloths that hang from or between buildings.

The cloths give the show its name. This veiling of Aleppo has nothing to do with covering Islamic women in public. Rather, rebel fighters use the cloths to conceal themselves from Syrian government forces. A six-minute video shows fighters under fire. The shock of gunfire and threat is all the more startling for the contrast with the evacuated quietude seen in the photographs.

Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, had a population of 2.1 million 10 years ago. Try to imagine a street in Los Angeles, America’s second-largest city, or Houston, with a roughly comparable population, similarly devastated. As Pagetti’s images remind us, the many thousands of miles that separate Syria from the United States barely approach the psychic distance.

The exhibit features eight color photographs by Pagetti.

Through Nov. 4, another selection of images from Syria is on display in the region. They’re in Room 202 of the Reginald F. Lewis International Law Center, at Harvard Law School. The display is called “Don’t Look Away: Images of Systemic Torture in the Syrian Regime.”

“Don’t Look Away” comprises 30 or so poster-size images taken of Syrian victims of the Assad regime after their torture and execution. The images are on easels, as exhibits in a trial might be. That’s appropriate. What one sees is forensic in nature. Artistry informs Pagetti’s documentary intent. These images have nothing to do with art or even document. They are indictment.

A sign on the closed door outside the room warns visitors how disturbing the images are. It’s well that the door is closed, otherwise even just a glimpse of what’s inside might sicken passersby. Sicken is no exaggeration. Quite simply, these images are horrific beyond description. The only way to give a sense of what seeing them is like is in terms of visiting a butcher shop. That analogy, in no way meant to demean the victims, indicates how absolutely what we see damns their torturers. The psychic distance Pagetti’s photographs convey is as nothing compared to that seen here.

55 Salisbury St., Worcester, through June 5, 508-799-4406, www.worcesterart.org

Summary: “Veiled Aleppo,” at the Worcester Art Museum, shows the destruction wrought by civil war in Syria.


In the short term, the rebound is coming in sectors including energy, infrastructure and health care, reflecting the country's huge population of more than 83 million, observers said.

Abraaj Group, an emerging markets private equity firm with $7.5 billion in assets under management and more than 25 offices around the globe, invested $200 million in Egyptian companies in the first half of this year, compared with none last year. One company it invested in was Integrated Diagnostics Holdings.

Read More How photographs saved the Israel-Egypt peace talks

However, investors, especially those in the West, walk a narrow tightrope in Egypt. On one hand, Al-Sisi wasn't democratically elected, so some investors are reluctant to embrace the government publicly. On the other hand, the ouster of democratically elected Mohammed Morsi resulted in a decline in turmoil—which meant life, including investment and growth, could go on as normal.

"The real reason for Egyptian growth is that the army ... is ruling the country with the due order," Shehata said.

Investors from oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invest in Egypt because it's in their interest to maintain the country as an island of relative stability and because of its prospects for growth, said Ahmed El Alfi, who also runs a Cairo-based venture fund, Sawari Ventures. Both nations are predominantly Sunni as well.

Read MoreLibya near 'point of no return': UN envoy

The technology sector is growing, too. El Alfi is also founder of a five-building tech campus and accelerator, formerly part of the American University campus, that houses 85 start-ups. News Corp purchased one of the start-ups, and Samsung Ventures just invested in another, he said.

One of the start-ups in the campus is SuperMama, a content site that offers Arabic language information for mothers. Yasmin El-Mehairy founded it in October 2011. After the unrest, only two advertisers were confident enough to book ads on her site.

Read More Global employment prospects bleak until 2018: ILO

"There was also the problem of safety. We are a 90 percent women team. In the summer of 2012, the area around our office was completely unsafe because of the riots," she said. To keep the company afloat, "we had to beg, borrow and steal."

After this more stable year, the company, whose offices overlook Tahrir Square, started growing again. Now SuperMama has 1.35 million monthly visitors, a staff of 14, and is operating on a break-even basis.

"The point is, we've survived the hardest time in Egypt's economy and we're growing," she wrote to her venture investors recently. "Our small team is as dedicated and enthusiastic as ever."

Summary: A year after violence crushed Egypt, a different picture is emerging as investment is flowing into the country again and GDP may be back on track.


* CSI300 -4.8 pct; SSEC -3.9 pct; HSI -4.2 pct

* Nearly half of China-listed companies have halted trading

* Investors dump blue chips to reduce risk exposure - analyst

SHANGHAI, July 8 (Reuters) - China stocks tumbled to four-month lows on Wednesday morning as investors dumped both small and big caps, defying government attempts to stabilize the market, while nearly half of Chinese listed companies have halted trading to insulate themselves from the meltdown.

The panic in mainland markets is rippling across the border, knocking the Hong Kong market down more than 4 percent. Overseas-listed Chinese companies also slumped.

The Shanghai Composite Index opened 7 percent lower, but erased some of the losses by midday, down 3.9 percent. The CSI300 Index of China's biggest companies dropped 4.8 percent.

Most blue chips fell, even amid fresh government support, and signs that government-backed investors are buying into financial heavyweights and oil giants including PetroChina and Sinopec to anchor market sentiment.

Some analysts attribute Wednesday's sell-off in blue chips to share suspensions by a huge number of small caps.

On Wednesday, more than 500 China-listed firms announced trading halts, bringing the total number to around 1,300, almost half of China's roughly 2,800 "A share" listed companies.

"Originally, many wanted to hold blue chips. But since so many small caps are suspended from trading, the only way to reduce risk exposure is to sell blue chips," said Du Changchun, analyst at Northeast Securities.

He said he believed the situation could also trigger fund redemptions as investors fear a slump in fund value when those companies resume trading.

China's stock market has so far tumbled 30 percent from its mid-June peak, reversing a year-long, highly-leveraged bull run, and wiping out nearly $3 trillion in market capitalization.

A slew of government support measures, including direct purchases of blue chips, a central bank pledge of liquidity support, and a halt in initial public offerings, has not been able to stem the slide.

On Wednesday morning, stocks fell across the board, with only 83 stocks rising and 1,439 falling.

Even Shanghai's top four blue chip exchange-traded funds , the target of intensified purchases by a stabilization fund set up by Chinese brokerages, and state investor Central Huijin, also fell sharply.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch said China's deleveraging and margin calls could be far from over, with no bottom seen until the government becomes buyer of last resort.

Pessimism has spread to Hong Kong, where the Hang Seng index dropped 4.2 percent, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index slumped 5.3 percent.

(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Pete Sweeney; Editing by Richard Borsuk)

Summary: *Nearly half of China- listed companies have halted trading. SHANGHAI, July 8- China stocks tumbled to four-month lows on Wednesday morning as investors dumped both small and big caps, defying government attempts to stabilize the market, while nearly half of Chinese listed companies have halted trading to insulate themselves from the meltdown.


Faith Fowler, 9, was born with a rare chromosome deletion. (Heather Larkin/Fairyography)

A US photographer is granting young girls battling childhood illness and trauma a small reprieve from their daily hardships - with the help of some pixie dust.

Heather Larkin is using her photography business Fairyography, to capture the childish innocence and beauty of young girls with illnesses and create special memories for them and their families.

"There's not a kid I've met yet who whines about it. They never sit there and think, 'Why me?' They are so thankful for what they do have, and love every little piece of life they have. They have the biggest faith — I don't know how these kids have such big hearts after the pain they've had to put up with," Ms Larkin told US Today.

