Audio calls released Monday revealed that just minutes before Chicago police fatally shot neighbors Quintonio LeGrier and Bettie Jones,

, requesting help from police.

"Can you please send the police?"

"To where?" the dispatcher asked.

"4710 W. Erie," LeGrier replied.

"What's wrong?" the dispatcher requested.

"I have an emergency," LeGrier said.

Police shot man dead after he called 911 for help 3 times

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 24: Director Quentin Tarantino attends a protest to denounce police brutality in Manhattan October 24, 2015 in New York City. The rally is part of a three-day demonstration against officer-involved abuse and killing. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

US film director Quentin Tarantino (L) takes part in a march against police brutality called 'Rise up October' on October 24, 2015, in New York. Campaigners demanding an end to police killings of unarmed suspects demonstrated and marched through Manhattan. AFP PHOTO/EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ (Photo credit should read EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ/AFP/Getty Images)

US film director Quentin Tarantino (C) takes part in a march against police brutality called 'Rise up October' on October 24, 2015, in New York. Campaigners demanding an end to police killings of unarmed suspects demonstrated and marched through Manhattan. AFP PHOTO/EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ (Photo credit should read EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ/AFP/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 24: Director Quentin Tarantino holds a banner as attends a rally to denounce police brutality in Washington Square Park October 24, 2015 in New York City. The rally is part of a three-day demonstration against officer-involved abuse and killing. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 24: Director Quentin Tarantino holds a banner as attends a rally to denounce police brutality in Washington Square Park October 24, 2015 in New York City. The rally is part of a three-day demonstration against officer-involved abuse and killing. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

Director Quentin Tarantino, center, participates in a rally to protest against police brutality Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015, in New York. Speakers at the protest said they want to bring justice for those who were killed by police. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison)

Kimberly Griffin, left, holds hands with film director Quentin Tarantino after she recalled memories of her son Kimoni Davis, during a public reading of the names of people who have died at the hands of police nationwide, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015, at Times Square, in New York. The protest marked the start of three days of protests and marches speaking out against violence at the hands of law enforcement. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

US film director Quentin Tarantino takes part in a march against police brutality called 'Rise up October' on October 24, 2015, in New York. Campaigners demanding an end to police killings of unarmed suspects demonstrated and marched through Manhattan. AFP PHOTO/EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ (Photo credit should read EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ/AFP/Getty Images)

US film director Quentin Tarantino (L) takes part in a march against police brutality called 'Rise up October' on October 24, 2015, in New York. Campaigners demanding an end to police killings of unarmed suspects demonstrated and marched through Manhattan. AFP PHOTO/EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ (Photo credit should read EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ/AFP/Getty Images)

That was LeGrier asking police to come to his home on the day after Christmas. The dispatcher hung up on LeGrier during one of the calls when he said his life was being threatened.

It wasn't until Quintonio's father, Antonio LeGrier, requested police that dispatch sent an officer.

"He's got a baseball bat in his hand,"

"How old is he?" the dispatcher asked.

"Has he been drinking?" the dispatcher asked.

"Not to my knowledge," LeGrier replied.

"What's your name, sir?" the dispatcher asked.

"OK. Watch for the police," the dispatcher replied.

When police arrived, Quintonio, a

, answered the door wielding a baseball bat and was shot by police along with Bettie Jones, who was the downstairs neighbor. Police have declared her death an accident.

Wrongful-death lawsuits have already been filed against the city, and the dispatcher is still employed but facing disciplinary action. Now, outraged residents are saying Chicago's emergency response system is greater cause for concern.

More from AOL.com: American tourist killed with sword-like weapon in Caribbean Artificial intelligence pioneer Marvin Minsky dead at 88 Kim Richards breaks silence on ex-husband's death in touching tribute: I lost the 'best friend I've ever had'

Summary: Newly released 911 calls reveal that a 19-year-old contacted Chicago police three times before law enforcement arrived and fatally shot him.


YOU feel the buzz as you approach La Mar  in a smart industrial-gray cement building in a neighborhood of auto body shops. Chauffeurs line up around the block and stand outside their cars after dropping off the sunglassed socialites who stream down the entrance walkway. Bamboo lines the path like paparazzi, and everyone turns to see who's arriving. The upbeat music of the Colombian pop group Aterciopelados blasts from speakers overhead. It's a party, but what could be going on now, at 1:30 on a Tuesday afternoon?

Inside, attractive Peruvian 20-somethings drink pisco sours at the bar, ogled by slick-looking men dressed in black and wearing black Gucci sunglasses. Businessmen in suits eat plates of raw fish while the crowds lining up at the hostess's stand scan the surroundings for empty tables.

The open dining room feels more like an outdoor terrace: sheltered with leafy palms, roofed with bamboo and partly open to the sidewalk. Everyone appears to know everyone, and you'd think you had dropped in on the most exuberant party at the beach, although it's unlikely you would find such impeccable service, or ceviche served in martini glasses, at a beach joint.

In a country where the restaurant scene is in full gastronomic swing, La Mar, in the prosperous district of Miraflores, is the most exciting new spot, embodying a cuisine that is bringing together disparate ethnic influences both on the dinner plate and in a new national pride. The owner is Gastón Acurio, a celebrity chef who also runs the more formal Astrid y Gastón with his wife, Astrid. Perhaps it is because he is the son of a former prime minister and senator, Gastón Acurio Velarde, that Mr. Acurio holds an avid interest in the power of culinary success to bring not only international recognition but also, by extension, a feeling of national identity that can move Peru forward.

"Food is becoming a powerful symbol of what we are, and the most important thing about our food is the mixture," Mr. Acurio said. "We are proud of that mixture now." The word that describes their mixture of Andean, Spanish, Italian and Asian  in both food and culture  is criollo.

"The moment we became as proud of what we are as we are of our food," Mr. Acurio said, "is the moment the country can turn."

Eating is the gateway to Lima's social scene, and one day and night, beginning with lunch, is enough to get a feel for the social landscape.

In the same way Americans eat sandwiches for lunch, Peruvians eat ceviche (raw fish soaked in lime juice) or other fish. La Mar is a cevichería, one of hundreds in Peru. Like other cevicherías, it is open for lunch but not for dinner. "Seafood is for lunch, " Mr. Acurio said. "A long time ago, you would get sick at night from the raw fish, so it became a habit at night to eat meat and pasta."

Mr. Acurio styled La Mar after a neighborhood spot called Sonia. "I wanted to keep the basics of the classic rustic cevichería," he said. "You don't need to find wonderful food only in pretentious restaurants."

La Mar's enormous sea-blue menu is arranged like a sushi menu: it starts with raw fish and works into tempuras and entrees of rice and cooked fish. The ceviche of raw Dover sole is served in the typical Peruvian style, with sweet potatoes and pieces of corn, the sweetness offsetting the acidity of the lime.

At the original Sonia, in the beach neighborhood of Chorrillos, customers sit at simple wooden tables in a colorful blue and green room. A slatted bamboo roof lets in light. The walls are hung with fishing nets and photographs of the owner, Sonia Baramonde, with luminaries including the chef and food writer Anthony Bourdain. ("Lunch in Lima is exciting and very sophisticated," Mr. Bourdain said. "It reminds me of the daytime version of Barcelona food culture  it is very metropolitan.")

The fare at Sonia's is fried calamari and ceviche, plates of rice and Inca Kola or chicha morada, an extremely sweet blue corn drink that is an acquired taste. Lunches are loud and energetic, with platters passed around tables and people eating off one another's plates and drinking Cusqueña beer (supposedly made with the best water from Cuzco). Lunch goes on for hours, and while the food is less remarkable than La Mar's it is equally fresh, and the restaurant draws a fashionable crowd.

Another boisterous lunch scene can be found at Canta Rana, just north of the city in the trendy neighborhood of Barranco. Soccer memorabilia covers the walls, and a handsome crowd munches corn kernels and drinks Inca Kola while waiting for scallops Parmesan. Some patrons eat, walk around the neighborhood and then come back and join another table, or linger and order a second lunch.

After lunches that are this much fun, one might think Lima night life would be disappointing. But it's a whole other world, with a whole other menu. Jaime Barco, a lawyer who grew up in Lima and is part of the Peruvian party set, described the night scene as "better than Santiago and worse than Buenos Aires."

Mr. Barco was having dinner one night in Barranco at LA 73, named after the bus stop across the street and considered very cutting edge in conservative Lima. In a room with subway-tiled walls covered in art posters, cool-looking artists dine on novo Andean dishes next to aristocratic bohemian families from the neighborhood. The manager, Marco Pacheco, said: "We try to combine gourmet food in an informal atmosphere. Typically, people eat here around 9 and then go to parties or clubs afterward." LA 73 serves delicious strudel de carne, a flaky pastry enclosing rich meat spiced with hot pepper and what tasted like cinnamon. The house dessert is churros, fried dough in sugar dipped in hot chocolate sauce.

Summary: In Lima, Peru, the dining scene and the social scene are one in the same.


Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle

Members of the Giants grounds crew remove the tarp covering the field during a rain delay before the Giants take on the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, April 9, 2016.

Members of the Giants grounds crew remove the tarp covering the field during a rain delay before the Giants take on the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, April 9, 2016.

David, San Francisco resident, keeps dry in the rain under an umbrella while crossing Texas Street against a San Francisco skyline obscured by rain on Monday, January 4, 2015 in San Francisco, Calif.

David, San Francisco resident, keeps dry in the rain under an umbrella while crossing Texas Street against a San Francisco skyline obscured by rain on Monday, January 4, 2015 in San Francisco, Calif.

Pedestrians carry umbrellas on Market Street in light rain in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, March 9, 2016.

Pedestrians carry umbrellas on Market Street in light rain in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, March 9, 2016.

Rain will return to the Bay Area midweek, forecasters say

The Bay Area will have a few days to dry out after a weekend of showers, but, forecasters said, the rain will return by midweek.

Patchy rain that began Friday night brought about two-thirds of an inch of rain to San Francisco, about 0.87 of an inch in Oakland and nearly an inch in San Jose. It had slowed to a near stop by Sunday afternoon, National Weather Service forecaster Bob Benjamin said.

The workweek will start cool and dry, Benjamin said, with temperatures lingering in the low to mid 60s through midweek.