13-year-old Lexi Haas has kernicterus, brain damage caused by her newborn jaundice. (Heather Larkin/Fairyography)

Following the death of two of her clients, she was inspired to hold a yearly contest to find families to grant “memorial princess sessions”.

"As heartbreaking as it was for me — it was worse for her parents. And, I realized it's worse for those people who go through all of this and have nothing to remember from the happy times with their child,” she said.

Ms Larkin creates real-life fairy-tale scenes by dressing the girls as princesses or storybook characters, capturing the images in enchanted forest settings.

Magen Ferland, 12, has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, autism, sensory processing disorder and nonverbal seizures. (Heather Larkin/Fairyography)

Rachele Gibson, whose daughter Ava Jane passed away months after her third birthday due to a congenital heart defect, said Ms Larkin’s photos bring her “comfort”.

"I am so grateful for all of the photographs I have that remind me of her infectious smile and the mischievous look in her eye. I have (one of the photos) hanging in my bedroom and I look at it every day when I lay down to sleep and when I wake up," she said.


It may be days before police can recover the remaining bodies from the wreckage of a helicopter crash that killed seven on Fox Glacier.

Three bodies have been removed from the crash site where two young Australians, four Britons and a Kiwi pilot died on Saturday.

Police said they had recovered those bodies on Sunday morning by using a helicopter to winch them out during a lull in bad weather.

But conditions worsened again in the afternoon, and police were unable to reach the remaining four.

With weather forecasts poor for Monday and Tuesday, police said it could be the middle of the week before they reached the site again.

Inspector John Canning said the terrain was treacherous and care had to be taken.

"The site is near the top of the glacier, it's all ice, it's not level and there are blocks of ice as big as buildings with crevasses between them."

The Australian victims were named as Leang Sovannmony, 27, and Josephine Gibson, 29, both from NSW - not South Australia as previously believed.

The pilot has been named as Mitchell Paul Gameren, 28, from Queenstown.

NZ Prime Minister John Key said he had passed his condolences on to Malcolm Turnbull on Saturday night.

Mr Turnbull told reporters in Kuala Lumpur he was thinking of the victims' families.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with their families and we're very sorry to hear about the accident," he said.

The British tourists were named as Andrew Virco, 50, and Katharine Walker, 51, both from Cambridge, and Nigel Edwin Charlton, 66, and Cynthia Charlton, 70, both from Hampshire.

Emergency services were alerted to the crash just before 11am on Saturday.

Investigators were able to fly over the crash site on Sunday morning, but could not continue working in the afternoon.

A drone would be used to get photographs of the area when the weather permitted.

Investigators from France and the United States have been invited to join the inquiry, as they are the countries where the aircraft was made.

Summary: Efforts will resume to reach the site of a helicopter crash in New Zealand that killed seven, including two tourists from Australia and four from Britain.


Netflix’s engrossing true-crime documentary series ‘‘Making a Murderer’’ has gotten a lot of people interested in Steven Avery.

The Wisconsin man spent 18 years in prison for a sexual assault that DNA evidence later proved he did not commit. Avery was released from prison in 2003 after his conviction was overturned, but two years later he was charged in the horrifying murder of a young photographer named Teresa Halbach. At the time, Avery had filed a $36 million civil lawsuit against Manitowoc County for his wrongful conviction.

During Avery’s closely watched trial, the defense team asserted that Manitowoc County police officers had planted evidence to frame him for Halbach’s murder. In March 2007, a jury convicted Avery of first-degree intentional homicide and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

All 10 episodes of ‘‘Making a Murderer’’ were made available Dec. 18 on Netflix. The streaming service also posted the entire first episode to YouTube. Since then, websites and online petitions, including one on Change.org urging a presidential pardon for Avery - who has always maintained his innocence - have begun circulating. On Reddit, fans have dissected the series and its cases in exhaustive detail, proposing alternative suspects, critiquing the prosecution and defense teams, and sharing updates on key players.

With ‘‘Making a Murderer,’’ filmmakers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos provide a fascinating, often devastating, look at the criminal justice system. By design, the documentary poses more questions than it answers. ‘‘The main question at the heart of the series is how do we as a society respond when injustice is exposed?’’ Ricciardi explained in an interview with Vulture.

Here are a few more lingering questions:

Q: What’s next for Steven Avery?

A: Avery is currently serving his sentence at Wisconsin’s Waupun Correctional Institution. In June 2007, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. ‘‘Making a Murderer’’ documents Avery’s unsuccessful attempt to get a new trial, a decision that was upheld in 2011 by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. That same year, the Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to review the case.

In the last episode of the series, which revisits Avery and his family in the years after his conviction, viewers are told that Avery has exhausted his appeals and is no longer entitled to state-appointed legal representation. He is shown requesting his entire case file, which amounts to 24 boxes of transcripts and records.

The documentary reports that Avery reached out to the Wisconsin Innocence Project, which was instrumental in getting the 1985 conviction overturned, but that the group declined to help. A Dec. 22 post on the Innocence Project website notes that ‘‘a member of the Innocence Network is currently looking into some aspects of (Avery’s) case.’’ The post also credits the filmmakers with ‘‘helping to shine a spotlight on some of the problems that plague the criminal justice system, like false confessions and government misconduct.’’

Toward the end of the series, the filmmakers gather Avery’s former attorneys for a discussion about his potential legal options. Jerome Buting, who represented Avery in his trial over Halbach’s murder, suggests that newly discovered evidence could be the key to getting Avery a new trial.

In the documentary, Robert Henak, who served as Avery’s post-conviction attorney in the 1990s, draws a parallel to the 1985 case. ‘‘What ultimately freed him was newly discovered evidence where the technology advanced to the stage where you could test the DNA,’’ Henak says. ‘‘In this case, we’re looking for technology to do the same kind of thing, to show that the evidence at the original trial really did not mean what the state was arguing that it meant and what the jury believed that it meant.’’

Q: What about Avery’s nephew, Brendan Dassey?

A: The case against Avery took a shocking turn when his 16-year-old nephew implicated himself in the murder and told police that Avery had instructed him to rape Halbach and to help him dispose of her body. The documentary describes Dassey as learning disabled - during his trial, one of his attorneys reported that he reads at a fourth-grade level. Throughout the series, Dassey’s story changes dramatically as he undergoes a series of questionable interrogations, some of which were encouraged by his court-appointed pretrial attorney, Len Kachinsky. Kachinsky was eventually removed from Dassey’s case after allowing his client to be interrogated by police without a lawyer present.

At his trial, Dassey’s attorneys argued that their client’s confession was false, and the teen repeatedly said he fabricated his statements under pressure from law enforcement. In April 2007, Dassey was convicted of homicide, sexual assault and mutilation of a corpse.

Like his uncle, Dassey unsuccessfully appealed his conviction. The Wisconsin Supreme Court also declined to review his case. Last year, Dassey’s legal team filed a federal habeas petition in an effort to get his conviction vacated on the basis that his constitutional rights were violated. In ‘‘Making a Murderer,’’ Dassey’s post-conviction attorneys argue that his confession was coerced and that Kachinsky violated his duty of loyalty to Dassey.

Now 26, Dassey is serving a life sentence at Green Bay Correctional. He will be eligible for parole in 2048.

Q: Was the Halbach family involved in the documentary?