Another round of showers, the result of a round of storms hitting the Pacific Northwest, will take hold late Wednesday and last through Thursday night, the weather service said, making for a soggy commute Thursday morning. About a quarter inch of rain is expected, Benjamin said.

The sun will come out by Friday and last through the weekend.

Marissa Lang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mlang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Marissa_Jae

Summary: Rain will return to the Bay Area midweek, forecasters say  The Bay Area will have a few days to dry out after a weekend of showers, but, forecasters said, the rain will return by midweek.  The workweek will start cool and dry, Benjamin said, with temperatures lingering in the low to mid 60s through midweek.  Another round of showers, the result of a round of storms hitting the Pacific Northwest, will take hold late Wednesday and last through Thursday night, the weather service said, making for a soggy commute Thursday morning.


06/11/2016 AT 01:10 PM EDT

took to Instagram on Friday to celebrate the news of her latest weigh-in.

King, 61, is down 27.7 lbs. since

in September 2015. She began at 184.5 lbs., but as of Friday, is clocking-in at 156.8 lbs..

"In 9 months have a baby???" the

host captioned the shot, "orrrr lose 27.7 lbs on @weightwatchers? I chose to count points."

Her loss was received with an outpouring of support from her followers. "Fabulous!! You look fantastic," one commenter wrote. "Very inspiring!!"

"You must feel so great!!!," another added. "Carry around a 25 pound bag of flour or something and marvel at how hard it is!"

King has been documenting her weight-loss journey on Instagram, with weekly posts showing a steady loss of weight on her "friendly"

about losing a "who wore it best?" contest to Oscar winner

, saying "to be honest – I would have voted for @lupitanyongo on this one! It took me 2 years to fit in this dress so I will stay happy about THAT!"

magazine editor said she had fallen off the Weight Watchers bandwagon, indulging in a caramel cake with bananas foster filing for her birthday.

King joined Weight Watchers alongside her BFF

– who is a spokesperson for the company and has

In 2004, King opened about her weight loss struggles in the past in

, writing "I deny myself nothing" when it comes to food.

"Some people don't eat pasta or bread or sweets ever," she said. "I love those foods too much. So for the most part, I eat healthy, but if I go to a party or on vacation, I'm going to enjoy it; then I work extra hard to get back to where I was."

Summary: The 61-year-old journalist began the program in September alongside pal Oprah Winfrey


The “Bachelor” beauty who took her own life with a vacuum cord last month suffered severe mood swings tied to her menstrual cycle, her mom told TV's Dr. Phil.

Grieving mom Donna Micheletti said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that daughter Gia Allemand's intense premenstrual syndrome clouded her thinking and likely contributed to her suicide.

"She was not depressed. Sometimes, when it was that time of the month, she would get insecure and go to a dark spot, and she'd feel like nobody cared," Micheletti said. "She just snowballed."

The New York mom said her daughter called her from New Orleans the night of the suicide bid and booked her a flight to come visit the next day.

"I'm not happy. I can't go on with this anymore," Allemand said during the half hour call, according to her mom.

"At that point, that day, with how she felt with her menstrual cycle, she could not see clearly," Micheletti said. "I was trying to talk to her, trying to be careful what I say. I didn't want to upset her more, and I was nervous."

She said Allemand's menstrual cycle was so powerful, it could change her demeanor "like night and day."

"It would come out of nowhere," Micheletti said, snapping her fingers. "All of a sudden something would click in there, and she would say, 'This isn't right. He doesn't love me. He's not this. He's not that.'"

The chilling details of Allemand's Aug. 12 suicide - which ended with doctors disconnecting her life support two days later — were laid bare in a police report obtained by the Daily News.

According to New Orleans cops, Allemand hanged herself within two hours of her NBA boyfriend claiming he didn't love her anymore.

The Queens-bred bombshell left a suicide note on her dining room table that read, "Mom gets everything," and wrapped a vacuum cleaner cord around her neck.

One end of the cord was found tied to the handrail on the second floor of her apartment. The other end was still attached to the heavy vacuum found at the bottom of the stairs.

According to police, Allemand arrived back at her apartment around 6 p.m. that Monday after a lunch date and emotional fight with boyfriend Ryan Anderson, a power forward for the New Orleans Pelicans.

"Mr. Anderson stated they were arguing most of the time during their meal over her suspicions of (him) having been unfaithful," the report from the New Orleans Police Department said.

Anderson told police he took Allemand, 29, to a Walgreens drug store to purchase a few items including Nyquil cough syrup and then drove her back to her separate residence.

"Anderson stated before Ms. Allemand got out of his vehicle, she stated she loved him," the report said.

"I don't love you anymore," he replied, according to the report.

Allemand likely was on the phone with her helpless mother several states away when she caused the injury that left her brain dead.

"I heard her last breath," Micheletti told Dr. Phil, breaking down in tears. "I thought it was just mumbling. I couldn't understand her. It was incoherent. I didn't know what it was until after the fact."

The tragedy was discovered after Micheletti sent Anderson a frantic text around 7:28 p.m. asking him to check on her daughter.

Anderson arrived at Allemand's apartment 20 minutes later at 7:48 p.m., used his own key to enter and found the model "sitting" on the second step of the staircase, according to police.

She was unconscious with the cord wrapped around her neck.

"Mr. Anderson stated he frantically unwrapped the cord from Ms. Allemand's neck, and that she was not responsive," the report said. "He then began yelling for help."

Micheletti said Allemand had never threatened suicide before, but she knew something was terribly wrong when the phone went silent for about ten minutes and then disconnected.

"I'm going, 'Gina, Gina, wake up, don't go to sleep. I'll be there in 12 hours. Wake up.' And it was nothing there," Micheletti said. "That was it, it was over."


Tesla just had its strongest quarter in China, Bloomberg reports.

Elon Musk, the automotive company’s CEO, broke the news to Chinese media during a trip to Beijing last week. 1,345 units were sold in the country in the third quarter, ending in September, marking Tesla’s highest sales quarter in the country since entering the Chinese market last year.

797 Teslas were sold in the first quarter of 2015 and 883 were sold in the second, meaning nearly as many cars were sold in this past quarter alone as were sold in the first two combined. This could be a step in the right direction after Tesla has had difficulty making an impact in the country.

China is the largest car market and, with unmatched pollution problems, should be the largest electric vehicle market. However, this hasn’t been reflected in the company’s past sales. Tesla cut jobs earlier this year after failing to meet ambitious sales targets.

The company hopes that sales will boost even higher next year when it debuts its Model X SUV in China during the first half of 2016, though it was originally scheduled to be released this summer.

In an interview with Xinhua News Agency, Musk claimed that Tesla sales in China could be on track to match U.S. sales within five or six years. The company plans to release third quarter U.S. sales on November 3, but the second quarter saw a record high of 11,532 delivered vehicles.

Summary: It's a market that needs electric cars.


Orlando Bloom isn't easy to get over.Discussing her 2006 split with the 34-year-old "Hobbit" star, actress Kate Bosworth, 28, told England's Sunday Times Style that she felt physical repercussions after the breakup."Oh, I definitely know the feeling of pain, that's for sure," said Bosworth, who recently split with "Straw Dogs" co-star Alexander Skarsgard.

STARS GONE DARK! WHEN CELEBRITIES CALL IT QUITS

She went on to say that the breakup "sent me into such pain, I think I had actual vertigo. I was like, 'Is this my new reality? Will anything be normal again?'"Despite the heartache, Bosworth said that she did eventually figure out how to deal with her grief.

BREAKING UP AND MAKING UP: CELEBS WHO GOT BACK TOGETHER

"Then one day," the "Superman Returns" beauty mused, "You wake up and you think, OK, I'll never be the same, but I'll survive and I'll grow from it."As it happens, Bosworth had a chance to test this theory in July, when an Us Weekly spy saw the former flames run into each other on a Los Angeles street."They looked cordial," the witness said. "They were genuinely smiling to one another like friends, but didn't linger very long."

Summary: Kate Bosworth told England's Sunday Times Style that she felt physical repercussions after her breakup with Orlando Bloom.


By Peter Elkind with Marty Jones

Redstone working in his den at home in Beverly Hills, Calif. in April 2005, Photograph by Meredith Heuer

As Redstone’s decline accelerated, the sordid goings on—both by the billionaire and those around him—continued. Eventually, his daughter, Shari, and Viacom’s Philippe Dauman (whose weak performance as CEO has made him reliant on his patron’s favor) re-entered the fray, setting off the contest that is now playing out in court.

It is among the many ironies in the Redstone saga that Sydney Holland was undone by falling for a charming con artist professing his love.

Her paramour was George Pilgrim, a handsome 49-year-old former actor who lives in Sedona, Ariz. For most of a year beginning in mid-2014, Holland and Pilgrim carried on a torrid affair. Holland would fly into Sedona on a private jet to rendezvous, then return to Los Angeles in time to spend the night with Redstone.

Pilgrim wasn’t exactly a smart choice for a clandestine relationship. He was a bipolar alcoholic and ex-con, who’d served 27 months in federal prison for a multimillion-dollar scam. He’d snared Holland (a complete stranger) on June 25, 2014, with unsolicited Facebook messages about her lawsuit against the leader of the Electric Barbarellas. “So glad your taking down Heather Naylor. I have so much Shit on her!!!” Pilgrim wrote. “Call me anytime.” He posted his phone number.

Pilgrim’s knowledge of the nasty court fight—and Holland—had come entirely from the Internet. When Holland didn’t respond, he sent her seven more messages: “Congrats on your beautiful child!!!…In other words I know who has your laptop…I think your Hot!!…Damn I’m hung…I could say Fuck u!! To not responding!!! But I can’t you are a real class act!! Call me.”

She took the bait. “Who is this?? Sorry I never read Facebook,” Holland wrote the following morning. “I will call you tomorrow and thank you for reaching out to me!”

It’s doubtful that Pilgrim actually provided any useful information about the Naylor case (which Holland would eventually abandon). But she soon launched into a sizzling romance with Pilgrim, whose TV appearances included a soft-core Cinemax series and an Animal Planet program showcasing his belief in UFOs. As she learned about his life, Holland even decided to option film rights to his work-in-progress memoir, Citizen Pilgrim, for her production company, Rich Hippie.

In November—after she’d already been alerted that Shari’s private detective was investigating her—Holland bought a $3.5 million five-bedroom home to share with Pilgrim in Sedona. The two began making plans to get married (after Redstone died, of course) and for Pilgrim to adopt baby Alexandra Red. Redstone knew nothing about his girlfriend’s Arizona liaison.

By the following May, the relationship had turned stormy. During fights, Pilgrim had begun demanding money from Holland, and threatening to tip off Sumner’s daughter, who Holland viewed as her biggest threat. “Fuck u I’m calling Shari I want house and 25 million or I help Ms. Redstone,” he texted Holland on May 26, according to message excerpts provided by her lawyers. “I’m going to expose us…Here’s our pic kissing…” And, on June 3: “We go to war…I destroy u…Your fucked Shari is my first call.” Holland convinced Pilgrim to enter a 30-day Texas rehab program for his alcohol problem, but he checked himself out just days after arriving. She changed the locks on the Sedona house. By then Holland wanted to end the relationship, but she was eager to keep her dalliance a secret.

Pilgrim hired a Los Angeles attorney, Bryan Freedman, who demanded a settlement from Holland for claims relating to the movie option and the purported promises involving the house and marriage. By late summer, according to Freedman, their lawyers were discussing a deal awarding him at least $6 million, including a percentage of what Holland got from Redstone’s estate. It would include a strict non-disclosure agreement, with clawback provisions for any violations. (Brad Rose, Holland’s lawyer, denies the sides were close to a settlement or that Holland was trying to buy Pilgrim’s silence. He says he was just seeking to gather evidence of Pilgrim’s “brazen extortion attempt.” Pilgrim declined to be interviewed.)

In the end, Pilgrim blew up any chance of settlement, setting in motion events that would reverberate in Beverly Park. In late August last year, Pilgrim walked into Wally’s, a chic Beverly Hills restaurant, and confronted the boyfriend of Manuela Herzer’s daughter. Pilgrim explained that he was Sydney Holland’s fiancé, displayed photographs that suggested he knew everything about Herzer’s family, and made threatening comments about both Redstone and the “hot” Herzer daughters.

Herzer’s attorney, Pierce O’Donnell (center) meets the press in November 2015.Photograph by Frederick M. Brown — Getty Images

Herzer, who learned about the encounter late that night while in New York (and recounted what she heard to Fortune), says she had “no idea that Pilgrim existed, much less that he was in Sydney’s life.” She says she alerted Los Angeles attorney Robert Shapiro, a onetime member of O.J. Simpson’s legal “Dream Team,” whose firm represented both Holland and Redstone in the Naylor case. Everyone soon agreed: Redstone had to be told.

On August 30, Holland, accompanied by Patty Glaser, Shapiro’s law partner, confessed her betrayal to Redstone face-to-face. When Holland told him how long it had been going on, he ordered her out of his house for good.

Since moving in with Redstone in 2013, Manuela Herzer hadn’t exactly devoted herself exclusively to his needs. While Holland logged many hours with the nonagenarian, Herzer was often gone, making regular trips to New York and Paris. She funded her lifestyle with freewheeling use of two Redstone credit cards, running up $2.7 million in charges in the first nine months of 2015, according to credit card statements reviewed by Fortune. Herzer spent $17,430 in a single day at Bergdorf Goodman in New York, $21,493 on a visit to Chanel in Paris. (O’Donnell says Redstone encouraged Herzer and Holland to use his credit cards “without limit” because it “was their money, anyway. They were going to get it when he died.”)

Holland’s abrupt exit increased Herzer’s duties, but with outsize rewards. Four days after banishing Holland, Redstone signed papers naming Herzer, who had already received a total of about $70 million from him, as his sole health care agent (Dauman was the alternate). He also changed his will to give her the $20 million Beverly Park estate and $50 million cash. That made her total bequest $70 million.

Staff would later complain that Herzer brazenly exploited Redstone, according to sources close to him. Shortly after Holland’s ouster, Redstone family lawyer David Andelman emailed Herzer to discuss canceling the lease on the oceanfront house Redstone was renting in Malibu, on the assumption he wasn’t using it. But Herzer—whose own relatives partied there frequently—insisted Sumner loved the beach. On Sept. 14, she ordered his staff to load Redstone into a van to drive to the coast. After arriving in Malibu, they helped Sumner into a chair in the backyard, where he was quickly photographed, with a blank expression—presumably as evidence of him enjoying the place. (The photograph was introduced in Herzer’s lawsuit.) Herzer then instructed the staff to load him back into the van for the trip back to Beverly Hills. Redstone was in Malibu for 30 minutes. (O’Donnell says Redstone “wanted to go out there.”)

Herzer tightened oversight of Redstone’s medical care at Beverly Park, where an RN, LVN, and aide were on duty at all times, working 12-hour shifts. To monitor the nurses, who spent the evening with Redstone in his pitch-dark room as he slept, she installed night-vision cameras throughout his mansion.

Herzer also assumed management of Redstone’s sexual demands. As Herzer would later describe it, Holland’s betrayal had sent Sumner into a physical and psychological tailspin. In an evocative court filing, she said he’d become “a living ghost”: blank and vacant, oblivious to his surroundings, prone to spontaneous crying spells, virtually unable to speak, and subject to “fixations.” Among them: He wanted steak and sex daily. For an incontinent, feeble 92-year-old who required a feeding tube and catheter and who struggled to swallow his own saliva, both were practical impossibilities. Nonetheless, Herzer sought to meet his “prurient urges.”

Sydney Holland and Redstone in 2014.Photograph by Todd Williamson — Invision/AP Images

Redstone clamored incessantly for the companionship of a woman named Terry Holbrook, who Herzer’s lawyer says was paid $5,000 a month. On one occasion, after being told Terry was on a plane, Redstone ordered his staff to call all the airlines to try to find her. Herzer arranged a few visits, but nurses later reported that she’d instructed them to make excuses and lie to Sumner about Terry’s availability, explaining that Redstone’s doctor warned he shouldn’t engage in sexual activity more than once a week. (Herzer’s lawyer says she never ordered anyone to lie to Sumner about Holbrook’s availability.)

In a pre-trial brief, Redstone’s lawyers assert that Herzer had a different motivation: preventing Redstone from developing a closer relationship with a woman who might threaten her control. Redstone and Holbrook had a longstanding friendship. Now 60, Holbrook, thrice-divorced, is a former Houston Oilers cheerleader, a onetime model, and evangelical Christian, according to a videotaped interview she gave to a televangelist. After meeting Redstone, she received millions from him, most of it around 2010, when she bought a $2.4 million home. In a 2015 website posting discussing RainCatcher, an international charity she supported, Holbrook praised Redstone as “my largest donor, mentor, and friend.” After Holland’s exit, he seemed positively smitten with Holbrook, according to Redstone’s lawyers, regularly sending her “love notes and flowers.” (Holbrook did not respond to a call seeking comment.)

While curbing Redstone’s contact with Holbrook, Herzer encouraged sessions with Heidi MacKinney, who worked as Herzer’s paid assistant. MacKinney, whose past included a personal bankruptcy and a conviction for cocaine possession, submitted a legal statement supporting Herzer in 2007, during the custody fight involving her daughter; in it she said their children were playmates.

In a sworn statement submitted in the Redstone case, MacKinney says she saw Redstone five times in the five weeks after Holland’s exit. “Mentally, Sumner was not present,” she wrote. He was unable to communicate and “not fully aware of his surroundings or what was happening around him.” MacKinney found his condition on her last two visits “especially troubling…he was completely nonresponsive.”

Nonetheless, she wrote, she sought to engage sexually with him. According to MacKinney, “a male nurse was in the room with Sumner and me, directing me and telling me what sex acts I should perform. At the conclusion of my time with Sumner, the male nurse would sometimes tell Sumner that he had ejaculated, when in fact Sumner had not. Nevertheless, Sumner appeared to believe him, not aware of the truth.” After 20 minutes with Redstone on Oct. 10, she says, she resolved not to visit with him again.

As Herzer describes it, Redstone was doing poorly the next day. During his traditional Sunday movie screening at home with friends, this time showing Steve Jobs, Sumner aspirated, requiring Herzer to clear the room so nurses could suction his throat. She says he then kept falling asleep, first during the movie, then while watching a baseball playoff game. (Redstone’s lawyers claim that he wasn’t “out of it,” but was, rather, giving Herzer “the cold shoulder.”)

In a court filing, Herzer says she awoke at 8 a.m. the next morning, Monday, Oct. 12, so concerned about Redstone’s health that she ordered a nurse to summon his doctor, before leaving to run errands. She returned hours later to what she would later characterize as an ambush.

Staff members, backed by an armed security guard and Redstone’s probate lawyer, Leah Bishop, told her that Sumner didn’t want her there any more. “Are you mad at me?” Herzer asked Redstone. “Do you want me to leave?” Redstone’s lawyer says he replied “yes.” Herzer says he just made a grunting noise and burst into tears. Finally Herzer agreed to leave and was escorted out. With Herzer out, the path was clear for Shari Redstone to return to a position of influence with her dad.

Four days later, Sumner Redstone signed papers replacing Herzer as his health care agent with Dauman and Dooley, his trusted Viacom lieutenants. Redstone also erased Herzer’s $70 million bequest from his will.

The stage was now set for the most recent legal battle in Redstone’s lengthy history of legal feuds. The accusations would begin flying, and in many cases, it’s difficult to determine which are true. Every player may indeed have deep affection for Redstone—but every one of them also has sizable amounts of money or power riding on him too.

Ejected from Redstone’s house, Herzer wasn’t about to willingly depart his life. Within 24 hours, attorneys from three firms began dispatching letters to Redstone’s probate lawyers, claiming he was mentally incompetent and under “undue influence” when he’d given Herzer the boot. Warning of dire consequences for his care, they demanded her immediate reinstatement as his medical agent. “The bottom line is that he was brainwashed,” Herzer’s lawyer, O’Donnell, later proclaimed to reporters.

When O’Donnell filed suit on Nov. 24 to reinstall Herzer as Redstone’s health care agent, he asserted his client cared nothing about money; she was taking this step solely “to honor her sacred promise to Mr. Redstone to care for him for the rest of his life.” Of course, a determination that he was incompetent at the time he replaced Herzer would also invalidate his action to cut her out of his will. “This application,” Redstone’s lawyers shot back, “is all about Ms. Herzer’s personal financial agenda.”