A: Some of the criticism around ‘‘Making a Murderer’’ is that it tells the story solely from the perspective of Avery and his family. Ricciardi told Vulture that she and Demos invited the Halbachs to participate in the film but that they declined. Teresa Halbach’s younger brother, Mike, who served as the family’s official spokesperson, is featured in the documentary through news conferences and courtroom footage.

Q: Did ‘‘Making a Murderer’’ accurately depict the severity of Avery’s earlier crimes?

A: ‘‘I really ain’t got much on my record,’’ Avery says in ‘‘Making a Murderer’s’’ first episode. The documentary does reference two burglaries, an altercation with one of Avery’s cousins and a gruesome act of animal cruelty involving the family cat, but does so mostly in Avery’s words. ‘‘I was young and stupid and hanging around with the wrong people,’’ he explains in ‘‘Making a Murderer.’’

A 2006 article in Milwaukee Magazine describes the cat incident in grimmer detail, noting that a few months after being released from prison for breaking into a tavern, ‘‘Avery and another man were charged with cruelty to animals after dousing Avery’s cat with gasoline and oil and tossing it into a bonfire at the Avery junkyard.’’

Avery’s assessment of his criminal history stands in rather stark contrast to the remarks made by Manitowoc County Circuit Judge Patrick Willis at Avery’s sentencing hearing. As shown in the documentary, Willis repeatedly referenced Avery’s criminal history.

‘‘Whatever crimes may have been a part of your past at the time you committed this homicide, everything suggested that your life was poised to take a turn for the better,’’ Willis told Avery. ‘‘However, despite having the widespread sympathy of the public and the prospects for a significant financial award, you committed the horrible crime that brings you here to be sentenced today. In terms of assessing your danger to society, the evidence forces me to conclude that you are probably the most dangerous individual ever to set foot in this courtroom.’’

Q: How have officials responded to the documentary?

A: Manitowoc County Sheriff Robert Hermann told the Herald Times Reporter that the filmmakers ‘‘have taken things out of context and taken them out of the order in which they occurred, which can lead people to a different opinion or conclusion.’’ Hermann told the Manitowoc-based newspaper that he had not yet seen the documentary but had discussed it with members of the police department.

Former Calumet County district attorney Ken Kratz was the special prosecutor in both the Avery and Dassey trials. Kratz, who resigned from office after a 2010 sexting scandal, told a Green Bay Fox station that he was not given an opportunity to respond to allegations made in the documentary - a claim the filmmakers have denied.

‘‘I believe there to be 80 to 90 percent of the physical evidence, the forensic evidence, that ties Steven Avery to this murder never to have been presented in this documentary,’’ Kratz told Fox 11 News.

In ‘‘Making a Murderer,’’ Avery gets the last word.

‘‘They think I’ll stop working on it and it’ll be forgotten,’’ he says. ‘‘That’s what they think, but I want the truth. I want my life. But they keep on taking it. I’m gonna keep on working even if it’s wrong. I ain’t gonna give up. When you know you’re innocent, you will keep on going. The truth always comes out sooner or later.’’


01/06/2016 AT 06:00 PM EST

is getting candid about her husband's controversial presidential bid, the secrets to their happy marriage, and why she's only just now stepping into the spotlight.

In the February issue of

the 45-year-old Slovenia native defends Donald, 69, and reveals why she thinks he'll make a good president."He is a great leader – the best leader, an amazing negotiator. America needs that, and he believes in America."

"He believes in its potential and what it can be, because it is now in big troubleâ¦ I just believe he has what it takes to be an amazing president," she adds.

Touching on Donald's controversial comments

, Melania says in the interview that she "followed the rules" when coming to America. "It never crossed my mind to stay here without papers. That is just the person you are. You follow the rules. You follow the law. Every few months you need to fly back to Europe and stamp your visa. After a few visas, I applied for a green card and got it in 2001. After the green card, I applied for citizenship. And it was a long process," she says.

In November last year, Melania made her

as she joined Donald at a campaign rally in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The former model delivered a short and sweet message to the crowd of supporters: "Good evening, isn't he the best? He will be the best president ever. We love you!"

Talking about why she is remaining for the most part, in the shadows, she says: "I'm choosing not to go political in public because that is my husband's job. I'm very political in private life, and between me and my husband I know everything that is going on. I follow from A to Z. But I chose not to be on the campaign. I made that choice. I have my own mind. I am my own person, and I think my husband likes that about me."

In the glamorous shoot, Melania is seen posing in their New York penthouse apartment, where she and Donald reside with their 9-year-old son Barron. Last year the family opened their doors to PEOPLE in an exclusive

Revealing the secrets to their happy marriage, she tells

: "I give him my opinions, and sometimes he takes them in, and sometimes he does not. Do I agree with him all the time? No. I think it is good for a healthy relationship. I am not a 'yes' person. No matter who you are married to, you still need to lead your life. I donât want to change him. And he doesn't want to change me."

's February issue is on newsstands January 19.

Summary: Melania Trump gets candid in the February issue of Harper's BAZAAR


General Electric has not yet revealed where it will locate its new headquarters in Boston, but in the short term the company is headed for Farnsworth Street in Fort Point. Art Papas, chief executive at software firm Bullhorn Inc., said the industrial conglomerate will lease his company’s entire 45,000-square-foot headquarters space at 33-41 Farnsworth St. Bullhorn plans to move to a 77,000-square-foot space at 100 Summer St. to accommodate its growth later this spring. GE spokesman Seth Martin declined to comment about the Farnsworth lease. The timing of when the company will move in is unclear, although it probably won’t take long. Papas said GE plans to use Bullhorn’s desks, cubicles, and chairs.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, opening a new front in the push to boost access to life-saving drugs, has warned the country’s biggest biotech company that it faces possible legal action unless it lowers the price of two popular hepatitis C medicines. In a letter to Gilead Sciences Inc., made public Wednesday, the attorney general wrote that the high price of the company’s Sovaldi drug, $84,000 for a full 12-week course of treatment, and its Harvoni regimen, at $94,500, “may constitute an unfair trade practice in violation of Massachusetts law” because they are too expensive for many patients. Gilead spokeswoman Amy Flood said the company has received Healey’s letter and requested a meeting.

The state economy downshifted significantly at the end of last year, felled by broader weaknesses in the US and global economy, the University of Massachusetts reported. After expanding by as much as 5.7 percent in the second quarter of 2015, the Massachusetts economy expanded by only 1.3 percent during the last three months of the year. Even the beginning of 2015, marked by the record snowfall and harsh winter, proved to be a better quarter than the end of the year, UMass said. It likely means that growth this year will slow too. The US economy, meanwhile, posted a tepid 0.7 percent growth rate for the fourth quarter, hurt by weaker consumer spending and other factors.

Sales of single-family homes in Massachusetts surged 16.6 percent in December, while the median price climbed to $335,000, up 4.7 percent compared to a year prior, according to figures out Wednesday from the Warren Group. For the full year, sales jumped 10.5 percent while the median price ticked up 3 percent to $340,000. Condos notched similar gains. Statewide, home prices are now at their highest level since 2007, though still a bit below the $355,000 median price in 2005. At $316,810, median condo prices have never been higher.

The US Supreme Court issued a ruling that would greatly benefit energy conservation businesses, boosting EnerNOC Inc. of Boston. The company helps large industrial energy consumers curtail use in return for payments from power-grid operators and ultimately other customers. The Supreme Court upheld a ruling by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that allowed large users to be paid for conserving power, what’s known as demand response. Electricity suppliers had challenged the ruling, arguing the commission exceeded its authority. The court decision paves the way for growth in the kind of energy conservation services offered by EnerNOC.