Herzer’s claims seek to thread a neurological needle. She is arguing that Redstone remained mentally competent through early September, when he evicted Holland, then named Herzer his sole health care agent and raised her bequest to $70 million. But then, according to Herzer, Redstone was incompetent just six weeks later, when he ordered her out of the house, replaced her on his directive, and dropped her from his will. She blames the “trauma” of Holland’s betrayal for accelerating Redstone’s decline during this period.

Herzer claims Shari Redstone secretly orchestrated her father’s decision to suddenly turn on her. (O’Donnell calls it a “coup.”) Under this theory, Shari accomplished her mission by manipulating two key members of her father’s household staff: driver/house manager Isilei Tuanaki and registered nurse Jeremy Jagiello, whose skill at interpreting Redstone’s speech placed him regularly at Sumner’s side. In particular, Herzer asserts Jagiello—dubbed the “Sumner whisperer”—convinced Redstone that Herzer had stolen millions from him and lied to him about an array of matters, including the availability of Terry Holbrook.

Jagiello’s purported motivation? Herzer says the nurse wanted to increase his overtime pay and influence in the household, and get out from under Herzer’s scrutiny. “Jeremy has manipulated and lied to Sumner to promote his own personal benefit,” Herzer tells Fortune. “Jeremy took advantage of Sumner knowing that he was vulnerable and in a weakened mental and physical state.”

Jagiello and Tuanaki, who are listed as witnesses in the trial, both declined comment. Jagiello’s lawyer did not return calls seeking comment. But James Spertus, an attorney for Tuanaki, the driver, calls such claims “preposterous.” Says Spertus: “They’re going to lie so they get overtime? Give me a break!”

With both of Redstone’s companions finally gone, Shari returned to his Beverly Park mansion. In a later court declaration, she said Herzer’s departure had allowed her to reunite with her father, and, that after a history of “very public disagreements over business matters,” they had now patched those up and resumed their “uniquely close relationship.”

During Shari’s visits, Redstone abruptly reversed course on an array of issues. For example, eleven months after dispatching a letter that derided her claims that she was prevented from seeing him, he now sent a new letter saying precisely the opposite. The new missive, dated Dec. 11 and witnessed by Jagiello and a second nurse, acknowledged that his daughter shaped it. “I wanted to clearly lay out my thoughts, feelings, and expectations in writing, and you helped me to do so in this letter,” the letter stated. It explained that the nurses had helped Redstone review “each point,” and that the document reflected his “true feelings.”

Sydney Holland, Redstone, and Herzer at an event in 2013.Photograph by Billy Bennight—ZUMAPRESS

“I wish to put our family back as we were before Sydney and Manuela….” it began. The letter voiced shock and remorse that “communications” had been sent over the past five years, “purportedly at my authority,” which, “among other things, criticized you and your family, prevented all of you from visiting me, threatened to bar all of you from my funeral, and specifically banned you from visiting me at the hospital.”

Several of these documents had been signed by Redstone and witnessed by his probate lawyer, who swore that he was competent to execute them. No matter. Any such materials that “in any way criticized you or your family or minimized your importance to me,” according to the letter, “should be considered withdrawn, terminated, voided, cancelled, inaccurate and of no effect whatsoever.”

Dauman stepped into the fray, filing a sworn statement in the court case about his visit with Redstone in October. In it, Dauman said that he spent “over an hour” with Redstone, describing him as “engaged and attentive” during “an extensive business discussion.” Herzer promptly called that account nonsense, saying she sat in for the entire meeting, which lasted “20-30 minutes at most.” She said Redstone sat in his chair while Dauman spoke, “gazing somewhat vacantly toward the television or me.” Redstone said “no more than five words” during the visit, according to Herzer. “This was not a conversation. It was a monologue by Mr. Dauman that Sumner did not appear to comprehend.”

With its tabloid-ready descriptions of the mogul’s condition, Herzer’s case produced an overdue stink on Wall Street about Redstone’s fitness to remain executive chairman of Viacom and CBS cbs . If he hadn’t been controlling shareholder (and picked many of the directors), was there any doubt he would have been forced to step down years ago?

O’Donnell fed the fire, opening up what he calls a “second front” by sharing information with mutual fund investor Mario Gabelli, an outspoken Viacom institutional shareholder, and attorneys who brought a derivative case against both companies.

In January, O’Donnell won Judge Cowan’s approval to have Redstone examined by O’Donnell’s expert in geriatric psychiatry, Dr. Stephen Read. Although Redstone’s own physician had declared him mentally fit two months earlier, Read’s 37-page report, based on his own hour-long visit, tape-recorded and presented under seal to the judge, made a considerable impression. “Suffice it to say,” the judge later wrote, clearing the case for trial, “….those details are difficult to read in describing how this man is hanging on to life.” (From the start, O’Donnell worked hard to make sure the judge saw Redstone as he is today, in person or on video. As O’Donnell put it to Fortune in January, “I mean no disrespect, but Exhibit A in this case—and the only one you need—is Sumner. The only way I’m going to have a chance of winning is to get Sumner. If I don’t get Sumner, I don’t have Exhibit A.” And thus, the judge’s decision on the eve of trial to grant O’Donnell’s request to question Redstone was a huge victory for Herzer.)

Even Redstone was finally willing to accept reality. On Feb. 3, six days after the medical exam, CBS accepted his letter of resignation as executive chairman. Vice chair Shari Redstone, who had reached an accommodation with Moonves more than a year earlier, waived her claimed right to succeed her father and joined a unanimous board vote to name Moonves as executive chairman.

Things were quite different at Viacom.

It’s no wonder that Bernstein analyst Todd Juenger (admittedly, a particularly tough critic) has compared Viacom to Eastman Kodak: Virtually every source of its revenues is challenged. “Longer term,” Juenger recently wrote, “we continue to hold the view that the old business of serving kids/teens with linear TV networks is doomed, and the new business of serving kids/teens with on-demand, digitally delivered entertainment is unlikely to be won by Viacom.”

To be sure, some of Viacom’s woes are no fault of its own: In the cord-cutting age, viewers are migrating away from “fat” bundles of pay-cable channels, damaging revenues and profits. Viacom, with its youth-skewed audience—quicker to adopt new platforms—is especially vulnerable to this trend.

Wall Street has grown impatient with Dauman’s response to these challenges, as well as an assortment of other problems. Ratings and ad revenues have dropped, especially at MTV and Comedy Central, which has lost marquee talent over the past years, including Jon Stewart, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, and Key & Peele. Top creative executives have been laid off or departed. The company continues to suffer from a lackluster digital strategy. And Paramount has performed terribly for the past four years, producing multiple box-office stinkers and running up losses ($136 million in the most recent quarter). Viacom has announced a search to find a “strategic” minority investor for the studio.

Dauman has been roundly criticized for failing to seize opportunities. In one widely cited example early in his tenure, he dumped Freston’s $3 million partnership stake in a subsidiary of Vice Media, whose value has since soared. Viacom’s spokesman notes that the subsidiary was ultimately shut down—and the company had no contractual rights to stock. But critics say continuing the relationship would likely have reaped big rewards, in both content and an ownership stake.

Other stumbles cost more in lost buzz than lost revenues. According to a former Viacom executive, MTV Networks CEO Judy McGrath (who has since left) told Dauman that, in exchange for a $1 million investment, the company could affix one of its showcase brands on a new Broadway musical by the creators of South Park. The show would have been titled: Comedy Central Presents Book of Mormon. Dauman decided to save a few pennies, agreeing to a $500,000 stake instead. As a result, Viacom failed to capitalize on a big hit and along the way managed to disappoint the South Park creators, whose show remains on Comedy Central. “We’re not in the Broadway business,” Dauman reportedly told McGrath at the time. (A Viacom official says Dauman doesn’t recall being offered such a branding opportunity.)

It all plays to the narrative that has dogged the CEO from the start: that he’s tone-deaf on creative issues. Yet he hasn’t even delivered in his obvious area of strength: Despite his background as an M&A lawyer—and top lieutenant to the deal-obsessed Redstone—he has made no game-changing acquisitions.

Instead, Dauman has poured massive sums into a stock-buyback program that has flopped. Since he took over in 2006, Viacom has repurchased more than half its non-voting shares, at a staggering total cost of $18.6 billion (more than twice what Disney spent on Marvel Entertainment and Lucasfilm combined). Yet Viacom stock has returned only a cumulative 35% during this period, compared with 82% for the S&P 500—and far bigger increases for comparable media companies (including 302% at Disney, 173% at Time Warner, 95% at 21st Century Fox, and 144% at CBS). In the past twelve months alone, Viacom shares have tumbled 39%.

With Dauman seemingly under attack from all sides, Viacom’s PR department prepared a three-page list of bullet points in his defense, offering up “Selected Achievements,” including a section rebutting the criticism that he’s insufficiently creative. (“He has enormous understanding of and passion for every aspect of the company.”) On a February conference call, Dauman insisted there was nothing wrong with Viacom’s business, angrily blaming its stock woes on “naysayers, self-interested critics, and publicity-seekers.”

CBS, by contrast, has prospered, maintaining stellar ratings, while Moonves moved aggressively to develop creative solutions to threatening industry trends, such as cord-cutting. More valuable than CBS when Dauman took over, Viacom is now worth $10 billion less.

Despite all this, Dauman, through fiscal 2014, has received a combined $331 million as CEO—second only to Moonves, who received $446 million, among media-company executives during that period.

Historically intolerant of stock declines, Redstone—as long as he was still talking—unflinchingly backed Dauman, introducing him on quarterly earnings calls as “the wisest man I have ever known.” Some chalk it up to their history. Dauman was unparalleled at the critical task of Redstone-management: happy to provide dinner companionship; consistently deferential; and assiduous at feeding his boss’ need to feel he remained in control. “Philippe gets the benefit of the doubt because they have such a close, long relationship,” says one longtime observer of the pair. “There was a different level of trust.”

To others, it was simply further evidence that Redstone had lost his edge. In Sumner’s prime, they say, no CEO would have kept his job in the face of such a decline.

So when Viacom, one day after Moonves’s promotion, prepared to give Sumner’s executive chairman title to Dauman, his daughter objected. But she didn’t attempt to exercise her claimed right to succeed her dad. Instead, Shari issued a public statement that no one connected to the Redstone family trusts should serve as chairman, a notion that would rule out both her and Dauman).

But Shari stood alone. Despite the time she spent with her father (Herzer mocked her “sudden conversion to the loving, omnipresent daughter” as part of Shari’s effort to win Sumner’s vote on the issue), Redstone sided with the remaining directors in handing his title to Dauman. (Shari’s spokeswoman says she never discussed the issue with her father.)

Shari has declined to discuss her future plans. But it seems likely she’ll revisit the fight with Dauman upon her father’s demise, or perhaps sooner, if Redstone is ruled incompetent in the current trial. At that point, controlling interest in Viacom and CBS will fall to the seven lawyers governing her father’s irrevocable trust. That group includes three presumably reliable Shari votes: her own, her son Tyler’s, and that of her mother’s divorce attorney, Leonard Lewin. The other voters are Dauman, George Abrams (a Viacom director who supported Dauman’s elevation); Norman Jacobs, Sumner’s divorce attorney; and David Andelman, who has long represented the Redstone family interests and serves on the CBS board. The latter alignment might provide Dauman with the deciding vote, but in truth, how it will play out is anybody’s guess.

But it could mean that the current trial, as messy as it is—and Redstone’s planned legal counterstrike against Holland and Herzer—might be just a prelude to a contest for control of both Viacom and CBS. Sumner Redstone, who turns 93 this month, could find himself a spectator as Shari, Dauman, and Moonves vie for control of the empire he created.

While Herzer sought to battle her way back in, Sydney Holland pursued quieter methods. In October she wrote Redstone, pleading for forgiveness and a chance to return. “I am beyond sorry that I hurt you, I am so sad that I was not allowed to say goodbye and I want nothing from you, but to see you….I beg of you to consider letting Alexandra and I visit,” wrote Holland, of her adopted daughter. “She is such a beautiful little girl…She reminds me of you and how resilient you are and how you never give up.”

“Sumner, just know that I will love you forever and always, not a day goes by without me thinking of what we shared…..Please Sumner, have Leah arrange for us to see each other. Love Always, Sydney.” When Redstone’s lawyers sought to interview her for the case, she agreed—on the condition that they meet at Beverly Park, with Redstone present.

Holland maintained a low public profile, while obtaining a protective order against Pilgrim, who pled guilty in April to a criminal misdemeanor charge for bombarding her with threatening voicemails and text messages. Her attorney, Brad Rose, says Holland regrets her relationship with Pilgrim, and “still to this minute loves Sumner and cares for his well-being.” Holland, he adds, “is absolutely disgusted with what’s going on in court with Manuela.”

As the Redstone trial opens, is there a meaningful lesson that can be extracted from this tortured saga? It feels almost trite under the circumstances to say that the sad deterioration of Sumner Redstone and the struggles at Viacom show the dangers of vesting too much corporate power in one person’s hands—though that’s certainly true—or that people reap what they sow (though that’s also true). In his fierce, nearly irrational desire to cling to power and his willful denial of aging, Redstone presents almost the inverse of King Lear—who gave up power to his children, only to deeply regret it.

By contrast, Redstone couldn’t let go, and instead found himself isolated, with almost nobody he could truly trust, both empowered and victimized by the riches he fought so long and so hard to accumulate. As his time winds down, his life resembles a lonely cross between the last days of Howard Hughes and the fictional Charles Foster Kane (of Citizen Kane). Though Redstone’s failures have affected companies that provide thousands of jobs and are worth tens of billions of dollars, in the end his tragedy is ultimately a human one, and all the more human for being largely self-inflicted.

For a few days in April, it appeared that the trial guaranteed to embarrass everyone might not happen after all. After nearly two weeks of mediation, the warring sides agreed on settlement terms. Herzer would receive $30 million from Redstone ($2.5 million would go to her charity), and keep the penthouse apartment at the Carlyle Hotel in New York. A third-party elder care manager would oversee the medical staff at Beverly Park. And everyone would agree not to challenge any previous gifts or provisions. That would include Redstone’s latest change in his healthcare directive: naming Shari as his agent, along with a Los Angeles family friend.

The deal would offer only a small concession to Herzer’s repeated post-eviction pleas for a personal visit with Sumner. A day after the agreement was signed, the mediator and one of Redstone’s doctors were to visit him at Beverly Park, where they would either read a letter or show him a short video from Herzer asking Redstone two questions: Did he want to meet with her? And did he want her and her three children to attend his funeral? If he answered no, she presumably would never see him again.

Word of a tentative deal—and Shari’s appointment as health care agent—soon leaked into the press. Days later, it all fell apart, with both sides blaming the other. O’Donnell claimed Redstone’s lawyers had tried to “re-cut” the deal. Herzer made new demands that were promptly rejected, including the dismissal of nurse Jagiello and driver Tuanaki and indemnification from lawsuits by anyone in the Redstone family. By April 11, the two sides, as O’Donnell put it, were “back on a war footing.” Less than a month later, the Redstone side was girding to fire its own legal salvos at Holland and Herzer. As long as Sumner Redstone is still breathing, it seems, that is the normal state of affairs—for his family, for his $5.2 billion fortune, and for the two massive companies he controls.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Mario Gabelli as Viacom’s largest institutional shareholder.

Summary: A lurid trial centering on the Sumner Redstone's capacity could determine who controls CBS and Viacom.


A GOP strategist is suing Donald Trump and his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski for falsely portraying her as a desperate job seeker who trashed the Republican presidential candidate in the media after she wasn’t hired for a communications director post, according to her $4 million defamation lawsuit.

The billionaire businessman’s tweets, calling strategist Cheri Jacobus “a real dummy” and a “major loser,” incited a “virtual mob against her,” with Trump’s Twitter followers calling the political operative “a whore” and posting graphic photo illustrations of her naked and being raped from behind, the suit says.

And the vitriol flowed from untrue claims that Jacobus, 56, wasn’t hired for a gig with the Trump campaign, according to court papers.

Jacobus’ suit includes Facebook messages from former Trump rep Jim Dornan recruiting her for the PR post in May 2015.

She met with Dornan and Lewandowski at the Trump Tower in New York last year, but turned down the job because of “boorish behavior by Lewandowski,” her Manhattan civil suit says.

Specifically, Lewandowski allegedly bragged about yelling at Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, who just months later would become a public target of the brash businessman.

Jacobus says in court papers that she never even formally applied for the job, and certainly didn’t hold a grudge against the campaign when she didn’t get it.

As the presidential race heated up last summer, Jacobus went on TV to both criticize and praise Trump. She says she defended the candidate on CNN when he was called a “racist” and dinged him on Twitter for insulting John McCain’s military record.

The campaign retaliated by making public, defamatory statements accusing Jacobus of pleading for position, the seven-figure defamation suit says.

First, in January, Lewandowsi went on MSNBC and said that the former RNC spokeswoman “came to the office on multiple occasions trying to get a job from the Trump campaign, and when she wasn’t hired, clearly she went off and was upset by that.”

Then in February, Trump tweeted, “@cherijacobus begged us for a job. We said no and she went hostile. A real dummy!”

Trump also called Jacobus “major loser, zero credibility,” in a second tweet.

The tweets, to Trump’s more than 6 million followers, unleashed “an avalanche of vicious ridicule and scorn,” the suit says. She was called a “whore,” “b—h” and “nutcase,” the suit says.

And then came the photographs “with gruesomely altered features.”

The “numerous graphic illustrations as an appropriate victim for rape and sexual assault” included “images of Jacobus bent over naked being raped from behind,” according to court papers.

“These statements incited a virtual campaign of abuse and harassment against Jacobus, causing enormous damage to her career and reputation, significant emotional distress and holding her up to public ridicule,” the suit says.

The New York resident lost bookings and requests for media appearances dried up, her suit says.

A spokesman for Trump did not immediately comment.

Summary: A GOP strategist is suing Donald Trump and his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski for falsely portraying her as a desperate job seeker who trashed the Republican presidential candidate in the media…


in Kauai, Hawaii, on Wednesday – but who exactly is her new guy?

Rothman and Wiig have been "secretly dating for a few months," a source told PEOPLE exclusively. "He's her boyfriend. They're really happy together."

Avi Rothman and Kristen Wiig

Here are five more things to know about Rothman:

Rothman is a writer, actor, producer

director who trained at the Groundlings theater in Los Angeles (where Wiig also studied). His IMDb page lists several acting, writing and producing credits in films, shorts and TV series. He also recently directed the short film

, which premiered at the WILDsound Film Festival in 2015.

"I'd really like to finish writing and shoot a feature," he told the

premiere last May. "[It] should have been completed a year ago."

Since the short film's release, Rothman has acted in several more shorts, but has yet to release his feature film.

Rothman plays the titular character in the popular YouTube series "

." His inspiration for the character, he has said, came from his own experiences as an avid yogi.

"My sister got me into yoga about seven years ago. For a while I became addicted and was in class five times a week," he said in a 2010 interview with

. "I'm usually the quiet one in class, generally keeping to myself."

He added: "I love observing people. At times I thought there were so many characters in my yoga class. I would see a lot of guys blatantly hitting on and trying to pick up women, and vice versa."

Besides "Inappropriate Yoga Guy," Rothman has written and starred in several other web series, including "

He got his start in web comedy when a friend studying online marketing in business school challenged Rothman and some pals to create a viral video.

"We basically came up with this idea of making a pseudo commercial for American Apparel where all of us were naked, making breakfast," he told

. "I think it got over 150,000 hits in two days. ... I think it would have gotten more except for the fact that it was flagged for 'adult content.' "

Rothman added: "I think that video helped me realize how accessible an audience could be, if it in fact went viral."

With his extensive background in showbiz, it makes sense that Rothman would be a total cinephile. Some of his favorite films?

. These are just a few," he told the

Besides his many connections in the tight-knit comedy community, Rothman also has ties to the A-list: A source reveals to PEOPLE that Rothman is pals with Adele!

We're anxiously awaiting a web series starring Rothman, Wiig and the "Hello" singer – who is quite the comedian herself!

Summary: The comedian was recently spotted showing plenty of PDA with Rothman on a romantic Hawaiian getaway


On Tuesday, Republicans took control of the Senate for the first time since 2006.

Here are brief profiles of the new Republican senators:

Photo: Getty ImagesThe congressman, a Harvard Law School graduate and Army veteran, unseated Democrat Mark Pryor.