Fidelity Investments is launching a new business outside its usual domain of managing money: selling health insurance plans to employers. The Boston investment giant said it is developing a so-called private exchange to offer small and mid-sized employers medical, dental, and vision benefits, as well as life insurance and other products. Fidelity will act as a broker, selling the plans of traditional insurance providers and competing against hundreds of other agents and brokers for that business. The company sees this as an extension of its already deep ties with corporate human resources offices.

Shares of Zafgen Inc. dropped after Kerrisdale Capital, a hedge fund, disclosed it had taken a short position in the Boston biotech company. Kerrisdale contends in a research report that Zafgen is overvalued and that its experimental obesity-fighting drug stands little chance of winning US market approval. Sahm Adrangi, founder and chief investment officer of New York-based Kerrisdale, said the deaths of two patients who took the drug candidate in a clinical trial last year hurt Zafgen’s chances for Food and Drug Administration approval. A spokeswoman for Zafgen declined to respond to Kerrisdale’s assessment of Beloranib’s prospects.

Whole Foods is recalling almost 75,000 pounds of frozen pepperoni pizzas shipped throughout New England due to a labeling error that fails to disclose they are made with pork. The pizzas are labeled as containing uncured beef pepperoni, when they contain uncured pork pepperoni, which some people cannot eat for dietary or cultural reasons. The pizzas were produced between Jan. 5, 2015, and Jan. 22, 2016, and shipped for sale to Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. The grocery chain says there have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of the pizza.

Staples Inc. is laying off hundreds of workers at its Framingham headquarters, a move that analysts said suggests the company is preparing for the likelihood its planned merger with Office Depot Inc. won’t win regulatory approval. The job cuts were confirmed by a current employee and a former employee. Staples spokesman Mark Cautela would not comment on layoffs, pointing only to a press release issued Monday in which chief executive Ron Sargent said the company was “streamlining.” Staples’ efforts to merge with rival Office Depot have been thwarted by the Federal Trade Commission, which last month filed a lawsuit calling the deal anticompetitive.

The Massachusetts state Senate on Thursday unanimously passed a bill intended to shrink the gender wage gap. The bill prohibits employers from asking a job candidate’s salary history and establishes a definition for “comparable work,” to ensure that similar jobs have more equitable pay. Because women’s wages are historically lower than men’s, disclosing them could put women at a disadvantage, which is why the bill prohibits discussion of a candidate’s salary history. The pay equity bill also allows employees to discuss salaries openly without fear of termination. The bill goes to the House.

Summary: The week in business.


Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra has plenty of experience of red carpets but this weekend was different. Rather than the usual gala premieres, she posed for hundreds of flashing cameras outside the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood before presenting a golden statuette to Margaret Sixel, Best Film Editing for Mad Max: Fury Road at the 2016 Oscars.

It’s always about the money.

For many, her presence at this glittering event, more loudly announced the arrival of Indian actors in the Hollywood big leagues. But it’s been a long time coming.

Diversity was the hot topic before and at this year’s Academy Awards. Director Spike Lee and actress Jada Pinkett-Smith boycotted the ceremony over lack of diversity among nominees, sparking the #OscarsSoWhite campaign. And while Indian actors or actresses have yet to win at the Oscars, their rise in American films and Hollywood overall can’t be overlooked.

Presenting an award at the Oscars is an honour reserved for the select few. It comes hot on the heels of Chopra, 33, becoming the first Indian ever to win a People's Choice Award for her role in US television show Quantico for which she was reportedly paid $4m. Chopra will also star alongside Hollywood heavyweight Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson in the much-anticipated Baywatch movie.

Over the last decade as Hollywood film storylines and cast have become more diverse, career opportunities are finally opening up to this wider pool of talent. As Hollywood casts its net wider India’s talent is benefitting but how well are they being paid?

Eye on the profit pie

Hollywood’s motivation for this crossover into India’s film royalty is partly a shrewd business calculation by film studios and distributors.

“It’s always about the money” said Suhel Seth, managing partner at consultancy firm Counselage India who is also an occasional actor with cameos in several Bollywood blockbusters. “As the Indian diaspora across the world gains more economic stature, there’s an urge for Hollywood producers and foreign studios to then also cater to that market.” US film companies see incorporating popular Indian actors and actresses into their productions as a significant opportunity to reach much bigger audiences in emerging markets.

India represents a vast market of English speakers and a huge untapped opportunity, said Mumbai-based Anirban Das Blah, founder of CAA KWAN, a talent management company that represents several Bollywood stars.

For Hollywood films, I don’t get even one fourth of the fee I charge in India.

India’s own movie industry produces more than 1,000 films a year, and, together with television and media industries, is projected by KPMG to be worth $28.7bn by 2019. There’s a huge appetite for films in a country with more than a billion people, which analysts expect to mean more multiplex cinemas will be built and more Indians will start regularly viewing through digital media.

“In less than a decade the market could be anything from 20 times to 50 times its current size,” Das Blah said.

A growing demand amongst Indian moviegoers for cinema with less formulaic plots and more global themes is also driving change. “Both the context and the craft have altered to suit more diverse palates, which includes the American palate, the American studio palate,” Seth said.

Crossover stars from India are muscling their way in to an industry that has come under fire for being too white — a recent BBC report citing University of Southern California research on Hollywood’s “inclusion crisis” underlined the scale of the problem.

Leading the pack is actor Irrfan Khan, 49, who has done more than 100 films during his career, the bulk in Bollywood. He has also spent a decade working in American studio and TV productions. Khan rose to prominence in the US after playing a policeman in the hit movie Slumdog Millionaire, which swept the Academy Awards in 2009 winning eight gold statuettes. His most recent outing was in the Universal Pictures- blockbuster, Jurassic World, which took in a record $511m at the box office in its opening week.

What Indian actors also gain is a greater brand recognition, which helps them bolster their image.

Khan and Chopra have opened the gate wider for younger Indian actors like Deepika Padukone, 30, to make their mark. Padukone has just bagged the lead in xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, where she’s paired up with action film veteran, Vin Diesel.

Indian faces have become more visible on prime time TV too. Nimrat Kaur and Suraj Sharma (Homeland), Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory), and veteran Indian actor Anil Kapoor (24) have all appeared on shows that have been global hits, partly driven by the rise of binge-watching via streaming services like Netflix and Hulu.

For many years, Hollywood seemed to hire Indian actors to portray stereotypical parts. Offensive caricatures were common as recently as the late 1990s. “Hollywood is like any other business that has to continue to grow, or be eaten up,” Khan said. “Television and films are flourishing industries in America and they keep looking for new markets.”

Before India, it was all about China, “so Hollywood was incorporating Chinese actors, location, and technicians,” said Khan.

Films like Slumdog Millionaire (2008) helped sell and showcase India to Hollywood heavyweights. “When India-centric films like The Namesake and Slumdog Millionaire came out, they became popular and changed everything,” said Khan. “The entire American entertainment industry started looking at India as a potential new market to explore, and started accepting more stories with the Indian backdrop.”

Big film houses like Fox and Paramount are attempting to offer variety and continue to look for new ground for their stories, said Khan, who stars alongside Tom Hanks in Inferno, due out later this year.

Does Hollywood mean big bucks?