Cotton, 37, says he was inspired by the Sept. 11 attacks to join the Army. He worked as a clerk on a federal appeals court and briefly in private practice before enlisting. He served nearly five years on active duty, including two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He worked for McKinsey and Co. as a management consultant after leaving active duty.

He won a House seat from south Arkansas in 2012, and has drawn support from groups such as the conservative Club for Growth.

Cotton and his wife, Anna, are expecting their first child in April.

Photo: Getty ImagesAlso a GOP congressman, Gardner is a fifth-generation Coloradan and son of a tractor salesman. He lives in the small northeastern agricultural town of Yuma, near the Nebraska border, in a house where his grandparents lived.

After graduating law school at Colorado State University, Gardner worked for Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) before being appointed to fill a vacancy in the state House in 2005. He won the seat in 2006.

In 2010, he defeated Democratic U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey in a district that includes his hometown. On Tuesday, he sidelined Sen. Mark Udall.

Gardner, 40, shook up the Senate race with a last-minute entry in February. His campaign emphasized his youth and upbeat demeanor, calling him “a different kind of Republican,” although he has a traditionally conservative voting record.

Gardner opposes abortion rights but fended off Democratic attacks over his possible support for measures limiting contraception by pushing a plan to allow the purchase of birth-control pills over the counter.

Gardner also tacked to the center on immigration, hinting he could be open to allowing people in the country illegally to remain in the US.

Gardner is married with two children. He and his wife, Jaime, are expecting their third child.

Photo: Getty ImagesThe first-time candidate is former CEO of Reebok, Dollar General and the failed North Carolina textile firm of Pillowtex. Perdue, 64, is the cousin of former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, but he won a crowded primary by running as an outsider and defeating three congressmen.

Perdue says he opposes the Senate’s immigration bill and a minimum wage increase, and he wants to repeal the president’s health law. He argues also for a tax overhaul that would allow multinational corporations to move foreign cash back into their US operations without taxation.

Perdue’s emphasis on his business career left him on the defensive much of the fall, as Democrat Michelle Nunn painted him as a greedy executive who mistreated workers. She cited a Dollar General settlement with about 2,000 female employees who alleged gender pay discrimination and a deposition in which Perdue said he “spent most of my career” outsourcing.

Photo: Getty ImagesErnst was a relatively unknown state lawmaker and lieutenant colonel in the Iowa National Guard when she entered the competitive primary over a year ago. But that all changed with a catchy television ad in which she promoted her experience castrating hogs on the family farm and pledged to cut pork and “make `em squeal” in Washington.

The 44-year-old won a close race against Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley. She pitched herself as a “mother, soldier and independent leader.”

Ernst attended Iowa State and often says that her time on an agricultural exchange program to the Soviet Union made her want to serve in the federal government.

As a colonel commanding a transportation company, she led daily convoys of 60 trucks from Kuwait into Iraq in 2003 and 2004. She returned to hold county office and won a state Senate seat in 2010.

Ernst lives in Red Oak with her husband, Gail Ernst, who is retired from the military, and their daughter, Libby. She also has two adult stepdaughters.

Photo: AP Daines, 52, spent decades in the private sector before entering politics. He began honing his rhetorical style in high school in Bozeman as the debate partner of Mike McFaul, ambassador to Russia under President Barack Obama.

After earning a chemical engineering degree from Montana State, Daines went to work for Procter & Gamble, eventually moving with his wife, Cindy, to China when the company began expanding its business in Asia. They spent five years there before Daines returned home to work for his father’s construction business.

He later joined a high-tech startup that has since been sold to Oracle Inc.

Daines was the nominee for lieutenant governor in 2008 but lost. He won an open seat for Congress in 2012 and jumped into the Senate race when Democratic Sen. Max Baucus was named ambassador to China.

On Tuesday, Daines easily defeated state legislator Amanda Curtis, who became the Democratic nominee after Baucus’ appointed replacement, John Walsh, abandoned the race following a plagiarism scandal.

Photo: AP The 42-year-old president at Midland University attracted national tea party support despite an establishment resume and years spent in Washington.

Sasse served as an assistant secretary of health and human services under President George W. Bush. He was educated at Harvard, Oxford University and St. John’s before getting his doctorate in American political history, strategy and management from Yale.

He told voters that he understood the federal health care law in depth and could offer workable alternatives. Aided by endorsements from Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sasse carried nearly half of the Republican vote and all but one of Nebraska’s 93 counties in a crowded primary.

Sasse was born in Plainview and grew up in Fremont. He was 37 when he was named in 2009 to lead what was then Midland Lutheran College in Fremont, making him among the youngest college presidents in the country. Since then, enrollment has soared from less than 600 to more than 1,000. Sasse also oversaw the rebranding of the school as Midland University, which included the addition of new athletic programs.

Sasse and his wife, Melissa, live in Fremont with their three children. He defeated Democrat Dave Domina, an Omaha lawyer.

Photo: APThe state House speaker, a former IBM consultant, campaigned on how he helped bring to power GOP state legislators who reduced taxes and regulations and reined in spending.

He toppled Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan in the most expensive Senate campaign in the nation.

Tillis, 54, was born in Jacksonville, Florida, one of six children in a family that moved often around the South.

After high school, “I was working in a warehouse and I was living in a trailer park,” Tillis said this year. “And it never occurred to me that government was going to solve my problem.”

By age 25, Tillis and his high school sweetheart had divorced. But his business career began progressing. Work ultimately moved him to North Carolina in the late 1990s, where he settled north of Charlotte. Remarried and with two children, Tillis got his college degree at age 37.

Tillis entered politics as a town commissioner and was elected to the state House in 2006. Two years later he became minority whip and later quit an IBM job to focus on electing a GOP majority in 2010. Colleagues rewarded him with the speaker’s post.

While viewed as part of the GOP’s moderate business wing, Tillis helped lead a Legislature that approved private school vouchers, further restricted abortion and put on the ballot a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, which voters passed in 2012.

Photo: APThe two-term congressman from the Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond is a Baptist minister who rose quickly among the leadership ranks in the House.

The 46-year-old Lankford won the GOP nomination in June over a seven-man field that included a politically connected state legislator in T.W. Shannon, a former speaker of the state House who had endorsements from tea party favorites.

In a solidly Republican state, Lankford’s primary victory was his greatest hurdle. His campaign got a boost when retiring GOP Sen. Tom Coburn denounced negative ads in the race in what ended up being a de facto endorsement.

Lankford was a political novice when he campaigned in 2010 for the open House seat in Oklahoma City that was being vacated by now-Gov. Mary Fallin. He had the support of young evangelicals who knew Lankford from his 13 years as director one of the largest Christian youth camps in the country.

His grasp of GOP positions helped land him a leadership position as chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee.

Photo: APThe insurance and real estate executive spent 10 years in the state Senate before running for governor in 2002. In the primary, two other candidates traded shots in attack ads, while Rounds — the self-proclaimed “guy behind door No. 3” — won over voters with a positive message.

He was governor for two terms. Now he will be a senator after beating Democrat Rick Weiland and independent candidates Larry Pressler and Gordon Howie.

Rounds, 60, has said he wants to start work on the Keystone XL pipeline, help repeal the health care law and enact an immigration overhaul.

Rounds led most of the campaign, but criticism over his involvement with a visa program aimed at spurring foreign investment in South Dakota led to an influx of national money and made the race briefly competitive.

He and his wife, Jean, have four children and six grandchildren.

Photo: APThe congresswoman will be the first female senator from West Virginia. She is also breaking a five-and-a-half-decade streak of only Democrats representing the state in the Senate.

Capito, 60, is succeeding retiring Democrat Jay Rockefeller after beating Natalie Tennant, West Virginia’s secretary of state.

In the House, Capito has represented some of the state’s most populated regions, including the capital, Charleston, and the growing Eastern Panhandle. She was first elected to the House in 2000, and was a state lawmaker before that.

Her father, Arch Moore, spent 12 years and three terms as Republican governor in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Capito has been a staunch critic of the president’s energy policies. The administration’s push to limit carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants faces plenty of opposition in West Virginia, where the state’s southern coalfields are already struggling.

Capito also has voted to repeal the health law.

She has a bachelor’s degree in zoology from Duke University and a master’s degree in education from the University of Virginia.

She and her husband, Charles Capito, have three children.

Summary: On Tuesday, Republicans took control of the Senate for the first time since 2006. Here are brief profiles of the new Republican senators: Arkansas: Republican Tom Cotton The congressman, a Harvard …


Congressional committees rarely re-report journalistic exposés, but it’s amazing what information subpoenas can pry loose. A Senate committee has exposed new details on how the White House broke the law to get the Internet regulated as an old-fashioned utility, including emails that show how shocked regulators at the Federal Communications Commission were at the violation of their agency’s independence.

A page-one article in The Wall Street Journal last year detailed an “unusual, secretive effort inside the White House”...

Summary: Information Age columnist Gordon Crovitz writes about Obamanet—newly released emails show panic at the FCC after President Obama publicly made his wishes clear about net neutrality.


The leader of Plaid Cymru has vowed to make life uncomfortable for the new Labour-led minority government in Wales, and said she expects the administration to work with her party to get its budget and bills through.

Although Plaid made a deal allowing the Welsh Labour leader, Carwyn Jones, to be reappointed as first minister, Wood told the Guardian there would be no cosy relationship between the parties.

“I feel I’ve been given a mandate to shake things up a bit and to try to bring about the change Wales needs. I stood on a platform of change. Business as usual in the fifth assembly term is not an option,” she said.

“Allowing” Jones to become first minister was a one-off, Wood added. “It wasn’t a vote of support for the government. It wasn’t an endorsement for their first minister. We will hold them to account.

“Labour as a minority government has to deal with another party. I can’t see how they can go to the Tories or Ukip for support. We would give them some serious flak over that. They have to deal with us or they can’t get their budget or legislation through. We intend to use the position we are in to maximise our leverage and get as many of our policies from our manifesto through as possible.”

Labour remained by far the biggest party in Wales following this month’s elections but fell just short of an overall majority, winning 29 of the 60 seats. Plaid was next with 12, and the Tories took 11, while Ukip won seats for the first time, securing seven. The Lib Dems plunged from five to one.

Labour began to plan a minority government until Plaid unexpectedly put forward Wood to challenge Jones for the post of first minister. Spotting the chance to give Labour a bloody nose, Ukip and the Tories – Plaid’s natural enemies – backed Wood. Had the sole Liberal Democrat AM supported her, the Plaid leader would have been first minister.