While they’re on the screen, fame and fortune in Hollywood still isn’t bringing in the millions for Indian arrivals. There’s a general consensus among film stars, agents and publicists that Indian actors are not as well paid as US or European actors for comparable work.

Khan, who earned just under $2m in 2015, according to Forbes, said leading Indian actors will make anything from $750,000 to $5m per film in Bollywood.

“For Hollywood films, I don’t get even one fourth of the fee I charge in India,” Khan said. “It’s only when you’re playing the lead in a Hollywood film and you command a wider world market [audience] that you’ll be paid big bucks.”

Seth said while the pay disparity is problematic, the exposure can pay off bigger for Bollywood stars crossing over to American film. “What Indian actors also gain is a greater brand recognition, which helps them bolster their image and allows them to appeal to a wider international market,” he said.

India’s highest paid actresses Chopra and Padukone have powerful Hollywood agents who ensure their clients get casting calls for films with big names and budgets. That has boosted their earning power in some instances. Chopra, who charges nearly $1m for her Bollywood projects, was reportedly paid $4m for her Quantico gig.

Big Bang Theory actor Kunal Ayyar, however, takes the salary prize. Born in Britain and raised in India, Ayyar was third on the Forbes list of World’s Highest-Paid TV Actors for 2015 with earnings that topped $20 million.

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Summary: Hollywood loves Bollywood stars — but not enough to pay all of them well


The FBI’s most wanted list is exclusively male, and the vast majority of the other fugitives on its website are also men. Women fugitives do appear on the agency’s website, mostly in parental kidnapping cases, but also in murder, domestic terrorism, white collar crime and violent crime cases. Bounties for women fugitives range up to $1 million. Read on to learn what some of these women did … and see if any of them look familiar. By Colleen KanePosted 24 July 2012

"American Greed: The Fugitives" premieres August 1 at 8PM ET

Summary: Bounties for women fugitives range up to $1 million. Read on to learn what some of these women did…and see if any of them look familiar.


Traffic jams, smog, litter-strewn streets. City life can be hard at the best of times, and with the United Nations predicting that the number of city dwellers will reach 6.25 billion by 2050, the challenge to develop sustainable, livable and green cities is perhaps greater than ever before.

In 2011, the UN released research which reported that, 'the world's cities [are] responsible for up to 70 percent of harmful greenhouse gases while occupying just two percent of its land'.

Yet some cities are attempting to do things right. Since 2010, the European Commission has awarded the European Green Capital Award to cities showing willingness to use innovation and technology to create green, healthy and energy efficient cities.

Here, CNBC.com takes a look at the award's winners, and finds out what makes them so special.

By Anmar Frangoul, Special to CNBC.com

Summary: The challenge to develop sustainable, livable cities is greater than ever before. We take a look at some of Europe's greenest and cleanest.


05/07/2016 AT 07:50 PM EDT

Guido Menzio, an Ivy League economist whose mathematical calculations on a flight from Philadelphia to Syracuse Thursday evening triggered security concerns, was never charged with terrorism or taken into custody, Casey Norton, an American Airlines spokesperson tells PEOPLE.

According to the spokesperson, Menzio was questioned by the captain an unidentified number of crew members after his female seatmate, who forced the plane to abort its taxi to the runway so she could deplane, told the flight crew his odd writings and curt responses in accented English to her questions made her suspect that he was a terrorist. She had originally cited illness as her reason for leaving the plane.

"At some point the male passenger approached the flight crew to ask about the woman's well being," said Norton, noting the conversation took place on the jet way, away from the other passengers after Flight 3950 returned to the gate at 8:36 p.m. "There should not be any [insinuation] that he was detained or removed from the aircraft. This gentleman initiated the conversation."

After the flight's captain and an unidentified number of other airline representatives spoke to Menzio, the captain determined the woman's fear was unfounded. The approximately 40-minute flight left at 9:42 p.m., says Norton.

Norton added that the conversation was somewhat casual and noted Menzio told

that there was some chuckling during the conversation before he returned to his seat.

"No one from American Airlines accused this man of anything," added Norton.

identified as 30-something woman wearing flip-flops, opted to take a later American Airlines flight to the same destination, said Norton.

Menzio, who has held a tenured associate professorship at the University of Pennsylvania and taught at Princeton and Stanford University's Hoover Institution, was writing differential equations. Those mathematical equations are complex and often contain Greek letters.

It's unclear if the unidentified woman was notified that the man was simply a scholar working on complex equations.

Norton declined to estimate how often incidents of this nature occur on flights operated by American Airlines or its partners. He also declined to comment on how other airline passengers should react in similar circumstances.

Summary: Ivy League economist's calculation stall evening flight


Apple just partnered with another business technology giant in hopes of winning mind share as a serious corporate technology supplier.

The Mac maker and enterprise software titan SAP have joined forces in a partnership that will see SAP building corporate apps tailored for Apple’s mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad.

Additionally, SAP also will create a new software development kit that corporate developers can use to build their own iOS apps for their companies. The new software development kit will let coders build corporate software powered by SAP’s HANA database technology.

“This partnership will transform how iPhone and iPad are used in enterprise by bringing together the innovation and security of iOS with SAP’s deep expertise in business software,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a statement. “As the leader in enterprise software and with 76% of business transactions touching an SAP system, SAP is the ideal partner to help us truly transform how businesses around the world are run on iPhone and iPad.”

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For Apple aapl , the alliance is just the latest in a series of high-profile partnerships the Cupertino, Calif.-based company has been making over the past few years in an attempt to sell more of its devices to corporate customers.

In September, Cook said that Apple’s enterprise technology sales hit $25 billion in a twelve-month period that ended in June. He stressed that enterprise sales are “not a hobby” for Apple, but he conceded that the company lacked the traditional sales expertise of selling to corporate clients enterprise companies typically have.

To build better sales relationships with companies, Apple has inked several partnerships with enterprise giants like Cisco csco , Microsoft msft , and IBM ibm .

“We’re proud to take this special partnership between Apple and SAP to a groundbreaking new place,” SAP CEO Bill McDermott said in a statement. “In giving people an agile and intuitive business experience, we empower them to know more, care more and do more”

SAP and Apple did not elaborate on what type of corporate apps SAP will develop for the iPhone and iPad, only to say that they will be “for critical business operations” and will be built using Apple’s Swift programming language.

It’s also not clear at this time whether these corporate apps will be similar in nature to the over 100 business apps that have so far been built from Apple’s partnership with IBM.

For more about Apple, watch:

Like the new Apple and SAP partnership, IBM used Apple’s Swift coding language to build corporate iOS apps targeting the healthcare, utilities, retail, and other industries.

Apple recently posted its first drop in year-over-year quarterly revenue since 2003 amidst a slowdown in iPhone and iPad sales.

Summary: SAP will build corporate apps for Apple iPads and iPhones.


Amazon-owned Twitch and Google’s YouTube will be getting competition of a different sort late this summer with the beta launch of VREAL. Developed exclusively for virtual reality platforms such as Facebook’s Oculus Rift, Google Cardboard, and the HTC Vive, the livestreaming service will allow users to create avatars, connect with friends socially, and stream video games.

When Todd Hooper, founder and CEO of VREAL, was serving as vice president of online at Unity Technologies, he saw gameplay evolve into entertainment through platforms such as Twitch and YouTube. That development overlapped with Facebook’s $2 billion bet on virtual reality and the entry of Valve, HTC, and Sony into that market.