Speaking in her corner office overlooking the assembly and Cardiff Bay, Wood smiled broadly at the idea. “I recognise that running a government in those circumstances would have been very very difficult, but I would have given it a go,” she said.

“I would have sought to try to win the support of some of those Labour members who I know agree with the bulk of our programme. I think we could have put something together.

“It’s not all about legislation, You can run a government without passing legislation. The main thing is getting the budget through but you do hold a huge amount of executive power. The opportunities for using that executive power would have been there.”

But that wasn’t the idea of the nomination. “The purpose was to demonstrate Labour couldn’t automatically rely on Plaid Cymru’s support. They had to come to the table in the spirit of equality. I think we sent that message to them loud and clear.”

Labour did come to the table and the parties hatched a deal, which they called, rather clunkily, A Compact to Move Wales Forward.

There is no coalition but Plaid will sit with Labour on three new liaison committees that will examine finance, legislation and the constitution. Key Plaid election pledges on health, apprenticeships and childcare, some of which overlapped with Labour’s, will be prioritised. The parties will also work together to tackle the steel crisis in Port Talbot, and campaign to remain in the EU.

The deal done, Wood’s nomination for the job of first minister was withdrawn and Carwyn Jones was re-elected. Jones’s tone was conciliatory, promising to work with other parties.

We have no doubt about the responsibilities on us, and the responsibility upon me in particular, to work with others

Afterwards, Wood made what she described as a “fierce” speech in which she attacked the new Labour government in Wales as arrogant, complacent and bullying.

Reflecting on that speech, she said: “I was trying to send a signal about the way in which we intend to operate as an opposition. I wanted to create a tone which said to the country and the government that whatever is good for Wales we will do. But that doesn’t mean we will automatically support this minority Labour government.

“They’ve been in power for 17 years. They have run out of ideas, their manifesto was shockingly thin, they have nothing to offer this country, which needs transformation, change. I think it was really important the government understood the terms under which we are engaging.”

Wood has long been seen as a firebrand. A former probation officer from the Rhondda Valley in south Wales, she was once expelled from the assembly for referring to the Queen as Mrs Windsor. She is no fan of the royal family.

She was a star of the UK general election campaign in 2015, taking on the Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, during a televised leaders’ debate. But her speech this week may be the start of a new, even fiercer chapter.

Her own standing, and perhaps her confidence, was bolstered on election night this month when she won the constituency seat in the Rhondda, a Labour heartland.

“It’s a great honour to be elected by people who you have grown up with and live amongst. The reason I wanted to stand in a constituency seat was to lead from the front. We recognise that to become the biggest party in the assembly we have to make a breakthrough in the constituencies. Psychologically it’s an important breakthrough. It’s one we have to build on and expand.”

Ukip, led at the assembly by the former Tory MP Neil Hamilton, has also promised to shake things up. Hamilton leapt in with both feet this week when he said the deal with Labour showed that Plaid was a “very cheap date”, and branded Wood and the Lib Dem Kirsty Williams as Labour’s “political concubines”.

Wood said Hamilton’s remarks had made her feel resigned and deflated. “We’ve spent 17 years building up this institution. There has been an unspoken agreement that certain issues wouldn’t be used as political footballs. Sexism, racism, immigration, the Welsh language, climate change – we’re all pretty much agreed that these things are territory that we shouldn’t try to make political gain on.

“That has been overturned by the election of these seven [Ukip members]. I think they were testing the water, trying to seek attention, but I think we need to think seriously how we handle it. It could quickly descend into something very ugly.”

Unlike the SNP in Scotland, independence is not something Plaid is focusing on at the moment. Wood accepts Wales needs to feel more prosperous before that issue can be higher on the agenda.

“All of our manifesto is designed to try to close the prosperity gap between Wales and the rest of the UK. For many people that is the key question. We have to demonstrate progress before people will be open to consider independence. Closing that economic gap will be our priority over the next five years.”

And afterwards? “Come back to us on that in five years’ time.”

Summary: Plaid Cymru leader says she challenged for the post of first minister to send a message to Labour, and she intends to hold government to account


07/26/2016 AT 02:00 PM EDT

Miss Cleo, the psychic whose infomercials featured prominently on TV in the 1990s, has died, her rep confirmed

Cleo, whose birth name was Youree Harris, was battling colon cancer that spread to her liver and lungs, her rep told TMZ. She died on Tuesday morning at a hospice center in Palm Beach County, Florida.

A "pillar of strength," Cleo died surrounded by family and friends, her rep said.

Famous for her faux-Jamaican accent, Cleo promised Psychic Readers Network callers that she'd use "the power of the tarot to show you the way."

Actually born in Los Angeles, Cleo maintained her television personality until 2003 – when

under a federal probe – before going on to do voice work, including a stint for game

In 2006, Cleo – a mother of two –

as a lesbian, explaining to the

, "This is me. I don't want to hide. Fear only impedes you on your journey."

Cleo's long role as a spiritual advisor was rooted in her heritage, she said, telling

in 2014, "I come from a family of spooky people."

"I come from a family of Obeah – which is another word for voodoo," she said. "My teacher was Haitian, [a mambo] born in Port-au-Prince, and I studied under her for some 30 years and then became a mambo myself. So they refer to me as psychic – because the word voodoo scares just about everybody. So they told me, 'No, no, no, we can't use that word; we're going to call you a psychic.' "

Despite fallout from the Psychic Readers Network's demise at the hands of the Federal Trade Commission – a suit later settled out of court – Cleo said she still had callers as of just a few years ago.

"I have clients in New Zealand, Australia, a few here in Toronto, a bunch all over the US, Jamaica, obviously," she told

. "Honey, that's how I make my money. I've got kids and grandchildren; I like being able to help."

Summary: Miss Cleo, whose real name is Youree Harris, died after battling cancer


Inamed Corp., a maker of breast implants and other medical devices, said it has agreed to acquire Collagen Aesthetics Inc. for $142 million, or $16.25 a share, creating a powerhouse with a broad range of products for cosmetic treatments and reconstructive surgery.

Executives at the two companies said the agreement has the unanimous approval of their respective boards and will be announced Monday. Later this week, Inamed will begin a...

Summary: Inamed said it agreed to acquire Collagen Aesthetics for $142 million, or $16.25 a share, creating a cosmetic treatment and reconstructive surgery powerhouse.


Before you go, we thought you'd like these...

We Break Down Charlize Theron's Polished Glamazon Style

Charlize was red hot in a Lanvin peplum-trimmed strapless for the MTV 2012 Movie Awards.

Photo Credit: Christopher Polk, Getty Images

Off-duty style in London called for an edgy ensemble

The star stole the spotlight in an electric blue shimmery Christian Dior Couture confection for the premiere of Prometheus.

Photo Credit: Fred Duval, FilmMgic/Getty Images

Charlize stunned in a gauzy, barely-there Dior creation at the Snow White and the Huntsman UK premiere.

Photo Credit: Stuart Wilson, Getty Images

For a day out in NYC, the sophisticated styler wore a supertailored blazer, sheer top, teal jeans, and a boxy blue tote.

Photo Credit: Alo Ceballo, FilmMagic/Getty Images

Opting for a bolder shade of red, Charlize donned a long-sleeved Giambattista Valli sheath for the Snow White and the Huntsman Madrid photo call.

Charlize was spotted in NYC, sporting a form-fitted black Lanvin sheath and strappy Christian Louboutin sandals.

Photo Credit: Alo Ceball, FilmMagic/Getty Images

How gorgeous does she look in a green-and-black colorblocked Reed Krakoff sheath at the 2012 Palm Springs International Film Festival?

Photo Credit: Alexandra Wyman, WireImage/Getty Images

For the Snow White and the Huntsman Tokyo photo call, the starlet chose a sexy The Row leather dress and Dior sandals.

Photo Credit: Toru Yamanka, AFP/Getty Images

At the Prometheus Paris premiere, Charlize donned a cobalt blue Stella McCartney sheath with black booties.

Photo Credit: Tony Barson, FilmMagic/Getty Images

She paired casual-cool separates together at Dior

The actress stepped out in a lace-covered Emilio Pucci gown for the White House Correspondents

She glowed in this sunny flower-embossed Stella McCartney number

For her WonderCon 2012 appearance, she channeled low-key style in J Brand jeans, a printed Thakoon top, and leather topper.

Photo Credit: Araya Diaz, WireImage/Getty Images

Charlize stunned in a scalloped Azzedine Ala

She showed off her svelte figure in a two-toned Antonio Berardi sheath as she headed into Late Show With David Letterman.

Photo Credit: James Devany, WireImage/Getty Images

She rocked a sleek Roland Mouret menswear-inspired look at GQ

She wore a mesh-infused, one-shouldered Stella McCartney dress with mesh Manolo Blahnik sandals to the Young Adult LA premiere.

Photo Credit: Jason DeVaris, FilmMagic/Getty Images

Va-va-voom! Charlize stunned in a siren red Dior sheath and gold Jimmy Choo sandals at the NYC premiere of Young Adult.

Photo Credit: Jamie McCarthy, Getty Images

Letting a little lace peek through was the name of the game for Charlize when she wore this slinky black Alexander McQueen dress in early 2012.

Photo Credit: Michael Buckner, Getty Images

Flapper perfection? We think so. Charlize donned a pretty Gucci frock and Stella McCartney headband for the 2011 Gotham Independent Film Awards.

Photo Credit: D Dipasupil, FilmMagic/Getty Images

Her stunning pale pink ballerina-inspired Dior gown turned a lot of heads at the 2012 Golden Globe Awards

She chose this skin-baring Dion Lee LBD for an event in April 2012.

Photo Credit: Michael Tran, FilmMagic/Getty Images

Airport couture never looked so good

For a New York Times talk, Charlize wore a printed Thakoon top, Stella McCartney black blazer, and J Brand jeans.

Photo Credit: Bennett Raglin, WireImage/Getty Images

She opted for a cutout Lanvin LBD for the 2012 Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Photo Credit: Frazer Harrison, Getty Images

A blazer, nude tote, and cargo jeans are a totally easy way to get that cool-girl look, especially when you want to keep the vibe low key.

Photo Credit: Danny Martindale, FilmMagic/Getty Images

Not one to every shy away from her signature LBD look, she vamped it up a bit more this time with gold-infused heels.

Photo Credit: Gregg DeGuire, FilmMagic/Getty Images

Dressed in head-to-toe Christian Dior, Charlize looked ultrachic at a special screening of Young Adult in November 2011.

Photo Credit: Charles Eshelman, FilmMagic/Getty Images

Gorgeous in white Atelier Versace at the 2011 Vanity Fair Oscar party.

Photo Credit: Michael Buckner, WireImage/Getty Images

Perfectly polished in black and white at a 2010 charity event.

Photo Credit: Mike Coppola, WireImage/Getty Images

A seriously hot moment in Versace at the 2010 Spike TV

Swathed in sparkles in a Dior minidress at the 2009 AFI Fest screening of The Road.

Photo Credit: Lester Cohen, WireImage/Getty Images

Charlize Theron is many things - a superb actress, passionate humanitarian, and a new mom for starters. To top it all off, the South African-born bombshell has proven time and time again that she is one serious fashion force, on the red carpet and off. With Snow White and the Huntsman, Prometheus, and Young Adult appearances in the not-so-distant past, this year Charlize has solidified her status the seriously slick (not to mention, totally gorgeous) style-setter she is. Her penchant for edgier LBDs and covet-worthy sandals only rivals her ability to stun in ethereal Dior masterpieces (ballerina-inspired perfection at this year's Golden Globe awards, anyone?). More than that, though, she consistently knows how to toe the line between utterly sexy and ultra sophisticated silhouettes.

Calling upon the likes of Dior, Stella McCartney, Reed Krakoff, and Rag & Bone, Charlize effortlessly transitions from dressed-up to dressed-down; just look to her tailored blazers, cool jeans, and It girl bags for further off-duty styling inspiration. Since the leggy stunner is celebrating her 37th birthday today, we're celebrating accordingly - get the full glamazon scope by clicking through now.

Summary: Charlize Theron is many things - a superb actre , pa ionate humanitarian, and a new mom for starter


Your morning cup of Joe may be about to get even pricier, a Reuters poll of 11 traders and analysts showed on Thursday.

By the end of this year, both arabica and robusta coffee are expected to hit their highest price since early 2015, driven by the global market’s first supply deficit in six years, along with firming currencies in top growing nations and strong demand for coffee.

For robusta, usually blended with higher quality arabica beans or used in instant coffees, the survey was particularly dramatic as El Nino-related dryness in southeast Asia and drought in Brazil damaged crops and drained supplies, traders said.

Robusta coffee futures were forecast to rise to as high as $1,900 per tonne by the end of September and $1,985 by the end of 2016, with year-end forecasts ranging from $1,575 to $2,300.

That would be up 10 percent from Wednesday, and a whopping 30 percent jump from 2015, its biggest annual gain since 2010.

Prices of arabica coffee, used in espressos and brewed blends, will rally to $1.45 per lb by the end of the third quarter and to $1.60 by the end of the year, the median of estimates showed, with expectations ranging from $1.20 to $2.20.

That would be up 13 percent from Wednesday and a 26 percent increase from 2015.

While bean inventories in producing countries have already dwindled, the threat of frost in Brazil next year and rains in Vietnam due to the La Nina weather pattern could spur greater price gains, said Shawn Hackett, president of Hackett Financial Advisors in Boynton Beach, Florida.

“Any kind of major weather threat could send … coffee prices back up to retest the 2011 highs near $3 per pound,” he said.

Respondents said the Brazilian real, which rose to an 11-month high in June, was also likely to drive the market. A strong Brazilian real against the greenback discourages producer selling of the dollar-traded commodity.

The price forecasts mark a major about-turn from the outlook at the start of the year.

Respondents still expected demand to outpace supply in 2015/16, which would be the first time in six years according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. They reined in their deficit forecasts from six months ago amid a bumper Brazilian harvest.

The median forecast for 2015/16 was for a 250,000-bag deficit, with estimates ranging from a 7 million bag deficit to a 5 million bag surplus.

For 2016/17, a balance was forecast though estimates ranged from an 8 million bag deficit to a 10 million bag surplus.

Brazil is to harvest 55 million bags in 2016/17, as its arabica regions recover from a second year of drought. That compares with 43.2 million bags this year, according to the International Coffee Organization (ICO).

That would be a record, exceeding the previous all-time high of 50.8 million grown in 2012/13.

Arabica output was pegged at around 45 million bags and robusta at 12 million bags.

Coffee production in Vietnam, the world’s biggest robusta grower, was forecast at 26.5 million 60-kg bags in 2016/17, with estimates ranging widely from 22.7 million bags to 30 million bags. This compares with 27.5 million bags in 2015/16, ICO data show.

Summary: There's several factors involved.


Trying to decide whether to take your career further with an MBA? Choosing to undertake this qualification is not a decision to be made lightly. On top of the financial costs, many people decide to stay in full-time employment, which can be a big commitment. If you do decide this is the right route for you, check out the top ten UK business schools, taken from the QS Global 200 Business Schools report – and see how they fare in Europe.

10. Ashridge Business School European ranking: 35 Average GMAT score: 573

Offering a full-time MBA and a two year part-time Executive MBA, Ashbridge Business School has a "focus on practical application, small group learning and high interaction with real organisations". The school works with over 6000 business executives a year.

Take the GMAT quiz here MBA rankings are based on a survey of employers

Summary: Trying to decide whether to take your career further with an MBA? Check out   the top ten UK business schools – and see how they fare in Europe


Barack Obama’s trip to Europe last week made it clear that the U.S. president has a lot invested in what happens next in Europe. These are the five things Obama hopes to see before he leaves office in January.

Obama travelled to London to deliver a clear message ahead of Britain’s June 23 referendum on E.U. membership: the U.K. is a much more valuable U.S. ally inside the European Union than out. The position itself is not surprising, but the willingness to say so in London and warn that British vote to leave the E.U. would put the U.K. at the “back of the queue” in trade talks with the U.S., is the strongest direct intervention Obama has made in the domestic politics of an ally during his presidency. A British exit would cost the E.U. 15 percent of its overall GDP; the OECD estimates that British GDP would be 5 percent lower by 2030 than if it votes to remain.

Read More: These 5 Facts Explain the Strange Politics of Natural Disasters

But the U.S. is not purely a bystander here. G20 finance ministers have made clear that Brexit would be “a shock” to the entire global economy. That’s the last thing Obama and Europe need. A YouGov poll released this week placed “leave” ahead 42-41.

Obama knows that the transatlantic relationship, the foundation of the post-WWII international order, is at its weakest point in decades, and Britain is by far Washington’s most capable and like-minded ally within the E.U.

(Global Counsel, The Guardian, Reuters)

While Brexit may be the most immediate threat to the E.U.’s political stability, the migrant crisis is the most significant. That’s why Washington, like Europe, needs the deal struck with Turkey to continue housing Syrian refugees on its side of the Aegean to pan out. More than a million refugees and illegal migrants made their way into Europe last year, four times the amount that entered in 2014. According to the UN, another million people will try to enter Europe via the Eastern Mediterranean and Balkans this year. 2.7 million Syrian refugees currently reside in Turkey alone. The refugee surge has slowed sharply in recent months, thanks to new obstacles along the Balkan route and the E.U.-Turkey deal, but if the latter sours, Europe could face another human tidal wave.

Read More: These 5 Facts Explain the Scary New Era of ‘Forced Transparency’

The refugee crisis has given rise to a host of far-right and nationalist parties across the continent who have found political success railing against the influx of Muslim foreigners. German Chancellor Angela Merkel went out on a political limb in support of refugees, and she has paid a political price for it. Her party’s approval rating is currently at 33 percent, its lowest level since November 2010. So it’s no surprise that Obama went to bat for Merkel repeatedly during his recent trip. Of all of Europe’s leaders, it is Merkel with whom Obama shares the most similar worldview. He wants her to succeed, and for that to happen, this deal with Turkey has to as well. There will also be new pressures on the governments of Greece and Italy as refugees increasingly turn to more dangerous sea routes to enter Europe.

(New York Times, The Independent, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg)

Ideally, Obama would also be making progress on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, America’s trade deal with Europe. The immediate economic benefits of TTIP are sizable, if not overwhelming; an additional $134 billion for the E.U. and $107 billion for the U.S. estimated per year. But more importantly, trade deals like these—this one would cover 45 percent of global GDP—provide governments with common interests.

But as populist politicians score points on both sides of the Atlantic, the benefits of free trade have been angrily called into question. Popular support for TTIP in the U.S. has fallen to 18 percent from 53 percent in 2014. In Germany, support for TTIP has dropped to 17 percent, down from 55 percent a couple years ago. With numbers like those, there’s little chance TTIP will gain much traction before Obama leaves office in January, but he can help establish some momentum for the next president to build on.

Obama also wants to see NATO allies take on a larger share of common defense costs. Of NATO’s 28 members, just five meet NATO’s stated goal of spending 2 percent or more of their respective GDPs on defense: the U.S. (3.6 percent), Greece (2.4 percent), Poland (2.2 percent), the U.K. (2.1 percent) and Estonia (2 percent). That’s not sustainable, and Donald Trump has scored political points this spring by pointing that out. Obama also wants his European counterparts to hold the line on sanctions against Russia, which have been in place since the beginning of Moscow’s 2014 intervention in Ukraine. Countries like Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Hungary have voiced skepticism about continuing the sanctions. Cracks in NATO solidarity will further embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Read More: These 5 Facts Explain the Massive Political Fallout from the Panama Papers

Finally, Obama knows that efforts to counter climate change demand effective transatlantic cooperation. 2011 figures show that the U.S. accounts for 16 percent of global CO2 emissions, and the EU-28 contributes another 10 percent. While China is responsible for 28 percent of global CO2 emissions—by far the world’s largest share—it has balked at significant measures to limit its carbon output. Beijing justifies this position by arguing that the U.S. and Europe were responsible for 27 and 25 percent, respectively, of all CO2 emissions between 1850 and 2011. China, which began to industrialize much later, clocks in at just 11 percent. Why should China, its leaders ask, pay the economic price for the West’s industrial development?

True enough, counter Western leaders, but there is no credible climate change solution for the future that doesn’t involve significant support from China. That’s a point made more effectively when U.S. and European leaders speak together.

Summary: The President worked on global trade, fought Brexit and shored up Angela Merkel on his swing through Europe