“There are more people watching games on Twitch and YouTube than playing games today,” Hooper says. “That same trend will apply to VR in the future.”

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Hooper says his startup has spent the past year investing in the technology that will allow developers using Unity or Unreal Engine technology to seamlessly render their virtual reality games across all platforms.

“We’ve built a way for us to re-render every game in real time so when you put on a VR headset I appear in the game next to you and we can have a social experience inside the game— just like a 2D web page and chat window on Twitch or YouTube,” Hooper says.

The difference is that viewers will be right next to their favorite streamers inside the game worlds, which Hooper says opens up a more personal social interaction.

Hooper met with over 50 game studios at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco last month to integrate this technology into upcoming releases. He says the first games to feature VREAL integration will be announced in June at the E3 video game trade show in Los Angeles.

VREAL is currently demonstrating its technology on Surgeon Simulator and Cloudlands: VR Minigolf games. The company has also created a concept piece called VR Legends, which has a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) flavor.

For more on virtual reality, watch:

“We’ve been looking for what are the interesting eSports titles for VR, and we put together concept of what that might look like,” Hooper says.

Hooper believes eSports will be huge for virtual reality, opening up more audience engagement and allowing fans to actually be at big tournaments and events—or inside of the video game worlds.

Outside of the traditional ad-based revenue model that Twitch and YouTube use, Hooper sees virtual reality opening up additional business models for sponsors.

“You could sell branded products to attach to your avatar,” Hooper says. “There are lots of things we can bring into VR that you don’t see in a traditional broadcast where you’re an invisible observer.”

Hooper says his company is committed to Oculus and Vive today, but VREAL is a Sony PlayStation partner and will be adding PlayStation VR to its offerings in the future. Users will also be able to watch virtual reality streams across mobile VR devices through cloud rendering technology, and even traditional 2D PC screens. But they will not be able to enter these streams with an avatar for the full experience that PC and PlayStation 4 devices offer.

“Future mobile VR products will be more powerful and with hand input interaction, opening open up more possibilities,” Hooper says.

Peter Warman, CEO of research firm Newzoo, says the convergence of games and video on a global scale is transforming games into all-around entertainment franchises.

“VR is changing how consumers communicate with each other and interact with content,” Warman says. “We expect the lion’s share of VR revenues to be generated by hardware sales, spectator content, and live viewing formats.”

VREAL has raised $3.3 million from Upfront Ventures, Vulcan Capital, Presence Capital, IT Farm, Dawn Patrol Ventures, and Seattle and Bay Area angel investors.

Summary: VREAL launches this summer.


wasn't BS'ing when he got engaged to

... again -- a year after she abruptly ended their previous engagement -- because TMZ has learned, the couple just went to a courthouse to obtain a marriage license.

Sources tell TMZ, Hef and Harris dropped by the Beverly Hills Courthouse this morning to obtain the necessary paperwork in order to make their New Year's wedding ceremony official.

TMZ broke the story ... the re-engaged couple are planning to tie the knot during an intimate ceremony on New Year's Eve at the Playboy Mansion.

Harris moved back into the Mansion earlier this year, and we're told she and Hef have been on fantastic terms ever since.

A big change from last June -- when Harris canceled the couple's previous engagement just 5 days before their big wedding.

Summary: Hugh Hefner wasn't BS'ing when he got engaged to Crystal Harris ... again -- a year after she abruptly ended their previous engagement -- because TMZ has…


AMSTERDAM, May 7— There are enough celebrations and commemorations crossing paths here to make the head spin and, more to the present point, the ears twirl.

After paying tribute on Thursday to those killed in World War II, the Netherlands on Friday celebrated the 50th anniversary of its liberation from German occupation. Among many other observances of that occasion, the Concertgebouw Orchestra performed Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony (No. 2), led by its former music director Bernard Haitink. And therein lies a whole series of tales.

Viewed from another angle, that stirring performance was merely an installment in a mammoth survey of Mahler's orchestral works at the Concertgebouw under the title Mahler Feest. The event, which began last Monday and runs through May 17, more or less recreates a Mahler festival at the Concertgebouw in 1920, celebrating the 25th anniversary of Willem Mengelberg's tenure as music director of the resident orchestra.

So willy-nilly, the current festival refers back a century, to Mengelberg's assumption of the post of music director, which he held for 50 years. All the more reason to celebrate, it might seem. But at this juncture, especially at this time, matters grow dicey and political.

Mengelberg, who was born to German immigrants in 1871 in Utrecht, the Netherlands, grew to mythic status in his homeland. "What Rembrandt is to the outside world in the realm of painting," the Dutch minister of education proclaimed at the 1920 festival, "you are throughout Europe and America as the leader of an orchestra." In the 1930's, Mengelberg's popularity rivaled and perhaps exceeded that of Queen Wilhelmina.

Then came the war. When the Nazis occupied the Netherlands in 1940, Mengelberg was taking a cure in Bad Gastein, Germany. Before appearing with the Berlin Philharmonic two months later, he was quoted in a National Socialist newspaper as saying that he had toasted the invasion with champagne, celebrating all night with friends.

Irreparably disgraced, he returned to stumble through the war years at the Concertgebouw, doing some mitigating good but more often accommodating the Nazi occupiers. In 1947, a national commission stopped short of calling him a collaborator, but determined that he had placed himself "at the service of enemy propaganda." Banned from conducting in the Netherlands for six years, he died in his Swiss retreat in 1951, never having conducted after the war.

Antipathy toward Mengelberg remains deep here. That fateful betrayal still overshadows his indisputable accomplishments, not least as a pioneering Mahlerian whose interpretations were certified by the master.

"This is a Mahler celebration, not a Mengelberg celebration," said Martijn Sanders, the director of the Concertgebouw and organizer of the Mahler Feest. "But I wanted to make discussion of Mengelberg the artist possible again. It is an attempt at artistic rehabilitation."

There are other things this imposing festival is not, Mr. Sanders was quick to point out.

"It is not a festival of orchestras," he said. No matter that the Concertgebouw is embarking on a weeklong tour to make way for the Vienna and Berlin philharmonics in the next six concerts. (Although no point is being made of it, the Berlin Philharmonic is to play Mahler's Sixth Symphony, the "Tragic," on Wednesday, the 55th anniversary of the German attack on the Netherlands.)

The aim, Mr. Sanders explained, was simply to invite orchestras with which the composer had personally established a Mahler tradition as conductor, and in which that tradition had been continuously nurtured. As luck would have it, the festival's three prominent orchestras happen to be among the world's finest.

But what of the New York Philharmonic? Mahler was its principal conductor from 1909 to 1911; Mengelberg, from 1922 to 1930. Mr. Sanders leaped at the question before it could be asked.

"If Bernstein were around today, I would have been glad to have them," he said. As it is, he suggested, the orchestra may be neglecting its Mahler tradition, performing the works too rarely.

For some, Bernstein's absence raises a larger issue: whether there are any great Mahler maestros left. The festival, viewed as a whole, should reveal much about the highest levels of performance now attainable.

Certainly, Mr. Haitink is an experienced and versatile Mahlerian, and his stately performance of the "Resurrection" Symphony (No. 2) -- eminently sane, as always, though appropriately grand or explosive at climaxes -- showed a wisdom and commitment to suit the exalted occasion. He will remain at the center of events, conducting the Third and Sixth Symphonies as well as "Das Lied von der Erde."

Riccardo Chailly, the Concertgebouw Orchestra's current music director, led the orchestra in a firmly directed, pristine account of Mahler's First Symphony on Wednesday evening, easily the best effort this listener has heard from him. And the orchestra's playing in both works was superb in detail and in overall effect.

But where are unbridled Mahlerian passion and fearsome Mahlerian angst? Will Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado or Simon Rattle summon them in greater measure, and can Mr. Haitink step up his intensity to match that of his last performances at Carnegie Hall as music director of the Concertgebouw Orchestra 13 years ago? If not, the overriding message of the Mahler Feest may be that the distinctive legacy of Mengelberg, a willful, often exasperating but more often exhilarating maestro, has been left for dead.

As if to compensate in song for what may be lacking in symphony, the baritone Thomas Hampson gave two supurb Mahler recitals in the Concertgebouw on Saturday and today, with Wolfram Rieger as the expert pianist. Mr. Hampson seemed the very model of a Mahler interpreter, pouring his outsize personality into these songs (some of them actual symphonic movements), risking all at every turn, subsuming small defeats in indomitable victories.

With smaller-scale recitals presented in a tent near the Concertgebouw, the festival is to cover virtually all of Mahler's works. Only out-takes, like the "Blumine" movement of the First Symphony, are missing, said Donald Mitchell, the Mahler biographer who edited the impressive festival book, "Gustav Mahler: The World Listens," and who will co-direct a four-day Mahler symposium beginning on Saturday.

The Mahler Feest is to end the day before the anniversary of Mahler's death on May 18, 1911. Although solemnly commemorated 75 years ago, the date might have injected one idea too many here. Then again, what could have been more appropriate than to end a festival devoted to a pessimistic and death-haunted composer on a note of gloom?

"Here lies the great mistake," wrote Paul F. Sanders, an Amsterdam critic and Martijn Sanders's great-uncle, in 1920: "that people have thought it possible to perform these works, which are cries of despair, which are written in the master's blood, in a festive atmosphere."

Still, the first festival proved a vital, memorable occasion for many serious musicians and a boon for the composer's posthumous standing, and the second promises to do likewise.

Photo: Riccardo Chailly, right, conductor, and Hakan Hagegard, baritone, at a Concertgebouw concert in Amsterdam, part of a Mahler festival. (Hans van den Boggaard/Hollandse Hoogte, for The New York Times)


Samantha Daniels is the founder of matchmaking service Samantha’s Table, author of “Matchbook: The Diary of a Modern Day Matchmaker” and the inspiration behind NBC’s 2003 show “Miss Match,” in which her life story was portrayed by Alicia Silverstone. But the 42-year-old successful NYC-based matchmaker was perpetually single – until finally getting hitched last spring. Below, she shares the story of how she finally found true love.

Deep down, I always wondered why marriage eluded me. I give great romantic advice. I’ve helped more than 300 people get married. Yet for more than 13 years, I was known as “The Single Matchmaker,” unable to reach the promised land myself.

I was proud of my accomplishments, but I was in the same boat as all of my successful clients: I had everything I wanted in my life, except for one person with whom to share it all. That is, until last March, when I finally married my true love.

How did I ultimately land my own big fish? I went through the same dating trials and tribulations as any other single New Yorker. I hit rock bottom with the last guy I dated before I met my husband. That boyfriend told me I was beautiful and that he could see himself marrying me. But a partner at his hedge fund told him no divorced man of his “success and stature” should commit to another marriage before dating a professional model. So he promptly broke up with me and found one. I got so fed up I took myself off the dating market, lest I start hating men forever.

During my one-month dating hiatus, I finally gave myself the same kind of tough love I give my clients every day: No more eliminating guys because they didn’t meet my stringent checklist. No more turning down invitations because I didn’t think I would meet my future husband there. No more sitting back and waiting for love to come to me.

My leap back into the dating pool was tested early. My friend Lori invited me out to the Breslin at the Ace Hotel at the spur of the moment. Normally I would have declined, but I made myself follow my grandmother’s cardinal dating rule: “Go, because you never know who you are going to meet.” When I arrived, Lori was nowhere to be found. But there was a handsome man with wavy brown hair, hazel eyes and kissable lips at the bar. Old Samantha would have waited for him to approach. But Ready-To-Follow- My-Own-Rules Samantha marched up to him and said, “Hello.”

“What do you do for a living?” he asked.

“We’ll have time for business talk later,” I flirted. It turns out Steve Farber, 39, was a successful finance guy — and my future husband.

Thirty minutes later, he was staring into my eyes, saying he wanted to kiss me. In the past, I would have played hard to get, but the new me coyly said, “OK.”

I soon learned he had kids and was separated. In the past, I would have steered clear of separated dads. But I decided to give Steve a chance. Maybe he was the marrying kind.

It turns out he was. Three years later, after living together, a romantic proposal in St. Lucia and an intimate Manhattan wedding, I am a single matchmaker no longer. I gave myself a good kick in the butt, followed my own rules and decided to date like a woman who was going to get married instead of a woman who was hoping to get married. And I did.

Summary: Samantha Daniels is the founder of matchmaking service Samantha’s Table, author of “Matchbook: The Diary of a Modern Day Matchmaker” and the inspiration behind NBC’s 2003 show “Miss Match,” in whic…


STATEN ISLAND (WPIX) – The baby sitter charged with killing 16-month-old Staten Island toddler faced the family of the young boy amid sobs, shrieks of pain and shouts of "you should rot in hell forever."

Assistant District Attorney said about the death of tiny Anthony Delgado, "Gloria Fields heinously and horrifically tortured a baby to death and deserves life in prison."

But when she detailed the actual abuse, including "slamming the baby's face to the ground" and "shoving a Crayola pencil up his rectum and leaving it there for a day and a half," several family members started shouting obscenities at the babysitter and had to be escorted out of the court room.

Fields was arraigned on murder, manslaughter and sexual abuse charges.

See photos of Fields and reaction on social media:

Baby sitter charged with murder in death of Staten Island 16-month-old

Gloria Fields deserves to die. No human...let alone a CHILD deserves that torment. My heart is broken for the family #ripanthonydelgado 💔 😔🙏

#disturbing Gloria Fields, #StatenIsland babysitter accused of torturously killing a 16-month-old boy. @PIX11News https://t.co/keoKGaMWsU

Gloria Fields, walked from @NYPD120Pct denied killing 16 month old Anthony Delgado. Said she cared about the baby. https://t.co/1q2YRGcqTy

Gloria Fields, 31, of Steuben Street, Staten Island, charged with murder, assault, aggravated sex abuse 16 month old https://t.co/r2yuk4hhI2

The mother of the toddler left court surrounded by family members. Marta Delgado, the boy's mother, said nothing.

Delgado's great aunt, Linda Cromwell said through her tears, "she needs to be punished for what she did."

Grandfather Roger Simpson said he was shocked to hear the allegation about the Crayon. "That was just a little baby," but he added, "God will judge her."

And aunt Krystal Gordon said Fields is not known for being a babysitter. "Everyone knows she's unstable. Everyone knows she does drugs."

In the District Attorney's complaint, Fields was said to have used heroin several times over the course of the weekend.

Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon said:

"For 48 hours, this depraved woman systematically tortured a 16-month-old baby. No creature on this earth, let alone an innocent child, deserves to undergo such horrific torment."

More from AOL.com: Charges dropped in NYC playground gang rape probe Man charged with Mississippi teen's 2014 burning death 3 Colorado deputies shot, 1 killed during gun battle with suspect

Summary: Gloria Fields, accused of 'heinously and horrifically torturing a baby to death', faces murder, manslaughter and sexual abuse charges.


WASHINGTON, Oct. 5— Two months after North Korea and the United States appeared to be near a breakthrough to end North Korea's nuclear weapons program, the two sides seem to be as far apart as ever, Administration officials and experts outside Government say.

A potentially crucial round of high-level talks is to begin on Thursday, when Assistant Secretary of State Robert L. Gallucci sits down in Geneva with his North Korean counterpart, Deputy Foreign Minister Kang Sok Ju.

But there is an growing sense that instead of resolving the issue, Washington may do well just to prevent the situation from deteriorating.

"The talks were a very important step forward in dealing with that problem, but talking isn't the same as agreeing," Defense Secretary William J. Perry told reporters today. "We have important issues still separating the North Korean and American side."

If the talks do not succeed, Mr. Perry warned, North Korea may re-emerge as the most serious national security issue facing Washington, overshadowing Haiti, Bosnia and the lax nuclear controls in the former Soviet Union.

The list of unresolved issues is daunting.

North Korea is still balking at allowing inspections of two nuclear waste sites, visits that would help determine whether it had diverted plutonium to arms. Administration officials, who said a month ago that North Korea was ready to accept inspections, are no longer confident.

North Korea has rebuffed demands that the 8,000 fuel rods it has removed from a reactor at Yongbyon and put in cooling ponds be taken out of country. The rods represent a potential supply of plutonium.

Nor has North Korea agreed to extend the freeze on its nuclear program while the talks proceed.

North Korea has also raised its asking price for shutting down its nuclear program, and now wants more than an assurance that the United States and its allies would provide light-water reactor technology: it also wants oil until the cleaner reactors are built.

"We're prepared to make a very serious, energetic effort to resolve the issues that are outstanding," Mr. Gallucci said after arriving in Geneva. But some former officials are pessimistic.

"It seems to me that we are in a situation where we are paying more and more for less and less," said Paul D. Wolfowitz, a Pentagon official in the Bush Administration and dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

In August, it seemed very different. Former President Jimmy Carter had just visited the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. North Korean and American officials outlined a possible deal in which Pyongyang would give up its nuclear program while the United States and its Asian allies would provide light-water reactor technology. Mr. Gallucci cautioned about hard work ahead but the expections were high.

Officials mention several possible reasons for the difficulties now.

One is that the North Koreans have always been more interested in buying time than in striking a deal.

Another view is that the death of Kim Il Sung, the North Korean leader, in July eroded the possibility for an accord. According to this view, Kim Jong Il, Kim's son, may not be in a strong enough position to make a deal. The North Korean military, an important constituency for the new leader, recently said it would never permit inspections of sensitive sites.

Some Administration officials, however, still hold out hope that progress may be made as Mr. Kim consolidates his position. They note that dealing with Pyongyang has long been an exercise in patience and frustration. -------------------- A Good Word for Kim Jong Il

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 5 (Special to The New York Times) -- In a speech marked mostly by an old-fashioned cold war tone, North Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister moved a step closer today to announcing that Kim Jong Il was the isolated country's undisputed leader.

The official, Choi Su Hon, described Mr. Kim as "the supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" who had inherited all the qualities of his father. But Mr. Choi stopped short of saying that Mr. Kim had taken over the leadership of the North Korean Communist Party, the key to complete power.

Mr. Kim has already been named military commander.

Mr. Choi's speech underlined the tougher attitude North Korea appears to be adopting in nuclear talks with Washington. He ruled out a role for South Korea, saying the matter was between North Korea and the United States.


doesn't regret baring her pregnant body in a nude photo shoot a couple years ago -- claiming the pics are "beautiful" and her young daughter sees them every day.

Lakshmi -- who posed nude while she was pregnant for a spread in Page Six Magazine in 2009 --

, “I think those are beautiful pictures and they hang in our design studio" ... adding, "My daughter passes those pictures every day."

Lakshmi claims, “There's a difference between a beautiful photo and an exploited photo, and I don't believe there's anything exploited in the photos that I've taken.”

And that's the naked truth.

Summary: "Top Chef" host Padma Lakshmi doesn't regret baring her pregnant body in a nude photo shoot a couple years ago -- claiming the pics are "beautiful" and…


Procter & Gamble pg , the maker of Tide detergent and Gillette shaving products, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, boosted by cost-cutting and higher selling prices.

However, P&G’s sales declined for the seventh quarter in a row as higher prices weighed on volumes and as the company shrinks its vast product portfolio to focus on faster-growing brands such as Pampers diapers and Pantene shampoo.

P&G’s organic sales—sales excluding acquisitions, divestitures and currency impact—increased 1% in the third quarter ended March 31.

But, analysts have warned that the Cincinnati-based company’s reliance on price hikes, rather than volume growth, to boost organic sales would be unsustainable.

P&G continues to expect organic sales to rise in the low-single digits percentage range in the fiscal year ending June, but sales would be driven by volume rather than pricing in the next two to four quarters, Chief Financial Officer Jon Moeller said on a media call.

The company, whose shares were down 0.5% at $80.94 in early trading, said it expects core earnings for the current quarter to be “significantly lower” than a year earlier due to increased advertising costs, a higher tax rate and negative currency impacts.

P&G had lost market share as it has been slow to react to changing trends in key markets including China. But under Chief Executive David Taylor, who took over from A.G. Lafley in November, P&G has ramped up advertising spending to regain its footing.

The company now expects full-year core earnings to fall 3-6%, compared with the decline of 3-8% it had estimated in January.

Net income attributable to P&G jumped nearly 28% to $2.75 billion, or 97 cents per share in the latest quarter.

Excluding items, it earned 86 cents per share, beating analysts average estimate of 82 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

P&G’s cost of goods sold fell by 11%. It raised prices, by an average of 1%, in four of its five businesses.

The company said volumes fell in all businesses, except in the baby, feminine and family care business. Overall volumes declined 2%, in part as P&G decoupled Venezuela results from the total.

P&G’s net revenue fell 7%, the smallest drop in three quarters, to $15.76 billion, and included a 5 percentage point negative impact from foreign exchange.

Analysts were expecting revenue of $15.81 billion.

Summary: But critics warn it can't go on


Oscar Mayer‘s famous Wienermobile has been riding around these United States since 1936. In those nearly 80 years it has gained loyal fans who could purchase Wienermobile merchandise from the company’s “Meat Market,” but they’ve never been able to own their own hotdog-shaped vehicle—until now.

Oscar Mayer tweeted on Cyber Monday that it is selling a mini version of its iconic Wienermobile.

The remote-control operated device is an offshoot of the company’s off-road Wiener Rover, which was introduced back in July but, unfortunately, the 47-inch vehicle was not available for purchase.

The mini RC Wiener Rover is smaller at 22.5 inches, according to CNET, and costs $25. It can be purchased directly from Oscar Mayer’s Twitter page. When it first went on sale Monday morning, it was in a small batch of just 20 and sold out in under 10 minutes. Gizmodo writes that the gadget will continue to be available through Dec. 4, but you have to keep an eye on the company’s tweets to know when it’s restocked.

Cards of the Wienermobile through the years from the company store in Wisconsin.

Photos courtesy of Oscar Mayer

Summary: But you have to act fast.